Turunisi

[VaptuantaDoi]

Following Minimal Phonology Finnic and Fortunatian, here's Turunisi, which is Minimal Phonology Romance. The idea is to only use changes that are at least partly attested in Romance, so no Mekeo-style /p t k b d g/ → /Ø Ø Ø p k Ø/. Otherwise free game to make the smallest inventory possible while still being kinda Romance-y.


What's surprising about Romance is that Late Latin had pretty much the smallest consonant inventory of any IE language ever (correct me if there's any counterexamples) –

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 p   t   k
 b   d   g
 f   s
 m   n
     l
     r

That's already pretty small. To make this properly small, Turunisi loses its voicing distinction and fricative/stop distinction. Both of these are partially attested in Romance, and even just in Italy itself. Toscana gorgia blurs the stop/fricative distinction, and numerous Italian languages lose the /β ~ b/ distinction. Turunisi takes this a bit further and merges /p ~ f/, /b ~ β/, and /ts ~ s/ (and also /t ~ θ/ like Sard).
Partial loss of voicing is seen in some souther Italian dialects, where intervocalic /d g/ merge with /t k/. Turunisi does this, but following degemination, so pretty much all voiced stops are devoiced (but /b d g/ → /Ø r Ø/ word-initially before a stressed vowel). We then have /rB/ → /rP/ (BARDUS → /ˈartu/) and /NB/ → /Nː/ (QUANDŌ → /ˈpannu/). Archiphonemically there's still two stop series, but their realisations never contrast:

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         *P              *B
    #_   [p  t  ʦ  k]    [Ø  r  ʦ  Ø]
V#  #_   [ɸ  θ  s  x]    [Ø  r  s  Ø]
†#  #_   [pp tt tʦ kk]   [pp tt tʦ kk]
R#  #_   [rp rt rʦ rk]   [rp rt rʦ rk]
N#  #_   [mb nd nʣ ŋg]   [mm nn nn ŋg]

(† represents a word which triggers raddoppiamento fonosintattico or in Turunisi rattupramiandu punusindátticu). For instance:

​ ​ /ˈpaipa/ ​ ​ [ˈpɑi̯ɸa] ​ ​ "pipe" ​ ​ ~ ​ ​ /ˈarka/ ​ ​ [ˈarka] ​ ​ "boat"
​ ​ /a ˈpaipa/ ​ ​ [a ˈɸɑi̯ɸa] ​ ​ "the pipe" ​ ​ ~ ​ ​ /a ˈarka/ ​ ​ [a ˈarka] ​ ​ "the boat"
​ ​ /tri ˈppaipi/ ​ ​ [tɾip ˈpɑi̯ɸi] ​ ​ "three pipes" ​ ​ ~ ​ ​ /tri ˈpparʦi/ ​ ​ [tɾip ˈpaɾʦi] ​ ​ "three boats"
​ ​ /ˈpatur ˈpaipi/ ​ ​ [ˌpatuɾ ˈpɑi̯ɸi] ​ ​ "four pipes" ​ ​ ~ ​ ​ /ˈpatur ˈparʦi/ ​ ​ [ˌpatuɾ ˈpaɾʦi] ​ ​ "four boats"
​ ​ /in ˈpaipi/ ​ ​ [im ˈbɑi̯ɸi] ​ ​ "in pipes" ​ ​ ~ ​ ​ /in ˈparʦi/ ​ ​ [im ˈmaɾʦi] ​ ​ "in boats"

This is partly reflected in the orthography:

paipa, harca
a paipa, a harca
tri ppaipi, tri pparci
patur paipi, patur parci
i mbaipi, i mmarci

The vowel system is reduced by an atonic merger to /i u a/, although old *i triggers metaphony while old *u e o do not (realised as /ia ua i u/ → /i u ai iu/ in some verb forms and most m.pl. forms). Tonic vowels show a Western system with *i ɪ e ɛ a ɔ o ʊ u → */i e e ɛ a ɔ o o u/ but then subsequent diphthongisation of */i u ɛ ɔ/ → /ai iu ia ua/ (through */ei̯ eu̯ ie̯ uo̯/) and /e o/ → /i u/.

These various changes leave Turunisi with only eleven ten phonemes:

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       LAB   ALV   SIB   VEL               FRO   CTR   BAC
 PLO   /p/   /t/   /ʦ/   /k/         HIG   /i/         /u/
 NAS   /m/   /n/                     LOW         /a/
 RHO         /r/

I'm wondering if I could jettison /l/ by merging it with /ʦ/ and /r/ and /Ø/. Well, it is supposed to be minimalist, so I'll do that (/l/ → /ʦ/ when palatal or initial or geminate, → /r/ next to a consonant, → Ø intervocalically):

IŪLIUM → *dʒeu̯ʎu → ziusu /ˈʦiuʦu/
LŪNAM → *ɖeu̯na → ciuna /ˈʦiuna/
BELLAM → *βiə̯ɖa → hiasa /ˈiaʦa/
PLUMBUM → *plommu → prummu /ˈprummu/
CLĀVEM → *klaβi → crai /ˈkrai/ OR → *kjaβi → zai /ˈʦai/
ALTUM → *altu → artu /ˈartu/
CÆLUM → *kiə̯lu → ciau /ˈʦiau/

