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{{Infobox language
{{Infobox language
| name = Common Lemobrogic
| name = Lemobrogian
| nativename = sar Muþosuyoöŋ Rixevindeël
| nativename = Loŋku Takidanθu
| pronunciation = {{IPA|[säɹ muˈθo̞sujo̞ːŋ </br>ɹiˈʃe̞vinde̞ːl]}}
| pronunciation = {{IPA|[ˈlɔŋku taˈkidanθu]}}
| states = [[Lemobrogia]]
| states = [[Lemobrogia]]
| speakers = ~ 43,791,300
| speakers = ~ 43,791,300
| speakers_label = Speakers
| date = 2024
| date = 2024
| iso1 = rv
| iso1 = lk
| iso2 = rv
| iso2 = lk
| iso3 = rv
| iso3 = lok
| fam1 = Sidurian
| fam1 = Sidurian
| fam2 = Lemobrogic
| fam2 = Lemobrogic
Line 15: Line 14:
| dia2 = Northern Lemobrogic
| dia2 = Northern Lemobrogic
| dia3 = Southern Lemobrogic
| dia3 = Southern Lemobrogic
| ancestor = Ancient Lemobrogic
| ancestor = Old Lemobrogian
| ancestor2 = Classical Lemobrogic
| ancestor2 = Classical Lemobrogian
| ancestor3 = Vulgar Lemobrogic
| ancestor3 = Vulgar Lemobrogian
| script = Lemobrogian alphabet <br />Lemobrogian Braille
| script = Lemobrogian alphabet <br />Lemobrogian Braille
| sign = sar Moþu Deël
| sign = Loŋku Kayna
| nation = {{flagicon image|LBFlag.png}} Lemobrogia<br/>{{flagicon image|FlagNID.png}} Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk Region <small>([[Gylias]])</small>
| nation = {{flagicon image|LBFlag.png}} Lemobrogia<br/>{{flagicon image|FlagNID.png}} Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk Region <small>([[Gylias]])</small>
| agency = ber Ciḱe ne sar Deël
| agency = Selo us lei Loŋku
| familycolor = d2b48c
| familycolor = Creole
| ethnicity = [[Lemobrogian_peoples|Lemobrogians]]
}}
}}
'''Lemobrogian''' (Sulóþu Yavèḅa, [ˈsʉloθʉ ˈjaβɛɓa]) is a Siduric language of the Lemobrogic branch, spoken by the vast majority of the population of [[Lemobrogia]] and by [[Lemobrogian peoples|ethnic Lemobrogians]] outside of the country; it is the official language of Lemobrogia, and it is also official in the [[Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk Region]] of [[Gylias]] - the heart of the historical [[Nerveiík Kingdom]], itself the last incarnation of [[Xevden]], a state founded in present-day Gylias by the ethnically Lemobrogian Ŋej tribe. It is an analytic, subject–verb–object word order ''koiné'' language, that arose as the result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum; even though it is easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of Lemobrogia's 43,791,300 inhabitants, up to and including those whose native tongue is not part of the Lemobrogic dialect continuum, most people in the country do not speak it as their first language.
'''Lemobrogian''' (Loŋku Takidanθu, [ˈlɔŋku taˈkidanθu]) is a Siduric language of the Lemobrogic branch, spoken by the vast majority of the population of [[Lemobrogia]] and by [[Lemobrogian peoples|ethnic Lemobrogians]] outside of the country; it is the official language of Lemobrogia, and it is also official in the [[Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk Region]] of [[Gylias]] - the heart of the historical [[Nerveiík Kingdom]], itself the last incarnation of [[Xevden]], a state founded in present-day Gylias by the ethnically Lemobrogian Ŋež tribe. It is an analytic, subject–verb–object word order ''koiné'' language, that arose as the result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum; even though it is easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of Lemobrogia's 43,791,300 inhabitants, up to and including those whose native tongue is not part of the Lemobrogic dialect continuum, most people in the country do not speak it as their first language.
==Classification==
==Classification==
The Lemobrogic languages form a dialect continuum, in which neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but widely separated varieties are not; Lemobrogian is a ''koiné'' language, that arose as the result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to this dialect continuum, and that became the ''lingua franca'' of the nation by the early 1500s. The Lemobrogic languages in general, that can be subdivided into central or midland, northern or lowland and southern or highland varieties, share several key features with the [[Gylic languages]] in general, especially those spoken by the Yaskans and Zinerans, and with reconstructed Proto-Gylic in particular; for this reason, several linguists have postulated the existence of a language family that would include all Gylic languages and all Lemobrogic languages, provisionally named Siduric, whose dialects and languages are characterized by an analytic typology and a SVO sentence structure.
The Lemobrogic languages form a dialect continuum, in which neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but widely separated varieties are not; Lemobrogian is a ''koiné'' language, that arose as the result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to this dialect continuum, and that became the ''lingua franca'' of the nation by the early 1500s. The Lemobrogic languages in general, that can be subdivided into central or midland, northern or lowland and southern or highland varieties, share several key features with the [[Gylic languages]] in general, especially those spoken by the Yaskans and Zinerans, and with reconstructed Proto-Gylic in particular; for this reason, several linguists have postulated the existence of a language family that would include all Gylic languages and all Lemobrogic languages, provisionally named Siduric, whose dialects and languages are characterized by an analytic typology and a SVO sentence structure.
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The earliest historical linguistic evidence of the language, as the Old Lemobrogian spoken during the First Confederation era, dates back to around 3100 BCE, in the country's Bronze Age, when those corporate groups that had clustered near each other in Lemobrogia's first city-states developed a pidgin language in order to facilitate the exchanges of goods and services that served as the ''potlatch''-like basis of their society; as soon as the nation began experiencing a cultural and societal decline, from around 1100 BCE, as a result of internecine warfare and resource overexploitation, and the First Confederation dissolved, Old Lemobrogian - by then, a creole language rather than a pidgin language, and the native language of a significant part of the populace - diverged into several separate dialects. However, due to the logographic nature of the script with which Old Lemobrogian was written, its phonology can not be reconstructed with absolute certainty.
The earliest historical linguistic evidence of the language, as the Old Lemobrogian spoken during the First Confederation era, dates back to around 3100 BCE, in the country's Bronze Age, when those corporate groups that had clustered near each other in Lemobrogia's first city-states developed a pidgin language in order to facilitate the exchanges of goods and services that served as the ''potlatch''-like basis of their society; as soon as the nation began experiencing a cultural and societal decline, from around 1100 BCE, as a result of internecine warfare and resource overexploitation, and the First Confederation dissolved, Old Lemobrogian - by then, a creole language rather than a pidgin language, and the native language of a significant part of the populace - diverged into several separate dialects. However, due to the logographic nature of the script with which Old Lemobrogian was written, its phonology can not be reconstructed with absolute certainty.


