Terzemian

Terzemian
Pronounced:	tɜ˞ˈzɛj.mjən
Timeline and Universe:	Possible LLL candidate
Writing system:	Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, UTA
Genealogy:	Unique PIE, influences from Kartvelian, Turkic, Persian, Uralic and Slavic
Typology
Morphological type:	Mixed
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Lexically Split-S
Basic word order:	VSO
Credits
Creator:	Paul.w.bennett

Overview

Terzemian is an IE-derived conlang located along the west coast of the Caspian Sea. It is a satem language (the word for hundred is šündo (шүндо, şyndo, شَِنداَ /ʃyndo/) that uses the ruki rule, Grassman's law, Slavic-type depalatalization, z/r alternation, r/n alternation, a three-group vowel harmony system, and two phases of lenition (the first word-final, and the second approximately intervocalic).

Phonology

Consonants

p b			t d				k g	kʷ gʷ	q ɢ	ʔ
	f v		s z	ʃ ʒ	ɬ ɮ		x ɣ	xʷ ɣʷ	χ ʁ	h
			ts	tʃ	tɬ
		w			l	j
m			n				ŋ	ŋʷ
			ɾ ɹ

Vowels

Depending on your viewpoint, there are either 17, 14, 9, 7, 6, or 3 vowels. To be more specific, there are 3 vowel harmony groups, with 3 vowels in each group (making up the "Nine" vowel system), plus four metavocalic symbols: я, ю, ə, and ←.

Seventeen / Fourteen Vowel System

In external analysis, there seem to be three suprasegmental (word-length) vowel-harmony phonemes, and five segmental vowels (forming a grid of fifteen phonetic vowels), plus two metavocalic symbols. By this count, there are seventeen distinct phonetic vowels.

In practical terms, any word may have any of the seven historical surface vowels as it's "Root" vowel (the first vowel of the lexical root), and belongs to one of one of three harmony groups. Other vowels in a word are then given by one of seven metavocalic symbols. Thus, we find in the first root syllable of a word one of (a, e, i, o, u, ɨ, ɯ), in prefixes one of (α, ε, ω, я, ю, ə), and all other places any of (α, ε, ω, я, ю, ə, ←). By this count, there are two sets of seven vowels in complementary distribution, though this is usually called the "Fourteen" vowel system to avoid confusion with the "Seven" vowel system used in the UTA and Arabic scripts.

Root Vowel Compatibility

Harmony	a	e	i	o	u	y	ɯ
i		e	i				ɯ
a	a	e		o
u				o	u	y

Metavocalic Symbols

Harmony	ε	α	ω	я	ю
i	i	e	ɯ	iː	ɯw
a	e	a	o	ja	aː
u	y	o	u	ju	uː

In addition, the metavowels ə and ← respectively stand for "the root vowel" and "the vowel immediately to the left".

Seven Vowel System

The Seven Vowel system is retained in writing in the UTA and Arabic scripts, but in modern times, /y/ and /ɯ/ have merged under Soviet influence (being in complementary distribution, and not found in Russian), and the Six Vowel system has replaced it for the Latin and Cyrillic scripts, and in modern pronunciation (in all but the most careful / formal contexts).

i y				ɯ u
	e		o
		ɑ

Six Vowel System

i		ɨ		u
	e		o
		ɑ

Writing System

Terzemian has been written in a variety of scripts. In the modern era, a modified Latin alphabet is used. During the Soviet era, Cyrillic was used, and can still be found. Before the Soviet era, a form of the UTA was used alongside Arabic. The Arabic script can still be found in general use in certain areas, as well as among the Muslim population throughout the region. Despite (or perhaps because) the fact that the move to the Latin script was a deliberate process to reflect post-Soviet independence, there is also a small folkish movement to return to the UTA script. In short, the learner of Terzemian should concentrate on learning the Latin script, but should be prepared to encounter Cyrillic, UTA, and Arabic on a more or less daily basis.

Logical Layout

The following tables illustrate the writing systems with a layout that is in accordance with the Phonology tables above.

Modern Latin

p b			t d				k g	k˚ g˚	ḳ ġ	ʼ
	f v		s z	š ž	ł ł̣		x ǧ	x˚ ǧ˚	x̣ ǧ̇	h
			c	č	tł
		w			l	j
m			n				ň	ň˚
			ṛ r

i		y		u
	e		o
		a

UTA

p b			t d				k g	kъ gъ	ķ g̓	q
	f v		s z	ş ƶ	ł ľ		x ƣ	xъ ƣъ	x̧ ƣ̓	h
			c	ç	tł
		w			l	j
m			n				ŋ	ŋъ
			r ř

i y		ı u
e		o
	a

Cyrillic

п б			т д			к г	къ гъ къ	қ ӷ	Ӏ
	ф в		с з	ш ж	ӆ ԓ	х ғ	хъ ғъ	ҳ ӷ̵	һ
			ц	ч	тӆ
		ў			й
			л
м			н			ң	ңъ
			р ʀ

и		ы		у
	э		о
		а

Arabic

پ ب			ت د			ك گ
	ف ڒ		س ز	ژ ش		خ غ	ه
			څ	چ
		و			ي
			ل
م			ن			ڽ
			ر

هِ	هَِ		هَ
اِ	اَِ		اَ
اٍ		ا	اً

Alphabetical Orders

The tables above approximately follow the IPA layout for the sounds of Terzemian. The correct orders of the writing systems of Terzemian are:

