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.
Prosody
Stress
Intonation
Phonotactics
Morphophonology
Morphology
Shumian is completely isolating.
- ṇā̀ (I), mhäi (boat) ⇒ ṇā̀ mhäi (my boat)
- rúm (eye), be (water) ⇒ rúm be (tears)
Numbers
| Number | Shumian |
|---|---|
| 0 | dó |
| 1 | lê |
| 2 | bàḥ |
| 3 | vûṁ |
| 4 | pai |
| 5 | śaṁ |
| 6 | śū̂ |
| 7 | ñai |
| 8 | rìṁ |
| 9 | ḍiḥ |
| 10 | kū |
| 11 | nā̌ |
| 12 | ū |
| 144 | vī̈ |
| 1728 | dâu |
Syntax
Shumian is consistently head-final.
Constituent order
Noun phrase
Verb phrase
Sentence phrase
Dependent clauses
Lexicon
ṇḷàḥ ← *ngraskh 'fire'