Thriazee (Threye-ah-zee)

Natively known as: jaūlueǐn /ˈʨau̯˥lwei̯˧˥n/

Thriazee is the spoken language of the Thri’zel from the jungle moon of Kazik’tar. Although the Thri’zel lack vocal chords, Thriazee is still considered a ‘spoken’ language. This is because the Thri’zel rub their mandibles together to produce the musical tones to ‘speak’ Thriazee, or any other language from the Voidrealms.

This language is tonal, with emotion and emphasis shifting with a rise, fall, or even a word spoken with a flat tone vs a sharp one. To the untrained listener, Thri’zel conversation sounds like music, interjected with occasional clicks for punctuation. It has a strong similarity to sounds made by many of Earth’s dolphin species.

Even though the language is musical with a strong emphasis on tone, any species can learn to speak Thriazee. Learning it requires both a study of the base meaning of the letters and language, but also of musical theory. To communicate, non-Thri’zel has to sing to pronounce words or sentences.

Sample Sentence

He saw the sun rise over the far green mountain

When pronounced (or sang) in Thriazee

Kēn zhà paǐng wǖr jǐ zhuon un boudan

Pronunciation

/kʰə˥n ʈʂa˨˩˦ pʰai̯˧˥ŋ wy˥ʐ ʨi˧˥ ʈʂwʊ˧n u˧n ˈpou̯˧ta˧n/

Thriazee word order

Sun he saw rise over green mountain far

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 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

Nouns have seven 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.
• Locative is the location of something: man is in town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
• Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.

Nominative	No affix tē /tʰɤ˥/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix a˨˩˦- àtē /ˈa˨˩˦tʰɤ˥/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Prefix ʈʂʰɤ˧- chetē /ˈʈʂʰɤ˧tʰɤ˥/ dogʼs
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix kʰ- Else: Prefix kʰɤ˥- kētē /ˈkʰɤ˥tʰɤ˥/ to dog
Locative	Prefix ei̯˧- eitē /ˈei̯˧tʰɤ˥/ near/at/by dog
Ablative	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tu˨˩˦- dùtē /ˈtu˨˩˦tʰɤ˥/ from dog
Instrumental	If starts with vowel: Prefix a˧ʂ- Else: Prefix a˧ʂi˧- ashitē /a˧ˈʂi˧tʰɤ˥/ with/using dog

Singular	No affix tē /tʰɤ˥/ dog
Plural	Reduplicate last part of last syllable tēē /ˈtʰɤ˥ɤ˥/ dogs

Articles

Definite	zhueî̜ /ʈʂwei̯˥˩̜/ the
Indefinite	shi /ʂi˧/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Dictionary

3070 Words.

Spoken by

• Ka'ras
• T'Kepak

Writing System

Thriazee is a segmental script language where letters represent the basic unit of sound, or notes of the language. A manuscript written by someone fluent in Thriazee often resembles a sheet of music, where a 'word' is a collection of notes in a measure.

The language is read from left to right, with accents to denote flat or sharp sounds. Those accents indicate a flat or sharp tone for a stressed letter, or syllable, when read, especially aloud.