By around 700 BCE, the nation was reunified under the Second Confederation by the members of a philosophical school founded in 1728 BCE by Maŋé Vèḅa, who believed that their founder and precursor had hypothesized or even prophesied the collapse of Lemobrogia's Bronze Age civilization; the language spoken by the members of Maŋé Vèḅa's philosophical school formed the basis of Classical Lemobrogian. As Maŋé Vèḅa's philosophy turned into a religion, [[Naxóteíðó|Virocredia]], knowledge of Classical Lemobrogian spread to all corners of society; since the prestige and status of the priest-queens that headed the political and religious life of the bands, clans and tribes of Lemobrogia in the Second Confederation era hinged on their generosity and liberality, they erected schools and hired teachers for their subjects, giving birth to a golden age of literature and science. Moreover, during this period, the ancient logographic script was replaced by a syllabic script; certain extensively used logographic characters were however retained.
By around 700 BCE, the nation was reunified under the Second Confederation by the members of a philosophical school founded in 1728 BCE by Kaje Danθu, who believed that their founder and precursor had hypothesized or even prophesied the collapse of Lemobrogia's Bronze Age civilization; the language spoken by the members of Kaje Danθu's philosophical school formed the basis of Classical Lemobrogian. As Kaje Danθu's philosophy turned into a religion, [[Naxóteíðó|Virocredia]], knowledge of Classical Lemobrogian spread to all corners of society; since the prestige and status of the priest-queens that headed the political and religious life of the bands, clans and tribes of Lemobrogia in the Second Confederation era hinged on their generosity and liberality, they erected schools and hired teachers for their subjects, giving birth to a golden age of literature and science. Moreover, during this period, the ancient logographic script was replaced by a syllabic script; certain extensively used logographic characters were however retained.


By 246 BCE the Second Confederation had entered a declining phase and, by 843 CE, it had been fully partitioned between the [[Rideva Empire|Rideva]] in the south and [[Symmerian Empire|Symmeria]] in the north; Classical Lemobrogian diverged, again, into several separate dialects, influenced in the north by Greek and in the south by Sanskrit, and the syllabic script with which it was written was replaced by the scripts used in said countries. When this era of foreign rule over Lemobrogia came to an end, between 1305 CE and 1333 CE, the dialects that, by then, were spoken in the country had diverged enough from each other that, by the early 1500s, while neighboring varieties of this Vulgar Lemobrogian register were mutually intelligible, widely separated varieties were not; while Classical Lemobrogian continued to serve as the language of the faith and of the state, itinerant workers, traveling merchants and wandering entertainers developed a ''koiné'' language of their own.
By 246 BCE the Second Confederation had entered a declining phase and, by 843 CE, it had been fully partitioned between the [[Rideva Empire|Rideva]] in the south and [[Symmerian Empire|Symmeria]] in the north; Classical Lemobrogian diverged, again, into several separate dialects, influenced in the north by Greek and in the south by Sanskrit, and the syllabic script with which it was written was replaced by the scripts used in said countries. When this era of foreign rule over Lemobrogia came to an end, between 1305 CE and 1333 CE, the dialects that, by then, were spoken in the country had diverged enough from each other that, by the early 1500s, while neighboring varieties of this Vulgar Lemobrogian register were mutually intelligible, widely separated varieties were not; while Classical Lemobrogian continued to serve as the language of the faith and of the state, itinerant workers, traveling merchants and wandering entertainers developed a ''koiné'' language of their own.
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For the next several centuries, a language conflict ensued; even though, in 1333 CE, the Third Federation re-adopted Classical Lemobrogian as the country's official language, it was a compromise measure made necessary by the pluricentric nature of Vulgar Lemobrogian. The gulf between Classical Lemobrogian and Vulgar Lemobrogian became even greater from 1504 CE onwards - as the nation became a protectorate of [[Acrea]] in exchange for Acrea's help in defeating the Xevdenite threat, the influence of Acrea's several languages on Vulgar Lemobrogian's disparate varieties made the vernacular drift even further apart from the literary and stately register of Classical Lemobrogian. However, by the early 20th century these disparate varieties had converged upon a single standard, easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of Lemobrogia's inhabitants, regardless of their native dialect or language, also due to the influence of several leading figures in the country's 19th century popular culture.
For the next several centuries, a language conflict ensued; even though, in 1333 CE, the Third Federation re-adopted Classical Lemobrogian as the country's official language, it was a compromise measure made necessary by the pluricentric nature of Vulgar Lemobrogian. The gulf between Classical Lemobrogian and Vulgar Lemobrogian became even greater from 1504 CE onwards - as the nation became a protectorate of [[Acrea]] in exchange for Acrea's help in defeating the Xevdenite threat, the influence of Acrea's several languages on Vulgar Lemobrogian's disparate varieties made the vernacular drift even further apart from the literary and stately register of Classical Lemobrogian. However, by the early 20th century these disparate varieties had converged upon a single standard, easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of Lemobrogia's inhabitants, regardless of their native dialect or language, also due to the influence of several leading figures in the country's 19th century popular culture.


