Swuntsim
Swuntsim | |
---|---|
təSfətsiv | |
Pronunciation | [/təˈsfətsiv/] |
Created by | IlL |
Setting | Verse:Tricin |
Tsimulh
| |
Talman Swutsim (natively təSfətsiv /təˈsfətsiv/) is a modern Tsimulh language. It is the traditional vernacular language of the Swutsim diaspora in Talma and Fyxám.
It's inspired by Lushootseed and Welsh.
Todo
pluralization - mess it up
- utcütsi (5, solid, compact things) or cütsi (8, various; pl) = 'shell'
- Scütsi (4, collectives and augmentatives), of Scutzis fame = personal name, meaning 'patient, enduring'
- tjway (7, places, slots, assignments) = 'name' (a name is an assignment)
- Yəy, yo fətjway? = Hello, what's your name?
- Cətjway... = My name is...
- Tidhamo! = See you!
Diachronical sketch
- m n > v dh
- sm sn > zv zd
- b d > b d
- g > gh > compensatory lengthening
Getting the aesthetic
- q qʷ > ŋ ŋʷ > n m
- gʷ > w when not word initial.
- sb sd > zv zd
- xʷ > f
- ʔC > C: (geminate)
- /ʔb ʔd/ > /b d/
- Zəpətj ʔusansj ʔəsoməv tüdjonf = the living fish swims in water
- ʔəmam = mother; ʔəpap = father
- tüdjo = water
- tjvic = house
- üvC > uuC
Orthography
Sfətsiv is usually written in the Windermere script.
Phonology
Consonants
Like many Tsimulh languages, Sfətsiv has no liquids in native words. However, liquids occur in loaned vocabulary.
Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Laryngeal | Glottal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
central | lateral | plain | lab'zed | ||||||
Nasal | m m | n n | (ŋ ŋ) | ||||||
Stop | tenuis | p p | t t | c k | cw kʷ | ʔ ʔ | |||
voiced | b b | d d | g g | gw gʷ | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | f f | s s | σ ɬ | sj ʃ | ch χ | chw χʷ | h h | |
voiced | v v | dh ð z z |
zj ʒ | ||||||
Affricate | tenuis | ts ts | ξ tɬ | tj tʃ | |||||
voiced | dj dʒ | ||||||||
Approximant | (r r) | y j | w w | (l ɴ̆) |
gw, chw become g, ch before rounded vowels /y u o/.
r, l, ŋ are used in loanwords.
Geminates are allowed and are rendered by doubling (for digraphs, doubling the first consonant)
Vowels
i ü u e ə o a /i ü u e ə o a/ + long vowels
Stress
Stress is always penultimate.
Morphology
Modern Sfətsiv has lost the Proto-Tsimulh noun class system, which was still active in Sacred Sfətsiv. Pronouns and verbs only agree in animacy and number.
Nouns
The genitive is marked with -s, but -əs after coronal fricatives: stsaσ 'a forest or similar collection' > stsaσəs 'of a forest'
-s- is often inserted between nouns in compounds.
Nouns with unmarked plurals and marked singulars are common. The singulative is marked with gü- in this case.
Expected noun class reflexes:
- ʔə-, pl. tsə- = humans, spirits
- bü-, pl. də- = animals and other things that move on their own
- p-, pl. əpi- = plants and mushrooms; things that grow
- s-, pl. düs-/dü- or dus-/du- = collections or large things
- üt-, pl. pσə- = roughly round, compact objects
- va-, pl. wə- = long objects; tools, instruments, devices
- tj-, pl. abi- = places, locations, slots
- gü-, pl. 0- or dh- = various... including fluids (powder, water, liquids, fire, light, waves, wind, ...)
- σi-, pl. wi- = time periods; events; things that are temporary (e.g. ice)
- t-, ti- = abstractions, manner, way, infinitives, verbal nouns (Class 10+11)
- bda- = -ness, -hood (Class 12)
Pronouns
Possessive pronouns
- cwidh = I
Determiners
TODO: Separate forms for mass nouns
- every, all: tsəcwadh 'everyone, every (for animates)'; wəcwadh 'all things (for inanimates)'; cwadh 'everything; all (mass nouns)'
- many: tsəzab 'many people'; wəzab 'many things'; zab 'much (mass nouns)'
- few: tsənuu 'few people'; wənuu 'few things'; nuu 'few (mass nouns)'
- other: ʔəchasj 'another person'; tsəchasj 'other people'; chasj 'other things'
Verbs
The infinitive affix is t- for verb stems beginning with a vowel and ti- for verb stems beginning with a consonant.
Concord
The animate subject affix is ʔə- in the singular and tsə- in the plural. Verbs with inanimate subjects do not have any subject affix.
Personal affixes:
- 1sg cə-
- 2sg fə-
- 1pl gwə-
- 2pl tsü-
Tense
Mood
Voice
Syntax
Modern Sfətsiv is SVO and pro-drop.
Genitives precede nouns: cəʔəmams tjway 'my mother's name'
Vocabulary
Much of the vocabulary is native and inherited from Sacred Swutsim - but there are a lot of reborrowings from Sacred Swutsim. There are also loanwords from Amphirese, Rhythoed, and other Talman languages.