Tameï

Tameï
lâvõh Tameïchön
Pronunciation	[[ˈlᵞɒwe̙χ tʲæmʲe̘ˈi̘ːɕɤn]]
Created by	Lili21
Date	Dec 2017
Setting	alt-Earth
Ethnicity	Tameï
Native speakers	42,000,000 (2017)
Language family	Isolate Tameï
Official status
Regulated by	Central National Committee of the Tameïan Language (Gõlawunuy Lânnychär′äychon Kömiteta mu Lâvõh Tameïchön - GLKLT)

Tameï ([tʲæmʲe̘ˈi̘ː] or lâvõh Tameïchön [ˈlᵞɒwe̙χ tʲæmʲe̘ˈi̘ːɕɤn]; also Tamei in modern orthography) is a language isolate spoken in the Tameï Islands (hyâmõy Tameïchey [xjɑmɤ͡ɘɨ̯ tʲæmʲe̘ˈi̘ːɕɘ͡ee̝̯]), an independent volcanic archipelago country in the Indian Ocean, along the Ninety East Ridge, about 1000 km WSW of Sumatra and roughly halfway between Sri Lanka and the Australian territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Tameï is Earth's second most spoken language isolate (after Korean), being the native tongue of about 42 million people, mostly in the Tameï Islands but also in countries of the former USSR. Tameï is one of two official languages in the country - the Tameïan People's Socialist Republic (officially Lânny Tameïchey mu Risöpübölika Sachalisütitchesükümü and Социалистическая Республика Тамеиского Народа) as Russian is still official for historical and cultural reasons, despite actual Russian native speakers being only 1% of the Tameï population.

Despite fairly regular contacts with the peoples of Indonesia through centuries, the first major external influence in the Tameï Islands came with the first Western contact in 1559 through a French expedition by Bénoit de Neuilly on the ship L'Orléanaise. Established in 1602 as a French colony, the Tameï islands remained under French rule until 1814, when they were conquered by the British. They remained a British colony until the Communist Revolution of 1934 which saw the Tameï Islands, extremely rich in raw materials, become an important partner of the USSR, a role fulfilled until the dawn of the 21st century, with multi-party elections first being allowed in 1999. Self-defined Tameï people (even if heavily intermixed with other groups) are the majority, forming 57% of the population; there are also substantial Pashtun (21%) and Punjabi (13%) components. Religiously, there is no absolute majority; the largest religion is Sufi Islam, followed by 30% of the population, with atheism or irreligiousness (28%) and more or less syncretic modern forms of Tameï shamanism (24%) also being relevant percentages.

This history, and the varied ethnic composition of the Tameï state (which saw a large influx of West and South Asians during the British period, as well as European communists during the 20th century), are reflected in its language, which has up to 20% of its lexicon of foreign origin, with early loans from French (borrowed early enough to have underwent Tameï vowel shifts), then from English, Persian, Pashto (the latter two especially in more colloquial registers), and more recently from Russian and Japanese (the latter because of heavy Japanese cultural influence since the end of the Communist era). Tameï was first written under French rule in a French-derived spelling which did not consistently represent all the sounds of the language; however, its modern, Latin spelling, was only created after the Revolution of 1934. Today's Tameï orthography is not completely phonemic, and has a few etymological spellings; some words (mostly French and Russian proper names) keep the original spelling (transliterated in the case of Russian), but pronounced as a Tameï word, like the city of Stalinahâly, is [ˈtʲælʲinæˌχɑj].

Tameï is a mostly agglutinating language, with complex inflected verbs but light nominal morphology (mostly consisting of highly irregular pluralization patterns). On the phonetic side, it has a system of vowel harmony which deeply characterizes the language and is also extended to loanwords: Tameï has, therefore, a complex vowel inventory with 10 monophthongs and at least 18 or 19 diphthongs. Together with Damin, one of only two non-African languages using click consonants.

Phonology

The Tameï Islands

Modern Standard Tameï (lâvõh tameïchön âbõrâsowuy, based on the dialect of the capital, Namihlewchany, in central-southern Mimbachugih island) has a phonemic inventory of 10 monophthongs, 18 or 19 diphthongs, and 29 or 30 consonants (including 8 clicks).

