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Filgan

Filgan is the language spoken in the northern kandar nations of Narylar, Filgeth and Calbeyn, also spoken as a first language by many human Emilanes in these cities. Other kandar consider Filgan-speakers to be a backward and rustic lot, but that's not how they see themselves, as ever.

Virtually all non-english words mentioned aywhere on this site are assumed to be Filgan unless otherwise indicated, because it's dominant language in the part of the world most of my campaigns have been set. So you want to know how those names are pronounced?

Note: Filgan was my first attempt at a model language; it's almost a textbook example of how not to do it! It started out as a naming language, based too heavily on alphabets rather than sounds. I have made some attempt to regularise it, and 'reverse-engineer' it's ancestor, old kandar

Phonology

Consonants

Unlike Old Kandar, from which it is descended, Filgan does distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants.

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Alv-Pal	Velar
Stop	p, b		t, d		c, g
Fricative	f, v	th, dh	s, z	sh, zh	k, gh
Nasals	m		n
Approximants			r, l

We have lost a number old kandar sounds, most notably the affricates pf, tc and ts, along with g (which was pronounced ng), h and w. However, in addition to all the voiced conterparts of the stops and fricatives, we have also gained th and it's voiced counterpart, dh.

Vowels

There are 6 basic vowels

	High	Mid	Low
Front	i	y	u
Mid	e		o
Back		a

• 'a' - as in "Cat"
• 'e' - as in "Train"
• 'i' - as in "Feet"
• 'o' - as in "Bog"
• 'u' - as in "Boot"
• 'y' - as in "Tin"

All vowels are pronounced, including the final 'e'. The dipthongs 'ui' and 'ey' are quite common.

Phonological Constraints

The syllable structure is more complex than it's ancestor. Syllables are (C)(r,l)V(n,r,l,s)(C). The first syllable is (lightly) stressed, unless the vowel is 'y' or 'a', in which case the second syllable is stressed instead.

Sound Changes from Old Kandar

Filgan, like other modern kandar languages, is descended from Old Kandar. These are the principal sound changes:

• Filgan now distinguishes between voiced and unvoiced stops and fricatives; Old Kandar t, d, p, f, c all become voiced before a back vowel.
• Old Kandar h disappears completely, becoming Filgan k at beginning of a word, r elsewhere.
• w also disappears, becoming v at the beginning of a word, and becomes r elsewhere.
• ng becomes a stop, g.
• The place of articulation of fricatives changes, so s becomes th, Old Kandar c becomes s, and x becomes Filgan sh. Their voiced versions similarly become dh, z and zh.
• Old Kandar k fricatises between vowels.
• The Old Kandar afficates ts, tc and pf are reduced to the corresponding fricatives.
• i becomes y before r, l, n
• h and w disappear before i to produce dipthongs ey and ui
• Unstressed leading vowels are lost
• Unstressed final vowels are lost if preceding sound is n, l, r, s
• Unstressed vowels lost before r, l
• Unstressed vowels lost after r, l, n, s