Tullach language

Tullach
onna t:Túloh on:a t'tUloh
Pronunciation	[ˈonːa təˈhulox]
Region	Ystel
Native speakers	1,445,000 (total)  (2023)
Language family	Ystelo-Atruozan Ystelic Tullachian Tullach
Dialects	Cilnanny Hivasaû Rural
Writing system	Divorced Adzamic
Official status
Official language in	Tullachia
CWS code	TLCH

Tullach (on:a t'tUloh; onna t:Túloh, [ˈonːa təˈhulox]) is a Tullachian language within the Ystelic branch of the Ystelo-Atruozan language family. It is most closely related to Stratavite and Rocnaian.

Though spoken by small minorities in neighbouring nations, such as Lower Stratavar, Tullach is only officially recognised in Tullachia, observed in foreign and internal polciies in all but one Tullachian region, Stratavar.

Tullach is written using a form of the Adzamic script, in which glyphs are no longer interconnected and do not have initial, medial, final or isolated forms. "Divorced" Adzamic also makes use of specific stylisations of certain glyphs as well as some Tullach-specific additions.

Name

In some linguistic discussions, the Tullach language may be referred to as Floxy (on:a vlok:a; onna vlocca, [ˈonːa ˈvloʰkːa]), due to its historical emergence from the marshlands towards the east of the country. This alternate name was deemed warranted due to confusion with the Tullachian language family. Previous attempts to clarify the name ended with Thraxian (on:a hrak:a; onna hracca, [ˈonːa ˈʰr̥aʰkːa]), which then however created confusion with the Rocnaian dialect Thraquy.

Dialects

Tullach is generally divided into three dialects, though these are usually mutually intelligible with each other and only in certain areas do they differ so vastly in phonology, syntax or orthography. It is of course to be understood that in areas where Tullach is for the most part a secondary language, in particular Stratavite and Rocnaian-speaking communities, imperfections in learning have caused other steady non=standard forms of Tullach to arise.

Hivasaû (Standard) Tullach

The dialect of Tullach spoken in and around the Hracciû Metropolitan Area forms the standard variation as is spoken in political and educational environments.

Rural Tullach

The various sub-dialects and accents found throughout Tullachia's sparse rural communities are generally grouped together due to their vast similarities in all but phonology. This dialect encompasses the largest land area of the three main dialects, ranging from as eastwards as Vlencûostiû, as far south as Cilloh to as far westwards as the Flox.

Cilnanny Tullach

This dialect emerged in Inil teCilna and subsequently spread to southern mainland Tullachia. Some linguists argue that Cilnnany diverged enough from Middle Tullach to be considered a separate language, mostly aided by the Cilna Local Council who list it as a proxy-official language. Nonetheless, it is rapidly growing unpopular amongst locals, nowadays only notably visible in the far south-east of Inil teCilna.

Phonology

Consonants

(Standard) Tullach consonant phonemes

			Bilabial			Labio-dental		Dental		Alveolar			Post-alveolar		Palatal		Labio-velar		Velar			Glottal
			short	long	pre-aspirated	short	long	short	long	short	long	pre-aspirated	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long	pre-aspirated	short	long
Nasal	voiceless	plain								n̥									(ŋ̊)
		labialised
	voiced	plain	m	mː						n	nː								(ŋ)
		labialised	mʷ	mʷː						nʷ	nʷː
Plosive	voiceless	plain	p	pː	ʰpː					t	tː	ʰtː							k	kː	ʰkː
		labialised	pʷ	pʷː	ʰpʷː					tʷ	tʷː	ʰtʷː							kʷ	kʷː	ʰkʷː
	voiced	plain	b	bː						d	dː								g	gː
		labialised	bʷ	bʷː						dʷ	dʷː								gʷ	gʷː
Fricative	voiceless	plain				(f)				s	sː		ʃ						x			h
		labialised								sʷ	sʷː		ʃʷ						xʷ
	voiced	plain				v		ð
		labialised				vʷ		ðʷ
Affricate	voiceless	plain								t͡s
		labialised								t͡sʷ
Lateral approximant	voiced	plain								l	lː
		labialised								lʷ	lʷː
Lateral fricative	voiceless	plain								ɬ	ɬː
		labialised								ɬʷ	ɬʷː
Approximant	voiceless																ʍ
	voiced														j		w
Trill	voiceless									ʰr̥
	voiced									r	r:
Flap	voiceless
	voiced									ɾ

