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Նիթալօթ Յադեգ (Նիթալօս) Nithalos |
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| a posteriori |  Japanese  Russian |
Nixalosiä / Նիթալօոսիա |
Extended Latin / Adapted Armenian |
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Contents |
Introduction
Nithalos (Níxalos natively or Նիտալօս alternatively) is a conlang created by Hashi in November 2008. The original language was half agglutinating and isolating in nature and had 20 letters. The second reform of February 2010 made the language have 21 letters, with the addition of <d> and is alternatively now written using an adaptation of the Armenian Alphabet. The most recent reform (March 2010) sees the language back down to 20 letters with the removal of <í> and <ḑ>, the introduction of <g> and the change of <ç> to <t> (See the notes on reform below)
Family
Nithalos belongs to the Eastern branch of the Netherdze sub-family.
- Acrya-gausian
- Netherdze
- Eastern Netherdze
- Nithalos
- Eastern Netherdze
- Netherdze
It has two sister languages, both exinct: Niðrađie and Ðraxöre which also both belong to the Eastern branch of Netherdze.
Sounds and Writing
Alphabet
Here is the Nithalos alphabet as it's currently written in Latin:
The above alphabet is considered the main alphabet to use Nithalos with. There is also the occasional use of umlaut (¨) which are used for differentiating two different sounds from a diphthong.
The alternative alphabet (in the same order as above) as it's currently written:
Sounds
| Latin | Alt | IPA | Latin | Alt | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | Աա | /a/, /ja/ | Mm | Մմ | /m/ |
| Bb | Բբ | /b/ | Nn | Նն | /n/ |
| Vv | Վվ | /v/, /f/ | Ll | Լլ | /l/ |
| Ee | Եե | /e/, /je/ | Rr | Րր | /r/ |
| Kk | Կկ | /k/ | Uu | ՈՒու | /u/, /ju/ |
| Xx | Թթ | /θ/ | Yy | Յյ | /j/ |
| Ii | Իի | /i/ | Oo | Օօ | /ɔ/, /jo/ |
| Tt | Տտ | /t/ | Óó | Ոո | /o:/, /jo:/ |
| Ss | Սս | /s/ | Dd | Դդ | /d/ |
| Şş | Շշ | /ʃ/ | Gg | Գգ | /g/ |
To your right is the alphabet of Nithalos as it currently is with each of its phonetic transcriptions.
Allophony
You will notice most of the vowels have multiple pronunciations. The pronunciations with the initial /j/ occur when the vowel it at the font of a word and the word is either the first in a sentence, or the word before ends in a vowel too. For example, the ó in bravxi ó is pronounced /jo:/ while the ó in braran ó is simply /o:/.
In addition to this, the letter <v> can be pronounced both /v/ and /f/. The /f/ normally occurs at the end of a word, or before another voiceless consonant such as <x> or <ş>. Elsewhere it is normally /v/. For example, in both mov and kravxi (/mɔf/ and /krafθi/ respectively) the <v> is /f/, while in vlomix and marvox (/vlɔmi:θ/ and /marvɔθ/ respectively) it remains as /v/. This is the only consonant with such devoicing.
Reform
Thus far, nithalos has undergone two reforms. The post-first-reform nithalos is effectively known as middle nithalos. The pre-reforms nithalos is old nithalos or classical nithalos.
Comparison
The below table gives a comparison of the past alphabets in each reform through old, middle and modern nithalos. (Note: It only displays the latin letters)
| ipa | /a/ /ja/ | /b/ | /v/ | /f/ | /e/ /je/ | /k/ | /θ/ | /i/ | /ɪ/ | /t/ | /tʃ/ | /s/ | /ʃ/ | /m/ | /n/ | /l/ | /r/ | /u/ /ju/ | /j/ | /ɔ/ /jɔ/ | /o/ /jo/ | /dʒ/ | /d/ | /g/ | /z/ | /ts/ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| old | a | b | v | vi | e | k | x | ï | i | č | s | ş | m | n | l | r | u | y | o | ö | đ | đi | si | xi | ||
| middle | v | í | ç | ó | ḑ | d | ||||||||||||||||||||
| modern | i | t | g | |||||||||||||||||||||||
And now taking into account the alternative script..
