Nteh’áh
Nteh’áh, pronounced [ntẽ̤˩ʔã̤˥], is a Deep Dimensional language spoken somewhere in the ŋorld.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Dorsal | Guttural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n̪ ⟨nh⟩ | n | ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | |
| Stop | p | t̪ ⟨th⟩ | t | k ⟨k⟩ | ʔ <’> |
| b | d̪ ⟨d⟩ | ɾ ⟨r⟩ | g ⟨g⟩ | ɢ ⟨gg⟩ | |
| Continuant | w | l̪ ⟨l⟩ | s | j | h |
- /k g/ are [c ɟ] after the front vowels /i e a/, and before /n̪ t̪ d̪ l̪ j/.
- /ɲ/ is [ŋ] after the back vowels /u o ɔ/, and before any consonant except /j/.
- /ɲɲ/ is [ŋŋ].
- /w j/ are [ɸ ç] before /t̪ t k s/.
- /l̪/ are [ɬ̪] before /t̪/, but [ɬ] before /t k s/.
Tones
Nteh’ah has 2 phonemic tones: high and low. They apply to entire syllables, not the individual vowels within them. Monosyllabic words do not have contrastive tone. Their phonetic tone adapts to that of surrounding words. Polysyllabic words must have both high tone(s) and low tone(s), not just one of them. Codal /ʔ/ and /ɢ/ give the preceding high vowel a falling tone. When this occurs, they may lenite to approximants [ʔ̞] and [ʁ̞]. Monosyllabic affixes do have contrastive tone, and polysyllabic affixes can be monotonal. High tones are romanized with an acute accent and low tones are not marked.
Vowels
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short | Long | Short | Long | |
| High | i | iː ⟨ii⟩ | u | uː ⟨uu⟩ |
| Mid | e | eː ⟨ee⟩ | o | oː ⟨oo⟩ |
| Low | a | aː ⟨aa⟩ | ɔ ⟨ǫ⟩ | ɔː ⟨ǫǫ⟩ |
| Syllabic Consonants | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| High Tone | ḿ | ń | ŋ́ ⟨ńy⟩ |
| Low Tone | m̀ | ǹ | ŋ̀ ⟨ǹy⟩ |
- /i(ː) u(ː)/ are always nasalized.
- /i u/ become [ɲ ŋ͡mʷ] if preceded by a vowel and followed by a consonant.
- Nasals /m n̪ n ɲ/ and /ʔ/ nasalize adjacent vowels.
- /h/ makes the voiced sounds in its syllable breathy, and is deleted if not preceded by a vowel.
- Vowels have retracted tongue root when adjacent to /ɢ/.
- /ŋ̍/ is [ɲ̍] adjacent to /n̪ t̪ d̪ l̪ j/.
Phonotactics
(C)(C)V(V,L,W)(C) - C: consonant, V: vowel, L: length, W: semivowel /w j/
Onset CC can only occur if the first C is /m n̪ n ɲ b w j/ second C is /t̪ t k ʔ b d̪ g ɢ/. L means either a lengthening of the previous vowel or a codal /s/.
- /n t d̪ g ɾ/ can only occur in onset positions.
- /p h/ can only occur in coda positions.
- Plosives cannot be geminated.
Grammar
Lexicon
Words in Nteh’ah do not have a set part of speech. Their most basic form, known as the core, is modified through inflection, word order, or context in order to assume the role of a specific part of speech. Nouns retain their core form while other parts of speech tend to require a change. The English parts of speech in the vocabulary list do not change the fact that the Nteh’ah words are in their core form.
Translations
Vocabulary List
| List 1 | List 2 | List 3 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nteh’ah | English | Notes | Nteh’ah | English | Notes | Nteh’ah | English | Notes |
| tass | disaster | noe | death | ’aŋké | laugh | |||
| maǫ | want | ián | rules | tó’u | habitat | also host | ||
| ikí | smart | tówi | rainbow | tó’o | guest | |||
| eeh | come into knowing | la’ | bad | hai | love | familial, platonic, romantic | ||
| tajh | bus | amúu | dog | ńde | love | for a thing or quality | ||
| kóono | person | níni | easy | ómi | good | |||
| kóonu | humanity | nte | build | téhseeh | joke | including pranks | ||
| ’aih | pain | sajh | creepy | nteh’áh | Nteh’áh culture | |||
| mbáki | north | o | give | btu | appreciate | also like | ||
| tonó | south | |||||||
| baha | east | |||||||
| íie | west | |||||||