Avalonian

Magellanican (c) Rebecca Ashling 2019-2020. I assert that the Magellanican conlang presented here is my intellectual property and confirm that Linguifex may post this material on their site.

Magellanican (Mag:Tinnakkwa Tequm) is a polysynthetic, fluid-S split intransitive language with VSOX word order which is the official language and lingua franca of Magellanica (Mag: Makelanik) and has approximately 300 million speakers. The Magellanican Technocratic Commonwealth (Mag: Timkwala Anakte Kwimwet Makelanimku) comprises the fictional continent of Magellanica which lies in the southern Pacific Ocean from 35°S to 65°S, north to south, and from 110°W to 140°W, east to west. Its nearest continental neighbour is Antarctica which is about 1100 km due south of Magellanica.

Introduction

The original speakers of Magellanican, the Qamikj people, originated from the Tekxu region of Magellanica which borders the Heart Sea. From about one thousand years ago it became the lingua franca of the entire area surrounding the Heart Sea, and then the entire continent following the advent of smallpox in the 16th Century. Magellanican is a language isolate and has no traceable genealogical relation to any other language, ancient or modern. It is believed however to form an ancient sprachbund with its neighboura, sharing such features as a bisyllabic root structure, primary stress on the first syllable, consonant gradation, and the opposition of voiceless plosives vs voiced fricatives or approximants. The dialect described below is the standard variety promulgated by the Magellanican Technocratic Commonwealth.

Phonology

Orthoɡraphy

General Remarks On Orthography

Magellanican is written in a native alphabet which was derived from an earlier featural abugida. The native alphabet is written from left to right and from top to bottom across the page. The Latin alphabet was introduced in the 19th Century to take advantage of imported printing machinery thus creating an example of synchronic digraphia. Since the introduction of computer technology, the native script has seen a resurgence in use.

Magellanican Alphabet

Magellanican Letter	IPA Value	Latin Letter
⟨x⟩	/n/	⟨n⟩
⟨v⟩	/t/	⟨t⟩
⟨ʌ⟩	/l/	⟨l⟩
⟨w⟩	/tʲ/	⟨tj⟩
⟨ʍ⟩	/lʲ/	⟨lj⟩
⟨z⟩	/tʷ/	⟨tw⟩
⟨s⟩	/lʷ/	⟨lw⟩
⟨ɴ⟩	/tɬ/	⟨x⟩
⟨ʜ⟩	/ŋ/	⟨m⟩
⟨n⟩	/k/	⟨k⟩
⟨u⟩	/h/	⟨h⟩
⟨m⟩	/kʲ/	⟨kj⟩
⟨ɯ⟩	/j/	⟨j⟩
⟨c⟩	/kʷ/	⟨kw⟩
⟨ɔ⟩	/w/	⟨w⟩
⟨o⟩	/kꞭ/	⟨q⟩
⟨h⟩	/i/	⟨i⟩
⟨hh⟩	/eɪ/	⟨ī⟩
⟨ɥ⟩	/ɛ/	⟨e⟩
⟨ɥɥ⟩	/aɪ/	⟨ē⟩
⟨b⟩	/u/	⟨u⟩
⟨bb⟩	/oʊ/	⟨ū⟩
⟨q⟩	/ɑ/	⟨a⟩
⟨qq⟩	/aʊ/	⟨ā⟩

Geminate /tʲ, tʷ, kʲ, kʷ/ are transcribed in IPA symbols as /ttʲ, ttʷ, kkʲ, kkʷ/ and written in Latin letters as ⟨ttj, ttw, kkj, kkw⟩.

Consonants

Magellanican has a total of 16 consonants which according to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Stucture is a moderately small inventory. The most striking features of the inventory, according to WALS, are the presence of a lateral obstruent and an initial velar nasal as well as the absence of bilabial consonants and phonemic fricatives. The consonants are displayed in the table below:

	Plain Alveolar	Palatalised Alveolar	Labialised Alveolar	Plain Velar	Palatalised Velar	Labialised Velar
Stop	/t/	/tʲ/	/tʷ/	/k/	/kʲ/	/kʷ/
Continuant	/l/	/lʲ/	/lʷ/	/h/†	/j/	/w/
Affricate	/tɬ/			/kꞭ/
Nasal	/n/			/ŋ/

† While not phonetically a plain velar, /h/ patterns phonologically as one

Vowels

Magellanican has a total of 8 vowels. It has 4 vowel qualities. According to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures this is an small vowel quality inventory. Magellanican has a consonant to vowel quality ratio of 4.00 which according to WALS is an average ratio. The diphthongs are phonologically long vowels. The vowels are displayed in the table below:

	Short Front	Long Front	Short Back	Long Back
Hiɡh	/i/	/eɪ/	/u/	/oʊ/
Low	/ɛ/	/aɪ/	/ɑ/	/aʊ/

Allophony

1) Stops are aspirated in word-initial position.

