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==History==
==History==
Rttirri is a member of the Rttirrian language family, whose languages are spoken across the nation of Rttirria as well as in adjoining areas of Myanmar and Thailand.
:''See also: [[Proto-Rttirrian]]''
Rttirri is a member of the Rttirrian language family, whose languages are spoken across the nation of Rttirria as well as in adjoining areas of Myanmar and Thailand. It is part of the South Rttirrian branch of the family; the dialects of Proto-South-Rttirrian that would become Rttirri split off from those that would become Gaju around the 3rd to 5th century CE, probably in southeastern Rttirria.
 
The main phonological and grammatical changes from Proto-South-Rttirrian to Rttirri are summarized here:
* The language evolved from a [[w:nominative-accusative language|nominative-accusative]] to an [[w:ergative-absolutive language|ergative-absolutive]] language: intransitive verbs began to use a construction combining the subject/possessive marker with the word ''hi'' ("benefit"), which then simplified into an affix identical to the object markers. For example, ''na-hi-'' ("for my benefit, X happened") became ''ni-'' ("I did X").
* The third-person singular absolutive affix */gʲa/ disappeared.
* A chain shift occurred from voiced stops, to voiceless stops, to voiceless fricatives, much like [[w:Grimm's law|Grimm's law]] in [[w:Proto-Germanic|Proto-Germanic]]. This occurred for the alveolar, bilabial, palatal, and retroflex series, but the palatalization of */gʲ/ kept it from occurring for the velar series—i.e. */gʲ/ did not become /k/ and /k/ did not become /x/. Instead, */gʲ/ shifted to simply /j/.
* Some clusters were broken up with an epenthetic */ə/, which later backed to /ʌ/.
* In onset position, the phoneme */ʟ/ shifted to /ʋ/, later /w/. In coda position, it vocalized to /u̯/, except after /u/—*/uʟ/ > /ʌ/.
* In some "emphatic" and common words, stops were optionally pronounced as ejective consonants. Under the influence of this phenomenon, all stop-stop clusters simplified to an ejective version of the first stop, e.g. */tk/ > /tʼ/.
* /β/+/ʌ/, in either order, simplified to a new vowel, /y/, which later lowered to /ø/ to contrast with /i/.
* The verbal tense system simplified greatly, with only a handful of irregular verbs remaining (see below).
* The freestanding evidential particles ''na'', ''nye'', ''su'', and ''sya'' began to be attached to the verb and take on the preceding vowel.
* Similarly to the formation of the new absolutive prefixes, causative prefixes formed from the ergative/possessive prefixes plus ''efe'' (modern Rttirri: ''ehe'' "command"), which simplified. For example, ''na-ehe'' ("under my command, X happened") became ''ne-'' ("I caused X to happen").
* Because the word order (which is much freer in [[Gaju]], for example) was starting to solidify in an Verb / Absolutive / Ergative pattern, the absolutive noun joined the verb complex, leading to [[w:noun incorporation|noun incorporation]].
* Two more chain shifts occurred: /θ/ > /f/ > /h/, /t͡s/ > /t/ > /ʔ/.
* The phoneme */s/ merged into /ç/ before front and central vowels and /ʃ/ before back vowels.
* In most dialects, */a/ (which had backed to /ä/) merged with /ʌ/ as /ɑ/.


