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Thuldian phonology and orthography

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short summary of the phonology and orthographies of Thuldian

This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 21 May 2024, 20:59.

[comments] dukg Thuldian (3 articles)

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1. nouns and adjectives in Thuldian ? ?

2. Thuldian phonology and orthography ? ?

3. verbs in Thuldian ? ?

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Menu 1. introduction to phonology 2. phonemic inventory 3. umlaut 4. stress assignment 5. introduction to orthography 6. cyrillic orthography 7. cyrillic numbers 8. latin orthography 9. runic orthography 10. keyboard

[edit] [top]introduction to phonology

Tuldian has a very complex phonology and syllable structure, allowing a maximum of CCCVCCC syllables in extreme circumstances. There are 28 consonants, and 7 vowels, 5 of which can be long or short, and a number of diphthongs. 2 of the consonants, /f/ and /x/ only appear in loanwords, and /z/ is relatively rare in native words, largely but not exclusively occuring in foreign loans.

[edit] [top]phonemic inventory

consonants

	labial		alveolar				post alv.		palatal		velar
	labial		plain		alveolar		post alv.		palatal		velar
nasal	m		n							ɲ		[ŋ]
plosive	p	b	t	d	t͡s	d͡z	t͡ʃ	d͡ʒ	c	ɟ	k	g
fricative	(f)	v	θ	[ð]	s	z	ʃ	ʒ			(x)
approx.			r	rʲ		l			j	ʎ

Voiced and unvoiced consonants assimilate to subsequent consonants, e.g. атберт /adbert/ or гэ́рбс /ɟe:rps/, plosives are not aspirated, unlike in english, and /n/ turns into /ɲ/ before a palatal consonant and /ŋ/ before a velar. Stops that occur after short unstressed vowels before another vowel are geminated, and doubled consonants are geminated, even at the end of words. /v/ turns into /u/ before another consonant.

The preservation of θ is quite interesting for a continental Germanic language, and not all dialects retain the sound, with many speakers pronouncing it as /t/, and others still as /t̪/ or /tʰ/ to distinguish it from plain /t/.

vowels
The vowel inventory of Thuldian is relatively complicated, with 9 vowels which each have long and short versions. The quality of a long vowel versus that of a short vowel is very similar. /e(ː)/ is pronounced /je(ː)/ at the beginning of words or following a vowel. The language has ten diphthongs, /ai̯ ui̯ ɛi̯, uɔ, ie̯, au̯, iu̯, ɔi̯, ɛu̯, ɔu̯/, although /ɔi̯/ and /ɔu̯/ only appear in loanwords. Vowel length is entirely phonemic and plays a very critical role in distinguishing meaning, for example, ис /jis/ - he/she vs и́с /jiːs/ - they.

	front				central		back
close	i	iː	y	yː	ɨ	ɨː	u	uː
mid	e	eː					ɔ	ɔː
mid	ɛ	ɛː					ɔ	ɔː
open	[æ]	[æː]			a	aː

[edit] [top]umlaut

There are several different categories of ablaut that exist in Thuldian. First of all, there are the categories of strong verb, that derive their tense and person marking through ablaut of the stem vowel. Then there is also umlaut.

[edit] [top]stress assignment

The primary stress of Halkujacia words primarily falls on the first long vowel of the main stem, unless that long vowel falls in the last syllable, otherwise, it falls on the penultimate syllable of the main stem. Stress isn’t normally phonemic, and largely predictable and is thus not normally noted. However, quite rarely, it can differentiate certain words if a prefix is involved. For example, бада́т (to frighten) is pronounced /ˈbadaːt/, but бада́т (overdo), derived from да́т (to do) with a prefix, is pronounced /baˈdaːt/.

[edit] [top]introduction to orthography

The history of Tuldian literacy is very long. The oldest examples of written Tuldian are rune stones from the 8th century. These runic inscriptions were largely religious or in reference to battles, edicts, charms, curses and grave stones. Runes were replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet following Christianisation, based on that of Old Church Slavonic after the 13th century, and by the 19th century, it largely resembled the modern orthography.