This register, the end result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum over the course of the previous centuries, was declared to be the official language of the country by the Futurist leadership in the 1920s, with a written standard heavily based on Acrean spelling conventions. This decision proved to be popular enough that, even after the end of Futurist rule in 1968, it was not reversed during Druþò K̇lóyu's tenure, even though the establishment of the Fourth Confederation was marked by several breaks with the old government - up to and including the relocation of the nation's capital; the only change to the written standard was a spelling reform, based on the one that took place in Gylias during the [[Gylian languages reform of 1958–1959]], that simplified its orthography, in order to make it more phonemic. The old syllabic script has recently seen a revival for calligraphic and decorative purposes, and there have been several proposals to modernize it for daily use.
This register, the end result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum over the course of the previous centuries, was declared to be the official language of the country by the Futurist leadership in the 1920s, with a written standard heavily based on Acrean spelling conventions. This decision proved to be popular enough that, even after the end of Futurist rule in 1968, it was not reversed during Šein Taki's tenure, even though the establishment of the Fourth Confederation was marked by several breaks with the old government - up to and including the relocation of the nation's capital; the only change to the written standard was a spelling reform, based on the one that took place in Gylias during the [[Gylian languages reform of 1958–1959]], that simplified its orthography, in order to make it more phonemic. The old syllabic script has recently seen a revival for calligraphic and decorative purposes, and there have been several proposals to modernize it for daily use.
==Geographic distribution==
==Geographic distribution==
Even though most people in the country do not speak Lemobrogian as their first language, and speak either one of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum (72% of the population) or a language that does not belong to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum, often an Acrean, Syaran or Tennaiite dialect (28% of the population), Lemobrogian is easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of the nation's inhabitants; therefore, it serves as Lemobrogia's ''lingua franca'', used in the country's chief institutions and official documents. Traditionally, the Lemobrogic languages have been subdivided into central or midland, northern or lowland and southern or highland varieties; the status of the Gylic dialect spoken by those Ŋej that left Gylias for Lemobrogia, and their descendants, is a subject of debate: scholars are divided on whether it's a Gylic dialect with a North Lemobrogic substrate, a Lemobrogic dialect with a South Gylic superstrate, or a transitional dialect.
Even though most people in the country do not speak Lemobrogian as their first language, and speak either one of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum (72% of the population) or a language that does not belong to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum, often an Acrean, Syaran or Tennaiite dialect (28% of the population), Lemobrogian is easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of the nation's inhabitants; therefore, it serves as Lemobrogia's ''lingua franca'', used in the country's chief institutions and official documents. Traditionally, the Lemobrogic languages have been subdivided into central or midland, northern or lowland and southern or highland varieties; the status of the Gylic dialect spoken by those Ŋež that left Gylias for Lemobrogia, and their descendants, is a subject of debate: scholars are divided on whether it's a Gylic dialect with a North Lemobrogic substrate, a Lemobrogic dialect with a South Gylic superstrate, or a transitional dialect.
==Phonology==
==Phonology==
The phonology and phonotactics of Lemobrogian are fairly plain and regular, sharing several key characteristics with those of the Gylic languages; Lemobrogian has however preserved certain Siduric consonant clusters, while developing a distinctive contrast between ejective and voiceless stops on one hand (it has been argued that the decreased air pressure found in highland areas makes ejective consonants easier to produce) and implosive and voiced stops on the other hand (a likely influence from several of the languages spoken in nearby [[Quenmin]]), as well as an equally distinctive vowel inventory with only one close vowel and only one open vowel, but four contrasting mid vowels (that is nonetheless quite balanced, as three of these vowels are rounded, and another three of these vowels are unrounded). In total, Lemobrogian has 30 consonant phonemes and 6 vowel phonemes, that can be either short or long; word stress is fixed, always falling on the third from last syllable of a word.
The phonotactics of Lemobrogian - a language that has preserved certain Siduric consonant clusters, that were lost in related vernaculars - follow a (C)(C)V(C)(C) syllable structure; the nucleus of the syllable is always a short vowel, that can be preceded by an onset of 1 or 2 consonants (in the latter case, the only allowed cluster is that of a fricative or stop, and a homorganic approximant) or followed by a coda of 1 or 2 consonants (in the latter case, the only allowed cluster is that of a nasal and a homorganic fricative or stop); in polysyllabic words, double consonants can also occur, but sequences of more than 2 consonants are still forbidden. There are no diphthongs or long vowels: while vowel sequences of up to 2 vowels (always consisting of one vowel and an identical vowel, or of a back, central or front vowel and the other back, central or front vowel) can and do occur, these vowels are always counted as nuclei of separate syllables, rather than as part of a single syllable.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Consonants
|+Consonants
Line 48: Line 48:
! Coronal
! Coronal
! Dorsal
! Dorsal
!Laryngeal
|-
|-
! Stop
! Stop
Line 53: Line 54:
| tʼ t d ɗ
| tʼ t d ɗ
| kʼ k g ɠ
| kʼ k g ɠ
|-
|-
! Nasal
! Nasal
Line 58: Line 60:
| n
| n
| ŋ
| ŋ
|-
|
! Trill
|
| r
|  
|-
|-
! Fricative
! Fricative