Vowels

	+ATR	–ATR
u-class	ü /u̘/ [u̘~ʉ̘]	u /u̙/ [ɯ̙~ʊ̙~o̝̙]
i-class	i /i̘/ [i̘]	õ /i̙/ [ɪ̙~e̝̙]
o-class	ö /o̘/ [ɤ̘~o̘~ɵ̘]	o /o̙/ [ɔ̙]
e-class	e /e̘/ [e̘]	ä /e̙/ [ɛ̙]
a-class	a /a̘/ [a̘~æ̘]	â /a̙/ [ɑ̙~ɒ̙]

Consonants

→ PoA ↓ Manner		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasals		m m		n n	ny ɲ
Plosives	Voiceless	p p	t t			(k k)1	′ Ɂ
	Voiced	b b2	d d2			g ɡ
Clicks	Plain	p′ ʘ	t′ ǀ	r′ ǃ	c′ ǂ
	Nasalized	mp′ ʘ̃	nt′ ǀ̃	nr′ ǃ̃	nc′ ǂ̃
Affricates				thl tɬ
Fricatives	Central	f ɸ	th θ	s~c s	ch ɕ	h x~χ~h
	Lateral			ł ɬ
Approximants	Central			r ɹ	y~ly j	w w
	Lateral			l l	(ly ʎ3)

Table notes:

1. In Russian or Japanese loans only. Speakers outside the main metropolitan areas (southern Mimbachugih, the west coast of Sainte-Lucie, and the metro areas of Nouvelle-Constantinople, L'Orléanaise, and La Pléiade) mostly merge it with /x/.
2. Implosive in most inner-central islands (Mimbachugih, Sainte-Lucie, Rany, Minnychaly, Milyheyma, Âgõymbâchä).
3. Merged with /j/ in all islands but the outermost ones (New Paphlagonia, New Bithynia, Saint-Étienne, and the Bâtõnhâmu group) and the central mountains of Chülünyah.

Orthography

Tameï is written in an extended Latin alphabet, which uses diacritics and digraphs to distinguish different consonants.

The Tameï Latin script order, almost uniquely among Latin alphabets, is based on the Cyrillic script order first used in the 1884 Neykachūnī orthography, with diacritic forms coming after the diacriticless ones and additional letters stacked at the end. ′, which represents the /Ɂ/ phoneme, has no uppercase form. All digraphs except for the two diphthongs 〈ey ow〉are considered distinct letters, as are all letters with diacritics. The Tameï alphabetic order is A Ä Â B W G Ǥ D Đ E Z I Ī Y Yh K L Ł M N Ny O P P′ R R′ S X Ӿ T T′ Ŧ Ŧ′ U Ū F H C C′ Ch Q ′ Λ (J V). The "foreign" letters J V (pronounced as /ɕ/ (or /j/), /f/) are only used in words of foreign origin whose spelling is kept - this often means given names or toponyms (e.g. La Joyeuse [laɕuwaˈjuz] (less commonly also [laɕaˈjuz]), Port Vieux [pɔɹuˈfju]). Some words that keep foreign spellings may have silent letters (Soviet [ˈsɔfje]; Stalin [ˈtalin] (both also used as given names among Tameïs)) or unwritten epenthetic vowels (Abdul- [abudul-]; Grâce [guˈɹas]).
The word Tameï is usually written with a diaeresis as a relic of the original French-based orthography, but colloquially it is also written as Tamei as in all other cases of [eˈ(j)i] in modern Tameï.

The Tameï orthography is defective, as it does not represent stress, which is unpredictable and phonemic (even though with a limited functional load).

Morphology

Nouns

Gender

Tameï has three grammatical genders (chiâ, pl. chigūz): masculine, feminine, and neuter. In most cases, they can be predicted based on the ending of the noun:

• The masculine class (p′ūkiŧow chiâ) includes most nouns ending in consonants (except -x and -z), including in -ey and -ow;
• The feminine class (ninyaŧow chiâ) includes all nouns ending in -i and -e (excluding the -wałe deverbal suffix, which is neuter), and most -ū and -a ones (incl. all Russian borrowings in -a).
• The neuter class (đalūnaŧow chiâ) includes all nouns ending in -u and -o, all those nouns ending in -x and -z, and many -a ones.

There is no general pattern, not even semantic, for which -a nouns are feminine and which ones are neuter: for example among geographical features neyna "island" and r′ulka "beach" are feminine, while łäna "stream" is neuter, while among body parts kilka "foot" is neuter and nʌmisa "leg" is feminine. Furthermore, deadjectival nouns from adjectives in -a are usually masculine (e.g. täzifeyza "red hue").

