Cha'reh Speech

The native speech of Cha'reh and Cha'gem.  

Natively known as: Tshêrer /tʃɛːrer/

 

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d g gb h j k kp l m p q r s t w ɢ ʃ ʎ ʔ χ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m
Stop	p b	t d			k g	q ɢ	ʔ
Fricative		s	ʃ			χ	h
Approximant				j
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l		ʎ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labio-velar	Labial–velar
Stop		kp gb
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a aː e eː i iː o oː u uː ɔ ɔː ɛ ɛː/

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː	ɔ ɔː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure:(C)(C)V(C) Stress pattern: No fixed stress Word initial consonants: bj, br, bw, d, dr, dw, g, gb, h, hw, j, k, kh, kl, kr, ks, kʃ, kp, l, m, mb, md, mj, mw, p, pr, ps, q, r, rj, rw, sj, sk, sl, sm, sp, sw, th, tm, tʃ, w, ɢ, ʃ, ʃm, ʃp, ʃt, ʎ, χ Mid-word consonants: b, bb, bd, bl, bm, br, bs, bt, bʃ, d, dg, dj, dm, ds, dt, dw, g, gb, gg, gk, gm, gs, gw, gb, h, hb, hj, hk, hl, hm, hr, ht, hw, j, jb, jd, jg, jl, jm, js, jt, k, kb, kd, kh, kl, km, kr, ks, kw, kʃ, kp, l, lg, lj, ll, lq, lr, ls, lt, lʃ, lʔ, m, mb, md, mj, mk, ml, mm, mp, mt, p, pk, ps, pw, q, qd, qt, r, rg, rh, rk, rl, rp, rs, rw, s, sh, sl, sm, sp, st, sw, sʔ, t, td, tl, tm, tw, tʃ, tʔ, w, wg, wl, wq, ww, wʃ, ɢ, ʃ, ʃb, ʃh, ʃj, ʃk, ʃl, ʃm, ʃp, ʃr, ʃs, ʃt, ʎ, ʔ, ʔd, χ, χk, χm Word final consonants: g, gb, k, kp, m, p, q, r, t, ɢ, ʃ, ʎ   Phonological changes (in order of application): ?  

• h → Ø / V_V
• r → rː / _N
• ʔ → h / _C
• u → o / _K
• s → h / V_V
• s → ʃ / V_V
• sk → ʃ / V_{i,e}

  Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
([aeiou])(?=ᴅ*ː)	$1̄
j	y
ɔ	aw
ɛ	ê
ɢ	ǵ
ʃ	sh
ʎ	ý
ʔ	ʻ
ː
χ	kh

---

Grammar

  Main word order: Subject-Object-Verb-Oblique. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary the door opened with a key. Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun. Adposition: postpositions ?  

Nouns

  Nouns have six cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man. However, the ergative affix is only applied if there is an absolutive in the sentence.
• Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.

Ergative	Suffix -aː dawmā /dɔˈmaː/ dog (doing the verb to something)
Absolutive	No affix dawm /dɔm/ dog (doing the verb not to something)
Genitive	Suffix -ig dawmig /ˈdɔmig/ dogʼs
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ɛm dawmêm /ˈdɔmɛm/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃso Else: Suffix -eʃso dawmeshso /ˈdɔmeʃso/ near/at/by (the/a) dog
Ablative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -hmeː Else: Suffix -uːhmeː dawmūhmē /ˈdɔmuːhmeː/ from (the/a) dog

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix prōq /proːq/ man	No affix bro /bro/ woman
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -om prōqom /ˈproːqom/ men	Suffix -eʎ broeý /ˈbroeʎ/ women