[edit] [top]cyrillic orthography

The modern Cyrillic orthography today contains 40 letters, and 12 others formed through digraphs or diacritics. It almost entirely resembles that of the early cyrillic alphabet, although some letters have been adapted to the actual pronunciation of thuldian.

letter	IPA	Letter name	letter	IPA	Letter name
А а	a	аз	Р р	r	рыці
А́ а́	aː	аз лангѡ	Рь рь	rʲ	рыці менкѡ
Б б	b	бук	С с	s	слѡв
В в	v	вѣ́д	Т т	t	твіру
Г г	g	гла́го	У у	u	ук
Гь гь	ɟ	гла́го менкѡ	У́ у́	uː	ук лангѡ
Д д	d	добру	Ф ф	f	фрыт
Е е	ɛ	ест	Х х	x	хѣр
Е́ е́	ɛː	ест лангѡ	Ѡ ѡ	uɔ	ѡмега
Э э	jæ	эр	Ц ц	t͡s	ці́
Э́ э́	jæː	эр лангѡ	Ч ч	t͡ʃ	черю
Ж ж	ʒ	жівѣт	Ш ш	ʃ	ша
Ѕ ѕ	d͡z	ѕѣлу	Щ щ	ʃtʃ	щѣ
З з	z	зе́лэ	Ы ы	ɨ	ырэ
И и	ji	ик	Ы́ ы́	ɨː	ырэ лангѡ
И́ и́	jiː	ик лангѡ	Ѣ ѣ	e	ѣт
Й й	j	ай	Ѣ́ ѣ́	eː	ѣт лангѡ
І і	i	іж	Ю ю	ju	ю́
І́ і́	iː	іж лангѡ	Ю́ ю́	juː	ю́ лангѡ
К к	k	ка́ку	Ѯ ѯ	ks	ѯі́
Кь кь	c	ка́ку менкѡ	Ѱ ѱ	ps	ѱі́
Л л	l	люже	Ѧ ѧ	ja	ѧс
Ль ль	ʎ	люже менкѡ	Ѧ́ ѧ́	jaː	ѧс лангѡ
М м	m	мыт	Ѫ ѫ	jɔ	ѫс
Н н	n	наш	Ѫ́ ѫ́	jɔː	ѫс лангѡ
Нь нь	ɲ	наш менкѡ	Ѳ ѳ	θ	ѳіта
О о	ɔ	он	Ѵ ѵ	y	ѵжіца
О́ о́	ɔː	он лангѡ	Ѵ́ ѵ́	yː	ѵжіца лангѡ
П п	p	по́кой

The soft sign ь never occurs before a vowel, and instead uses the j- vowel forms. Thus кь + а = кѧ, ль + о = лѫ etc. Also, when there are two palatised consonants one after the other, only the second one is indicated. Thus, /kaʎcam/ is written as калкѧм rather than калькѧм. Also, ѫ at the end of a word represents a /juɔ/ sound.

Епроклама́да ҂аѧи҃і.анѳу и҃і.новембрі́, ір Латвеѧс валсц утесапена, латвѫ вѣ́стуріскренус ландас мевѣно́нт у ат латвѫ на́цеѧс невіжла́кені валствілэні у ѳай неатнемумас сѵпанѕеѳага́ ректа́м сыпарка́нт, кне латвѫ на́цеѧс, ѳерас жѵлас у култу́рас анве́рі у атвеѯі́гу ѳуп ы́жус гаранте́и, рэгьшапті у Латвеѧс люкас рикѵ́рвіні у савіѫту ыквѣна піѳрі.