Line 68: Line 66:
| θ ð s z ʃ ʒ
| θ ð s z ʃ ʒ
| x ɣ
| x ɣ
|h
|-
|-
! Approximant
! Approximant
| w
| w
| ɹ
| l
| j
| j
|-
|
! Lateral Approximant
|
| l
|  
|}
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
Line 88: Line 83:
|-
|-
! Close
! Close
|  
| i
| ʉ
|
|  
| u
|-
|-
! Mid
! Mid
| e ɛ
| ɛ
|  
| ə
| ɔ o
| ɔ
|-
|-
! Open
! Open
Line 102: Line 97:
|  
|  
|}
|}
The phonotactics of Lemobrogian usually follow a C(A)V(V)(N) syllable structure: C is a required consonant, (A) is an optional approximant or lateral approximant, V is a required long or short vowel, (V) is an optional short vowel, and (N) is an optional nasal or trill. If (A) is present, C can't be an approximant or lateral approximant; if (V) is present, V can't be a long vowel, and at least one of the vowels has to be either close or open; if (N) is present and is a nasal, the onset of the following syllable can't be a different nasal or a liquid consonant; if (N) is present and is a trill, the onset of the following syllable can't be a different liquid consonant. Word-initial (V)(V) sequences, word-medial double consonants (typically analyzed as the end result of the assimilation of an antecedent syllable-final phoneme to a subsequent syllable-initial phoneme) and word-final (N)(C) sequences are also allowed: if (N) is present, (C) can only be a labial stop, a coronal fricative or stop, or a dorsal stop.
The phonotactics of Lemobrogian follow a (C)(C)V(C)(C) syllable structure; the nucleus of the syllable is always a short vowel, that can be preceded by an onset of 1 or 2 consonants (in the latter case, the only allowed cluster is that of a stop and a homorganic approximant) or followed by a coda of 1 or 2 consonants (in the latter case, the only allowed cluster is that of a nasal and a homorganic stop); in polysyllabic words, double consonants and clusters consisting of a fricative and a homorganic approximant, or of a nasal and a homorganic fricative, can also occur, but sequences of more than 2 consonants are still forbidden. There are no diphthongs or long vowels: while vowel sequences of up to 2 vowels (always consisting of one vowel and an identical vowel, or of a back, central or front vowel and the other back, central or front vowel) can and do occur, these vowels are always counted as nuclei of separate syllables, rather than as part of a single syllable.
==Grammar==
==Grammar==
Lemobrogian is an analytic, subject–verb–object word order language: content words can be nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs depending on their position in a sentence, and they are not inflected in any way; to express grammatical relationships between these, Lemobrogian utilizes derivational affixes and function words. Several of these function words - such as, for example, articles and pronouns - have preserved gender and T-V distinctions that have become obsolete in the Gylic branch of the Siduric language family, especially after the [[Gylian languages reform of 1958–1959]]; as is typical for subject–verb–object word order languages, Lemobrogian uses prepositions rather than postpositions, while adjectives, demonstratives, genitives, numerals, possessives and relative clauses follow the nouns they modify. Moreover, Lemobrogian places auxiliary verbs before action verbs, proper names after titles and honorifics, and uses a place–manner–time ordering of adpositional phrases.
Lemobrogian is an analytic, subject–verb–object word order language: content words can be nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs depending on their position in a sentence, and they are not inflected in any way; to express grammatical relationships between these, Lemobrogian utilizes derivational affixes and function words. Gender and T-V distinctions became obsolete in the Lemobrogic branch of the Siduric language family quite earlier than in the Gylic branch of said language family, that began to phase those distinctions out - by decree - only after the [[Gylian languages reform of 1958–1959]]; as is typical for subject–verb–object word order languages, Lemobrogian uses prepositions rather than postpositions, while adjectives, demonstratives, genitives, numerals, possessives and relative clauses follow the nouns they modify. Moreover, Lemobrogian places auxiliary verbs before action verbs, proper names after titles and honorifics, and uses a place–manner–time ordering of adpositional phrases.
==Vocabulary==
==Vocabulary==
72% of the vocabulary of Lemobrogian is of native origin, with most of said native vocabulary consisting of words that have cognates in at least one Gylic language, often a Yaskan or Zineran dialect; that said, while reconstructed Proto-Gylic and reconstructed Proto-Lemobrogic are mutually intelligible, modern Gylic languages and modern Lemobrogic languages are not, due to divergent semantic changes and sound shifts, and neither are Lemobrogian and the Gylic ''koiné''. The remaining 28% of the language's vocabulary largely consists of words taken from Proto-Erani-Eracuran during the Bronze Age: while words of Greek, Nordic or Sanskrit descent are characteristic of the dialects spoken in, respectively, the lowland north, the midland center or the highland south of the country, their role in Lemobrogian is taken up by words of native origin, or by compound words coined from those words of native origin that are shared by most of the country's languages.
72% of the vocabulary of Lemobrogian is of native origin, with most of said native vocabulary consisting of words that have cognates in at least one Gylic language, often a Yaskan or Zineran dialect; that said, while reconstructed Proto-Gylic and reconstructed Proto-Lemobrogic are mutually intelligible, modern Gylic languages and modern Lemobrogic languages are not, due to divergent semantic changes and sound shifts, and neither are Lemobrogian and the Gylic ''koiné''. The remaining 28% of the language's vocabulary largely consists of words taken from Proto-Erani-Eracuran during the Bronze Age, or of words of Greek, Nordic or Sanskrit descent adopted due to the influence of Syara, Acrea or the Rideva much later on; an even higher percentage of words of Greek, Nordic or Sanskrit descent is characteristic of the dialects spoken in, respectively, the lowland north, the midland center or the highland south of the country, while Lemobrogian favours words of native origin that are shared by most of the country's languages.


