Tuyan language

Jump to navigation Jump to search
Tuyan
Tuy-Suy
Tuguẽiñẽ
Pronunciation[tuwẽɪˈɲẽ]
Native toHondonia
RegionSouthern Thuadia
EthnicityTuyan
Native speakers
~ (2010)
Tuy-Suy
  • Tuyan
Latin
Official status
Official language in
 Hondonia
File:SekideanUnionNoStarsFlag.png Sekidean Union
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-1tu
ISO 639-2tuy
ISO 639-3tuy
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For a guide to IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Tuyan (/ˈtʰʊjən/), specifically the primary variety known as Standard Central Tuyan (tuguẽiñẽ [tuwẽɪˈɲẽ] "the people's language"), is a southern Thuadian language that belongs to the Tuy-Suy langauge fammily. It is one of the official languages of Hondonia (along with Rouman), where it is spoken by majority of the population, and where half of the rural population is monolingual. It is spoken by communities in neighboring countries, including parts of [PLACEHOLDER], [PLACEHOLDER] and [PLACEHOLDER]. It is also an official language of the Sekidean Union.

Orthofox priest Radu cel Bătrân, who in 1639 published the first written grammar of Central Tuyan in a book called Comori ale limbii tuiane (Treasure of the Tuyan Language), described it as a language "so copious and elegant that it can compete with the most famous [of languages]".

History

Political status

Iehecea

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless
Plosive/Affricate ᵐb~b~m p ⁿd~d~n t t͡ɕ k
Fricative s ᶮʑ~ʑ~ɲ ɕ ɣ~ɣ̃ x~h
Approximant j w~
Liquid ɾ~ɺ~l

Nasal mutation

Word Initial Plain Nasalized
Plossive ᵐb b m
ⁿd d n
Fricative ᶮʑ ʑ ɲ
ɣ ɣ̃
Approximant w

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close oral i ⟨i⟩ u ⟨u⟩
nasal ĩ ⟨ĩ⟩ ũ ⟨ũ⟩
Open oral e ⟨e⟩ a ⟨a⟩ o ⟨o⟩
nasal ⟨ẽ⟩ ã ⟨ã⟩ õ ⟨õ⟩

Stress

Writing system

The Tuyan script was first developed by orthodox missionaries in the colony of Noua Rumânie in the early 17th century, and therefore has a lot in common with the Rouman orthography. Tildes were added on several of the letters to express the nasal sounds, as well as the addition of ⟨gu⟩ and ⟨g̃u⟩ as seperate letters due to them being common in the language.

Besides the 36 letters, there are also 3 digraphs ⟨mb, nd, nj⟩, which exist due to the plossives being prenasalized in word initial possitions, and also the accented i ⟨í⟩, which exists to distinguish the semi-vowel from the proper vowel.

Out of the 36 letters, 9 are used only in foreign words and loans.

А а Ã ã B b C c D d E e Ẽ ẽ F f G g
G̃ g̃ Gu gu G̃u g̃u H h I i Ĩ ĩ J j K k L l
M m N n Ñ ñ O o Õ õ P p Q q R r S s
Ș ș T t U u Ũ ũ V v W w X x Y y Z z

Some letters have diferent readings depending on the vowel after them, the letter ⟨h⟩ is used to negate that:

Group Phoneme Examples
ce, ci* /tɕ/ ceã (sharp), gaci (stick)
che, chi /k/ chire (to come), iche (two)
ge, gi /ʑ/ girafa (giraffe)
ghe, ghi /ɣ/ ndaghe (fast),
g̃e, g̃i /ᶮʑ/ g̃ẽ (jam)
g̃he, g̃hi /ɣ̃/ onõg̃he (rice), tanãg̃hi (boat)
  • ge/gi/g̃e/g̃i only appear in foreing loanwords.

Grammar

Nouns

Pronouns

Verbs

Sample text

Poster promoting local pisciculture written in the Tuyan language.
"Hihgly profitable!"
"Let's raise more tropical catfish!"