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Rttirri
Rttirriapu
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|ʈʼiɻiɑpu]]
Created by	–
Setting	Rttirria
Native to	All of Rttirria, though less prevalent in Sipa, Uya, Rtuha, and Wimichimau
Native speakers	46.5 million (2015)
Language family	Rttirrian South Rttirrian Classical Rttirri Rttirri

Rttirri (English: /ˈtɪəri/, homophonous with "teary") is the official language of Rttirria, a nation in Southeast Asia that forms a peninsula in the Bay of Bengal, along the southwestern coast of Myanmar. It is spoken as the native language of 46.5 million Rttirrian citizens, or just under 80% of the nation's total population of 58.2 million. Most other citizens have at least some proficiency in the language.

Rttirri is dialectally diverse, with many different accents found across the nation. It uses the Rttirri script, an abugida that evolved from the Pallava script, which is a Brahmic script. Other Pallava scripts include Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Khmer. However, an English transcription system was codified in the late 19th century, and is used on this page for convenience.

Linguistically, Rttirri is classified as an ergative-absolutive, polysynthetic language. It has a phonology consisting of only four vowels (in the standard language) and 25 consonants. It is fascinating to linguists because of its unique method for marking the causative agents of verbs: inflectional particles that encode the person and number of the causative entity, just like the ones used to mark the ergative and absolutive agents.

History

Rttirri is a member of the Rttirrian language family, whose languages are spoken across the nation of Rttirria as well as in adjoining areas of Myanmar and Thailand.

Phonology

Consonants

Although the specific realizations vary, all major dialects of Rttirri distinguish the same consonant phonemes.

	Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m /m/	n /n/	rn /ɳ/	ny /ɲ/
Plosive	p /p/	t /t/	rt /ʈ/	ty /c/	k /k/	hh /ʔ/
Ejective	pp /pʼ/	tt /tʼ/	rtt /ʈʼ/	tty /cʼ/	kk /kʼ/
Fricative	f /f/	s /ʃ/	rs /ʂ/	sy /ç/		h /h/
Affricate		ch /t͡ʃ/
Approximant	w /w/		rr /ɻ/	y /j/
Flap			r /ɽ/

In addition, the consonants l /l/ and kh /x/ are used in loanwords.

Vowels

Modern Standard Rttirri has a four-vowel inventory.

	Front	Back
High	i /i/	u /u/
Mid	e /ø/
Low		a /ɑ/

In addition, the mid vowels e /e/ and o /o/ are used in loanwords.

Phonotactics

Modern Standard Rttirri does not allow final consonants, and the only initial clusters allowable are of the following form: (f s sy) + (m n r rr). There are no geminate consonants.

No dialects of Rttirri distinguish vowel length, but the following diphthongs are allowed: ai au ei eu ui iu.

Stress is usually on the first syllable of a word, with secondary stress applied to every subsequent odd-numbered syllable. Loanwords and foreign names typically preserve their original stress, however.

Dialectology

Simple map of Rttirria, showing the divisions between provinces, major rivers, and mountain ranges. Note the outline of Myanmar on the top right.

Rttirri has many regional dialects.

Modern Standard Rttirri

The modern standard variant of the language is not spoken natively by many native Rttirrians, except those from highly educated and wealthy families, but it is widely used in news broadcasts and automated recordings such as those on subway systems - in this respect, it occupies a similar niche to that of Received Pronunication in the UK. It is characterized by the following features:

• Because the usual aim of MSR is to "speak clearly", allophony is minimized - for example, consonants are not voiced intervocalically as they are in most dialects, and /w/ remains phonetically [w].
• The vowels /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to /ɑ/; thus, words like /tɑwi/ "brick" and /tʌwi/ "to survive" are pronounced the same.

Eastern Rttirri

Eastern Rttirri is spoken in much of the eastern half of the country, from the border with Myanmar to Fukanucha and eastern Kikai. This area of the country, centered on the capital city of Iharnara, is known for its large immigrant communities, decaying industry, high crime, and shrinking population, comparable to the Rust Belt of the United States. Eastern Rttirri, which is considered the most innovative dialect, is characterized by the following features:

• Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
• /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].

• After palatal consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is raised as far as [e].

• /ø/ lowers to [œ].

• After retroflex consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is instead backed as far as [o].

• /h/ fronts to [x] before phonetically front vowels, or [χ] before back ones.
• /w/ is realized as [b] in all positions. In loanwords and foreign names, /w/ is often rendered as a full [u] instead, while /b/ is increasingly imported as a fully voiced [b] instead of as [p].
• /j/ becomes a fricative sound, [ʝ]. Likewise, diphthongs containing /i/ become /Vʝ/ or /ʝV/ sequences. This pattern is not usually applied to loanwords.
• /i/ is backed to [ɨ] after retroflex consonants, and /u/ is fronted and unrounded to [ɨ~ɘ] after palatal consonants - in word roots, but not in affixes, determiners, or certain other function words. Many scholars argue that there has been a phonemic split and that /ɨ/ is a legitimate vowel in Eastern Rttirri.

