Tsa'in

Phonology

Initials

p	t				k
	s	ʃ	ɬ
	ts	tʃ	tɬ
m	n				ŋ
	ɹ	j	l	w	ɫ

"Zero" initials are not allowed. Foreign borrowings usually take /j/ or /w/ initials, depending on the vowel.

Vowels

There are nine vowels, laid out in a fairly unusual "X" shape instead of the more familiar "V" shape.

i				u
	ɪ		ʊ
		ə
	ɛ͕		ʌ͔
æ				ɑ

The above vowels may be short or long.

The following diphthongs are considered long vowels.

ɪj				ʊw
	əj		əw
	ɛ͕w		ʌ͔j
æw				ɑj

"Zero" vowels are not allowed.

Finals

p b	t d	k g
m	n	ŋ
mb	nd	ŋg
	l	ɫ
	ld	ɫg

"Zero" finals are completely allowed, and are about as common as any non-zero final.

Phonation

A syllable may be perfect (plain), broken (glottalized), or heavy (faucalized).

"Perfect"

Perfect syllables have glottal tension of zero (voiceless) for the onset, of three (fully voiced) on the peak, and either zero or three on the coda (if present).

"Broken"

Broken syllables have an underlying glottal tension of 7 (fully closed) inserted in one of two places:

• Before short or long vowels
  • Initial stop, affricate or fricative becomes ejective
  • Other initial has /ʔ/ pronounced before it
• In the middle of a long vowel
  • /ɑː/ > /ɑʔɑ/ (and likewise)
  • /ɑj/ > /ɑʔi/ (and likewise)

Brokenness is marked with an apostrophe, placed either before the vowel letter, or between the two vowel letters.

"Heavy"

Heavy syllables are pronounced with faucal voice (that is, with overall expansion of the larynx, also known as hollow or yawny voice). It is marked with an h immediately after the vowel.

Orthography

Identical to IPA with the following exceptions

IPA

æ

ɑ

ɛ͕

ʌ͔

ə

ɪ

ʊ

ɬ

ɫ

ŋ

ɫg

ŋg

ʃ

Written

á

a

e

ǎ

ě

ǐ

ǔ

lh

ll

ñ

lg

ng

x

Non-diphthongal long vowels are written as doubled vowels. As the first or last phonemes in a word, /w/ and /j/ are written w and y respectively; otherwise they are written u and i respectively. For example /tɬɛ͕w/ is written tlhew, but /tɬɛ͕wg/ is written tlheug. For another notable example, /ʃiː/ is written xiy vs /ʃiːb/ xiib.

Spacing

Every morpheme is a single syllable. Morphemes that directly modify or are modified by a morpheme directly before or after it is written without an intervening space, essentially forming a single word in the written language.

Morphology

ZOMG NONE!

Syntax

Word Order

Word order is strictly VSO, Head-Modifier. Apparent exceptions to this rule may all be explained by hand-waving. For instance, (copular) Adjective-head NPs are in fact VS-ordered VPs, with the adjective being "underlyingly" an essive verb.

Nouns

Possession

The usual order is Noun-Possessor. Possessor-Noun constructions are possible, using auxilliaries. For instance naʼig yutkěn, literally house famer means (the) farmer's house, as does ye yutkěn kʼáá naʼig (literally (the) house in reference to (the) farmer). Yutkěnpǐ naʼig is a purely derivational way to express the same constituent order, using the motion pro-verb pǐ.

Adjectives

Adjective-Modifiers are normal modifiers: xiib kěy, literally stone big, is (the) big stone.

Adjective-Heads are used for copular purposes: kěy xiib is (the) stone is big.