Some prescriptivists try to match Russian borrowings to their Russian gender, resulting thus in e.g. rubuli "ruble" being masculine (while in Tameï it is usually feminine). With this particular word it is notable, as Tameï banknotes until the 2000 series used the prescriptivist masculine form (tamei rubuli), while since the 2000 series the more natural feminine form (tameiyâ rubuli), which has always been used colloquially, is printed on them.

A notable feature of Tameï classes is that they almost never correlate with natural gender: as such the word p′ūki "man" is feminine, while niny "woman" is masculine (as is đalūn "stone", which is the root đalūnaŧe "neuter" is built on).

Plural nominative

The plural nominative is, for many nouns, a principal part, because various, as of today still unclear, sound changes in the past have led many native root nouns to have extremely irregular forms.

The easiest plural nominative form is the -emi suffix, used by virtually all loanwords, no matter what their origin is. It is written -ëmi after a vowel which is not -i, -ī, or -e; the original vowel is, however, unpronounced.

meydan (square) → meydanemi (squares)

owhani (bread; flatbread) → owhaniemi ((pieces of) flatbread)

riwalucia (revolution) → riwaluciaëmi [-tɕi(j)emi] (revolutions)

xuturaitelixutuwo (construction site) → xuturaitelixutuwoëmi [-wemi] (construction sites)

Some words of foreign, especially French, origin, are invariable, as for example all month and weekday names. The word tawarich (comrade) uses the Russian plural tawarichi when used as a vocative, and tawarichemi otherwise.
Rubuli "ruble" (also the name of the Tameï currency) always has the plural rubuley, taken from the Russian genitive plural.

The -emi suffix is, for native words, used for many -i and -u nouns, in the latter case usually forming -wemi:

kʌrami (head) → kʌramiemi (heads; but also kʌramimi)

beyđi (knot) → beyđiemi (knots)

lâneychär′u (nation) → lâneychär′wemi (nations)

Other regular patterns are -eyä → -eymi (meyʌhäht′eyä "people" → meyʌhäht′eymi "peoples") and, for the derivational suffix -wałe, -weyłi (deydiwałe "birth" → deydiweyłi "births").

-ney and -ni often pluralize to -nny [-ɲː], sometimes with vowel changes:

taney (song) → tenny (songs)

towni (eye) → tanny (eyes (not to be confused with the above))

lâney (person) → lânny (people; but the singular is also often used with a plural meaning)

rânychani (coconut palm) → rânychanny (coconut palms)

Other -ey nouns typically pluralize to -eywe (much like adjectives):

yâłey (train) → yâleywe (trains)

c′owey (bird) → c′oweywe (birds)

qâchey (tuna fish) → qâcheywe (tuna fishes)

-na, if preceded by a front vowel or -ey, usually becomes -ny [ɲ] in the plural. This is also true with some foreign roots:

neyna (island) → neyny (islands)

łäna (stream) → łäny (streams)

nânyarugencina (Argentinian) → nânyarugenciny (Argentinians)

A few -a nouns (all feminine) have their plural in -â (with a stress shift):

nʌmisa /ˈnʌmiθa/ (leg) → nʌmisâ /nʌmiˈθa/ (legs)

ӿuda /ˈxuða/ (fingernail) → ӿudâ /xuˈða/ (fingernails)

mp′ilena /ʘ̃iˈlena/ (road) → mp′ilenâ /ʘ̃ileˈna/ (roads)

Some -CCV nouns undergo cluster breaking, often with not quite predictable results:

nr′ownu (time, year) → nr′aluny (times, years)

mämbä (language) → mämeybi (languages)

r′ulka (beach) → r′uleychi (beaches)

Others are synchronically irregular:

nyuta (day) → nyich (days)

niny (woman) → nayim (women)

kilka (foot) → kiwchiny (foot)

p′ūki (man) → p′ūx (men)

Some nouns (mostly neuter, but a few masculine ones as well) pluralize with -ūz, with or without any other change:

kamo (leaf) → kamūz (leaves)

đalūn (pebble) → đownūz (pebbles)

chiâ (category, group, class) → chigūz (categories, groups, classes)

Some adjectival roots pluralize as adjectives do:

nânytamei(yâ) (Tameï) → nânytameinywe (Tameïs)

nânyexulamur(â) (Muslim) → nânyexulamurye (Muslims)

täzifeyza (red hue) → täzifeyziwe (red hues)

Adjectives

Tameï adjectives are much less inflected than nouns. They distinguish the three genders in the singular, only two in the plural (masculine-feminine vs. neuter), and for case they only inflect for nominative vs. oblique. In the oblique, there is only one form for the singular and one for the masculine-feminine plural, and the neuter plural is the same as in the nominative. There are four different patterns depending on the adjective's ending in the masculine singular nominative: one for those which end in consonants (incl. -ey and -ow), one for those in front vowels or -a (but not -i), one for those in back vowels, and one for those in -i (but not -ī).

