Twanthainese

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Twanthainese is a conlang I just made up for fun. This page is a work in progress, under construction.

Phonology:

Initials:

		Labial		Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar		Post-alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
		V'less	Voiced	V'less	V'less	V'less	Voiced	V'less	Voiced	V'less	Voiced	V'less	Voiced	V'less
Plosive	Plain	p	b		t̪͆	t	d			c	ɟ	k	g
Plosive	Aspirated					tʰ
Nasal			m				n̪~n						ŋ
Liquid							ɾ~l
Fricative		ɸ~f				s
Affricate				p̪͡f̆		t͡s̆	d͡z̆	t̠͡ʃ̆	d̠͡ʒ̆	c͡ç~cʰ		k͡x~kʰ		ʔ͡h
Lateral fricative							ɬ̆~ɮ̆
Approximant		w~β̞									j

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Back
	Unround	Rounded	Unround	Rounded
Close	i		ɯ̟~ɨ	u
Near-close		ʏ
Mid	e		ə	o
Open			a~a̠

Diphthongs

Sound	/oi̯~oɪ̯/	/oɛ̯~oe̞̯~oe̯/	/aʊ̯~au̯~aŏ̯/	/ae̯~ae̞̯~aɪ̯~ai̯/	/eɯ̟̯~eu̯/
Roman	oi	ue	au	ai	eu

Finals:

	Labial		Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar		Post-alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
	V'less	Voiced	V'less	V'less	V'less	Voiced	V'less	Voiced	V'less	Voiced	V'less	Voiced	V'less
Plosive	p̚		f̆~p̪̚		t̚~t̪͆̚~t̚						k~kʰ̆		ʔ
Nasal		m				n̪~n						ŋ
Fricative				θ̆					ç
Sibilant					s̆~t͡s̆	z̆~d͡z̆	ʃ̆	ʒ̆
Approximant	ŭ̯					l				ĭ̯

Roman orthography

(In lieu of a con-script, which might come later)

Letter	m	p	b	f	w	f̌	n	t̬	t̃	t	d	š	ž	s	l̃	l	š̭	ž̭	k̬	g̬	ǩ̬	y	ṋ	k̃	k	g	'	i	ü	e	ë	a	u̬	u	o
ASCII	m	p	b	f	w	pf	n	tf	tt	t	d	ts	dz	s	ll	l	ch	dj	c	q	cy	y	ng	kk	k	g	'	i	ui	e	oe	a	iu	u	o
Initial sound	[m]	[p]	[b]	[ɸ~f]	[w~β̞]	[p̪͡f̆]	[n]	[t̪͆]	[tʰ]	[t]	[d]	[t͡s̆]	[d͡z̆]	[s]	[ɬ̆~ɮ̆]	[l]	[t̠͡ʃ̆]	[d̠͡ʒ̆]	[c]	[ɟ]	[c͡ç~cʰ]	[j]	[ŋ]	[k͡x~kʰ]	[k]	[g]	[ʔ͡h]	[i]	[ʏ]	[e̞]	[ə]	[a~a̠]	[ɯ̟~ɨ]	[u]	[o̞]
Final sound	[m]	[p̚]		[f̆~p̪̚]	[ŭ̯]	[f̆~p̪̚]	[n]	[θ̆]	[t̚~t̪͆̚]			[s̆~t͡s̆]	[z̆~d͡z̆]	[s̆]	[l]		[t̠͡ʃ̆]	[d̠͡ʒ̆]	[ĭ̯]		[c~ç̆]	[ĭ̯]	[ŋ]	[k~kʰ̆]		[ŋ]	[ʔ]	[i]	[ʏ]	[e̞]	[ə]	[a~a̠]	[ɯ̟~ɨ]	[u]	[o̞]

Phonotactics:

The syllable structure is (C)(/j/ or /w/)V(C). The sequence [ji] palatalizes the initial consonant, if one is present, whereas the vowel [i] alone does not; likewise, [wu] velarizes a preceding consonant. Most morphemes in Twanthainese are monosyllabic (with compound words existing and made up of multiple monosyllabic components), and (at least in the Roman orthography) each is separated by spaces.

Grammar

Verbs do not conjugate, instead using grammatical markers to indicate information such as tense; the citation form of a verb is the infinitive, which is marked for tense (past, present, or future). Verbs convey a perfective aspect by default (Twanthainese does not distinguish between perfective and perfect aspects), but different aspects are conveyed with markers; aspect markers come between the verb and the tense marker; mood markers come after asepct markers (V-A-M-T). Modifiers come before the nouns they modify (e.g. blue car). Twanthainese uses an OSV (IDSV) order and postpositions. The subject can be omitted in an imperative statement. Twanthainese does not use articles. "Definite" plurals (i.e. counted accompanied with a number word) do not need a plural marker, but indefinite ones (those not marked by a number word) are marked by "twan t̬ain" ("many", class signifier).

Word table

Additional information

Animate pronouns (šain, šaun, šu̬n, šwu̬n, šën, šwën) also apply to animals. Plants are mostly referred to with either, as the Twanthainese's opinions differ on whether plants are animate. Substances are always considered inanimate, except for living flesh of an organism (sometimes including living plant matter).

Example sentences

I walk on the red sand.
nüt̬ müf bak gu̬n šain woin k̬ep.
red-colored sand-on I walk.

Jeanne ate twenty apples.
t̬en t̬ek̃ t̬ain nwan Ž̭an šin pën nyep.
two-ten-(connector) apple Jeanne-(proper noun) eat did.
(twenty-(connector) apple Jeanne-(proper noun) eat did.)

Andrés always drops the steel rods.
twan t̬ain fyaṋ müf wan An Des šin dun t̃ep k̬ep.
(-kind:) steel (connector) rod An_Dres-(proper noun) drop habitually has been.

My hovercraft is full of eels.
twan t̬ain f̌en fwaṋ wai këp šain kwa nwot kwëw naṋ k̬ep.
Many (connector) rod_sealife-ly full me's wind_vehicle be-now.
(Many (conn.) eel-ly full me's hovercraft be-now).

My postillion has been* struck by lightning.
š̭waǩ̬ g̬ot nyep dyoi š̭waǩ̬ ž̭yai šain kwa kwëw wwow kwaiw.
(lightning-ing-ed-by lightning-with me's vehicle_life__driver.)
(lightning-ing-ed-by lightning-with me's horse_driver.)
(lightning-ing-ed-by lightning-with me's postillion.)
*There's not really a one-to-one morpheme correspondence here because the passive voice is largely conveyed in English by the structure of the sentence, whereas it also uses a marker in Twanthainese.)

I can eat glass, it does not hurt me.

bek̬ šain pën düṋ, šain saik dyow 'a'.

glass I eat can, me this not hurt.

la plume de ma tante
my aunt's quill
šain kwa ǩ̬wai kwa nwëw bwow ket
me's aunt's bird_grass__tool
me's aunt's feather_tool
me's aunt's quill

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