Nomvai language

Nomvai
Southern Yu
南話, nom-ɦai 南潒話, nom-zaqng-ɦai 虎話, hüq-ɦai
Pronunciation	[nom.ɦaɪ̯], [nom.zaʔŋ̩.ɦaɪ̯], [hɨʔ.ɦaɪ̯]
Native to	Zyang
Region	South Zyang
Ethnicity	Zyangan people
Native speakers	[Placeholder] million (2018)
Language family	Oriental Sinitic Old Yu Southern Nomvai
Writing system	Sinitic characters
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

The Nomvai language, also known as Southern Yu, is a variety of Yu natively spoken in the majority of the southern regions of the Kingdom of Zyang. It is classified as part of the Oriental language family. Unlike any other Sinitic language.

The standard literary language is based on the dialect of Zavun, which like most southern varities and unlike the rest of the Yu dialects as a whole lacks tone, but instead distinguish vowel lenght. This is thought to have occured due to influence from an ancient language spoken in the area and more recently the Zhoushi language. Some northern subdialects have kept tone due to influence from Northern Yu.

The status of Nomvai as a language or a dialect is disputed, however most linguist concider it a language, and it is recognized as a regional language in the southern regions of The Kingdom of Zyang.

Phonology

Being a Yu language, syllables can be divided into initials and finals. The initial occupies the first part of the syllable. The final occupies the second part of the syllable and can be divided further into an optional medial and an obligatory rime (sometimes spelled rhyme).

Initials

The following is a list of all initials in Nomvai, as well as the [Placeholder] romanization:

		Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩	ɲ ⟨ny⟩	(ŋ ⟨ng⟩)
Plosive	lenis	p ⟨b⟩	t ⟨d⟩		k ⟨g⟩	ʔ ⟨q⟩
	fortis	pʰ ⟨p⟩	tʰ ⟨t⟩		kʰ ⟨k⟩
	implosive lenis	ɓ ⟨ɓ⟩	ɗ ⟨ɗ⟩		ɠ ⟨ɠ⟩
	implosive fortis	ɓh̩ ⟨ɓh⟩	ɗh̩ ⟨ɗh⟩		ɠh̩ ⟨ɠh⟩
Affricate	lenis		t͡s ⟨j⟩	t͡ɕ ⟨jy⟩
	fortis		t͡sʰ ⟨c⟩	t͡ɕʰ ⟨cy⟩
Fricative	lenis	v ⟨v⟩	z ⟨z⟩	ʐ~ʑ ⟨rz⟩		ɦ ⟨ɦ⟩
	fortis	f ⟨f⟩	s ⟨s⟩	ɕ ⟨sy⟩		h ⟨h⟩
Approximant			l~ɫ ⟨l⟩	ʎ ⟨ly⟩

• The velar nasal /ŋ/ dosen't appear phonemically as an initial in any modern Yu dialects, however it is found in some dialects as an allophone of plain /k/ after nasals.
• The plain plosives and affricates /p/, /t/, /k/, /t͡s/ and /t͡ɕ/ can be realized as voiced /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /d͡z/ and /d͡ʑ/.
• The retroflex phoneme /ʐ/ appearas in the southern dialects, such as the standard dialect of Zavun, however in northern dialects it's commonly pronounced /ʑ/ due to Northern Yu influence.

Finals

Unlike other Yu varieties and other Sinitic languages Nomvai lacks tone, but instead deals with homophones by having a lot more options for finals. The following is a list of the phonemic vowel sounds in the standard Zavun dialect, as well as the [Placeholder] romanization:

	Front		Central		back
Close	i ⟨i⟩	iː ⟨ii⟩	ɨ ⟨ü⟩	ɨː ⟨üü⟩	u ⟨u⟩
Mid	e ⟨e⟩	eː ⟨ee⟩			o ⟨o⟩
Open	æ ⟨ä⟩	æː ⟨ää⟩	a ⟨a⟩	aː ⟨aa⟩	ʊɔ ⟨uo⟩

• The diphthong /ʊɔ/ is treated as a separate vowel

The following is a list of all possible finals in the standard Zavun dialect, as well as the [Placeholder] romanisation:

