Lisun Ar-Luyuqii
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 18:34
Alright, please be gentle with me, as this is the first time that I am going to post a conlang onto this site. I have filled out the basics of the grammar and am building up the lexicon in a very unfriendly, disorganized google document, but posting to this forum forces me to organize my thoughts, so I finally decided to do it. I will try to do my best to explain "from the beginning", so to speak, but some stuff may be written on assumption.
Some Background
The Lisun Ar-Luyuqii (Which roughly translates to "Tongue of the Drowned") is a Semitic language spoken by a race of religious dissidents and pariah folk collectively known as the Drowned, so named because they live in a cold, turbulent archipelago called the Drowned Isles. The conworld in which these speakers inhabit is geography/astronomy wise completely different from our own world, but this world is still populated by human beings (and their myriad valences), and it has some familiar language families thereby (such as Semitic and Indo-European). It will also, occasionally, have familiar *languages* in those families- there is a wayward dialect of English spoken in a kingdom of this world, for example, and an unusual form of Arabic as well, although neither of these are widespread(ironically though they are geographically adjacent to each other, but that's not relevant yet).
The subject of this thread, the Lisun Al-Luyuqii, is not entirely familiar. It is neither descended from nor closely related to major semitic languages such as Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian or Hebrew, and while it does have a very small amount in common with South Semitic languages (OSA mostly), Luyuqii has many peculiarities of its own, both in phonology and morphology, that set it apart from other members of the semitic family. (It has a similar definite article to Arabic but this is the only similarity and is coincidental in-universe).
Phonology
Phonological Shifts
Several major shifts have occurred between the hypothetical Proto-Semitic and Luyuqii. Some of these are predictable and have been observed in other Semitic languages while others are unique shifts. A dramatic, presumably early shift is the merging of many of the laryngeal consonants [ħ, ʕ & ɣ] (formerly known as gutturals, if you're confused) into a single phoneme [ʁ]. [x], as well, has been absorbed into [h]. The PS phonemes /ð/ and /θ/ front into /v/ and /f/ resepctively, in an unusual case of labialization. The shins also undergo wild changes. /ʃ/ merges into /s/, much like in Arabic, and /ɬ/ shifted into /z/ while the original phonemic /z/ palatalized. The emphatic consonants /ṣ́, ṣ, ṭ, θ'/ have all shifted into different positions as well. /Ṣ́/ delateralized and then became voiced, turning into /d͡ʒ/, while ṣ underwent the commonly attested shift to /t͡s/, although it palatalizes into /t͡ɕ/ when preceding fronted vowels. Some spoken dialects have seen it shift into /t͡ʃ/ altogether. The /ṭ/ and /θ'/ merge into a depharyngealized /θ/, which is more on the /s̪/ side than anything else.
Phonemes & Allophones
Consonants
/p b t d k g q ʔ/ <p b t d k g q '>
/m n ɾ l j w/ <m n r l y w>
/f v θ s z ʒ ʁ h/ <f v þ s z j x h>
/t͡s t͡ɕ ʧ/ <ç>
/d͡ʒ/ <dj>
/ð/ <d>
/ð/ is an allophone that occurs when /d/ precedes stops and nasals.
Short Vowels
/a ɪ ʊ/ <a i u>
/ə i u/ <a i u>
Long Vowels
/ɐ: i: u:/ <aa ii uu>
Diphthongs, Monophthongs, and the "ä"
/ɑ y o/ <ä ü o>
/aj/ <ay\ai>
There are eight phonemic vowel positions in Luyuqii, which echo the eight proto Semitic phonemic vowels /a, i, u, ā, ī, ū, aj & aw/. The "a" "i" and "u" are /a ɪ ʊ/ respectively when preceding a consonant, /a ĭ ŭ/ when preceding a vowel, and /ə i u/ word-finally. The long vowels except for "aa" are the same in most environments, while one of the PS diphthongs, /aw/, has monophthongized into /o/. /au/ has also undergone this process. "Ä" and "ü" are peculiar cases. The former is what happens when /ɐ:/ is word initial or stressed word final, while the latter occurs when a /ŭ/ becomes adjacent to an /i/ or /j/. Occasionally unstressed, non word-initial /ɪw/ will also become /y/, but this is rare, usually not represented in the orthography.
From this point on I will be using the orthography for description and will only be using the IPA sparingly, and in square brackets [].
Phonotactics (?)
Luyuqii's syllable structure is fairly similar to that of Aramaic, in that it can, to some extent, tolerate initial and final two-consonant clusters (many semitic languages only tolerate final). The series of permissable structures is as follows:
(C)CV(C)
(C)VC(C)
However, there are exceptions to this. For one, liquids can never actually be in word-initial position in consonant clusters (an unwritten schwa would be inserted in stems that appear to do this in the orthography). Schwa prefixing or insertion also occurs when a cluster shares both the same place and manner of articulation. This rule also applies to the second and third consonants in a CvCCCV cluster, on the rare occassion that loanwords call for it.
Example Words
Birþus (Magic) - This is a standard CVC-CVC pattern, the underlying form being "Birþ"(CVCC) with a nominative noun case ending "-us".
Sbaatum (Swimming, gerunditive adjective) - CCVC-VC with a valid consonant cluster.
Rwaayum (Social) - in this case there is an untranscribed schwa between the /r/ and the /w/.
Rüyus (Friend) - This is a less-than obvious case of monophthongization- the triliteral root for friendship is RWY, but the stock vowel is a short /i/. The basic Semitic nominal pattern is CvCC-(case ending), so the /iw/ in Riwyus becomes /ü/.