Some other generic changes are that the first palatalisation (TI̯ CI̯ I̯) gave *θ ð~dʒ → /t r/ (PLATEAM → *plaθa → /ˈprata/, ACIĀRIUM → *aθaru → /aˈtaru/, IUGUM → *ðogu → /ˈruku/) with the sonorants merging with other stuff (ARĀNEAM → *araɲa → /aˈraia/, FĪLIUM → *fei̯ʎu → /ˈpai̯ʦu/, ĀREAM → *arra → /ˈara/). Further palatalisation occurred very late, so that /ia iu/ < Ĕ~Æ Ū did palatalise *k g → /ʦ/, but /i ai/ < /e ei/ < Ĭ~Ē~Œ Ī didn't (e.g. CŪLUM → *kʲiulu → /ˈʦiu/ vs. *CĪNQUE → *kai̯mpi → /kaimpi/, CĒNAM → *kena → /kina/).

I'm considering having tonic Ī → */ei/ → */e/ → /i/ in closed syllables, so *CĪNQUE → /ˈkimpi/ – there's no cases of closed long Ū except before CT which is degeminated anyway so FRŪCTUM → /ˈpriutu/.

Possibly also /ia iu/ → /a u/ after Cr, e.g. /ˈprutu/ "fruit", GRÆCUM → */riaku/ → /ˈraku/.

Here's some words illustrating the characteristic sound changes:

EGO → iau /ˈiau/ "I"
ŪNUM → iunu /ˈiunu/ "one"
DUOS → riu† /ˈriu/ "two" (metathesis of */ui/ → /iu/)
TRĒS → tri† /ˈtri/ "three"
QUATTUOR → patur /ˈpatur/ "four"
*CĪNQUE → chimbi /ˈkimpi/ "five"
ACĒTUM → achitu /aˈkitu/ "vinegar"
CABALLUM → caasu /kaˈaʦu/ "horse"
GENUCULUM → cinusu /ʦiˈnuʦu/ "knee"
AURICULAM → arisa /aˈriʦa/ "ear"
OCULUM → uasu /ˈuaʦu/ "eye"
IANUĀRIUM → nauaru /naˈuaru/ "January" (*danuˈaru → *ranuˈaru → *naluˈaru by dissimilation)
LINGUAM → cimba /ˈʦimpa/ "tongue"
LATĪNAM → zataina /ʦaˈtaina/ "Latin"
HOMINEM → uani /ˈuani/ "man"
FEMINAM → piana /ˈpiana/ "woman"
MĀTREM → matri /ˈmatri/ "mother"
AVUNCULUM → auncru /ˈaunkru/ "uncle" (or maybe aunzu)
CULTELLUM → curtisu /kurˈtiʦu/ "knife"
FURNUM → purnu /ˈpurnu/ "oven"

And some metaphony:

BELLUM, BELLĪ → hiazu, hizi "beautiful MSG/MPL"
BONUM, BONĪ → huanu, huni "good MSG/MPL"
VIDET, VIDEO → hiti, haiti "see 3SG/1SG"
CARBŌNEM, CARBŌNĒS → karpuni, karpiuni "coal/s"

[VaptuantaDoi]

Turunisi is spoken on a small (50 sqmi) island northwest of Corfu; the name of the island (natively Tuarunu) derives from Latin THORONUS, a name also used for the smaller neighbouring island of Othonoi (which is real). Depending on what path this word took, the English term would be one of "Thoron", "Torono" or "Tern".

Historically Turunisi has been influenced by Venetian, Greek, Albanian, Tuscan and Apulian Italkian. Historically the Venetians were the main naval power in the area, evidenced by numerous loans like caicu "fog", zaniapa "brandy", strica "rigging", matiutu "cabin boy" and zupu "gun". Greek provides the expected Byzantine loans like papaca "parrot", tumbru "drum" as well as some place names like Cìarcua "Corfu" and Iraicuzza "Ereikoussa" and terminology like raichi "heather". Other loans include ndisa "kindling" (Albanian), racazzu "boy" (Tuscan) and marmasài "unlucky" (Italkian).

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Phonology

Turunisi has seven consonants and three vowels:

/p t ts k/
/m n/
/r/

/i u a/

The obstruent series /p t ts k/ is realised as voiced when preceded by a nasal (e.g. [ˈkamba] "field", [ˈpandu] "how much", [ˈandza] "lance", [ˈpraŋgu] "white") and is fricated intervocalically ([ˈkuɸa] "cup", [ˈaθu] "cat", [ˈkasa] "house", [ˈpuhu] "fire"). The former is reflected in the orthography, the latter not. Except with /ts/ the former isn't and the latter is – anza "lance", casa "house".

All consonants can appear geminated, although this is most common over word boundaries as a result of rattupramiandu funusintàtticu.

In addition to simplex vowels, the diphthongs /i͡u i͡a u͡a a͡i a͡u/ are common. Vowel length is not contrastive, but stress is marginally so. Final high vowels are frequently dropped, which may or may not be indicated orthographically per the user's choice.