• One minimal pair is rra-rri ("cozy", lit. "home-y") [ɻäɻi] vs. rrarri [ɻäɻɨ] ("footprint").

• Eastern Rttirri shows extensive reduction of unstressed vowels, creating clusters that do not exist in other dialects.
• Diphthongs are pronounced more as /VV/ sequences with a hiatus.
• The evidential particles lose their final vowels, instead being pronounced as bare consonants.
• The past-tense affix -pu becomes simply -p.

Fukanucha Rttirri

The particularly advanced sub-dialect of Fukanucha shows the following additional features:

• The already fronted /ɑ/ is further fronted to [a].
• The already lowered /ø/ is unrounded to [ɛ~æ].
• The -n evidential particle may be realized simply as nasality on the preceding vowel. Likewise, the -ny evidential particle may be realized in the same way, with the addition of a final [ʝ].

Western Rttirri

Western Rttirri is used in most of the western half of Rttirria, from western Kikai to the beaches of Hima. This area of the country, centered on Rttirria's largest city, Efunari, is wealthier, more ethnically homogeneous, and increasingly culturally relevant. However, in recent decades the dialect has also begun to creep up to the sparsely populated north of Rttirria. The dialect's high cultural prestige and the rapid growth of the northern city of Tettufane (many of whose residents are from Hima or the Efunari area), are starting to solidify Tettufane as a Western Rttirri-speaking city. Western Rttirri is characterized by the following features:

• Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
• Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v]. In this position, it merges with /f/, which is voiced to [v].
• Most speakers merge /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ to /ɑ/; however, some older and rural speakers maintain the distinction.
• In all positions, /ʔ/ disappears.
• When stressed, /i/ and /u/ diphthongize to [əi] and [əu].
• The diphthongs /ɑi/ and /ɑu/ tense to [oi] and [eu].

• This tensing does not take place when these diphthongs are formed by elision of /ʔ/. Thus, kau (/kɑu/) "to want" and kahhu (/kɑʔu/) "to squeeze" are distinguished not by a glottal stop, but by the vowels: [keu] vs. [kɑu].

• In all positions, /ø/ raises to [y].

• The diphthong /øi/ merges with it.

• The past-tense affix -pu tends to be substituted with the past-perfect affix -fe.

Kikai Rttirri

Kikai occupies a transitional zone between the Western and Eastern dialect areas. As a result, its dialect can be considered an mixture of Eastern and Western Rttirri, but younger speakers, especially in the city of Kikai itself, are tending to use a more Western pronunciation.

Northern Rttirri

Spoken only by rural and isolated communities in northern Rttirria, and by older people in the Tettufane metropolitan area, this dialect is being crowded out by the influence of Western Rttirri. One of the most conservative dialects, it is characterized by the following features:

• Unlike in other dialects, voiceless consonants remain voiceless between vowels.
• Likewise, /w/ is pronounced clearly as [w] in all positions.
• The distinction between /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ is maintained.
• The value of /ø/ is typically [ø] in all positions.
• After retroflex consonants, /i/ and /u/ lower to [e] and [o].

• When not stressed, the diphthong /ɑu/ merges with [o]. As a result, some scholars argue that /o/ is its own phoneme in Northern Rttirri.

• The consonants /t͡ʃ/ and /c/ have lost their phonemic contrast and become allophonic: [c] is pronounced after front vowels and [t͡ʃ] after back ones.

Rseperupu Rttirri

Localized to the small island province of Rseperupu, off the coast of western Rttirria, Rseperupu Rttirri is characterized by the following features, influenced by the native languages of indigenous, non-ethnically-Rttirri peoples.

• Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
• Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v].
• /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].
• /ø/ is unrounded to [e].
• /u/ is lowered to [o].
• Except for /j/, palatal consonants are shifted to an alveolar articulation.

• /ç/ is realized as [s], /c/ as [ts], and /cʼ/ as [tsʼ]
• /ɳ/ is merged into [n].

Morphology

Verbs

The Rttirri verb is richly polysynthetic, and contains the following slots for affixes. Slots marked with a † are required for all verbs.

Verb Slot	Allowable Inputs
Causative Agent Person/Number	ne- (I) ke- (you) we- (he/she/it) me- (we) te- (you all) rte- (they)
Ergative Agent Person/Number	na- (I) ke- (you) wa- (he/she/it) ma- (we) ta- (you all) rta- (they)
Absolutive Agent Person/Number (†)	ni- (me) ki- (you) ∅- (him/her/it) mi- (us) ti- (you all) hhi- (them)
Mood	-sya- (optative) -ppa- (adhortative) -mappa- (cohortative) -tya- (interrogative) -nai- (subjunctive) -kai- (conditional) -kka- (imperative) -sma- (generic)
Past Tense	-pu-
Verb Root (†) + Question Infix	any verb
Auxiliary Verb	-kaki- ("to be able to") -kau- ("to want to") -rtika- ("to like to") and others
Future Tense	-mi-
Incorporated Noun (for transitive verbs)	any noun root, without adjectives, determiners, possessive affixes, etc.
Evidentiality (†)	-nV (direct knowledge) -nyV (hearsay) -sV (inferential) -syV (assumptive) (V = the vowel of the preceding syllable)

Irregular verbs

Rttirri has 20 irregular verbs, which have special forms for the past and future inflections. However, when used with a modal verb, this irregularity is ignored, so the normal affixes -pu- and -mi- are used.

