Tanemantin

Tanemantin is one of the Ke:tic languages and a descendent of the classical language Sarim.

Phonology

Tanemantin distinguishes between 16 consonant phonemes

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/Affricate	p /pʰ/ b /p/	t /tʰ/ d /t/		j /ʨ/	k /kʰ/ g/k/
Fricative	f /f/	th /θ/	s /s/	x /ɕ/		h /h/
Nasal	m /m/		n /n/
Liquid	w /w/		r /ɾ/ l /l/	y /j/

The ten vowel phonemes are a e i u ā ē ī ū ai au /a e i u a: e: i: u: aj aw/. Vowel length is phonemic, and length alteration a fairly important part of Tanemantin morphology. /aj aw/ are considered to be long vowels, and their corresponding short forms /i u/.

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.

Syllable Structure

Tanemantin has a (C)V(C) syllable structure. The vowel is the only compulsory element of a syllable, and CC clusters only occur word-internally. Most potential clusters are attested in the language except for fricative-fricative clusters, which simplified to single fricatives at an earlier stage (in the native orthography fricative-fricative clusters still appear, e.g. axu the Moon is written ath.xu from Sarim *ɛtsɛxu ); clusters including one of /j w/ (which presumably simplified before the modern orthography was set, e.g. danē yam from Sarim *θanwɛŋ; and clusters of stop+fricative, as attested in the lative case, e.g. yad all. singular yadi, all. plural yadithi . Word finally, only m t d n s th r l h' occur.

Morpho-phonological Processes

Although the number of Tanemantin coda consonants is limited, Tanemantin roots can end in any consonant or cluster of two consonants, for example mug- sea, mart- cut. In the absolutive singular and construct state of verbs, roots such as these undergo changes to make them meet Tanemantin's phonological criteria. For stems ending in a single consonant:

-k g x all become h. So mug- has the absolutive singular form muh -p b j w y are lost, with any preceding short vowel lengthened.

For roots ending in two consonants, the following rules apply:

- the second consonant of the cluster is deleted. - if the resulting single consonant is not a permitted coda consonant, it undergoes the same changes as for single consonants given above.

Nominal Morphology

Tanemantin is a largely fusional language - inflexional morphemes can carry more than one meaning. Tanemantin nouns are declined for six cases: Absolutive, Lative, Locative, Ablative, Partitive and Ergative, aswell as singular and plural numbers. There are six noun declensions in Tanemantin, based on the final sound of the root: The first consists roots ending in a consonant other than s, the second of roots ending in a or e the third in i, the fourth in u, the fifth declension is for nouns ending in a long vowel or diphthong and monosyllabic words ending in a vowel, and the sixth for roots ending in s.

First Declension

yad - farmer, sarn - village

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	yad	yadi	sar	sarni
Lative	yadi	yadithi	sarni	sarnithi
Locative	yada	yadī	sarna	sarnī
Ablative	yadum	yadin	sarnum	sarnin
Partitive	yadnu	yadinu	sarnanu	sarninu
Ergative	yadas	yadī	sarnas	sarnī

Second Declension

hathra - woman; nawe - language

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	hathra	hathri	nawe	nawi
Lative	hathrathi	hathrithi	nawethi	nawithi
Locative	hathrā	hathrī	nawē	nawī
Ablative	hathram	hathrin	nawem	nawin
Partitive	hathranu	hathrinu	nawenu	nawinu
Ergative	hathras	hathrī	nawes	nawī

Third Declension

ari - man

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	ari	arī
Lative	arithi	arīthi
Locative	arī	ariyā
Ablative	arim	ariyam
Partitive	arinu	arīnu
Ergative	arī	ariyas

Fourth Declension

nasu - son, child

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	nasu	nasī
Lative	nasuthi	nasīthi
Locative	nasū	nasū
Ablative	nasum	nasuyam
Partitive	nasunu	nasīnu
Ergative	nasus	nasuyas

Fifth Declension

kansau - port; ge - rice

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	kansau	kansauya	ge	geya
Lative	kansauthi	kansauyathi	gethi	geyathi
Locative	kansau	kansauyā	ge	geyā
Ablative	kansum	kansuyam	geyam	geyam
Partitive	kansaunu	kansauyanu	genu	geyanu
Ergative	kansus	kansauyas	geyas	geyas

Sixth Declension

mas - house

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	mas	mahi
Lative	masi	mahithi
Locative	masa	mahī
Ablative	masum	mahin
Partitive	masnu	mahinu
Ergative	mas	mahī