Necunian language

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Necunian
al-Lipiṯ an-Neqūnʾalīt
Pronunciation/alːipiθ anːɛqu:nʔali:t/
Native toNecunian League
EthnicityNecunians
Native speakers
28.2 million native (2018)
~60 million L2 speakers
Early form
Proto-Necunian
Necunian Alphabet
Official status
Official language in
Necunian League
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Necunian language distribution.png
Necunian language in the Necunian League
  Majority (>50%) Necunian

  Sigificant Minority (10-49%) Necunian
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Necunian (al-Lipiṯ an-Neqūnʾalīt [alːipiθ anːɛqu:nʔali:t] or simply an-Neqūnʾalīt [anːɛqu:nʔali:t]) is a language isolate that first emerged in the 4th and 5th centuries CE. It is now an official language and lingua franca of the Necunian League. It is named after the Necunians, the primary ethnic group which speak the language natively. The exact total number of speakers, including both native and L2 speakers, is unknown and a matter of some debate. Various estimates have been put forward and vary widely, ranging from 50 million to 100 million.

The Necunian language has, in the 1600 years of its known history, had a visible influence on the other languages of the region — particularly the Maurusian languages of the southern part of the League's territory, providing a significant portion of the languages' respective vocabularies. Maritime, economic, and government terms in particular have often been sourced from Necunian, as the Necunian people were the primary maritime merchants throughout the middle ages.

Necunian is a mildly inflected ergative language, with three grammatical cases for animate nouns and pronouns, and two for inanimate nouns, and three numbers (singular, dual, and plural). Adjectives inflect to agree with the class, number, and case of the nouns they modify. The canonical word order is quite strictly VSO. Notably, Necunian has inflection of prepositions and a relatively large consonant inventory, including a series of four denti-alveolar emphatic consonants, which are realised as either strong velarisation or more commonly as pharyngealisation.

History

Distribution

Dialects

Grammar

Necunian is typologically an analytic-leaning language with a moderate degree of inflection on nouns and adjectives. Notably, prepositions are also inflected for person and number. It is an ergative–absolutive language which distinguishes between animate and inanimate substantives.

Phonology

Vocabulary

Examples

See also