Taamuur*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: RUHANDIC   PERIOD OF USE:   SCRIPT USED:   PARENT LANGUAGE:   DESCENDANT LANGUAGES:  

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  "...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."   Translation: l̥eī æ̏ ɕó̋ ʈʂínsiuā cʰȕ̠ ʈʂítea̋ l̥eī nnű̠ cʰȕ̠ sū̠t thuānt tsʰóchtá̏ ī   Pronunciation: /l̥ɛ̄ æ̏ ɕoː̋ ʈʂiːˈnʲʃuə̄ kʰʊ̠̏ ʈʂiːˈtʲa̋ l̥ɛ̄ ɲʊ̠̋ kʰʊ̠̏ sʊ̠̄tʲ huə̄nʲtʲ tsʰoːˈxt̪ˠɑː̏ ɪ̄   Taamuur word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /bˠ c cʰ dʲ d̪ˠ fʲ fˠ g h j k kʰ l lʲ l̥ m mʲ mˠ n nʲ n̪ˠ p pʰ pˠ q s sʰ sˠ t tʰ tʲ t̪ˠ v vʲ vˠ w x ŋ ɕ ɕʰ ɟ ɥ ɫ ɬ ɲ ɹ ɹ̥ ɾʲ ɾˠ ʁ ʂ ʂʰ ʃ ʈ ʈʰ ʎ ʐ ʔ/  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m mʲ mˠ		n̪ˠ	n nʲ				ɲ	ŋ
Stop	pʰ p pˠ bˠ		t̪ˠ d̪ˠ	tʰ t tʲ dʲ		ʈʰ ʈ		cʰ c ɟ	kʰ k g	q	ʔ
Fricative		fʲ fˠ vˠ vʲ v		sʰ s sˠ	ʃ	ʂʰ ʂ ʐ	ɕʰ ɕ		x	ʁ	h
Approximant				ɹ̥ ɹ				j
Tap				ɾˠ ɾʲ
Lateral fricative				ɬ
Lateral approximant				l̥ l lʲ				ʎ

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar	Velarized alveolar
Approximant	ɥ	w
Lateral approximant			ɫ

  Vowel inventory: /a eː e̽ ia iə iː oː uə uː æ ɑː ɔ əi əu ɛ ɪ ʊ ʊ̠/   Diphthongs: ia, iə, uə, əi, əu   Tones: ̄ ̏ ̋  

	Front	Back
High	iː	uː
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
High-mid	e̽ eː	oː
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Near-low	æ
Low	a	ɑː

  Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: c, cʰ, g, h, j, k, kʰ, l, l̥, m, n, p, pʰ, s, t, ts, tsʰ, tɕ, tɕʰ, tʰ, w, ɕ, ɟ, ɥ, ɲ, ɹ, ɹ̥, ʂ, ʈ, ʈʂ, ʈʂʰ, ʈʰ, ʎ, ʔ
Mid-word consonants: bˠ, c, dʲ, d̪ˠ, fʲ, fˠ, g, gɫ, h, hɾˠ, k, lʲ, mʲ, mˠ, mˠpˠ, nʲ, nʲʃ, n̪ˠ, n̪ˠt̪ˠ, pˠ, sˠ, sˠk, sˠt̪ˠ, tʲ, t̪ˠ, vʲ, vˠ, x, xt̪ˠ, ŋ, ɟ, ɫ, ɫt̪ˠ, ɲ, ɾʲ, ɾˠ, ɾˠsˠ, ɾˠɫ, ʃ, ʃtʲ
Word final consonants: dʲ, g, j, k, l, m, n, nʲtʲ, p, q, s, sˠt̪ˠ, t, tʲ, v, vʲ, ŋ, ŋg, ɟ, ɬ, ɲ, ɾʲtʲ, ɾˠd̪ˠ, ɾˠtʲ, ɾˠt̪ˠ, ʁ, ʂ, ʃtʲ, ʐ   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• p → f / #_

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
ca	kea
coː	keo
cu	kiu
kɪ	koi | kai | kui
k	c
h	th
x	ch
ç	ch
ɲ	nn
^n̪ˠ	n
nʲ	n
n̪ˠ	nn
ŋg	ng
ŋ	ng
mʲ	m
mˠ	m
pʲ	p
pˠ	p
bʲ	b
bˠ	b
lʲ	l
ɫ	l
ʃa	sea
sˠɪ	sai
sˠi	suí
sˠeː	sao
ʃɔ	seo | sio
ʃo	seo
ʃu	siu
ʃ	s
sˠ	s
tʲ	te / _{a,ɑː}
tʲ	t
tʲu	tiu
t̪ˠoː	teo
t̪ˠɛ	te
t̪ˠ	t
fˠi	faoi
fˠɪ	fui
fˠuː	fiú
fˠ	f
fʲ	f
ɟ	g
ɪ	i
ɑː	á
eːɾˠ	éar
ɾˠ	r
ɾʲ	r
vˠ	bh | mh
vʲ	bh
d̪ˠ	d
dʲ	d
əi	a
eː	é
ɛ	ei
ɔ	o
oː	ó
iː	í
uː	ú
iə	ia
əu	ai
uə	ua
ʊ	u