[edit] [top]cyrillic numbers

Although in practice the Cyrillic numeral system has largely been replaced with Arabic numberals in daily usage, in formal writting it is still sometimes found, especially for things like dates or centuries. It plays a similar role to Roman numerals in English. The system as found in Thuldian is as follows:

value	cyrillic	value	cyrillic	value	cyrillic
1	а	10	і	100	р
2	в	20	к	200	с
3	г	30	л	300	т
4	д	40	м	400	ѵ
5	е	50	н	500	ф
6	ѕ	60	ѯ	600	х
7	з	70	о	700	ѱ
8	и	80	п	800	ѡ
9	ѳ	90	ч	900	ѧ

The order of the system is not based on that of the cyrillic alphabet but rather that of the greek, with a seperate letter assigned to each number between 1-10, each multiple of ten and multiple of hundred. Numbers are generally written from largest to smallest, for example ѯд = 64, with the exception of 11-19, which due to the system being borrowed from that of Church Slavonic, are written as а҃і, в҃і, г҃іetc., rather than іа҃, ів҃, іг҃ as expected.

For numbers larger than 999, there are signs used to modify the number to produce larger numbers. They are as follows:

name	multiplier	sign
ѳу́сундес знакс	1,000
анталя	10,000
легионс	100,000
карь	1,000,000
крѡнс	10,000,000
ѳру́ѯ	100,000,000
анталя ма́га	100,000,000

[edit] [top]latin orthography

The latin orthography is relatively new, only coming into use within the last hundred years. It based on that of Latvian, with some influence from Lithuanian. It enjoys some limited use in learning material and amongst Lutheran and Catholic Tuldians, but is much less commonly used than the Cyrillic orthography.

letter	IPA	Letter name	Letter	IPA	Letter name
A a	a	az	M m	m	myt
Ā ā	aː	az languo	N n	n	naš
B b	b	buk	Ņ ņ	ɲ	naš menkuo
C c	t͡s	cī	O o	ɔ	on
Č č	t͡ʃ	čeŗu	Ō ō	ɔː	on languo
D d	d	dobru	P p	p	pōkoi
Dz dz	d͡z	dzėlu	R r	r	ryci
E e	ɛ	est	Ŗ ŗ	rʲ	ryci menkuo
Ē ē	ɛː	est languo	S s	s	sluov
Ė ė	e	jėt	Š š	ʃ	ša
Ë ë	eː	jėt languo	T t	t	tviru
F f	f	fryt	Ț ț	θ	țita
G g	g	glāgo	U u	u	uk
Ģ ģ	ɟ	glāgo menkuo	Ū ū	uː	uk languo
H h	x	hėr	V v	v	vëd
I i	i	iž	X x	ks	xī
Ī ī	iː	iž languo	Y y	ɨ	yŗe
J j	j	ai	Ȳ ȳ	ɨː	yŗe languo
K k	k	kāku	Ẏ ẏ	y	ẏžica
Ķ ķ	c	kāku menkuo	Ÿ ÿ	yː	ẏžica languo
L l	l	ļuže	Z z	z	zēļe
Ļ ļ	ʎ	ļuže menkuo	Ž ž	ʒ	živėt

Eproklamāda 1918.anțu 18.novembrī, ir Latvejas valsc utesapena, latvjuo vësturiskrenus landas mevėnōnt u at latvjuo nācejas nevižlākeni valstviļeni u țai neatnemumas sẏpandzețagā rektām syparkānt, kne latvjuo nācejas, țeras žẏlas u kultūras anvēri u atvexīgu țup ȳžus garantēji, ŗeģšapti u Latvejas ļukas ŗikÿrvini u savijotu ykvėna pițri.