	Codas
	∅	ɪ	ɪʔ	ʊ	ʊn	ʊʔ	m	n	ŋ	ʔ	ʔm̩	ʔn̩	ʔŋ̩
a	a ⟨a⟩	aɪ ⟨ai⟩		aʊ ⟨au⟩		aʊʔ ⟨auq⟩	am ⟨am⟩	an ⟨an⟩	aŋ ⟨ang⟩	aʔ ⟨aq⟩		aʔn̩ ⟨aqn⟩	aʔŋ̩ ⟨aqng⟩
aː	aː ⟨aa⟩			aːʊ ⟨aau⟩				aːn ⟨aan⟩	aːŋ ⟨aang⟩
æ	æ ⟨ä⟩	æɪ ⟨äi⟩						æn ⟨än⟩	æŋ ⟨äng⟩	æʔ ⟨äq⟩			æʔŋ̩ ⟨äqng⟩
æː	æː ⟨ää⟩							æːn ⟨ään⟩	æːŋ ⟨ääng⟩
e	e ⟨e⟩	eɪ ⟨ei⟩	eɪʔ ⟨eiq⟩	eʊ ⟨eu⟩	eʊn ⟨eun⟩	eʊʔ ⟨euq⟩	em ⟨em⟩	en ⟨en⟩	eŋ ⟨eng⟩		eʔm̩ ⟨eqm⟩		eʔŋ̩ ⟨eqng⟩
eː				eːʊ ⟨eeu⟩			eːn ⟨een⟩
i	i ⟨i⟩						im ⟨im⟩	in ⟨in⟩		iʔ ⟨iq⟩		iʔn̩ ⟨iqn⟩	iʔŋ̩ ⟨iqng⟩
iː	iː ⟨ii⟩
ɨ	ɨ ⟨ü⟩	ɨɪ ⟨üi⟩	ɨɪʔ ⟨üiq⟩				ɨm ⟨üm⟩	ɨn ⟨ün⟩	ɨŋ ⟨üng⟩	ɨʔ ⟨üq⟩
ɨː	ɨː ⟨üü⟩							ɨːn ⟨ün⟩	ɨːŋ ⟨üng⟩
u	u ⟨u⟩								uŋ ⟨ang⟩
o	o ⟨o⟩			oʊ ⟨ou⟩	oʊn ⟨oun⟩	oʊʔ ⟨ouq⟩	om ⟨om⟩		oŋ ⟨ong⟩				oʔŋ̩ ⟨oqng⟩
ʊɔ	ʊɔ ⟨uo⟩	ʊɔɪ ⟨uoi⟩		ʊɔʊ ⟨uou⟩	ʊɔʊn ⟨uoun⟩			ʊɔn ⟨on⟩	ʊɔŋ ⟨ong⟩	ʊɔʔ ⟨uoq⟩		ʊɔʔn̩ ⟨uoqn⟩

Grammar

Nomvai grammar is very similar to that of Standard Yu, the only major diference are the total lack of demonstratives used as definite articles and plural markers being optional. For more on grammar see Standard Yu grammar.

Sample text

The following is a comparison between Standard Northern Yu and Standard Nomvai (Southern Yu) in [Placeholder] and [Placeholder] romanizations:

Num		Northern Yu	Nomvai
0	零	leng	leng
1	一	il	rzuo
2	二 / 兩	yáng	lyaqng
3	三	soem	süm
4	四	syì	sii
5	五	voé	vüq
	手五	syu-voé	suoq-vüq
6	六	yǔ	lyou
7	七	cyil	ceu
8	八	bàl	bau
9	九	giú	guoq
10	十	zyíl	zeuq
100	百	bě	ɓä
1 000	千	cen	cen

Example	我去了彼果兮市場勒/對伊些梅買。
	I went to the fruit market to buy the apricots .
Nomvai	我	去	了	彼	果	兮	市場	勒	伊些	梅	買
	vüq	kuo	leuq	cyäq	ɠüq	ɦei	jüq-jang	laa	rzi-sa	muoi	mäq
	1.PL	go	=PF	DIST.SG	fruit	=ADJ	market	DAT	PRX-PL.INAN	apricot	buy
Northern Yu	我	去	了	彼	果	兮	市場	對	伊 些	梅	買
	voé	kiù	loé	bé	gú	hhe	joe-jáng	jì	i-sya	mui	mé
	1.PL	go	=PF	DEF.SG	fruit	=ADJ	market	DAT	DEF-PL.INAN	apricot	buy

In the example above, the words not used in Nomvai if used would have the literal meanings of "that" and "these" instead of being used as definite articles.