Qazhrian
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.
Ideas
- Breton-ish but not too gibby. Get more palatal consonants.
- /ts, dz/ from Thensarian /θ ð/
- or > /š ž/?
- 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.
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 | v | 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 hë 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 -ë:
- 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
- Agledëv kje nous lelëzh krog kje sauv zhrofan.
- The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.