[edit] [top]runic orthography

Old futhark runes represent the first alphabet ever used to write the ancestor of Thuldian. However, they largely stopped being used in the 12th century after christianisation began. In the modern day, there are some neo-pagan revivalists who have brought back the usage of runes, and modernised the system to include sounds that didn't exist in the 8th century. There are several pagan publications today that use the runic alphabet to some capacity.

letter	IPA	letter name	meaning	letter	IPA	letter name	meaning
ᚠ	p	ᚠᚬᚳᚢ	wealth	ᛉ	z	ᛉᚹᚨᛚᚷᚢ:	swallow
ᚢ	u	ᚢ:ᛞᛁᛉ	odin	ᛊ	s	ᛊᛟ:ᛚᚬ	sun
ᚦ	θ	ᚦᚢ:ᚱᛉ	thunder	ᛏ	t	ᛏᚨᛁᚾᛉ	day
ᛆ	ɔ	ᛆᛊᛦ	ear	ᛒ	b	ᛒᚨᚱᚳᚨ	birch
ᚱ	r	ᚱᛁ:ᚳᛊ	king	ᛖ	æ	ᛖ:ᛒᛁᛉ	Aegir
ᚳ	k	ᚳᛆᛚᛉ	hail	ᛗ	m	ᛗᚨᚾᛊ	human
ᚷ	g	ᚷᛆᛞᚨ	gold	ᛚ	l	ᛚᚨᚷᚢᛉ	lake
ᚬ	e	ᚬᚱᛞᚨ	earth	ᛟ	ɨ	ᛟ:ᛒᛖ	creek
ᚹ	v	ᚹᚨᛚᚢᛉ	stick	ᛦ	uɔ	ᛦᛊᛏᚱᚨ	east
ᚻ	x	ᚻᚱᛦᚾᛉ	raven	ᛞ	d	ᛞᚨᛡᛉ	Tiw
ᚾ	n	ᚾᚨᛞᚱᚢ:	snake	ᚣ	y	ᚣ:ᚳᛉ	elk
ᚨ	a	ᚨ:ᛡᚨ	island	ᛡ	j	ᚨᛁᛊᚨ	ice
ᛁ	i	ᛁᛚᚠᛦ	lip	ᚴ	t͡s	ᚴᛟᚳᚢ:	cheek
ᛓ	f	ᚠᚨᚾᛌᚬ	marsh	ᛣ	d͡z	ᛣᚬᛒᚨ	gift

There is also the palatalisation symbol ᛌ and the long vowel symbol : that combine with certain letters to make extra sounds that didn't exist previously in the original runes.

ᚷᛌ	ɟ	ᚨ:	aː
ᚳᛌ	c	ᚬ:	eː
ᛚᛌ	ʎ	ᛁ:	iː
ᚾᛌ	ɲ	ᛆ:	ɔː
ᚱᛌ	rʲ	ᚢ:	uː
ᚴᛌ	t͡ʃ	ᛖ:	æː
ᛣᛌ	d͡ʒ	ᚣ:	yː
ᛏᛌ	ʃ	ᛟ:	ɨː
ᛞᛌ	ʒ

ᚬᚠᚱᛆᚳᛚᚨᛗᚨ:ᛞᚨ 1918.ᚨᚾᚦᚢ 18.ᚾᛆᚹᚬᛗᛒᚱᛁ:, ᛁᚱ ᛚᚨᛏᚹᚬᛡᚨᛊ ᚹᚨᛚᛊᚴ ᚢᛏᚬᛊᚨᚠᚬᚾᚨ, ᛚᚨᛏᚹᛡᛦ ᚹᛖ:ᛊᛏᚢᚱᛁᛊᚳᚱᚬᚾᚢᛊ ᛚᚨᚾᛞᚨᛊ ᛗᚬᚹᛖᚾᛆ:ᚾᛏ ᚢ ᚨᛏ ᛚᚨᛏᚹᛡᛦ ᚾᚨ:ᚴᚬᛡᚨᛊ ᚾᚬᚹᛁᛞᛌᛚᚨ:ᚳᚬᚾᛁ ᚹᚨᛚᛊᛏᚹᛁᛚᛌᚬᚾᛁ ᚢ ᚦᚨᛁ ᚾᚬᚨᛏᚾᚬᛗᚢᛗᚨᛊ ᛊᚣᚠᚨᚾᛣᚬᚦᚨᚷᚨ: ᚱᚬᚳᛏᚨ:ᛗ ᛊᛟᚠᚨᚱᚳᚨ:ᚾᛏ, ᚳᚾᚬ ᛚᚨᛏᚹᛡᛦ ᚾᚨ:ᚴᚬᛡᚨᛊ, ᚦᚬᚱᚨᛊ ᛞᛌᚣᛚᚨᛊ ᚢ ᚳᚢᛚᛏᚢ:ᚱᚨᛊ ᚨᚾᚹᚬ:ᚱᛁ ᚢ ᚨᛏᚹᚬᚳᛊᛁ:ᚷᚢ ᚦᚢᚠ ᛟ:ᛞᛌᚢᛉ ᚷᚨᚱᚨᚾᛏᚬ:ᛡᛁ, ᚱᛌᚬᚷᛌᛏᛌᚨᚠᛏᛁ ᚢ ᛚᚨᛏᚹᚬᛡᚨᛊ ᛚᛌᚢᚳᚨᛊ ᚱᛌᛁᚳᚣ:ᚱᚹᛁᚾᛁ ᚢ ᛊᚨᚹᛁᛡᛆᛏᚢ ᛟᚳᚹᛖᚾᚨ ᚠᛁᚦᚱᛁ.