• Latin: Aa Ää Åå Bb Cc Čč Dd Ee Ff Gg Ǧǧ Ġġ Ǧ̇ǧ̇ Hh Ii Kk Ll Łł Mm Nn Ňň Oo Öö Pp Rr Ṛṛ Ss Šš Tt Uu Üü Vv Ww Xx X̣x̣ Yy Zz Žž ˚ ʼ
• Cyrillic: Аа Әә Бб Вв Гг Ғғ Ӷ̵ӷ̵ Дд Ее Жж Зз Һһ Ии Йй Кк Лл Ӆӆ Ԓԓ Мм Нн Ңң Оо Өө Пп Рр Rʀ Сс Тт Уу Ўў Үү Фф Хх Ҳҳ Цц Чч Шш Щщ Ъъ Ыы Ьь Ээ Ɔɔ Юю Яя ӏ
• UTA: Aa Əə Bb Cc Çç Dd Ee Ff Gg Ƣƣ Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Ŋŋ Oo Ɵɵ Ɔɔ Pp Rr Ss Şş Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz Ƶƶ Qq Ъъ
• Arabic: ا ب ت پ ح خ څ چ د ر ز ژ س ش غ ف ك گ ل م ن ڽ ه و ۆ ي هِ هَِ هَ اِ اَِ اَ اٍ اً

The following chart shows the other writing systems in the latin order:

Latin

Aa

Ää

Åå

Bb

Cc

Čč

Dd

Ee

Ff

Gg

Ǧǧ

Ġġ

Ǧ̇ǧ̇

Hh

Ii

Kk

Ll

Łł

Mm

Cyrillic

Аа

Әә

Ɔɔ

Бб

Цц

Чч

Дд

Ээ

Фф

Гг

Ғғ

Ӷ̵ӷ̵

???

Һһ

Ии

Кк

Лл

Ӆӆ / Ԓԓ

Мм

Latin

Nn

Ňň

Oo

Öö

Pp

Rr

Ṛṛ

Ss

Šš

Tt

Uu

Üü

Vv

Ww

Xx

X̣x̣

Yy

Zz

Žž

˚

ʼ

Cyrillic

Нн

Ңң

Оо

Өө

Пп

Rʀ

Рр

Сс

Шш

Тт

Уу

Үү

Вв

Ўў

Хх

Ҳҳ

Йй

Зз

Жж

Ъъ

ӏ

Щщ

Ыы

Ьь

Юю

Яя

Ее

Notes:

• The Cyrillic letters Щ, Ъ, and Ь are not used in native words.
• The Cyrillic letters Е, Ю, and Я are occasionally used in native words.
• The Arabic characters هِ هَِ هَ use the letter ه as a base character for illustration. The actual vowels are written as just the diactrics, attached to the preceeding consonant.

Sound Changes

See the Sound Changes subarticle.

Morphosyntax

Harmony

Fricative

The metasymbol ɧ represents an assimilatory fricative, as follows:

Next Consonant	p,b,m,f,v,w	t,d,n,s,z,l,r	č,š,ž,y	k,g,x,ǧ	h
Outcome	f	s	š	x	∅

If there is no next consonant in the root, ɧ assimilates to the previous consonant.

If there is no next consonant and no previous consonant in the root, ɧ becomes h.

Verbs

Agreement

Agreement prefixes

Conj.	Argument	1st Person	2nd	3rd
1	A	ǧ-	z-	ε-
1	P	-	ю-	c-
2	A	-	smω-	s-
2	P	əm-	jω-	-

Aspect, Mood, Intensity, and Attitude

Additional verb characteristics are expressed in suffixes, including the following.

• Aspect
  • Inceptive
  • Abortive
  • Completitive -юǧ
  • Participle -яnz
  • Perfect -gεv
• Mood
  • Imperative (use bare root)
  • Negative -nε
  • Optative/Hortative/Jussive -zюn
  • Causative/Volition (A -> P, Cause -> A)
• Intensity
  • More Intense -sεz
  • Less Intense -də (NB: same as nominal diminutive)

Suffixes may be chained in a head-modifier (right-branching) manner.

Nominals

Gender

There is pragmatic gender marking -- Nouns are marked for a gender system that combines traditional gender and pragmatic roles.

Genders, with examples, are:

1st Person	-αm	rižem	I, the king
2nd Person	-αs	rižes	You, the king
3rd Animate	-αt	rižet	He, the king
3rd Inanimate	∅	riž	It, the kingdom	čom	The land
Negative Animate	-n←	rižni	No king
Negative Inanimate	α-	eriž	No kingdom	očom	No land

Cases

Case marking is ergative for Inanimate and Negative subjects, and accusative in all other cases.

Cases are:

Erg	-εr	--	čomyr
Nom/Abs	∅	rižet	čom
Acc	-←n	rižeten	--
Dat	-əm	rižetim	čomom
Gen	-εs	rižetis	čomys
Ins/Prl	-ω	rižety	čomu
Com/Loc	-b←	rižetbe	čombo