Shum

Shum
śùm lhau
Created by	IlL, Praimhín
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Language family	Hlou-Ku Shum

Shumian (native name śùm lhau) is a Hlou-Ku language inspired by Marathi, Hmong and one of IlL's old sketches, Reber Wiebian.

Phonology

Initials

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Retroflex Lateral	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Voiceless stop	p /p/		t /t̪/		ṭ /ʈ/	ṭḷ /ʈᶩ/	c /c/	k /k/
Aspirated stop	ph /pʰ/		th /t̪ʰ/		ṭh /ʈʰ/	ṭḷh /ʈᶩʰ/	ch /cʰ/	kh /kʰ/
Voiced stop	b /b/		d /d̪/		ḍ /ɖ/	ḍḷ /ɖᶩ/	j /ɟ/	g /ɡ/
Murmured stop	bh /bʰ/		dh /d̪ʰ/		ḍh /ɖʰ/	ḍḷh /ɖᶩʰ/	jh /ɟʰ/	gh /ɡʰ/
Nasal	m /m/		n /n̪/		ṇ /ɳ/	ṇḷ /ɳᶩ/	ñ /ɲ/
Murmured nasal	mh /mʰ/		nh /n̪ʰ/		ṇh /ɳʰ/	ṇḷh /ɳᶩʰ/	ñh /ɲʰ/
Fricative			s /s/		ṣ /ʂ/		ś /ç~ɕ/		h /h/
Approximant		v /ʋ/		l /l/		ḷ /ɺ̢/	y /j/
Murmured approximant		vh /ʋʰ/		lh /lʰ/		ḷh /ɺ̢ʰ/
Trill				r /r/

Rimes

• aʔ iʔ uʔ ahᵃ ihⁱ uhᵘ with mid (33) and low (22) tones (spelled a i u ah ih uh)
• a: e: i: o: u: ai au am~ã: im~ĩ: um~ũ: with mid (33), low (21), rising (25), falling (41), dipping (313 with creaky voice on the 1), and high dipping tone (434) tones (spelled ā e ī o ū ai au am im um)

Tones

Tone	Mid	Low	Rising	Falling	Dipping	High dipping
Spelling	a	à	á	â	ä	ǎ

Registers

There are two main registers of Shumian, traditionally called White (Bhā́) and Green (Ḍḷàḥ). The main difference is that White Shumian uses lots of loans from Rhythoed.

Morphology

Shumian is completely isolating and head-initial.

• ṇā̀ (I), mhäi (boat) ⇒ mhäi ṇā̀ (my boat)
• rúm (eye), be (water) ⇒ be rúm (tears)

Pronouns

Shumian pronouns are based on rank, not person or gender. (ṇā̀ is used only in textbooks)

Numbers

Number	Shumian
0	dó
1	lê
2	bhàḥ
3	vûṁ
4	pai
5	śaṁ
6	śū̂
7	nhai
8	rìṁ
9	lhiḥ
10	kū
11	nā̌
12	ū
144	vī̈
1728	dhâu

Syntax

Word order is SVO; adjectives and relative clauses come before nouns; there are postpositions instead of prepositions; determiners and classifiers are placed before the noun; complementizers are head-initial.

Lexicon

ṇḷhàḥ ← *sŋrasx 'fire'