Kyawcenni

This article is about the language. For the people, see Kyawcenni people.

Kyawcenni
Language family	Sheikan, Kyawcennic
Early form(s)	Middle Kyawcenni
Era	ca. 2023 to today
Writing system	Tanswaiy, sometimes Latin
Official status
Spoken in	Kingdom of Kyaw Cen
Regulated by	Government of Kyaw Cen
Speaker
Demonym	Kyawcenni
Number of speakers	~12
Technical information
Usage	Government language
Language code	KYC

Distribution of the Kyawcenni language

Kyawcenni is an analytic language spoken by Kyawcennis in the Kingdom of Kyaw Cen and written in Tanswaiy. Its early speakers originated from Marcyland, but it is now spoken in the Kyawcenni archipelago and most of Shingtsun.

History

Kyawcenni descends from the Sheikah language spoken in Marcyland before the migration to the Isles of Silly in late 2023.

Orthography

Kyawcenni uses the Tanswaiy and Latin alphabets. The spelling is based on Middle Kyawcenni.

Latin	Middle Kyawcenni	Condition	Realization
a	a		à
ai	ɛː		ɛ́
au	ɔː		ɑ́
b-	b		b
c	ts		ts
cy-	tsj		tɕ
č	tʃ	Onset	ʈʂ
		Coda	ʈʂ (high vowel tone)
d-	d		d
dy	dj		dʐ
e	ɛ		ɛ̀
ê	eː		ɪ́
ę	ɚ		ɚ
g-	ɡ		ɤ̯
gy-	gj		dʑ
h	χ		χ
i	i		ì
j	dʒ	Onset	ɖʐ
	ʒ	Coda	ʂ (low vowel tone)
k-	k		k
ky-	kj		tɕ
l-	l		l
m	m	Onset	m
		Coda	ɰ̃b
n	n	Onset	n
		Coda	ɰ̃d
-ng	ŋ		ɰ̃
o	ɔ		ɔ̀
ô	oː		ú
p-	p		p
r	ɹ		ɹ
s	s	Onset	s, θ
		Coda	s, θ (high vowel tone)
sy-	sj		ɕ
š	ʃ	Onset	ʂ
		Coda	ʂ (high vowel tone)
t	t		t
ty-	tj		tʃ
u	y		y
w	w		w
x	ç	Onset	c
		Coda	ç
y	j		j
z	dz	Onset	dz
	z	Coda	s (low vowel tone)
zy-	dzj		dʑ

Phonology

Consonants

Kyawcenni uses following consonants:

	Bilabial		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Retroflex		Alveolo-Palatal		Palatal	Velar-Uvular
	unv	v	unv	v	unv	v	unv	v	unv	v		unv	v
Plosive	p	b	t	d							c [c, ç]	k	ɤ̯
Nasal		m [m, ɰ̃b]		n [n, ɰ̃d]									(ɰ̃)³
Fricative			s~θ¹	dz			ʂ		ɕ			χ
Affricate			ts		tʃ	dʒ	ʈʂ	ɖʐ	tɕ	dʑ
Liquid		w		ɮ				ɻ			j

² Can be treated as an allophonic realization of the sequence /(C)i/

³ Historically its own phoneme descended from /ŋ/, but is now sometimes seen as an allophone of /g/

Vowels

Kyawcenni uses following vowels:

-	Front	Central	Back
Close	i, y		(u)¹
Near-close	(ɪ)¹	(ɚ)²
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a	(ɑ)¹

¹ [ɪ], [u] and [ɑ] can be treated either as seperate phonemes as allophones of [i], [ɔ] and [ɑ] respectively distinguished by tone. /ɛ/ also has two tonemic realizations.

² Can be treated as an allophonic realization of the sequence /ɛɻ/

Tone

The following chart shows how tone works in Kyawcenni.

The italicized bold IPA is the Middle Kyawcenni phonemes. As examples, this chart uses /ɛ/ and one of the listed coda consonants, but the tones apply to any vowel¹.