==Phonology==
==Phonology==
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The writing system in Rttirri is mostly phonetic, but as it reflects Classical Rttirri pronunciation, various mergers and phonemic splits have corrupted the one-to-one correspondence between sound and letter. In addition, several characters exist that are only used for transliteration of Sanskrit words into Rttirri, having historically represented sounds that do not exist in Rttirri. For example, the letter representing Sanskrit /ɖ/ is distinct from the letter representing /ʈ/, but both are pronounced as [ʈ] in modern Rttirri (or often as [ɖ] intervocalically), because most dialects of the language have no phonemic voicing distinctions. The diacritic representing /ʌ/ could be considered redundant, because few speakers today maintain the phonemic distinction between /ʌ/ and /ɑ/, but using the right diacritic anyway is essential for correct spelling.
The writing system in Rttirri is mostly phonetic, but as it reflects Classical Rttirri pronunciation, various mergers and phonemic splits have corrupted the one-to-one correspondence between sound and letter. In addition, several characters exist that are only used for transliteration of Sanskrit words into Rttirri, having historically represented sounds that do not exist in Rttirri. For example, the letter representing Sanskrit /ɖ/ is distinct from the letter representing /ʈ/, but both are pronounced as [ʈ] in modern Rttirri (or often as [ɖ] intervocalically), because most dialects of the language have no phonemic voicing distinctions. The diacritic representing /ʌ/ could be considered redundant, because few speakers today maintain the phonemic distinction between /ʌ/ and /ɑ/, but using the right diacritic anyway is essential for correct spelling.


In the late 19th century, when Rttirria was a colony of Britain, English linguists designed a Latin transcription system for Rttirri. There have been periodic movements to switch Rttirri to using the Latin alphabet, but none has ever been successful. However, the Latin system is often favored for Rttirri textbooks and travel-focused language-learning books, since it is almost completely phonetic.
In the late 19th century, when Rttirria was a colony of Britain, linguists from England designed a Latin transcription system for Rttirri. There have been periodic movements to switch Rttirri to using the Latin alphabet, but none has ever been successful. However, the Latin system is often favored for textbooks and travel guides for learning Rttirri, since it is almost completely phonetic.


==Vocabulary==
==Vocabulary==
The bulk of Rttirri vocabulary is indigenous. However, a sizable number of words, particularly related to food, seafaring, academia, and religion, are derived from Arabic and Sanskrit; as part of the historical Indosphere, Rttirria was long influenced by Indian and Arab traders and briefly made a colony of India, during which time it was given its native Brahmic script.
The bulk of Rttirri vocabulary is indigenous. However, a sizable number of words, particularly related to food, seafaring, academia, and religion, are derived from Arabic and Sanskrit; as part of the historical Indosphere, Rttirria was long influenced by Indian and Arab traders and briefly made a colony of India, during which time it was given its native Brahmic script. Rttirrians' attitudes toward loaning words from other languages, such as English, Mandarin, Burmese, and Tamil, vary more.
 
Rttirrians' attitudes toward loaning words from other languages, such as English, Mandarin, Burmese, and Tamil, vary more. In general, younger, more urban, and more politically liberal people who are less nationalistic are more accepting of loanwords. There is little correlation with gender, socioeconomic status, or the strength of a speaker's regional identity.


