Nymeran

Nymeran (or Tlíl Nime) is the language spoken in the land of Nym, the backdrop of Mythopoeia’s comic Glow. The language and alphabet were created in 2015 by linguist Niamh Doyle. In 2021, gearing up for the fourth issue of Glow, Mythopoeia hired Jamin Johnson to take over the “care and feeding” and further development of Nymeran.

Nymeran is an a priori, fusional, ergative-absolutive language written with an abjad (with mandatory vowel marking) called Sífantma Nime.

In the land of Nym, Nymeran is really the name of two different languages: The modern vernacular spoken by Caszi, Koken, and their fellow characters; and a more formal, ancient language that is the language of spells, of magic, and of the Glow.

Many words are the same, especially in the written language, but the modern form has changed a lot since the Old Times when Nym was green. For example, the word petena means “used to do,” and it is always written out as 〈petena〉, but in speech it is usually uttered as “peta” or “pen,” a bit analogous to how we might normally say “gonna” in English, but in writing it is usually spelled out as 〈going to〉. Another example is the simple greeting, Hamjanum! (‘Hello!’), which is usually expressed as “Hajanu!”

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	í · [i · ]	· u [ · u]
Mid-High	i · [ɪ · ]
Mid	é · [e · ]	· o [ · o]
Mid-Low	e · [ɛ · ]
Low	a · [æ~a · ]	· á [ɑ ~ ɒ]

Nymeran does not distinguish vowel length. There is one diphthong, ⟨ai⟩ [aɪ̯].

Consonants

(Pardon the compactified consonant table. I know it doesn't quite all line up “properly,” but it does make more sense in how these consonants pattern in the Nymeran language. I had all I could do not to call ⟨r⟩ a labial approximant! If in doubt, rely on the transcription and not the row or column.)

	Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Dorsal
Plosive	p · b [p · b]	t · [t]	ch · [ʧ]	k · g [k · ɡ]
Fricative	f · [f · v]	s · z [s · z]	sh · zh [ʃ · ʒ]	kh · [x]
Nasal	· m [m]	· n [n]
Approximant		· l [l]	· j [j]	· h [h]
Rhotic		· r [ɾ~r]

Clusters

While a number of consonant clusters are found word-internally, there are four clusters which may be found in initial position, and which, in fact, have their own unique characters in the Nymeran Alphabet to represent them:

	+l	+r
m+	ml [ml]	mr [mɾ]
t+	tl [tl̥]
h+	hl [hl̥~l̥]

Salutations & Common Phrases

• Hajanu! Welcome! Hello! (informal)
• Hamjanum azeb! Welcome! (formal, from one person)
• Hamjanum azech! Welcome! (formal, from more than one person)
• Kain in ailak zha kalja? How are you?
• Kain in ailan? How are you? (informal)
• Mé seme? Who are you?
• Ké naisa i tésh ales? What is your name?
• Chésh _[Kasí]_ zhu naisa i tésh aleb. My name is [Caszy].
• Bíme _[Zhamin]_. My name is [Jamin].
• Kekí Mrégamheze? How old are you?
• Ena surazh bíme _[kaf]_ mregamnai. I am [10] years old.
• Tésh Mrégam _[níkafech]_ surakhu al bí kezake I am [60] years old. (formal)
• Hamtafa! Goodbye! (informal)
• Éjo Yes.
• Khajo No.
• Gelím Please.
• Pík ates Thank you (to one person)
• Pík atef Thank you (to more than one person)
• Bí janum You’re welcome.
• Hamum hazhu kenkes! Goodbye!
• Hamum asam aisahes! Goodbye!
• Nue mohun bak hamtafa! Goodbye! (formal)
• Nue mohus hamtafa! Goodbye! (formal, to one person)
• Nue mohuf bak hamtafa! Goodbye! (formal, to many people)