Tanzangi
| Tanzangi | |
|---|---|
| Language family | Cangic |
| Early form(s) | Old Dang, Proto-Cangic |
| Era | today |
| Writing system | Latin |
| Official status | |
| Spoken in | Tanzang |
| Regulated by | Government of Tanzang |
| Speaker | |
| Demonym | Tanti, Tanzangi |
| Number of speakers | About half |
| Technical information | |
| Usage | Government language |
| Language code | TZN |
Tanzangi, (Tanzangi: tanti /tən.ti/) the official language of Tanzang, is a language in the Dangic branch of the Cangic language family descended from Middle Dang, formerly spoken somewhere in Thasusa. It features an inventory of 17 consonants and 9 vowels. It's ancestor language, Old Dang, was monosyllabic; Tanzangi, however, combines Old Dang syllables in an agglutinative manner.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ ⟨ñ⟩ | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ |
| Plosive | p b | t d | k ⟨c⟩ g | |
| Affricate | ts ⟨z⟩ | (tʃ) ⟨z⟩ | ||
| Fricative | f | s | x ⟨j⟩ | |
| Liquid | l r |
[tʃ] is an allophone of /ts/ before front vowel /i/. Velars /k g x/ become palatal [c ɟ ç] before front vowels /i e/. Old Dang /ŋ/ merged with /ɲ/ in all positions except syllable coda. Fricatives /f s x/, as well as /ts/ and [tʃ], become voiced [v z ɣ dz dʒ] intervocalically, and voiced plosives /b d g/ become fricated [v ð ɣ]. Orthographic ⟨h⟩ indicates vowel hiatus when intervocalic or word-initial, and lengthens the preceding phone in other positions.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ ⟨u⟩ | u ⟨ou / w⟩ |
| Close-Mid | e | ə ⟨a⟩ | o |
| Open-Mid | ɛ ⟨ai / è⟩ | ɔ ⟨au / ò⟩ | |
| Open | ɑ ⟨à⟩ |
/ə/ is deleted in some unstressed syllables, particularly word-finally. In these positions, it is not written. In less formal speech, it is deleted in all unstressed syllables. In positions where it would normally be deleted, but is not, it would be written ⟨ä⟩. Due to the deletion of the schwa, stress paterns may sometimes be unpredictable. Historically, Tanzangi featured a strict penultimate stress system. In modern times, this pattern is somewhat irregular. "Irregularly" stressed vowels are marked with an acute accent.
To resolve vowel hiatus, the more closed vowel in a sequence becomes a glide: front vowels /i e ɛ/ become [j], central /ɨ/ becomes [ɨ̯], and back rounded /u o ɔ/ become [w]. The vowel /ə/ is often deleted instead. To avoid confusion with /ɛ ɔ u/, the sequences [aj aɨ̯ oɨ̯] are written ⟨aï aü oü⟩.
Phonotactics
Old Dang syllable structure was strictly (C)V(C). Modern Tanzangi retains that phonemically, but phonetically, with the deletion of schwa, clusters are much more common and can be more complex. Modern Tanzangi syllable structure is largely undefined, especially due to very free phonotactics in loans. Vowel hiatus is allowed, orthographically seperated by ⟨h⟩. Stress patterns may be irregular, marked with an acute accent.