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: | /kwy˖.ne.gold/ |
| Timeline and Universe: | Real world, modern time |
| Species: | Human |
| Spoken: | Qwynegold |
| Total speakers: | Appr. 46,000 |
| Writing system: | Extended Latin alphabet |
| Genealogy: | Isolate |
| Typology | |
| Morphology: | {{{morph}}} |
| Morphosyntax: | {{{ms}}} |
| Word order: | SVO |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | {{{creator}}} |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| ä˕ | a | a |
| ʌ | ʌ | a |
| eˣ˗ | e | e |
| e˔˖ | e˔ | e |
| i˗ | i | i |
| i˖ | i˖ | i |
| oˣ˓ | o | o |
| o˒˖ | o˖ | o |
| u˓˕ | u | u |
| u˒˖ | u˖ | u |
| y˓˗ | y | y |
| y˒˖ | y˖ | y |
| æ˗ | 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 e˔ | |
| F f | f | |
| G g | g | |
| H h | h | |
| I i | i i˖ | |
| J j | j | |
| K k | k | |
| L l | l | |
| M m | m | |
| N n | n | |
| O o | o o˖ | |
| P p | p | |
| Q q | k | |
| R r | r | |
| S s | s | |
| T t | t | |
| U u | u u˖ | |
| V v | v | |
| W w | w | |
| X x | ks | |
| Y y | y y˖ | |
| Z z | ts z | |
| Ä ä Æ æ | æ ɛ | |
| Ö ö Ø ø | ø œ | |
| £ £ | ɕ | |
| § § | ɧ |
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 | e˖ | e |
| i | i˖ | i |
| o | o˖ | o |
| u | u˖ | u |
| y | y˖ | 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 /se˖n/ syik /syik/ - cyik /sy˖ik/ - syiq /syi˖k/ - cyiq /sy˖i˖k/ chjuz /tʃjuts/ - chyuz /tʃju˖ts/ or /tʃjuz/ - zhyuz /tʃju˖z/ - tshjuz /tʃju˖z/
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.
