Introducing Tekian

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Lamche
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Introducing Tekian

Post by Lamche »

So, Tekian is the conlang I am working on. I made it related to Chinese, which it split from sometime in the second millennium BCE (Xia and Shang Dynasty), before the Shijing poems were written. It is an analytic tonal language with extensive tone sandhi (like Min Chinese), but also consonant and vowel sandhi (think French, but worse). Unlike Chinese it has a SOV word order.

My conworld is quite similar to our world. Tekia (Kujiang [kau̯˥˧ʑaŋ˧˩] in Tekian) occupies most of Chói'eu [tsʰɤi̯˧jeu˧]. Chói'eu in my conworld is a 140K kmq vast mountainous island, that stretches between Amami to Naha (these are real Japanese city). The northern, eastern and southern shores belong to Japan, while the west coast and the inland belong to the kingdom of Tekia. The original speakers of Tekian, the Au people, migrated here between the 8th and 10th century from today Zhejiang and Fujian. Tekian acted as a substrate to Min and Southern Wu dialects of Chinese.

Up until the 19th century Tekian was written with Chinese characters, and imported many words from Chinese, especially technical words. A 19th century cultural movement made Tekians switch to Latin alphabet and replace most Sino-tekian words with native Tekian calques. Some of these words words were cognates of their Sino-Tekian equivalents. Tekian has a deep orthography, not because of historical spelling, but because it obeys morphophonemic principles. For example the word ras (to see) [raʔ˩] is spelt with an <s> because the negative form ras'émm (not to see) [ra˩˧sɛŋ˧˥] is pronounced with an /s/.

Since there are many different versions of Old Chinese, I didn't completely reconstruct proto-sino-tekian, but I tried to make the modern language consistent with most reconstructions. In particular some linguists believe Old Chinese didn't have tones, but we can find good 1:1 correspondence between the tones of Tekian and the ones of Middle Chinese with a few exception, and this could lead to think that the common language already had tones, but the alternative explanation is also valid: the features that created tonal distinction were already present in Proto-sino-tekian. Language contact made the two language evolve these features in the same way. I actually prefer this explanation.

Phonemic inventory
Initials
Nasals: /m, n, ȵ/
Stops: /b, p, pʰ, d, t, tʰ, g, k, kʰ/
Affricates /dz, ts, tsʰ/
Fricatives /v, f, z, s, h, ɦ/
Approximants: /j, w/
Liquids /r/


Allophones:
- Alveloar nasals, affricates fricatives palatalises in front of /i/ to alveolo-palatal equivalents /ȵ, dʑ, tɕ, tɕʰ, ʑ, ɕ/
- Velar stops also palatalise to alveolo-palatal affricates

Stops and labiodental fricatives may have an /r/ medial. All consonants may have /j/ and /w/ medials.

Finals
a ai̯ au̯ ei̯ eu̯ oi̯ ou̯ aŋ aʔ ɛŋ ɛʔ iŋ iʔ ɔŋ ɔʔ ɯŋ ɯʔ
Finals consonants assimilate in manner of articulation and voice with the following consonant

Tones (IPA and Tone numerals
1: ˧ 3
2: ˧˥ 35
3: ˥˧ 53
4: ˧ 3
5: ˧˩ 31
6: ˩˧ 13
7: ˩ 1
8: ˩ 1

Most words change tones when used in sentences.
The only syllables that keep their citation tones are the last syllable of main clause verbs (which always occupies sentence-final position) and of some sentence-initial noun phrases, usually subjects. These noun phrases are marked with a colon <:>.

A sample text:
Zésiamb iopp kan: sieghein dros pịszuv ta, remde ta sẹshúg ir ov'émb di. Asnóg: trif'húg ta phónmịr ọv brusdụm di; ẹg kurtoh ọv rẹztẹh pạs fénd'act króg cíng.

[zei̯˧˥ɕam˥˧biɔk˧kaŋ˧ ɕɛŋ˧˥hin˥˧drɔʔ˧ pid˩zɯŋ˧ta˥˧ rɛn˩˧dei̯˧ta˥˧ sei̯˩sɯŋ˩gai˩˧ ou̯˥˧vɛŋ˧ dai̯˧˩ ad˩nɔŋ˩˧ trai̯˥˧fɯŋ˧ta˥˧ pʰɔm˩mai̯˩˧rɔŋ˧ brɯd˧dɯn˧dai̯˧˩ ɛŋ˧ kau̯˧˥tou̯˥˧hɔŋ˧ rɛt˧tep˩paʔ˩ fɛn˧daʔ˧ krɔn˩˧tɕiŋ˧˥]

and in IPA mixed with my tone numbers
[zei̯2ɕam3biɔk4kaŋ1 ɕɛŋ2hin3drɔʔ4 pid8zɯn1ta3 rɛn6dei̯1ta3 sei̯7sɯŋ7gai6 ou̯3vɛŋ1 dai̯5 ad8nɔŋ6 trai̯3fɯŋ1ta3 pʰɔm7mai̯6rɔŋ1 brɯd4dɯn1dai̯5 ɛŋ1 kau̯2tou̯3hɔŋ1 rɛt4tep8paʔ8 fɛn1doʔ4 krɔn6tɕiŋ2]