Personal names in the Lemobrogic languages in general and in Lemobrogian in particular are matronymic, in that they reflect the immediate mother of the child, and not the historic family lineage - the last name of a child and the given name of their mother are one and the same. Ŋej personal names are a partial exception to this rule: since at least the 14th century, Ŋej males have been given patronymics, while Ŋej females have been given matronymics. Lemobrogian is also characterized by its duodecimal number system, that probably originated as a system of finger counting based on the knuckle bones of the four larger fingers. Historically however, the Lemobrogic languages, as well as Lemobrogian, did not treat arm, finger and hand as separate appendages: a single term denoted the whole limb, a common occurrence in those languages spoken by foraging societies that did not wear tailored clothing; compound words have since been coined for arm, finger and hand as separate appendages.
== Writing system ==
==Writing system==
While Old Lemobrogian was written in a logographic script, and Classical Lemobrogian was written in a syllabic descendant of the previous script - that nonetheless retained certain extensively used logographic characters - the Vulgar Lemobrogian dialects eventually adopted the Devanagari abugida (in the south) and the Greek alphabet (in the north). While the earlier syllabic script was brought back into use after the re-adoption of Classical Lemobrogian as the country's official language in 1333 CE, by then the gulf between spelling and pronunciation had grown, and it would widen even further over the course of the following centuries; because of this, a version of the Latin alphabet heavily based on Acrean spelling conventions was eventually adopted in the 1920s, when the current register of the Lemobrogian language was adopted as the official standard. A further spelling reform took place in 1968, that simplified the orthography of the above version of the Latin alphabet, in order to make it more phonemic.
While Old Lemobrogian was written in a logographic script, and Classical Lemobrogian was written in a syllabic descendant of the previous script - that nonetheless retained certain extensively used logographic characters - the Vulgar Lemobrogian dialects eventually adopted the Devanagari abugida (in the south) and the Greek alphabet (in the north). While the earlier syllabic script was brought back into use after the re-adoption of Classical Lemobrogian as the country's official language in 1333 CE, by then the gulf between spelling and pronunciation had grown, and it would widen even further over the course of the following centuries; because of this, a version of the Latin alphabet heavily based on Acrean spelling conventions was eventually adopted in the 1920s, when the current register of the Lemobrogian language was adopted as the official standard. A further spelling reform took place in 1968, that simplified the orthography of the above version of the Latin alphabet, in order to make it more phonemic.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
Line 123: Line 117:
|A a
|A a
|[a]
|[a]
|J j
|I i
|[ʒ]
|[i]
|Ř ř
|S s
|[r]
|[s]
|-
|-
|B b
|B b
|[b]
|[b]
|K k
|J j
|[k]
|[j]
|S s
|Š š
|[s]
|[ʃ]
|-
|-
|Ḅ ḅ
|Ḅ ḅ
|[ɓ]
|[ɓ]
| K̇ k̇
| K k
|[]
|[k]
|Š š
|T t
|[ʃ]
|[t]
|-
|-
|D d
|D d
|[d]
|[d]
|Kʼ kʼ
|[kʼ]
|Tʼ tʼ
|[tʼ]
|-
|Ḍ ḍ
|[ɗ]
|L l
|L l
|[l]
|[l]
|T t
|ϴ θ
|[t]
|[θ]
|-
|-
|Ḍ ḍ
|Ð ð
|[ɗ]
|[ð]
|M m
|M m
|[m]
|[m]
|Ṫ ṫ
|U u
|[]
|[u]
|-
|-
|Ð ð
|E e
|[ð]
| [ɛ]
|N n
|N n
|[n]
|[n]
|Þ  þ
|V v
|[θ]
|[β]
|-
|-
|È è
| F f
| [ɛ]
|[ɸ]
|Ŋ ŋ
|Ŋ ŋ
|[ŋ]
|[ŋ]
|U u
|[ʉ]
|-
| É é
|[e]
|Ò ò
|[ɔ]
|V v
| [β]
|-
|F f
|[ɸ]
|Ó ó
|[o]
|W w
|W w
|[w]
| [w]
|-
|-
|G g
|G g
|[g]
|[g]
| P p
|O o
| [p]
|[ɔ]
| X x
|X x
| [x]
|[x]
|-
|-
|G̣ g̣
|G̣ g̣
|[ɠ]
|[ɠ]
| Ṗ ṗ
| P p
| []
| [p]
| Y y
| Y y
|[j]
| [ə]
|-
|-
| Ɣ ɣ
|Ɣ ɣ
| [ɣ]
|[ɣ]
|R r
| Pʼ pʼ
| [ɹ]
| []
|Z z
| Z z  
|[z]
|[z]
|-
| H h
| [h]
|Q q
| [ʔ]
|Ž ž
|[ʒ]
|}
|}
==Examples==
==Examples==
The following is a sample text in Common Lemobrogic of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
The following is a sample text in Lemobrogian of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"  
!Common Lemobrogic
|-
|-
|Sar ot deyi jise ta sar leĩyu ara moũri ro sar navərþas ara vəxdaŋkəl nul uþ žala.
! Lemobrogian
Bas ot ta sar cileëvim ara dusoörun uþ jana, ara ro sar ecəmeĩ ne sar osaňoũ de nul im xəŋə.
| Kisu 1: Lei manobas se pouno miju aθ hius on keži aθ ḍeli. Nybas se taysa voku aθ honu, aθ meite seiðe eŋ sybas on hou θemi us kemi.  
|-
|-
!IPA
! IPA
|-
| ˈkisu ˈtiku: ˈlɛi ˈmanɔbas sɛ ˈpɔunɔ ˈmiju aθ ˈhius ɔn ˈkɛʒi aθ ˈɗɛli. ˈnəbas sɛ ˈtaəsa ˈβɔku aθ ˈhɔnu, aθ ˈmɛitɛ ˈsɛiðɛ ɛŋ ˈsəbas ɔn ˈhɔu ˈθɛmi us ˈkɛmi.
|[säɹ o̞t ˈde̞ji ˈʤise̞ tä säɹ ˈle̞i̯ju ˈäɹä ˈmo̞u̯ɹi ɹo̞ säɹ ˈnävəɹθäs ˈäɹä ˈvəʃdäŋkəl nul uθ ˈʒälä]
[bäs o̞t tä säɹ ˈʧile̞ːvim ˈäɹä ˈduso̞ːɹun uθ ˈʤänä ˈäɹä ɹo̞ säɹ ˈe̞ʧəme̞i̯ ne̞ säɹ ˈo̞säɲo̞u̯ de̞ nul im ˈʃəŋə]
|-
|-
!English
! Gloss
| piece 1: DEF human-all PASS born free and same in worth and law. 3-all PASS give reason and soul, and ACT need act among REFL-all in INDEF spirit of friend.
|-
|-
|All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
! English
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
| Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience, and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
|}
|}
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Latest revision as of 09:52, 22 December 2024

