Nayelan language
From Attu Project
More actions
Nayelan was a language spoken in the north of the island of Casea from around 2000 TT to 500 TT. It was a key influence in the development of Standard Weatherplague Caseic. There is some linguistic evidence that Nayelan shares a common ancestor with the Sawaji language spoken in Kelelemi.
Phonology
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal stop | m | n | ɲ | |
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | |
| Affricate | ts | tɕ | ||
| Fricative | f v | z | ʑ | |
| Approximant | w | ɾ l | j | (w) |
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
| Diphthongs | iʉ, aʉ | |
Vowels also have a length distinction
Orthography
Romanisation
This is the orthography used to represent Nayelan on the wiki
| Letter | Sound | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| a | a | |
| á | aː | |
| au | aʉ | |
| b | b | |
| c | ts | |
| ć | tɕ | |
| d | d | |
| e | e | |
| é | eː | |
| f | f | |
| g | g | |
| i | i | |
| í | iː | |
| iu | iʉ | |
| j | j | |
| k | k | |
| l | l | |
| m | m | |
| n | n | |
| ń | ɲ | |
| o | o | |
| ó | oː | |
| r | ɾ | |
| t | t | |
| u | u | |
| ú | uː | |
| v | v | |
| w | w | |
| z | z | |
| ź | ʑ |
Standard Weatherplague Caseic
Many Nayelan words became part of the Standard Weatherplague Caseic lexicon. As they did so, they went through some phonological changes:
- /ɾ/ became /l/ everywhere
- /v/ became /f/ everywhere
- /d/ became /t/ everywhere
- /ts/ became /s/ everywhere
- /z/ became /ʑ/ everywhere
- /ɲ/ became /ʑ/ word-finally, elsewhere it became /n/
- /aʉ/ raised to /eʉ/
- Long vowels typically kept their quality, but short /e/, /a/, and /o/ reduced to /a/