 

Grammar

  Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase).
"Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions  

Nouns

  Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: ʔɪ̏ - ʔȉ ȍn /ʔɪ̏ ɔ̏n/ dogs

 

Animate	Suffix -ʊ̄ jőū /jɔ̋ˈʊ̄/
Inanimate	Suffix -ā ná̋ngā /ˈnɑːŋgā/

 

Articles

 

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	í̄ng /iː̄ŋ/ the	nnű̠ /ɲʊ̠̋/ a
Plural	ʂȍ /ʂɔ̏/ the	tɕā /tɕā/ some

 

Pronouns

 

1st singular	lia̋ /liə̋/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ɹé̄ /ɹeː̄/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	æ̏ /æ̏/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	á̏nt /ɑː̏nʲtʲ/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	ná̏rd /nɑː̏ɾˠd̪ˠ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	cʰó̏ʂ /cʰoː̏ʂ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	se̽̄ /se̽̄/ they, them, theirs

 

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	ā /ā/ my
2nd singular	pʰú̋st /pʰuː̋sˠt̪ˠ/ your
3rd singular masc	cʰȕ̠ /kʰʊ̠̏/ his
3rd singular fem	gá̄t /gɑː̄t/ her
1st plural	e̽̄ /e̽̄/ our
2nd plural	ʈe̽̋ /ʈe̽̋/ your (pl)
3rd plural	thűʂ /hʊ̋ʂ/ their

 

Verbs

 

	Present	Past
1st singular	Suffix -ia̋ ōia̋ /ˈɔ̄ia̋/ (I) learn	Suffix -e̽̋ɬ ōe̽̋ɬ /ˈɔ̄e̽̋ɬ/ (I) learned
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -a̋m ōm /ɔ̄m/ (you) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nʲtʲ Else: Suffix -ǣnʲtʲ ōnt /ɔ̄nʲtʲ/ (you) learned
3rd singular	Suffix -uə̄ ōuā /ˈɔ̄uə̄/ (he/she/it) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -ʊ̠̋p ōp /ɔ̄p/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	Suffix -oː̏ ōó̏ /ˈɔ̄oː̏/ (we) learn	Suffix -əī ōā /ɔ̄ˈəī/ (we) learned
2nd plural	Suffix -ǣɲ ōǣnn /ˈɔ̄ǣɲ/ (you all) learn	Suffix -iː̏sˠt̪ˠ ōí̏st /ˈɔ̄iː̏sˠt̪ˠ/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	Suffix -ɛ̋ ōei̋ /ˈɔ̄ɛ̋/ (they) learn	Suffix -oː̋ʃtʲ ōó̋st /ˈɔ̄oː̋ʃtʲ/ (they) learned

  Taamuur uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: gȁ - gȁ ō /gȁ ɔ̄/ will learn

 

Numbers

  Taamuur has a base-20 number system:   1 - liȁ
2 - e̽̄
3 - ɕó̄n
4 - e̽̏
5 - cé̋ʐ
6 - ga̋
7 - é̄
8 - gá̄
9 - ɥȉng
10 - é̋
11 - ɹȕ̠ng
12 - næ̏tű
13 - lȕrt
14 - ɹȕ̠ng
15 - í̄ɬ
16 - má̄s
17 - giarú̏
18 - ciafaciuā
19 - í̏st
20 - ʈʰűbhí̋
21 - ʈʰűbhí̋ l̥eī liȁ “twenty and one”
400 - liȁ ʂímei̋ɬ “one fourhundred”
401 - liȁ ʂímei̋ɬ liȁ “one fourhundred one”
800 - e̽̄ ʂímei̋ɬ “two fourhundred”
8000 - liȁ nnȕ̠g “one eightthousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j Else: Suffix -ɪ̏j
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -dʲ Else: Suffix -əūdʲ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɔ̄l
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -oː̋
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɪ̏ Noun to verb = Suffix -wa
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -upi
Tending to = Suffix -uə̄
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -q Else: Suffix -ʊ̏q
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾʲtʲ Else: Suffix -ʊ̄ɾʲtʲ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix hasi-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix kup-
Diminutive = Suffix -əī
Augmentative = Suffix -æ̏