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 |
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, ,
This is the order of the Qwynegoldian alphabet. The Quadralónia dialects use Ää and Öö, while the Qwadralónia dialects instead use Ææ and 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 it stands for /k/. (The digraph <ch> however stands for/tʃ/.)
Grammars
Nouns
Type of noun declension | Declension | Prefix in Qwadralónia | Example in Qwadralónia | Prefix in Quadralónia | Example in Quadralónia |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | Singular | - | medi house |
- | medi house |
Number | Plural | d'- | d'medi houses |
d'- | d'medi houses |
Case | Possessive | r'- | r'medi house's |
r'- | r'medi house's |
Case | Genitive | ér- | ér- |
The thing that is possessed preceeds the noun with possessive or genitive case.
Verbs
Verbs in Qwynegold can end in -a, -i, -o, -n or -jn. The suffixes behave regularly when attached to vowel final verbs, but the -n and -jn class of verbs are a little different. In the following table, three verbs are used as examples: etoli (run), döyshän/duyshæn (*?) and trejn (train).
Adjectives
Comparison | Suffix in Qwadralónia | Example in Qwadralónia | Suffix in Quadralónia | Example in Quadralónia |
---|---|---|---|---|
Positive | - | guo - good lkongivas - forested terroevas - terrible |
- | gao - good lkonges - forested øedhæides - terrible |
Comparative | -ng | guong - better lkonging - more forested terroeng - more terrible |
-lio | gaolio - better lkongelio - more forested øedhæidelio - more terrible |
Superlative | -lao | guolao - best lkongilao - most forested terroelao - most terrible |
-lao | gaolao - best lkongelao - most forested øedhæidelao - most terrible |
Adjective morphophonology in Qwadralónia
Adjectives with the derivative ending -vas (see *Derivation below) lose the -vas when the comparative or superlative suffix is added (if the derivative ending contains the epenthetic -i-, the -i- is kept however.
Adjective morphophonology in Quadralónia
Adjectives with the derivative ending -(d)es (see *Derivation below) keep the -(d)e- but lose the -s when the comparative or superlative suffix is added.
Derivation
Name of derivation | Use | Affix in Qwadralónia | Example in Qwadralónia | Affix in Quadralónia | Example in Quadralónia |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | Turns a verb into a noun (the act of doing X) | <verb is reduced to it's stem> | etoli > etol run > running |
<verb is reduced to it's stem> | etoli > etol run > running |
Turns an adjective into a noun | <adjective is reduced to it's stem> | sardo > sard red > redness |
<adjective is reduced to it's stem> | sumhao > sumha red > redness | |
Turns a noun into an adjective (has the property of X) | -(i)vas | vest > vestivas west > western aqua > aquavas water > watery |
-(d)es | vest > vestes <bt> west > western aqua > aquades water > watery |