Faiten

Faiten
Fae Tan Fah or 飛談話
Pronunciation	[fᴀi̯ tᴀn fᴀ]
Created by	Nathan Xu
Date	2009
Native to	Faitonia
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Faiten
Official status
Official language in	Faitonia
Regulated by	媈唐人民國政府 or Fai Tang Hnin Bin Jieng Foo

Introduction

Faiten Language (also known as Tan Language) is a constructed language with its roots in the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is primarily spoken in the region of Faitonia and holds a community of 4 million speakers (4.5 million including in Faitonian diaspora). While Faiten initially gained popularity as a tool to circumvent government censorship on the internet, it has also evolved into a fully-fledged spoken language. Faiten's linguistic structure draws influences from mainly Chinese and in some cases Vietnamese.

Phonology

Vowel inventory

	Front		Back
Close	i	y	ɨ	u
Middle	e	ø	ə	o
Open	ɛ	œ	ᴀ	ɔ

Consonant inventory

		Labial	Dental	Velar	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal
Stop	Aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	kʰ	t͡sʰ	ʈ͡ʂʰ	t͡ɕʰ
	Tenuis	p	t	k	t͡s	ʈ͡ʂ	t͡ɕ
	Voiced	b	d	g
Fricative	Tenuis	f		h	s	ʂ	ɕ
	Voiced	v			z	ʐ	ʑ
Resonant	Nasal	m	n	ŋ
	Liquid	w	l				j

Correspondences From Middle Chinese

• 

  Faiten Initials

• 

  Faiten Open Rimes

• 

  Faiten Nasal Rimes

NOTES:

• Labialisation of initials 幫 滂 並 明 only occur in independent rimes 嚴 元 殷 庚 凡 文 廢 微 幽 as well as Chongniu-B rimes 祭 支 脂 宵 鹽 侵 仙 真 清 as well as Closed mouth III rimes 戈 陽 蒸.
• Rimes 魚 虞 are realized as back vowels /u o/ in initials 知 徹 澄 娘 莊 初 崇 生 俟 and front /y ø/ for the rest.
• Before initials 知 徹 澄 娘 莊 初 崇 生 俟 the mixed III finals lose their palatal glide as they merge with division II.
• The initials 曉 匣 are both realized as /h/. But in closed mouth syllables they labiodentalise into /f v/ which lose their -u̯- glide.
• Before initials 端 透 定 泥 精 清 從 心 邪 they lose their palatal glide while retaining their vowels.
• In initials 知 徹 澄 娘 莊 初 崇 生 俟 the vowels /e i/ become /ə ɨ/.
• In initials 見 溪 羣 疑, Chongniu-B rimes loses it’s palatal glide while Chongniu-A rimes retains the -i- glide.