Tonuao

Tonuao is a zonal auxlang intended to be quickly learnable, readily comprehensible, and mutually communicative between persons of the w:East Asian cultural sphere. It uses Chinese characters for much of its writing, with some forms being simplified according to the w:Shinjitai/新字体 standards of Japan. The Japanese syllabary w:Katakana is used for all other sounds. It is not tonal, mostly analytic, SVO, topic-prominent, uses classifiers, is pro-drop, copula-drop, and uses postpositions.

East Asian Language
Tonuao
Pronunciation	[/tonu.a.o/]
Created by	武明帥 済百長本 沢渡けんじ
Native to	China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam
Native speakers	3 (2014)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	tao
ISO 639-2	tao
ISO 639-3	tao

Phonology

Tonuao has 5 vowels and 11 consonants.

Tonuao Consonants

Consonants
	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasals	m /m/		n /n/
Plosives	p /p/	t /t/	j /ts ~ tɕ ~ c/		k /k/
Fricatives			s /s ~ ɕ/		h /h ~ ɦ ~ x/
Liquids			l /l ~ ɾ/
Approximants	w /w/			y /j/

While there is a great deal of consonantal allophony (see below), every language speaker will experience some sounds as difficult, especially in achieving consistency.

Tonuao Vowels

Vowels
	Front	Central	Back
High	i /i ~ ɪ/		u /u ~ ɯ/
Mid	e /e ~ e̞/		o /o ~ o̞/
Low	a /a ~ ä/

Again, a great deal of tolerance is required when listening to others. Non-Mandarin speakers will have the hardest time being patient with Chinese vowels, but accents are part of being international!

un pun tun jun kun mun nun sun hun lun yun

Phonotactics

The three allowable syllable structures are V, CV, Cya, and CVn. There are gaps in all these series, and allophony.

Simple Syllables
ø	ア a /a/	エ e /e ~ je ~ ə/	イ i /i ~ ji/	オ o /o ~ wo/	ウ u /u ~ wu/
p	パ pa	ペ pe	ピ pi	ポ po	プ pu
t	タ ta	テ te	チ ti	ト to	ツ tu
j	チャ ja	チェ je	チィ ji	チョ jo	チュ ju
k	カ ka	ケ ke	キ ki	コ ko	ク ku
m	マ ma	メ me	ミ mi	モ mo	ム mu
n	ナ na	ネ ne	ニ ni	ノ no	ヌ nu
s	サ sa	セ se	シ si /si ~ ɕi/	ソ so	ス su
h	ハ ha	ヘ he	ヒ hi	ホ ho	フ hu
l	ラ la	レ le	リ li	ロ lo	ル lu
w	ワ wa /wa ~ ʋa ~ va/	ヱ we /we ~ wej/
y	ヤ ya			ヨ yo /jo ~ joʊ̯/	ユ yu

Hangŭl (for reference)
	a	e	i	o	u
ø	아	에	이	오	우
p	바	베	비	보	부
t	다	데	디	도	두
j	자	제	지	조	주
k	가	게	기	고	구
m	마	메	미	모	무
n	나	네	니	노	누
s	사	세	시	소	수
h	하	헤	히	호	후
l	라	레	리	로	루
w	와	웨
y	야			요	유

Complex Syllables
	an	en	in	un	ya
ø	アン an	エン en	イン in	ウン un
p	パン pan	ペン pen	ピン pin	プン pun	ピャ pya
t	タン tan	テン ten	チン tin	ツン tun
j	チャン jan	チェン jen	チィン jin	チュン jun
k	カン kan	ケン ken		クン kun
m	マン man	メン men	ミン min	ムン mun	ミャ mya
n	ナン nan	ネン nen	ニン nin	ヌン nun	ニャ nya
s	サン san	セン sen /sen ~ ɕen/	シン sin	スン sun	シャ sya /sja ~ ɕa/
h	ハン han	ヘン hen		フン hun
l	ラン lan	レン len	リン lin	ルン lun	リャ lya
w	ワン wan
y	ヤン yan			ユン yun

Hangŭl (for reference)
	an	en	in	un	ya
ø	안	엔	인	운
p	반	벤	빈	분	뱌
t	단	덴	딘	둔
j	잔	젠	진	준
k	간	겐		군
m	만	멘	민	문	먀
n	난	넨	닌	눈	냐
s	산	센	신	순	샤
h	한	헨		훈
l	란	렌	린	룬	랴
w	완
y	얀			윤

The complex syllables of Tonuao are clearly much more limited.

