Tengos

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Tengos (tengos xut [tʰeɳ̩gos xɯt] lit. ‘word sky’) or Tengosic is an extinct language isolate spoken by the ancient Xunten, who probably constituted part of the Kangju federation by the ancient oasis of Tashkent in Central Asia. Tengos has no demonstrable relatives and is generally classified a language isolate. Using an adapted version of Akkadian cuneiform, Xunten writers have left over 300 lengthy inscriptions, which has allowed the understanding of a significant amount of the language.

History

Phonology and phonotactics

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Tengos
↓manner | place→ bilabial dental alveolar velar
nasal m
stop p b n t d k g
fricative f v s ʃ ʒ x
affricate t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
trill r
approximant j ɰ
lateral l
  • /v/ is [ʋ]
  • /r/ is realized as a modal flap [ɾ] intervocalically.
  • Voiceless stops are aspirated in initial and medial position.
  • /b, d, v, d͡ʒ, ɡ/ are devoiced to [p, t, f, t͡ʃ, k] word- and morpheme-finally, as well as before a consonant.
  • /n/ assimilates to [ɳ̩] before a velar stop.

Vowels

Front Back
Close
 
i y
ɯ u
e ø
ɤ o
ɑ
Mid
Open
  • All vowels but /o a/ have lowered allophones word-finally: [ɪ ʏ ɛ œ ɯ̽ ʊ ʌ].

Phonotactics

The basic structure is CV(C)

Onsets

Nucleus

Coda

Clusters

Word restrictions

Morphology

Nouns

Determiners

Demonstrative

Verbal morphology

Finite verbs

Infinite verbs

Adjectives

Personal pronouns

Syntax

Phrase order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase