Tengos

Tengos (tengos xut [tʰeɳ̩gos xɯt] lit. ‘word sky’) or Tengosic is an extinct language isolate spoken by the ancient Xunten, who probably constituted part of the Kangju federation by the ancient oasis of Tashkent in Central Asia. Tengos has no demonstrable relatives and is generally classified a language isolate. Using an adapted version of Akkadian cuneiform, Xunten writers have left over 300 lengthy inscriptions, which has allowed the understanding of a significant amount of the language.

Phonology and phonotactics

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Tengos

↓manner | place→	bilabial	dental		alveolar		velar
nasal	m
stop	p b		n		t d		k g
fricative	f v		s		ʃ ʒ		x
affricate					t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
trill					r
approximant					j		ɰ
lateral					l

• /v/ is [ʋ]
• /r/ is realized as a modal flap [ɾ] intervocalically.
• Voiceless stops are aspirated in initial and medial position.
• /b, d, v, d͡ʒ, ɡ/ are devoiced to [p, t, f, t͡ʃ, k] word- and morpheme-finally, as well as before a consonant.
• /n/ assimilates to [ɳ̩] before a velar stop.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i y ɯ u e ø ɤ o ɑ
Mid
Open

• All vowels but /o a/ have lowered allophones word-finally: [ɪ ʏ ɛ œ ɯ̽ ʊ ʌ].

Phonotactics

The basic structure is CV(C)

Morphology

Syntax