Derivation

Middle Chinese (MC) had much more complex syllables than were possible in any of the language influenced by it. Tonuao tries to be equal to CJKV languages by taking an average derivational position. First, it considers the initial consonant in MC

Correspondences of initial consonants

Middle Chinese		Sino-Vietnamese	Sino-Korean	Sino-Japanese			Mandarin	Cantonese	Tonuao
				Go-on	Kan-on	Tōsō-on
Labials	幫 p	p > b	p/pʰ	ɸ > h	ɸ > h	ɸ > h	p/f	p/f	p
	滂 pʰ	pʰ					pʰ/f	pʰ/f
	並 b	b		b > b/ph/v			pʰ/p/f	pʰ/p/f
	明 m	m > m/v	m	m	b	m	m/w	m	m
Dentals	端 t	t > đ	t/tʰ	t	t	t	t	t	t
	透 tʰ	tʰ > th					tʰ	tʰ
	定 d	d > đ		d			tʰ/d	tʰ/d
	泥 n	n	n	n	d	n	n	n~l	n
	來 l	l	l	r	r	r	l	l	l
Retroflex nasal	娘 ɳ	n	n~ø	n	d		n	n~l	ny
Retroflex stops	知 ʈ	ʈ > tr	tʰ/tɕ/tɕʰ	t	t	s	tʂ	ts	t
	徹 ʈʰ	ʂ > s					tʂʰ	tsʰ
	澄 ɖ	ɖ > tr		d			tʂʰ, tʂ	tsʰ, ts
Dental sibilants	精 ts	s > t		s	s		ts, tɕ	ts	j
	清 tsʰ	ɕ > th					tsʰ, tɕʰ	tsʰ
	從 dz	s > t		z			tsʰ, tɕʰ, ts, tɕ	tsʰ, ts
	心 s		s	s			s	s	s
	邪 z			z			tsʰ, ts	z, ʑ
	俟 ʐ	s		z			tʂʰ, s	tsʰ, ts	sy
Retroflex sibilants	莊 tʂ	ʈ > tr	tɕ/tɕʰ	s			tʂ, ts	ts	j
	初 tʂʰ	ʂ > s					tʂʰ, tsʰ	tsʰ
	崇 dʐ			z			tʂʰ, tsʰ, tʂ, ʂ	tsʰ, ts, s
	生 ʂ		s	s			ʂ, s	s	sy
Palatals	章 tɕ	c > ch	tɕ/tɕʰ				tʂ	ts	j
	昌 tɕʰ	tʃ > x					tʂʰ	tsʰ
	禪 dʑ	ɕ > th	s	z			tʂʰ, ʂ	tsʰ, ts, s
	書 ɕ			s			ʂ	s	sy
	船 ʑ			z	s		tʂʰ, ʂ	s
	日 ny	ɲ > nh	z > ∅	n	z	z	ɻ, ʔ	j	ny
	以 j	d	ø	j	j		j, w~ʋ	j, w	y
Velars	見 k	k > c/g	k/h	k	k	k	k, tɕ	k, kʷ	k
	溪 kʰ	kʰ > kh					kʰ, tɕʰ	h, f, kʰ, kʰʷ
	群 g	ɡ > c	k	g			kʰ, tɕʰ, k, tɕ	kʰ, kʰʷ, k, kʷ
	疑 ŋ	ŋ > ng	h		g	g	ʔ~ɰ, j, w~ʋ, n	ŋ, ʔ, j	ø
Laryngeals	影 ʔ	ʔ > y	∅	∅	∅	∅	ʔ, j, w~ʋ	ʔ, j, w
	曉 h	h	h	k	k		x, ɕ	h, f, j	h
	匣 ɦ			ɣ > g/w			x, ɕ	h, w
	云 ɦj	v, h	ø	j	j		j, w~ʋ	j, w	ø

Syntax

Like Chinese and Vietnamese (and unlike Japanese and Korean), Tonuao is SVO, subject-verb-object. The subject of an intransitive verb and the actor of transitive verb come before early in the sentence, and the accusative argument must come after the verb. There are no particles to mark subject or object. Tonuao tries to have the verb be second-to-last, comparable but backwards to the Germanic w:V2 word order. Like most Asian languages, Tonuao has two verbs corresponding to European "is", 乃 nai and 有 yu. The first "to be equal to", the second is "to have" or "to exist". Only 乃 nai may be dropped, and it usually is.

