Shum
Shumian (native name ṣùm lhau) is a monosyllabic language inspired by Marathi, Hmoob and IlL's Reber Wiebian.
Introduction
Phonology
Orthography
Initials
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless stop | p /p/ | t /t̪/ | ṭ /ʈ/ | c /c/ | k /k/ | |||
| Aspirated stop | ph /pʰ/ | th /t̪ʰ/ | ṭh /ʈʰ/ | ch /cʰ/ | kh /kʰ/ | |||
| Voiced stop | b /b/ | d /d̪/ | ḍ /ɖ/ | j /ɟ/ | g /ɡ/ | |||
| Murmured stop | bh /bʰ/ | dh /d̪ʰ/ | ḍʰ /ɖʰ/ | jh /ɟʰ/ | gh /ɡʰ/ | |||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n̪/ | ṇ /ɳ/ | ñ /ɲ/ | ||||
| Murmured nasal | mh /mʰ/ | nh /n̪ʰ/ | ṇh /ɳʰ/ | ñh /ɲʰ/ | ||||
| Fricative | s /s/ | ṣ /ʂ/ | ś /ç~ɕ/ | h /h/ | ||||
| Approximant | v /ʋ/ | y /j/ | ||||||
| Murmured approximant | vh /ʋʰ/ | |||||||
| Lateral | l /l/ | ḷ /ɺ̢/ | ||||||
| Murmured lateral | lh /lʰ/ | ḷh /ɺ̢ʰ/ | ||||||
| Laterally released nasal | ṇḷ /ɳᶩ/ | |||||||
| Murmured laterally released nasal | ṇḷh /ɳᶩʰ/ | |||||||
| Trill | r /r/ |
Rimes
- aʔ iʔ uʔ ahᵃ ihⁱ uhᵘ with mid (33) and low (22) tones (spelled a i u aḥ iḥ uḥ)
- a: e: i: o: u: ai au am~ã: im~ĩ: um~ũ: with mid (33), low (21), rising (25), falling (41), dipping (313 with creaky voice on the 1), and high dipping tone (434) tones (spelled ā e ī o ū ai au aṁ iṁ uṁ)
Tones
| Tone | Mid | Low | Rising | Falling | Dipping | High dipping |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spelling | a | à | á | â | ä | ǎ |
Old Shumian
Old Shumian had a much simpler sound system, with fewer consonants and no tones. The phonotactics though were more complicated; Old Shumian words could begin with up to three consecutive consonants.
Prosody
Stress
Intonation
Phonotactics
Morphophonology
Morphology
Shumian is completely isolating and head-final.
- ṇā̀ (I), mhäi (boat) ⇒ ṇā̀ mhäi (my boat)
- rúm (eye), be (water) ⇒ rúm be (tears)
Pronouns
Shumian pronouns are based on rank, not person or gender. (ṇā̀ is used only in textbooks)
Remnants of Old Shumian morphology
Some nouns derive from Old Shumian patientives marked with the prefix s- (mercilessly stolen from Lushootseed):
ḍū̌ 'sing' (from *druku) -> ḍhū̌ (from *sdruku)
Numbers
| Number | Shumian |
|---|---|
| 0 | dó |
| 1 | lê |
| 2 | bhàḥ |
| 3 | vûṁ |
| 4 | pai |
| 5 | śaṁ |
| 6 | śū̂ |
| 7 | nhai |
| 8 | rìṁ |
| 9 | lhiḥ |
| 10 | kū |
| 11 | nā̌ |
| 12 | ū |
| 144 | vī̈ |
| 1728 | dhâu |
Syntax
Word order is SVO; adjectives and relative clauses come before nouns; there are postpositions instead of prepositions; determiners and classifiers are placed before the noun; complementizers are head-initial.
Constituent order
Noun phrase
Verb phrase
Sentence phrase
Dependent clauses
Lexicon
ṇḷhàḥ ← *sŋrasx 'fire'