Mirskya

Mirskya is a Slavic influenced, mixed a priori-posteriori language, by Waahlis.

Introduction

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This page uses IPA phonetic notation as standard.

This page uses non - standard ASII signs.

Мıpсκʀ иaɔьyκa, mırskya ȷazȷuka [mʲɨːrʲ.skʲja ˈjaːzʲ.ɯkʲja], in the latin script, more simply known by the English exonym "Mirian language", or "Mirskya". The language adheres to the family of a priori-posteriori languages, known as Neumatic languages. They all share the same basis regarding vocabulary and phonotactics, and to some extent, grammar. Mirskya is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, but will be transliterated when necessary.

• Mirian Language

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Many of Mirskya's main sources of inspiration are Slavic languages, which has affected a great deal of the phonology, grammar and vocabulary. You will however find cognates to other Neumatic languages, such as Nāmic. Examples include the completely artificial word "иaмдя" (ıamdya) - war, and the "loan-word" ɔдpava (zdrava) - health, cheers.

A number of it's characteristics are not typical for natural languages, that is, they are rare. For example:

• The language distinguishes dynamic and stative verbs.
• It has a transitive morphosyntactic alignment.
• Consonant harmony, based upon voicedness.
• Diphthongisation of stressed syllables.

Phonology

Consonants

This is a table of the Mirian inventory of consonants, displayed in the International Phonetic Alphabet. The transliterations into different scripts, is found under "Orthography". The consonant inventory contains a considerable amount, though spread over few places and manners of articulation.

Please note that the all the consonants may be palatalised. Except the palatal ones.

Phonology

		Bilabial		Labiodental		Alveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar
		plain	palatal	plain	palatal	plain	palatal	plain	palatal			plain	palatal
Nasal		m	mʲ			n	nʲ ~ ɲ	ɳ	ɳʲ	ɲ		ŋ	ŋʲ
Plosives	voiceless	p	pʲ			t	tʲ	ʈ	ʈʲ	(c)		k	kʲ ~ c
	voiced	b	bʲ			d	dʲ	ɖ	ɖʲ	(ɟ)		g	gʲ ~ ɟ
Affricatives	voiceless					t͡s	t͡sʲ	ʈ͡ʂ	ʈ͡ʂʲ			k͡x	k͡xʲ
	voiced					d͡z	d͡zʲ	ɖ͡ʐ	ɖ͡ʐʲ			g͡ɣ	g͡ɣʲ
Fricatives	voiceless			f	fʲ	s	sʲ	ʂ	ʂʲ			x	xʲ
	voiced			v	vʲ	z	zʲ	ʐ	ʐʲ			ɣ	ɣʲ
Trills						r	rʲ
Lateral Approximant						l	lʲ ~ ʎ			ʎ

Nota Bene

Some of the palatalised consonants, /nʲ/, /lʲ/, /kʲ/ and /gʲ/, receive palatal allophones, which are indistinguishable from their marked counterparts. The palatalisation is a consequence of consonants succeded by close vowels and diphthongs with an initial /j/, and is thus generally not marked. However, at times palatalisation occur sporadicly, thence you mark it with the Cyrillic "ь" or a Latin "ȷ" after the affected consonant.

Phonemes in brackets exist as allophones only.

Orthography

Mirskya, or мıpсκя, is a Slavic-derived language, and it would be stupid not to use a Cyrillic script. However, for the reader's comfort, I'll provide an additional transcription with all phrases. The Mirskyan Cyrillic alphabet is known by the name κypиллиxa eжәдava (kurīllīha ezhәdava). The alphabet is a heavily modified Cyrillic alphabet, with many introduced letters.