There are two major phonological processes. The first is metaphony, which is pretty simple. Some instances of post-tonic /i/ (deriving from Latin Ī or final ĒS or ŌS) triggers the following shifts:

/i u/ → /ai iu/
/ia ua/ → /i u/
/a/ → /ia/

The first two sets are standard; the third is dialectal and most common in the south.

The pairs /u ~ iu/ and /ia ~ i/ are sometimes obscured by the productive loss of prevocalic /i/ following /r/. This means we see some pairs of /u ~ u/ and /a ~ i/; the first is always predictable (i.e. plain /ru/ gives metaphonic /ru/) but the second isn't:

/kraku/ "Greek" ~ /kritsi/ "Greeks"
vs. /kratsu/ "grease" ~ /kratsi/ "greases"

There's also significant consonant sandhi bordering on initial consonant mutation. There are four additional morphophonemes |B D DZ G| which pattern slightly differently to voiceless stops:

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          /p/   /t/   /ts/  /k/   /m/   /n/   /r/   |B|   |D|   |DZ|  |G|
plain     [p]   [t]   [ts]  [k]   [m]   [n]   [r]   [Ø]   [r]   [ts]  [Ø]
soft      [ɸ]   [θ]   [s]   [h]   [m]   [~ʔ]  [r]   [Ø]   [r]   [s]   [Ø]
nasal     [mb]  [nd]  [ndz] [ŋg]  [mm]  [nn]  [nr]  [mm]  [nn]  [nts] [ŋg]
geminate  [pp]  [tt]  [tts] [kk]  [mm]  [nn]  [rr]  [pp]  [tt]  [tts] [kk]
rhotic    [rp]  [rt]  [rts] [rk]  [rm]  [rn]  [rr]  [rp]  [rt]  [rts] [rk]

Most of this alternation is allophonic – all of [p ɸ b] are allophones of /p/ etc. However the patterns like [Ø ~ m ~ p] are taken as /Ø ~ m ~ p/, and is reflected orthographically.

The allophony of [n ~ ~ʔ] is noteworthy; intervocalic /n/ is realised as nasalisation of the preceding vowel plus a glottal stop, both within words and over word boundaries; e.g. /pranu/ "flat" → [ˈprãʔʊ], /nu nirantsi/ "an orange" → [nʊ̃ʔɪˈrãtsɪ]. The second example also shows that nasals drop with compensatory vowel nasalisation in the environment V_C (again across word boundaries too – /na ntuia/ "a soft sausage" → [nã ˈduia]).

The environments these occur in are predictable. The plain forms occur after a pause or a consonant, and the soft ones following a word ending in an unstressed vowel. The nasal and rhotic forms follow final unstressed (usually proclitic) syllables ending in /n/ and /r/ respectively. Here's three full paradigms with underlying /t/, /n/ and |D| respectively:

• tia /tia/ [ˈtia] "canvas", a tia /a tia/ [a ˈθia] "the canvas", i ndia /in tia/ [ɪ̃ ˈdia] "made of canvass", tri ttii /trit tii/ [ʈɽɪtˈtiɪ] "three canvasses", catur tii /katur tii/ [ˌkaθʊr ˈtiɪ] "four canvasses"
• nuatu /nuatu/ [ˈnu͡aθʊ] "knot", nu nuatu /nu nuata/ [nʊ̃ ˈʔu͡aθʊ] "a knot", i nnuti /in nuti/ [ɪ̃ ˈnːuθɪ] "in knots", tri nnuti /trin nuti/ [ʈɽɪ̃ ˈnːuθɪ] "three knots", catur nuti /katur nuti/ [ˌkaθʊr ˈnuθɪ] "four knots"
• randi /ranti/ [ˈrãdɪ] "tooth", nu randi /nu ranti/ [nʊ ˈɾãdɪ] "a tooth", cu nnindi /kun ninti/ [kʊ̃ ˈnːĩdɪ] "with teeth", tri ttindi /trit tinti/ [ʈɽɪt ˈtĩdɪ] "three teeth", catur tindi /katur tinti/ [ˌkaθʊr ˈtĩdɪ] "four teeth".

I guess I should talk about syllable structure. It's fairly mundane; onsets of C, /p t k/ + /r/, /N/ + /p t ts k/, /ts/ + /p t k/ (realised as [sp st~ʃt ʃk]) and /ts/ + /p t k/ + /r/ are permitted. Codas can only be single consonants except with final vowel dropping. Codas are mostly /n r t/; not sure yet if others are permitted.

Bored now this is all you're getting.

[VaptuantaDoi]

Historically Torono had always been under Greek control, until the fall of the Byzantine Empire when it was occupied briefly by the Genoese before passing to the Venetians in 1204. It withstood Sicilian control and remained Venetian until 1543 when it took the opportunity to declare independence from the declining Empire (idk what Corfu did in this timeline). It remained independent until it was captured by Napoleon in 1796; following British victory, it was briefly a protectorate (from 1815 to 1818) before declaring its independence from the United States of the Ionian Islands. Being fairly small, easily defended and of low strategic importance (it's on the wrong side of Corfu to have been of interest to the Ottomans) the British allowed it to remain independent under unofficial suzerainty.

