Kuam
Kuam /ˈθiːən/ (Zzean: Zzea kī̄ /θiə̯˧ ki˥/) is an analytic monosyllabic tonal language with 11 tones: 5 level tones and 6 contour tones. It is head-final and SVO. Zzean belongs to the Akya-Woms family, like Flei. It is also Æ-xenic.
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
| 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) (2/5) | B (glottal stop coda) (1/5) | C (fricative coda) (1/5) | D (voiceless stop coda) (1/5) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modal initial (3/8) | 33 (a) | 212 (a̬) | 22 (a̱) | 35 (á) |
| Breathy initial (3/8) | 31 (a̖) | 15 (a̗) | 343 (â) | 15 (a̗) |
| Creaky initial (2/8) | 51 (à) | 44 (ā) | 11 (a̱̱) | 55 (ā̄) |
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.