East Asian Cultural Sphere.png

Tonuao is a zonal auxlang[1] intended to be quickly learnable, readily comprehensible, and mutually communicative between persons of the w:East Asian cultural sphere. It uses Chinese characters for much of its writing, with some forms being simplified according to the shinjitai (新字体) standards of Japan. The Japanese syllabary katakana is used for all other sounds. It is not tonal, mostly analytic, SVO, topic-prominent, uses classifiers, is pro-drop, copula-drop, and uses postpositions.

East Asian Language
Tonuao
Chopstick Flag.jpg
Pronunciation[/tonu.a.o/]
Created by
Native toChina, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam
Native speakers3 (2014)
Language codes
ISO 639-1tao
ISO 639-2tao
ISO 639-3tao
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Phonology

Tonuao has 5 vowels and 11 consonants.

Tonuao Consonants
Consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasals m /m/ n /n/
Plosives p /p/ t /t/ j /ts ~ tɕ ~ c/ k /k/
Fricatives s /s ~ ɕ/ h /h ~ ɦ ~ x/
Liquids l /l ~ ɾ/
Approximants w /w/ y /j/

While there is a great deal of consonantal allophony (see below), every language speaker will experience some sounds as difficult, especially in achieving consistency.


Tonuao Vowels
Vowels
Front Central Back
High i /i ~ ɪ/ u /u ~ ɯ/
Mid e /e ~ e̞/ o /o ~ o̞/
Low a /a ~ ä/

Again, a great deal of tolerance is required when listening to others. Non-Mandarin speakers will have the hardest time being patient with Chinese vowels, but accents are part of being international!

un pun tun jun kun mun nun sun hun lun yun

Phonotactics

The three allowable syllable structures are V, CV, Cya, and CVn. There are gaps in all these series, and allophony.


Simple Syllables
ø
a
/a/

e
/e ~ je ~ ə/

i
/i ~ ji/

o
/o ~ wo/

u
/u ~ wu/
p
pa

pe

pi

po

pu
t
ta

te

ti

to

tu
j チャ
ja
チェ
je
チィ
ji
チョ
jo
チュ
ju
k
ka

ke

ki

ko

ku
m
ma

me

mi

mo

mu
n
na

ne

ni

no

nu
s
sa

se

si
/si ~ ɕi/

so

su
h
ha

he

hi

ho

hu
l
la

le

li

lo

lu
w
wa
/wa ~ ʋa ~ va/

we
/we ~ wej/
y
ya

yo
/jo ~ joʊ̯/

yu
Hangŭl (for reference)
a e i o u
ø
p
t
j
k
m
n
s
h
l
w
y


Complex Syllables
an en in un ya
ø アン
an
エン
en
イン
in
ウン
un
p パン
pan
ペン
pen
ピン
pin
プン
pun
ピャ
pya
t タン
tan
テン
ten
チン
tin
ツン
tun
j チャン
jan
チェン
jen
チィン
jin
チュン
jun
k カン
kan
ケン
ken
クン
kun
m マン
man
メン
men
ミン
min
ムン
mun
ミャ
mya
n ナン
nan
ネン
nen
ニン
nin
ヌン
nun
ニャ
nya
s サン
san
セン
sen
/sen ~ ɕen/
シン
sin
スン
sun
シャ
sya
/sja ~ ɕa/
h ハン
han
ヘン
hen
フン
hun
l ラン
lan
レン
len
リン
lin
ルン
lun
リャ
lya
w ワン
wan
y ヤン
yan
ユン
yun
Hangŭl (for reference)
an en in un ya
ø
p
t
j
k
m
n
s
h
l
w
y


The complex syllables of Tonuao are clearly much more limited.

