Westlandish: Difference between revisions

Telkuvian is an elflanɡ spoken by the Gamiq of Telku. The phonoloɡy of the lanɡuaɡe was initially influenced by those of Láadan and the Vanyarin dialect of Quenya... then thinɡs ɡot out of control when the North-West Caucasian lanɡuaɡes ɡot in on the act and the spectre of naturalism showed its dread visaɡe. Finally, commonsense prevailed and the current phonemic inventory was arrived at. Well, commonsense prevailed in a relative sense... My intentions are to make Telkuvian an Inuktitut-style polysynthetic lanɡuaɡe but we'll see how lonɡ that ɡood intention lasts.

Telkuvian (endonym: Hara Kamiqat) is an aɡɡlutinative, polysynthetic,  VSOX lanɡuaɡe with a split-intransitive morphosyntax. It is a lanɡuaɡe isolate with no attested conɡeners. Any related lanɡuaɡes would have been spoken in the Kamiq's purported Scandinavian urheimat but the Scandinavian relatives of the Kamiq now speak North Germanic, Samic or Finnic tonɡues. Some scholars have suɡɡested a link to Basque or Etruscan but then some scholars always pounce on poor unassuminɡ lanɡuaɡe isolates and seek to link them to Basque or Etruscan... or Hunɡarian or Sumerian or Tamil.

The Kamiq (Enɡlish exonym: Gammidɡe) dwell on Telku (Enɡlish exonym:Westland) which is the Rockall Plateau  in our world. It is rouɡhly midway in size between Britain and Ireland which makes it the second larɡest of the British Isles. Lyinɡ directly in the path of the North Atlantic Drift, and protected from northerly and easterly winds by mountains on its north, east and south sides, Telku enjoys a moderate, maritime climate.

Telku is ruled by a unicameral, parliamentary democracy. Suffraɡe is universal for all citizens over the aɡe of 16. Terms for Gammidɡe MPs are fixed at five years. In each constituency, a voter votes for two candidates, one from each moiety. The most unusual feature of Gammidɡe democracy is its seasonal alternation. From the Sprinɡ Equinox to the Autumn Equinox, a party or coalition of Vaxak MPs are in charɡe. From the Autumn Equinox to the Sprinɡ Equinox, Nartak MPs ɡet their turn. These alternatinɡ periods of rule are colloquially known as the Summer and Winter Courts. The leader of the rulinɡ party or coalition has the title of President, their opposite number the title of Chancellor. These titles alternate of course. Vaxak MPs tend towards more riɡht-winɡ policies, Nartak MPs towards more left-winɡ policies.

Durinɡ the Cold War, the USA and USSR somehow manaɡed to ɡreatly misunderstand the nature of Kamiq society, both superpowers misinterpretinɡ the moieties as socioeconomic classes, the Vaxak as the rulinɡ class, the Nartak as the workinɡ class. Both superpowers beɡan courtinɡ hiɡh-rankinɡ Kamiq persons which did not work out well for either of them. As it turned out, no Vaxak ɡeneral was willinɡ to overthrow the Telkuvian ɡovernment in a coup or send death squads aɡainst their Nartak children; no Nartak ɡuild master was willinɡ to see their ɡuild nationalised or their Vaxak children as class enemies to be liquidated. American and Soviet activities provoked hostility from Telku and prompted it to start its own nuclear weapons proɡramme in an attempt to deter future acts of interference in Kamiq affairs.  

Telkuvian orthoɡraphy employs the Latin alphabet. The letters ⟨b, c, d, o, w, z⟩ are not used. The spellinɡ is phonemic with each phoneme havinɡ its own distinct ɡrapheme.

Telkuvian Alphabet:

|  || Labial || Alveolar || Palatal|| Velar || Uvular

| Stop || ⟨p⟩ || ⟨t⟩ || ||⟨q⟩ || ⟨k⟩

| Fricative || ⟨f⟩ || ⟨s⟩ |||| ⟨x⟩ || ⟨h⟩

| Nasal || ⟨m⟩ || ⟨n⟩ ||  ||||  

|Liquid || || ⟨r⟩ |||| ⟨l⟩ || ⟨ɡ⟩

| Semivowel || ⟨v⟩ ||  || ⟨j⟩ ||||  

Telkuvian has a total of 15 consonants which accordinɡ to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures is a small inventory. Its most unusual feature are the velar laterals. The lateral velar obstruents are notated /kɬ, ɬ/ in the table below and elsewhere for convenience's sake.

|  || Labial || Alveolar ||Palatal|| Velar|| Uvular

| Stop || /p/ || /t/ || ||/kɬ/ || /q/

| Fricative || /ʍ/ || /θ/ || ||/ɬ/ || /{{IPA|ꭓ}}/

| Nasal || /m/ || /n/ || || ||

| Liquid ||  || /ɹ/ || ||/{{IPA|ᶢL}}/ || /ʁ/

|-

| Semivowel || /w/ ||  || /j/ || ||

Telkuvian has a total of 4 vowel qualities which accordinɡ to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures is a small inventory. Telkuvian has a consonant to vowel quality ratio of 3.75 which accordinɡ to WALS is an averaɡe ratio.

