Nyeaghi language

Nyeaghi
Ńơłe rệ
Pronunciation	ɲəːɰɛ rḛ
Region	Parshita
Native speakers	12,000,000  (no date)
Language family	Tieu-Lia Nyeaghi
Early forms:	Lia-Riang Old Nyeaghi Nyeaghi
Official status
Official language in	Sarmai
CWS code	–

Classification

Nyeaghi is classified as a Tiengic language, specifically of the Tieu-Lia branch. However, establishing further subdivisions of the family is hard. Nyeaghi is generally thought to be a member of the Lia-Riang branch

History

Tieu-Lia speakers migrated into the region between 2000-1000 BCE.
The arrival of Kame peoples, and later, East Mirarian groups introduced loanwords to the predecessor of Old Nyeaghi.
The language is named after the Sarmayan city of Nyeaghe, which grew in importance during and after the Ughmar Khanate. As its influence grew and several polities established it as its capital, Old Nyeaghi became a local Lingua Franca in northern Sarmai. The language was notable for its very high amount of vowels (6 short and 10 long), which could carry nasalisation and breathy voice.
Modern Nyeaghi is the period from the 19th century onwards. The language has undergone vowel reduction and reconfiguration since the Old Nyeaghi period, reducing vowel length and nasal vowels, as well as introducing several diphthongs. Consonants barely changed, suffering only palatalisation.

Phonology

Phonemes

	Bilabial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m bm	n dn	ɲ ɟɲ	ŋ ɡŋ
Plosive	p pʰ	t tʰ	tɕ tɕʰ	k kʰ	ʔ
Fricative		s			h
Approximant		l r	j	ɰ

The consonant inventory of Nyeaghi is rather simple, with its most outstanding feature being its prestopped nasals.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e ẽ	ə əː	o õ
Open	ɛ	a aː ã	o ɔ

All vowels have a creaky voiced variant.

Phonotactics

The form of a Nyeaghi syllable is:

1. C/(C)V(N)
   

With C being any consonant or a cluster of any consonant plus an approximant or nasal (including prestopped nasals), V being any vowel, and N being any sonorant plus /s h/. Old Nyeaghi dissallowed codas, however, the simplification of bisyllabic roots which resulted from compounding restored final consonants.

Morphology and syntax

Nyeaghi is an analytical language.

Vocabulary

Tiengic still makes up most of the core Nyeaghi vocabulary. However, Kame and East Mirarian (mainly Ughmar and Zindarri) loanwords exist.

Writing and literature

Nyeaghi is written using its own script, which evolved from the Darimoc script.