Qazhrian

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Qazhrian/Lexicon

Qazhrian (/kɑːʒriən/ KAHZH-ree-uhn; natively: Qazhrem /ˈqaʒrem/ or kje Lazhrem /ce ˈʟaʒrem/) is a Talmic language spoken in Qazhra (from Thensarian Ȝactrasē), a Talman country. It is the second-largest Talmic language in terms of number of speakers.

Qazhrian is descended from central and southern dialects of Thensarian.

External history

This language was originally called Benocian and was Romance- and Ashkenazi Hebrew-inspired, and it had a strong Portuguese flavor. Recently I decided to rework it, basing the aesthetic more on Albanian and Breton. The name "Qazhrian" is the name of one of Praimhín's old sketches.

Ideas

  • Breton-ish but not too gibby. Get more palatal consonants.
  • /ts, dz/ from Thensarian /θ ð/
    • d and dz both lenite to z
  • /q/ lenites intervocallically to /ʟ/
  • /m/ does NOT lenite.

Diachronics

  • i ī u ū e o ē ō a ā e ae ao ei eo iu oe ui > i e ou u ë o ō ē a ō ai au e ou u e

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ nj /ɲ/ ng /ŋ/
Plosive voiceless p /p/ t /t/, c /ts/ kj /c/ k /k/ q /q/
voiced b /b/ d /d/, x /dz/ gj /ɟ/ g /g/
Fricative voiceless f /f/ s /s/ sh /ʃ/ c'h /x/ ħ /χ/ h /h/
voiced v /v/ z /z/ zh /ʒ/ gh /ɣ/
Liquid r /ɾ/, rr /r/ l /ɴ̆~ʟ/
Approximant w /w/ y /j/

p is found in loanwords (e.g. from Clofabic and Windermere).

Auslautverhärtung operates for plosives and is reflected in the orthography: aqet 'to jump; jump!' vs. aqedëv '[X] jumps'.

Vowels

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i /i/ u /y/ ou /u/
Close-mid e /e/ ë /ə/ o /o/
Open-mid ē /ɛ/ ō /ɔ/
Open a /a/

Diphthongs: ai au /əi əu/; ië uë ouë /iə yə uə/ from loans

Morphology

Mutations

Qazhrian has three types of mutations: soft, nasal, and hard.

Radical p f t c s sh kj k q ħ b d x z gj g
Soft b f d x s sh gj g l ħ v zj z z y gh
Nasal p f t c s sh kj k l ħ m n x z nj ng
Hard p f sj s c sh kj c'h ħ ħ p t c s kj k
Radical m n nj w l rr y
Soft m n nj w l r y
Nasal m n nj w l rr y
Hard m n nj gw gl gr gj

Examples:

  • The definite article triggers soft mutation.
  • The relativizer re triggers nasal mutation.

Nouns

Qazhrian lost grammatical gender and all nominal inflections except number and construct state.

There is no indefinite article. The definite article is kje (< φinom), and it triggers the soft mutation:

  • tëzh 'a child'; kje dëzh 'the child'
  • rronn 'a man'; kje ronn 'the man'
  • kavër 'a woman'; kje gavër 'the woman'

Construct state is usually formed with :

  • tëzhë kje ronn 'the man's child'

Adjectives lenite after definite nouns: rronn garv 'a heavy man'; kje ronn gharv 'the heavy man'.

Verbs

There are finite verbs, but auxiliaries are also important

Aqedëv kje nous lelëzh mrēsh krok kje sauv zrōmëran.
/aˈqedəv ce nus ˈʟeʟəʒ mrɛʃ krok ce səuv ˈzrɔməran/
jump-3P.NARR the fox brown quick over the dog lazy
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Rëv stiëvi bēs ōtsav de nec kjouganēr.
AUX-3P.PRES idea-PL green color-without at sleep.VN furious-ADV
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

Syntax