Derivation

Middle Chinese (MC) had much more complex syllables than were possible in any of the language influenced by it. Tonuao tries to be equal to CJKV languages by taking an average derivational position. First, it considers the initial consonant in MC

Correspondences of initial consonants
Middle Chinese Sino-Vietnamese Sino-Korean Sino-Japanese Mandarin Cantonese Tonuao
Go-on Kan-on Tōsō-on
Labials 幫 p p > b p/pʰ ɸ > h ɸ > h ɸ > h p/f p/f p
滂 pʰ pʰ/f pʰ/f
並 b b b > b/ph/v pʰ/p/f pʰ/p/f
明 m m > m/v m m b[2] m m/w m m
Dentals 端 t t > đ t/tʰ t t t t t t
透 tʰ tʰ > th
定 d d > đ d tʰ/d tʰ/d
泥 n n n n d[3] n n n~l n
來 l l l r r r l l l
Retroflex nasal 娘 ɳ n n~ø n d n n~l ny
Retroflex stops 知 ʈ ʈ > tr tʰ/tɕ/tɕʰ t t s ts t
徹 ʈʰ ʂ > s tʂʰ tsʰ
澄 ɖ ɖ > tr d tʂʰ, tʂ tsʰ, ts
Dental sibilants 精 ts s > t s s ts, tɕ ts j
清 tsʰ ɕ > th tsʰ, tɕʰ tsʰ
從 dz s > t z tsʰ, tɕʰ, ts, tɕ tsʰ, ts
心 s s s s s s
邪 z z tsʰ, ts z, ʑ
俟 ʐ s z tʂʰ, s tsʰ, ts sy
Retroflex sibilants 莊 tʂ ʈ > tr tɕ/tɕʰ s tʂ, ts ts j
初 tʂʰ ʂ > s tʂʰ, tsʰ tsʰ
崇 dʐ z tʂʰ, tsʰ, tʂ, ʂ tsʰ, ts, s
生 ʂ s s ʂ, s s sy
Palatals 章 tɕ c > ch tɕ/tɕʰ ts j
昌 tɕʰ tʃ > x tʂʰ tsʰ
禪 dʑ ɕ > th s z tʂʰ, ʂ tsʰ, ts, s
書 ɕ s ʂ s sy
船 ʑ z s tʂʰ, ʂ s
日 ny ɲ > nh z > ∅ n z z ɻ, ʔ j ny
以 j d ø j j j, w~ʋ j, w y
Velars 見 k k > c/g k/h k k k k, tɕ k, kʷ k
溪 kʰ kʰ > kh kʰ, tɕʰ h, f, kʰ, kʰʷ
群 g ɡ > c k g kʰ, tɕʰ, k, tɕ kʰ, kʰʷ, k, kʷ
疑 ŋ ŋ > ng h g g ʔ~ɰ, j, w~ʋ, n ŋ, ʔ, j ø
Laryngeals 影 ʔ ʔ > y ʔ, j, w~ʋ ʔ, j, w
曉 h h h k k x, ɕ h, f, j h
匣 ɦ ɣ > g/w x, ɕ h, w
云 ɦj v, h ø j j j, w~ʋ j, w ø

Syntax

Like Chinese and Vietnamese (and unlike Japanese and Korean), Tonuao is SVO, subject-verb-object. The subject of an intransitive verb and the actor of transitive verb come before early in the sentence, and the accusative argument must come after the verb. There are no particles to mark subject or object. Tonuao tries to have the verb be second-to-last, comparable but backwards to the Germanic w:V2 word order. Like most Asian languages, Tonuao has several verbs corresponding to European "is": 乃 nai is 'to be equal', 有 yu means 'to have', and 在 jai means 'to exist' or 'to be at'. Only 乃 nai may be dropped, and it usually is.

In the East Asian style, Tonuao is very topic-prominent. The topic is marked with the postposition ヘ he, derived from 兮 hei. Typically, if present, it will come first in the sentence. The dative argument may be unmarked, if easily discernible from context, but is more often marked with the postposition ウ u, derived from 于 yu. A genitive relationship is 之 ji which is not written in katakana most of the time.

Relationship Particle Etymology English Mandarin Cantonese Japanese Korean Vietnamese
Topic he hei as for - - は wa 은/는 (n)ǔn cái
Vocative jai
Dative u yu to - - に ni 에게 ege đến
Genitive ji of 的 de 嘅 ge の no 의 ǔi của
Instrumental i i by 用 yòng 用 yung6 で de 로/으로 ro/ǔro
Locative o o in, on, at 在 zài 喺 hai2 に ni 에 e
Comitative ko konu together with
Assoc. Pl. to tonu et. al. 們 men 哋 dei6 たち tachi 들 tǔl
Perfective li i -ed 了 le 咗 jo2 た/だ ta/da 았/었 att/ǒtt đã
Progressive tu tunu -ing 아/어 a/ǒ
Nominalizer si ji -ing
Adnominalizer ti ji
Adverbializer ya yanu -ly
NP And yo o and
VP And ni ni and

Sentence Final Particles

  • hu, derived from 乎 huo, forms polar questions at the end of an utterance.

