Tikwa Bet*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ISHADIC
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:
DESCENDANT LANGUAGES: Tikwa Bet*

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: yɯːm ţīb kʌ ī atɬ hek yɯːm ī tɯːch ’āmyɯːkɾeːh minlu zɯtɬ ih
Pronunciation: /ʤɯːm tˤiːb kʌ iː atɬ hek ʤɯːm iː tɯːch ʔaːmˈʤɯːkɾeːh ˈminlu zɯtɬ ih
Tikwa Bet word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b c d dˤ f g h j k kʷ l m n n̪ p q r s sˤ t tˤ v w x z ð ħ ŋ ɣ ɫ ɬ ɰ ɾ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʤ ʧ β θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n̪	n			ŋ
Stop	p b			t tˤ d dˤ		c	k kʷ g	q		ʔ
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative	β	f v	θ ð	s sˤ z	ʃ		x ɣ		ħ ʕ	h
Approximant						j	ɰ
Tap				ɾ
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɬ
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar	Velarized alveolar
Approximant	w
Lateral approximant		ɫ

Vowel inventory: /a aː e eː i iː o oː u uː ɛ ɛː ɯ ɯː ʌ/

	Front	Back
High	i iː	ɯ ɯː u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː	ʌ
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Word initial consonants: b, d, dˤ, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, q, r, s, sˤ, t, tˤ, w, x, z, ð, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʤ, θ
Mid-word consonants: b, d, dd, dj, dʃ, g, h, hb, hl, ht, hv, j, jd, jg, jl, jm, jn, js, jv, k, kl, ks, kt, kɾ, kʃ, l, ld, lg, lk, lm, ln, ls, lt, lʤ, m, md, ml, mʤ, n, nd, nk, nl, nm, nn, ns, nsl, nt, nɾ, nʤ, n̪j, p, pɫ, pɾ, r, rk, rr, s, sk, sl, st, t, tb, tl, tm, ts, tt, tɾ, tʃ, tʃm, v, vl, z, zd, zg, zl, ŋg, ɣ, ɣm, ɣɾ, ɰl, ɰls, ɾ, ɾb, ɾd, ɾh, ɾk, ɾkl, ɾl, ɾm, ɾt, ɾtʃ, ɾʃ, ʃ, ʃk, ʃl, ʃm, ʃt, ʤ, ʧ, ʧk, ʧm, βg, βl
Word final consonants: b, ch, d, f, fl, h, hl, ht, j, jj, k, kʷ, l, ll, m, n, nt, p, q, ql, r, s, t, tl, ts, tz, tɬ, tʃ, w, ztl, ħ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• s → z / V_V

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	’
θ	th
ʤ	j
x	kh
ð	dh
ʃ	sh
sˤ	ş
dˤ	ḑ
tˤ	ţ
ʕ	ʻ
ɣ	gh
ħ	ḩ
aː	ā
iː	ī
uː	ū
j	y

Grammar

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

Nouns

	Masculine=ā	Feminine=āo
Singular	No affix	No affix
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ak	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ri-

Articles

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

Pronouns

1st singular	ba /ba/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	tī /tiː/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ţīb /tˤiːb/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	kan /kan/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	nāl /naːl/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	nā /naː/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	ghūw /ɣuːw/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	tūr /tuːr/ my
2nd singular	thu /θu/ your
3rd singular masc	ī /iː/ his
3rd singular fem	u /u/ her
1st plural	hu /hu/ our
2nd plural	tūll /tuːll/ your (pl)
3rd plural	sha /ʃa/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -un oshkīn /oʃˈkiːn/ (I) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ak oshkīk /ˈoʃkiːk/ (I) learned	Prefix iː- īoshkī /iːoʃˈkiː/ (I) learned (long ago)
2nd singular	Prefix a- aoshkī /aoʃˈkiː/ (you) learn	Suffix -uː oshkīū /oʃˈkiːuː/ (you) learned	Suffix -iʕ oshkīiʻ /oʃˈkiːiʕ/ (you) learned (long ago)
3rd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -sm Else: Suffix -usm oshkīsm /oʃˈkiːsm/ (he/she/it) learns	Suffix -ik oshkīik /oʃkiːˈik/ (he/she/it) learned	Prefix naː- nāoshkī /naːoʃˈkiː/ (he/she/it) learned (long ago)
1st plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- koshkī /ˈkoʃkiː/ (we) learn	Prefix tuː- tūoshkī /tuːˈoʃkiː/ (we) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tˤ Else: Suffix -iːtˤ oshkīţ /ˈoʃkiːtˤ/ (we) learned (long ago)
2nd plural	Suffix -aːf oshkīāf /oʃˈkiːaːf/ (you all) learn	Suffix -uːf oshkīūf /oʃˈkiːuːf/ (you all) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -h Else: Suffix -aːh oshkīh /ˈoʃkiːh/ (you all) learned (long ago)
3rd plural	Suffix -atˤ oshkīaţ /oʃˈkiːatˤ/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -iːs oshkīs /ˈoʃkiːs/ (they) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ri- roshkī /ˈroʃkiː/ (they) learned (long ago)

Tikwa Bet uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: mar - mar oshkī /mar oʃˈkiː/ will learn

Numbers

Tikwa Bet has a base-10 number system:
1 - āch
2 - wɛːk
3 - ʻoː
4 - kib
5 - nolyaʻ
6 - nʌ
7 - ʌy
8 - nʌll
9 - khi
10 - khiq
11 - khiq yɯːm āch “ten and one”
100 - āch zolɛː “one hundred”
101 - āch zolɛː āch “one hundred one”
200 - wɛːk zolɛː
1000 - āch nunt “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix aː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʤ- Else: Prefix ʤuː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix tˤ- Else: Prefix tˤiː-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix a-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix maː-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ði-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix θ- Else: Prefix θiː-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix wiː-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ð- Else: Prefix ðu-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix a-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʔ- Else: Prefix ʔiː-
Diminutive = Prefix daː-
Augmentative = Prefix ɣiː-

Dictionary

4415 Words.