2) In coda position /tʲ, tʷ, kʲ, kʷ/ are realised as [tʃ, tf, kʃ, kf].

3) Affricates are aspirated in world-initial position.

4) In word-final position /tɬ, kꞭ/ are realised as [ts, kx].

5) Geminate /t, tʲ, tʷ, k, kʲ, kʷ/ are realised as [s, sʲ, sʷ, x, xʲ, xʷ].

6) Geminate /n, ŋ/ are realised as [nd, ŋɡ].

7) In closed syllables /i, u/ are realised as [ɪ, ʊ].

Prosody

1) Words in Magellanican bear primary stress on the initial syllable.

2) Magellanican words bear secondary stress on every odd-numbered syllable following the initial syllable.

3) Rhythm type is trochaic.

4) To an English speaker, Magellanican would appear to be spoken with a slower tempo than English is.

Phonotactics

1) The syllable template is (C)V(C).

2) Word-internally, stops and nasals are permitted in coda position.

3) Word-finally, stops, affricates and nasals are permitted in coda position.

4) Consonant clusters may not have more than two segments.

5) Consonant clusters may only occur across syllable boundaries.

6) Geminate consonants clusters may not precede a coda consonant or a long vowel.

7) Single stops may not precede a coda consonant if they follow a nasal.

8) Permitted consonant clusters as per the table below:

/t/	/tʲ/	/tʷ/	/tɬ/	/k/	/kʲ/	/kʷ/	/kꞭ/	/n/	/ŋ/
√				√	√	√		√		/t/
	√		√			√				/tʲ/
		√	√			√				/tʷ/
				√				√		/tɬ/
√	√	√	√						√	/k/
√					√				√	/kʲ/
√						√			√	/kʷ/
√									√	/kꞭ/
								√		/l/
								√		/lʲ/
								√		/lʷ/
									√	/h/
									√	/j/
									√	/w/
								√		/n/
									√	/ŋ/

a) The first consonant in a potential cluster runs along top of table, the second consonant in a potential cluster runs down right of table.

b) √ within a cell indicates a potential cluster exists. A blank cell indicates that it does not.

9) /j/ may not follow a long front vowel.

10) /w/ may not follow a long back vowel.

11) /i, eɪ/ may not follow palatalised consonants.

12) /u, oʊ/ may not follow labialised consonants.

13) A lonɡ vowel may not occur in a closed syllable.

14) Vowel clusters do not occur.

15) Canonical morpheme syllable templates:

a) Roots: -(C)V(C)- or -(C)V(C)CV(C)-

b) Prefixes: (C)V(C)- or (C)V(C)CV(C)-

c) Suffixes: -(C)(C)V(C) or -(C)V(C)CV(C)

d) Particles: (C)V(C) or (C)V(C)CV(C)

16) Monosyllabic roots are rare and mainly comprise pronouns and certain verbs such as the copula 'kwe' or the negative verb 'wa'.

17) Monosyllabic suffixes may have a word-final allomorph consisting of a single coda consonant which is employed after a short vowel.

18) Roots originating through foreign borrowings may exceed two syllables.

Morphophonemics

1) Consonant clusters resulting from affixation undergo sandhi as per the table below:

T	TJ	TW	K	KJ	KW	N	M
tt	tt	tt	kt	kt	kt	nt	nt	T
ttj	ttj	ttj	ktj	ktj	ktj	ntj	ntj	TJ
ttw	ttw	ttw	ktw	ktw	ktw	ntw	ntw	TW
tk	tk	tk	kk	kk	kk	mk	mk	K
tkj	tkj	tkj	kkj	kkj	kkj	mkj	mkj	KJ
tkw	tkw	tkw	kkw	kkw	kkw	mkw	mkw	KW
v̄t	v̄t	v̄t	v̄t	v̄t	v̄t	nl	nl	L
v̄tj	v̄tj	v̄tj	v̄tj	v̄tj	v̄tj	nlj	nlj	LJ
v̄tw	v̄tw	v̄tw	v̄tw	v̄tw	v̄tw	nlw	nlw	LW
v̄k	v̄k	v̄k	v̄k	v̄k	v̄k	mh	mh	H
v̄kj	v̄kj	v̄kj	v̄kj	v̄kj	v̄kj	mkj	mkj	J
v̄kw	v̄kw	v̄kw	v̄kw	v̄kw	v̄kw	mkw	mkw	W
nt	ntj	ntw	mk	mkj	mkw	nn	nn	N
nt	ntj	ntw	mk	mkj	mkw	mm	mm	M

NOTES:

a) Latin transliteration used for clarity.

b) First consonant of consonant cluster runs along be top of table, second consonant of consonant cluster runs down riɡht of table.

c) v̄ indicates precedinɡ vowel is lenɡthened

2) If a three-segment consonant cluster results from suffixation then an epenthetic /i/ (/e/ after /kʲ, j/) is inserted between the first and second segments of the cluster.