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Orthography

Orthography is fairly simple and Italianate. Generally /p t ts k m n r i u a/ are <p t z c m n r i u a>. Before <i>, /ts/ is sometimes <c> and /k/ is always <ch>. The voiced allophones of /p t ts k/ (following nasals) are written <b d z/g g(h)>; fricated allophones aren't written apart from [⁠s] <s>. Silent <h> is used to indicate words beginning with underlying |B G| (e.g. /arka/ <harca> → /tri ppartsi/ <tri pparci>).

Foreign words make use of the graphemes <e f h j k l o q v w x y> which are read /i p Ø ts k r u k u u ts i/. In recent borrowings <b d g> occur in non-post-nasal position and are read as /p t k/ (<ir gangu /ir kanku/ "gang" etc.) Likewise <mp nt nc/nk> are read [mb nd ŋg]. Loan word nativisation is variable; /tiriˈpunu/ "telephone" can be seen as any of <tiripunu>, <tirifunu>, <telefonu> and so on.

Non-penultimate stress is optionally indicated with a grave or acute accent. An apostrophe can be used to indicate apocope, although this is mostly restricted to eye dialect.


tl;dr – the Turunisi native alphabet is <A B C D G H I M N P R S T U Z>.

[Visions1]

This is some good stuff.
I'm going to need to take notes from this for my own work.

[VaptuantaDoi]

Thanks!

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Toronian history gets fairly complicated after the turn of the (20th) century). During WWI, both Torono and Corfu served as a refuge for retreating Serbian soldiers, although Torono itself didn't see any action. The 1923 Corfu Incident (a Catàrisi i Cìarcua) had a significant effect on Torono; while the Italians markedly ignored Torono during the bombardment and occupation of Corfu, the historical ties between the two islands meant that public opinion of Italy worsened considerably and there was a cultural shift away from Italian values. In the late 1920's, some academics petitioned for Torono to officially switch to a new Hellenic orthography which functioned as follows:

[p t ts k] <π τ τζ κ>
[ɸ θ s h] <φ θ σ~ς χ>
[mb nd ndz ŋg] <μβ νδ νζ γγ>
/m n/ <μ ν>
/r/ <ρ>

/i u a/ <ι υ α>

Some literature published in the 20's and 30's used this orthography; others (without ready access to Greek printing presses) used a sort of Volapük coding leading to monstrosities like vúaotup nadup tzi i nni oiai.

Torono never elected a fascist government like Italy did (partly because they weren't a democracy and couldn't elect anyone at all). Despite this, Torono's lack of being large meant they were unable to resist Italian occupation in April 1941. Mussolini administered Torono and Corfu as part of the same entity thanks to their common Venetian heritage. In 1943 following the fall of Mussolini, Germany occupied Torono and Corfu. Torono, with a large Jewish population, was singled out by the Gestapo in 1944; the Jews were forcibly relocated to a ghetto in the capital of Zunaru (< *IŌNĀRIUS), with plans to transport them to Auschwitz in June. However, the Torono resistance – still fueled by anti-Italian sentiment - helped organise an uprising in the ghetto while the Germans were distracted by the Allied bombing of Corfu. The Zunaru Ghetto Uprising (a Riurta du Chittu Zunaranu) was the only successful such uprising during the war, with the small number of forces on the island being killed or driven out of the city. After a few minor skirmishes, the Germans gave up on Torono as their grip on Greece weakened. Corfu's liberation in October 1944 marked the end of any German attempts to retake the city, although by this point they had mostly evacuated the island for good.

(Yeah I know this isn't super realistic but if I'm gonna make up a country then they ain't gonna be a bunch of Nazis)

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Nouns – the basics

Like all (non-creole) Romance languages, Toronian (ooh, an exonym) has inherent nominal gender. Nouns fall into traditionally two genders, masculine and feminine; a modern analysis suggests a third neuter gender.

Articles

First I'll go through the articles which agree with nouns in gender and number. The indefinite article is nu < ŪNUS, which only has a singular form; the definite article ir < ILLE has both singular and plural forms. (Note that † marks a form which triggers ratupramiandu).

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     INDEFINITE                       DEFINITE
+---+-------------+      +---+-------------+-------------+
|   |    Sing.    |      |   |    Sing.    |    Plur.    |
+---+------+------+      +---+------+------+------+------+
|   |  +C  |  +V  |      |   |  +C  |  +V  |  +C  |  +V  |
+---+------+------+      +---+------+------+------+------+
| M |  nu  |  n’  |      | M |  ir  |  r’  |  i   |  z’  |
| F |  na  |  n’  |      | F |  a   |  r’  |  i†  |  i   |
| N |  nu  |  n’  |      | N |  u   |  r’  |  a   |  r’  |
+---+------+------+      +---+------+------+------+------+

The neuter form derives from the masculine in the singular and the feminine singular in the plural - except the def.n.sg u is distinct from def.m.sg. ir for uncertain reasons - they may both derive from ILLUM, or the masculine may derive from ILLE instead.

Articles also combine with five prepositions, namely a "at", zu "over", pi "by", i "of" and in "in".

