Oburax

Distribution

Varieties of Oburax have about 2.3 million speakers altogether, most in the (sovereign? vassal? don't hold your breth, I'm not here for conworlding) state of Oburath* (probably going to be located somewhere on Earth'), of which it is the sole language of administration. Oburax has been a literary language for about 800 years; there is no indigenous writing system (and I'll need to settle on the exact location before I can tell how it is written!).

There is much dialectal diversity; the eastern, west-central (on which modern standard Oburax is based) and southern dialect groups in particular stand out, though the language forms a fairly smooth dialect continuum. Sociolectal division is apparent in larger cities, and increasingly in smaller (semi)urban areas as well (with more cultural influence from the previous).

Although not endangered, Oburax is under loanword influx from the dominant languages of the region (again, TBD what that is exactly). There is no contact with particularly fancy endangered minority languages, altho there probably is a minor variety or two of close-by language groups particular to Oburath. The language has a few close relatives some ways off.

*Oburath and Oburax are placeholder names not in the language itself.

Phonology

Consonants

	s	sʲ	ʃ
p	t̪	tʲ	k
w- -b-	d̪	j- -dʲ-	-g-
mb	nd̪	ndʲ	ŋg
m	n̪	nʲ
	l	lʲ	r

The somewhat backwards distribution of initial glides vs. medial voiced stops originates in that the voiced stops (except /d/) originate from medial voicing of voiceless stops; modern medial voiceless stops come from former consonant clusters of sibilant+stop. Thus, some /p t tʲ k/ alternate with /b d dʲ g/. Medial [j w] do exist, but these are non-phonemic glides following a high vowel.

Clusters of voiced stop + voiceless stop are realized with glottalization of the 1st stop and weak voicing of the 2nd: thus /sud̪ka/ [sud̪̚ʔg̊a], /wæmbtʲek/ [wæmʔd̥ʲek].

Dialectal variation

In some dialects initial prenasal stops denasalize to yield new voiced stops; in some other, southern ones initial /w/, /j/ → /b~g/, /dʲ/. Also, in some dialects /p/ can become [ɸ] intervocally.

A more frequent dialectal (incl. colloquial standard speech) feature is the palatalization of /s l/ to /sʲ lʲ/ near front vowels, which tends to go with velarization of remaining /l/. More innovating dialects (which also realize /sʲ tʲ (n)dʲ/ as [ɕ tɕ (n)dʑ]) palatalize /ʃ/ as well.

Distribution

/w-/ does not occur before difthongs ending in /u/. Co-occurrence of two consecutiv prenasalized stops in a word is highly rare; from loanwords it seems a change *ⁿB-ⁿB → N-ⁿB has occurred historically. Clusters comprising two sibilants are prohibited, as are clusters of mixed palatalization (eg. ˣ/sʲt/, ˣ/lnʲ/; but /r/ may combine with consonants of any palatality).

Vowels

i		ɯ	u
e	ø
æ		ɑ	ɒ

Vowels are long in an initial syllable, except before a consonant cluster. This includes the prenasal stops, as well as some underlying clusters (classes σ₃, σ(σ)₂), so length may be considered marginally phonemic. Long /ɒ/ is typically [ɔː]. Word-initially, long /e ø/ gain a glide: [jeː ɥøː]

Standard Oburax also has the difthongs /ie iø iu eu au ou/. Before a consonant other than a velar or /ʃ/, /iu/ is realized as [y(ː)]. Distribution of the /iV/ difthongs and /ou/ is somewhat limited: they may only occur in monosyllabic roots. /au/ is rarely maintained in colloquial speech and is usually pronounced identical to /ou/; monofthongization to [o(ː)] is not infrequent, especially outside of lengthening environments, but is considered substandard.

In non-initial syllables, a simpler inventory is found: /i u e a ɨ ə/. The last two become [i e] near palatalized consonants, approximately [ɯ ə] otherwise. A distinction between /e/ and /ə/ may remain, as approximately [ɛ] vs. [e̱].

For Proto-Oburax, a 2×3 six-vowel system in the 1st syllable can be sketched, *i *ï *u *ä *a *å. This was expanded via medial glide loss:

• *ij → i, *iw → iu
• *ïj → i, *ïw → ï
• *uj → *yi → [y] (= /iu/), *uw → u
• *äj → eː → ie (but *äjⁿB → eⁿB), *äw → eu
• *aj → ei → e, *aw → au (→ ou)
• *åj → *øi → ø, *åw → au (→ ou)

Instances of /eu au/ may additionally go back to vowel breaking, eg. *äŋk *älk *aŋk *alk → euŋg eul(ə)k aul(ə)k.
(whence ou, *øː → iø? dialect mixture? loss of other medials?)