3) If a vowel cluster results from affixation then an epenthetic /ŋ/ is inserted after the first vowel in the cluster.

4) If through suffixation a long vowel should precede a coda consonant or a consonant cluster then it is reduced to its corresponding short vowel.

5) If through affixation /j/ should follow a front long vowel then that front long vowel is reduced to its corresponding short vowel.

6) If through affixation /w/ should follow a long back vowel then that long back vowel is reduced to its corresponding short vowel.

Consonant Gradation

1) Consonants eligible for consonant gradation are geminate consonants and single stops following a nasal or vowel.

2) It is triggered when eligible consonants are at the beginning of an open syllable and that syllable becomes closed due to suffixation.

3) The affected consonants lenite as per the table below:

Base Form	Gradated Form
tt	t
ttʲ	tʲ
ttʷ	tʷ
kk	k
kkʲ	kʲ
kkʷ	kʷ
t	l
tʲ	lʲ
tʷ	lʷ
k	h
kʲ	j
kʷ	w
nn	n
ŋŋ	ŋ

4) Consonant gradation takes effect after the effects of consonant sandhi.

5) Prefixes are unaffected by consonant gradation.

Morphology

General Remarks On Morpholoɡy

1) The morphological cateɡories used in Magellanican are summarised in the table below:

Category	Description	Inflected?
Noun	Nouns, pronouns, numerals	Yes
Verb	Verbs, many adjectives, adpositions	Yes
Affix	Prefixes and suffixes expressing adjunction, verbal modality, inflection or derivation	No
Particle	Conjunctions, some adverbs, interjections	No

2) Hyperborean is an affixal polysynthetic lanɡuaɡe and only one root per word is permitted.

3) Compoundinɡ of roots does not occur.

4) According to the World Atlas of Language Structures, Hyperborean has a moderate preference for suffixinɡ.

Nominal Morphology

General Remarks On Nominal Morphology

1) Nouns indicate distinct entities. Nouns are inflected for number, possessor, demonstration or case.

2) Maximal nominal structure:

demonstrative or possessive prefix + adjectival prefix(es) + nominal or verbal root + derivational suffix(es) + number suffix + case suffix

Number

1) There are two main systems of nominal number in Magellanican:

a) Sinɡular-Plural

b) Collective-Singulative

2) Singular nouns are singular by default and take the plural suffix to indicate more than four instances.

3) Collective nouns indicate more than four instances by default or are mass nouns. They take the singulative suffix to indicate a singular instance or a very small part of the whole.

4) Magellanican also has a paucal number which is used to mark nouns that are greater than one or fewer than five in number. Also indicates matched sets of entities of any number.

5) Number suffixes are summarised in the table below:

Number	Suffix
Plural	-at
Singulative	-in
Paucal	-uk

Case

1) Case marks relationships between noun and noun or noun and verb.

2) Magellanican cases are summarised in the table below:

Case	Abbreviation	Suffix (Allomorph)	Functions
Absolutive	ABS	-∅	a) Marks citation form of noun b) Indicates O argument of a transitive verb c) Marks S argument of a stative intransitive verb
Nominative	NOM	-ŋu (-ŋ)	a) Indicates A argument of a transitive verb b) Marks S arɡument of an active intransitive verb c) Indicates the possessor
Dative	DAT	-hē	a) Marks X argument of active intransitive verb b) Marks beneficiary of action c) Indicates purpose or intent
Instrumental	INST	-tik	a) Marks X argument of stative intransitive verb b) Marks use of tool or instrument c) Indicates proximal cause
Equative	EQU	-te (-t)	a) Indicates similarity in function, manner or behaviour b) Marks the subject complement of copula c) Indicates similarity to, likeness to c) Made or consisting of a particular substance d) Indicates the comparative
Comitative	COM	-qe (-q)	a) Marks physical proximity or social connection to someone b) Indicates collaborative effort with someone in a joint activity c) Marks reciprocicity d) Indicates possessor when copula used in 'have' construction
Locative	LOC	-zi (-z)	a) Indicates place where b) Marks time when
Allative	ALL	-va	a) Marks motion towards b) Indicates time until c) Marks destination or goal
Ablative	ABL	-jā	a) Indicates motion away from b) Marks time since c) Indicates the source or origin d) Marks aversion to or opposition to e) Indicates the source of comparison
Perlative	PERL	-am	a) Marks motion across, along, through or by way of b) Indicates duration c) Marks mode or means of transport or transmission d) Indicates reason, motive or ultimate cause e) Marks topic of conversation

