Swuntsim
Swuntsim (SWUN-tsim; natively Swəntsiv /ˈswəntsiv/, originally an exonym) is a language inspired by Lushootseed and Welsh.
Some typological characteristics:
- It is an agglutinative SVO language with a moderately complex verb system.
- It is pro-drop.
- Head-directionality is mixed, but unusual in that it is SVO and RelN.
- It has a simple grammatical gender system of animate-inanimate, but the much more complex Proto-Tsimulh noun class system has vestiges in noun pluralization.
"Simplified/partly creolized non-Standard Average Talman grammar"
SVO and RelN/AdjN~NAdj/GenN~NGen, kinda like Chinese
Todo
- -cütsi (8, various; pl) = 'hard, firm'
- Scütsi (4, collectives and augmentatives) = personal name, meaning 'patient, enduring'
- tjway (7, places, slots, assignments) = 'name' (a name is an assignment)
- Yəy, yo fətjway? = Hello, what's your name?
- Cətjway go... = My name is...
- Tidhavo! = See you!
- ξəp (7) = world
- ti-vayəξoe-σ = progressive
- Initial ʔ conflated with null initial (because Talman langs don't make the distinction)
- assimilation of cw, gw to c, g in syllables before c, g e.g. Ücwəgüsvaσ > Ücəgüsvaσ
- i'ist = a name?
Some clusters such as t+s are broken up to təs.
Prefix sandhi rules
ladhfadh tidha'üs dhacwitj atsavochwe abchidf
Swuntsim gib
Ti'ə dhi'ə atsiσtovif o ti'iσ tühacw zichvidh tjəσ. Go tüasσaσe o tüdhi sfavats. Dhiσəf tü'üchw. Tüσaσe. Go tσüfi'fi'. Go dhiσ tədhəfüchs ogwə'. Go tüσaσe ogwə'.
Go avsvədhvədha' ogwə'. Avsvədhvədha' ogwə'. Go ti'e iσütσ vədha's ogwə' go əscupcup. Əscupcup. Fi gwədjəsədhəs gwədhəfü'ibəsjəs. Go dhay ti'ə tjotjosəs.
Tüasσaσe ti'ə yoyoavs 'o tüdhi' cif sfavats o ti'ə pədhhədhəv. Go ətəse. Go oe ti'iσ tσüsce ə ti'ə dhi'ə suaf, ti'ə di'ə tσfay'. tu'a go əsjavoicw ogwə' ə ti'iσ voəsuadhf i tə viatsəs süfifis ogwə'.
Go oeəf ti sətjites fə'o cwi sətəses. Go σü'ətσaf ogwə'. Σüvəvocwaf ogwə' fə'o ti'ə dhi'ə tjit σcütsidh ə ti'ə dhi'ə sə'eütsidh ə Fcov. A cwədhi' təsəsσaσes əgwə. Tu'a go, go ətσtfaf ogwə' ti'ə stavs ogwə' o ti'ə dhadhatü.
Tu'a go tsüttəvəf 'ə təsi'ə' dhi'ə sσadhəy ti'ə vədha'əs əscupcup. Ütsüütsəf. "Dhəfuüs sif ti'ə dhvədha'. Go chu tsədhiσ cwi səschwacw. Go fi' gwəsəshayfs gwəchəσəσəs chətj ti'ə vədha's. Chuəf ogwə' ü'ətσ. Ucwitsf ogwə' tə stavs ogwə' savgwasəs ogwə'.
Tu'a go hüyütsütəf ti'ə dhi'ə tsədhiσ vədha's ogwə' əscupcup. Cwədhadhəf ti'ə dhətjü' sitsəvs i ti'ə sca'sjədhs. Tu'a go tüzace. Dhiσ dhay sühüs ti süzaces. Go zəceəf fə'o ti'ə tactavats, ti stactavats stütoəf. Go titjiv ftactütsidh. Titjivəf. Go əschətσədh ti'ə sitsəvs. Go σoe ftactütsidh go zace ftact. Zəce ftact go σtje fə'o ti'ə 'əsgwigwoc. Go tichidh ti'ə sitsəvs üσəcw. Go atsəts o ti'iσ. Go σache. Go cov.
ceəf ti'ə yoyoavs. Tüsas'avgwas. Go fi'oüsvitəvəf go gwətjtəvaf. Cwədhtəvaf ftjadh cwi süchwəs, ftjadh cwi süchwəs. Ücwətəvaf gücwitəs. Go gwətəva'. Go gwəpəcw o ti stuəf. Tu'a go atsəts. Fi'əf gwəso'uüs ogwə'. Chuəf ogwə' ügwətjəv. Go chwi gwədhəchcwəfs ogwə' o ti'iσ dhəfüfs.
Numbers
Talman Swuntsim has a set of base 10 numerals inherited from Sacred Swuntsim. Unlike in Sacred Swuntsim, however, base 12 is usually used.
Numbers inflect for animacy, but only the first word in the whole numeral inflects: Number words beginning with sjü '1' inflect that word. Number words beginning with a number word other than 1 use ts- for animates. For example:
- tsfisj 'two people'
- a vo sdüch əσü '13 women' (Note singular form əσü is used for 'woman', not the plural tsəσü.)
- fisj vo fisdüch əvay '26 names'
The numbers: 0 ξoi 1 a (an.), sjü (inan; default) 2 fisj 3 iyəv 4 uzoc 5 tu 6 tjayəzj 7 vutjo 8 gwivə 9 aay 10 cwidh 11 sjüv əσ cwidh 12 fisj əσ cwidh 20 fiscwidh 30 iyəvcwidh 100. pridh
Diachronical sketch
- m n > v dh
- sm sn > zv zd
- b d > b d
- g > gh > compensatory lengthening
Getting the aesthetic
- gʷ > w when not word initial.
- sb sd > zv zd
- xʷ > f
- ʔC > C: (geminate)
- /ʔb ʔd/ > /b d/
- Usacsj əsocwəv əzəpətj ef tüdjo = the living fish swims in water
- əmam = mother; əpap = father
- tüdjo = water
- tjvic = house
- üvC > uuC
- yʔ, wʔ > y, w
Orthography
Talman Swuntsim is usually written in the Windermere script.
Phonology
Consonants
Like many Tsimulh languages, Swuntsim has no liquids in most native words. However, liquids can occur in loaned vocabulary.
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Laryngeal | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | plain | lab'zed | ||||||
| Nasal | m m | (n n) | (ŋ ŋ) | ||||||
| Stop | tenuis | p p | t t | c k | cw kʷ | ' ʔ | |||
| voiced | b b | d d | g g | gw gʷ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f f | s s | σ ɬ | sj ʃ | ch χ | chw χʷ | h h | |
| voiced | v v | dh ð z z |
zj ʒ | ||||||
| Affricate | tenuis | ts ts | ξ tɬ | tj tʃ | |||||
| voiced | dj dʒ | ||||||||
| Approximant | (r r) | y j | w w | (l ɴ̆) | |||||
gw, chw become g, ch before rounded vowels /y u o/.
r, l, m, n, ŋ are mainly used in loanwords. m is found in a limited number of native words.
Geminates are allowed and are rendered by doubling (for digraphs, doubling the first consonant).
Vowels
i ü u e ə o a /i ü u e ə o a/
Stress
Stress is not fixed, but will always fall on one of the two last syllables.