Tseer

Swadesh list for Tseezh

Tseer
Created by	IlL
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Language family	Lakovic Ashanic Tseer

Tseezh (chezh; dowød Tseezh /dowøt tʃẽr̝/ Modern: /dowət tʃẽʃ/; Skellan: brits Txelzj) is a Lakovic language spoken in Talma. It is inspired mainly by Hmong and Somali, with touches of Burmese, Vietnamese and Satem IE languages like Polish.

Tseezh was a prominent classical language of Talma, and left a significant influence on Windermere and Skellan.

Todo

• i ü u e o a ì ǜ ù è ò à → i ø u e o a ii øø uu ee oo aa
• p > f
• final -g disappears
• /w l/ > v w /v w/ > Eevo v ł, Wdm. w w
• ś, g > kh /x/ > Eevo ç
• s- > θ > t /t/ > Eevo t
• -s > -j
• š-, y- > x-
• c, ć > tx, ts
• t- > r /T/ > Eevo tr?
• r > zh /r/ > Eevo r or rzj/zj

Disappearing preinitial vowels > tone?

Numbers: don, oozhad, txiv, khaag, omøøtx, dag, abood, xev, wooj, rab, tajaav, tzhøg

ranam = ice

tawsuug = example

nasal vowels merge with nonnasal vowels before m/n/ng/l?

Final -ng disappears leaving nasalization (as in Skellan)

Phonology

Consonants

Classical

m n ng /ŋ/

t r /ʈ/ k ' /ʔ/

b d g

f x /s/ kh /x/ h

tx /ts/ ts /tʃ/

v dh /ð/ (dh only occurs syllable finally)

w zh /r̝~ʒ/ j /j/

/x/ is [ʂ] in some dialects

b d g = [p t k] word-finally.

Modern

• Czh clusters = /Cj/ in Modern Tseezh, while it was /Cr/ in Classical Tseezh.
• Syllable-final zh = [ʃ] in Modern Tseezh.
• Otherwise zh = [r] in Modern Tseezh.
• dh is pronounced [ɣ] in conservative accents. Usually it disappears and causes compensatory lengthening of the previous vowel.
• Unstressed nasal vowels > syllabic nasals: oozhad > nzhad

Vowels

Classical

a e i o u ø /a e i o u ɵ/

aa ee ii oo uu øø /ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ ɵ̃/

/ɵ/ will be transcribed as /ø/ for convenience.

Modern

Nasal/nonnasal vowel split

a e i o u ø /ɑ æ e o ü ə/

aa ee ii oo uu øø = /ã ẽj i õw u ɚ/

e /æ/ is [ɛ] before nasals and zh.

o /o/ is [u] after /w/.

Morphology

Tergetian grammar and morphology are rather conservative, for example it has retained the Proto-Lakovic reduplicated plural, pluractionality and gender in verbs and the grammatical function of Proto-Lakovic applicatives or triggers.

Pronouns

	I	thou (m.)	thou (f.)	he	she	we (exc.)	we (inc.)	you (pl.)	they (an.)
Nominative	zhii	khen	khej	in	ij	txam	baa	-	-

Nouns

Nouns have two genders, as in Proto-Ashanic. Feminine is marked with -x for words ending in consonants or -j for words ending in vowels.

• bakhoo = uncle; bakhooj = aunt

Plurals are formed by reduplication.

• 'araaj 'lion' > 'aar'araaj 'lions'
• moog 'feather' > momoog 'feathers'

Verbs

Feminine: va-

Passive: haa-

Pluractionality: from an aspect marker? or maybe original pluractionality developed into aspects in Windermere etc.

Aspects/Tenses: ???