Moshurian dialects

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Due to the large amount of speakers of Moshurian, regional variations of the language have developed over centuries of history.

Specific phenomena

N-Schwa shift

The N-Schwa shift, also called the Àrenàk shift,(Moshurian: gélakh àrenàk) refers to the historical(and ongoing) phonological shift of the Moshurian /ə̃/ phoneme, called the àrenàk([ə̃ˈɽɛn.ə̃k]) natively and the "n-schwa" among Anglophone linguists.

In Middle Moshurian

Until Middle Moshurian, no separate schwa-type phoneme existed, and if they did as a phone, it was probably an allophone of /a/ or /u/. However, one key aspect of the development of Middle Moshurian was the development of new phonemes, which included a nasalised vowel, which initially probably sounded like an /ã/ or /æ̃/. However, with the development of Modern Moshurian, many of these new letters created for these new phonemes were dropped, as were (for the most part) the phonemes as well.

Modern Moshurian

Sometime around 350 BH, Moshurian linguists began to note that when speaking quickly, lower-class Moshurian speakers began pronouncing the new /ã/ phoneme(now firmly an [ã] in most dialects) as an [ɐ̃] or a centralised [ã], and in some extreme cases as an [ə̞̃]. As the Industrial Revolution led to large social mobility for some lower-class people, the pronunciation of /a/ as [ɐ] and /ã/ as [ɐ̃] began to seep through into higher-class and thus official, standard speech. By 400 BH, linguists working on the Great Linguistic Reforms, based on the work of linguists like Wilérid(344) and Fhúis-Kharden(358) on the former's study on the shift all the way to [ə̃] and the latter's analysis of the resurgence of the phoneme, around 2/3 of the members of the Great Linguistic Council voted for the reintroduction of the letter for the new [ə̃] phoneme.

Continuing shift

Historically, the ancient /ã/ phoneme shifted to a new /ə̃/ phoneme. Many believed this would be the extent of the shift, and left it at that, with notes on the positional shift being left to the footnotes. However, after observing the linear "rising" line of best fit of the shift, some joked that the shift might just keep going, and by 500 BH some would pronounce /ə̃/ as /ɯ̃/.

Funnily enough, that is exactly what happened.

Though most speakers in Taráhus still pronounce /ə̃/ as [ə̃], The N-Schwa has shifted considerably from the standard in many other dialects. For example, in some Loïha dialects, the N-schwa is realised as an [ɘ̠̃], while in Dmuriékh(Far East) dialects, some speakers have been noted to pronounce the N-Schwa as an [ɯ̃] or [ʊ̃], fulfilling the joke prophecy.

Regional variations

Standard dialect

The standard dialect of Moshurian is, according to the Ministry of Linguistic Regulation(MLR), officially the Taráhus dialect spoken in the capital, although Tárahus is so large that several districts have developed their own dialects, so it is still unclear on which is considered the standard within the family of Taráhus dialects.

Inner Taráhus dialect

The Inner Taráhus dialect is generally considered by Moshurian linguistics to be what the MLR constitution means in the line:

"[...] The dialect spoken around the capitol and the [MLR] shall be considered the dialect to be used for the transmission of necessary information to Moshurian citizens. For non-Moshurian areas of the Empire, the standard [dialect][1] of the most prominent non-Moshurian language shall be used to convey said information."

However, this quote can be considered quite vague, as the MLR and the wider capitol has changed location many times in Taráhus. One year, the MLR headquarters was located in the district of Oźmaneli, where a borderline unintelligible dialect of Moshurian is spoken, and, for that year, the bizarre Oźmaneli dialect was considered the standard, causing great confusion to non-Oźmanelis.

Oźmaneli dialect

The Oźmaneli dialect is a dialect spoken in the inner city district of Oźmaneli. It has garnered much attention from linguists, as its pronunciation is widely different from typical pronunciation.

Additionally, it is the only dialect to utilise the zero copula, an effect where the verb "to be" is not used in a statement, e.g. instead of "I am tired" it would be "I tired".

Phonetic differences

In general, the pattern seems to be that voiceless consonants tend to get voiced, but this is not always the case.

  • /ŋ/ is pronounced [ɳ] or [ɟ][2]
  • /x/ is pronounced [ɣ]
  • /ð/ is pronounced [θ][3]
  • /b/ is sometimes pronounced [ʙ] before a /ɽ/.
  • Speaking of /ɽ/, it is pronounced as a geminated [ll]
Morphological differences
Oźmaneli rhyming slang

Very similar to Cockney rhyming slang in London, Oźmaneli has its own rhyming slang, that often leaves many non-Oźmanelis stringed(confused).