Cyrillic Orthography

		Bilabial		Labiodental		Alveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar
		plain	palatal	plain	palatal	plain	palatal	plain	palatal			plain	palatal
Nasal		м	мь			н	њ1	pн	pњ5	њ		нx	нxь4
Plosives	voiceless	п	пь			т	ть	pт	pть5			κ	κь
	voiced	б	бь			д	дь	pд	pдь5			г	гь
Affricatives	voiceless					џ	џь	ш	шь			κx	κxь4
	voiced					ц	ць	щ	щь			гx	гxь4
Fricatives	voiceless			ф	фь	с	сь	s	sь			x	xь
	voiced			v	vь	ɔ	ɔь	ж	жь			χ	χь
Trills						p3	pь
Lateral Approximant						л	љ2			љ

Nota Bene

1. The grapheme "њ" is a ligature of the letter "н" and the palatalisation marker "ь".
2. The grapheme "љ" is a ligature of the letter "л" and the palatalisation marker "ь".
3. May also be written "q" when in initial miniscule form.
4. These are not graphemes, nor consonant clusters, but trigraphs.
5. These are not graphemes, nor consonant clusters, but trigraphs.

Latin Orthography

		Bilabial		Labiodental		Alveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar
		plain	palatal	plain	palatal	plain	palatal	plain	palatal			plain	palatal
Nasal		m	mȷ			n	nȷ1	nh	nhȷ	nȷ1		nh	nhȷ
Plosives	voiceless	p	pȷ			t	tȷ	th	thȷ			k	kȷ
	voiced	b	bȷ			d	dȷ	dh	dhȷ			g	gȷ
Affricatives	voiceless					ts	tsȷ	tsh	tshȷ			kh	khȷ
	voiced					dz	dzȷ	dzh	dzhȷ			gh	ghȷ
Fricatives	voiceless			f	fȷ	s	sȷ	sh	shȷ			h	hȷ
	voiced			v	vȷ	z	zȷ	zh	zhȷ			ch	chȷ
Trills						r	rȷ
Lateral Approximant						l	lȷ2			lȷ2

Nota Bene

1. These are perceived as homophones, thence, not individual letters.
2. These are perceived as homophones, thence, not individual letters

Vowels

Phonology

The representation of Mirskya's vowels. The vowels are the main initialisers of palatalisation, where close/open-mid front/central vowels cause palatal consonant phonemes. The vowel phonology is based upon an expanded system of vowel reduction, caused by foremost stress, but also the position in the lexeme. The reduction follows a partly regular schedule, where phonemes are gradually centred. The reduction of vowels is not orthographically marked, and the reduced vowels are considered allophones - which is marked by brackets. Mirskya distinguishes roundedness in close front and back vowels, and open-mid front vowels.

The unrounded open back vowel /ɑ/, is an allophone of /a/, when in the surroundings of /ɔ/.

The schwa /ə/, is both a reduced vowel, and an independent letter.

Phonology

		Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
Close		i y				ɨ				ɯ u
Near-Close				(ı)				(ʊ)
Close-Mid
Central						[ə]
Open-Mid		ɛ œ								ɔ
Near-Open						(ɐ)
Open		a								(ɑ)

Orthography

Cyrillic Alphabet

The Cyrillic representation of Mirskya's vowels, include a number of signs that aren't immediately intelligible to speakers with a Latin alphabet. Please note that this table is not consistent with other Slavic orthographies. Mirskya distinguishes roundedness in close front and back vowels, and open-mid front vowels, which is most often represented by a reversed letter. The letters in brackets are allophones of their original positions of pronunciation.

Cyrillic Orthography

		Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
Close		ɴ и				ı				y u
Near-Close				(ı ɴ и)				(ı y u)
Close-Mid
Central						ə
Open-Mid		e ɘ								o
Near-Open						(a o)
Open		a								(a)

Latin Alphabet

The Latin orthography is more restricted regarding the number of letters. In the Latin orthography, all roundedness is marked with a dot, doesn't matter whether on the top or down below. The letters in brackets are allophones of their original positions of pronunciation.

