Tonuao

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East Asian Cultural Sphere.png

Tonuao is a zonal auxlang[1] intended to be quickly learnable, readily comprehensible, and mutually communicative between persons of the w:East Asian cultural sphere. It uses Chinese characters for much of its writing, with some forms being simplified according to the w:Shinjitai/新字体 standards of Japan. The Japanese syllabary w:Katakana is used for all other sounds. It is not tonal, mostly analytic, SVO, topic-prominent, uses classifiers, is pro-drop, copula-drop, and uses postpositions.

Phonology

Tonuao has 5 vowels and 10 consonants.

Tonuao Consonants
Consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasals m /m/ n /n/
Plosives p /p/ t /t/ k /k/
Fricatives s /s ~ ɕ/ h /h ~ ɦ ~ x/
Liquids l /l ~ ɾ/
Approximants w /w/ y /j/

While there is a great deal of consonantal allophony (see below), every language speaker will experience some sounds as difficult, especially in achieving consistency.


Tonuao Vowels
Vowels
Front Central Back
High i /i ~ ɪ/ u /u ~ ɯ/
Mid e /e ~ e̞/ o /o ~ o̞/
Low a /a ~ ä/

Again, a great deal of tolerance is required when listening to others. Non-Mandarin speakers will have the hardest time being patient with Chinese vowels, but accents are part of being international!

Phonotactics

The three allowable syllable structures are V, CV, Cya, and CVn. There are gaps in all these series, and allophony.


Simple Syllables
ø
a
/a/

e
/e ~ je ~ ə/

i
/i ~ ji/

o
/o ~ wo/

u
/u ~ wu/
p
pa

pe

pi

po

pu
t
ta

te

ti

to

tu
k
ka

ke

ki

ko

ku
m
ma

me

mi

mo

mu
n
na

ne

ni

no

nu
s
sa

se

si
/si ~ ɕi/

so

su
h
ha

he

hi

ho

hu
l
la

le

li

lo

lu
w
wa
/wa ~ ʋa ~ va/
y
ya

yo
/jo ~ joʊ̯/

yu
Hangŭl (for reference)
ø
p
t
k
m
n
s
h
l
w
Y


Complex Syllables
an en in ya
ø アン
an
エン
en
イン
in
p パン
pan
ペン
pen
ピン
pin
ピャ
pya
t タン
tan
テン
ten
チン
tin
チャ
tya
/tja ~ t͡ɕa/
k カン
kan
ケン
ken
m マン
man
メン
men
ミン
min
ミャ
mya
n ナン
nan
ネン
nen
ニン
nin
ニャ
nya
s サン
san
セン
sen
/sen ~ ɕen/
シン
sin
シャ
sya
/sja ~ ɕa/
h ハン
han
ヘン
hen
l ラン
lan
レン
len
リン
lin
リャ
lya
w ワン
wan
y ヤン
yan
Hangŭl (for reference)
an en in ya
ø
p
t ~ 쟈
k
m
n
s
h
l
w
y


The complex syllables of Tonuao are clearly much more limited.

Derivation

Middle Chinese (MC) had much more complex syllables than were possible in any of the language influenced by it. Tonuao tries to be equal to CJKV languages by taking an average derivational position. First, it considers the initial consonant in MC

Correspondences of initial consonants
Middle Chinese Sino-Vietnamese Sino-Korean Sino-Japanese Tonuao
Go-on Kan-on Tōsō-on
Labials 幫 p p > b p/ph ɸ > h ɸ > h ɸ > h p
滂 ph pʰ, b > b/ph/v
並 b b
明 m m > m/v m m b[2] m m
Dentals 端 t t > đ t/th t t t t
透 th tʰ > th
定 d d > đ d
泥 n n n n d[3] n n
來 l l l r r r l
Retroflex nasal 娘 ɳ ny
Retroflex stops 知 tr ʈ > tr c/ch t t s t
徹 trh ʂ > s
澄 dr ɖ > tr d
Dental sibilants 精 ts s > t s s s
清 tsh ɕ > th
從 dz s > t z
心 s s s
邪 z z
俟 ʒ sy
Retroflex sibilants 莊 tsr ʈ > tr c/ch s
初 tsrh ʂ > s
崇 dzr z
生 sr s s
Palatals 章 tsy c > ch c/ch
昌 tsyh tʃ > x
禪 dzy ɕ > th s z
書 sy s
船 zy z
日 ny ɲ > nh z > ∅ n z z ny
以 y y
Velars 見 k k > c/g k/h k k k k
溪 kh kʰ > kh
群 g ɡ > c k g
疑 ng ŋ > ng h g g ø
Laryngeals 影 ʔ ʔ > y
曉 x h h k k h
匣 h ɣ > g/w
None 云 ø ø

Syntax

Like Chinese and Vietnamese (and unlike Japanese and Korean), Tonuao is SVO, subject-verb-object. The subject of an intransitive verb and the actor of transitive verb come before early in the sentence, and the accusative argument must come after the verb. There are no particles to mark subject or object. Tonuao tries to have the verb be second-to-last, comparable but backwards to the Germanic w:V2 word order. Like most Asian languages, Tonuao has two verbs corresponding to European "is", 乃 and 有. The first "to be equal to", the second is "to have" or "to exist". Only 乃 may be dropped, and it usually is.

In the East Asian style, Tonuao is very topic-prominent. The topic is marked with the postposition サ sa, derived from 者 sya. Typically, if present, it will come first in the sentence. The dative argument may be unmarked, if easily discernible from context, but is more often marked with the postposition ユ yu, derived from 于 yu. A genitive relationship is marked with シ si, from 之 si.

Relationship Particle Etymology English Chinese Cantonese Japanese Korean Vietnamese
Topic sa sya as for は wa 은/는 (n)ǔn cái
Dative yu yu to に ni 에게 ege đến
Genitive si si of 的 de 嘅 ge の no 의 ǔi của
Instrumental i i by 用 yòng 用 yung6 で de
Perfective -ed 了 le 咗 jo2 た/だ ta/da 았/었 att/ǒtt đã

Pronouns

Plain Singular Plural
First a
Second
Third
Polite Singular Plural
First no
Second 貴下 kiha
Third


Lexica

  • 東亜語/漢字 - Character list based on the 1800 list of hanja for Koreans and 2136 list of kanji for Japanese

Links

CJKV Auxlang Facebook Group

References

  1. ^ http://conlangery.com/2013/01/14/conlangery-80-zonal-auxlangs/
  2. ^ Yields m- in syllables ending in original -ng.
  3. ^ Yields n- in syllables ending in original -ng