• Voiceless [n̥] and [ŋ̊] only ever appear as syllabic consonants:
  • tusknzø tuscnzø [ˈtus.kn̥̩.ˌt͡sø] ('merchant ship')
  • isknzraØh iscnzraǿh [ˌɪs.kn̩.t͡sɾa.ˈøx] ('necromancy')
  • aznkAt azncát [ˌa.t͡sŋ̩̊.ˈkat] ('happiness')
• [ŋ] is an allophone of [n] before velar consonants.
  • ankah ancah [ˈaŋ.kax] ('tremor, earthquake')
• [f] appears only in loanwords, however is nonetheless written and thus often pronounced just as ⟨v⟩ [v].

Vowels

(Standard) Tullach vowel phonemes

	Front		Near-front		Central		Back
Close	i							u
Near-close			ɪ
Close-mid	e	ø						o
Mid					ə
Open	a

Initial mutations

Tullach, similar to other languages in the Tullachian language family, is characterised by its lenitive consonant mutation. These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word or a words primary morpheme under specific morphological and syntactic conditions.

This table shows the phonological effects of lenition across both the affected plain and labialised consonants in Tullach with both Adzamic and Romanised spellings.

	Unmutated				Lenition
	IPA	Example	Pronunciation	Meaning	IPA	Example	Pronunciation	Meaning
p	/p/ /pʷ/	pokta  pocta	/ˈpokta/	camel	/v/ /vʷ/	t'pOkta  t:pócta	/təˈpokta/	of the camel
b	/b/ /bʷ/	brih  brih	/bɾɪx/	bog	/v/ /vʷ/	g'brIh  g:bríh	/gəˈvɾɪx/	at the bog
t	/t/ /tʷ/	twogoh  tûogoh	/ˈtʷogox/	mammoth	/h/ /ʍ/	r'twOgoh  r:tûógoh	/ɾəˈʍogox/	to the mammoth
d	/d/ /dʷ/	dwar  dûar	/dʷar/	headland	/ð/ /ðʷ/	g'dwAr  g:dûár	/gəˈðʷar/	at the headland
k	/k/ /kʷ/	kom:a  comma	/ˈko.mːa/	feather	/x/ /xʷ/	t'kOm:a  t:cómma	/təˈxo.mːa/	of the feather
g	/g/ /gʷ/	gey  geî	/gɛi̯/	pasture	/x/ /xʷ/	ka'gEya  ca:géîa	/kaˈxeja/	in the pastures
s	/s/ /sʷ/	swa  sûa	/sʷa/	gust of wind	/ʃ/ /ʃʷ/	ł'swA  ł:sûá	/ɬəˈʃʷa/	by a gust of wind
l	/l/ /lʷ/	løt  løt	/løt/	crown	/ɬ/ /ɬʷ/	t'lØt  t:lǿt	/təˈɬøt/	of the crown
h	/h/	hutar  hutar	/ˈhu.tar/	eye	/∅/	s'hutra  s:hutra	/ˈsu.tɾa/	two eyes
hr	/ʰr̥/	hruk:iw  hrucciû	/ˈʰr̥uʰkːɪʍ/	mattress	/r/	g'hrUk:iw  g:hrúcciû	/gəˈruʰkːɪʍ/	on mattresses

Consonant mutation can occur in Tullach in the follow circumstances:

• After a case proclitic (exemplified in the table above);
• In the absolutive singular or plural after non-compound numbers and quantifiers:
  • taw dø taû dø [taw ðø] ('three fields')
  • giw hrak:a giû hracca [gɪw ˈraʰkːa] ('great secrecy' [lit: 'a lot of secrecy'])
• After the imperative particle:
  • a tis. a tis! [a his] ('Spread yourselves out!')
  • u a gøn:ay us. u a gønnaî us! [wa ˈxønːai̯ us] ('Don't get angry at me!')