Tergynian language

Tergynian is a Tergynic language spoken in Cancodia by Tergyns. It is the national language and lingua franca of Tergynia. It is genealogically descended from the Hashod language, but has major influences from the Merged language on its vocabulary and grammar, with a smaller amount of influence from the Qijaric Otoghuz language.

Like most Tergynic languages, Tergynian is an agglutinative language that employs vowel harmony and has the subject–object–verb word order.

Modern Tergynian evolved from the Holjinhar dialect of Classical Tergyn, the court language spoken in the Neo-Tergyn Khaganate of the 17th and 20th centuries. In the transition, a major shift in the vowel-harmony paradigm occurred, long vowels developed, the case system changed slightly, and the verbal system was restructured. Classical Tergynian is itself descended from the Middle Tergyn language, which was the language spoken in the Tergyn Empire of the 12th and 15th centuries. Tergyn literature is well attested in written form from the 12th century with earlier attestation from related languages as early as the 7th century.

Geographic distribution

Tergynian is the official national language of Tergynia, where it is spoken (but not always written) by nearly 3.6 million people (2014 estimate)

Phonology

Vowels

Tergyn Clear Script	IPA	Romanization
ᠠ, ᠠᡃ	[a, aː]	a, aa
ᡅ, ᡕᡅ	[i, iː]	i, ii
ᡆ/ᡇ, ᡆᡃ/ᡇᡉ	[ɔ, ɔː]	o, oo
ᡈ/ᡉ, ᡈᡃ/ᡉᡉ	[u, uː]	u, uu
ᡄ, ᡄᡃ	[e, eː]	e, ee

	Front		Central		Back
	Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long
Close	i	iː			u	uː
Close-Mid	e	eː
Open-mid					ɔ	ɔː
Open			a	aː

Tergynian also has four diphthongs: historically /ui, ɔi, ai/ but are pronounced more like [ʉe̯, ɞe̯, æe̯].

Allophones

Short	Initial positions	[a]	[e]	[i]	[ɔ]	[u]
	Non-initial positions	[ă]	[ĕ]	[ĭ]	[ɔ̆]	[ŭ]
		[ə]
Long	Initial positions	[aː]	[eː]	[iː]	[ɔː]	[uː]
	Non-initial positions	[a]	[e]	[i]	[ɔ]	[u]

ATR harmony

Mongolian divides vowels into three groups in a system of vowel harmony:

	+ATR ("front")	−ATR ("back")	Neutral
IPA	e, u	a, ɔ	i
Clear Script	ᡄ, ᡉ/ᡈ	ᠠ, ᡆ/ᡇ	ᡅ

Consonants

		Labial			Alveolar			Postalveolar		Velar
		plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	pal.
Stop/ Affricate	voiceless	p			t	tʷ	tʲ	tʃ	tʃʷ	k	kʷ	kʲ
	voiced	b		bʲ	d	dʷ	dʲ	dʒ	dʒʷ	ɡ		ɡʲ
Fricative		f			s	sʷ		ʃ		x	xʷ	xʲ
Nasal		m	mʷ	mʲ	n		nʲ			ŋ
Trill					r		rʲ
Lateral					l		lʲ
Semivowel							j				w

