Néekh
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| Néekh | |
|---|---|
| nêekhr | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈnɛjexr̩] |
| Created by | Jukethatbox |
| Date | 2023 |
| Setting | Radael |
| Native to | Etzeán Island |
| Ethnicity | Néekhs |
| Native speakers | 4,235,000 (400 BH) |
Taskaric
| |
Early forms | Proto-Taskaric
|
Dialects |
|
 Etzeán Island. Most Néekh speakers live on the eastern side of the island, primarily in the Tûznam Basin. | |
Néekh (nêekhr; Néekh pronunciation: [ˈnɛjexr̩]) is a Taskaric language spoken by the Néekhs on Etzeán Island. With 4,235,000 native speakers, it is the most spoken language on the island by a narrow margin above Etzeá; most speakers live in the highly urbanised and economically developed Tûznam Basin(Néekh: Tîkhgnul), where the capital Arkhûz(Néekh pronunciation: [ˈærxʊz̥]) is located. It is an official language of the West Birnu Economic Union, and is the second most spoken Taskaric language after Izhkut.
Néekh is of the Iskvic branch of the Taskaric languages, making it a sister language of Iskvish; it is the only member of the Iskvic branch that is not endangered.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Velar | Palatal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | p /p/ | t, d /d̥/ | k /k/ | ||
| voiced | b /b/ | g /g/ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f /f/ | s, z /z̥/ | sh /ʂ/ | kh /x/ | |
| voiced | v /v/ | zh /ʐ/ | gh /ɣ/ | |||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ng /ŋ/ | ny /ɲ/ | ||
| Approximant | lateral | l /l/ | (ɭ) | ll /ɫ/ | ||
| semivowel | (w) | (ɰ) | y, gy /j/ | |||
| Trill | r /r/ | |||||
/r l m n/ can all be syllabic, usually replacing unstressed /ɐ/, such as palabâm [pæˈlæbm̩] "Muscat grape", or zhollâr [ˈʐoɫr̩] "north"
Alveolar obstruents are not affected by voiceness; though often transcribed as devoiced /d̥ z̥/, they may be variably pronounced as /t~d/ and /s~z/ respectively and are ultimately dependent on speaker.
/ɰ/ is an intervocalic allophone of /ɣ/, and has also been described as a vocalised allophone /ɨ/; however, the general consensus is that it is an approximant.
⟨gy⟩ only appears in Etzeá loanwords, such as gyêt [ˈjɛd̥] "hill" (from Etzeá gyed "mountain"); between vowels, it is pronounced as a doubled /jj/, such as pîgyero [pɪjˈjero] "country hick" (from Etzeá pellêro "thee")
Vowels
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tense | lax | tense | lax | |
| Close | i /i/ | î /ɪ/ | u /u/ | ô, û /ʊ/ |
| Mid | ê /ɛ/ | e /e/ | o /o/ | |
| Near-open | a /æ/ | â /ɐ/ | ||
Néekh vowels are contrastive by tenseness, with 5 tense and 4 lax vowels. Lax vowels are usually written with a circumflex, as in ⟨â î ô û⟩ for /ɐ ɪ ʊ/; ⟨ê⟩ contradictingly represents tense /ɛ/. They also appear non-syllabically at the end of diphthongs, as in ghroul [ɣroʊ̯l].