Qwynegold

Qwynegold is an artlang, spoken in the island of Qwynegold, which is located in the Malackan strait. The language has borrowed heavily from European languages, as well as its neighboring Asian languages. Qwynegold has two main dialect groups: Quadralónia /kwad.ra.loˑ.nia/ and Qwadralónia /kwʌd.ra.loˑ.nia/.

Qwynegold
Pronounced:	/kwy̟.ne.gold/
Timeline and Universe:	Real world, modern time
Species:	Human
Spoken:	Demokrītivas Kyngestāt r'Qwynegold/Demokriites Kyngestaat r'Qwynegold
Total speakers:	Appr. 46,000
Writing system:	Extended Latin alphabet
Genealogy:	Isolate
Typology
Morphology:	{{{morph}}}
Morphosyntax:	{{{ms}}}
Word order:	SVO
Credits
Creator:	Qwynegold
Created:	1998 (?) - 2008

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Phonology

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m						n						ŋ
Plosive	p	b					t	d					k	g
Fricative			f	v			s	z	ʃ		ɕ		ɧ		h
Affricate							ts		tʃ	dʒ
Velar cluster		kw					ks
Long consonant							tt	nː lː
Approximants		w										j
Trill								r
Lateral Approximant								l

The above table shows the exact phonetic transcription of the vowels, but the following, simpler transcription will be used from here on:

Exact transcription	Simple transcription	Orthography
ä̞	a	a
ʌ	ʌ	a
e̠̽	e	e
e̝̟	e̝	e
i̠	i	i
i̟	i̟	i
o̜̽	o	o
o̹̟	o̟	o
u̜̞	u	u
u̹̟	u̟	u
y̜̠	y	y
y̹̟	y̟	y
æ̠	æ	ä/æ
ɛ	ɛ	ä/æ
ø	ø	ö/ø
œ	œ	ö/ø

Qwynegold has three length distinctions in vowels and two in consonants. The long consonants are considered to be in two different syllables at once, hence they are here transcribed as [p.p], [b.b], etc. There are three special long consonants that act as single phonemic units: [lː], [nː] and [tt]. These do not have a syllable break between them, like the others have. Besides the [lː], [nː] and [tt], the forms [l.l], [n.n] and [t.t] also exist.

Orthography

Alphabet and pronunciation

A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z, Ä ä/Æ æ, Ö ö/Ø ø,  ,  

Letter	Pronunciation
A a	a ʌ
B b	b
C c	s k
D d	d
E e	e e̝
F f	f
G g	g
H h	h
I i	i i̟
J j	j
K k	k
L l	l
M m	m
N n	n
O o	o o̟
P p	p
Q q	k
R r	r
S s	s
T t	t
U u	u u̟
V v	v
W w	w
X x	ks
Y y	y y̟
Z z	ts z
Ä ä Æ æ	æ ɛ
Ö ö Ø ø	ø œ
	ɧ
	ɕ

This is the order of the Qwynegoldian alphabet. The Quadralónia dialects use Ää and Öö, while the Qwadralónia dialects use Ææ resp. Øø. Half-long vowels are indicated by an acute accent (´) over the vowel in both dialects. Long vowel are marked by macron (¯) in Quadralónia, and by doubling the vowel in Qwadralónia.

Qwynegold also uses several digraphs as can be seen in this table (capital V stands for any vowel):

Digraph	Pronounciation
ch	tʃ
dz	dʒ
ng	ŋ
quV	kwV
sh	ʃ
xh	kʃ

Tense and lax phonemes

Lax	Tense	Letter
a	ʌ	a
e	e̟	e
i	i̟	i
o	o̟	o
u	u̟	u
y	y̟	y
æ	ɛ	ä/æ
ø	œ	ö/ø
ts	z	z

Some of the phonemes (16 vowels and 2 consonants) in Qwynegold come in pairs, which could be described as tense and lax. (Note however that Qwynegold does not have vowel harmony.) The lax phonemes are much more common than the tense ones. Both phonemes in a pair share the same letter, but whenever a tense phoneme appears in a word, it is indicated by a change of one of the other letters in the same syllable.

Ordinary letter	1° alternation	2° alternation
ch	zh	tsh
i	y
j	y
k	q	c
quV	kwV	qw
s	c
x	ks
xh	ksh
z	ts

If there are two tense phonemes in the same syllable, then two letters will alternate, if there are two letters that are capable of that. But if there is only one alternable letter, then it will turn into its 1° form. If there are three tense phonemes in one syllable, then a similar manner is used except with the 2° form.

Some examples with random syllables: lak /lak/ - laq /lʌk/ sen /sen/ - cen /se̟n/ syik /syik/ - cyik /sy̟ik/ - syiq /syi̟k/ - cyiq /sy̟i̟k/ chjuz /tʃjuts/ - chyuz /tʃju̟ts/ or /tʃjuz/ - zhyuz /tʃju̟z/ - tshjuz /tʃju̟z/

Silent <e> and <h>

Besides altering one of the other letters, there is another way to mark that a tense phoneme is present. If tense phoneme is in the last syllable of the word, a silent <e> may be added at the end of the word. If a word ends with an <e> that is supposed to be pronounced, then a silent <h> is added at the end of the word.

The letter <c>

The letter <c> stands for /s/ when followed directly or indirectly by <e>, <i>, <y>, <ä/æ> or <ö/ø> in the same syllable, or if it's syllable-final and preceded either directly or indirectly by any of the abovementioned vowels. In all other cases (except for the digraph <ch>) it stands for /k/.