Q (Caucasian Elf)

I am about to put up another new webpage on Q (or Quaelits, but I might
change the name because it's too similar to Quenya).  This is the language
of a mutant race in CoD, a product of Cybertech experiments in the former
USSR with the help of American scientists.  The Elves, unlike the Orcs, are
a forward evolution; this new race of _homo sapiens_ are very intellegent
and very agile, plus they have a life expectancy of 120-150 years.  However,
they are physically weaker and more isolated culturally.

Also unlike the Orcs, the Elves are a very religious people. 60 percent are
Sunni Muslims with a strong Sufi presence, 30 percent are Christians mostly
of the Russian Orthodox variety, and 10 percent are Buddhists, mostly of
Tibetan-Mongolian tradition.

Now on to the language.  I posted some of this a long time ago, but I'll
redo it since I'm finally putting up a page now.

All I have right now is a phonology, a list of roots (which I borrowed from
Starostin's North Caucasian database), and one typological item: the
suffixal nature of the verb, which begins with a vowel instead of a
consonant.

First, the phonology.  I have to explain some of the consonants, and there
are many.

CONSONANTS (I'm using modified Kirschenbaum here)

Labials: p b p` f f~ v m w
Dentals: t d t` tw dw t`w r D n (T T~)
Alveolar: ts dz ts` s z tsw dzw ts`w sw ts~ ts~w dz` dz~w ts~` ts~`w s~ s~w
Retroflex: ts. dz. ts.` s. z. ts.w dz.w ts.`w s.w ts.~ ts.~w dz.~ dz.~w
Palatal: c J c` C j cw Jw c`w sw zw c~ c~w J~ c~` c~`w C~ j~
Lateral: tl> dl tl` hl l3 l tlw dlw tl`w slw tl~ tl~w dl~ dl~w tl~` tl~`w
hl~ hl~w (L)
Velar: k k` g x kw gw k`w x`w k~ k~w g~ g~w k~` k~`w x~ x~w (Q)
Uvular: q G q` X g" qw Gw q`w Xw g"w q~ q~w G~ G~w q~` q~`w X~ X~w
Laryngeals: ? h H ?- h- H- ?w hw Hw ?-w h-w H-w

Note the number of glottalized (ejective), pharyngealized ("emphatic") and
labialized (-w) consonants, producing six  stops/affricates and four
fricatives for each class.  This is reflected in the six "laryngeals" (not
counting labialized), which are in order: glottal stop, voiceless glottal
fricative, voiced glottal fricative, voiceless pharyngeal ejective,
voiceless pharyngeal fricative, voiced pharyngeal fricative.  Phonemes in
parentheses are rare local variants.

Many sequences of nasal/liquid before stop/affricate, nasal/liquid before
and after laryngeal, and nasal/liquid before nasal/liquid are legal.
Biconsonant sequences cannot occur word-initially, nor can groups of three
or more consecutive consonants.

VOWELS (again, modified Kirschenbaum)

High: i i: y y: i- i-: u u:
Mid: e e: @ @: o o: (% %:)
Low: & &: a a:

Before or after labialized consonants (-w above), certain allophones of
these vowels may occur, varying greatly according to local speech.

All of these vowels may occur in the first syllable of a word root; in final
position, only these short vowels: i i- u e @ o a.

TONES

Word roots are always stressed on the initial syllable, and tone only
affects stressed syllables.    The four tone contours are 1) flat, 2)
rising, 3) falling-rising and 4) falling.  (A lot like Mandarin Chinese in
fact.)  Tone 3 only occurs with long vowels; tone 4 with short.

MISCELLANEOUS

All I know about Q grammar is that the verb is bound to its object as a
suffix.  Noun roots are CVCV and CVCCV; verbs on the other hand are VCV or
VCCV.  Particles in CV are used for pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and
such.  Sandhi shifts result from where two vowels fall together in a noun +
verb conjunct (CVCV=VCV > CVCVCV).  Word order is either going to be SOV or
OVS; adjectives follow nouns because technically they are verbs.

Soon -- I hope -- a page on the Elves will go up on my webpage; I'll keep
you posted.

http://www.geocities.com/dawier


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