In the East Asian style, Tonuao is very topic-prominent. The topic is marked with the postposition ヘ he, derived from 兮 hei. Typically, if present, it will come first in the sentence. The dative argument may be unmarked, if easily discernible from context, but is more often marked with the postposition ウ u, derived from 于 yu. A genitive relationship is 之 ji which is not written in katakana most of the time.

Relationship	Particle	Etymology	English	Mandarin	Cantonese	Japanese	Korean	Vietnamese
Topic	ヘ he	兮 hei	as for	-	-	は wa	은/는 (n)ǔn	cái
Vocative		哉 jai
Dative	ウ u	于 yu	to	-	-	に ni	에게 ege	đến
Genitive		之 ji	of	的 de	嘅 ge	の no	의 ǔi	của
Instrumental	イ i	以 i	by	用 yòng	用 yung6	で de	로/으로 ro/ǔro
Locative	オ o	於 o	in, on, at	在 zài	喺 hai2	に ni	에 e
Comitative	コ ko	共 konu	together with
Assoc. Pl.	ト to	等 tonu	et. al.	們 men	哋 dei6	たち tachi	들 tǔl
Perfective	リ li	已 i	-ed	了 le	咗 jo2	た/だ ta/da	았/었 att/ǒtt	đã
Progressive	ツ tu	中 tunu	-ing				아/어 a/ǒ
Nominalizer	シ si	事 ji	-ing
Adnominalizer	チ ti	之 ji
Adverbializer	ヤ ya	様 yanu	-ly
NP And	ヨ yo	与 o	and
VP And	ニ ni	而 ni	and

Sentence Final Particles

• フ hu, derived from 乎 huo, forms polar questions at the end of an utterance.

Pronouns

		Singular	Plural
Casual	First	我 a	我ト ato
	Second	汝 yo	汝ト yoto
	Third	彼人 pinin	彼人ト pininto

		Singular	Plural
Polite	First	One's given name	One's given name-ト -to
	Second	君 kun	君ト kunto
	Third	One's surname	One's surname-ト -to

Classifiers

Counting is not done with numerals as adjectives before the noun phrase, but with special classifiers + numerals after the noun phrase, as adverbs.

Classifier	Use
人 nin	people (general)
名 menu	people (polite)
台 tai	machines (computers, cars, etc)
匹 pitu	animals (all animals, worms, fish, horses, etc)
冊 jaku	books, magazines, etc
杯 pei	cups of some drink
枚 mei	flat objects (pizzas, paper, etc)
条 teu	long objects (pencils, noodles, etc)
間 kan	periods of time (seconds, years, ages, etc)
個 ka	anything else

Plants, animals and things that may have hanji beyond our corpus or are nation-specific, should be spelled out phonetically, but appended with a "determiner", a hanji that shows what class of being the creature is. This is helpful, as it gives a hint to those unfamiliar with the being.

Determiner	Use	Example
蛙 wa	amphibians
鳥 teu	birds	Japanese quail ウスラ鳥 usura-teu
魚 o	fish	nekogigi catfish ネコキキ魚 nekokiki-o
虫 tunu	invertebrates
獣 siu	mammals
龍 lonu	reptiles	tyrannosaurus チラン龍 tiran-lonu
花 hua	flowers
草 jau	grass
木 moku	trees, bushes
服 puku	clothes	kimono キモノ服 kimono-puku
飯 puen	meals	bibimbap ピピムパプ飯 pipimupapu-puen

Lexica

• Tonuao/Hanji - Character list based on the 1800 list of hanja for Koreans and 2136 list of kanji for Japanese

Sample

• Tonuao/Sample/218_sentences - Sentences to test syntax

Links

1. CJKV Auxlang Facebook Group
2. Sister language 単亜語