Tũka

Tũka
Tucan
i tũka
Pronunciation	[i̯ ˈtuj.ka]
Created by	Jukethatbox
Date	2024
Language family	A priori Artistic language Tũka

Tũka(/tuːkə/; Tũka: [ˈtuj.ka]) is an a priori artlang that follows the design principle of "simple sounds, complex grammar". In principle, the language is heavily influenced by Toki Pona, though the orthography is inspired by Polynesian languages and Portuguese.

Phonology

Orthography

Tũka orthography is heavily inspired by Portuguese and the Polynesian languages. Almost all consonants in Tũka are identical to their IPA symbols, except for /ɲ/, which is written ⟨nh⟩, like in Portuguese.

Tilde letters

Like in Portuguese, Tũka has tilde letters(letters with a squiggly line on top, like ⟨Ãã⟩), though their pronunciation is different. In Portuguese(and the IPA), tilde letters represent nasalised vowels, but in Tũka they represent vowels followed by a voiced palatal approximant(/-j/), although ⟨Ĩĩ⟩ represents a vowel preceded by a voiced palatal approximant.

When a voiced alveolar nasal consonant(/n/) is followed by a ⟨ĩ⟩, the diphthong(triphthong?) is written ⟨nhi⟩.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Palatal	Glottal
Plosive	p	t	k
Nasal	m	n		ɲ
Fricative					h
(Lateral) Approximant		l		j

Vowels

	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	i	u	iː	uː
Open	a		aː

Prosody

Stress

Tũka uses a prototonic stress pattern.

Phonotactics

Tũka uses what I call Juke's law, which I have used in other languages, like in Kutic and Proto-Tassinean. Essentially, two phonemes of the same consonant category(e.g. plosive, fricative, etc.) can not be directly adjacent to each other, e.g. /tka/ would not be possible, as both /t/ and /k/ are plosives.

Syntax

Number

Unlike in English, where only sgular and plural declensions exist, Tũka uses three declensions: singular, dual and plural, in this case "plural" meaning three or more of an item, and all words have to be distinguished by a number particle, such as i tũka("Tũka language"), lit. sg.nom, though i is only in nominative. In accusative, u is used and in absolutive ī is used.

Tũka grammatical number particles

		Declension
		Singular	Dual	Plural
Case
	Nominative	i	ĩ	nhi
	Accusative	u	ũ	nu
	Absolutive	ī	ã	lu

Example

I lã ī tũka en sikuĩ.

sg.nom 1.sg sg.abs Tũka pres speak-perf.1.sg.

Constituent order

Tũka uses an SOV constituent order in most sentences, though the verb comes first(VSO) in imperative sentences, as well as the imperative particle, im, which goes after the verb.