Lemobrogian
Loŋku Takidanθu
Pronunciation[ˈlɔŋku taˈkidanθu]
Native toLemobrogia
EthnicityLemobrogians
Native speakers
~ 43,791,300 (2024)
Sidurian
  • Lemobrogic
    • Lemobrogian
Early forms
Old Lemobrogian
  • Classical Lemobrogian
    • Vulgar Lemobrogian
Dialects
  • Central Lemobrogic
  • Northern Lemobrogic
  • Southern Lemobrogic
Lemobrogian alphabet
Lemobrogian Braille
Loŋku Kayna
Official status
Official language in
Lemobrogia
Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk Region (Gylias)
Regulated bySelo us lei Loŋku
Language codes
ISO 639-1lk
ISO 639-2lk
ISO 639-3lok

Lemobrogian (Loŋku Takidanθu, [ˈlɔŋku taˈkidanθu]) is a Siduric language of the Lemobrogic branch, spoken by the vast majority of the population of Lemobrogia and by ethnic Lemobrogians outside of the country; it is the official language of Lemobrogia, and it is also official in the Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk Region of Gylias - the heart of the historical Nerveiík Kingdom, itself the last incarnation of Xevden, a state founded in present-day Gylias by the ethnically Lemobrogian Ŋež tribe. It is an analytic, subject–verb–object word order koiné language, that arose as the result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum; even though it is easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of Lemobrogia's 43,791,300 inhabitants, up to and including those whose native tongue is not part of the Lemobrogic dialect continuum, most people in the country do not speak it as their first language.

Classification

The Lemobrogic languages form a dialect continuum, in which neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but widely separated varieties are not; Lemobrogian is a koiné language, that arose as the result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to this dialect continuum, and that became the lingua franca of the nation by the early 1500s. The Lemobrogic languages in general, that can be subdivided into central or midland, northern or lowland and southern or highland varieties, share several key features with the Gylic languages in general, especially those spoken by the Yaskans and Zinerans, and with reconstructed Proto-Gylic in particular; for this reason, several linguists have postulated the existence of a language family that would include all Gylic languages and all Lemobrogic languages, provisionally named Siduric, whose dialects and languages are characterized by an analytic typology and a SVO sentence structure.

