Classical Hulran language

Classical Hulran was the language of the Kingdom of Hulra from 800 BEKE to 200 BEKE.

Unlike it's western cousin, Classical Hulran became a truly literate written language, with a flourishing literate culture centred around it - many poems that are still recited to this day.

Even though Hulra is no more, and it's indirect successor Etrancost tries its best to suppress the pagan heritage, the literature from the time in which Classical Hulran was spoken is still influental, and even poets and writers from Etrand often try to emulate it.

During the transition period between Classical Hulran and Late Hulran, the language suffered from diglossia, mainly deriving from pronunciation differences and the loss of vowel length distinction in the successor.

Consonants

 * Rhotacism: proto-Human /z/ merges with /r/
 * The voiced /z/ is re-introduced via intervocalic voicing of /s/
 * Palatalization:
 * /t͡s d͡z/ become /t͡ɕ d͡ʑ/ before front vowels, deaffricate to /θ d/ otherwise.
 * /t d s z/ become /t͡ɕ d͡ʑ ɕ ʑ/ before /j/
 * Loss of Proto-Human fricative voicing distinctions:
 * /ɸ/ and /β/ merge into /f/, realized as [f~v]
 * /θ/ and /ð/ merge into /θ/, realized as [θ~ð]
 * /ng/ becomes /ŋː/, eliminating [g] altogether from native vocabulary
 * /ngʷ/ becomes /mb/ instead
 * /ɣʷ/ merges with /w/
 * Proto-Human /x/ becomes /h/, except when geminated or in coda position.
 * /xm xn xl xr xw/ become /m̥ n̥ l̥ r̥ ʍ/

Vowels

 * The vowel clusters /iɑ iɔː iu iuː ie ieː iɛː/ become gliding diphthongs /jɑ jɔː ju juː je jeː jɛː/
 * The lax vowels /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ got tensed to /i/ and /u/
 * Diphthongization of /eː/ and /ɔː/ to /ie̯/ and /uo̯/
 * /ɑi̯ ɑu̯/ > /ei̯ ou̯/
 * A-umlaut: /i iː u uː/ became /e eː o oː/ when the next syllable had /ɑ/ in it
 * Diphthongs were not affected
 * I-umlaut: /ɑ ɑː u/ become /e eː y/ when the next syllable had /i/ in it
 * /uː/ shifted to /yː/ in all environments (except when effected by the A-umlaut)
 * Diphthongs were not affected
 * /ɛː/ -> /eː/
 * U-umlaut: /e eː i iː/ became /ø øː y yː/ when the next syllable had /u/ in it
 * Diphthongs were not affected
 * Loss of word-final short vowels, shortening of word-final long vowels

Monophthongs

 * The open vowel /ɑ ɑː/ had two additional allophones:
 * Rounded [ɒ ɒː] before /r/ and /l/
 * Fronted [æ æː] after /j/ and other palatal(ized) consonants
 * The long vowel /eː/ and the diphthong /ei̯/ were only distinct in careful and formal speech. It was up to speaker preference whether to use the long vowel or the diphthong.
 * The long vowel /oː/ and the diphthong /ou̯/ were only distinct in careful and formal speech. It was up to speaker preference whether to use the long vowel or the diphthong.

Diphthongs

 * The long vowel /eː/ and the diphthong /ei̯/ were only distinct in careful and formal speech. It was up to speaker preference whether to use the long vowel or the diphthong.
 * The long vowel /oː/ and the diphthong /ou̯/ were only distinct in careful and formal speech. It was up to speaker preference whether to use the long vowel or the diphthong.