Myacha language

Myacha
Tuocha
Myâcâ, Tùocâ
Pronunciation	[mjaˀ˥˦˩ t͡s̠aˀ˥˦˩], [tʊo̯ˀ˨˩ t͡s̠aˀ˥˦˩]
Native to	Hondonia
Region	Southern Thuadia
Ethnicity	Myacha
Native speakers	4.1 million (2011)
Language family	Proto-Hamaric (?) Honoic Eastern Myacha
Dialects	Northern Western Eastern
Writing system	Latin, Tùotáisi script
Official status
Official language in	Hondonia File:SekideanUnionNoStarsFlag.png Sekidean Union
Language codes
ISO 639-1	tc
ISO 639-2	tuc
ISO 639-3	tuc

Myacha (/ˈmjat͡ʃə/), or Standard Northern Myacha (Myâcâ [mjaˀ˥˦˩ t͡s̠aˀ˥˦˩] - "mountain language"; Tùocâ [tʊo̯ˀ˨˩ t͡s̠aˀ˥˦˩] - "thunder dragon language"), is a Honoic langauge spoken in the mountains of southern Thuadia, mainly in the nation of Hondonia, where it's one of the 3 official languages, it is also official in the Sekidean Union. The language is the most spoken out of the Honoic family and serves as a lingua franca in the mountains of Hondonia from the times of the Tùocóng empire.

The standard form of the language is based on the northern dialect, known natively as Tùocâ which translates to "Thunder Dragon language". Myacha is a tonal and analytical language, majority of it's core vocabulary is monoyllabic, meaning it is comprised of one syllable, dysillabic words exist but are very rare. The language is written in a modyfied latin alphabet, it also has its own native script, known as Tùotáisi - "thunder dragon script", which is getting revived among the common population, as during the Moldanian expansion of the Noua Românie colony into the Tùocóng empire, the script was able last only in the isolate and hard to reach monesteries and temples in the mountains.

Phonology

The following summarizes the sound system of the northern dialect of Myacha, the most influential variety of the spoken language, of which the standard language is based on, plus information on other dialects.

Consonants

The consonants are the following: The languauge dosent have phonemic voicing in the plossives, affricates and fricatives, they could appear as voiced allophonically in intervocallic possitions.

	Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m	n̪		ŋ
Plosive	p	t̪		k
Affricate		t͡s̠
Fricative		s̠		x
Approximant	ʋ	ɺ	j

• The sound /ʋ/ can be realized as voiceless [ʋ̥~f] depending on the speaker.
• Depending on the speaker, the sounds /s̠/ and /t͡s̠/ can be realized as dentalized [s̪] and [t͡s̪] or as postalveolar [ʃ] and [t͡ʃ] depending on the dialects.
• The sound /ɺ/ can be realized as [l] when its word (or sentance) initial or word final, and as [ɺ] when it's intervocalic (or after a word that ends in a vowel sound).

Vowels

Ioan Dimintrescu describe five vowels in the standard language:

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i (ɪ)		u (ʊ~ɤ)
Mid	e	(ə)	o
Open		a

The vowels in brackets are common allophones for the other sounds: /i~ɪ/, /u~ʊ~ɤ/ and /a~ə/.

Allophonically nasalized vowels exict as some speakers, especially younger ones, don't fully pronounce nasals when they are in the coda position of a syllable, for example in these scenarios words like cám (two) and màn (horse) would be pronounced as /t͡s̠ãɰ̃˦˥/ and /mãɰ̃˨˩/ instead of as /t͡s̠am˦˥/ and /man˨˩/.

Dimintrescu also describes eighteen (modern linguist concider there to be only fourteen) phonemic diphthongs in the standard language:

	-i	-e	-a	-u	-o
j-	ji	je	ja	ju	jo
ʋ-	wi		wa	wu	wo
e-	eɪ̯
a-	aɪ̯			aʊ̯	ao̯
u-	uɪ̯		uɐ̯		uo̯
o-	oɪ̯		oɐ̯	oʊ̯

• /ʋ/ dipthongs appear in dailects where the old Myacha /w/ sound remained to nowadays.
• Some speakers may pronounce the /aɪ̯/ and /ja/ diphthongs as /ɛɪ̯/ and /jɛ/.
• In some dialects the /i/ plus back vowel diphthongs can become umlauted: /uɪ̯/, /oɪ̯/, /ju/, /jo/ → /yɪ̯/, /øɪ̯/, /jy/, /jø/.

Tones

Myacha is a tonal language, which means phonemic contrasts can be made on the basis of the tone of a vowel.