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                    +A                               +ZU                                 +PI                               +I                             +IN              
+---+  +-------------+-------------+  +---------------+----------------+  +---------------+----------------+  +-------------+-------------+  +-------------+-------------+
|   |  |    Sing.    |    Plur.    |  |     Sing.     |      Plur.     |  |     Sing.     |      Plur.     |  |    Sing.    |    Plur.    |  |    Sing.    |    Plur.    |
+---+  +------+------+------+------+  +------+--------+-------+--------+  +------+--------+-------+--------+  +------+------+------+------+  +------+------+------+------+
|   |  |  +C  |  +V  |  +C  |  +V  |  |  +C  |   +V   |  +C   |   +V   |  |  +C  |   +V   |  +C   |   +V   |  |  +C  |  +V  |  +C  |  +V  |  |  +C  |  +V  |  +C  |  +V  |
+---+  +------+------+------+------+  +------+--------+-------+--------+  +------+--------+-------+--------+  +------+------+------+------+  +------+------+------+------+
| M |  |  ar  | a r’ |  asi | a z’ |  | zur  | zu rr’ | zusi  | zu zz’ |  | pir  | pi rr’ | pisi  | pi zz’ |  |  ri† |  rr’ |  ri  | i z’ |  |  nir | nir  |  ni  | nis’ |
| F |  |  ar  | a r’ | ari† | a r’ |  | zur  | zu rr’ | zuri† | zu rr’ |  | pir  | pi rr’ | piri† | pi rr’ |  |  ra  |  rr’ |  ri† |  ri  |  |  na  | nir  |  ni† |  ni  |
| N |  |  ar  | a r’ |  ar  | a r’ |  | zur  | zu rr’ |  zur  | zu rr’ |  | pir  | pi rr’ |  pir  | pi rr’ |  |  ru  |  rr’ |  ra  | i r’ |  |  nu  | nir  |  na  |  nir |
+---+  +------+------+------+------+  +------+--------+-------+--------+  +------+--------+-------+--------+  +------+------+------+------+  +------+------+------+------+

Nouns

Most nouns end in a post-tonic vowel in the singular. Almost all nouns ending in a are feminine, and have a plural in i which does not trigger metaphony:

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ capra "goat", capri "goats"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ píamina "woman", píamini "women"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ziuna "moon", ziuni "moons"

In native vocabulary, it does trigger sibilation of [k] to [ts], although this is not written differently:

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ amaica /aˈma͡ika/ "friend (F)", amaici /aˈma͡itsi/ "friends (F)"

There are a few nouns of Greek origin which have the same singular and plural endings, but are grammatically masculine:

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ir áruma "perfume", z'árumi "perfumes"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ir cura "priest", i curi "priests"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ir tuatta "father", i tuatti "fathers"

Nouns ending in i are either masculine or feminine, unpredictably so. The plural also takes i but with metaphony (where applicable):

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ir cani "the dog", i cani or dial. i chiani "the dogs" (M.)
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ a canzuni "the song", i ccanziuni "the songs".

A few nouns end in ur in the singular. These take plural ri and may be either masculine or feminine:

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ir patur "monk", i patri "monks"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ a matur "nun", i matri "nuns"

Some feminine nouns end in stressed á in the singular, which changes to ú in the plural (this arose from Italkian influence):

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ a cittá "Jewish quarter", i ccittú "Jewish quarters"

A few Italkiot-origin words have plural -ín (from Hebrew -im) – in Torono-Italkiot this is extended to all masculine nouns.

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ andruni "thief", andrunín "thieves"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Torono-Italkiot cani "dog", canín "dogs"

The most common singular ending is u which covers all neuters and most masculines. The neuter plural is a:

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ uau "egg", uaa "eggs"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ kurtiasu "knife", kuritiasa "knives"

Masculine nouns have plural i with metaphony. Again this palatalises /k/:

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ruanu "gift", runi "gifts"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ puru "child", pauri "children"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ amaicu "friend", amaici "friends" (M.)

Some nouns have both neuter plurals and masculine plurals; in this case the neuter plural tends to refer to a more cohesive entity than the masculine equivalent:

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ausiasu "bird", ausiasa "flock of birds", ausisi "birds"

Two nouns have irregular plurals in u with metaphony of root /a/ to /i͡a/; unlike other /a ~ i͡a/ metaphony this is standard:

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ acu "needle", iacu "needles"
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ manu "hand", mianu "hands"

Finally there is one irregular noun:

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ uamu "man", úamini "men"

[VaptuantaDoi]

Torono maintained sovereinty following the end of WWII and transitioned to a democratic constitutional monarchy in 1950. The monarch of Torono (officially ir Pasisu/a Hasisa rr'Áisura Zirinízzima i Túarunu) has limited constitutional power; he is able to dismiss governments, call referenda or veto legislation (so long as it does not pertain to the functioning of the consitution or the monarchy), although they rarely wield these powers. The current king, Rarzu VIII, is of the House of Riporgan (a Kasa i Ripúarkanu) which has been in power since its succession in 1744 (bar a brief period of foreign control from 1796 to 1818 and an even briefer one from 1941-44). The House of Riporgan traces its roots to Marino Ripuorgano (Marainu Ripúarkanu), a mercenary who led the revolt of 1543. The first house of Torono was the House of Torono (a Kasa i Túarunu), which ruled the country from 1543 to 1686 and then from 1701 to 1743 – from 1687 to 1701 a third house, the House of Gionarano held power, led for the entire time by Gregorio Gionarano (Krikuaru Zunaranu or Runaranu).