  • abaza(football) rhymes with dzul iz upaza(colour and shape) → dzul
  • zebatalomh(confuse) → usuŋtua sibatal(stringed instrument) → usuŋtua

Oalan dialect

The Oalan dialect is the specific dialect of Moshurian spoken in the city of Oalan and its surrounding suburbs. Although not as dissimilar from the standard as the Oźmaneli dialect, and having relatively few morphological differences, phonologically it differs quite a bit, and is thus often considered by those from Taráhus as an "uneducated" and "rural" dialect. This interpretation is considered quite offensive by Oalanians, who in return see the Taráhusians as "egotistic bourgeois moral absolutists", or just "rich assholes" for short. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the local branch of the Moshurian Socialist Party often use rich Taráhusians as scapegoats in economic troubles, and are thus quite popular in the region.

Phonological differences

  • Glottal or velar fricatives(/h/ or /x/) surrounded by vowels are either not pronounced or non-syllabic.
    • Middle Moshurian ukhalan[4] → (possibly) Oalan
  • Initial /u/ is pronounced [o] or [ɔ].
    • uthilikh /ˈuð.ilix/ → [ˈoθ.ilih]
  • Final /x/ is pronounced [h] or not at all
    • semikh → [semih~semy]
  • Final unrounded vowels are rounded.
    • asti /asti/ → [asty]
  • Voiced fricatives at the beginning of syllables, unless velar or glottal and the next phone is a vowel, are unvoiced.
    • eźir /ɛˈʒiɽ/ → [ɛˈʃiɽ]
  • Phonemic /ɪ/ can change in multiple ways(though this often depends on region):
    • It can merge into /i/, meaning there is no phonological distinction between words like poliyar [polijaɽ] "miraculous" and polëyar [polɪjaɽ] "machine"
      • polëyar [polɪjaɽ] → [polijaɽ]
      • nër [nɪɽ] → [niɽ]
    • It can be realised as [ɨ](mostly rural realisation)
      • lëŋomh [lɪŋom] → [lɨŋom]

Loïha dialect

The Loïha dialect is the dialect of Moshurian speakers who reside in the Golden Plain. Loïha is possibly the most distinct but still intelligible dialect of Moshurian. This is because there are very few morphological differences, but quite large sound changes.

A major feature of Loïha vernacular that distinguishes it from the standard is that the phonemes /e/ and /i/ are pronounced the same, usually either one or the other. In IPA this is often written as [e~i].

The Loïha dialect is also often split into two groups of dialects: Eastern and Western Loïha. Eastern tends to conform more with the standard, and Western tends to diverge more.

Sound changes

  • From /ð/ → [θ](Western) or [ð](Eastern)
  • From /x/ → [ʁ](Western) or [χ](Eastern)
  • /e/ and /i/ merge into [e~i]. Western speakers lean towards [i] more often than [e], while Eastern speakers do the opposite. However, morphological distinction breaks down in both cases, as in:
    • uthilikh → anything between [uθeliʁ] to [uðileχ]

Odezyë dialect

The Odezyë dialect is phonetically not very different from standard Moshurian, but it does have a bizarre mannerism that cannot be found in any other dialect- that being the suffix -áktu. It is placed directly after any sort of proper noun, including names. The origin of this is heavily debated- although the most prominent theory claims that it may come from the Aquq genitive suffix -et’ḛ.

Far East dialect

The entire existence of the Far East Moshurians(Dmuriékh; Moshurian: [dˈmuɽi̯ˌex]) is shrouded in mystery, but they seem to speak a certain dialect of Moshurian that only slightly varies from the standard Taráhus dialect.

Phonological differences

  • /u/ → [ʊ] or [ɯ] in some cases
  • [VN][5] → [Ṽ].

Sépenzg dialect

Morphologically speaking, the Sépenzg dialect does not differ much from other Moshurian dialects, though phonologically, there is one major difference: Roōka's law did not occur in the dialect, and to this day the /ɸ/ allophone is still pronounced [ʃ].

The Sépenzg dialect is an example of "regressive phonology" in Yeldhic languages, where a register or dialect of a language is isolated from a major sound change or sound changes. There is also "regressive morphology", where a dialect does not experience morphological change that other dialects did. Though this is significantly rarer in Yeldhic languages, it can be found in some Misunic languages, and is often what leads to the diversion of languages.

  1. ^ The original constitution uses the word "edition"(kuchbarà) to refer to standard dialects of minority languages, which is kind of confusing.
  2. ^ Why /ŋ/ is pronounced [ɟ] is one of the greatest mysteries of Moshurian.
  3. ^ The pronunciation of /ð/ as [θ] is a consistent pattern among most non-standard dialects of Moshurian, although some Oźmanelis pronounced /ð/ as [ɕ].
  4. ^ Often mentioned as a possible etymology for the city of Oalan.
  5. ^ Vowel before nasal consonant. Quite common in the Eastern subgroup of dialects.
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