Tchwerian

Tchwerian (Wieber-Müđel (yip6 mong5) or Reber-Müđel (lip6 mong5)) is a Wiebian dialect continuum that includes varieties of Modern Standard Wiebian. It is often simply called "Wiebian" in-universe. Tchwerian is aesthetically inspired by Chinese.

Numbers

• 1: wahm /jɛp˨/
• 2: diƨƨer /tʂʰɨ˩˧/
• 3: narg /nɛk˨/
• 4: đauf /ǃʰy˩˧/
• 5: säliƨ /si˩˧/
• 6: stuhm /tʂʰɔm˥/
• 7: rut /ʔɔt˨/
• 8: lerz /laː˩˧/
• 9: pfarb /pʰɛp˧/
• 10: kier /kiː˥/

Historical phonology

Middle Wiebian

Middle Wiebian initials

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Click	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	voiceless	/m̊/	/n̊/	/ɳ̊/	/ŋ̊!/	/ŋ̊/
	voiced	/m/	/n/	/ɳ/	/ŋ!/	/ŋ/
Stop	tenuis	/p/	/t/	/ʈ/	/ǃ/	/k/	/ʔ/
	aspirated	/pʰ/	/tʰ/	/ʈʰ/	/ǃʰ/	/kʰ/
	voiced	/b/	/d/	/ɖ/	/ɡǃ/	/ɡ/
Spirants	voiceless	/f/	/θ/		/ɧ/	/x/	/h/
	voiced		/ð/		/ɧ̬/	/ɣ/
Sibilants	voiceless		/s/	/ʂ/
	voiced		/z/	/ʐ/
Approximant	voiceless	/ʍ/	/l̥/
	voiced	/w/	/l/

Middle Wiebian vowels

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	/i/	/iː/	/y/	/yː/			/u/	/uː/
Mid	/e/	/eː/	/ø/	/øː/		/əː/	/ɔ/	/oː/
Open	/æ/	/æː/					/ɑ/	/ɑː/

Diphthongs: /ai au oy ja je iːa jaː wa wo uːa waː ɥa ɥø yːa ɥaː aiɐ auɐ oyɐ/

Tones:

• (-p m)
• (-p b)
• (-p g)
• (+p m)
• (+p b)
• (+p g)

Final changes

• Vowels lengthen before ŋ: ɑŋ æŋ eŋ iŋ oŋ øŋ uŋ yŋ > ɑːŋ æːŋ eːŋ iːŋ oːŋ øːŋ uːŋ yːŋ
• -ŋ! > -ŋ

Retroflex/slender split

• ɑ merger with ɔ, ɑː merger with aː
• ai ~ iː > iː in open syllables, aː in closed syllables
• a(ː) ~ ja(ː) > a(ː)
• e ~ je/i > i
• əː ~ eː > eː
• au ~ ay > ɔ(ː)
• o(ː) ~ ø(ː) > o(ː)
• u(ː) ~ y(ː) > u(ː)
• u(ː)a ~ y(ː)a > u(ː)a
• uo ~ yø > uo
• aiɐ ~ iːa > ja
• auɐ ~ oyɐ > wa
• ʔ > ʔ / r
• k > k / t͡ɕ
• ʈ > k / tʂ
• θ > ʂ / t
• ! > ! / |
• ɧ > r / r
• t > tʂ / ts
• p > p / pj
• n > ɳ / n
• ɳ > ŋ
• l > l / l or j depending on dialect
• r > l

Tone splits and mergers

p ph b > p-H ph-H ph-L

• -phar:
  • h -p m: 1
  • h -p b: 2
  • h -p g: 3/1
  • l -p m: 4
  • l -p b: 5
  • l -p g: 6
• +phar:
  • h +p m: 5
  • h +p b: 4
  • h +p g: 6/1
  • l +p m: 1
  • l +p b: 2
  • l +p g: 3

long vowel-short vowel merger

• 2 + s > 3
• 4 + s > 6
• 6 + L > creakiness

Inventory

Consonants

Reber Wiebian initials

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Click	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		/m/	/n/		/ŋ!/		/ŋ/
Stop	tenuis	/p/	/t/, /ts/	/ʈʂ/	/ǃ/	/tɕ/	/k/	/ʔ/
	aspirated	/pʰ/	/tʰ/, /tsʰ/	/ʈʂʰ/	/ǃʰ/	/tɕʰ/	/kʰ/
Fricatives		/f/	/s/	/ʂ/		/ɕ/	/x/	/h/
Approximant		/w/	/l/			/j/

Vowels

• i
• a
• ɛ
• ɔ
• œ
• y
• u
• ia > iː
• ua > uː
• ya > yː
• ja, wa > aa
• final -w, -j
• øi, øu > øy
• i, y > ɨ before retroflexes.

Tones

123456 as in Cantonese.

Morphology

Accents and dialects

• Standard
• HRJ (distinct?)
• Jüngerriems
• Lerzkorren
• Frintermien
• Keime

Jüngerriems accent of Reber: retroflex ->alveolar
so ʈʂ, ʈʂʰ, ʂ pronounced as ts, tsʰ, s

Lerzkorren accent: like the Jüngerriems accent but click free
clicks -> uvulars as in bruusing

Frintermien: retro and click merge
into click
/ʂ/ -> sje

tone mergers: Jüngerriems and Lerzkorren have something funny going on with tones (retroflexes cause a tone change)

the Keimian accent would be the weirdest
vowel + ng -> nasalized vowel
unaspirated stops are voiced
(and sometimes become fricatives)
vowel + m -> nasalized vowel + w
or maybe no w
clicks become semitic style emphatics
it's perhaps the hardest accent to pull off for someone from HRJ
sorry, vowel + m,n,ng -> nasal vowel + m,n,(optional ng)
vowels get uniformly tensed
ɛ, œ -> e,ø
/i/ can sound like an apical vowel
(think mandarin)
then vocab differences (Etz vs Jeng ...)
keimian tone mergers:
1 2 3 4 5 6-> high falling, mid level, mid falling, mid falling, low level, low level
Nurian accents: one could preserve slender k!
another one could have czech ř for slender r
also you can do weird things with seimhiu/fricatives