Pronouns

	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular masc	3rd singular fem	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural
Nominative	beî̜ /pei̯˥˩̜/ I	yei /jei̯˧/ you	zhà /ʈʂa˨˩˦/ he, it (masc)	rǒ /ʐʊ˧˥/ she, it (fem)	da /ta˧/ we	â̜n /a˥˩̜n/ you all	bû̜n /pu˥˩̜n/ they
Accusative	zhā /ʈʂɛ˥/ me	zǎ /ʦa˧˥/ you	ga /ka˧/ his, it (masc)	eī /ei̯˥/ her, it (fem)	daû̜ /tau̯˥˩̜/ us	aùr /au̯˨˩˦ʐ/ you all	aǔng /au̯˧˥ŋ/ them
Genitive	lè /lɤ˨˩˦/ mine	deīng /tei̯˥ŋ/ yours	hî̜ng /xi˥˩̜ŋ/ his, its (masc)	zha /ʈʂa˧/ hers, its (fem)	mīr /mi˥ʐ/ ours	wo /wo˧/ yours (pl)	toun /tʰou̯˧n/ theirs
Dative	nu /nu˧/ to me	nè /nə˨˩˦/ to you	zhèr /ʈʂə˨˩˦ʐ/ to his, to it (masc)	kê̜ /kʰɤ˥˩̜/ to her, to it (fem)	rou /ʐou̯˧/ to us	chou /ʈʂʰou̯˧/ to you all	ra /ʐɛ˧/ to them
Locative	ān /ɛ˥n/ to me	shei /ʂei̯˧/ to you	sha /ʂa˧/ to his, to it (masc)	shār /ʂa˥ʐ/ to her, to it (fem)	ain /ai̯˧n/ to us	ti /tʰi˧/ to you all	gà /kɛ˨˩˦/ to them
Ablative	zhaur /ʈʂau̯˧ʐ/ from me	sě /sə˧˥/ from you	gu /ku˧/ from his, from it (masc)	a /a˧/ from her, from it (fem)	zhoù /ʈʂou̯˨˩˦/ from us	chi /ʈʂʰi˧/ from you all	shè /ʂə˨˩˦/ from them
Instrumental	zhar /ʈʂɛ˧ʐ/ with/using me	dē /tə˥/ with/using you	ē /ə˥/ with/using his, with/using it (masc)	zhuê̜ /ʈʂwɤ˥˩̜/ with/using her, with/using it (fem)	gi /ki˧/ with/using us	shoù /ʂou̯˨˩˦/ with/using you all	chā /ʈʂʰa˥/ with/using them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	zhuoǔ /ʈʂwou̯˧˥/ my
2nd singular	fì /fi˨˩˦/ your
3rd singular masc	dīng /ti˥ŋ/ his
3rd singular fem	gū /ku˥/ her
1st plural	mǚng /my˧˥ŋ/ our
2nd plural	e /ɤ˧/ your (pl)
3rd plural	hein /xei̯˧n/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st person	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jo˥- yōkâ̜ /ˈjo˥kʰa˥˩̜/ (I/we) learn	Prefix ɤ˥˩̜- ê̜kâ̜ /ˈɤ˥˩kʰa˥˩̜/ (I/we) learned
2nd person	Prefix ɤ˥- ēkâ̜ /ˈɤ˥kʰa˥˩̜/ (you/you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʦʰ- Else: Prefix ʦʰa˥- cākâ̜ /ˈʦʰa˥kʰa˥˩̜/ (you/you all) learned
3rd person	Prefix u˧˥- ǔkâ̜ /ˈu˧˥kʰa˥˩̜/ (he/she/it/they) learn(s)	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʨʰ- Else: Prefix ʨʰy˧- qükâ̜ /ˈʨʰy˧kʰa˥˩̜/ (he/she/it/they) learned

Thriazee uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: mə˥˩̜ - mê̜ kâ̜ /mə˥˩̜ kʰa˥˩̜/ will learn

Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Thriazee uses the word for ‘finish’ eīng for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Thriazee has a base-10 number system:
1 - zhî̜
2 - māng
3 - woǔng
4 - lā
5 - pǒr
6 - bè
7 - shaūng
8 - mung
9 - î̜
10 - ò
100 - cì
1000 - ěng

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix x-
Else: Prefix xa˨˩˦-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ɥʊ˧-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ʊ˥-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ei̯˧˥-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix a˥˩̜-
Noun to verb = Prefix ʈʂʰi˧-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix mʊ˧-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʐ-
Else: Prefix ʐɤ˥˩̜-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix i˧-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix tʊ˨˩˦-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ku˥˩̜-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ʈʂwei̯˧˥-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix u˥nʨj-
Else: Prefix u˥nʨjau̯˥-
Augmentative = Prefix ʊ˧˥-