Luers

Luers (natively Luỳrs /lu̯ɿs˩˧˨/) is a classical language of Rhodinea and the literary and liturgical language of Gemmaism (sbuãeɂsdóngɂ Gyáerma /sbu̯ɛ̃ʔ˩˨.sdoŋʔ˥ ɟɛː˦ma˨/). It seems to have originated around 2500 years before the present, in the vicinity of the city of Hüsheleng (Ghuxeoláyjĩ́ /ʁu˨.ɕə˨.laj˦.ʑĩ˦/). In most of Rhodinea, it is taught in schools (the main exceptions being the east coast and Insular Rhodinea, where Gemmaists are a minority and Classical Bant Yul predominates); while it has no native speakers, it is used routinely in many fields of science, mathematics, and philosophy, especially in South Rhodinea. Many vernaculars of the south and southeast Rhodinean mainland are close relatives or descendants of Luers.

Luers is linguistically notable for its expansive vowel inventory of 17 vowels (11 oral, 5 nasal, and one apical vowel), each taking one of 6 tones, all written using a complex array of diacritics and silent letters in a script which is, at its most basic level, an abugida. It is also notable for the fact that the majority of its vocabulary was artificially coined by early Gemmaist religious figures, who expanded the language’s phonology by introducing tone/final combinations that could not have diachronically arisen. (Most of this coined vocabulary is specialized in nature, such as names of many high powers of 10 and 12, and does not survive in post-Luers vernaculars.)

Externally, Luers was made by User:CellularAutomaton for an unnamed worldbuilding project. It's aesthetically inspired by Tibetan and Wu Chinese, with a hint of French.

Diachronic notes

• originally pitch-accent system affected by final -s, -h, -2
• loanwords add more distinctions
• artificial coinings add more distinctions

Consonants

	Bilabial	Denti-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n	ɲ <ny>	ŋ <ng>
Plosive	pʰ <p> b	tʰ <t> d	cʰ <ky> ɟ <gy>	kʰ <k> g	(ʔ <ɂ>)
Affricate		tsʰ <ts>	tɕʰ <ch> dʑ <cj>
Fricative	f	s z	ɕ <x> ʑ <j>		h ɦ~ʕ~ʁ <gh>
Approximant	w	l̥ l ɹ <lh l r>	j <y>	(w)

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y <ui> ĩ		u
High-mid	e ø <oe> ẽ	ə <eo> ɿ <yr>	o
Low-mid	ɛ <ae> œ <oae> ɛ̃ <ãe>	ə <eo> ɿ <yr>	ɔ <ao> ɔ̃ <ão>
Low		a	ɑ̃ <ã>

(For multigraphs, the letter that takes tone diacritics is bolded.)

Tones

• High level 44 <á>
• High falling 53 <â>
• High checked 55 <áɂ>

• Low level 22 <a>
• Low rising-falling 231 <à>
• Low checked 12 <aɂ>

(high falling and low rising-falling tones can only appear in the first syllable of a word)

Onsets

m n ny ng p b t d ky gy k g ts ch cj f s z x j h gh w lh l r y
sm sn sny sng sb sd sgy sg sbf sts scj sgh sw slh sl sr sy
xm xn xny xng xgh xw xlh xl xr
hm hn hny hng hb hd hgy hg hbf hts hcj

Nuclei

	i	ui	ĩ	u	um	ung	e	oe	ẽ	eo	eom	eong	yr	o	om	ong	ae	oae	ãe	ao	ão	a	ã
i/ui							ie	wyoe	iẽ	ieo	ieom	ieong	iyr	wyo	wyom	wyong	iae	wyoae	iãe	iao	ião	ia	iã
u							ue	uoe	uẽ	ueo	ueom	ueong	uyr	uo	uom	uong	uae	uoae	uãe	iao	ião	ia	iã

Non-nasal nuclei with non-checked tones may have as coda: s, h, l, r, y, or w. Coda l or r is realized as a lengthening of the preceding vowel.