Grammar

Nouns

Tergynian noun cases

Case	Suffix	English preposition	Example (Clear Script)	Transliteration	Translation
nominative	–	–	ᡎᡉᠷ	gur	country
accusative	‑ᡎ (‑g) ‑ᡇᡎ (‑ug), ‑ᡕᡅᡎ (‑ig)	–	ᡎᡉᠷᡕᡅᡎ	gurig	the country (as object)
genitive	‑ᡄᠨ (‑en) ‑ᡆᠨ (‑on), ‑ᡉᠨ (‑un) ‑ᠠᠨ (‑an), ‑ᠨ (‑n) ‑ᡎᡅᡕᡅᠨ (‑gin) ‑ᡅ (‑i), ‑ᡅᠨ (‑in)	of	ᡎᡉᠷᡄᠨ	guren	of (a) country; country's
dative-locative	‑ᡑᡄ (‑de) ‑ᡑᡆ (‑do) ‑ᡑᡉ (‑du) ‑ᡕᡉ (‑yu)	on, to, at, in	ᡎᡉᠷᡑᡄ	gurde	in (a) country
ablative	‑ᠠᡃᠰ (‑as), ‑ᡆᡃᠰ (‑oos), ‑ᡈᡃᠰс (‑uus), ‑ᡄᡃᠰ (‑ees) ‑ᡕᠠᠰ (‑ias), ‑ᡕᡆᠰ (‑ios), ‑ᡕᡈᠰ (‑ius), ‑ᡕᡄᠰ (‑ies) ‑ᠨᠠᡃᠰ (‑naas), ‑ᠨᡆᡃᠰ (‑noos), ‑ᠨᡈᡃᠰ (‑nuus), ‑ᠨᡄᡃᠰ (‑nees)	from	ᡎᡉᠷᡄᡃᠰ	gurees	from (a) country
prolative	‑ᡑᠠᡅ (‑dai), ‑ᡑᡆᡅ (‑doi), ‑ᡑᡈᡅ (‑dui), ‑ᡑᡄᡅ (‑dei)	from	ᡎᡉᠷᡑᡄᡅ	gurdei	by [way of a] country
instrumental	‑ᠠᡃᠷ (‑aar), ‑ᡆᡃᠷ (‑oor), ‑ᡈᡃᠷ (‑uur), ‑ᡄᡃᠷ (‑eer) ‑ᡕᠠᠷ (‑iar), ‑ᡕᡆᠷ (‑ior), ‑ᡕᡈᠷ (‑iur), ‑ᡕᡄᠷ (‑ier)	with, using	ᡎᡉᠷᡄᡃᠨ	gureen	with (e.g. by means of a) country
comitative	‑ᡐᠠᡅ (‑tai), ‑ᡐᡆᡅ (‑toi), ‑ᡐᡄᡅ (‑tei)	together with	ᡎᡉᠷᡐᡄᡅ	gurtei	with (e.g. alongside a) country
privative	‑ᡎᡉᡅ (‑gui)	without	ᡎᡉᠷᡎᡉᡅ	Template:Transl	without (a) country
directive	ᠷᡇᡉ (roo), ᠷᡉᡉ (ruu) ᠯᡇᡉ (loo), ᠯᡉᡉ (luu)	towards	ᡎᡉᠷ ᠷᡉᡉ	gur ruu	towards (a) country

Pronouns

	1st Person			2nd Person		3rd Person
	singular	plural		singular	plural	singular	plural
		exclusive	inclusive
Nominative	bii	biede	baa	šii	taa	ing	aang
Genitive	minii	biednii	(maanii)	šinii	taanii	inii	aanii
Dative	namd	biedende	maande	šamd	taande	yamd (ind)	aande
Accusative	namii	biednii	(maanii)	šamii	taanii	yamii	aanii
Ablative	namaase	biedenaas	maanaas	šamaase	taanaas	yamaas	aanaas
Instrumental	namaare	biedenaar	maanaar	šamaare	taanaar	yamaar	aanaar
Comitative	namtii	biedentii	maantii	šamtii	taantii	yamtii	aantii

Negation

Negation is mostly expressed by -gui (-ᡎᡉᡅ) after participles and by the negation particle biš (ᡋᡅᠱ) after nouns and adjectives; negation particles preceding the verb (for example in converbal constructions) exist, but tend to be replaced by analytical constructions.

