Swuntsim

Talman Swutsim/Lexicon

Swuntsim
təSfətsiv
Pronunciation	[/təˈsfətsiv/]
Created by	IlL
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Language family	Tsimulh Swuntsim

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. Words from Sacred Swutsim are written in the original Swutsim orthography.

Phonology

Consonants

Like many Tsimulh languages, Sfətsiv has no liquids in native words. However, liquids occur in loaned vocabulary.

Swuntsim consonants

		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:

1. ʔə-, pl. tsə- = humans, spirits
2. bü-, pl. də- = animals and other things that move on their own
3. p-, pl. əpi- = plants and mushrooms; things that grow
4. s-, pl. düs-/dü- or dus-/du- = collections or large things
5. üt-, pl. pσə- = roughly round, compact objects
6. va-, pl. wə- = long objects; tools, instruments, devices
7. tj-, pl. abi- = places, locations, slots
8. gü-, pl. 0- or dh- = various... including fluids (powder, water, liquids, fire, light, waves, wind, ...)
9. σi-, pl. wi- = time periods; events; things that are temporary (e.g. ice)
10. t-, ti- = abstractions, manner, way, infinitives, verbal nouns (Class 10+11)
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-

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.