Teshpen

the kugma language family

Natively known as: teshpe /tɛʃˈpɛ/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
he wu me mawmpt dholz vîng he zhemb uldzh me uhng arsmuhng yi
Pronunciation: /hɛ wu mɛ mɔmpt ðɑlz vɪŋ hɛ ʒɛmb uldʒ mɛ ʌng ærsˈmʌng ji/
Teshpen word order: and he hat his holding stood and the wind to his face wet turned  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p r s t v w z ð ŋ ʃ ʒ θ  
↓Manner/Place→BilabialLabiodentalDentalAlveolarPalato-alveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalmnŋ
Stopb pd tg k
Fricativef vθ ðs zʃ ʒh
Approximantj
Trillr
Lateral approximantl
  Co-articulated phonemes  
↓Manner/Place→Labial-velar
Approximantw
  Vowel inventory: i u æ ɑ ɔ ɛ ɪ ʊ ʌ  
FrontBack
Highiu
Near-highɪʊ
Low-midɛɔ ʌ
Near-lowæ
Lowɑ
  Syllable structure: (C)V(C)(C)(C) ?
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable ?   Spelling rules:  
PronunciationSpelling
æa
ɛe
ɑo
ɔaw
ʊ
ʌuh
ɪ
θth
ʒzh
ðdh
jy
ʃsh
ŋng
 

Grammar

  Main word order: Subject (Prepositional phrase) Object Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary with a key the door opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?  

Nouns

  Nouns have six cases:
  • Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
  • Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
  • Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
  • Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
  • Locative is the location of something: man is in town.
  • Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
NominativeNo affix
le /lɛ/ dog (doing the verb)
AccusativeSuffix -ɑ
leo /lɛˈɑ/ (verb done to) dog
GenitiveSuffix -ʌ
leuh /lɛˈʌ/ dogʼs
DativeSuffix -ʊ
leû /lɛˈʊ/ to dog
LocativeIf ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -ʊm
lem /lɛm/ near/at/by dog
AblativeIf ends with vowel: Suffix -mb
Else: Suffix -umb
lemb /lɛmb/ from dog
 
SingularNo affix
le /lɛ/ dog
PluralReduplicate first part of first syllable
lele /lɛˈlɛ/ dogs
 

Articles

  Teshpen has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.
 

Pronouns

 
1st singular2nd singular3rd singular1st plural2nd plural3rd plural
Nominativesho /ʃɑ/ I awrsh /ɔrʃ/ you wu /wu/ he, she, it o /ɑ/ we yuh /jʌ/ you all tuhlz /tʌlz/ they
Accusativebak /bæk/ me ya /jæ/ you me /mɛ/ his, her, it di /di/ us tiw /tiw/ you all pa /pæ/ them
Genitivetersh /tɛrʃ/ mine aw /ɔ/ yours zhû /ʒʊ/ his, hers, its dhîrn /ðɪrn/ ours lesp /lɛsp/ yours (pl) sawmp /sɔmp/ theirs
Dativeband /bænd/ to me mondz /mɑndz/ to you yuhlz /jʌlz/ to his, to her, to it pamp /pæmp/ to us bursh /burʃ/ to you all vondzh /vɑndʒ/ to them
Locativedhawnz /ðɔnz/ to me zandzh /zændʒ/ to you thozt /θɑzt/ to his, to her, to it suh /sʌ/ to us huh /hʌ/ to you all zu /zu/ to them
Ablativeos /ɑs/ from me nîndzh /nɪndʒ/ from you ve /vɛ/ from his, from her, from it zhalm /ʒælm/ from us paw /pɔ/ from you all si /si/ from them
 

Possessive determiners

 
Possessive
1st singulartersh /tɛrʃ/ my
2nd singularaw /ɔ/ your
3rd singularme /mɛ/ his, her, its
1st pluraldhîrn /ðɪrn/ our
2nd plurallesp /lɛsp/ your (pl)
3rd pluralsawmp /sɔmp/ their
 

Verbs

 
PresentPastFuture
1st singularIf ends with vowel: Suffix -mblɑ
Else: Suffix -ɪmblɑ
natîmblo /nætɪmˈblɑ/ (I) learn
If ends with vowel: Suffix -spt
Else: Suffix -ɑspt
natospt /næˈtɑspt/ (I) learned
Suffix -æ
nata /næˈtæ/ (I) will learn
2nd singularIf ends with vowel: Suffix -rn
Else: Suffix -ɪrn
natîrn /næˈtɪrn/ (you) learn
Suffix -unθ
natunth /næˈtunθ/ (you) learned
Suffix -ing
nating /næˈting/ (you) will learn
3rd singularSuffix -ɑ
nato /næˈtɑ/ (he/she/it) learns
If ends with vowel: Suffix -ndz
Else: Suffix -ɛndz
natendz /næˈtɛndz/ (he/she/it) learned
Suffix -u
natu /næˈtu/ (he/she/it) will learn
1st pluralIf ends with vowel: Suffix -str
Else: Suffix -ɪstr
natîstr /næˈtɪstr/ (we) learn
Suffix -ɪ
natî /næˈtɪ/ (we) learned
If ends with vowel: Suffix -mp
Else: Suffix -imp
natimp /næˈtimp/ (we) will learn
2nd pluralSuffix -ʌ
natuh /næˈtʌ/ (you all) learn
If ends with vowel: Suffix -skt
Else: Suffix -æskt
nataskt /næˈtæskt/ (you all) learned
Suffix -ɑlp
natolp /næˈtɑlp/ (you all) will learn
3rd pluralIf ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ɔt
natawt /næˈtɔt/ (they) learn
If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ɪt
natît /næˈtɪt/ (they) learned
Suffix -i
nati /næˈti/ (they) will learn
 

Imperfective aspect

  The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Teshpen uses an affix for imperfective:  
ImperfectiveSuffix -ɔ
nataw /næˈtɔ/ learns/is learning
 

Numbers

  Teshpen has a base-10 number system:   1 - leys
2 - yuh
3 - saw
4 - vawmz
5 - aw
6 - suh
7 - puh
8 - wî
9 - vi
10 - puhmpf
100 - si
1000 - zemf
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ɑk
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɔfts
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -fts
Else: Suffix -ɑfts
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɪ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ntʃ
Else: Suffix -untʃ
Noun to verb = Suffix -ændz
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lm
Else: Suffix -ʊlm
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -zt
Else: Suffix -ɑzt
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ʊz
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ndl
Else: Suffix -ʊndl
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -ʊŋ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɑ
Diminutive = Suffix -ɑ
Augmentative = Suffix -ʌ

Dictionary

3064 Words.
Spoken by

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