Pronouns

Singular Plural
Casual First a 我ト ato
Second no 汝ト noto
Third 彼人 pinin 彼人ト pininto
Singular Plural
Polite First One's given name One's given name-ト -to
Second kun 君ト kunto
Third One's surname One's surname-ト -to


Classifiers

Counting is not done with numerals as adjectives before the noun phrase, but with special classifiers + numerals after the noun phrase, as adverbs.

Classifier Use
nin people (general)
menu people (polite)
tai machines (computers, cars, etc)
pitu animals (all animals, worms, fish, horses, etc)
jaku books, magazines, etc
pei cups of some drink
mei flat objects (pizzas, paper, etc)
teu long objects (pencils, noodles, etc)
kan periods of time (seconds, years, ages, etc)
ka anything else

Plants, animals and things that may have hanji beyond our corpus or are nation-specific, should be spelled out phonetically, but appended with a "determiner", a hanji that shows what class of being the creature is. This is helpful, as it gives a hint to those unfamiliar with the being.

Determiner Use Example
wa amphibians
teu birds Japanese quail ウスラ鳥 usura-teu
o fish nekogigi catfish ネコキキ魚 nekokiki-o
tunu invertebrates
siu mammals
lonu reptiles tyrannosaurus チラン龍 tiran-lonu
hua flowers
jau grass
moku trees, bushes
puku clothes kimono キモノ服 kimono-puku
puen meals bibimbap ピピムパプ飯 pipimupapu-puen

Demonstratives and indefinite

Demonstratives occur in the 此 ji-, 其 ki-, and 彼 pi- series. The 此 ji- (proximal) series refers to things closer to the speaker than the hearer, the 其 ki- (mesial) series for things closer to the hearer, and the 彼 pi- (distal) series for things distant to both the speaker and the hearer. With 何 ha-, demonstratives turn into the corresponding interrogative form.

Proximal
(此 ji-)
Mesial
(其 ki-)
Distal
(彼 pi-)
Interrogative
(何 ha-)
Negative
(無 miu-)
Universal
(毎 mei-)
Assertive
existential
(某 mou)
Elective
existential
(? ?)
Adjective ji
this
ki
that
pi
that over there
ha
what
miu
no
mei
every
mou
some

any
Thing (物 -mutu) 此物 jimutu
this one
其物 kimutu
that one
彼物 pimutu
that one over there
何物 hamutu
which one
無物 miumutu
nothing
毎物 meimutu
everything
某物 moumutu
something

anything
Person (人 -nin) 此人 jinin
this person
其人 kinin
that person
彼人 pinin
that person over there
何人 hanin
who
無人 miunin
nobody
毎人 meinin
everybody
某人 mounin
somebody

anybody
Place (処 -jo) 此処 jijo
here
其処 kijo
there
彼処 pijo
over there
何処 hajo
where
無処 miujo
nowhere
毎処 meijo
everywhere
某処 moujo
somewhere

anywhere
Time (時 -) 此時 jisi
now
其時 kisi
then
彼時 pisi
at that other time
何時 hasi
when
無時 miusi
never
毎時 meisi
always
某時 mousi
sometime

anytime
Manner (様 -yanu) 此様 jiyanu
in this manner
其様 kiyanu
in that manner
彼様 piyanu
in that other manner
何様 hayanu
how
某様 mouyanu
somehow
Quantity (多 -ta) 此多 jita
this many / much
其多 kita
that many / much
彼多 pita
in that other quantity
何多 hata
how many / much
Kind (-chi)
like this

like that

like that other kind

what kind of
Reason (因 -in) 何因 hain
why

Lexica

  • Tonuao/Hanji - Character list based on the 1800 list of hanja for Koreans and 2136 list of kanji for Japanese

Sample

Links

  1. CJKV Auxlang Facebook Group
  2. CJKV Auxlang Google sheets
  3. Sister language 単亜語

References

  1. ^ http://conlangery.com/2013/01/14/conlangery-80-zonal-auxlangs/
  2. ^ Yields m- in syllables ending in original -ng.
  3. ^ Yields n- in syllables ending in original -ng