Tsomi

Natively known as: zhomi /ˈʈʂomi/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
gǐ èr aī toǔ ěn ei gǐ faī saǐ aī jô ân ō
Pronunciation: /ki˧˥ ɤ˨˩˦ʐ ai̯˥ tʰou̯˧˥ ɤ˧˥n ei̯˧ ki˧˥ fai̯˥ sai̯˧˥ ai̯˥ ʨo˥˩ a˥˩n o˥/
ʈʂomi word order: and he hat his holding stood and the wind to his face wet turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: f j k kʰ l m n p pʰ s t tʰ w x ŋ ɥ ʂ ʂʰ ʈ ʐ ʦ ʦʰ ʨ ʨʰ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n				ŋ
Stop	p pʰ		t tʰ	ʈ			k kʰ
Affricate			ʦ ʦʰ		ʨ ʨʰ
Fricative		f	s	ʂ ʂʰ ʐ			x
Approximant						j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar
Approximant	ɥ	w

Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ ei̯ i o ou̯ u y ə ɛ ɤ ʊ
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ ei̯ ou̯ ?
Tones: ˧ ˥ ˧˥ ˨˩˦ ˥˩

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		u
Near-high			ʊ
High-mid			ɤ o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
w	u / C_
p	b / !_ʰ
k	g / !_ʰ
t	d / !_ʰ
ʨʰ	q
ʦʰ	c
ʈʂʰ	ch
ʈʂ	zh
ʦ	z
ʐ	r
ʰ
ŋk	nk
ŋ	ng
x	h
ʂ	sh
ɤ	e
ə	e
ʊ	o
y	ü / C_
y	yu
j	y
ʨ	j
ɛ	a
˥˩	̂
˧˥	̌
˨˩˦	̀
˥	̄
˧
̯

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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 four 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.

Nominative	No affix shū /ʂu˥/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -i˧˥ shūǐ /ˈʂu˥i˧˥/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐʦa˧ Else: Suffix -ɛ˨˩˦ʐʦa˧ shūrza /ˈʂu˥ʐʦa˧/ dogʼs
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ntau̯˨˩˦ Else: Suffix -ɛ˧ntau̯˨˩˦ shūndaù /ˈʂu˥ntau̯˨˩˦/ to dog

	Singular	Plural
Definite	No affix shū /ʂu˥/ the dog	Suffix -au̯˥˩ŋ shūaûng /ˈʂu˥au̯˥˩ŋ/ the dogs
Indefinite	Suffix -o˨˩˦ shūò /ˈʂu˥o˨˩˦/ a dog	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -a˥ŋ shūng /ʂu˥ŋ/ some dogs

Articles

ʈʂomi encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	qang /ʨʰa˧ŋ/ I	fǜ /fy˨˩˦/ me	sang /sɛ˧ŋ/ mine	zhuoūng /ʈʂwou̯˥ŋ/ to me
2nd singular	chu /ʈʂʰu˧/ you	wa /wa˧/ you	ǎ /a˧˥/ yours	ì /i˨˩˦/ to you
3rd singular	èr /ɤ˨˩˦ʐ/ he, she, it	aī /ai̯˥/ his, her, it	ǒr /o˧˥ʐ/ his, hers, its	ɥěng /ɥə˧˥ŋ/ to his, to her, to it
1st plural	oûng /ou̯˥˩ŋ/ we	cha /ʈʂʰa˧/ us	peî /pʰei̯˥˩/ ours	ōng /o˥ŋ/ to us
2nd plural	àng /a˨˩˦ŋ/ you all	oū /ou̯˥/ you all	sē /sɤ˥/ yours (pl)	shà /ʂa˨˩˦/ to you all
3rd plural	ùn /u˨˩˦n/ they	ê /ɤ˥˩/ them	kâ /kʰɛ˥˩/ theirs	lì /li˨˩˦/ to them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	sang /sɛ˧ŋ/ my
2nd singular	ǎ /a˧˥/ your
3rd singular	aī /ai̯˥/ his, her, its
1st plural	peî /pʰei̯˥˩/ our
2nd plural	sē /sɤ˥/ your (pl)
3rd plural	kâ /kʰɛ˥˩/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix ô /ʊ˥˩/ learn
Past	Suffix -i˥ʐ ôīr /ˈʊ˥˩i˥ʐ/ learned
Future	Suffix -a˥˩ ôâ /ˈʊ˥˩a˥˩/ will learn

Numbers

ʈʂomi has a base-10 number system:
1 - cun
2 - ɥai
3 - jā
4 - sheî
5 - te
6 - shaū
7 - pǔ
8 - laûn
9 - dor
10 - jàng
100 - zhǎ
1000 - za

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -y˥
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -o˧˥n
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ntwɛ˧
Else: Suffix -ei̯˧ntwɛ˧
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ou̯˥˩ʐ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -y˥
Noun to verb = Suffix -ou̯˥˩
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ei̯˧n
Tending to = Suffix -ei̯˥
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -o˥˩ŋ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ
Else: Suffix -ei̯˥ʐ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -a˥ʐ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -o˥˩ʐ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ
Else: Suffix -i˥˩ʐ
Augmentative = Suffix -ɛ˥˩

Dictionary

3144 Words.

Spoken by

• Tsou Ethnicity

Common Female Names

Madaba

Madoka

Lu

Common Male Names

Thieu

Ryeu

Thinh

Common Unisex Names

Laraken

Mako

Thien