	Pattern 1 (consonants) exulamur (Islamic)					Pattern 2 (front vowels or -a) feyza (red)
	Singular			Plural		Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masc. & Fem.	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masc. & Fem.	Neuter
Nominative	exulamur	exulamurâ	exulamurow	exulamurye	exulamurâna	feyza	feyzeâ	feyzow	feyziwe	feyzâna
Oblique	exulamurūn			exulamurīnya		feyzūn			feyzīnya

	Pattern 3 (back vowels) bozorugu (saint)					Pattern 4 (-i) tamei (Tameï)
	Singular			Plural		Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masc. & Fem.	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masc. & Fem.	Neuter
Nominative	bozorugu	bozoruguwâ	bozorugunu	bozorugunywe	bozorugowna	tamei	tameiyâ	tameiyow	tameinywe	tameinyân
Oblique	bozorugūn			bozorugunya		tameiyūn			tameinya

The mâ genitive particle does not require the oblique form if it appears before the adjective (thus after a noun), but, if the adjective is the first word in the sentence, mâ can't be placed before it and the adjective needs to be in oblique form, e.g.:

kūlūnyäp′ämīnya tameinya mâ neyny purawitelixutuwo "Colonial-era Tameï Islands' government"

purawitelixutuwo mâ kūlūnyäp′ämiwe mâ tameinywe mâ neyny "government of the colonial-era Tameï Islands"

Numerals

Tameï has a base 10 numeral system with a moderate complexity given by the fact that, due to historical changes, most of the individual numbers between 1 and 100 are irregular - there are some patterns but also many numbers with unexpected forms.

0-9

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
0	xīrū	[siˈɹu]
1	ney	[ne̞ɪ̯]
2	bud	[buð]
3	nt′az	[ǀ̃az]
4	sâch	[θa(ː)ɕ]
5	mʌch	[mʌɕ]
6	nūny	[nuɲ]
7	ǥâx	[ɢa(ː)s]
8	łowny	[ɬo̞ʊ̯ɲ]
9	kaŧīkä	[ˈkatɬikɛ]

10-19

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
10	nyäwī	[ˈɲɛwi]
11	nyine	[ˈɲine]
12	nyäfu	[ˈɲɛɸu]
13	nyänt′	[ˈɲɛǀ̃]
14	nisâch	[niˈθa(ː)ɕ]
15	imʌch	[iˈmʌɕ]
16	nnyūny	[niˈɲuɲ] or [ɲːuɲ]
17	nyäǥâx	[ˈɲɛɢa(ː)s]
18	nyūłany	[ˈɲuɬaɲ]
19	nayefunyä	[najeɸuˈɲɛ]

20-29

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
20	bunyä	[buˈɲɛ]
21	bunny	[buɲː]
22	bunyfow	[ˈbuɲɸoʊ̯]
23	bunt′az	[ˈbuǀ̃az]
24	bunyda	[ˈbuɲða]
25	beymʌ	[ˈbeɪ̯mʌ]
26	bunnyū	[ˈbuɲːu]
27	beyǥu	[ˈbeɪ̯ɢu]
28	bunyłany	[ˈbuɲɬaɲ]
29	nayennyt′e	[najeɲːˈǀ̃e]

30-39

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
30	nt′âny	[ǀ̃a(ː)ɲ]
31	nt′ânney	[ˈǀ̃anneɪ̯]
32	nt′owd	[ǀ̃oʊ̯ð]
33	nt′ânt′	[ǀ̃aǀ̃]
34	nt′âda	[ˈǀ̃aða]
35	nt′âm	[ǀ̃am]
36	nt′owny	[ǀ̃oʊ̯ɲ]
37	nt′âǥu	[ˈǀ̃aɢu]
38	nt′azany	[ǀ̃aˈzaɲ]
39	neynyäd	[neɪ̯ˈɲɛð]

