Tchwerian

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Tchwerian
Wieber-Müđel
Pronunciation[/jiʔ˨ mɔŋ˩˧/]
Created byIlL
SettingHussmauch
Language codes
ISO 639-3qwb
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Tchwerian (Wieber-Müđel (jidd moon) or Reber-Müđel (lidd moon)) is a Wiebian dialect continuum that includes varieties of Modern Standard Wiebian. It is often simply called "Wiebian" in-universe. Tchwerian is intended to be "12-tone Chinese gibberish".

Numbers

  • 1: wahm /jɛŋ21/
  • 2: disser /tʂɨ41/
  • 3: narg /nɛʔ33/
  • 4: đauf /ǃy41/
  • 5: säl /si21/
  • 6: stuhm /tʂɔŋ55/
  • 7: rut /ʔɔʔ11/
  • 8: lerz /laː41/
  • 9: pfarb /pʰɛʔ44/
  • 10: kier /kʰiː55/

Historical phonology

Middle Wiebian

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


Middle Wiebian 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)

Final changes

  • Vowels lengthen before ŋ: ɑŋ æŋ eŋ iŋ oŋ øŋ uŋ yŋ > ɑːŋ æːŋ eːŋ iːŋ oːŋ øːŋ uːŋ yːŋ
  • -ŋ! > -ŋ
  • stops > ʔ; nasals > ŋ

Retroflex/slender split

  • ɑ merger with ɔ, ɑː merger with aː
  • ai ~ iː > iː in open syllables, aː in closed syllables
  • a(ː) ~ ja(ː) > a(ː)
  • e ~ je/i > i
  • əː ~ eː > eː
  • au ~ ay > ɔ(ː)
  • o(ː) ~ ø(ː) > o(ː)
  • u(ː) ~ y(ː) > u(ː)
  • u(ː)a ~ y(ː)a > u(ː)a
  • uo ~ yø > uo
  • aiɐ ~ iːa > ja
  • auɐ ~ oyɐ > wa
  • ʔ > ʔ / r
  • k > k / t͡ɕ
  • ʈ > k / tʂ
  • θ > ʂ / t
  • ! > ! / |
  • ɧ > r / r
  • t > tʂ / ts
  • p > p / pj
  • n > ɳ / n
  • ɳ > ŋ
  • l > l / l or j depending on dialect
  • r > l

Phonemic inventory

Initials

Reber Wiebian initials
Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Click Palatal Velar Glottal
plain pal. dental retroflex
Nasal /m/ /mʲ/ /n/ /ŋǀ/ /ŋ!/ /ŋ/
Stop/Affricate tenuis /p/ /pʲ/ /ts/ /t/ /ʈʂ/ /ǀ/ /ǃ/ /tɕ/ /k/ /ʔ/
aspirated /pʰ/ /pʰʲ/ /tsʰ/ /tʰ/ /ʈʂʰ/ /ǀʰ/ /ǃʰ/ /tɕʰ/ /kʰ/
Fricative /f/ /s/ /ʂ/ /ɕ/ /h/
Approximant /w/ /l/ /j/

Vowels

Tchwerian vowels
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long short long
Close /i/ /iː/ /y/ /yː/ [ɨ] [ɨː] /u/ /uː/
Mid /ɛ/ /œ/ /ɔ/
Open /a/ /aː/

/i/ and /y/ retract to [ɨ] after retroflexes and retroflex clicks.

Allowed finals -w, -j, -ʔ, -ŋ; øj, øw > øy

Tones

Reber Wiebian has 11 tones.

Tchwerian tone reflexes from Middle Wiebian (1 = lowest)
  Modal final Breathy final Glottalized final
Voiceless initial -creaky 55 53 44
+creaky 424 35 33
Voiced initial -creaky 21 41
+creaky 231 13 11

Orthography

231 13 11 = n v b

21 41 = n z

424 35 33 = l f p/d

55 53 44 = Ø s t

Reber initials:

/m//mʲ//n//ŋ!//ŋǀ//ŋ/ -> m mj n ny ncy ng

/p//pʲ//t/, /ts//ʈʂ//ǃ//ǀ//tɕ//k//ʔ/ = p pj t c cs ty cy cj k q

sorry, those should be aspirated

unaspirated: b bj d dz dzs gy dzy dzj g q

/f//s//ʂ//ɕ//h/ -> f sz s szj h

/w//l//j/ -> w l j

Morphology

Nouns

Adjectives

Verbs

Accents and dialects

  • Standard
  • Advanced HRJ
  • Jüngerriems
  • Lerzkorren
  • Frintermien
  • Keime

Jüngerriems accent of Reber: retroflex ->alveolar
so ʈʂ, ʈʂʰ, ʂ pronounced as ts, tsʰ, s

Lerzkorren accent: like the Jüngerriems accent but click free
clicks -> uvulars as in bruusing

Frintermien: retro and click merge
into click
/ʂ/ -> sje

tone mergers: Jüngerriems and Lerzkorren have something funny going on with tones (retroflexes cause a tone change)

the Keimian accent would be the weirdest
vowel + ng -> nasalized vowel
unaspirated stops are voiced
(and sometimes become fricatives)
vowel + m -> nasalized vowel + w
or maybe no w
clicks become semitic style emphatics
it's perhaps the hardest accent to pull off for someone from HRJ
sorry, vowel + m,n,ng -> nasal vowel + m,n,(optional ng)
vowels get uniformly tensed
ɛ, œ -> e,ø
/i/ can sound like an apical vowel
(think mandarin)
then vocab differences (Etz vs Jeng ...)
keimian tone mergers:
1 2 3 4 5 6-> high falling, mid level, mid falling, mid falling, low level, low level

Syntax