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Tinnermockaar: Difference between revisions
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Tinnermockaar native writing system
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(Tinnermockaar native writing system) |
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Multiples of ten are formed by adding the 'tens' digit after ''hati'' as in ''hati ccer'' (ten-two) for 20. The units can then be stated by adding the conjunction ''aa'' (and) and the appropriate digit, as in ''hati hav aa cynə'' (ten-nine and three) for 93. The same pattern applies to larger numbers with ''attè'' for 'hundreds' and ''gumbə'' for 'thousands'. For example, the number 1234 will be given as ''gumbə aa attè ccer aa hati cynə aa pyyr'', literally 'thousand and hundreds-two and tens-three and four'. | Multiples of ten are formed by adding the 'tens' digit after ''hati'' as in ''hati ccer'' (ten-two) for 20. The units can then be stated by adding the conjunction ''aa'' (and) and the appropriate digit, as in ''hati hav aa cynə'' (ten-nine and three) for 93. The same pattern applies to larger numbers with ''attè'' for 'hundreds' and ''gumbə'' for 'thousands'. For example, the number 1234 will be given as ''gumbə aa attè ccer aa hati cynə aa pyyr'', literally 'thousand and hundreds-two and tens-three and four'. | ||
==Tinnermockaar script== | |||
Tinnermockaar's native writing system is an alphabet, written horizontally from left to right. The script has some featural elements. Dried palm leaves are its most common writing medium, often being tied together into books. | |||
Most letters are based on incomplete circular outlines formed by a 'bow' which leaves an opening near the bottom of the glyph for letters corresponding to a consonant or near the top for letters for vowels and diphthongs. | |||
Many glyphs come in pairs consisting a 'soft' character where all elements are written within the bow and a 'hard' character where one or more strokes stretch beyond the bow. Paired soft and hard glyphs generally correspond to phonemes with similar articular, such as unvoiced stops and their ejective counterparts or plain vowels and their glottalized counterparts. | |||
===Consonants=== | |||
The Tinnermockaar script includes 36 consonant letters, traditionally listed in the following order: | |||
[[File:Tinnermockaar consonants.png]] | |||
As mentioned within the ''Phonology'' section, the Tinnermockaar script retains a number of distinctions that have been lost in the spoken language, resulting in a slightly non-phonetic orthography. Irregularities to keep in mind include: | |||
* The consonant /ts/ (romanized as '''''ts''''') might be written as either ''Ts'' or ''Nts'' depending on the word's etymology. | |||
* Null onsets corresponding to a historical /ɡ/ are written with an initial ''Gg''. | |||
* The glide /j/ is written as ''Gg'' or as ''Ñ'' depending on etymological considerations. | |||
* The consonant /n/ is written as ''N̈'' before back vowels and in all forms of the attributive ''an'', otherwise /n/ is written as ''N''. | |||
* A small number of words have irregular spellings reflecting earlier pronunciations such as the word ''àtte'' (one hundred) retaining an irregularly lost ''h'' and thus being spelled as ''*hàtte''. | |||
===Vowels=== | |||
Each non-rhotic vowel or diphthong is represented by one of the following 38 letters, contrasting length and glottalization (or lack thereof): | |||
[[File:Tinnermockaar vowels.png]] | |||
Rhotic vowels are written as their non-rhotic counterparts with a bar below, as seen in the final character of name ''ttỳnaamokkəər'' (Tinnermockaar, the native name of the language) which can be identified as an ''Əə'' character bearing the rhoticity marker above/ | |||
[[File:Tinnermockaar in native script.png|thumb|Example: ''ttỳnaamokkəər'' as written in the Tinnermockaar script]] | |||
As shown in the example, Tinnermockaar letters are often written without any space between one another, although exceptions may be made depending on the shape of the intervening letters (as seen above with the ''N'' and the ''Aa''). It is most common for writers not to conjoin letters belonging to separate words, although this rule is by no means universal. | |||
Aside from a few unpredictable irregular spellings (such as the pronoun ''heergà'', 'they', which is spelled as ''heeñiga'') written vowels match pronunciation with one exception: the glottal rhotic vowel /ɜˀɹ̆/ might be written either as ''ə̀r'' (matching its romanization) or as ''v̀r'', reflecting a historical /ʊˀɹ̆/ pronunciation that has since merged with ''ə̀r''. | |||
===Punctuation=== | |||
Tinnermockaar punctuation is rather limited when compared to that used in the Latin script and also considerably more flexible in its usage. It includes the following marks: | |||
[[File:Punctuation marks in Tinnermockaar.png|thumb|Punctuation marks in Tinnermockaar]] | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
! '''Punctuation''' !! '''Usage''' | |||
|- | |||
| Dot below || Used to separate words. Optional but fairly common.<br><br>Often omitted after ''an'' (attributive particle/verb) and ''əl'' (possessive particle). | |||
|- | |||
| Two dots || Described intrafictionally as 'marking the end of an idea', this mark is generally used to separate sentences although some authors might omit it between sentences which share a topic. | |||
|- | |||
| Underline || A small underline under the first character of a word is used as an 'emphasis marker' which might be used for any elements that may be considered as particularly 'important' or worthy of deference within a passage.<br><br>Personal names referring to others are always marked with this punctuation sign as a way to show respect towards them (regardless of whether their role within the text bears much relevance or not).<br><br>By contrast, the writer's own name (or that of the patron in whose name a scribe composes a text) never bears this marker as doing so could be seen as inappropriately self-aggrandizing.<br><br>No special considerations are held for marking pronouns, however. | |||
|- | |||
| End of section || This marker replaces the 'two dots' sign at the end of a group of related sentences. Although particulars about its usage might vary from author to author, it could be thought of as a paragraph separator.<br><br>The 'end of section' mark implies that the text will be continued (possibly on the a different page). | |||
|- | |||
| End of text || Replaces the 'end of section' mark after the final section of a text. | |||
|} | |||
===Numerals in the Tinnermockaar script=== | |||
Numbers in written Tinnermockaar are typically expressed through a set of numerals which, much as our own Arabic numerals (0123456789) employ a positional base-10 notation with larger digits written on the left. This means that Arabic numerals might be converted to and from Tinnermockaar simply by replacing the glyphs for each digits. | |||
[[File:Tinnermockaar numerals.png]] | |||
[[Category:Tinnermockaar]] | [[Category:Tinnermockaar]] | ||
[[Category:Languages]] | [[Category:Languages]] | ||
[[Category:Conlangs]] | [[Category:Conlangs]] | ||