Tseer
Tseer/Lexicon
Swadesh list for Tseer
Tseer/Sketchbook
- This article describes Classical Tseer. See Tseer for Modern Tseer.
| Tseer | |
|---|---|
| døludx Tseer | |
| Created by | IlL |
| Setting | Verse:Tricin |
Lakovic
| |
Classical Tseer was a prominent classical language of Talma, second to Windermere; it left a significant influence on Windermere and Skellan.
Todo
- Needs some vowel shifts
- ø occurs when a (but not ä) is u-umlauted: *taafu > tøøfu
- p > f
- final -g, -w disappear
- ś, g > kh /x/
- s- > t /t/
- -s > -x
- š-, y- > x-
- c, ć > tx, ts
- t- > th /T/
- CäC- > CC- in Wdm and CaC- in Tseezh
Numbers: don, oorad, txim, khaag, omøøtx, dag, abood, xev, wooj, thab, taxaa, trøg
thanam = ice
tawsuug = example
odoxmed = ??? (odosméd = 'byproduct' in Eevo)
nasal vowels merge with nonnasal vowels before m/n/ng/l?
Final -ng disappears leaving nasalization (as in Skellan)
hox = angle
thamex = side
ba<gon>aakh = proportion, ratio
anxoofay = climate
Phonology
Consonants
Classical Tseer has 21 phonemic consonants: Syllable-final v dh are allophones of /b d/, and syllable final b d g are allophones of /p t k/.
m n ng /ŋ/
t th /ʈ/ k ' /ʔ/
b d dh /ɖ/ g
f x /s~z/ kh /x/ h
tx /ts/ ts /tʃ/
v ð /ð/ (only syllable finally)
w r /r̝~ʒ/ l y /j/
- Notes
- /x/ is [ʂ] in some dialects
- b d g = [p t k] word-finally.
Vowels
Classical Tseer has 10 vowels: 6 oral and 4 nasal.
a e i o u ø /a e i o u ɵ/
aa ee oo øø /ã ẽ õ ɵ̃/
/ɵ/ will be transcribed as /ø/ for convenience.
Stress
Classical Tseer had consistent final stress, like Classical Windermere.
Phonotactics
No initial clusters are allowed; also, final -p -t -th -k are forbidden.
Morphology
Classical Tseer morphology is much like Classical Windermere: nouns have masculine and feminine gender, and verbs inflect for aspect, tense, voice, and gender agreement using prefixes, infixes and reduplication.
Pronouns
| I | we (inc. du.) | thou (m.) | thou (f.) | he | she | we (exc.) | we (inc. pl.) | you (m. pl.) | you (f. pl.) | they (m.) | they (f.) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full pronouns | rii | baa | khen | kheex | in | eex | aarir | baaba | kheekhe | kheekhex | inin | inix |
Correlatives
Todo: correlatives table
this, that = ti, fi
this/that man = ten, fen; this/that woman = teex, feex
here, there = mid, mif
Nouns
Like Classical Windermere, each noun has an intrinsic gender, either masculine or feminine. For most feminine nouns, the feminine is marked with -x (pronounced [z] after V m n l r y v dh b d g, [əz] after x tx ts th and [s] after f kh).
- ativ = son-in-law; ativx = daughter-in-law
- bakhoo = uncle; bakhoox = aunt
- athaay = lion; athaayx = lioness
Plurals are formed by reduplication with the reduplicant modified for phonotactic or euphonic reasons.
- athaay 'lion' > a'athaay 'lions'
- moog 'feather' > momoog 'feathers'
TODO: plural reduplication rules
Verbs
Verb template
feminine-TAM-pluractionality-voice-ROOT-TAM
Agreement
Feminine subject: wa-
- Danutx-ir ownax /da'nutsir ow'nas/ = I loved the girl (male speaker)
- Wadanutx-ir ownax /wada'nutsir ow'nas/ = I loved the girl (female speaker)
Voice
- Passive: haa- (~ Windermere ha-)
- Reflexive/Reciprocal: ⟨ax⟩ (~ Wdm ⟨iș⟩)
Verbal number
Pluractionality is used when a verb is done multiple times or done to multiple objects.
Pluractionality: Fe-, FeL-, eeFe- or eeFeL- (cf. Windermere frequentative enFă-)
TAM
Aspects/Tenses:
- Perfective aspect: unmarked
- Intensive: tho-, ~ Wdm. thu-
- Imperfective aspect: le- or reduplication
- Progressive: oL-, oo- (~ Wdm. ăL-, Modern oL- with non-past meaning)
- Imperative: af- (~ Wdm. hef-; Modern Tseer uses xa- for imperative)
Poetry
Tseer poetry is based on lines with
- set numbers of syllables, usually with caesurae and stressed metrical feet
- the lines rhyme in some rhyme scheme, usually in couplets (aa) or quatrains (aaaa).