Terminian language

Terminian
Spoken natively in	Terminian Dominion, Amerhan, Awarahl, Bosato and other locations in the Terminian-speaking world
Native speakers	159 million (2015) 300 million (L1 plus L2 speakers)
Language family	Ngerupic Proto-Termic Old Terminian Middle Terminian Terminian
Official status
Official language in	Amerhan Awarahl Bosato Cerman Ekuosian Union Far West Kaisen Macyeaq
Regulated by	International Society for the Standard Terminian Language
CWS code	TMN

Terminian is a Termic language mainly spoken in northwest Ekuosia and southeast Akulanen. It is the most widely spoken language in Cerman and Amerhan, and is an official language in several other countries, including Bosato and Arawahl. Terminian is the most widely spoken of the Ngerupic language family, with an estimated 160 million native speakers worldwide, as well as a large amount of L2 speakers due to the historical influence of the Terminian Empire and Three Kingdoms. It is one of the 22 official languages of the Ekuosian Union.

Due to the limited intelligibility between certain varieties of Terminian, as well as the lack of an undisputed, scientific difference between a "dialect" and a "language", some Terminian varieties (e.g. Proper Amerhani or Utoyyi) are alternatively referred to as "languages" and "dialects".

Classification

Terminian represents the largest member of the Termic branch of the Ngerupic family. Such is its prominence that historically it was widely assumed that the Termic family consisted entirely of Terminian; it was not until the later recognition of Baridus as an independent Termic language that challenged that view.

The recognition of the Termic branch as a member of the wider Ngerupic family was first hypothesised in the mid 19th century, although it was not until later that its place in the family was confirmed by studious comparison of Old Terminian with several Ngerupic varities. Previus attempts to connect Terminian to other language families had concentrated primarily on the languages of Baredina, particularly the Letsic, Adzamic and Argeyazic families.

Phonology

Varieties of Terminian often display considerable differences in phonetics and phonology. The standard language distinguishes a maximum of 27 consonants, 13 oral vowels, 1 nasal vowel and four diphthongs, though most varities display conisderably fewer phonemes.

The main varieties referred to are the standard varieties as spoken in Cerman and Amerhan. Standard Terminian distinguishes up to 26 consonants and 14 vowels, though variance is common across the Terminian-speaking world. In particular, both the vowel system and the post-alveolar and palatal consonant phonemes show considerable variety among spoken Terminian varieties, and many may be merged or significantly modified even in formal speech.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	(ŋ)
Plosive/ affricate	fortis	p	t	tʃ	c	k
	lenis	b	d	(dʒ)	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative	fortis	f	s	ʃ	ç		h
	fortis	v	z	ʒ
Approximant			ɹ		j	w
Lateral			l		ʎ
Tap			ɾ

• In most of Terminia Major and Amerhan, the distinction between the fortis obstruents /p, t, k/ and the lenis obstruents /b, d, ɡ/ is generally taken to be that of aspiration rather than voicing, with the lenis series ranging from weakly voiced to voiceless depending on dialect and word position. In Terminia Minor and Utol, the distinction is one of true voicing; the fortis series pronounced as voiceless unaspirated, while the lenis series may be lenited to fricatives [β ð ɣ] intervocalically.
• Standard Terminian distinguishes three nasal phonemes, /m, n, ɲ/. In many young speakers across Cerman and Amerhan, the consonant /ɲ/ is undergoing a merger with /nj/.
• The palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/ is frequently lost even in most formal registers, usually being pronounced as the heterorganic cluster [lj] or identically to /l/; particularly in urban areas, it is increasingly common to merge with /j/ or /ɟ/. Some dialects in Northern Terminia Major have lost palatalisation while maintaining the phonemic distinction: /ʎ/ is pronounced a plain alveolar lateral approximant [l], while /l/ has acquired a distinctive velarised or pharyngealised pronunciation [ɫ].
• The pronunciation of /ɹ/ is generally an alveolar or post-alveolar approximant across the Terminian-speaking world, although the precise pronunciation may range towards retroflex in some speakers. In parts of Amerhan and Terminia Minor a trill pronunciation may be found.
• The phonemes /j/ and /ɟ/ are not distinguished in most dialects. The resulting sound has many variant pronunciations, including [j, ɟ, dʒ, ʒ, ʃ, χ].
• The palatal stops /c, ɟ/ are frequently pronounced as affricates, either palatal [c͡ç, ɟ͡ʝ] or as post-alveolar [t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ]. Deaffrication of [d͡ʒ] to [ʒ] is common, with devoicing to [ʃ] and backing to [χ] found in parts of Eastern Terminia Major. This change also affects /j/ and/or /ʎ/ in dialects that merge these sounds.
• /v/ and /w/ merge in Amerhan as the labiovelar approximant /ʋ/.
• Some dialects merge /ç/ into /ʃ/. In Eastern Terminia this may occur in reverse, with /ʃ/ merging into /ç/, or even acquiring a velar or uvular articulation. In Amerhan the phonemes /h/ and /ç/ are merged as [χ] in all contexts.
• The phoneme /h/ may be found in the syllable coda in some dialects; in this position it is frequently pronounced with a velar [x] or uvular [χ] articulation.

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	i	y	ɨ	ʉ	u
Close-mid	e		ə		o
Open-mid	ɛ	œ			ɔ
Open	a				ɑ / ɑ̃

• Rather unusually, Standard Terminian has only a single nasalised vowel, /ɑ̃/. This vowel originates from the collapse of the Middle Terminian vowels *ɛ̃ *ã.
• The front rounded series have largely merged with their respective unrounded series in most of Cerman. While still prescribed, the feature is absent from the speech of almost all people in Cerman born after 1960. It is still maintained by some speakers in the East Lakes region. In Amerhan and Utol the distinction is still reported to be robust, although less so in Utol due to Cermani influence.
• Vowel length is still phonemic for many speakers in Amerhan, as well as some elderly speakers in Cerman. All non-central vowels may occur short or long.
• The distinction between open-mid and close-mid vowels is lost in Amerhan.