Toneme chart

Coda → Vowel ↓	ts, s, tʃ, ʃ	z, ʒ	m, n, ŋ	ç, χ	j, w, ɹ	∅
	ts, s, ʈʂ, ʂ	s, ʂ	ɰ̃b, ɰ̃d, ɰ̃	ç, χ	j, w, ɻ	∅
a, ɛ, ɔ, i, y	ɛs˩˥	ɛs˩	ɛɰ̃¹	ɛç¹	ɛj¹	ɛ¹
a, ɛ, ɔ, i, y¹
ɔː, ɛː, eː, oː	ɛs˥	ɛs˥˩	ɛɰ̃˥˩	ɛç˥˩	ɛj˥˩	ɛ˥˩
ɑ, ɛ, ɪ, u

¹ Toneless vowel: The tone can vary, but it usually contrasts the tone of the previous syllable. In a sequence of toneless syllables the tone tends to drop. /y/ is always toneless.

Phonotactics

See Middle Kyawcenni#Phonotactics

Evolution from Middle Kyawcenni

For now, please look at the orthography section for this

Syntax

The Syntax of Kyawcenni follows VSO word order by standard, but it is not strict. In speech and poetry other word orders can be found as well.
Adjective and adposition appear after the noun they modify.

Morphology

When Kyawcenni words are combined, the first word is often shortened to only one syllable:
jong Yitęnar = Ætérnalism
(First syllable of jonggyaw = religion + nominative of yitęnar = Ætérnal)

Nouns

Nominalization

Adjectives and verbs can be turned into nouns by adding the -nu suffix.

Case

Kyawcenni has four cases in total: Nominative Genitive-Dative Accusative Vocative

Nominative

The Nominative case doesn’t have any ending, not sure what else to say here:
cun, bwis, bim, awč, kyaw, na wiy, ge šeng

Genitive-Dative

The Genitive-Dative case is used for indirect objects and after prepositions.
It is formed by adding <-en> after consonants, which then become the onset of the syllable after. The tone changes accordingly.
bwi sen, aw čen, kya wen, na wi yen
Except for syllables ending in -n and -ng, for which <ne> is added
ge šen ne
for syllables ending in -m, for which <me> is added
bim me
for words ending in n(V), which is replaced with <ne>
Bocwau ne
and for some geographic names ending in -w and -y, which become <we> and <ye> respectively.
Yi ko we, Hwe ye

Accusative

The Accusative case is formed by adding a -ni suffix:
cun ni, bwis ni, bim ni, awč ni
Except for words ending in -ng, after which -gi is added:
gešeng gi
And words ending in -w or -y, after which just -i is added:
kyawi, nawiyi
and for words ending in -na, which is shortened to -n-
Boc waun ni

Vocative

The Vocative case is formed by adding a -ne suffix:
cun ne, bwis ne, bim ne, awč ne
Except for words ending in -ng, after which -ge is added:
ge šeng ge
And words ending in -w or -y, after which just -e is added. The consonant then becomes the onset of the syllable after. The tone changes accordingly.
kya we, na wi ye
and for words ending in -na, which is shortened to -n-
Boc waun ne

Verbs

There are three suffixes that can be added to verbs in the following order:

Assumption: -si ben zang → ben zang si x ≈ I assume x calculates
Subjunctive: -ga ben zang → ben zang ga x ≈ x would calculate
Past: -dah ben zang → ben zang dah x ≈ x calculated

Those can also be combined:
benzang → benzangsigadah ≈ I assume x would have calculated

Transitive verbs usually end in -em, -en or -me. Those suffixes are omitted in the conjugated form.

Exceptions: There are some exceptions for verbs that don’t just add suffixes, but change their stem:
bęč (walk) → bih in Past tense, not bęčdah

Adjectives

For comparatives, you just double the last syllable of the adjective:

paš (good) → paš paš (better)

For superlatives, you just add na jen (all in genitive case) after the comparative form.

Vocabulary

For a list of Kyawcenni words, see Kyawcenni vocabulary