View source for Tech

{|border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=50% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; font-size: 95%; float: right;"
|colspan="2" bgcolor="#DFDFDF" align="center" |'''Tech'''
|-
|valign="top"|Spoken in:
||various countries
|-
|valign="top"|Timeline/Universe:
||Danny Wier's future history
|-
|valign="top"|Total speakers:
||unknown
|-
|valign="top"|Genealogical classification:
||[[Nostratic]]
: '''Tech'''

|-
|valign="top"|[[Basic word order]]:
|| VSO
|-
|valign="top"|[[Morphological type]]:
|| fusional
|-
|valign="top"|[[Morphosyntactic alignment]]:
|| mixed
|-
|colspan="2" bgcolor="#DFDFDF" align="center" |'''Created by:'''
|-
||Danny Wier ||1997-
|}

'''Tech''' is a conlang by [[Danny Wier]], spoken by a kind of [[Elves]] in a near-future world and based on the [[Nostratic]] hypothesis.  The language is only known from various posts to the CONLANG mailing list, according to which it is a very complex language with a large phoneme inventory; it has been compared to [[Ithkuil]] and characterized as a [[kitchen sink conlang]].

==Phonology==

===Consonants===

Tech is famed for its rich consonant inventory.  One version Danny Wier posted on February 23, 2000 included as many as 327 consonants, involving secondary articulations such as palatalization and labialization.  Later, Danny systematized the consonant inventory and arrived at a more moderate (though still rich) inventory of phonemes, with most of the "phonemes" of earlier incarnations being merely allophones of these phonemes.

According to a post from July 9, 2001, the consonant phonemes of Old Tech are:

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2"| &nbsp;
! rowspan="2" | [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] or [[Dental consonant|dental]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Pharyngeal consonant|Pharyngeal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!<small>[[Central consonant|central]]</small>
!<small>[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]</small>
|- align="center"
! rowspan="3" | [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
!<small>[[Ejective consonant|ejective]]</small>
| pʼ
| tʼ
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| ʈʼ
| &nbsp;
| kʼ
| qʼ
| &nbsp;
| ʔ
|- align="center"
!<small> [[Voiceless consonant|voiceless]]</small>
| p
| t
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| ʈ
| &nbsp;
| k
| q
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|- align="center"
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| b
| d
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| ɖ
| &nbsp;
| ɡ
| ɢ
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|- align="center"
! rowspan="3" | [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>ejective</small>
| &nbsp;
| tsʼ
| tɬʼ
| tʃʼ
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|- align="center"
!<small>voiceless</small>
| &nbsp;
| ts
| tɬ
| tʃ
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|- align="center"
!<small>voiced</small>
| &nbsp;
| dz
| dɮ
| dʒ
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|- align="center"
! text-align: left;" rowspan="2" | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
| &nbsp;
| s
| ɬ
| ʃ
| ʂ
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| ħ
| h
|- align="center"
!<small>voiced</small>
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| ʕ
| &nbsp;
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| m
| n
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| ɳ
| ɲ
| ŋ
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" | [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| &nbsp;
| r
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| ɽ
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| w
| &nbsp;
| l
| &nbsp;
| ɭ
| j
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|}

===Vowels===

Like the consonant inventory, the vowel inventory of Tech has for long been in flux, with (again) very large inventories having been considered by the author.  According to the aforementioned post from July 9, 2001:

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| i
| &nbsp;
| u
|- align="center"
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| e
| ə
| o
|- align="center"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| &nbsp;
| a
| &nbsp;
|}

==External links==

* [http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0002D&L=CONLANG&P=R1624&D=0&H=0&O=T&T=0&m=21306 oh no, not Tech phonology again] from February 23, 2000
* [http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0107B&L=CONLANG&P=R3219&m=46897 Semi-official Tech presentation: I. Phonology] from July 9, 2001
* [http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0212D&L=CONLANG&P=R4801&m=65495 A Tech FAQ] from December 25, 2002

[[Category:Conlangs]]