Ngutanese language

Ngutanese
tāyai ngutāyai
Pronunciation	[ˈtaː.jai̯ ŋuˈtaː.jai̯]
Created by	Unleashy
Setting	Sahar
Spoken natively in	Ngutan
Native speakers	12 million  (2015)
Language family	Upper Borosan Ngutanic Ngutanese
Early forms:	Old Ngutan Ngutanese
Official status
Regulated by	Ngutanese Language Institute
CWS code	ngu

Ngutanese (tāyai ngutāyai, pronounced [ˈtaː.jai̯ ŋuˈtaː.jai̯]) is an Upper Borosan language and an official language of Ngutan. Ngutanese is one of the two living members of the Ngutanic branch of Upper Borosan languages. Written examples of Old Ngutanese are attested from the 12th century and onwards.

It is spoken in Western Upper Boroso in Ngutan, with ?? million+ native speakers. Ngutanese is the #th most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers and #th by total number of speakers. In Ngutan, ??% of men and women speak Ngutanese natively, and the literacy rate is around ??%.

Etymology

The language is natively known as Ngutāyai, meaning roughly people's speech.

History

WIP

Linguistic classification

Ngutanese is surrounded by the Upper-Borosan languages, but is a language isolate.

Dialects

WIP

Southern dialects

WIP

Northern dialects

WIP

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Labiovelar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n				ŋ
Plosive	p	t				k
Fricative		s̞¹	[ɕ̞]²				h³
Affricate			[t͡ɕ]⁴
Approximant				j	w
Flap or tap		ɾ

¹very slightly fricated only

²before /i/, allophone of /s̞/

³after /h/, vowels get nasalized

⁴before /i/, allophone of /t/

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i i:	u u:
Close-mid	e e:	o o:
Open	a a:

Polyphthongs

ei̯: ei̯ au̯: au̯ ai̯: ai̯ ui̯: ui̯ eu̯: eu̯ ou̯: ou̯ oi̯: oi̯

Phonotactics

Syllable Structure

(C)V(V)(N), being: C = any consonant V = any vowel N = any nasal

Note that <ng> /ŋ/ is considered a single consonant, not two. The N coda can only happen word-finally.

Stress information

Stress isn't phonemic, but there's a slight stress on the last syllable that has a long vowel; if there is no long vowel, the stress is on the penultimate syllable.

Other

Ngutāyai is syllable-timed.

Orthography

Aa 'Ā' /a/ Hh 'Aho' /h/¹ Ee 'Ē' /e/ Kk 'Ako' /k/ Ii 'Ī' /i/ Yy 'Ayo' /j/ Mm 'Amo' /m/ Nn 'Ano' /n/

NG ng 'Ango' /ŋ/ Oo 'Ō' /o/ Pp 'Apo' /p/ Rr 'Aro' /ɾ/ Ss 'Aso' /s̞/² Tt 'Ato' /t/ Uu 'Ū' /u/ Ww 'Awo' /w/

¹after /h/, vowels get nasalized

²very slightly fricated only

Grammar and syntax

WIP