40-49

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
40	sânyä	[ˈθaɲɛ]
41	sâchiny	[ˈθaɕiɲ]
42	sâfow	[ˈθaɸoʊ̯]
43	sâchint′	[ˈθaɕiǀ̃]
44	sâda	[ˈθaða]
45	sâm	[θam]
46	sâchinū	[ˈθaɕinu]
47	sâǥu	[ˈθaɢu]
48	sâchow	[ˈθaɕoʊ̯]
49	nayenyʌch	[najeˈɲʌɕ]

50-59

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
50	mʌnyä	[mʌˈɲɛ]
51	mʌnny	[mʌɲː]
52	mʌnyfow	[ˈmʌɲɸoʊ̯]
53	mʌnt′az	[ˈmʌǀ̃az]
54	mʌnyda	[ˈmʌɲða]
55	mʌmʌ	[ˈmʌmʌ]
56	mʌnyū	[ˈmʌɲu]
57	mʌnyǥu	[ˈmʌɲɢu]
58	mʌnyłany	[ˈmʌɲɬaɲ]
59	nayennyūnye	[najeˈɲːuɲe]

60-69

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
60	nūnnyä	[nuˈɲːɛ]
61	nūney	[nuˈneɪ̯]
62	nūnyfu	[ˈnuɲɸu]
63	nūnt′az	[ˈnuǀ̃az]
64	nūnyda	[ˈnuɲða]
65	neymʌ	[neɪ̯ˈmʌ]
66	nūnnyū	[ˈnuɲːu]
67	neyǥu	[ˈneɪ̯ɢu]
68	nūnyłany	[ˈnuɲɬaɲ]
69	nayeq	[naˈjeq]

70-79

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
70	ǥânyä	[ˈɢaɲɛ]
71	ǥânny	[ɢaɲː]
72	ǥânyfow	[ˈɢaɲɸoʊ̯]
73	ǥânt′az	[ˈɢaǀ̃az]
74	ǥânyda	[ˈɢaɲða]
75	ǥâmʌ	[ɢaˈmʌ]
76	ǥânyū	[ˈɢaɲu]
77	ǥânyǥu	[ˈɢaɲɢu]
78	ǥânyłany	[ˈɢaɲɬaɲ]
79	nayenyłow	[ˈnajeɲɬoʊ̯]

80-89

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
80	łownyä	[ˈɬoʊ̯ɲɛ]
81	łanny	[ɬaɲː]
82	łanyfow	[ɬaɲˈɸoʊ̯]
83	łownt′	[ɬoʊ̯ǀ̃]
84	łowda	[ˈɬoʊ̯ða]
85	łowmʌ	[ɬoʊ̯ˈmʌ]
86	łannyū	[ɬaˈɲːu]
87	łanyǥu	[ˈɬaɲɢu]
88	łowłany	[ɬoʊ̯ˈɬaɲ]
89	nayenykaŧū	[najeɲˈkatɬu]

90-100

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
90	kaŧīnyä	[ˈkatɬiɲɛ]
91	kaŧīnny	[ˈkatɬiɲː]
92	kaŧīfu	[ˈkatɬiɸu]
93	kaŧīnt′	[ˈkatɬiǀ̃]
94	kaŧīda	[ˈkatɬiða]
95	kaŧīmʌ	[ˈkatɬimʌ]
96	kaŧīnyū	[ˈkatɬiɲu]
97	kaŧīq	[ˈkatɬiq]
98	kaŧīłany	[ˈkatɬiɬaɲ]
99	powyha	[ˈpoʊ̯ça]
100	yhʌd	[ˈçʌð]

Numbers above 100 are easily formed with u, e.g. 101 yhʌd u ney, 102 yhʌd u bud, and so on. Upper hundreds are compounds:

200 – buyhʌd

300 – nt′azʌd

400 – sachʌd

500 – mʌchʌd

600 – nūyhʌd

700 – ǥâcʌd

800 – ławayhʌd

900 – kaŧīyhʌd

1000 is yâz, and numbers above it are simple juxtapositions (e.g. 4829 sâch yâz ławayhʌd u nayennyt′e). Even higher numerals are French loans: 1.000.000 is meleyâ and 1.000.000.000 is meleyʌđu.