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
| Zésiamb | iopp | kan, | sieg-hein | dros | pịszuv | ta |
| Every | man | TOP | birth-time | since | freedom | and |

| remde | ta | sẹshúg | ir | ov'émb | di. |
| dignity | and | right | in | equality | exist |

| As-nóg: | tif'húg | ta | phónmịr | ọv | brusdụm | di; |
| 3-PL | reason | and | conscience | GEN | endowment | exist |

| ẹg | kurtoh | ọv | rẹztẹh | pạs | fénd'oct | krómb | cíng. |
| and | brother | GEN | relationship | follow | reciprocally | act | should |

Numerals:
| is | nị | sium | ị | gá | drux | jict | pres | kú | xamb |
| iʔ4 | nai̯7 | ɕɯŋ1 | ai̯3 | ga6 | drɯŋ5 | dʑiʔ8 | prɛʔ4 | kau̯2 | ɦaŋ6 |
| iʔ˧ | nai̯˩ | ɕɯŋ˧ | ai̯˥˧ | ga˧˩ | drɯŋ˧˩ | dʑiʔ˩ | prɛʔ˧ | kau̯˧˥ | ɦaŋ˩˧ |
Iyionaku
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Re: Introducing Tekian

Post by Iyionaku »

Could you please elaborate what the difference between the 7th and 8th tone is? Is it mainly a diachronical convention?
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Re: Introducing Tekian

Post by Creyeditor »

Or do they maybe act differently in sandhi?
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Re: Introducing Tekian

Post by Frislander »

Interesting! So will there be much Ryukyuan influence on the language (as it stands the answer appears to be "a little bit")? Do the Ryukyuan languages even exist in this alternate timeline? I'm intrigued!
Iyionaku wrote:Could you please elaborate what the difference between the 7th and 8th tone is? Is it mainly a diachronical convention?
I think it's more they're showing the reflexes/correspondances with the Middle Chinese tones, because if you look the 1st and 4th tones are merged as well.
Lamche
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Re: Introducing Tekian

Post by Lamche »

Frislander wrote: Interesting! So will there be much Ryukyuan influence on the language (as it stands the answer appears to be "a little bit")? Do the Ryukyuan languages even exist in this alternate timeline? I'm intrigued!
Good question! :) I tried to make the alternative timeline as close as possible to our world, so Ryukyuan languages do exist. But they did not have strong influence on Tekian because they are separated by a tall mountain ranges. However the indigenous languages of Tekia might have been Japonic languages that influenced Tekian to some extent, but we don't know much about this.
Could you please elaborate what the difference between the 7th and 8th tone is? Is it mainly a diachronical convention?
Yes, they are the same tone phonetically. The list I made is actually not phonetically nor phonemically accurate. Tone 4 and tone 8 are entering tones, like the ones of Middle Chinese and Cantonese, and Tekian treats them the same way. Syllables in entering tone differ from other syllables by ending with stop consonants..
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Frislander
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Re: Introducing Tekian

Post by Frislander »

Lamche wrote:
Frislander wrote: Interesting! So will there be much Ryukyuan influence on the language (as it stands the answer appears to be "a little bit")? Do the Ryukyuan languages even exist in this alternate timeline? I'm intrigued!
Good question! :) I tried to make the alternative timeline as close as possible to our world, so Ryukyuan languages do exist. But they did not have strong influence on Tekian because they are separated by a tall mountain ranges. However the indigenous languages of Tekia might have been Japonic languages that influenced Tekian to some extent, but we don't know much about this.
Your best bet would probably be to find a reconstruction of Proto-Ryukyuan, maybe applying a few sound changes for loanwords, though their grammars aren't radically different from that of Japanese; failing that there's a good overview of the family as a whole on the grammar pile (the first link). There are also other assorted things you can find on Google Scholar (preferrably with the assistance of Sci-Hub), like this one for instance. You don't really need to know that much about them, just have an awareness of what they're like and how that might affect Tekian, and they're a good potential source of loanwords too.
Could you please elaborate what the difference between the 7th and 8th tone is? Is it mainly a diachronical convention?
Yes, they are the same tone phonetically. The list I made is actually not phonetically nor phonemically accurate. Tone 4 and tone 8 are entering tones, like the ones of Middle Chinese and Cantonese, and Tekian treats them the same way. Syllables in entering tone differ from other syllables by ending with stop consonants..
Of course yes the entering tones! Wouldn't it be better to make it clearer that they're entering tones though and put a glottal stop after the tone letter?
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