Tětshëian (/ˈtɘt ʃɛ i an/)

Natively known as: tětshë /ˈtɘtʃɛ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ru no nengmë wë emaro om ru wë mën něw nerne poʻěk no

Pronunciation: /ru no ˈneŋmɛ wɛ eˈmaro om ru wɛ mɛn nɘw ˈnerne ˈpoʔɘk no/
Tětshëian Word Order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: f k l m n p r t w ŋ ʃ ʔ ʧ

Manner/Place	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Stop	p		t		k	ʔ
Affricate				ʧ
Fricative		f		ʃ
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated Phonemes

Manner/Place	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel Inventory: a e i o u ɘ ɛ

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
High-mid	e	ɘ	o
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: f k l m n p r t w ʧ
Mid-word consonants: f fl ft fw fʃ k kk km kr kt kʧ l lf ll ln lp lr lt lw lʧ m mr mt mw mʧ n nf nl nm np nt nw nʔ nʧ p pf pk pw pʧ r rl rm rn rp rʃ t tl tm tr tt tʃ w wk wp wt wʃ ŋ ŋl ŋm ŋp ŋr ŋt ʃ ʃk ʃm ʃn ʃp ʃʧ ʔ ʧ ʧk ʧl ʧn
Word final consonants: f k l m n p t w ŋ ʃ ʧ
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
ɛ	ë
ɘ	ě
ŋ	ng
ʃ	sh
ʧ	ch

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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

Case

Nouns have two cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Nominative	No affix kachkingpuk /kaʧˈkiŋpuk/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -ɘʃ kachkingpukěsh /ˌkaʧkiŋˈpukɘʃ/ (verb done to) dog

Number

Singular	No affix kachkingpuk /kaʧˈkiŋpuk/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɘ kachkingpukě /ˌkaʧkiŋˈpukɘ/ dogs

Articles

Tětshëian has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	nu /nu/ I	pëch /pɛʧ/ me
2nd singular	kěf /kɘf/ you	něng /nɘŋ/ you
3rd singular masc	no /no/ he, it	mën /mɛn/ him, it
3rd singular fem	nël /nɛl/ she, it	nëw /nɛw/ her, it
1st plural	pě /pɘ/ we	won /won/ us
2nd plural	ap /ap/ you all	më /mɛ/ you all
3rd plural masc	fě /fɘ/ they (masc)	tish /tiʃ/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	wan /wan/ they (fem)	ně /nɘ/ them (fem)

Possessive Determiners

1st singular	wëk /wɛk/ my
2nd singular	lë /lɛ/ your
3rd singular masc	wë /wɛ/ his
3rd singular fem	tash /taʃ/ her
1st plural	piw /piw/ our
2nd plural	pë /pɛ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	fě /fɘ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	ru /ru/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix pashpe /ˈpaʃpe/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -am pashpem /ˈpaʃpem/ learned
Future	Suffix -ɘf pashpeěf /paʃˈpeɘf/ will learn

Numbers

Tětshëian has a base-9 number system:
1 - e
2 - me
3 - non
4 - op
5 - ke
6 - kektuf
7 - mëtěsh
8 - wěm
9 - rirmi
11 - e ru rirmi “one and nine”
39 - non ru op rirmi “three and four nine”
100 - pefshiw “hundred”
101 - pefshiw e “hundred one”
200 - me pefshiw
1000 - pol “thousand”

Derivational Morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -o
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -ɛŋ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɘk
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -en
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -el
Noun to verb = Suffix -ɘk
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -ɛʧ
Tending to = Suffix -ɘt
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -iʧ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɘm
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -it
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ɘk
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -eʧ
Augmentative = Suffix -e

Dictionary

4497 Words.

This language was spoken by the Drowned Sea Elves or Chunfěch Kerlě Ĕchnikapě (/ˈʧunfɘʧ ˈkerlɘ ɘʧˈnikapɘ/). They have not been seen in generations. Therefore, only scholars still study the language.

Spoken by

• The Sea Drowned

Common Female Names

• Pachneng /ˈpaʧneŋ/
• Fěkkěn /ˈfɘkkɘn/
• Wělak /ˈwɘlak/
• Rërnep /ˈrɛrnep/
• Ungěktě /uˈŋɘktɘ/
• Chime /ˈʧime/

Common Male Names

• Kěpo /ˈkɘpo/
• Rat /rat/
• Wurnon /ˈwurnon/
• Pipwo /ˈpipwo/
• Fafo /ˈfafo/
• Kěpo /ˈkɘpo/

The Nonary System

Scholars believe that the Sea Niveans adopted a base nine, or nonary, system as a direct reflection of their search to master Da’At, the Silver Winds. For the Sea Elves part, none one bothered to ask then why when they were around.