Tir'àata

Tir'àata is a language spoken in northeastern Lescealh, in the area between the Razoheariscah Mountain Range and the Timeareitah peninsula. It bears extreme similarities to Tiijáta and Tiijaata, that have even led to some analysists to classify them as all dialects of a modernized form of their parent language Tir'jauta. Tir'àata and its sister languages are ultimately descendents of Proto-Rajo-Faraneit, in the same family as Faraneit, Raj, Fraze, Kelsiut, Hana, and other languages spoken in various parts of Northeastern Lescealh.

Phonology

	Bilabial	Labio-Dental	Apical Alveolar	Laminal Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Labiovelar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Stop	p		t̺	t̻	ʈ	c	kp)	k		ʔ
Nasal	m		n̺	n̻	ɳ			ŋ	ɴ
Fricative	ɸ	f	s̺	s̻	ʂ	ç	xʷ	x
Approximant			r		ɻ
Lateral Flap				l		ɭ

Vowels:

• /a˥ aː˥ i˥ e˥ u˥ a˧ aː˧ i˧ e˧ u˧ a˩ aː˩ i˩ e˩ u˩/
  • <á áa í é ó ú a aa i e u à àa ì è ù>

Consonants:

• /t̺ t̻ ʈ p c kp) k ʔ/
  • <t d t' p c q k '>
• /ɸ f s̺ s̻ ʂ ç xʷ x/
  • <ph f s z s' ch qh x>
• /m n̺ n̻ ɳ ŋ ɴ/
  • <m nh n n' ng g>
• /ʋ r l ɻ ɭ/
  • <v r l r' l'>

Distribution

• /k kp) c/ are all present and contrast prior to /e a aː/
• /kp) c/ are both present and contrast prior to /i u/
• /ʔ/ contrasts with a simple pause and is only present between vowels

Allophony

Stress-Related:

• Stops (except for /ʔ/) aspirate when the sole part of the onset of a stressed syllable
• When the coda of a final, unstressed syllable, stops and fricatives in most speakers' dialects become voiced and lenis
• When unstressed /a aː i e u/ become [ɒ aɒ) ɪ ə ʊ]

Tone-Related:

• In syllables closed by a consonant other than the nasal series, tones have a slight downward contour, but remain distinct from one another

Nasalization-Related:

• When followed by a nasal consonant, vowels nasalize and when stressed simply are realized as [ɒ~ aɒ)~ i~ e~ u~]
• When unstressed - [ɒ~ aɒ)~ ɪ~ ə~ ʊ~]

Other:

• [i i~ ɪ ɪ~ e e~] following /kp) xʷ/ are realized as rounded
• Fricatives voice between vowels and between vowels and voiced consonants, but do not reduce to lenis
• Stops undergo the same process in very rapid speech, and a minority of speakers
• /a/ reduces to [ə] terminally, unless stressed, and /aː/ reduces to [a] in the same environment, but tones are preserved in both

Lexicon

Tir'àata Lexicon