Eastern dialects

• ɒ → o
• ɯ → ʌ
• ie iø → i y (not universal; a few areas retain ie, as well as yø for *øː)
• iu eu → yu øu (→ y ø)
• ɑ → ɒ (most innovativ subdialects)

Southern dialects

• ø → o (archaism or innovation?)
• retention of /au/
• [y(ː)] → i
• fortition of transitional glides, eg. /pi.a/ [piːja], /ʃeu.a/ [ʃeuwa] > [piːdʲa], [ʃeuba] (not universal; may occur elsewhere too, cf. initial glide fortition?)
  

The Biru dialect has even added a stop at the end of monosyllabic words ending in a high vowel, if no coda otherwise exists:

• /i/ → /idʲ/, /ɯ/ → /ɯg/, /u iu eu au ou/ → /ub ib eb ab ob/

some length-retaining dialect:

• retention of long /iː ɯː uː/ ← *ij *ïw *uw etc.
• retention of /(j)eː (ɥ)øː/ (but *ei *øi still /e ø/)
• no long vowels for classes σ₃, σ(σ), σσ₁ (?)
• *a → /ɑː/ in some contexts?

other possible archaisms etc:

• [uj] for some [y(ː)]
• mid vowels 1: fully archaic [ei oi (j)eː (ɥ)øː], pro e ø ie iø
• mid vowels 2: in suffixed shortening environments [e ø], pro ie iø
• mid vowels 3: initially [jeː ɥøː], pro ie iø

Morphophonology

<T D> etc. are shorthand for the two series of coronals (or three sibilants).

Roots can be of eight different basic shapes:

• Monosyllabic: σ
  1. (C)V
     • Vowel-initial suffixes may lead to various vowel contractions.
  2. (C)VC
     • C₂, if a stop, may alternate between voiced (intervocally) and voiceless (otherwise).
  3. (C)VC(P)
     • C₃ is always a voiceless stop and only surfaces before vowel-initial suffixes. Appearing clusters include /pT/, /mbT/, /mbk/, /ST/, /Tk/, /d̪k/, /nDk/, /kT/, /ŋgT/.
  4. (C)V(S/P)
     • C₂ is always a sibilant, C₃ a voiceless stop. The stop is the default; the sibilant surfaces before certain consonant-initial suffixes, typically nasals (also //ST//+/L/ > /SL/). Some assimilations also apply, eg. /sʲ/+/l r/ > /sl sr/.
• Sesquisyllabic: σ(σ)
  1. (C)VC(ə)C
     • [ə] is lost before a vowel-initial suffix. C₂ may alternate between voiced and voiceless, if a stop. C₃ is always a voiceless stop or a liquid.
  2. (C)VC(ə)(C)
     • A small set of words with the consonantism //LN ld̪ rd̪//. Resembles the previous class, except C₃ fails to appear in certain forms (e.g. word-finally).
• Bisyllabic: σσ
  1. (C)VCəC
     • Most roots with C₂ and C₃ both sonorants fall here.
  2. (C)VCɨC
     • Generally invariant, save for possible stop voicing. C₃ is always a voiceless stop or a liquid; /t̪ tʲ lʲ/ are rare here.

Types σ₃, σ₄, σ(σ)₁, σ(σ)₂, σσ₁ are basically in complementary distribution: the inflection type is determined by the identity of C₂ and Cɜ. The main exception are //ST// roots, which may be σ₃ or σ₄, and nominal //pT// roots, which may be σ₃ or σ(σ)₂ (all verbs are the latter).

Derived stems may pattern similar to σ₁ roots, σσ₂ roots, σ(σ)₁ roots, or σ₄ roots.

Grammar

Core cases

• nominativ: -a; -na for difthongoid monosyllables?
• genetiv-locativ: -∅
• accusativ: -ek
• dativ:

Obliq cases

• stacked on the prev.
• 2×4 locational cases
• collectiv case

Number

• nominal marking deficient (only for acc, some nom?)
• verbal marking for subjects; objects in certain cases?

Lexicon

Semicompatible dump

/pil/ /sʲin/ /wik/ /ŋgip/ /rinʲəs/ /iu/

/dek/ /dek-s/ /derəm/ /tʲeŋg/ /we/ /keŋg/ /neʃ/ /jek/ /sedʲət/

/wæm/ /sʲæk/ /wæl/ /æ/

/tønʲ/ /søp/ /køt/ /møtət/

/sɯ/ /ŋgɯr/ /pɯ/ /tʲɯt/ /lɯp/

/tʲarəp/ /warət/ /ʃan/ /ʃand/ /lak/ /at/ /kau/ /samb/

/mbuk/ /dun/ /mugə/ /sum/ /sut/ /sudək/ /wus/ /tʃu/ /pu/ /rul/