Thesome

Thesome [⁸tʰe.zɔ.mɛ] is a constructed language. It is similiar to Ancient Greek in terms of phonology and Finnish in terms of morphology.

Phonology

Vowels

Phonemes

/a e i o u y/ <a e i o u y>

Allophony

All vowels (except /a/) have a lax counterpart: /e/ - [ɛ], /i/ - [ɪ], /o/ - [ɔ], /u/ - [ʊ] and /y/ - [ʏ]. Lax vowels appear instead of the tense ones

1. always in closed syllables; e.g. emnathon ["ɛm.na.tʰɔn]
2. in the syllable following a stressed vowel; e.g. Thesome["tʰe.zɔ.mɛ]
3. in the last syllable of a word; e.g. deromi ["de.ɾɔ.mɪ]

Word final [ɛ] may be realised as [ə] in fast speech: Thesome /"tʰe.zɔ.mə/

When the penultimate syllable is stressed, the vowel is usually pronounced longer; contrast deromi ["de.ɾɔ.mɪ] with derthi ["dɛ:ɾ.tʰɪ]

Diphthongs

Phonemes

/aɪ eɪ ɔɪ aʊ/ <ai ei eu/oi au>

/ɔɪ/ is written <eu> in the first syllable of a word, <oi> anywhere else; probably a sound change that has occurred in an earlier stage but that has been undone.

Glide Insertion

When another vowel follows a diphthong,

1. in formal speech diphthongs ending in /ɪ/ add a /j/-glide before the next vowel whereas after /aʊ/ a /w/ is added.
2. in colloquial speech diphthongs become (long) monophthongs with a glide onset on the following syllable.

E.g. andromeía: 1. [an.dɾo."meɪ.ja] 2. [an.dɾo."me:.ja] and Sauos: 1. [saʊ.wOs] 2. [sa:.wɔs]

Consonants

Phonemes

Plosives: /p pʰ b t tʰ d k kʰ g/ < p ph b t th d k kh g>

Fricatives: /f s x h/ <f s ch h>

Nasals: /m n/ <m n>

Liquid: /ɾ l/ <r l>

Allophony

The voiced stops /b d/ may be softened to [v ð] between vowels: eudein ["ɔɪ.ðeɪn]

/k kʰ g/ are usually pronounced [c cʰ ɟ] before the vowels /e i y/.

/s/ becomes [z] in the onset cluster sm- (pronounced [zm]) and between vowels: contrast thesomi ["tʰe.zɔ.mɪ] with thesthi ["tʰɛ:s.tʰɪ]

Nasals, if preceding plosives, assimilate to the latter's point of articulation (with the exception of compounds).

Stress

Stress usually falls on the antepenultimate syllable. If stress falls on any other syllable, it is marked with an acute accent (which is placed on the second part of a diphthong). If the penultimate syllable is stressed, it is pronounced longer than usual. E.g. mnathygata [mna."tʰy.ga.ta] mnathygataí [mna.tʰy.ga."taɪ] mnathygatánen [mna.tʰy.ga.ta:.nɛn]

Syllables

Onset

Any single consonant

Plosive + Liquid: pr-, phr-, br-, pl-, phl-, bl- etc.

/f/ or /x/ + Voiceless Plosive (except Bilabials): ft-, fth-, cht-, chth- etc.

/s/ + /m/ or Voiceless Plosive: sm-, sp-, sph-, st- etc.

/p/ or /k/ + /t/: pt-, kt-

/m/ + /n/: mn-

Nucleus

Any vowel or diphthong.

Coda

Except for the word's final syllable, any consonant except /h/ is allowed. Word finally, only /ɾ/, /l/, /n/, /s/ and /t/ are used.

Morphology

Verbal Morphology

Personal Endings

With verbs, Thesome distinguishes four persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd and NC), three tenses and three numbers (Singular, Paucal, Plural).

Persons

• 1st person: the speaker(s): I, we
• 2nd person: the adressee(s): you
• 3rd person: other(s): he, she, they
• NC (Noun Compound): used with nouns

Tenses

• Present: reports things that happen now
• Past: reports things that happened in the past
• Future: reports things that will happen in the future

Numbers

• Singular: denoting singularity
• Paucal: denoting duality or only a part of a previous mentioned group
• Plural: denoting many or all

There are two sets of endings (very similar to each other and in fact only differing greatly in 1&2SG):

Vocalic Endings	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Consonant Endings	Singular	Paucal	Plural
1st	-ein	-esme	-emen	1st	-mi	-sme	-men
2nd	-eis	-esthe	-ethen	2nd	-thi	-sthe	-then
3rd	-eí	-eseí	-eíen	3rd	-eí	-seí	-eíen
NC	-én			NC	-én

Present Tense

Vocalic Endings

Vocalic Endings are simply attached to the verb's stem, e.g. eud- see:

Vocalic Endings	Singular		Paucal		Plural
1st	eudein	I see	eudesme	some of us see	eudemen	we see
2nd	eudeis	you see	eudesthe	some of you see	eudethen	you see
3rd	eudeí	he sees	eudeseí	some of them see	eudeíen	they see
NC	eudén			X see(s)

Consonant Endings

Consonant Endings are attached to the verb's stem; they trigger, however, modifications, depending on the last sound of the verbal stem.

Liquid Stems

Liquid Stems are stems ending in -l, -r, and -s, e.g. lal- speak, der- stay and thes- 'lie.

Consonant Endings	Singular		Paucal		Plural
1st	lalomi	I speak	lasme	some of us speak	lalomen	we speak
2nd	lalthi	you speak	lasthe	some of you speak	lalthen	you speak
3rd	laleí	he speaks	laseí	some of them speak	laleíen	they speak
NC	lalén			X speak(s)

Modifications:

1. They insert a vowel -o- in 1SG and 1PL. (lal-o-mi, der-o-mi, thes-o-mi)
2. They lose their final consonant when appended with the Paucal-endings. (la-sme, de-sme, the-sme).