Latin Orthography

		Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
Close		ı ī				y				u ū
Near-Close				(y ı ī)				(y u ū)
Close-Mid
Central						ə
Open-Mid		e ē								o
Near-Open						(a o)
Open		a								(a)

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are an important part of Mirskya, despite the limited number, since vowels become diphongised when stressed. Also, rising diphthongs with an initial /j/ trigger palatalisation of the preceeding consonant. In Mirskya, the most common categorising is between non-allophonical - natural - diphthongs, and stressed monophthongs that become diphthongised. There are only six non-allophonical diphthongs. All the remaining vowel clusters form hiatus.

Diphthongs

Grapheme		ɛ		з		є		э		ʀ/иa		я/ɴa
Base phoneme		i		ɨ		ɛ		ə		a		ɔ
Phoneme		[ji]		[jɨ]		[jɛ]		[jə]		[ja]		[jɔ]

Palatalisation

In Mirskya, a Slavic conlang, palatalisation is an essential part. It behaves similarly to natural languages' palatalisation, where close/open-mid and front/central vowels cause palatal consonant phonemes. The phenomenon spreads only to the preceding consonant, whilst the remaining stay tenuis. The exception are final consonants, where the preceding vowel may palatalise it.

Since there's a limited amount of diphthongs, and each contain a palatal approximant, it may palatalise in a similar manner. All consonants can become palatalised, however, certain palatalised consonants, /nʲ/, /lʲ/, /kʲ/ and /gʲ/, receive palatal allophones, which are indistinguishable from their marked counterparts, namely /ɲ/, /ʎ/, /c/ and /ɟ/ respectively.

Grammar

Stress

Mirskya's system of lexical stress is different to that of for example Nāmic and English. Unlike Nāmic's, it's completely regular, however mora-based. This means that the heaviest syllables are stressed, and the if the lexeme contains several equivalent syllables, the first one is emphasised.

The morae of Mirskya are determined out of three circumstances, each of which represent one mora:

• The existence of a syllable onset.
• Palatalisation of the onset.
• The existence of a syllable coda.

The existence of a syllable onset substitutes over one mora and contrasts with null onsets:

• vлaдʀ vladȷa - ruler, king [ˈvlaːdʲ.ja].
• oгњ ognȷ - fire [ˈɔʊ̯g.ɲ̩].

However, should the a onset bepalatalised in a lexeme, it would preside over non-palatalised onsets:

• vьәpa vȷәra - faith, religion [ˈvʲe̯ә.ra].

The existence of a syllable coda reinforces the syllable weight:

• κpaɔɴт krazıt - to start [kraˈ.zʲijtʲ].

The stress in Mirskya affects the vowel phonemes, both the unstressed, and the stressed ones. Should the syllable nucleus consist of a syllabic consonant, they remain unaffected.

Stressed vowels

Stressed vowels in Mirskya always belong to the heaviest syllable, hence a certain weight is put upon the vowel, whereby it's diphthongised, alternatively geminated.This is an allophonical process, the cause why the resulting diphthongs aren't displayed along the ordinary ones, but also - hypothetically - should the language possess dialects, the allophones would vary greatly. I've chosen to portray the to dominant variations of pronunciation - нeмшa гvopьnemtsha gvorȷ [ˈnʲɛjm.ʈ͡ʂa gvorʲ] and veстaʀ гvopь vestar gvorȷ [vʲɛjs.tar gvorʲ].

Please note that the semivowels /j/, /w/ and /ɥ/, are estimated values for non-syllabic /i, ɨ/, /u, ɯ, ɔ/ and /i, y/ respectively.

Diphthongs

				Normal		Heмшa		Veстap
ɴ		ı		[i]		[ij]		[ɥi]
и		i		[y]		[ij]		[ɥy]
ı		y		[ɨ]		[jɨ]		[ɨj]
y		u		[ɯ]		[wɯ]		[wɯ]
ʌ		ụ		[u]		[wu]		[wu]
e		e		[ɛ]		[ɛj]		[ɛj]
ɘ		ė		[œ]		[jœ]		[œj]
ә		ә		[ә]		[e̯ә]		[e̯ә]
o		o		[ɔ]		[ɔʊ̯]		[ɔʊ̯]
a		a		[a]		[aː]		[aj]

For the sake of simplicity, only the нeмтшa dialect will be portrayed on this page.