Vocabulary

Days and months

Both days of the week and months of the year used in Tameï are clear French borrowings, but they do show the usual vocalic changes that happened in Tameï since they were borrowed:

Day	Name	Shortening	Pronunciation
Monday	lâđe	lâ	[la(ː)ˈde]
Tuesday	mowđe	mo	[mo̞ʊ̯ˈde]
Wednesday	mīkurīđe	mī	[mikuɹiˈde]
Thursday	chuđe	ch	[ɕuˈde]
Friday	fâdurīđe	fâ	[ɸa(ː)duɹiˈde]
Saturday	xâđe	xâ	[sa(ː)ˈde]
Sunday	đemʌch	de	[deˈmʌɕ]

Month	Name	Shortening	Pronunciation
January	châfī	châ	[ɕa(ː)ˈfi]
February	fīūrei	fīū	[fi.uɹeˈi]
March	mowxu	mow	[ˈmo̞ʊ̯su]
April	afurel	afu	[aɸuˈɹel]
May	mī	mī	[ˈmi]
June	chuwä	chu	[ɕuˈwɛ]
July	chīlī	chī	[ɕiˈli]
August	otu	otu	[ˈotu]
September	xīputâbu	xīp	[sipuˈta(ː)bu]
October	ūkutūbu	ūku	[ukuˈtubu]
November	nūfâbu	nūf	[nuˈɸa(ː)bu]
December	đīxâbu	đīx	[diˈsa(ː)bu]

Public holidays

There are 13 festivities for a total of 15 days of public holidays currently observed in the Tameï Islands. Even if five of these days are religious festivities, they are officially mandated by law and observed regardless of one's own religion:

• January 1 — New Year's Day (nyuta mâ peyniow mâ nr′owna)
• January 7 — Orthodox Christmas (purawoxulaweyurâ Nūīla)
• March 12 — Day of the February Revolution (nyuta mâ Riwalucia mâ fīūrei)
• April 22 — Birthday of Vladimir Lenin (nyuta mâ deydiwałe mâ Vladimir Lenin [- ulaˈdimiɹu ˈljenin])
• May 1-2 — Day of the International (nyuta mâ Etīrunazyūnal)
• May 9 — Victory Day (nyuta mâ Pabiyeda)
• June 28 — Day of the Tameïan Revolution of 1934 (nyuta mâ tameinywâ mâ Riwalucia mâ yâz kaŧīyhʌd nt′âdahählä mâ nr′owna)
• August 4 — Birthday of Līley Grâce Châmenychūmp′ (Founder of the Tameïan Communist Party, leader of the Revolution of 1934, and first president of the Tameïan People's Socialist Republic) (nyuta mâ deydiwałe mâ Līley Grâce Châmenychūmp′)
• November 7-8 — Day of the October Revolution (nyuta mâ Riwalucia mâ ūkutūbu)
• December 25 — Catholic Christmas (katūlikurâ Nūīla)
• variable dates — Eid al-Fitr (Eyđalufituru), Eid al-Adha (Eyđalada), Easter Sunday (đemʌch mâ Pʌkusu)

Given names

Tameï given names are of four main origins: native Tameï ones, French names, Islamic names, and Communist names. Especially the latter category has been expanding massively throughout the 20th century and, despite the end of the communist regime in the Tameï Islands, Communist names are still popular for newborns. The syncretism of sources has led Tameïs to have names which may sound weird in other parts of the world, such as Abdullenin or children having Iosif Stalin as middle names.
Tameïs usually have from one to four names; Grâce (written as in French but pronounced [guˈɹas]) is particularly common both for boys and girls, and it is estimated that about half of all Tameïs have it as a second name.

Common names include:

• Boys' names: Abdulkommunizumu, Abdullenin, Abdulmarx [-ˈmaɹukusu], Abdulstalin, Bīnʌ (< Bénoit), Chlʌǥī′ey, Furâxʌ (< François), Grâce, Heykä, Ītīn (< Étienne) Komsomoletsu, Lelyä (< Lilian), Līley, Lui (< Louis) P′alkey, Soviet, (Iosif) Stalin, Tsetun, Ŧ′īkaney
• Girls' names: Akīnä, Amatulkommunizumu, Amatullenin, Amatulmarx, Amatulstalin, Chlūī (< Chloë), Furâxʌz(ī) (< Françoise), Grâce, Lelyan(ī) (< Liliane), Mowten(ī) (< Martine)