Classical Chinese'
Sample vocabulary
- arawagiʃʃinat
- kogeeronoʃkioowon
- elewargaranaanawe
- paaokokokʃorda
- nonigirguriʃkaoo
- ʃeleleeronaneerenek
- kaginniroʃoweaalaka
- tenekwaruguʃaadun
- peʃeʃaanerogoronowee
Phonological analysis
- Vowels [i e eː a aː o oː u]
- Word-initial consonants: [p t k ʃ n]
- Word-medial consonants: [k d ɡ ʃ n r l w]
- Word-final consonants: [t n k]
Clusters seem to include [ʃʃ ʃk kʃ kw rɡ nn].
The distinction between [l] and [r] seems very minor, with [l] mostly occurring between front vowels. Likewise the distinction between [k] and [ɡ] applies mostly intervocally.
We might be able to analyze medial [k ɡ] as /kk k/. Similarly, tho there's no medial [t], medial [d] might be /t/. I now see my original idea to have [r] as the medial allophone of /t/ seems unlikely: if [rɡ] is to be /tk/, medial voicing/lenition needs to apply thru two stops, but [ʃk kʃ] demonstrate it not applying thru a stop and a fricativ? OTOH not even single medial [ʃ] is voiced, so /ʃ/ is clearly more resilient to voicing (perhaps its distinguishing feature is not continuancy, but stridency). There is also the option of an underlying /r/ fortified to [t] adjacent to a word boundary.
These models differ in a few testable respects: an underlying /t/ or /d/ would lead to clusters [ʃt tʃ], while an underlying /r/ would lead to [ʃr rʃ].
The labial situation seems more straightforward: the two possibilities initially suggesting itself are [w] = /u/ and [w] = /p/, but since there is no overlap between these two scenarios, we can simply go with a single labial phoneme [p w u] = /P/ as long as no roots beginning with [pu-] turn up.
Grammar
Tentativ verbal morphology breikdown:
| stem (root + derivational) |
aspect (1) |
object number |
instrument | agent | aspect (2) / tense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| arawa- | -gi- | -ʃ- | ʃina | -t (Nth P unmarked?) | |
| kogeero+n- | -o- | -ʃ- | (…) kioowon | ||
| paa- | -o- | ∅ | kokok | ʃorda | |
| noni- | -gi- | -r(o?)- | guriʃ | kao | -ː |
| ʃele+REDUP- | -ː- | -ro- | (…) naneerenek | ||
| kaginni- | (?) | -ro- | (…) ʃoweaalaka | ||
| peʃa+REDUP- | -ː-ne- | -ro- | gorono | we | -ː |
Non-verbal:
- elewargaranaanawe
- tenekwaruguʃaadun
Syntactical notes:
- SV, hed-initial
- generally nominativ alignment; some intransitiv verbs display traces of absolutiv behavior
- indirect object information incorporated into verb phrase
- direct object goes where??
- a clause may contain multiple (morphologically complete) verb phrases
- specific morphology for noting constituents shared by multiple VPs
- subclauses mostly renderable by modified VPs
The cryptolect
A highly unusual feature appearing in Classical Chinese is the creation of ritual jargon based on repeating religious chants with distinct phonetical variations. See Proto-Insane for details.
