Tergetian vernaculars

Al-Qayljiyyah (the Arabic name for the language; the native name is a Ᵹaeiliᵹ) is a descendant of Old Irish that has been heavily influenced by Arabic. It is written using the Arabic script. Qaylji may be used in English as the related adjective. It has lost mutations and grammatical gender.

The resident Jewish minority speaks Judeo-Gaelic instead, which is grammatically slightly more conservative.

A Ᵹiumhúirie Ᵹaelaċ

The Gaelic Republic (a Ᵹiumhúirie Ᵹaelaċ /ə ɟʊmˈhuːrʲjə ˈgeːlˠəχ/) is a Goidelic-speaking, historically Muslim country comprising the entirety of the British Isles. It's often shortened to an Ᵹiumhúirie by its inhabitants. The indigenous Celtic speaking peoples converted to Islam around 11th century AD.

Today the Ᵹiumhúirie is a secular republic but many Islamic elements remain ceremonially.

Phonology

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar		Retroflex	Palatal	Dorsal	Glottal
			broad	slender
Nasal		m	n̪ˠ	nʲ			ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t̪ˠ	tʲ		c	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d̪ˠ	dʲ		ɟ	g
Fricative	voiceless	f	s̪ˠ	ɕ	ʂ	ç	χ	h
	voiced	v	z̪ˠ	ʑ			γ
Resonant		w	r̠ˠ~ɹˠ, lˠ	rʲ, lʲ		j

Especially in educated, careful and formal speech, vowel-initial words are pronounced with a glottal stop.

Obstruents are subject to Auslautverhärtung.

Vowels

/a ɪ ʊ ə ɐ a: (e:) ɵ: i: u: əj əw iə uə/

OIr /a:/ after non-velarized consonants merges with OIr /e₂ː/ and is pronounced [a:~ä:] in young urban secular speech e.g. Gaibd ar Raħmán [ɐbdʲəɹˠəh'ma:n] After velarized consonants [ɔː] is used

/ɐ/ is found as an "ayin-colored" reduced vowel in words of Arabic origin: e.g. Gaizíz /ɐˈʑiːʑ/ (male name)

Romanized spelling

Based on our Irish orthography, but:

• Lenition is always spelled with an overdot, never with h. This is because of Arabic clusters with /h/.
• /g/ (broad or slender) is spelled ⟨ᵹ⟩.

Spelling Arabic loans

The spelling of Arabic loans strives to be simultaneously as etymological as possible and as faithful to Gaelic orthographical rules as possible. Where conflict exists, this section will specify what to choose. The Arabic article is transliterated ail (except (1) when assimilated, and (2) in Alláh when pronounced with a broad L in Arabic), usually regardless of case endings preceding it. e.g. Gaibd ail Ceirím 'Abdul Kareem'.

• Geminates are always reflected: e.g. Ħaiᵹᵹ /hac/ 'Hajj'.
• /dʒ q k x t θ d ð tˁ s sˁ dˁ ðˁ/ are borrowed as /ɟ k c x tʲ tʲ dʲ zʲ tˠ sʲ sˠ zˠ zˠ/.
• ra ru rØ becomes broad /rˠ/ (unless the r is word final); ri is slender /rʲ/.
• Arabic /z ʃ ʔ ʕ h ħ/ are transliterated ⟨z š ' g h ħ⟩ /zʲ ʃ ʔ ʔ h h/; the resulting z and š are always slender.
• Arabic labials /m b f w/ ⟨m b f v⟩ are considered to be broadness; these consonants have lost palatalization even in native Qaylji words.
• Arabic /j/ is always ⟨j⟩ initially: jagъní /ja:nʲi:/ 'i.e., namely'
• /a i u a: i: u: aj aw/ become (b_b, b_s, s_b, s_s): a/ai/ea/ei, oio/oi/io/i, u/ui/iu/iui, á/ái/eá/eái, oío/oí/ío/í, ú/úi/iú/iúi, ae/é/aei/éi, ó/eo/ói/eoi.
• In Arabic loans, final consonant is always slender unless laryngeal, /r/ or emphatic (This is because of the genitive ending -i)
• Iotation in Arabic loans is spelled with an extra i before the vowel: ᵹiumhúirie /ɟʊmˈhuːrʲjə/ 'republic'. It palatalizes the preceding consonant unless preceded by o.
• Arabic 3ayn is spelled ⟨g⟩, but only acts as vowel coloring in Qaylji. It turns neighboring schwa to /ɐ/, and makes diphthongs /aj ai: ae: aw au: ao:/. and turns preceding /a i: u:/ to /a: iə uə/: mavdúg /məw'dˠuə/ 'spurious'.
• In Arabic clusters that violate leathan le leathan agus caol le caol, the Cyrillic hard sign ъ is used where the broadness switch happens. e.g. ceisъra /ˈcɛsʲrˠə/ 'kasrah (Arabic vowel sign)'. The hard sign is not necessary when a broad consonant is followed by /j/: šeaċsoie /ˈʃaxsˠjə/ 'character, personality', from Arabic šaxṣiyyah.

Grammar

Due to language contact, Qaylji grammar is more analytic than Irish, Gaelic or Welsh.

article = a (sg), na (plural); no mutation, no gender

Qaylji verbs have three forms:

• imperative: iṫ! 'eat! (sg)', iṫiu! (pl)
• verbnoun: iṫe (also a number-neutral imperative)
• passive participle: ite (only used adjectivally)

The older imperatives are currently losing ground to the verbnoun-based imperative.

Native -(a)iᵹ̇ verbs have the following forms:

• imperative: ceannaiᵹ̇! ceannú! 'buy!'
• verbnoun: ceannú
• passive participle: ceannaiṫe

Arabic verbs are borrowed in their VN forms:

• imperative forms ceitbiᵹ̇ 'write' (< katb, vn of kataba), saileáitiᵹ̇ 'pray' (< ṣalā™, vn of ṣallā)
• verbnoun forms ceitb, saileá
• passive participle forms ceitbiṫe and saileáitiṫe

Arabic broken plurals applied to native Gaelic words: madra 'dog' > mudar 'dogs'; caṫaoir 'chair' > cuṫuir 'chairs'. The regular plural of native -e/-a nouns is -(a)id, influenced by Arabic -āt.

Possession is always indicated with aᵹ, even with pronouns: a maisᵹíd aᵹ a caṫair aᵹainn /ʔə məsʲˈciːdʲ ʔəg ə ˈkahərʲ ˈʔagənʲ/ 'our city's mosque'.

3rd person pronouns are se, sí, sin ('he, she, it')

Wordlist

• já (literary) 'O'
• vacъt 'time'
• seága [sʲa:], [sʲa:ʔɐ] (archaic) 'hour'
• deacaíoca [dʲəˈki:kə] 'minute'
• teáinie ['tʲaːnʲjə] 'second'
• caidear 'fate; destiny' (< qadar 'divine predestination')