Torono is the fourth-smallest country in Europe and, like most other countries in the world, is not a member of the European Union, nor does it use the Euro (seriously what's the point of inventing a country if you can't invent a currency?). The Toronian currency is the xisserxa (a Venetised borrowing of native zizziarza) which is divided up into five sestertie (zistírtii), in turn divided into twenty nariatti.

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Pronouns

Pronouns have a number of characteristics distinct from nouns, having different forms for three cases as well as possessive forms. Personal pronouns have mostly distinct nominative, accusative and dative forms:

Code: Select all

    Nominative     Accusative     Dative
    sg.   pl.      sg.   pl.      sg.   pl.      
1   ia    niu      mi    niu      mai   a niu
2   tau   hiu      ti    hiu      tai   a hiu
3m  iri   i        ci    i        inni  ati
3f  ira   i        ira   i        inni  ati
3n  iru   a        ci    a        ai    ata

There is only one reflexive pronoun distinct from the accusatives, which is the non-gendered, non-numbered 3sg. ci.

Related to the pronouns are the possessive adjectives:

Code: Select all

     M.SG    F.SG    N.SG    M.PL   F.PL    N.PL
1sg  maiu    maia    maiu    mi     mi      maia
2sg  taiu    taia    taiu    ti     ti      taia
3sg  zaiu    zaia    zaiu    zi     zi      zaia
1pl  nuastur nuastra nuastur nustri nuastri nuastra
2pl  huastur huastra huastur hustri huastri huastra
3pl  zuru    zura    zuru    ziuri  zuri    zura

All of these can be used pronominally too - a maia "mine (feminine object)", ir zuru "theirs (masculine object)".

The general relative and interrogative pronoun is ki which has an oblique form kiu. Note also pannu "when", pandu "how much", iu "where", purkí "why", pai "which" and kiu "how".

There are also three demonstratives; izzi "this" (< IPSE), kkiusti "yon" (< ECCUM ISTE) and kkiuzzi "that (out of sight)" (< ECCUM ILLE). These function as regular adjectives too (more on adjectives later). Note also kkiu "here" and zzi "there", both of which trigger ratuppramiandu.

Correlatives include parkiunu "someone", parkiusa "something", nikiunu "nothing, no-one". On that note, here are the numbers:

1. iunu / iuna
2. ru / riu
3. tri *
4. páttur
5. zimbi
6. zi
7. ziatti
8. puattu
9. nuái
10. riasi

One, two and three also have emphatic forms used for counting; kkiuni, ttuni, ttrini. ttrini comes from dissimilation of earlier ttriri, from *ttridi, ultimately from *trẹ́i̯e. The ending -ri and later -ni was then extended backwards. Initial gemination probably stems from ttuni (cf. Neapolitan dduje "two"). Extention to ?ppatuni "four" is considered childish (featuring in nursery rhymes etc.)

11. iunzi, 12. ruzzi, 13. trizzi, 14. patturzi, 15. painzi, 16. zizzi, 17. riasi i ziatti, 18. riasi i puattu, 19. riasi i nuái, 20. hindi, 30. trinda, 40. patrainda, 50. zimbainda, 60. zizzainda, 70. ziattainda, 80. puattainda, 90. nuainda, 100. ziandu.

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Also now Turunisi has singleton L → usually zero like in Venetian because I like it. This also forms a separate archiphonemic paradigm of /Ø ~ Ø ~ r ~ tts ~ r/ (imba, a imba, in rimbi, tri zzimbi, pattu rrimbi).

LINGUAM → imba "tongue, language" (a imba turunisi, a imba kraka)
LEPOREM → iapra "hare"
LUSCINIŌLAM → uzzinua "nightinggale"
PĀLAM → paa "shovel"
CAROLUS → Karu "Charles"

[Keenir]

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I am greatly enjoying your recounting of this nation's history and language; its superb work, kudos.

[Porphyrogenitos]

This is really nice work. I'm curious, how do Latin borrowings/"cultisms" work? Are there any doublets like Spanish contar/computar or aguaducho/aquaducto?

[VaptuantaDoi]

.

I am greatly enjoying your recounting of this nation's history and language; its superb work, kudos.

Thanks! I've consciously sacrificed hyper-realism and depth of grammar description here for more progress and I'm happy how it's going.

This is really nice work. I'm curious, how do Latin borrowings/"cultisms" work? Are there any doublets like Spanish contar/computar or aguaducho/aquaducto?