NB: Parenthesised forms are word-final allomorphs employed after a short vowel.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

1) Magellanican personal pronouns and their associated possessive suffixes are summarised in the table below:

Person	Abbreviation	Pronoun	Possessive Prefix
1st Person Singular	1SG	ni	nin-
2nd Person Singular	2SG	ki	kin-
3rd Person Singular	3SG	ti	tin-
4th Person Sinɡular	4SG	zi	zin-
1st Person Paucal Exclusive	1PC EXCL	nuk	nuŋku-
1st Person Paucal Inclusive	1PC INCL	muk	muŋku-
2nd Person Paucal	2PC	kuk	kuŋku-
3rd Person Paucal	3PC	tuk	tuŋku-
4th Person Paucal	4PC	zuk	zuŋku-
1st Person Plural Exclusive	1PL EXCL	nat	nantu-
1st Person Plural Inclusive	1PL INCL	mat	mantu-
2nd Person Plural	2PL	kat	kantu-
3rd Person Plural	3PL	tat	tantu-
4th Person Plural	4PL	zat	zantu-

2) Personal pronouns take case in the same manner as nouns.

Demonstratives

1) Adnominal demonstratives are suffixes attached to the noun as per the table below:

Name	Locus	English Equivalent	Prefix
Proximal	Near speaker	this, these	hi-
Medial	Near listener(s)	that, those	hu-
Distal	Away from speaker and listener(s)	yon	ha-

2) Demonstrative pronouns are formed by adding the appropriate demonstrative suffix to the appropriate third person pronoun.

Emphatic Pronouns

These are no dedicated emphatic pronouns but as the verbs mark A, S and O arguments, the use of the pronouns correlating with these can be used for emphasis.

Reflexive Pronouns

These are no dedicated reflexive pronouns in Magellanican and the appropriate absolutive verbal prefixes or oblique pronouns suffice.

Interrogative Pronouns

1) There is one interroɡative pronoun: je 'who, what' which is undifferentiated for number.

2) All other interrogatives are built from this by adding the appropriate case. Eɡ: jez 'where?', jeq 'with whom?'

3) There is an interrogative pronominal possessive prefix: jen- 'whose?'.

4) Prefixing je- to a noun gives the sense of 'which?'.

5) The canonical word-order of Magellanican is VSOX. Interrogative pronouns or nouns taking an interrogative pronominal possessive prefix violate this by being fronted to before the verb.

Indefinite Pronouns

There is one indefinite pronoun hamat 'somebody, something'.

General Remarks On Verbal Morphology

1) Verbs express actions, processes or states of being. Verbs are inflected for A, S and O arguments, aspect, valency and mood.

2) Maximal verbal structure:

interrogative prefix + nominative pronominal prefix + auxiliary prefix + causative prefix + verbal or nominal root + derivational suffix(es) + applicative suffix + aspect suffix + adverbial suffix(es) + absolutive pronominal suffix

Pronominal Affixes

Person	Absolutive Suffix (Allomorph)	Nominative Prefix
1st Person Singular	-ni (-n)	nin-
2nd Person Singular	-ki(-k)	kin-
3rd Person Singular	-ti(-t)	tin-
4th Person Sinɡular	-zi (-z)	zin-
1st Person Paucal Exclusive	-nuk	nunku-
1st Person Paucal Inclusive	-muk	munku-
2nd Person Paucal	-kuk	kunku-
3rd Person Paucal	-tuk	tunku-
4th Person Paucal	-zuk	zunku-
1st Person Plural Exclusive	-nat	nantu-
1st Person Plural Inclusive	-mat	mantu-
2nd Person Plural	-kat	kantu-
3rd Person Plural	-tat	tantu-
4th Person Plural	-zat	zantu-

NB: Parenthesised forms are word-final allomorphs employed after a short vowel.

Voice

1) Transitive verbs in Magellanican have three voices:

a) Active

b) Agentive

c) Patientive

2) These are indicated by the presence or absence of verbal pronominal affixes as per the table below:

Voice	Abbreviation	Nominative Prefix?	Absolutive Suffix?	Promoted Argument	Case Of Demoted Argument	Function
Active	ACT	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A	No topicalisation of either argument
Agentive	AGT	Yes	No	NOM	DAT	Topicalisation of A argument
Patientive	PAT	No	Yes	ABS	INST	Topicalisation of O argument

3 Intransitive verbs have two voices:

a) Active

b) Passive

4) The intransitive active voice is default and assumes the S argument is the topic.

5) The intransitive passive voice