Teutla
| Teutla | |
|---|---|
| Teutla | |
| Pronunciation | ['teu.tla] |
| Created by | Nicolás Campi |
| Setting | Earth-like planet |
| Native speakers | Unknown (2009) |
Cramarian
| |
Teutla is a Cramarian language with a faintly mixed Nahuatl/Mayan touch. It was later to be superseded by another language Coalen, with a very similar motif and inspiration but different grammar and phonetics.
Phonology
Teutla notably preserves the alveolar/retroflex distinction for the sibilant, adding a palatal also.
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental/Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Retroflex | Labio-Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | t͡ʃ ⟨ch⟩ | k | tʂ ⟨tx⟩ | ||
| Fricative | h | ||||||
| Sibilant | s | ʃ ⟨sh⟩ | ʂ ⟨x⟩ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||
| Liquid | l r | ||||||
| Approximant | w ⟨hu⟩ |
Vowels
Five vowels are distinguished with their long and short versions.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i, iː ⟨i, ī⟩ | u, uː ⟨u, ū⟩ | |
| Mid | e, eː ⟨e, ē⟩ | o, oː ⟨o, ō⟩ | |
| Open | a, aː ⟨a, ā⟩ |
Morphosyntax
Nouns
Nouns only mark for ergative, absolutive (lack of marking and citation form) and construct. Appart from these, Teutla uses a number of postpositional suffixes to convey most other senses that could be covered by cases in other agglutinative languages. More important than case marking is the plural, which depends on the noun class and can also cover names other than plain plural, such as collective or "completive" and a "multative" (many instances of one same thing).
| she "man" |
chak "ash" |
hop "foot" | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Absolutive | she | chak | hop |
| Ergative | sheum | chakum | hopum | |
| Construct | shei | chaki | hopi | |
| Plural | Absolutive | shetla | chakneh | hopneh |
| Ergative | shetlum | chaknum | hopnum | |
| Construct | shetli | chakni | hopni | |
| Plural coll. "all of" |
Absolutive | shetash | chaktash | hoptash |
| Ergative | shetashum | chaktashum | hoptashum | |
| Construct | shetashi | chaktashi | hoptashi | |
| Plural mult. "many of" |
Absolutive | shenech | chaknech | hopnech |
| Ergative | shenechum | chaknechum | hopnechum | |
| Construct | shenechi | chaknechi | hopnechi | |
Plurals
Some plurals include a semantic distinction and can only be used with nouns of a class.
| Plural | Form | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| inanimate abstract | -tu | [tu] |
| inanimate concrete | -neh | [neʰ] |
| animate | -tla | [tɬa] |
Some plurals can be used with either.
| Plural | Form | IPA | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| collective | -tash | [taʂ] | All X |
| multative | -nech | [net͡ʃ] | A lot of X |
Example texts
- shetash huakkan. Chaknech ihopneh īshnen. "All men are big. A lot of ashes cover his feet".
- sheum yohōatush ham tutān. "the man gave my brother a flower".