Tanemantin

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	p /p/	t /t/ d /d/		ch /c/	c /k/ g /g/
Fricative	f /ɸ/	th /θ/	s /s/			h /h/
Nasal	m /m/		n /n/	ny /ɲ/
Liquid	w /w/	l /l/	r /ɾ/	y /j/

There are four vowel phonemes /i e a o/. Length is phonemic, and long vowels are distinguished with macrons. There are also three diphthongs, all falling: /ai ei oi/.

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 (C)V(m n s) syllable structure, with the caveat that /h/ does not occur following a coda consonant.

Allophony

- /n m/ are not distinguished before another consonant, but are realised as a nasal at the same point of articulation as the following consonant, e.g. /imne/ [ɪn.ne]; /ankas/ [ɐŋkɐs].

- Voicing is progressive, so that a cluster like /sd/ is realised as [st].

- The short vowels /a e i o/ tend to be realised as [ɐ ɛ ɪ ɒ] in closed syllables.

- The long vowels /a: e: i: o:/ have a tendency to develop a schwa-like glide: [aə eə iə oə].

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	kansauyam	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

Personal Pronouns

Tanemantin has the usual run of first, second, and third person pronouns in singular and plural. It also has an obviate "fourth person" pronoun, which is not declined for number. Unlike nouns, Tanemantin pronouns have a distinct genitive case in addition to the normal six cases, and for the first and second person pronouns the ergative, not the absolutive, is the base form of the pronoun.

First Person:

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	nan	nagan
Lative	nethī	negī
Locative	nā	nagā
Ablative	nam	nagum
Partitive	nānu	naganu
Ergative	nā	naga
Genitive	nar	nagā

Second Person:

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	lī	ligan
Lative	lithī	ligī
Locative	lī	ligā
Ablative	liyum	ligum
Partitive	līnu	liganu
Ergative	li	liga
Genitive	lir	ligā

Third Person:

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	un	ini
Lative	unī	inithī
Locative	una	inī
Ablative	unum	inim
Partitive	uneu	iniu
Ergative	us	inī
Genitive	una	inī

Fourth Person (Obviate):

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	thi
Lative	thī
Locative	thī
Ablative	thiyum
Partitive	thinu
Ergative	thī
Genitive	thī