Bolus (A herding domesticate, similar to a bovinesque Ibex) - The actual root is BaWL but in this pattern the theme vowel <a> precedes the <w> and makes <o>.
Some Background
The Lisun Ar-Luyuqii (Which roughly translates to "Tongue of the Drowned") is a Semitic language spoken by a race of religious dissidents and pariah folk collectively known as the Drowned, so named because they live in a cold, turbulent archipelago called the Drowned Isles. The conworld in which these speakers inhabit is geography/astronomy wise completely different from our own world, but this world is still populated by human beings (and their myriad valences), and it has some familiar language families thereby (such as Semitic and Indo-European). It will also, occasionally, have familiar *languages* in those families- there is a wayward dialect of English spoken in a kingdom of this world, for example, and an unusual form of Arabic as well, although neither of these are widespread(ironically though they are geographically adjacent to each other, but that's not relevant yet).
The subject of this thread, the Lisun Al-Luyuqii, is not entirely familiar. It is neither descended from nor closely related to major semitic languages such as Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian or Hebrew, and while it does have a very small amount in common with South Semitic languages (OSA mostly), Luyuqii has many peculiarities of its own, both in phonology and morphology, that set it apart from other members of the semitic family. (It has a similar definite article to Arabic but this is the only similarity and is coincidental in-universe).
Phonology
Phonological Shifts
Several major shifts have occurred between the hypothetical Proto-Semitic and Luyuqii. Some of these are predictable and have been observed in other Semitic languages while others are unique shifts. A dramatic, presumably early shift is the merging of many of the laryngeal consonants [ħ, ʕ & ɣ] (formerly known as gutturals, if you're confused) into a single phoneme [ʁ]. [x], as well, has been absorbed into [h]. The PS phonemes /ð/ and /θ/ front into /v/ and /f/ resepctively, in an unusual case of labialization. The shins also undergo wild changes. /ʃ/ merges into /s/, much like in Arabic, and /ɬ/ shifted into /z/ while the original phonemic /z/ palatalized. The emphatic consonants /ṣ́, ṣ, ṭ, θ'/ have all shifted into different positions as well. /Ṣ́/ delateralized and then became voiced, turning into /d͡ʒ/, while ṣ underwent the commonly attested shift to /t͡s/, although it palatalizes into /t͡ɕ/ when preceding fronted vowels. Some spoken dialects have seen it shift into /t͡ʃ/ altogether. The /ṭ/ and /θ'/ merge into a depharyngealized /θ/, which is more on the /s̪/ side than anything else.
Phonemes & Allophones
Consonants
/p b t d k g q ʔ/ <p b t d k g q '>
/m n ɾ l j w/ <m n r l y w>
/f v θ s z ʒ ʁ h/ <f v þ s z j x h>
/t͡s t͡ɕ ʧ/ <ç>
/d͡ʒ/ <dj>
/ð/ <d>
/ð/ is an allophone that occurs when /d/ precedes stops and nasals.
Short Vowels
/a ɪ ʊ/ <a i u>
/ə i u/ <a i u>
Long Vowels
/ɐ: i: u:/ <aa ii uu>
Diphthongs, Monophthongs, and the "ä"
/ɑ y o/ <ä ü o>
/aj/ <ay\ai>
There are eight phonemic vowel positions in Luyuqii, which echo the eight proto Semitic phonemic vowels /a, i, u, ā, ī, ū, aj & aw/. The "a" "i" and "u" are /a ɪ ʊ/ respectively when preceding a consonant, /a ĭ ŭ/ when preceding a vowel, and /ə i u/ word-finally. The long vowels except for "aa" are the same in most environments, while one of the PS diphthongs, /aw/, has monophthongized into /o/. /au/ has also undergone this process. "Ä" and "ü" are peculiar cases. The former is what happens when /ɐ:/ is word initial or stressed word final, while the latter occurs when a /ŭ/ becomes adjacent to an /i/ or /j/. Occasionally unstressed, non word-initial /ɪw/ will also become /y/, but this is rare, usually not represented in the orthography.
Spoiler:
Phonotactics (?)
Luyuqii's syllable structure is fairly similar to that of Aramaic, in that it can, to some extent, tolerate initial and final two-consonant clusters (many semitic languages only tolerate final). The series of permissable structures is as follows:
(C)CV(C)
(C)VC(C)
However, there are exceptions to this. For one, liquids can never actually be in word-initial position in consonant clusters (an unwritten schwa would be inserted in stems that appear to do this in the orthography). Schwa prefixing or insertion also occurs when a cluster shares both the same place and manner of articulation. This rule also applies to the second and third consonants in a CvCCCV cluster, on the rare occassion that loanwords call for it.
Example Words
Birþus (Magic) - This is a standard CVC-CVC pattern, the underlying form being "Birþ"(CVCC) with a nominative noun case ending "-us".
Sbaatum (Swimming, gerunditive adjective) - CCVC-VC with a valid consonant cluster.
Rwaayum (Social) - in this case there is an untranscribed schwa between the /r/ and the /w/.
Rüyus (Friend) - This is a less-than obvious case of monophthongization- the triliteral root for friendship is RWY, but the stock vowel is a short /i/. The basic Semitic nominal pattern is CvCC-(case ending), so the /iw/ in Riwyus becomes /ü/.
Bolus (A herding domesticate, similar to a bovinesque Ibex) - The actual root is BaWL but in this pattern the theme vowel <a> precedes the <w> and makes <o>.