In the standard language there are four proper tones as well as a 'neutral tone', in the table below the tones are shown in minimal pairs:

Tone	Word	IPA	Meaning
High	má	[ma˦˥]	Mother
Low	mà	[maˀ˨˩]	I
Rising	mǎ	[ma˩˨˥]	Eight
Falling	mâ	[maˀ˥˦˩]	Water
Neutral	ma	[ma˨]*	Question particle

Tone	Word	IPA	Meaning
High	cá	[t͡s̠a˦˥]	Snake
Low	cà	[t͡s̠aˀ˨˩]	After, Later
Rising	cǎ	[t͡s̠a˩˨˥]	World
Falling	câ	[t͡s̠aˀ˥˦˩]	Tongue, Langauge
Neutral	ca	[t͡s̠a˨]*	Clap or slap sound

• The neutral tone has no specific contour, it appears on weak syllables on particle words; its pitch depends chiefly on the tone of the preceding syllable, if there is no preceding syllable, it is realized as a low tone.
• The low tone is sometimes reffered to as the 'creaky' tone, as in most dialects it is pronounced with a creaky quality.

Writing system

Nowadays the Myacha langauge is most commonly written in the Latin script, however it used to be written in it's native Tùotáisi script, which is bneing revived in some araes withing Hondonia.

Romanization

The language was first romanized from the Tùotáisi script after the Tùocóng empire was absorbed into the colony of New Roumania, the romanization was enforced by the rouman speaking ruling class and eventually the Tùotáisi script was only preserved in the monestaries and temples in the mountains.

The following is the current Latin Myacha alphabet:

А а	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g
H h	I i	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n
Ng ng	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	T t
U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z

• Characters in gray are used only in foreign loanwords such as names.
• Ŋ ŋ, Ň ň and G g have been proposed as substitutes for Ng ng.

Besides the twenty seven letters there are also four accent markes used to mark tone on vowels:

High tone: ◌́

Low tone: ◌̀

Rising tone: ◌̌

Falling tone: ◌̂

Neutral tone: unmarked

Letters with their pronounciation:

Letter	IPA	Notes
A a	[a]
B b	[p], [b]	Only in foreign loanwords.
C c	[t͡s̠]	Alternitavely Z z
D d	[t̪], [d̪]	Only in foreign loanwords.
E e	[e]
F f	[ʋ], [ʋ̥~f]	Only in foreign loanwords.
G g	[k], [ɡ], [ŋ]	In foreign loanwords, but also as an alternative for Ng ng.
H h	[x]
I i	[i]
J j	[t͡s̠], [d͡z̠]	Only in foreign loanwords.
K k	[k]
L l	[ɺ~l]	Word initial Alternitavely R r.
M m	[m]
N n	[n̪]
Ng ng	[ŋ]	Alternatively Ŋ ŋ, Ň ň or G g.
O o	[o]
P p	[p]
Q q	[k]	Only in foreign loanwords.
R r	[ɺ]	Word medial/final Alternitavely L l.
S s	[s̠]
T t	[t̪]
U u	[u]
V v	[ʋ~ʋ̥]
W w	[ʋ~ʋ̥], [w]	In foreign loanwords, but also as an alternative for V v.
X x	[x]	Only in foreign loanwords.
Y y	[j]
Z z	[s̠], [z̠], [t͡s̠]	In foreign loanwords, but also as an alternative for C c.

There are two commonly used ways to write the language, the more common way is written in word blocks where compound words and and words with particles that mark derivation, conjugation and/or declension are direclty written as if they are one singular word, while the slightly less common way writes every word separately:

For example the sentance "i saw the rabbit" can be written as either 'mà téngya nâisa' or as 'mà téng ya nâi sa' , this can also be seen in the language's names 'Myâcâ' and 'Tùocâ' , which can also be written as 'Myâ Câ' and 'Tùo Câ' .

Grammar

Myacha is an analytical language.

Honorific titles

The language uses several honorific titles which come before the name, the vary in formality, and can also be used as vocative words.

Following are the most common honorifics used in modern standard Myacha, there are others that exist however they are not used outside of the literary language:

Title	IPA	Formality	Approximate meaning
Sùngtào, Sùng Tào	[s̠uŋ˨˩ tao̯˨˩]	Most formal	Emperor, Your Heighness, Your Majesty
Tào	[tao̯˨˩]	Most formal	Lord
Táiyâo, Tái Yâo	[taj˦˥ jao̯˥˦˩]	Very formal	Professor, Teacher, Doctor, Scribe (Masculine)
Táiǎng, Tái Yǎng	[taj˦˥ jaŋ˩˨˥]	Very formal	Professor, Teacher, Doctor, Scribe (Feminine)
Yâo	[jao̯˥˦˩]	Formal	Mister, Sir
Yǎng	[jaŋ˩˨˥]	Formal	Miss, Missus, Ma'am
Pái	[paj˦˥]	Informal	Mate, Friend
Tàn	[tan˨˩]	Informal	Dude, Man, Bro

Numerals

The language uses a decimal number system.