[edit] [top]keyboard

Thuldian is quite rarely seen online, and due to all the extra letters that aren't found in any other cyrillic alphabet it mostly has to be typed in modified versions of either the cyrillic or latin alphabet, either using appostrophes or doubled letters to indicate signs for which can't be typed on a standard keyboard. For example, the sample text used in the above passages can be written as:

Епрокламаада 1918.ант'у 18.новембрии, ир Латвеяс валсц утесапена, латвё ваа'стурискренус ландас меваа'ноонт у ат латвё наацеяс невижлаакени валствильени у т'ай неатнемумас су'пандзет'агаа ректаам сыпарка́нт, кне латвё наацеяс, т'ерас жу'лас у култуурас анвеери у атвексиигу т'уп ыыжус гарантееи, рьегьшапти у Латвеяс люкас рику'рвини у савиёту ыкваа'на пит'ри.

or in latin:

Eproklamaada 1918.anthu 18.novembrii, ir Latvejas valsc utesapena, latvjuo vaeesturiskrenus landas mevaenoont u at latvjuo naacejas nevizhlaakeni valstvil'eni u thai neatnemumas suepandzethagaa rektaam syparkaant, kne latvjuo naacejas, theras zhuelas u kultuuras anveeri u atvexiigu thup yyzh/us garanteeji, r'eg'shapti u Latvejas l'ukas r'ikueervini u savijotu ykvaena pithri.

However, there is a special custom keyboard layout, whose order is based on that of Russian, that exists and is able to type all the Thuldian letters on a keyboard. It uses dead keys to type both iotated and long vowels:

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Comments

value	cyrillic	value	cyrillic	value	cyrillic
1	а	10	і	100	р
2	в	20	к	200	с
3	г	30	л	300	т
4	д	40	м	400	ѵ
5	е	50	н	500	ф
6	ѕ	60	ѯ	600	х
7	з	70	о	700	ѱ
8	и	80	п	800	ѡ
9	ѳ	90	ч	900	ѧ

value	cyrillic	value	cyrillic	value	cyrillic
1	а	10	і	100	р
2	в	20	к	200	с
3	г	30	л	300	т
4	д	40	м	400	ѵ
5	е	50	н	500	ф
6	ѕ	60	ѯ	600	х
7	з	70	о	700	ѱ
8	и	80	п	800	ѡ
9	ѳ	90	ч	900	ѧ

value	cyrillic	value	cyrillic	value	cyrillic
1	а	10	і	100	р
2	в	20	к	200	с
3	г	30	л	300	т
4	д	40	м	400	ѵ
5	е	50	н	500	ф
6	ѕ	60	ѯ	600	х
7	з	70	о	700	ѱ
8	и	80	п	800	ѡ
9	ѳ	90	ч	900	ѧ