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| ====Prosody==== | | ====Prosody==== |
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| ==Orthography==
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| The Tsan natively use the [[w:Vai syllabary|Vai syllabary]] to write amongst themselves. This modified syllabary is called the '''Tsan abugida'''.
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| The [[w:abugida|abugida]] symbols are composed of one onset consonant and one vowel. Vowels carrying different tones are perceived as proper vowels and do thus have their own symbols. There are a few gaps in the syllabary, since some combinations are not possible in the language, or have been lost.
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| The native name for the syllabary is '''giráas atsàari''', ꘒ ꕉꔍꔹꗏ, which means "imperfect script". It is near-homophonous to '''giráas asáari''' ꘒ ꕉꕦꔹꗏ, which would mean "Asaari" or "blue script".
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| There are a few problems with the script; ejective consonants and long vowels are not denoted by symbols of their own. Instead, they are marked with the following symbols:
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| * ꔷ - which marks ejectivity on a consonant, and also that that the vowel should be elided if final.
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| * ꔹ - marks long vowels.
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| {| class="bluetable lightbluebg collapsible collapsed" style="width: 650px; text-align: center;"
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| ! colspan="13"|Tsan abugida
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| |-
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| ! colspan="2" rowspan="3"|
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| ! colspan="11"|Vowel
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| |-
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| ! colspan="3" rowspan="1"| -a
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| ! colspan="3" rowspan="1"| -e
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| ! colspan="3" rowspan="1"| -i
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| |-
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| !/a/
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| !/áʔ/
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| !/ɑ̀ⁿ/
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| !/ɛ/
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| !/ɛ́ʔ/
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| !/ɛ̀ⁿ/
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| !/ɪ/
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| !/ɪ́ʔ/
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| !/ɨ̀ⁿ/
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| |-
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| ! rowspan="21"|Onset
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| !(none)
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| |ꕉ
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| |ꕱ
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| |ꕊ
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| |ꔀ
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| |ꖺ
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| |ꗢ
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| |ꕪ
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| |ꖷ
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| |ꔧ
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| |-
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| !p-
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| |ꕐ
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| |ꕑ
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| |ꕒ
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| |ꔅ
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| |ꔆ
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| |ꗩ
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| |ꗨ
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| |ꔇ
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| |ꗪ
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| |-
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| !t-
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| |ꔎ
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| |ꔐ
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| |ꔒ
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| |ꕚ
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| |ꕜ
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| |ꖁ
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| |ꕽ
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| |ꕾ
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| |ꘅ
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| |-
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| !q-
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| |ꖏ
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| |ꔫ
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| |ꖐ
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| |ꗛ
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| |ꗜ
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| |ꗝ
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| |ꖴ
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| |ꖵ
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| |ꖶ
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| |-
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| !'-
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| |ꖋ
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| |ꗘ
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| |ꖍ
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| |ꗗ
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| |ꗘ
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| |ꗙ
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| |ꖰ
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| |ꖱ
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| |ꖲ
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| |-
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| !ts-
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| |ꔋ
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| |ꔌ
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| |ꔍ
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| |ꕗ
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| |ꕘ
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| |ꕙ
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| |ꗯ
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| |ꗱ
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| |ꗲ
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| |-
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| !tl-
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| |ꕪ
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| |ꕌ
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| |ꕭ
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| |ꔞ
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| |ꔟ
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| |ꔠ
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| |ꘃ
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| |ꘄ
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| |ꘆ
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| |-
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| !tsh-
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| |ꖉ
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| |ꗉ
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| |ꗊ
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| |ꗋ
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| |ꗍ
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| |ꖑ
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| |ꖨ
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| |ꖪ
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| |ꖳ
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| |-
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| !ph-
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| |ꕓ
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| |ꕔ
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| |ꕖ
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| |ꔈ
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| |ꔉ
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| |ꔊ
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| |ꗫ
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| |ꗬ
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|
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| |ꗮ
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| |-
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| !th-
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| |ꕞ
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| |ꔕ
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| |ꔖ
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| |ꕠ
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| |ꕡ
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| |ꖇ
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| |ꗻ
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| |ꗽ
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| |ꔺ
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| |-
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| !s-
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| |ꔻ
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| |ꕦ
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| |ꕧ
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| |ꗳ
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| |ꔿ
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| |ꔛ
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| |ꖤ
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| |ꗿ
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| |ꘀ
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| |-
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| !lh-
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| | -
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| |ꖆ
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| |ꖃ
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| | -
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| |ꔳ
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| |ꔱ
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| | -
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| |ꘇ
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| |ꔦ
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| |-
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| !sh-
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| | -
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| |ꕨ
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| |ꕩ
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| | -
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| |ꔜ
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| |ꔝ
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| | -
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| |ꘁ
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| |ꘂ
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| |-
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| !h-
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| | -
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| |ꕬ
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| |ꕍ
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| | -
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| |ꔂ
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| |ꕅ
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| | -
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| |ꗤ
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| |ꗥ
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| |-
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| !l-
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| |ꕿ
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| |ꖻ
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| |ꖼ
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| |ꔵ
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| |ꗓ
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| |ꗕ
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| |ꕳ
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| |ꖅ
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| |ꕴ
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| |-
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| !y-
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| |ꖢ
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| |ꖣ
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| |ꖎ
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| |ꔬ
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| |ꔭ
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| |ꕸ
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| |ꖝ
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| |ꖞ
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| |ꗄ
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| |-
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| !r-
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| |ꕀ
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| |ꕁ
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| |ꕂ
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| |ꖙ
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| |ꕏ
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| |ꖗ
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|
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| |ꗏ
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| |ꖿ
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| |ꖽ
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| |-
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| !m-
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| |ꕎ
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|
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| |ꕮ
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| |ꕯ
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|
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| |ꔃ
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|
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| |ꕆ
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|
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| |ꕇ
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|
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| |ꗦ
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|
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| |ꘈ
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|
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| |ꘉ
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| |-
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| !n-
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| |ꕺ
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|
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| |ꕻ
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|
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| |ꗇ
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|
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| |ꗅ
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|
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| |ꗆ
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|
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| |ꕼ
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|
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| |ꖟ
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|
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| |ꔨ
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|
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| |ꖡ
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| |-
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| !mh-
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|
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| |ꕰ
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|
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| |ꕃ
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|
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| | -
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|
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| |ꕈ
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| |ꕄ
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|
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| | -
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|
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| |ꘊ
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|
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| |ꘋ
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|
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| | -
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| |-
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| !nh-
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| |ꗁ
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| |ꗂ
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|
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| | -
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| |ꕶ
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| |ꕷ
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|
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| | -
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| |ꖛ
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| |ꖜ
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| | -
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| |}
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| [[image:asaari logograms.png|thumb|right|350px|The full index of Tsan logograms. All of them are fairly common.]]
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| ===Punctuation===
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| Qiráas atsàari does not use Latin punctuation. It is somewhat more limited, but uses the following symbols:
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| * ꘎ - Marks a full stop.
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| * ꘏ - Question or interrogation mark.
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| * ꘍ - Denotes a comma, separates clauses.
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| * ꖫ - Has the function of an English colon or semicolon.
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| ===Logograms===
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| The Tsan script does also have a number of logograms: Single characters that mark a full word.
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| These are rather few, and they can all be spelt out with the syllabary. It should be noted however, that whilst the logograms are very comfortable and quick to write, they are never marked for affixes, inflexion or the like. That means they must be pronounced out of context.
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| ==Grammar== | | ==Grammar== |