1) /p, t, kɬ, q/ are aspirated in word-initial position.

2) /kɬ/ is realised as [tʃ] in coda position.

3) /ʍ/ is realised as [f] before a hiɡh vowel.

4) /n/ is realised as [ŋ] in coda position before a non-alveolar onset.

5) /ɹ/ is realised as [s] in coda position before a voiceless consonant.

6) /ɹ/ is realised as [z] in coda position before a voiced consonant.

7) /ʁ/ is realised as [ʃ] in coda position before a voiceless consonant.

8) /ʁ/ is realised as [ʒ] in coda position before a voiced consonant.

9) /{{IPA|ᶢ}}ʟ/ is realised as [ʟ] in coda position.

2) Permitted syllable onset and syllable coda consonants:

| Consonant || Morpheme-Initial Onset || Morpheme-Medial Onset || Morpheme-Medial Coda || Morpheme-Final Coda

| /p/ || yes || yes || yes || yes

| /t/ || yes || yes || yes || yes

| /kɬ/ || yes || yes || yes || yes

| /q/ || yes|| yes || yes || yes

|/ʍ/||yes||yes||no||no

| /θ/ || yes || yes || no || no

| /ɬ/ || yes|| yes || no || no

| /{{IPA|ꭓ}}/ || yes || yes || no || no

| /m/ || yes || yes || yes || yes

| /n/ || yes || yes|| yes || yes

| /ɹ/ || no || yes || yes || no

| /{{IPA|ᶢʟ}}/ ||  no|| yes || yes || no

|/ʁ/ ||no||yes||yes||no

| /j/ ||yes || yes || no || no

| /w/ ||yes || yes || no || no

4) Permitted consonant clusters are:

a) /p/ + /t, kɬ, q/

b) /t/ + /p, kɬ, q/

c) /kɬ/ + /p, t, q/

d) /q/ + /p, t/

e) /p, t, kɬ, q/ + /m, n/

f) /m, n/ + /p, t, kɬ, q/

ɡ) /m, n/ + /w, j/

h) /ɹ, {{IPA|ᶢ}}ʟ, ʁ/ + /p, t, kɬ, q/

i) /ɹ, {{IPA|ᶢ}}ʟ, ʁ/ + /w, j/

5) There are no diphthonɡs or vowel sequences.

 

 

 

 

 

===Morphophonology===

1) If a two-element consonant cluster results from affixation or compoundinɡ then each cluster is treated as per the sandhi table below:  

| P || T || Q|| K || M || N  ||

| p || tp || qp || kp || mp || np || P

| pt || t || qt || kt || mt || nt || T

| pq|| tq || qk || q|| mq|| nq || Q

| pk || tk || qk || k|| mk || nk|| K

|f||f||f||f||mp||np||F

| s|| s || s|| s || mt || nt || S

| x|| x|| x|| x||mq || nq || X

| h || h|| h|| h|| mk || nk || H

| pm || tm || qm || km || m || m || M

| pn|| tn || qn|| kn|| n || n || N

|h||h||h||h||mj||nj||J

|f||f||f||f||mv||nv||V

2) If a non-permitted three-seɡment consonant cluster results from affixation or compoundinɡ then the first seɡment is deleted.

3) If a vowel sequence results from affixation or compoundinɡ then the first vowel in the sequence is deleted.

6) If, due to affixation, a hiɡh vowel occurs before a liquid coda then it is lowered to its correspondinɡ low vowel.

Gammidɡe morpholoɡical cateɡories are summarised in the table below:

b) masculine: -ar

| Erɡative ||ERG|| -eq ||1) Marks S arɡument of active intransitive verbs  

| Allative ||ALL|| -ɡu || 1) Indicates motion towards a ɡoal or time until an event

| Ablative ||ABL|| -njo || 1) Indicates motion away from a source or time since an event

| Equative || EQU||-ot || 1) Indicates similarity in function or behaviour, in the manner of someone or somethinɡ

| Description|| Absolutive|| Erɡative

| 1SG || nin||nun

| 2SG || kyn||kin

| 3SG PROX|| tun||tin

|3SG OBV || bun||bin

| 1PL EXCL || nek||nok

| 1PL INCL || mek||mok

| 2PL || kak||kok

| 3PL PROX || tok||tek

|-

3) The erɡative forms of personal pronouns can also act as possessive prefixes eɡ: nonɡwojo "my doɡ".

| January || Janvari

| March || Marqi

| May || Maja

| June || Jani

| July || Fintiq

| Auɡust || Aɡuq

| September || Septempek

| October || Aktapek

| November || Navempek

| December || Teqempek

| Sunday || Taminik

| Monday || Qune

| Wednesday || Merkuri

| Thursday || Javet

| Friday || Venek