Thank you too! Latin borrowings do certainly exist. We can roughly divide Turunisi borrowing preferences as follows:

Roman occupation - 13thC: Byzantine Greek, some Albanian
13thC to 16thC: Venetian, still plenty Greek, limited mediaeval Latin
16thC to mid-18thC: More Greek, more Latin too, some Italo-Romance and Occitan terms, some Norman and Sicilian loans, even some Dalmatian
ca. 1790 to ca. 1900: French, English, Tuscan, still Latin, still a bit of Greek, Italkian
1900 to modern day: Latin and English, some modern Greek, limited Tuscan

Turunisi borrowed a lot more Greek than the other Romance languages which makes sense given its location. Learnèd Latin borrowings did occur through Venetian contact but were less common. Recently (in the last 250 years) numerous Latinate loans have been coined, and yes they form plenty of doublets and triplets:

AURICULAM → aurixxa "ear" (native), auríkura "auricule" (borrowed from Latin), krinái a ríxxia "pay attention to" (calqued from Italkian, with rixxia being borrowed)
FABRICĀRE → parikái "to forge" (native), paprikái "to fabricate", "to fortify, season" (borrowing, influenced in the second sense by another borrowing paprika), purkái "to smelt" (borrowed ultimately from Norman)
FACTŌREM → paturi "bailiff" (through Venetian), faktur or paktur "factor" (borrowing)
NITIDUS → nittu "clean" (native), nititu "clear, sharp" (borrowing)
etc.

As you can see from some of these examples, Latin borrowings – and all other borrowings – are adapted to Turunisi phonology. This basically means that all voiced stops are read as voiceless, f l s as /p r ts/ and e o as /i u/. This may or may not be reflected in the orthography:

Eng. electroencephalograph → Turunisi /iritruintsiparukrapu/ elektroencefalografu or ilitruincipalukrapu or iritruinxiparukrapu
DĒSIGNĀRE → Turunisi /titsiknai/ designái or tisiknái "designate" (cf. the inherited risinái "draw")

Words encountered through spoken language may be loaned more or less phonetically; for instance cringe gives non-standard kkrinxi [kːɾĩdʒɪ] with the initial geminate reflecting the lack of húa turunisi (Eng/It gorgia toronese, referring to the lenition of /p t ts k/ intervocalically).

The Turunisi language is held in high regard, especially by writers and poets, such that they prefer to keep it "pure" by nativising the borrowings in writing. In normal usage and on the internet, the spelling of the source language may be preserved. In scientific literature (what little is written in Torono) technical terms are generally left nearly in the source language, so elektroencefalografu, Indoeuropeanu, botulismu rather than iritruinxiparukrapu, Indu-Aurupanu, puturismu.

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I've been considering a few changes to the phonology and orthography. Any opinions are welcome!

1. Write /ts/ as x because cool
2. Using the acute instead of grave for stress (I do like this)
3. Shift /ts/ to /tʃ/ with lenided allophone [ʃ]
4. Using k for /k/ for a less Italian vibe

[VaptuantaDoi]

Since we've reached the present day, I'll start back at the beginning.

Torono has been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic period. In ancient times it was renowned for its dense cedar groves, although during Venetian occupation much of this was cut down to supply the empire's shipyards. Now there are only two areas of old forest (paríi hexxi), both non-contiguous areas near the east coast, although some areas of new forest (paríi risindi) were planted in the 19th century.

It is thought that Torono is the Homeric isle of Ogygia, the island of Calypso. There has long been a movement (amongst pretentious pricks) to change Torono's name to Ogygia (natively Usixxia) although this has never gained traction. Some academics use Ogygia to refer to classical Torono in the same style as Corcyra for Corfu, although the name Torono (Θόρονος) was used at the time.

Post-mythological history began in around 670 BC, when Torono was settled by Corinthian Greeks from Corfu. The Corfu-Toronian Corinthians swiftly became independent from Corinth and fought them in the first known naval battle of Greek history in 665. Both islands were conquered by the Corinthian Periander and forced to assist in colonising parts of modern-day Albania. By the 5th century BC the islands had reasserted independence from Corinth and were a major trading hub, placed conveniently between the Greek-colonised east coast of Italy and mainland Greece. Around this time the western port of Ostracinth (Οστρακινθός > Latin OSTRACINTHUS > Venetian Straxento, Turunisi Strasindu) was founded.

During the Peloponnesian War (late 5th century BC), Corfu and Torono were allied with the Athenians in the democratic Delian League. Both islands were used as naval bases, with Ostracinth harbouring up to fifteen Athenian ships. Twice the Oligarchs attempted to take control of the islands, although in both cases they failed and the islands remained Delian-aligned. During the Athenian Sicilian campaigns later that century, they served as an intermediate supply base thanks to their prime location. A third attempt by the Oligarchs in 410 BC led Corfu to distance itself from the war; Torono on the other hand remained Athenian-aligned and many Athenian ships passed through Ostracinth.

In 373 BC, Corfu and Torono were besieged by the Spartans, and Torono was successfully taken. Much of Ostracinth was destroyed and the population fled to Corfu. The Athenians relieved Corfu and took back Torono, but the razing of Ostracinth had crippled the naval and mercantile importance of the Island. In 303 BC, the Spartans successfully occupied both islands, albeit briefly. Shortly after regaining their independence, they were conquered by Syracuse; the Tyrant Agathocles gave both islands as a dowry when his daughter Lanassa married the Epirotic king Pyrrhus (famous for his victories). They remained in the Epirotic alliance for another fifty years until Alexander II, the last Epirotic King, died in 255 BC.

In 229 BC, the Illyrians landed on Torono and quickly subdued the island, using it as a base to lay seige to Corfu itself. With Acarnanian assistance, the Illyrians were able to subdue the fleet of ships sent by the Achaean league to defend Corfu, capturing four quadriremes and sinking a quinquereme by cunningly lashing four of their own ships together to board their adversaries. With Torono as a base, the Illyrians easily conquered Corfu and subdued the despondent population under a garisson, immediately heading off to set seige to the mainland sity of Epidamnos.

