Tchwerian

Tchwerian (Wieb-Muts or Reber-Muts) is a Wiebian dialect continuum that includes varieties of Modern Standard Wiebian. It is often simply called "Wiebian" in-universe. Tchwerian is aesthetically inspired by Chinese.

Historical phonology

Middle Wiebian

Middle Wiebian initials

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Click	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	voiceless	/m̊/	/n̊/	/ɳ̊/	/ŋ̊!/	/ŋ̊/
	voiced	/m/	/n/	/ɳ/	/ŋ!/	/ŋ/
Stop	tenuis	/p/	/t/	/ʈ/	/ǃ/	/k/	/ʔ/
	aspirated	/pʰ/	/tʰ/	/ʈʰ/	/ǃʰ/	/kʰ/
	voiced	/b/	/d/	/ɖ/	/ɡǃ/	/ɡ/
Spirants	voiceless	/f/	/θ/		/ɧ/	/x/	/h/
	voiced		/ð/		/ɧ̬/	/ɣ/
Sibilants	voiceless		/s/	/ʂ/
	voiced		/z/	/ʐ/
Approximant	voiceless	/ʍ/	/l̥/
	voiced	/w/	/l/

Tchwerian vowels

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	/i/	/iː/	/y/	/yː/			/u/	/uː/
Mid	/e/	/eː/	/ø/	/øː/		/əː/	/ɔ/	/oː/
Open	/æ/	/æː/					/ɑ/	/ɑː/

Diphthongs: /ai au oy ja je iːa jaː wa wo uːa waː ɥa ɥø yːa ɥaː aiɐ auɐ oyɐ/

Tones:

• (-p m)
• (-p b)
• (-p g)
• (+p m)
• (+p b)
• (+p g)

Final changes

• Vowels lengthen before ŋ: ɑŋ æŋ eŋ iŋ oŋ øŋ uŋ yŋ > ɑːŋ æːŋ eːŋ iːŋ oːŋ øːŋ uːŋ yːŋ
• -ŋ! > -ŋ

Retroflex/slender split

• ɑ merger with ɔ, ɑː merger with aː
• ai ~ iː > iː
• a(ː) ~ ja(ː) > a(ː)
• e ~ je/i > i
• əː ~ eː > eː
• au ~ ay > ɔ(ː)
• o(ː) ~ ø(ː) > o(ː)
• u(ː) ~ y(ː) > u(ː)
• u(ː)a ~ y(ː)a > u(ː)a
• uo ~ yø > uo
• aiɐ ~ iːa > ja
• auɐ ~ oyɐ > wa
• k > k / t͡ɕ
• ʈ > k / tʂ
• ! > ! / |
• ɧ > x / ʂ
• t > Pinyin zh / t
• p > p / pj

Inventory

Vowels

a aa e i o ö u ü

ai au ei eu iu öi oi ou ui