Zzean

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Talk:

Zzean /ˈθiːən/ (Zzean: Zzea kī̄ /θiə̯˧ ki˥/) is an analytic monosyllabic tonal language with 11 tones: 5 level tones and 6 contour tones. It is head-final and SVO. Zzean belongs to a small family called the Zzeic languages but otherwise has no known relatives. Zzean is inspired by East and Southeast Asian tonal languages, Ojitlán Chinantec, Toda, and Saanich.

Phonology

The following is the phonology of Standard Zzean.

Phonotactics

A morpheme is almost always monosyllabic. A syllable always has the structure IRT, where I = initial, R = rime, and T = tone. Zzean has 33 initials, 9 rimes, and 11 tones, making 3267 possible syllables.

Rimes

i/e/ə/ɑ/ej/əj/ɑj/iə̯/ɨə̯

i/e/ə/a/ey/əy/ay/ea/ua

Notes
  • /ɑ/ and /ɑj/ are phonetically [a̠] and [a̠j].
  • /ɨə̯/ is commonly monophthongized to [ɨ] or [ɨ̞].

Initials

Labial Lamino-dental Apico-alveolar Subapical Palatal(ized) Velar Glottal
nonsib. sib. nonsib. sib. nonsib. sib.
Nasal m /m/ nh /n̪/ n /n/ nr /ɳ/
Stop p /p/ th /t̪/ tz /t̪s̪/ t /t/ ts /ts̠/ tr /ʈ/ tsr /ʈʂ/ k /k/ /ʔ/
Fricative f /f/ zz /θ/ z /s̪/ ss /θ̠/ s /s̠/ sr /ʂ/ x /ʃ/ kh /x/ h /h/
Resonant central w /w/ zh /ð̞/ r /ɾ/ rr /ɻ/ y /j/ g /ɰ/
lateral lh /l̪/ l /l/ lr /ɭ/ lg /ʟ/

Tones

Tones have low functional load in Zzean relative to other major Angaian languages.

Rom. IPA English name Example Description
ā̄ /˥/ (55) top kā̄ /kɑ˥/ 'short' Often marked by stiff voice.
ā /˦/ (44) high /kɑ˦/ 'coat'
a /˧/ (33) mid ka /kɑ˧/ 'to take'
/˨/ (22) low ka̱ /kɑ˨/ 'to breathe'
a̱̱ /˩/ (11) bottom ka̱̱ /kɑ˩/ 'to burn (intrans.)' Often marked by vocal fry.
/˩˥/ (15) bottom-rise ka̗ /kɑ˩˥/ 'roof' Often begins with vocal fry. May be realized as [˩˦] (14), or even [˨˦] (24) in rapid speech.
á /˧˥/ (35) mid-rise /kɑ˧˥/ 'fencepost'
à /˥˩/ (51) top-fall /kɑ˥˩/ 'crow, raven; (ideophone) caw' May be realized as [˥˧] (53).
/˧˩/ (31) mid-fall ka̖ /kɑ˧˩/ 'finger'
/˨˩˨/ (212) dip ka̬ /kɑ˨˩˨/ 'oil, fat, grease' Often realized as [˩˨] (12) in rapid speech.
â /˧˦˧/ (343) peak /kɑ˧˦˧/ 'to imprint, to stamp' May be [˨˧˨] (232). Often realized as [˦˩] (41) or [˦˨] (42) in rapid speech.

Tone box

A (null or resonant coda) (2/6) B (glottal stop coda) (1/6) C (fricative coda) (1/6) D (voiceless stop coda) (1/6) E (voiced stop coda) (1/6)
Modal initial (3/8) 33 (a) 212 (a̬) 22 (a̱) 35 (á) 11 (a̱̱)
Breathy initial (3/8) 31 (a̖) 15 (a̗) 343 (â) 15 (a̗) 343 (â)
Creaky initial (2/8) 51 (à) 44 (ā) 11 (a̱̱) 55 (ā̄) 51 (à)

Awkwords input

C: m/nh/n/nr/p/th/tz/t/ts/tx/tr/tsr/k//f/zz/z/ss/s/x/sr/kh/h/lh/zh/l/r/lr/rr/lg/g/y/w

R: ā̄/ā/a/a̱/a̱̱/a̗/á/à/a̖/a̬/â/ā̄y/āy/ay/a̱y/a̱̱y/a̗y/áy/ày/a̖y/a̬y/ây/ē̄/ē/e/e̱/e̱̱/e̗/é/è/e̖/e̬/ê/ē̄y/ēy/ey/e̱y/e̱̱y/e̗y/éy/èy/e̖y/e̬y/êy/ē̄a/ēa/ea/e̱a/e̱̱a/e̗a/éa/èa/e̖a/e̬a/êa/ī̄/ī/i/i̱/i̱̱/i̗/í/ì/i̖/i̬/î/ə̄̄/ə̄/ə/ə̱/ə̱̱/ə̖/ə́/ə̀/ə̗/ə̬/ə̂/ə̄̄y/ə̄y/əy/ə̱y/ə̱̱y/ə̖y/ə́y/ə̀y/ə̗y/ə̬y/ə̂y/ū̄a/ūa/ua/u̱a/u̱̱a/u̖a/úa/ùa/u̗a/u̬a/ûa

Dialects

Orthography

Zzean is written in the Zzean script and uses a very deep orthography, like Tibetan.