Kuam

In Hmøøh, Kuam /ˈθiːən/ (Zzean: Zzea kï /θiə̯˧ ki˥/, Eevo: łynøñ Þia) is an analytic monosyllabic tonal language spoken on the island country Zzea Lga̗y 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

Phonotactics

A morpheme is almost always monosyllabic. A syllable always has the structure IR^T, where I = initial, R = rime, and T = tone.

There are 33 initials × 9 rimes × 11 tones = 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"

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

ä/ā/a/a̱/a̤/a̗/á/à/a̖/a̬/â

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

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

Tone box

Tone class	Modal initial (5/8)	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 (a̤)
D (voiceless stop coda) (1/6)	35 (á)	15 (a̗)	55 (ä)
E (voiced stop coda) (1/6)	31 (a̖)	343 (â)	51 (à)

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: ä/ā/a/a̱/a̤/a̗/á/à/a̖/a̬/â/äy/āy/ay/a̱y/a̤y/a̗y/áy/ày/a̖y/a̬y/ây/ë/ē/e/e̱/e̤/e̗/é/è/e̖/e̬/ê/ëy/ēy/ey/e̱y/e̤y/e̗y/éy/èy/e̖y/e̬y/êy/ëa/ēa/ea/e̱a/e̤a/e̗a/éa/èa/e̖a/e̬a/êa/ï/ī/i/i̱/i̤/i̗/í/ì/i̖/i̬/î/ə̈/ə̄/ə/ə̱/ə̤/ə̖/ə́/ə̀/ə̗/ə̬/ə̂/üa/ūa/ua/u̱a/ṳa/u̖a/úa/ùa/u̗a/u̬a/ûa

Vocabulary

Kuam is generally purist.