Na-tutasa-na.

1SG.ABS-walk.PST-DRPAC

I walked.

Na-nitasa-na.

1SG.ABS-walk.FUT-DRPAC

I will walk.

Na-pu-tasa-kaki-ni.

1SG.ABS-PST-walk-can-DRPAC

I was able to walk.

Na-tasa-kaki-mi-ni.

1SG.ABS-walk-can-FUT-DRPAC

I will be able to walk.

The following irregular verbs exist:

Verb (Past)	Verb (Present)	Verb (Future)	English translation
pui	fei	mui	to be
pisu	chiu	misu	to do
tyusymu	symu	nyisymu	to make
ppeu	kkeu	mepeu	to see
tufnu	fnu	nifnu	to bring
tuausma	ausma	niausma	to call
tuttaka	ttaka	nittaka	to feel
pumi	mupi	mumi	to believe
tutasa	tasa	nitasa	to walk
fupaki	haki	fumaki	to stay
tyusymi	symi	nyisymi	to exist
tuaihiu	aihiu	niaihiu	to get
upei	pei	umei	to think
tuicha	icha	nicha	to come
rtuertau	ertau	rniertau	to use
tuaihu	aihu	niaihu	to try
tyuyana	yana	nyiyana	to cook
puppi	ippi	muppi	to start
pafa	kafa	mafa	to return
puwa	euwa	muwa	to take

Wh- questions

Non-binary questions (ones where the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no") are expressed in two different ways.

For "who"/"whom" and "what" questions, an affix is substituted for one of the person/number affixes on the verb:

• fe- (causative)
• fa- (ergative)
• fi- (absolutive)

Ke-fi-pu-chi-nu uhiki?

2SG.ERG-what.ABS-PST-eat-DRPAC today

What did you eat today?

Other non-binary questions are expressed by infixing one of the following particles within the verb root, after the first syllable of the root.

• -hhifi- ("when?")
• -hhifai- ("where?")
• -hhifau- ("why?")
• -hhifui- ("how?")

Ta-isi-ni mumu nu...

2PL.ABS-talk-DRPAC IMPF NEG

You guys aren't talking...

Ta-ihhifausi-ni mumu nu?

2PL.ABS-talk.why-DRPAC IMPF NEG

Why aren't you guys talking?

Nouns

Compared to verb inflection, noun inflection in Rttirri is fairly simple.

Nouns have no grammatical gender, although the affix -kasi can be optionally used to explicitly "switch" their natural gender. Typically, masculinity is assumed, but there are exceptions.

kkai-urri

write-AGENT

author (male)

kkai-urri-kasi

write-AGENT-F

female author

mirna-urri

tend-AGENT

nurse (female)

mirna-urri-kasi

tend-AGENT-M

male nurse

rnu-kasi

man-F

feminine-acting man

pune-kasi

woman-M

masculine-acting woman

Possession

Like Arabic, Rttirri nouns may be inflected for possessor, using the ergative prefixes.

na-puki

1SG.GEN-dog

my dog

Rttirri is considered a pro-drop language, but when emphatic pronouns are used, they are formed with -ttu ("self") in this way.

Ke-hhi-pu-enai-syi ke-ttu!

2SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-kill-INFER 2SG.GEN-self

You killed them!

Postpositions

Nouns can take the following postpositions:

Postposition	English Translation
-pu	inside, among
-kka	to
-hha	from
-ri	at, worth
-rta	with (comitative)
-rratye	with (instrumental)
-nupe	above
-pe	below
-rnaha	in front of
-fani	in back of
-ppirsa	outside
-nye	of, near
-fappe	far from
-sya	across
-chatta	through
-pimi	between (2 people/things)
-tyeri	among (3+ people/thing)
-wenyi	except
-fu	only
-niwa	around
-hara	about
-hhui	for
-misu	like, similar to

The noun affixes are not clitics; all other words modifying the noun come after them both.

∅-Pu-wikka-na wa-rra-ma-kka rasi tau.

PST-3SG.ABS-run-DRPAC 3SG.GEN-house-PL-DAT red two

She ran to her two red houses.

Syntax

Standard word order is:

Verb Phrase + Causative Noun Phrase + Ergative Noun Phrase + Absolutive Noun Phrase

Noun phrases are organized like so:

Noun + Adjectives + Determiners + Relative Clause

External links

• Rttirri on ConWorkShop