Numbers

Pronunciation and writing of numbers in text

N	Text in Tergynian	N	Text in Tergynian	N	Text in Tergynian
0	ᡐᡄᡃ tek	10	ᡌᠠᠷ par	20	ᡒᡉᠷᡅ, čuri
1	ᠠᡏ am	11	ᡌᠠᠷᠠᠨ ᠠᡏ paran am	30	ᡍᡇᡒ hoč
2	ᡒᡉᠷ čur	12	ᡌᠠᠷᠠᠨ ᡒᡉᠷ paran čur	40	ᡑᡈᡒ duč
3	ᡍᡇᠷ hor	13	ᡌᠠᠷᠠᠨ ᡍᡇᠷ paran hor	50	ᡐᠠᡖᡅ tavi
4	ᡑᡈᠷ dur	14	ᡌᠠᠷᠠᠨ ᡑᡈᠷ paran dur	60	ᠨᡅᠷᡅ niri
5	ᡐᠠᡖ tav	15	ᡌᠠᠷᠠᠨ ᡐᠠᡖ paran tav	70	ᡑᠠᠯ dal
6	ᠨᡅᠷ nir	16	ᡌᠠᠷᠠᠨ ᠨᡅᠷ paran nir	80	ᠨᠠᡕᠠ naya
7	ᡑᡆᠯ dol	17	ᡌᠠᠷᠠᠨ ᡑᡆᠯ paran dol	90	ᡕᡅᠷ yir
8	ᠨᠠᡕᡅᠷ nair	18	ᡌᠠᠷᠠᠨ ᠨᠠᡕᡅᠷ paran nair	100	ᡒᠠᡖ čav
9	ᡕᡅᠰ yis	19	ᡌᠠᠷᠠᠨ ᡕᡅᠰ paran yis	200	ᡒᡆᠷ ᡒᠠᡖ čor čav

Loanwords and coined words

• Otoghuz loanwords include erden (ᠡᠷᠳᠢᠨᠢ erdini 'treasure')...
• Shurogur loanwords include iher (ᠢᠺᠢᠷ ikir 'twin')...
• Nayati loanwords include...

Other languages have borrowed words from Tergynian.

Writing systems

Main article: Tergynian writing systems

Example text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Tergynian, written in the Tergynian Latin alphabet:

Hün bür törzh mendlehed erh chölöötei, adilhan ner törtei, izhil erhtei baidag. Oyuun uhaan nandin chanar zayaasan hün gegch öör hoorondoo ahan düügiin üzel sanaagaar haricah uchirtai.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Tergynian, written in the Tergynian script:

ᠬᠦᠮᠦᠨ ᠪᠦᠷ ᠲᠥᠷᠥᠵᠦ ᠮᠡᠨᠳᠡᠯᠡᠬᠦ ᠡᠷᠬᠡ ᠴᠢᠯᠥᠭᠡ ᠲᠡᠢ᠂ ᠠᠳᠠᠯᠢᠬᠠᠨ ᠨᠡᠷ᠎ᠡ ᠲᠥᠷᠥ ᠲᠡᠢ᠂ ᠢᠵᠢᠯ ᠡᠷᠬᠡ ᠲᠡᠢ ᠪᠠᠢᠠᠭ᠃ ᠣᠶᠤᠨ ᠤᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ᠂ ᠨᠠᠨᠳᠢᠨ ᠴᠢᠨᠠᠷ ᠵᠠᠶᠠᠭᠠᠰᠠᠨ ᠬᠦᠮᠦᠨ ᠬᠡᠭᠴᠢ ᠥᠭᠡᠷ᠎ᠡ ᠬᠣᠭᠣᠷᠣᠨᠳᠣ᠎ᠨ ᠠᠬᠠᠨ ᠳᠡᠭᠦᠦ ᠢᠨ ᠦᠵᠢᠯ ᠰᠠᠨᠠᠭᠠ ᠥᠠᠷ ᠬᠠᠷᠢᠴᠠᠬᠥ ᠤᠴᠢᠷ ᠲᠠᠢ᠃

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Dolphik:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.