Zemljask

Zemljask
Reć Zemljska
Pronunciation	[ret͡ɕ zémʎska]
Created by	Aleisi Galan
Setting	Slovenia, Northern Croatia
Native to	The State of Zemlia, Illyria-Zemlia (RI&Z)
Native speakers	4 575 376 (2012 census)
Language family	Indo-European Slavic Isolate Old-Zemljask Zemljask
Early form	Old Zemljask
Standard form	Standard Zemljask
Dialects	Maribor (Marborgask) Sereian/Northern (Serejask) Ljubljana (Lavjanask) Zagreb (Jezemljask) Central (Medzask) Triestino/Southern (Tragešćask) Dalmatian (Dalmacask)
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Illyria-Zemlia (RI&Z)
Regulated by	The Council of the Zemljask Language (Rozjana Zemljska Reći)
Borders of the Zemljask language (Mladźe Zemljska Reći)

Zemljask (autoglossonym: reć zemljska; Zemljask: [ret͡ɕ zémʎska]) is an isolate Slavic language with strong influence from Vulgar Latin, Italian, and most of all Illyrian, the Latin-derived language to the south which historically controlled Zemlia until the Illyrian Civil War of 1978-1982. After this war, Zemlia became an independent country, with Zemljask as its sole official language, while Illyrian was relegated to regional minority status soon after the conclusion of the conflict.

While its vocabulary derives for the most part from Proto-Slavic, Latin influence is most notable in its grammar, as well as the colloquial speech of the southern regions.

Etymology

In English, the name of the language, Zemlian (officially Zemljask) derives directly from the name of the country - Zemlia. This name, in turn, derives from Zemljask "Zemlja", meaning land. This is a shortening of the traditional, now patriotic, Naša Zemlja (lit. our land) which, over time, became simply Zemlia. The name for the language is a derivative of this, being composed of the roots zemľa+-ьskъ, forming Zemľьskъ, which evolved into the modern Zemljask.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

	Labial		Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar
Nasal		m		n				ȵ		(ŋ)1
Stop	p2	b	t2	d					k2	ɡ
Affricate			t͡s	d͡z	t͡ʃ	d͡ʒ	t͡ɕ3	d͡ʑ3
Fricative	f4	v5	s	z	ʃ	ʒ			x
Approximant						j
Lateral				l5				ȴ
Trill				r

Notes:

1. [ŋ] is an allophone of [n] when it occurs next to a Velar consonant (one of [k], [g], [x]) E.g. Pečenka [peˈt͡ʃɛŋ.ka]
2. The consonants /p/, /t/, /k/ are usually aspirated [p^h], [t^h], [k^h]. E.g. Peska [ˈp^hes.k^ha]
3. The pronunciation of the palatal consonants /t͡ɕ/ and /d͡ʑ/ varies by region. The Northern pronunciation is [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ], matching the Standard language as set out by the Mladźe Zemljska Reći while in the Central to Intermediate Southern regions, the typical pronunciation is [t͡ʃ], [d͡ʒ], and in the Dalmacask and Tragešćask dialects it typically is [t͡s], [d͡s]. The Southern feature is shared with some dialects of Polish.

Sveća

• [ˈsfe.t͡ɕa] Standard and Northern
• [ˈsfe.t͡ʃa] Central
• [ˈsfe.t͡sa] Southern

1. [f] is a very rare sound in Zemljask and appears primarily in words loaned from other languages. Some speakers in informal settings may merge this sound with [v].
2. The sounds [v] and [l], in coda position, lenite to the approximant [ʋ].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Closed	i		u
Mid	e	(ə)r̩1	o
Mid-Open	ɛ2	-	ɔ2
Open		a

Notes:

1. The syllabic consonant [r̩] is typically (and officially permitted to be) pronounced as [ər].
2. the vowels [ɛ] and [ɔ] are both phonetic and phonemic, being vowels in their own right (written as <è> and <ò> respectively) as well as allophones of [e] and [o] when preceeded by a Soft-Consonant.

Prosody

Stress in Zemljask, in theory, is unpredictable, however it most often is placed moderately heavily on the initial syllable.

• Alovac [ˈalovat͡s]
• Alovca [alˈoʋt͡sa]

This root demostrates both initial and penultimate stress - like all polysyllabic nouns with a mobile vowel - with the initial being in the aC form, and penultimate in the Ca form.

• Fanèla [fa.ˈnɛ.la]

In most Illyrian loans, and a few native Zemljask words, the stress falls on the penultimate syllable. If this word had come from Proto-Slavic, it would likely be pronounced with initial stress: [ˈfa.ne.la]

• Gavati [ga.ˈva.ti]

For verbs, the stress on the infinitive is penultimate, while the primary stress when conjugated falls upon the root-final syllable.

• Gavljo, Gavaš [ˈgaʋ.ʎo], [ˈga.vaʃ]

However, the stress falls on the penultimate syllable for endings composed of multiple syllables:

• Gavljenje [gaʋ.ˈʎɛ.ɲɛ]
• Gavate [ga.ˈva.te]

Morphophonology

There exists in Zemljask a rich morphophonology of numerous variation in stems that take place under a variety of conditions:

1. Consonants are split into hard and soft, based on their phonetic value and may alternate between these forms under certain conditions (typically Hard to Soft):

Table of Alternations
Hard	m	n	p	b	t	d	k	g	f	v	s	z	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	h	l	-
Soft	mlj	nj	plj	blj	ć	dź	č	dž	flj	vlj	š	ž	š	ž	č	dž	ć	dź	š	rj/š	lj	j