Tchwerian (Wieb-Muts or Reber-Muts) is a Wiebian dialect continuum that includes varieties of Modern Standard Wiebian. It is often simply called "Wiebian" in-universe. Tchwerian is aesthetically inspired by Chinese.

Historical phonology

Middle Wiebian

Middle Wiebian initials
Labial Alveolar Retroflex Click Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal voiceless /m̊/ /n̊/ /ɳ̊/ /ŋ̊!/ /ŋ̊/ /ɴ̊/
voiced /m/ /n/ /ɳ/ /ŋ!/ /ŋ/ /ɴ/
Stop tenuis /p/ /t/ /ʈ/ /ǃ/ /k/ /q/ /ʔ/
aspirated /pʰ/ /tʰ/ /ʈʰ/ /ǃʰ/ /kʰ/ /qʰ/
voiced /b/ /d/ /ɖ/ /ɡǃ/ /ɡ/ /ɢ/
Spirants voiceless /f/ /θ/ /ɧ/ /x/ /χ/ /h/
voiced /ð/ /ɧ̬/ /ɣ/ /ʁ/
Sibilants voiceless /s/ /ʂ/
voiced /z/ /ʐ/
Approximant voiceless /ʍ/ /l̥/
voiced /w/ /l/


Tchwerian vowels
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long short long
Close /i/ /iː/ /y/ /yː/ /u/ /uː/
Mid /e/ /eː/ /ø/ /øː/ /əː/ /ɔ/ /oː/
Open /æ/ /æː/ /ɑ/ /ɑː/

Diphthongs: /ai au oy ja je iːa jaː wa wo uːa waː ɥa ɥø yːa ɥaː aiɐ auɐ oyɐ/

Tones:

  • (-p m)
  • (-p b)
  • (-p g)
  • (+p m)
  • (+p b)
  • (+p g)

Retroflex/slender split

  • ai ~ iː
  • a(ː) ~ ja(ː)
  • e ~ je/i
  • əː ~ eː
  • au ~ ay
  • o(ː) ~ ø(ː)
  • u(ː) ~ y(ː)
  • ua ~ ya
  • uo ~ yø
  • aiɐ ~ ja
  • auɐ ~ oyɐ

Inventory

Consonants

Vowels

a aa e i o ö u ü

ai au ei eu iu öi oi ou ui

Tones

Morphology

Nouns

Adjectives

Verbs

Syntax