Pro-forms

This list gives a shallow understanding of a number of the proforms in the language. It is completely irregular, with exceptions, and is based upon the "Correlatives"-table by L.L. Zamenhof. Please the appearent array of gender on the pronominal forms, four of them, animate masculine, feminine and neuter, as well as inanimate neutral.

Correlatives
		Interrogative-Relative				Demonstrative				Quantifier
		Interrogative		Relative		Proximal		Distal		Existential		Elective		Universal		Negative		Alternative
Demonstrative		штa		тa		жa
		what/which				this		that		some		any		each		no		another
Animate
Masculine		стә		тән		жeн
		who				this		that		someone		anyone		everyone		no one		another
Feminine		стe		тev		ɔьaнa
		who				this		that		someone		anyone		everyone		no one		another
Neutral		стeм		тaм		ɔнep
		what				this		that		something		anything		everything		nothing		another
Inanimate
Inanimate		ɔaт		тa
		what				this		that		something		anyting		everything		nothing		another
Dual		дɪмa
		which out of two				this		that		some		either		both		neither		-
Plural		шeмa
		which out of all				this		that		some		any		all		none		-
Proadverb
Location		гaдa
		where				here		there		somewhere		anywhere		everywhere		nowhere		elsewhere
Source		зсκидa
		whence				hence		thence		1		anywhence		2		nowhence		elsewhence
Goal		κидa		стьa
		whither				hither		thither		somewhither		anywhither		3		nowhither		elsewhither
Time		гaњa		гнa
		when				now		then		sometime		anytime		always		never		other time
Manner		стя
		how				hereby		thereby		somehow		anyhow		everyway		nowise		otherwise
Reason		пpьaмa
		why				herefore		therefore		4		5		6		7		8

Nouns

Gender

Grammatical gender possesses an important role in Mirskya, where it governs pronominal, nominal and adjectival declensions, as well as the conjugations. Mirskya encompasses a maximum of four genders, which may vary in number and importance in different inflectional paradigms. The minum of gender in any lexical catogory, is two - the animate masculine and feminine.

The system of genders is based upon the distinction of animacy. It does however possess significance in the pronominal declension of the first and second person. Nevertheless, these are the Mirskyan genders:

Gender

	Animate			Inanimate
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Usage	The masculine gender includes naturally masculine people, as well as animals of a masculine sex.	The feminine gender denotes naturally feminine humans and animals.	The neuter animate is used for groups of males and females, as well as plants.	The inanimate gender only marks non-living objects.
	Presence
Verbs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Some
Nouns	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pronouns	Yes	Yes	Yes	Some
Adjectives	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Adverbs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Pronouns

The Mirskyan pronouns decline according to number, case and gender. The genders of Mirskya are however not all represented, and only animate gender - masculine, feminine and neuter - are used in the first and second person.

This is derived from logic and simplicity, since no inanimate things can be addressed, nor actually address... The animate neuter is not compatible with first person singular, considering no groups are formed by one person. The third person, identical to the demonstratives, is declined according to all genders.

Pronominal Declension

Pronominal Declension

Person →	First										Second
	Singular				Plural						Singular				Plural
Case ↓	Masculine		Feminine		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter		Masculine		Feminine		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
Transitive	ʀ		мьy		мз		мин		ня		тa		тe
Intransitive	aс		ɔaн		мaс		мeсъ		нɛ		сьaт		сeт
Accusative	мɘњ		мɛ		мɑ		мнɑ		нɛм		тeњ		тɪнa
Dative	мa		мьс		нoм		ням		нɛм		тaм		тɛм
Instrumental	мнeс		мaнɔ		aстaм		aстɴм		нaмoс		тaсть		тɛстʀ
Ablative	мoн		мɪнє		aстнo		aстня		нaмoн		тьavән		тevpьaс
Vocative	ʀ		мьy		мз		мин		нɛмa		тʀ		тaʀ