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	dawg /dɔg/ the	kso /kso/ a
Plural	ýêg /ʎɛːg/ the	lōp /loːp/ some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	rwōk /rwoːk/ I	kpaw /kpɔː/ me, I	ryīg /rjiːg/ mine	klū /kluː/ to me	brok /brok/ at me	i /i/ from me
2nd singular	tshu /tʃu/ you	prōp /proːp/ you	tmīp /tmiːp/ yours	mam /mam/ to you	kli /kli/ at you	mū /muː/ from you
3rd singular masc	dri /dri/ he	syam /sjam/ him, he	ýêg /ʎɛːg/ his	hē /heː/ to him	sku /sku/ at him	pūgb /puːgb/ from him
3rd singular fem	qê /qɛ/ she	ryī /rjiː/ her, she	byu /bju/ hers	slūǵ /sluːɢ/ to her	myōý /mjoːʎ/ at her	swaǵ /swaɢ/ from her
1st plural	haw /hɔː/ we	spēkp /speːkp/ us, we	u /u/ ours	ê /ɛ/ to us	aǵ /aɢ/ at us	ūp /uːp/ from us
2nd plural	slū /sluː/ you (all)	prōr /proːr/ you (all)	pūq /puːq/ yours	bwê /bwɛ/ to you (all)	khā /χaː/ at you (all)	skum /skum/ from you (all)
3rd plural masc	rwem /rwem/ they	ri /ri/ them, they	kom /kom/ theirs	kshā /kʃaː/ to them	bwa /bwa/ at them	brawm /brɔm/ from them
3rd plural fem	gbi /gbi/ they	lōǵ /loːɢ/ them, they	kpu /kpu/ theirs	thaw /thɔː/ to them	mu /mu/ at them	rap /rap/ from them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ryīg /rjiːg/ my
2nd singular	tmīp /tmiːp/ your
3rd singular masc	ýêg /ʎɛːg/ his
3rd singular fem	byu /bju/ her
1st plural	u /u/ our
2nd plural	tmīp /tmiːp/ your
3rd plural masc	kom /kom/ their
3rd plural fem	kom /kom/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	No affix sligb /sligb/ (I) study	Suffix -ɔkp sligbawkp /ˈsligbɔkp/ (I) studied
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʎ Else: Suffix -uːʎ sligbūý /ˈsligbuːʎ/ (you) study	If ends with vowel: Suffix -kru Else: Suffix -akru sligbakru /ˈsligbakru/ (you) studied
3rd singular masc	No affix sligb /sligb/ (he) studies	Suffix -um sligbum /ˈsligbum/ (he) studied
3rd singular fem	No affix sligb /sligb/ (she) studies	If ends with vowel: Suffix -mliː Else: Suffix -aːmliː sligbāmlī /ˈsligbaːmliː/ (she) studied
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -op sligbop /sligbˈop/ (we) study	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃbuː Else: Suffix -iːʃbuː sligbīshbū /sligbˈiːʃbuː/ (we) studied
2nd plural	No affix sligb /sligb/ (you all) study	If ends with vowel: Suffix -rsɔ Else: Suffix -iːrsɔ sligbīrsaw /ˈsligbiːrsɔ/ (you all) studied
3rd plural masc	No affix sligb /sligb/ (they) study	Suffix -u sligbu /sligbˈu/ (they) studied
3rd plural fem	No affix sligb /sligb/ (they) study	If ends with vowel: Suffix -wo Else: Suffix -owo sligbowo /ˈsligbowo/ (they) studied

Tshêbêrerish uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

dok /dok/ will

Perfect aspect

  The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present. Tshêbêrerish uses the word for ‘finish’ bwaawħ for the perfect aspect.  

Numbers

  Tshêbêrerish has a base-10 number system:   1 - rwegb 2 - swak 3 - swar 4 - go 5 - uý 6 - kshā 7 - brawý 8 - yēlrêyi 9 - tshum 10 - dri 11 - drirwegb “ten-one” 100 - pre “hundred” 101 - pre tshu rwegb “hundred and one” 200 - swak pre 1000 - kshawmdê “thousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Suffix -iː Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -θa Else: Suffix -uθa Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ħ Else: Suffix -aːħ Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʤe Else: Suffix -iːʤe Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -iː Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h Else: Suffix -ah Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -i Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -aːjj Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ħ Else: Suffix -aːħ Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -un One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -aːr Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -a Diminutive = Suffix -aːjj Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -as