Verse:Hmøøh/Rencad
Tigal is a West Talmic language.
1: cēm- > ciew 2: tithōr > tyσer 3: nazge > nég-L 4: dhaufe > dǿ-L 5: salir > seler 6: stām > stáw 7: rōde > ryøλ-L 8: lorethe > løreσ-L 9: farve > erv-L 10: ħiōr > yør
Phonology
Tigal phonology is partially based on German and Irish.
Consonants
Tigal has around 20 consonants, like most West Talmic languages.
| Labial | Dental | Lateral | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ŋ /ŋ/ | ||||
| Stop/Affricate | tenuis | b /p/ | d /t/ | g /k/ | |||
| aspirated | p /pʰ/ | t /tʰ/ | c /kʰ/ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f /f/ | s /s/ | σ /ɬ/ | x /x/ | r /χ~ʁ~ʀ/ | h /h/ |
| voiced | v /v/ | z /z/ | λ /ɮ/ | ğ /ɣ/ | |||
| Trill | |||||||
| Approximant | w /w/ | l /ʟ/ | |||||
Notes:
- The aspiration distinction is neutralized word-finally.
- /ʟ/ is phonetically a pharyngealized uvular approximant [ʁ̞ˤ] or a backed uvular approximant [ʁ̠̞] which may be pronounced with compressed lips [ʁ̞ˤᵝ~ʁ̠̞ᵝ], like the Philadelphia English vocalized L. This article uses /ʟ/ for simplicity.
- /ʀ/ is a trill [ʀ] in careful speech. It is a fricative [ʁ] or an approximant [ʁ̞] in casual speech which devoices to [χ] word-finally or after an aspirate. The main features distinguishing /ʀ/ from /ʟ/ are greater frication and absence of pharyngealization in the former.
Initial consonant mutations
The following consonants can undergo initial lenition and/or eclipsis (except sC clusters):
| Root letter | m | p | b | f | t | d | s | z | c | g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lenited | w | f | v | 0 | σ | λ | h | 0 | x | ğ |
| Eclipsed | m | b | m | v | d | n | z | z | g | ŋ |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | |||||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i /ɪ/ | í /iː/ | y /ʏ/ | ý /yː/ | u /ʊ/ | ú /uː/ | ||
| Mid | e /ɛ/ | é /eː/ | ø /œ/ | ǿ /øː/ | e /ə/ | o /ɔ/ | ó /oː/ | |
| Open | a /a/ | á /aː/ | ||||||
Diphthongs: ie yø uo /iə yə uə/
ğ after a vowel is silent and works like Turkish ğ: before a consonant it lengthens the previous vowel and before a vowel it simply becomes silent.
Umlaut
Words may undergo i-umlaut or u-umlaut under the addition of some affixes.
| Root vowel | a | a | e | é | i | í | ie | o | ó | u | ú | uo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| u-umlaut | o | ó | ø | ǿ | y | ý | yø | - | - | - | '- | - |
| i-umlaut | e | é | - | - | - | - | - | ø | ǿ | y | ý | yø |
Morphology
Nouns
Masculine vowel declension
Use ~ AW neuter determiner endings?
| clúde - 'time' | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number→ State↓ |
Singular | Plural |
| Indefinite | clúde-L | clúden |
| Definite | a clúde | clúder |
| Construct | clúdew-L | clúder-L |
Masculine consonantal declension
The mutation after the noun surfaces on adjectives and genitive nouns.
| suor - 'house' | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number→ State↓ |
Singular | Plural |
| Indefinite | suor-N | suore-H |
| Definite | a huor-L | suoren |
| Construct | suor-L | suorer-L |
Feminine vowel declension
Feminine consonant declension
| iew - 'mother' | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number→ State↓ |
Singular | Plural |
| Indefinite | iew | iewer |
| Definite | a niew-N | a hiew-H |
| Construct | yøw-L | yøwen-L |