| ipa | /a/ /ja/ | /b/ | /v/ | /f/ | /e/ /je/ | /k/ | /θ/ | /i/ | /ɪ/ | /t/ | /tʃ/ | /s/ | /ʃ/ | /m/ | /n/ | /l/ | /r/ | /u/ /ju/ | /j/ | /ɔ/ /jɔ/ | /o/ /jo/ | /dʒ/ | /d/ | /g/ | /z/ | /ts/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| old | a | b | v | vi | e | k | x | ï | i | č | s | ş | m | n | l | r | u | y | o | ö | đ | đi | si | xi | |||
| middle | a ա | b բ | v վ | e ե | k կ | x | տ | í ի | i ը | ç ճ | s ս | ş շ | m մ | n ն | l լ | r ր | u ու | y յ | o օ | ó ո | ḑ ջ | d դ | |||||
| modern | թ | i ի | t տ | g գ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Below is a sample sentence illustrating some key changes between the reforms:
| old/classical | Mï mö yik mïya bravixï yob vlomïyana čas. |
|---|---|
| middle | A mó ík aya bravxí om vlomíya ças Ա մո իկ այա բրավտի օմ վլօմիյա ճաս |
| modern | A mó og aya bravxi om vlomiya tas. Ա մո օգ այա բրավթի օմ վլօմիյա տաս․ |
First Reform
The first major change that came with the reforms, was the introduction of the adapted Armenian alphabet.
In the old orthography, <i> morphed a lot of consonants it was next to, <xi> was /ts/, <si> was /z/, <đi> was /d/ and <vi> was /f/. Generally the old usage of <i> and <ï> was used to distinguish length, but <ï> became be to used only on the grounds of preventing the consonants around it to morph. When the new orthography was designed, <ï> was replaced with <í> because <ï> was to be used to show separation in diphthongs, so most <ï> was replaced with <í>. Because of this, there is very few <i> left in the language, or less so than <í> in any case. When the reform was done, a number of choices about the morphed sounds was made. For example, the /d/ once represented by <đi> came to have its own letter <d> which was introduced as the 21st letter of the alphabet. /ts/ which was represented by <xi> has been removed entirely from the language and is now mostly spelled as <x> /θ/. <si> was a rare sound in the old orthography as it was and shall just be replaced by <s> should it be come across. However, <vi> which was said as /f/ still remains in the language, as you can read in the allophony section above.
Other changes included changing <ö> to <ó> to match the <ï> to <í> for the same reasons, the change from <č> to <ç> and <đ> to <ḑ> (mostly for aesthetic reasons) and yeah.
Spelling changes are quite common too. A good deal of <m(V)b> becomes <mv> and <sr> became <ş>. A lot of <y> were dropped off, and quite a few initial <u> became <o> or <ó>. Most diphthongs were shortened down to just one vowel and most longer words where shortened too (mostly loosing <r>). Where old particles used to attach <y> at the front in combo's like mađoya uşïra yal has been dropped although the /j/ sound still exists. (The same sentence in the new orthography would be maḑóya uşíra al /maˈdʒoːja uˈʃiːra jal/)
The new use of umlaut is basically just in words like maë, kaḑoëríx and ekakuïx which is used to show that the two vowels should be pronounced separately and not diphthongised. The use of umlauts are not reflected in the adapted Armenian alphabet.
Second Reform
The second reform has finished what the first reform started - removing useless letters, introducing letters which are there, but not and removing the affricates.