However, many common "international" words have names coined from native Rttirri roots. This is not primarily a prescriptive process propagated by a nativist language academy, but has more to do with marketing firms' desire to make products accessible and comprehensible, and with Rttirri's limited phonotactic possibilities that make many languages' vocabulary difficult to loan. A few examples follow:
However, many common "international" words have names coined from native Rttirri roots. This is not primarily a prescriptive process propagated by a nativist language academy, but has more to do with marketing firms' desire to make products accessible and comprehensible, and with Rttirri's limited phonotactic possibilities that make many languages' vocabulary difficult to loan. A few examples follow:
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*''Pisyikitepe'' ("Internet", lit. "electricity book" - this may be seen as ironic, since ''kitepe'' is itself an obvious Arabic loan)
*''Pisyikitepe'' ("Internet", lit. "electricity book" - this may be seen as ironic, since ''kitepe'' is itself an obvious Arabic loan)
*''uiuiuni'' ("banana", lit. "crescent")
*''uiuiuni'' ("banana", lit. "crescent")
===Phonological conventions with loanwords===
Other than /l/, /x/, /e/, and /o/, most speakers will make little attempt to imitate sounds in loanwords that do not occur natively in Rttirri. Gemination, tone, and vowel length are ignored in words from languages that have them. Illegal clusters and final consonants are usually resolved with the nearest vowel being repeated epenthetically, such as ''Sapaiki'' for "Spike". The velar nasal, which does not exist in Rttirri, becomes /ɲ/, and vowels in the mid-central region (such as the English schwa), become /ø/.
Due to Rttirria's past as a British colony, many speakers resent and resist any British influence on their culture or language. As a result, English loanwords are usually pronounced more like in American English than British English:
*[[w:Rhoticity in English|Postvocalic /r/ is intact]], as in ''parra'' ("par", in golf).
*The [[w:father-bother merger|father-bother merger]] means that both /ɑː/ and /ɒ/ become /ɑ/ in Rttirri, although the [[w:cot-caught merger|cot-caught merger]] is not present and English /ɔː/ becomes Rttirri /o/.
*English /æ/ is not lowered to [a~ä] as in many British Isles dialects or [[w:California English|California English]]; instead, it is imported as /e/, almost resembling the [[w:Northern Cities Vowel Shift|Northern Cities Vowel Shift]], as in ''tepe-tusa'' ("tap dance"). There is no [[w:trap-bath split|trap-bath split]].


===Numerals===
===Numerals===
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===Kikai Rttirri===
===Kikai Rttirri===
Kikai occupies a transitional zone between the Western and Eastern dialect areas. As a result, its dialect can be considered an mixture of Eastern and Western Rttirri, but younger speakers, especially in the city of Kikai itself, are tending to use a more Western pronunciation.
Kikai occupies a transitional zone between the Western and Eastern dialect areas. As a result, its dialect can be considered a mixture of Eastern and Western Rttirri, but younger speakers, especially in the city of Kikai itself, are adopting more Western features.


===Northern Rttirri===
===Northern Rttirri===
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:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-yell-dummy-DRPAC 2SG.ERG-1SG.ABS-IMP-kick-stop-GER
:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-yell-dummy-DRPAC 2SG.ERG-1SG.ABS-IMP-kick-stop-GER
:I kept yelling at you to stop kicking me!
:I kept yelling at you to stop kicking me!
==Sample text==
''Pipepi'' ("The Bushlark", 1958), a free-verse piece by the Rttirrian poet Sruwurtu Ukapi, who is credited with helping Rttirrian literature and poetry branch out from its long tradition of cynicism and darkness.
::{|
||'''English'''|| || '''Rttirri'''
|-
||As I strode through the forest,|| || Nitutasaifaityunu sasyakichatta,
|-
||I found a bushlark sitting on the ground.|| || pipepikka kku wukini mursuri.
|-
||She cooed to greet me|| || Puhirnunu sahaipuhhui nakka
|-
||and lifted a limp wing to wave.|| || hu weretumaki afnu michi.
|-
||"So morose is the cry of the birds of this area,"|| || "Ttyasittyahirnupu kelime rreumanye rikeu,"
|-
||I remarked to myself.|| || napukemisana.
|-
||"Nay," she said! "I am happy.|| || "Nu, nimarrattyana!" wapurtiusana.
|-
||"My stomach cries for berries,|| || "Amirsetini fraimahhui,
|-
||but I can answer it with beetles.|| || wa nikinene tyurrumarratye.
|-
||"My lungs cry for exercise of the wings,|| || Hhiamiwamini echauhhui makimanye,
|-
||but I can answer them with a jog.|| || wa nikinene mikikapurratye.
|-
||My heart cries for a man or a friend|| || Amirupana rnuhhui wa nyeppaihhui
|-
||of my own kind,|| || nakesyinye,
|-
||anything for some pleasant conversation,|| || rsi isipuhhui ttima eka,
|-
||but I can answer it with you."|| || wa nikinene kerratye."
|}


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Gaju]]
* [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]]
* [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]]


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