Ordinals

The numbers from zero to ten are:

0 - Nùang [nuɐ̯ŋ˨˩]

1 - Yí [ji˦˥]

2 - Cám [t͡s̠am˦˥]

3 - Sǔm [sum˩˨˥]

4 - Sǎi [s̠aj˩˨˥]

5 - Hùng [xuŋ˨˩]

6 - Sǐ [s̠i˩˨˥]

7 - Cû [t͡s̠u˥˦˩]

8 - Mǎ [ma˩˨˥]

9 - Nào [nao̯˨˩]

10 - Tám [tam˦˥]

The teens are formed by juxtaposing the word 'ten' and the corresponding single digit:

11 - Tám Yí (Támyí) [tam˦˥ ji˦˥]

12 - Tám Cám (Támcám) [tam˦˥ t͡s̠am˦˥]

13 - Tám Sǔm (Támsǔm) [tam˦˥ sum˩˨˥]

14 - Tám Sǎi (Támsǎi) [tam˦˥ s̠aj˩˨˥]

15 - Tám Hùng (Támhùng) [tam˦˥ xuŋ˨˩]

16 - Tám Sǐ (Támsǐ) [tam˦˥ s̠i˩˨˥]

17 - Tám Cû (Támcû) [tam˦˥ t͡s̠u˥˦˩]

18 - Tám Mǎ (Támmǎ) [tam˦˥ ma˩˨˥]

19 - Tám Nào (Támnào) [tam˦˥ nao̯˨˩]

The tens are formed by putting the corresponding single digit before the word 'ten':

20 - Cám Tám (Cámtám) [t͡s̠am˦˥ tam˦˥]

30 - Sǔm Tám (Sǔmtám) [sum˩˨˥ tam˦˥]

40 - Sǎi Tám (Sǎitám) [s̠aj˩˨˥ tam˦˥]

50 - Hùng Tám (Hùngtám) [xuŋ˨˩ tam˦˥]

60 - Sǐ Tám (Sǐtám) [s̠i˩˨˥ tam˦˥]

70 - Cû Tám (Cûtám) [t͡s̠u˥˦˩ tam˦˥]

80 - Mǎ Tám (Mǎtám) [ma˩˨˥ tam˦˥]

90 - Nào Tám (Nàotám) [nao̯˨˩ tam˦˥]

Further multiples of ten are:

100 - Vòm [ʋom˨˩]

1 000 - Mìng [miŋ˨˩]

10 000 - Hyěn [xjen˩˨˥]

100 000 - Vòm Mìng [ʋom˨˩ miŋ˨˩]

1 000 000 - Vòn Hyěn (Vònhyěn) [ʋon˨˩ xjen˩˨˥]

Example of a large number:

834 236 - Mǎ Vòm Mìng Sǔm Hyěn Sǎi Mìng Cám Vòm Sǔm Tám Sǐ (Mǎvòmmìng Sǔmhyěn Sǎimìng Cámvòm Sǔmtám Sǐ)

Ordinals

Ordinal numbers are fromed by adding the la particle after the number:

1st - Yí la (Yíla) [ji˦˥ ɺa˥]

2nd - Cám la (Cámla) [t͡s̠am˦˥ ɺa˥]

3d - Sǔm la (Sǔmla) [sum˩˨˥ ɺa˥]

4th - Sǎi la (Sǎila) [s̠aj˩˨˥ ɺa˥]

5th - Hùng la (Hùngla) [xuŋ˨˩ ɺa˩]

6th - Sǐ la (Sǐla) [s̠i˩˨˥ ɺa˥]

7th - Cû la (Cûla) [t͡s̠u˥˦˩ ɺa˩]

8th - Mǎ la (Mǎla) [ma˩˨˥ ɺa˥]

9th - Nào la (Nàola) [nao̯˨˩ ɺa˩]

10th - Tám la (Támla) [tam˦˥ ɺa˥]

Fractionals

Fractional numbers are formed by adding the word pén (piece) before the number and/or other word:

1/1 (whole) - Kém [kem˦˥]

1/2 (half) - Túng [tuŋ˦˥]

1/3 - Pén Sǔm (Pénsǔm) [pen˦˥ sum˩˨˥]

1/4 - Pén Sǎi (Pénsǎi) [pen˦˥ s̠aj˩˨˥]

1/5 - Pén Hùng (Pénhùng) [pen˦˥ xuŋ˨˩]

1/6 - Pén Sǐ (Pénsǐ) [pen˦˥ s̠i˩˨˥]

1/7 - Pén Cû (Péncû) [pen˦˥ t͡s̠u˥˦˩]

1/8 - Pén Mǎ (Pénmǎ) [pen˦˥ ma˩˨˥]

1/9 - Pén Nào (Pénnào) [pen˦˥ nao̯˨˩]

1/10 - Pén Tám (Péntám) [pen˦˥ tam˦˥]