Kuam
Kuam /ˈθiːən/ (Zzean: Zzea kī̄ /θiə̯˧ ki˥/) is an analytic monosyllabic tonal language created by Inthar. Kuam has an extraordinarily complex tone system, with 5 level tones and 6 contour tones. It is head-final and SVO. Zzean belongs to a small family called the Zzeic languages but otherwise has no known relatives. Kuam is inspired by East and Southeast Asian tonal languages, Ojitlán Chinantec, Toda, and Saanich.
Phonology
The following is the phonology of Standard Zzean.
Phonotactics
A morpheme is almost always monosyllabic. A syllable always has the structure IRT, where I = initial, R = rime, and T = tone. Kuam has 33 initials, 9 rimes, and 11 tones, making 3267 possible syllables.
Rimes
i/e/ə/ɑ/ej/əj/ɑj/iə̯/ɨə̯
i/e/ə/a/ey/əy/ay/ea/ua
- Notes
- /ɑ/ and /ɑj/ are phonetically [a̠] and [a̠j].
- /ɨə̯/ is commonly monophthongized to [ɨ] or [ɨ̞].
Initials
| Labial | Lamino-dental | Apico-alveolar | Subapical | Palatal(ized) | Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nonsib. | sib. | nonsib. | sib. | nonsib. | sib. | ||||||
| Nasal | m /m/ | nh /n̪/ | n /n/ | nr /ɳ/ | |||||||
| Stop | p /p/ | th /t̪/ | tz /t̪s̪/ | t /t/ | ts /ts̠/ | tr /ʈ/ | tsr /ʈʂ/ | k /k/ | /ʔ/ | ||
| Fricative | f /f/ | zz /θ/ | z /s̪/ | ss /θ̠/ | s /s̠/ | sr /ʂ/ | x /ʃ/ | kh /x/ | h /h/ | ||
| Resonant | central | w /w/ | zh /ð̞/ | r /ɾ/ | rr /ɻ/ | y /j/ | g /ɰ/ | ||||
| lateral | lh /l̪/ | l /l/ | lr /ɭ/ | lg /ʟ/ | |||||||
Tones
Tones have a high functional load in Þhea Kï.
| Rom. | IPA | English name | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ā̄ | /˥/ (55) | top | kā̄ /kɑ˥/ 'short' | Often marked by stiff voice. |
| ā | /˦/ (44) | high | kā /kɑ˦/ 'coat' | |
| a | /˧/ (33) | mid | ka /kɑ˧/ 'to take' | |
| a̱ | /˨/ (22) | low | ka̱ /kɑ˨/ 'to breathe' | |
| a̱̱ | /˩/ (11) | bottom | ka̱̱ /kɑ˩/ 'to burn (intrans.)' | Often marked by vocal fry. |
| a̗ | /˩˥/ (15) | bottom-rise | ka̗ /kɑ˩˥/ 'roof' | Often begins with vocal fry. May be realized as [˩˦] (14), or even [˨˦] (24) in rapid speech. |
| á | /˧˥/ (35) | mid-rise | ká /kɑ˧˥/ 'fencepost' | |
| à | /˥˩/ (51) | top-fall | kà /kɑ˥˩/ 'crow, raven; (ideophone) caw' | May be realized as [˥˧] (53). |
| a̖ | /˧˩/ (31) | mid-fall | ka̖ /kɑ˧˩/ 'finger' | |
| a̬ | /˨˩˨/ (212) | dip | ka̬ /kɑ˨˩˨/ 'oil, fat, grease' | Often realized as [˩˨] (12) in rapid speech. |
| â | /˧˦˧/ (343) | peak | kâ /kɑ˧˦˧/ 'to imprint, to stamp' | May be [˨˧˨] (232). Often realized as [˦˩] (41) or [˦˨] (42) in rapid speech. |
Tone box
| A (null or resonant coda) (2/6) | B (glottal stop coda) (1/6) | C (fricative coda) (1/6) | D (voiceless stop coda) (1/6) | E (voiced stop coda) (1/6) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modal initial (3/8) | 33 (a) | 212 (a̬) | 22 (a̱) | 35 (á) | 11 (a̱̱) |
| Breathy initial (3/8) | 31 (a̖) | 15 (a̗) | 343 (â) | 15 (a̗) | 343 (â) |
| Creaky initial (2/8) | 51 (à) | 44 (ā) | 11 (a̱̱) | 55 (ā̄) | 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: ā̄/ā/a/a̱/a̱̱/a̗/á/à/a̖/a̬/â/ā̄y/āy/ay/a̱y/a̱̱y/a̗y/áy/ày/a̖y/a̬y/ây/ē̄/ē/e/e̱/e̱̱/e̗/é/è/e̖/e̬/ê/ē̄y/ēy/ey/e̱y/e̱̱y/e̗y/éy/èy/e̖y/e̬y/êy/ē̄a/ēa/ea/e̱a/e̱̱a/e̗a/éa/èa/e̖a/e̬a/êa/ī̄/ī/i/i̱/i̱̱/i̗/í/ì/i̖/i̬/î/ə̄̄/ə̄/ə/ə̱/ə̱̱/ə̖/ə́/ə̀/ə̗/ə̬/ə̂/ə̄̄y/ə̄y/əy/ə̱y/ə̱̱y/ə̖y/ə́y/ə̀y/ə̗y/ə̬y/ə̂y/ū̄a/ūa/ua/u̱a/u̱̱a/u̖a/úa/ùa/u̗a/u̬a/ûa
Dialects
Orthography
Zzean is written in the Zzean script and uses a very deep orthography, like Tibetan.