From ConPlanet
| Nithalosian, Nithalos | ||
|---|---|---|
| Niđalos, Niđalosa Adeg | ||
| Pronunciation | /ni'θaːlɔs/ | |
| Spoken in |  Nithalosia
| |
| Total speakers | 7,185,000 | |
| Language family | language isolate
| |
| Writing system | Latin | |
| Official status | ||
| Official language in | Nithalosia
| |
| Recognised minority language in |  Rasoran Union,  Toitūkōlad
| |
| Regulated by | Language Regulatory Office, Govtha City, Nithalosia
| |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | – | |
| ISO 639-3 | – | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Nithalos, or Nithalosian (Niđalos natively) is the primary language of Nithalosia and recognised in Rasoran Union and Toitūkōlad. The language was adapted from the native tongue of the settlers who came to the Nithalosian land in the early 1870s. The language has since had four major reforms: one in 1900, again in 1931 then finally in 1988.
Contents |
Distribution
On the right there is map of Latelen and where Nithalosian is spoken.
The dark red shows where it is an official state language:
The red shows where it is a recognised regional language:
The pink/salmon shows where there are a small number of minority speakers (usually bilingual in the local language too):
-
Nunshavi (excluding the islands)
-
Salian Empire
-
Samarkainia (not all)
-
Eperne (excluding the northern-most island)
Statistics
The following table shows the distribution of Nithalosian language in surrounding countries.
| Country | Speakers | % of local1 | % of total2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nithalosia
| 34,590,000 | 92.9% | ? |
| Rasoran Union
| 5,500,000 | 5.87% | ? |
| Toitūkōlad
| ? | ? | ? |
 Salian Empire
| ? | ? | ? |
 Nunshavi
| ? | ? | ? |
 Eperne
| ? | ? | ? |
 Samarkainia
| ? | ? | ? |
| Rest of world | 25,000 | ? | ? |
| Total | ? | ||
- Note 1: this is the percentage of people in each country who speak Nithalosian ie. population of country / Nithalosian speakers of country
- Note 2: this is the share each country has of the speakers of Nithalosian ie. total speakers of Nithalosian / speakers of country
Nithalosian is also the lingua franca for world diplomacy and international relations.
Phonology and Orthography
Alphabet
The alphabet of Nithalosian is currently:
There is an alternate alphabet rarely used near the border between Salia and Nithalosia which looks like this below, but for the most part is not used.
Phonology
Nithalosian phonology involves the following phonemes.
| Bilabial | Labio-Dental | Dental | Alveolar | Alveolo-palatal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | <m> /m/ | <n> /n̪~n/1 | <ny> /ɲ/ | <ng> /ɴ/ | |||||
| Plosive | <p> /p/ | <t> - <d> /t̪~t/ - /d̪~d/1 | <k> - <g> /k/ - /g/ | ||||||
| Fricative | <v> /v/ [f]2 | <đ> /θ/ or /ð/3 | <s> /s/ | <š> /ɕ/4 | |||||
| Approximant & Lat. Approx. | <l> /l̪~l/1 | <y> /j/ | |||||||
| Tap | <r> /ɾ/5 | ||||||||
- Note 1: these can either be pronounced with the tongue against the teeth (Dental) or against the alveolar ridge (Alveolar)
- Note 2: this depends on environment. If <v> is near any other voiceless consonants, it will be [f] instead of /v/, or it is [f] at the end of a word, and it is always /v/ intervocalically. For example ev is pronounced [ʲef], but evi is pronounced ['ʲeˈviː]. Another example is: marev (nominative) is pronounced [ˈmaːɾef], but when in genitive: mareva it becomes [ˈmaːɾeva] due to the <v> changing environments.
- Note 3: this is down to personal choice. Some people will use one or the other, or both.
- Note 4: this is in free variation with /ʃ/, although /ɕ/ is the accepted standard variant.