History

The earliest historical linguistic evidence of the language, as the Old Lemobrogian spoken during the First Confederation era, dates back to around 3100 BCE, in the country's Bronze Age, when those corporate groups that had clustered near each other in Lemobrogia's first city-states developed a pidgin language in order to facilitate the exchanges of goods and services that served as the potlatch-like basis of their society; as soon as the nation began experiencing a cultural and societal decline, from around 1100 BCE, as a result of internecine warfare and resource overexploitation, and the First Confederation dissolved, Old Lemobrogian - by then, a creole language rather than a pidgin language, and the native language of a significant part of the populace - diverged into several separate dialects. However, due to the logographic nature of the script with which Old Lemobrogian was written, its phonology can not be reconstructed with absolute certainty.

By around 700 BCE, the nation was reunified under the Second Confederation by the members of a philosophical school founded in 1728 BCE by Kaje Danθu, who believed that their founder and precursor had hypothesized or even prophesied the collapse of Lemobrogia's Bronze Age civilization; the language spoken by the members of Kaje Danθu's philosophical school formed the basis of Classical Lemobrogian. As Kaje Danθu's philosophy turned into a religion, Virocredia, knowledge of Classical Lemobrogian spread to all corners of society; since the prestige and status of the priest-queens that headed the political and religious life of the bands, clans and tribes of Lemobrogia in the Second Confederation era hinged on their generosity and liberality, they erected schools and hired teachers for their subjects, giving birth to a golden age of literature and science. Moreover, during this period, the ancient logographic script was replaced by a syllabic script; certain extensively used logographic characters were however retained.

By 246 BCE the Second Confederation had entered a declining phase and, by 843 CE, it had been fully partitioned between the Rideva in the south and Symmeria in the north; Classical Lemobrogian diverged, again, into several separate dialects, influenced in the north by Greek and in the south by Sanskrit, and the syllabic script with which it was written was replaced by the scripts used in said countries. When this era of foreign rule over Lemobrogia came to an end, between 1305 CE and 1333 CE, the dialects that, by then, were spoken in the country had diverged enough from each other that, by the early 1500s, while neighboring varieties of this Vulgar Lemobrogian register were mutually intelligible, widely separated varieties were not; while Classical Lemobrogian continued to serve as the language of the faith and of the state, itinerant workers, traveling merchants and wandering entertainers developed a koiné language of their own.

For the next several centuries, a language conflict ensued; even though, in 1333 CE, the Third Federation re-adopted Classical Lemobrogian as the country's official language, it was a compromise measure made necessary by the pluricentric nature of Vulgar Lemobrogian. The gulf between Classical Lemobrogian and Vulgar Lemobrogian became even greater from 1504 CE onwards - as the nation became a protectorate of Acrea in exchange for Acrea's help in defeating the Xevdenite threat, the influence of Acrea's several languages on Vulgar Lemobrogian's disparate varieties made the vernacular drift even further apart from the literary and stately register of Classical Lemobrogian. However, by the early 20th century these disparate varieties had converged upon a single standard, easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of Lemobrogia's inhabitants, regardless of their native dialect or language, also due to the influence of several leading figures in the country's 19th century popular culture.

This register, the end result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum over the course of the previous centuries, was declared to be the official language of the country by the Futurist leadership in the 1920s, with a written standard heavily based on Acrean spelling conventions. This decision proved to be popular enough that, even after the end of Futurist rule in 1968, it was not reversed during Šein Taki's tenure, even though the establishment of the Fourth Confederation was marked by several breaks with the old government - up to and including the relocation of the nation's capital; the only change to the written standard was a spelling reform, based on the one that took place in Gylias during the Gylian languages reform of 1958–1959, that simplified its orthography, in order to make it more phonemic. The old syllabic script has recently seen a revival for calligraphic and decorative purposes, and there have been several proposals to modernize it for daily use.

Geographic distribution

Even though most people in the country do not speak Lemobrogian as their first language, and speak either one of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum (72% of the population) or a language that does not belong to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum, often an Acrean, Syaran or Tennaiite dialect (28% of the population), Lemobrogian is easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of the nation's inhabitants; therefore, it serves as Lemobrogia's lingua franca, used in the country's chief institutions and official documents. Traditionally, the Lemobrogic languages have been subdivided into central or midland, northern or lowland and southern or highland varieties; the status of the Gylic dialect spoken by those Ŋež that left Gylias for Lemobrogia, and their descendants, is a subject of debate: scholars are divided on whether it's a Gylic dialect with a North Lemobrogic substrate, a Lemobrogic dialect with a South Gylic superstrate, or a transitional dialect.

Phonology

The phonotactics of Lemobrogian - a language that has preserved certain Siduric consonant clusters, that were lost in related vernaculars - follow a (C)(C)V(C)(C) syllable structure; the nucleus of the syllable is always a short vowel, that can be preceded by an onset of 1 or 2 consonants (in the latter case, the only allowed cluster is that of a fricative or stop, and a homorganic approximant) or followed by a coda of 1 or 2 consonants (in the latter case, the only allowed cluster is that of a nasal and a homorganic fricative or stop); in polysyllabic words, double consonants can also occur, but sequences of more than 2 consonants are still forbidden. There are no diphthongs or long vowels: while vowel sequences of up to 2 vowels (always consisting of one vowel and an identical vowel, or of a back, central or front vowel and the other back, central or front vowel) can and do occur, these vowels are always counted as nuclei of separate syllables, rather than as part of a single syllable.

