Nagul*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ERELIC
PERIOD OF USE: 1700? to 1450 UT
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:
DESCENDANT LANGUAGES: Iadrak* (Old Draksi)
DESCRIPTION: Mother tongue of the Counsa, the Drakoyan tribe from which hailed Occlose the Victor, conquerer of the Cativenes. After founding The Old Empire (1501-1212), Occlose made Nagul the official language of his administration, although a script had first to be fashioned as Nagul did not have a written form. This task was taken on by priests of the state's emerging faith, the Congregation of the Ascended, whose later adoption of Nagul as an ecclesiastical language helped it to survive into modern times. While great-grandmother to contemporary Draksi, very few of Nagul's features trickled down into this lingua franca. Its many complexities require intensive study; thus, knowledge of the language serves as a general marker of erudition and, in a preponderance of cases, elevated social class.

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: grȁnc trȍm ˈstȉrau ˈduiohav ˈbrȅohav trȍm grȁnc ˈcrȕmau paȅ trȍm uȉc ȅnˈgorsau ˈeuohav
Pronunciation: ɡrȁnk trȍm ˈstȉrau ˈduiohav ˈbrȅohav trȍm ɡrȁnk ˈkrȕmau paȅ trȍm uȉk ȅnˈɡoːrsau ˈeuohav
Nagul word order: and his hat holding stood he and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f h k kʷ l m n p r s t w ɡ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	k kʷ ɡ
Fricative		f	s		h
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a ae au aː e ei eu eː i io iu iː o oe oː u ui uː/
Diphthongs: ae, au, ei, eu, io, iu, oe, ui
Tones: ̏

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Antepenult — stress is on the third last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, br, d, f, fl, fr, h, k, kl, kr, kʷ, l, m, n, p, pl, pr, r, s, sk, sp, st, t, tr, w, ɡ, ɡl, ɡr
Mid-word consonants: b, bl, br, bs, bt, d, dd, dkʷ, dm, dw, f, ff, h, k, kk, kkʷ, kr, ks, ksk, ksp, kspl, kssp, kst, kstr, kt, kʷ, l, lk, ll, ln, lp, ls, lt, ltr, lw, lɡ, m, mb, mkʷ, mm, mn, mp, mpl, mpr, mw, n, nd, nf, nfl, nfr, nk, nkl, nkr, nkʷ, nl, nn, ns, nskr, nsp, nst, nstr, nt, ntr, nw, nɡ, nɡr, p, pl, pp, ppl, ppr, pr, ps, pt, r, rb, rd, rf, rk, rkʷ, rm, rn, rp, rr, rs, rsp, rt, rw, rɡ, s, sd, sk, skʷ, sm, sp, ss, st, stkʷ, str, t, tkʷ, tr, ts, tt, ttr, w, ɡ, ɡm, ɡn, ɡr, ɡɡ
Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• m → w / B_#
• {p,k} → [+voice] / V_V
• o → u / _N
• N → w / S_S

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɡ	g
kʷ	qu
ks	x
k	c
w	v
ː

Grammar

Main word order: (Prepositional phrase) Object Verb Subject.
"Mary opened the door with a key" turns into With a key the door opened Mary.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: ȅ - ȅ ˈado /ȅ ˈaːdo/ doɡs

	Masculine	Feminine
Definite	Prefix uː̏- ˈuoo /ˈuːoːo/	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix soː̏- ˈsȍau /ˈsȍau/
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mȉ- ˈmoo /ˈmoːo/	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nȍ- ˈnȍau /ˈnȍau/

Articles

Nagul encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

1st singular	rȉ /rȉ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	trȉ /triː̏/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	trȍm /trȍm/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	iȕ /iȕ/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	ȕps /uː̏ps/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	ȁ /aː̏/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	sȕst /suː̏st/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	claȕ /klaȕ/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	rȉ /rȉ/ my
2nd singular	trȉ /triː̏/ your
3rd singular masc	trȍm /trȍm/ his
3rd singular fem	iȕ /iȕ/ her
1st plural	ȕps /uː̏ps/ our
2nd plural	ȁ /aː̏/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	sȕst /suː̏st/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	claȕ /klaȕ/ their (fem)

Verbs

	Present	Past
Singular	No affix ˈeustohav /ˈeustohav/ (I/you/he/she) learns	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mȉ- ˈmeustohav /ˈmeustohav/ (I/you/he/she) learned
Plural	No affix ˈeustohav /ˈeustohav/ (we/they) learn	Prefix koː̏- coˈeustohav /koːˈeustohav/ (we/they) learned

Nagul uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: krȍ - crȍ ˈeustohav /krȍ ˈeustohav/ will learn

Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Nagul uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: stȉ - stȉ ˈeustohav /stȉ ˈeustohav/ is learninɡ

Habitual aspect
The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Nagul uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: iː̏ - ȉ ˈeustohav /iː̏ ˈeustohav/ learns

Perfect aspect
The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Nagul uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix kaȕ- cauˈeustohav /kauˈeustohav/ have learned

Numbers

Nagul has a base-10 number system:
1 - lȁnt
2 - brȉ
3 - gȕnc
4 - cȍ
5 - ȍ
6 - oȅ
7 - hȉ
8 - foȅd
9 - mȉm
10 - cuȉ
11 - cuȉ grȁnc lȁnt “ten and one”
100 - duȉ “hundred”
101 - duȉ lȁnt “hundred one”
200 - brȉ duȉ
1000 - sciȕ “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix fr- Else: Prefix fraȕ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ȅ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix kʷ- Else: Prefix kʷȍ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ȅ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix hȅ-
Noun to verb = Prefix iȕ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix pl- Else: Prefix pluȉ-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix bȉ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix hiː̏-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix pruː̏-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix mȅ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix koː̏-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɡ- Else: Prefix ɡoː̏-
Augmentative = Prefix stȉ-

Dictionary

4431 Words.