For the most part, the following changes have occurred one for one:
<ç> for <t> (<t> has been introduced to the latin alphabet)
<ḑ> for <d>
<í> for <i> (<i> was too rare and pointless in having when <í> is more common)
Despite the most recent previous reforms, the letter <v> is still highly allophonic and the regulators of the Nithalos language see no point in a separate letter for /f/ as most native speakers don't notice the difference (you can liken this to English's <th>)
Because of the introduction of <t>, the armenian script's <տ> can no longer represent <x>. The latin letter <x> will have the new equivalent of <թ> in the alternative armenian script so that <t> can be represented with <տ>․ The armenian script letter <ը> has been removed from the alphabet. Formerly, <í> was <ի> and <i> was <ը>, however, under the new reforms, <i> is now simply <ի> and the letter <ը> shall no longer be used.
In this reform, the final thing added was the letter <g>. The letter <g> (<գ> under the alternative armenian script) was introduced because of the slowly emerging /g/ phoneme into the more dialectal areas where Nithalos is spoken which quite quickly became prominent in spoken language itself. The spelling reforms using <g> reflect such usage.
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Pronouns in Nithalos are only available in three persons covering two numbers and two cases. Note that the 3sg does NOT include "it". Only "he" and "she".
| 1sg | 2sg | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | a ա | mó մո | ev եվ | avi ավի | móva մովա | evxa եվթա |
| Genitive | aya այա | móya մոյա | evya եվյա | aviya ավիյա | móvaya մովայա | evxaya եվթայա |
Nominal Morphology
Nithalos nouns are quite primitive next to other languages. There is only two cases (Nominative and Genitive), no grammatical number and no articles to mark definiteness. (for example, kraxna / կրատնա can mean "woman", "women", "the woman", "the women", "a woman" etc). Besides this, Nithalos uses rich system of postpositioned particles to give additional meaning to nouns.
Genitive
The Genitive in Modern Nithalos is formed by simply placing the suffix -ya on the end of any noun. Doing this is the only time a noun in Nithalos has anything attached to the end of it.
Particles
Below is a list of particles in both Old Nithalos and New Nithalos, with an example provided in New Nithalos. Please note that in Old Nithalos, if the noun ended with a vowel, the short version was used (yik instead of ïk, yim instead of ïm etc). Please also note, that the Japanese particle or equivalent is also provided for comparison
| English | Japanese | NixalosLatin Script | ՆիթալօսAlternative Script | Example | NïxalosOld Nithalos (short / long) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | を | ó | ո | A nixalox yadeg ó uşni. Ա նիթալօթ յադեգ ո ուշնի․ | öy |
| with | と | og | օգ | Veda, a kravxi og braran ox eştiva. Վեդա, ա կրավթի օգ բրարան օթ եշտիվա․ | yik / ïk |
| or | か | il | իլ | Mó kravxi il bravxi og braran ox eştiva? Մո կրավթի իլ բրավթի օգ բրարան օթ եշտիվա? | yil / ïl |
| at/in | で / に | al | ալ | A şkól al enkliş ó uşni. Ա շկոլ ալ ենկլիշ ո ուշնի․ | yal / al |
| to | に / へ | ox | օթ | A şkól ox eşti. Ա շկոլ օթ եշտի․ | ox |
| and (inclusive)1 | と | i | ի | A braran, muşim i şkól ox eştiva. Ա բրարան, մուշիմ ի շկոլ օթ եշտիվա․ | yim / ïm |
| and (exclusive)2 | や | am | ամ | A braran am şkól ox eştiva․ Ա բրարան ամ շկոլ օթ եշտիվա․ | yam |
| from | から | iv | իվ | Nixalosya bundó şul iv kraxviva ó mó namvrişa? Միթալօսյա բունդո շուլ իվ կրաթվիվա ո մո մանվրիշա? | yib / ïb |
| except | 以外 | iş | իշ | A şkól iş şuta ox eştiva․ Ա շկոլ իշ շուտա օթ եշտիվա․ | yiş / ïş |
| about | について | om | օմ | A mó og aya bravxi om vlomiya tas. Ա մո օգ այա բրավթի օմ վլօմիյա տաս․ | (y)ob |
Note 1: This particle is used to mean and when the list is complete (as in nothing has been left out or implied).
Note 2: This particle is used to mean and when the list is incomplete. This means there may be more you haven't said etc. It is normally translated with an etc. at the end of the list.