Consonants
Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal
Stop pʼ p b ɓ tʼ t d ɗ kʼ k g ɠ ʔ
Nasal m n ŋ
Fricative ɸ β θ ð s z ʃ ʒ x ɣ h
Approximant w l j
Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid ɛ ə ɔ
Open a

The phonotactics of Lemobrogian follow a (C)(C)V(C)(C) syllable structure; the nucleus of the syllable is always a short vowel, that can be preceded by an onset of 1 or 2 consonants (in the latter case, the only allowed cluster is that of a stop and a homorganic approximant) or followed by a coda of 1 or 2 consonants (in the latter case, the only allowed cluster is that of a nasal and a homorganic stop); in polysyllabic words, double consonants and clusters consisting of a fricative and a homorganic approximant, or of a nasal and a homorganic fricative, can also occur, but sequences of more than 2 consonants are still forbidden. There are no diphthongs or long vowels: while vowel sequences of up to 2 vowels (always consisting of one vowel and an identical vowel, or of a back, central or front vowel and the other back, central or front vowel) can and do occur, these vowels are always counted as nuclei of separate syllables, rather than as part of a single syllable.

Grammar

Lemobrogian is an analytic, subject–verb–object word order language: content words can be nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs depending on their position in a sentence, and they are not inflected in any way; to express grammatical relationships between these, Lemobrogian utilizes derivational affixes and function words. Gender and T-V distinctions became obsolete in the Lemobrogic branch of the Siduric language family quite earlier than in the Gylic branch of said language family, that began to phase those distinctions out - by decree - only after the Gylian languages reform of 1958–1959; as is typical for subject–verb–object word order languages, Lemobrogian uses prepositions rather than postpositions, while adjectives, demonstratives, genitives, numerals, possessives and relative clauses follow the nouns they modify. Moreover, Lemobrogian places auxiliary verbs before action verbs, proper names after titles and honorifics, and uses a place–manner–time ordering of adpositional phrases.

Vocabulary

72% of the vocabulary of Lemobrogian is of native origin, with most of said native vocabulary consisting of words that have cognates in at least one Gylic language, often a Yaskan or Zineran dialect; that said, while reconstructed Proto-Gylic and reconstructed Proto-Lemobrogic are mutually intelligible, modern Gylic languages and modern Lemobrogic languages are not, due to divergent semantic changes and sound shifts, and neither are Lemobrogian and the Gylic koiné. The remaining 28% of the language's vocabulary largely consists of words taken from Proto-Erani-Eracuran during the Bronze Age, or of words of Greek, Nordic or Sanskrit descent adopted due to the influence of Syara, Acrea or the Rideva much later on; an even higher percentage of words of Greek, Nordic or Sanskrit descent is characteristic of the dialects spoken in, respectively, the lowland north, the midland center or the highland south of the country, while Lemobrogian favours words of native origin that are shared by most of the country's languages.

Writing system

While Old Lemobrogian was written in a logographic script, and Classical Lemobrogian was written in a syllabic descendant of the previous script - that nonetheless retained certain extensively used logographic characters - the Vulgar Lemobrogian dialects eventually adopted the Devanagari abugida (in the south) and the Greek alphabet (in the north). While the earlier syllabic script was brought back into use after the re-adoption of Classical Lemobrogian as the country's official language in 1333 CE, by then the gulf between spelling and pronunciation had grown, and it would widen even further over the course of the following centuries; because of this, a version of the Latin alphabet heavily based on Acrean spelling conventions was eventually adopted in the 1920s, when the current register of the Lemobrogian language was adopted as the official standard. A further spelling reform took place in 1968, that simplified the orthography of the above version of the Latin alphabet, in order to make it more phonemic.

Alphabet
Letter IPA Letter IPA Letter IPA
A a [a] I i [i] S s [s]
B b [b] J j [j] Š š [ʃ]
Ḅ ḅ [ɓ] K k [k] T t [t]
D d [d] Kʼ kʼ [kʼ] Tʼ tʼ [tʼ]
Ḍ ḍ [ɗ] L l [l] ϴ θ [θ]
Ð ð [ð] M m [m] U u [u]
E e [ɛ] N n [n] V v [β]
F f [ɸ] Ŋ ŋ [ŋ] W w [w]
G g [g] O o [ɔ] X x [x]
G̣ g̣ [ɠ] P p [p] Y y [ə]
Ɣ ɣ [ɣ] Pʼ pʼ [pʼ] Z z [z]
H h [h] Q q [ʔ] Ž ž [ʒ]

Examples

The following is a sample text in Lemobrogian of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Lemobrogian Kisu 1: Lei manobas se pouno miju aθ hius on keži aθ ḍeli. Nybas se taysa voku aθ honu, aθ meite seiðe eŋ sybas on hou θemi us kemi.
IPA ˈkisu ˈtiku: ˈlɛi ˈmanɔbas sɛ ˈpɔunɔ ˈmiju aθ ˈhius ɔn ˈkɛʒi aθ ˈɗɛli. ˈnəbas sɛ ˈtaəsa ˈβɔku aθ ˈhɔnu, aθ ˈmɛitɛ ˈsɛiðɛ ɛŋ ˈsəbas ɔn ˈhɔu ˈθɛmi us ˈkɛmi.
Gloss piece 1: DEF human-all PASS born free and same in worth and law. 3-all PASS give reason and soul, and ACT need act among REFL-all in INDEF spirit of friend.
English Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience, and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.