Kuam

Pages with the prefix 'Kuam' in the and 'Talk' namespaces:

Kuam

Talk:

In Hmøøh, Kuam /ˈθiːən/ (Zzean: Zzea kī̄ /θiə̯˧ ki˥/, Eevo: łynøñ Þea) is an analytic monosyllabic tonal language spoken on the island country Zzea (Zzean: Zzea Lga̗y /θiə̯˧ ʟɑj˩˥/) off the southwestern coast of the continent Kjàt Må̀. Kuam has a complex tone system even for a Kjàt Må̀ language, with 5 level tones and 6 contour tones. It belongs to a dialect continuum but otherwise has no known relatives. It is head-final and SVO.

Kuam is inspired by East and Southeast Asian tonal languages, Ojitlán Chinantec, Toda, and Saanich.

Phonology

The following is the phonology of Standard Zzean.

Phonotactics

A morpheme is almost always monosyllabic. A syllable always has the structure IR^T, where I = initial, R = rime, and T = tone. Kuam has 33 initials, 9 rimes, and 11 tones, making 3267 possible syllables.

Rimes

i/e/ə/ɑ/ej/əj/ɑj/iə̯/ɨə̯~ɨ

i/e/ə/a/ey/əy/ay/ea/ua

Initials

m/n̪/n/ɳ/p/t̪/t̪s̪/t/ts̠/tʃ/ʈ/ʈʂ/k/ʔ/f/θ/s̪/θ̠/s̠/ʃ/ʂ/x/h/l̪/ð̞/l/r/ɭ/ɻ/ʟ/ɰ/j/w

m/nh/n/nr/p/th/tz/t/ts/tx/tr/tsr/k/0/f/zz/z/ss/s/x/sr/kh/h/lh/zh/l/r/lr/rr/lg/g/y/w

Tones

English names: "top, high, mid, low, bottom, bottom-rise, mid-rise, top-fall, mid-fall, dip, peak"

˥/˦/˧/˨/˩/˩˥/˧˥/˥˩/˧˩/˨˩˨~˩˨/˨˧˨~˧˦˧~˦˨

ā̄/ā/a/a̱/a̱̱/a̗/á/à/a̖/a̬/â

Tones have a high functional load in Þhea Kï. The following is a tonal minimal 11-tuplet:

• kā̄: short
• kā: coat
• ka: to take
• ka̱: to breathe
• ka̱̱: to burn (intrans.)
• ka̗: roof
• ká: fencepost
• kà: crow/raven; (ideophone) caw
• ka̖: finger
• ka̬: grease
• kâ: to imprint, to stamp

Tone box

ā̄ a̱̱

Tone class	Modal initial (3/8)	Breathy initial (3/8)	Creaky initial (2/8)
A (null or resonant coda) (2/6)	33 (a)	31 (a̖)	51 (à)
B (glottal stop coda) (1/6)	212 (a̬)	15 (a̗)	44 (ā)
C (fricative coda) (1/6)	22 (a̱)	343 (â)	11 (a̱̱)
D (voiceless stop coda) (1/6)	35 (á)	15 (a̗)	55 (ā̄)
E (voiced stop coda) (1/6)	11 (a̱̱)	343 (â)	35 (á)

Awkwords input

C: m/nh/n/nr/p/th/tz/t/ts/tx/tr/tsr/k//f/zz/z/ss/s/x/sr/kh/h/lh/zh/l/r/lr/rr/lg/g/y/w

R: ā̄/ā/a/a̱/a̱̱/a̗/á/à/a̖/a̬/â/ā̄y/āy/ay/a̱y/a̱̱y/a̗y/áy/ày/a̖y/a̬y/ây/ē̄/ē/e/e̱/e̱̱/e̗/é/è/e̖/e̬/ê/ē̄y/ēy/ey/e̱y/e̱̱y/e̗y/éy/èy/e̖y/e̬y/êy/ē̄a/ēa/ea/e̱a/e̱̱a/e̗a/éa/èa/e̖a/e̬a/êa/ī̄/ī/i/i̱/i̱̱/i̗/í/ì/i̖/i̬/î/ə̄̄/ə̄/ə/ə̱/ə̱̱/ə̖/ə́/ə̀/ə̗/ə̬/ə̂/ə̄̄y/ə̄y/əy/ə̱y/ə̱̱y/ə̖y/ə́y/ə̀y/ə̗y/ə̬y/ə̂y/ū̄a/ūa/ua/u̱a/u̱̱a/u̖a/úa/ùa/u̗a/u̬a/ûa

Orthography

Zzean is written in the Zzean script and uses a very deep orthography, like Tibetan.

Vocabulary

Kuam is generally purist.