However, within a year, the Romans re-captured the island from the Illyrians, fearing for the implications of a foreign power controlling Greco-Roman trade. They were assisted by the native Corfiots and Toronians, who saw them as saviours from barbarian Illyrians, and also by the Illyrian governor Demetrius, who could see the writing on the wall and allied himself with Rome.

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Weird nouns

A few nouns act weirdly because of metathesis. The sequence ui was regularly replaced with iu, so some nouns ending in iu have a plural in iu rather than *ia:

niu "cloud" ~ niu "clouds" ( < *niui < *neu̯βe < NŪBEM)

[VaptuantaDoi]

The 1953 Democracy Debacle

Ir Tispakra Timukrátika i 1953


Following democratisation of Torono in 1950 (a rimukratixaxuni), a flaw became apparent in the constitution. It stated that any petition (na pitixuni) which gained more than 5,000 signatures would be obligatorily put to referendum (u ripirindu). The only thing that could stop this was a veto (na veto or na hitu) by the King (at this time Xatru II), although he was could only veto referenda which did not pertain to the workings of the monarchy or constitution. It turned out that pretty much anyone could garner the signatures of 5,000 other people on any issue so long as they were fairly persistent, and between June 1950 and April 1953, seventy-four referenda were held, even following the rejection of a hundred and six by Xatru. Only one of these passed the 62.5% necessary to pass into law – the average support was 6.3%, meaning that not even all those who had signed the petition voted in support of it.

In May 1953, people had become so fed up with the complicated process of holding referenda that a petition was made to revoke the democratisation of the country and return to an absolute monarchy. Xatru, a dedicated advocate of democracy, could not veto this since it pertained to his role. The referendum passed with a vote of 88% for and only 12% against, placing Xatru as absolute monarch. His first decree was to reinstate the democracy, which was somewhat controversial as it went against the wishes of the people, even though the wish of the people was for their wishes to be ignored, meaning that it actually went with the wishes of the people, but placed them back into the position of having their wishes listened to which is what they had wished to be removed in the first place. The people immediately held another referendum with the same result, making their wishes known once more (i.e. wishing that they would not have any wishes). Xatru was forced to call their bluff and follow their wish by ignoring their wishes.

For seven days, Torono was an absolute monarchy, although Xatru did not pass any legislation during this time. On the eighth day, he once again went against the wishes of the people by returning them to a democracy, although this time with a modified constitution. He proposed that there would also be appointed a triumvirate of non-regal vetoers voted in by the voters to veto the votes which Xatru couldn't veto himself. This non-partisan body would become known as i Hasisi Axasiandi ("the Kings Adjacent") and is now an integral part of the Toronian monarchy. Since 1953, only forty referenda have passed the group stages, the first of these of course being the referendum to instate these vetoers. In 1992, a referendum was passed which raised the number of signatures required to 15,000 and added a higher bound of 40,000 at which a petition could not be vetoed by anyone.

[Keenir]

Ir Tispakra Timukrátika i 1953

In May 1953, people had become so fed up with the complicated process of holding referenda that a petition was made to revoke the democratisation of the country and return to an absolute monarchy. Xatru, a dedicated advocate of democracy, could not veto this since it pertained to his role.

"Curses, foiled again!"


seriously, its a darn good thing the king wasn't power-hungry; that would've ended...badly uncomplicatedly.

great work!

[Visions1]

You need to pay a voice actor to read this. This is gold!

[GoshDiggityDangit]

Here is the banner of arms and royal standard of the Kingdom of Tern.

I worked with VapuantaDoi to make this. The motto is in an archaic form of Ternish and means "Great under the eyes of God."

[VaptuantaDoi]

Many thanks GDD! Far and away better than anything I could of come up with. Those beech martens are beautiful.


For context, the beech marten is the largest native carnivore of Torono. Although it's small (up to about 20 inches/50 cm), it's still quite adept at breaking into henhouses and causing mayhem. Local legend suggests it kills hens for the pleasure of it and does not need to eat at all. The House of Torono, after gaining independence, used its image in their coat of arms to suggest that the country of Torono could be a dangerous foe despite its size. The same is reflected in the motto; taken from an Old Ternish poem written in the 15th, it describes (in somewhat exaggerated terms) the island's importance in the Peloponnesian Wars (yes, Toronians have a Napoleon complex). In modern Turunisi it would read Krandi nir Uakri i Tiau [ˈkɾãdɪ nɪ ˈɾu͡ahɾɪ jɪ ˈθi͡au].

Note how Tiau is not a direct descendant of Latin DEUS "God"; it's either borrowed from Greek θεός or heavily influenced thereby. There is a reflex of DEUS, but it's borrowed through Italkiot - Numirú (< דוּמֵידֵית /dumeˈdɛo/ < DOMINUS DEUS). The latter is used to refer to God in the Old Testament, or by extension God as a powerful, vengeful force, as opposed to the more generic Tiau.


But enough on that; the main thing is that the coat of arms looks amazing!