Teranian

Teranian is the native language of the Terani, my species. While Teranian is technically a language, there are over 500 languages that originated from Teranian.

History

Teranian is one of the oldest languages still in use. Being the primary language of the terani before they split off into seperate nomadic tribes, teranian was a common language across the continent of Etrea. It wasn't just the terani who spoke teranian, people of the three depths and other settlements learnt teranian in order for trade to be easier.
As separate terani groups split off from the main population around a hundred thousand years ago, the language evolved from one language into several, each with unique dialects and accents. Some of these new sub-languages were so different from each other that people who spoke the different languages could not understand each other.
Today, about 500 languages exist that derived from teranian, which is astonishing when you think about it. Only a handful of these languages mostly remained the same, with barely enough differences to qualify as a new language, while most are vastly different from the originating language.
These languages are found on roughly 3,415 islands and two continents, including the originating continent, Etrea.

Education

Every group of terani teach some form of teranian to children from birth. These languages differ depending on the group, but the most common terani-originating language is Taiin. While each group mandatorily teaches a specific language, one can learn other Teranian languages while they are in school, and possibly continue it once they finish if they so desire. It is extremely uncommon for any terani school to teach a non Teranian language, as they see other languages to be inferior.

Natively known as: teranian

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
woyk ze búg so̊ ze ko̊bmu woyk sæ ze pud’ næth b’a zhongk
Pronunciation: /wojk ze bɯɣ sɒ ze ˈkɒbmu wojk sæ ze puɗ næth ɓa ʒoŋk/
Teranian word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d h j k l m n p s t w z ŋ ɓ ɗ ɣ ʃ ʄ ʒ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n			ŋ
Stop	p b	t d			k
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ		ʄ
Fricative		s z	ʃ ʒ		ɣ	h
Approximant				j
Lateral approximant		l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u æ ɒ ɯ ɵ ʉ

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ʉ	ɯ u
High-mid	e	ɵ	o
Near-low	æ
Low	a		ɒ

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)(C) ?
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɒ	o̊
ɵ	i̊
ʉ	ů
ɯ	ú
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɓ	b’
ɗ	d’
ɣ	g
ʃ	sh
ʄ	j
ʒ	zh

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Nouns

	Singular	Plural
Definite	No affix pongk /poŋk/ the dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nu- nupongk /ˈnupoŋk/ the dogs
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix se- sepongk /ˈsepoŋk/ a dog	Prefix u- upongk /ˈupoŋk/ some dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	po̊ /pɒ/ I	i /i/ me
2nd singular	ni /ni/ you	lu /lu/ you
3rd singular masc	ze /ze/ he, it	shæn /ʃæn/ him, it
3rd singular fem	wů /wʉ/ she, it	zæk /zæk/ her, it
1st plural	tuk /tuk/ we	shæsh /ʃæʃ/ us
2nd plural	u /u/ you all	shad /ʃad/ you all
3rd plural	bo̊ /bɒ/ they	yulzh /julʒ/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	po̊ /pɒ/ my
2nd singular	ni /ni/ your
3rd singular masc	ze /ze/ his
3rd singular fem	wů /wʉ/ her
1st plural	tuk /tuk/ our
2nd plural	u /u/ your (pl)
3rd plural	bo̊ /bɒ/ their

Verbs

Present	Prefix ɒ- o̊tiyk /ˈɒtijk/ learn
Past	No affix tiyk /tijk/ learned

Tushsen uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: bɯ - bú tiyk /bɯ tijk/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Tushsen uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: ɵʒ - i̊zh tiyk /ɵʒ tijk/ is learning

Habitual aspect

The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Tushsen uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: ɒ - o̊ tiyk /ɒ tijk/ learns

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.
Tushsen uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Change all #(C)*V to __ titiyk /ˈtitijk/ have learned

Numbers

Tushsen has a base-10 number system:
1 - se
2 - bo̊d
3 - to̊
4 - bú
5 - mæ
6 - ku
7 - zul
8 - ke
9 - ú
10 - zhu
Hundred - pash
Thousand - gamyæ

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j
Else: Suffix -aj
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -a
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kʃ
Else: Suffix -ekʃ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɒjʃ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mɵ-
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ns
Else: Suffix -ens
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -jʃ
Else: Suffix -ɒjʃ
Tending to = Suffix -ɯjʃ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mæ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -a
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l
Else: Suffix -ɯl
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɯp
Diminutive = Suffix -and
Augmentative = Prefix ɯ-