Tanemantin: Difference between revisions
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Tanemantin has a CV(C) syllable structure, with the caveat that only /n m ŋ ʔ/. Word-internal clusters which are permitted are /ʔt ʔk ʔm ʔn ʔŋ nt ŋk ns/. | Tanemantin has a CV(C) syllable structure, with the caveat that only /n m ŋ ʔ/. Word-internal clusters which are permitted are /ʔt ʔk ʔm ʔn ʔŋ nt ŋk ns/. | ||
== | == Nouns and Nominals == | ||
Tanemantin nouns | Tanemantin nouns are divided into two classes: animate and inanimate. Animate nouns are those traditionally considered capable of movement: people, animals, spirits, the Sun and Moon, and bodies of moving water. Inanimate nouns cover everything else. There is a very limited nominal morphology - there is no case marking, and only animate nouns are marked for plurality, | ||
= | =Number= | ||
The singular is the unmarked form. Animate nouns are marked as plural with the suffix '''-wa''': '''koi''' "dog" '''koiwa''' "dogs". However, there is a small class of nouns with suppletive forms originally derived from reduplication, mostly relationship terms: '''ama''' "mother", '''ameme''' 'mothers', '''ban''' "sister" '''bamen''' "sisters", as well as some other nouns: '''yaʔ''' "man", '''yaʔyi''' "men". | |||
Animate nouns | |||
==Pronouns== | ==Pronouns== | ||
==Personal Pronouns== | ==Personal Pronouns== | ||
Revision as of 13:47, 16 February 2010
Tanemantin is one of the Ke:tic languages and a descendent of the classical language Sarim.
Phonology
Tanemantin distinguishes between 17 consonant phonemes
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
| Plosive/Affricate | b /b/ | t /t/ d /d/ | j /ʤ/ | k /k/ g /g/ | ʔ /ʔ/ | |
| Fricative | v /β/ | s /s/ | š /ʃ/ | h /h/ | ||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ŋ /ŋ/ | |||
| Liquid | w /w/ | l /l/ | r /ɾ/ | y /j/ |
There are four vowel phonemes /i e a o u / i e a o u, aswell as six diphthongs, all falling /ai ei oi au eu ou/ ai ei oi au eu ou
Stress
Stress in Tanemantin is non-phonemic, always falling on the penultimate syllable of the word unless an adjacent syllable has a long vowel nucleus, in which case the stress shifts to that syllable. If both the final and antepenultimate vowels are long, stress falls on the final vowel. Monosyllabic semantic words are stressed, grammatical particles are not.
Syllable Structure
Tanemantin has a CV(C) syllable structure, with the caveat that only /n m ŋ ʔ/. Word-internal clusters which are permitted are /ʔt ʔk ʔm ʔn ʔŋ nt ŋk ns/.
Nouns and Nominals
Tanemantin nouns are divided into two classes: animate and inanimate. Animate nouns are those traditionally considered capable of movement: people, animals, spirits, the Sun and Moon, and bodies of moving water. Inanimate nouns cover everything else. There is a very limited nominal morphology - there is no case marking, and only animate nouns are marked for plurality,
Number
The singular is the unmarked form. Animate nouns are marked as plural with the suffix -wa: koi "dog" koiwa "dogs". However, there is a small class of nouns with suppletive forms originally derived from reduplication, mostly relationship terms: ama "mother", ameme 'mothers', ban "sister" bamen "sisters", as well as some other nouns: yaʔ "man", yaʔyi "men".
