Anbirese

Thumaca (ṭhumaca /ʈʰumaka/) is a minority Tigolic language, inspired by Hindi and Romani. It is notable for its relatively conservative verb system.

Phonology

Consonants

• c g ch ng /k g kʰ ŋ/
• ṭ ḍ ṭh ṇ /ʈ ɖ ʈʰ ɳ/
• t d th n /t d tʰ n/
• p b ph m /p b pʰ m/
• f fh s sh (ṣ) (ś) h /f fʰ s sʰ ʂ ɕ h/
• r l y /r l j/

Vowels

i ı u ė e a o /i ɨ u e ə a o/

Morphology

Mutations

Thumaca has no mutation; instead, former feminine nouns often begin in an aspirated consonant. (cf. Eevo, where former feminine nouns begin in different consonants than former masculine nouns.)

Nouns

Nouns only have two states (absolute and construct) and two numbers (singular and plural). The usual affixes are:

• plural absolute: -(e)r
• singular construct: -(e)th
• plural construct: -(e)ph

e.g. cıṭher 'flower', cıṭhrer 'flowers'; chıfṇa 'woman', chıfṇar 'women'.

Verbs

Tumacan verbs have two tenses (nonpast and past) and two aspects (imperfective and perfective). The imperfective-perfective distinction is characterized by allomorphy inherited from Old Eevo. As in Slavic languages, the perfective form is often derived by adding a prefix, which causes the verb to take the conjunct form. Most Tumacan verbs thus have two principal parts: imperfective and perfective.

An example of the aspect allomorphy:

• 'to tell': imperfective bongi, perfective simngi
• 'to eat': imperfective cay, perfective ingcı

The old subject/TAM suffixes have been lost and tense is marked by prefixes.