- Note 5: this is in free variation with /ɽ/, although /ɾ/ is the accepted standard variant.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | <i> /i/ | <u> /ʉ~u/7 | |
| Mid | <e> /e/6 | <o> /o~ɔ/7 | |
| Open | <a> /a~ɐ/ | ||
- Note 6: when initial, /e/ has a palatal placed in front to be /je/ or /ʲe/. For example: ena is [je:na].
- Note 7: the former is the "long" vowel and the latter is the "short" vowel.
Length, Stress and Intervocalic Palatalisation
The length of Nithalosian vowels relies heavily on the stress. Some exceptions are that no matter where the stress in an adjective (always ending in -ođ) lies, the o is short: /ɔð/, and similarly with verbs, the i in the -iđ ending is always long (and usually stressed).
Stress in Nithalosian is generally penultimate. This means the stress is placed on the second to last syllable of the root (MAreva, not maREva as the root is marev). This however, is not always the case. In verbs, the stress always falls on the end i of the verb stem, unless there is a negative ending -yon which will take the stress. So: draMIÐ, draMIva, draMIšava, but dramiYON and dramišaYON (although in this one, -MI- can also be stressed as it is a longer word).
Between some vowels, Nithalosian employs a system of intervocalic patalisation, particularly when the last letter of a word, is the same as the first of the next, for example: ena al is pronounced [je:na ʲal]. An exception is vocalic digraphs such as -oa which are pronounced [o.a] without palatalisation.
Reform
Nithalos has undergone many reforms over the years.
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Pronouns in Nithalos are only available in three persons covering two numbers and two cases. Note that the 3sg does NOT include "it". Only "he" and "she".
| 1sg | 2sg | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | an | mo | ev | avi | mova | evđa |
| Genitive | ana | moa | eva | avia | movae | evđae |
| Accusative | anu | moi | evu | aviu | movau | evđau |
Nominal Morphology
Nithalos nouns are quite primitive next to other languages. There are three cases (Nominative, Accusative and Genitive), no grammatical number and no articles to mark definiteness. (for example, dina can mean "woman", "women", "the woman", "the women", "a woman" etc). Besides this, Nithalos uses rich system of post-positioned particles to give additional meaning to nouns.
Some sample words in all Nithalosian cases:
| Class | Enkliš | Nominative | Accusative | Genitive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -a | house | ota | otau | otae |
| -e | key | kege | kegeu | kegea |
| -i | family | kasoki | kasokiu | kasokia |
| -o | island | šemo | šemoi | šemoa |
| -u | fungus | pašu | pašui | pašua |
| -C | grass | drav | dravu | drava |
Genitive
The genitive case is the possessive case. The possessor in Nithalosian, always preceeds the possessed item. The genitive case ending has somewhat changed since the historic language. The genitive case uses a vowel attached to the end of the noun depending on the current vowel end.
- If the noun ends with e, i, o, u or any consonant
- add -a
- kege (key) -> kegea (key's)
- kasoki (family) -> kasokia (family's)
- šemo (island) -> šemoa (island's)
- pašu (fungus) -> pašua (fungus')
- drav (grass) -> drava (grass')
- add -a
- If the noun ends with a
- add -e
- ota (house) -> otae (house's)
- add -e
Accusative
The genitive case is the possessive case. The possessor in Nithalosian, always preceeds the possessed item. The genitive case ending has somewhat changed since the historic language. The genitive case uses a vowel attached to the end of the noun depending on the current vowel end.
- If the noun ends with a, e, i, or any consonant:
- add -u
- ota (house) -> otau
- kege (key) -> kegeu
- kasoki (family) -> kasokiu
- drav (grass) -> dravu
- add -u
- If the noun ends with o or u:
- add -i
- šemo (island) -> šemoi
- pašu (fungus) -> pašui
- add -i
Particles
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This article or section needs to be rewritten. |
Verbal Morphology
Suffix order
1st order
2nd order
3rd order
Tenses
Past vs Non-past
Future
Tense inheritince
Modal particles
Syntax
Dialects
|
This article or section needs to be rewritten. |
