Archive:Teixo
| Teixo | |
|---|---|
| Têixỏkõ | |
| Pronunciation | /tei̯˥ʃɔ˥˧kɔ˩˧/ |
| Ethnicity | Magalese people |
| Native speakers | 25 million (total), 15 million (native) (2017) |
| Language family | Ngerupic languages
|
| Early forms: | |
| Dialects | Bafeio dialect |
| Writing system | Teixo syllabary |
| Official status | |
| Official language in | Magali |
| CWS code | ixo |
The Teixo language is a Ngerupic language which is the most-spoken language in the nation of Magali in Akulanen.
History
The term 'Teixo' is derived ultimately from 'Fee Six O' meaning 'The Sand Teeth', an earlier Ngerupic language spoken as the primary language of the Iarisuko kingdoms around 1000 CE in what is now southern Magali. Accordingly, Teixo language is a direct descendant of this language.
The existence of a distinct 'Teixo' language as separate from other Iarisuko languages was noted as early as 1754 CE by an eastern observer fleeing the Kingdom of Amerhan's takeover of the eastern Ngerupic region. However, it was mainly the reformation of the Teixo State in the late 19th century that cemented Teixo's status as a distinct language, further underpinned by the 1920s spelling reform and use as a primary official language of Magali; often it is defined by opposition to the co-official Yavodna language on one hand and nonstandard Iarisuko lects on the other.
Geography
Teixo is spoken by a total of around 25 million in southern and western Magali as well as in some areas of northern Magali, Amerhan and Quaxin Xun. The number of native speakers of standard Magali City Teixo, however, is limited to the native and assimilated population of Magali City and regions in a 50-mile radius, about 8 million.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Dorsal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
| Fortis nasal | mː | nː | ŋː | |
| Plosive | p | t | k | |
| Fricated | f | t͡ʃ | ɦ | |
| Approximant | l | j | w | |
| Trill | r |
The fortis nasals are realized as prenasalized stops intervocalically, and the affricate /t͡ʃ/ is realised as a fricative [ʃ] intervocalically. /ɦ/ becomes [ʃ] before /i/ or a diphthong beginning in /i̯/, while it becomes [f] before /u/ or a diphthong beginning in /u̯/. /l/ is realized as [ɾ] intervocalically.
Vowels
| Monophthongs | Front | Back |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a |
| Diphthongs | i̯- | u̯- | -i̯ | -u̯ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | ai̯ | au̯ | ||
| ɛ | i̯ɛ | u̯ɛ | ei̯ | |
| ɔ | i̯ɔ | u̯ɔ | ou̯ |
Tone
Teixo has seven tones, of which two have unconditionally merged in modern spoken Teixo, and the others of which reduce to three in non-final syllables, though all the underlying forms of all seven are marked contrastively in the romanization used here.
The tone merger is the realization of both low level tone and low falling tone as low level in nonfinal position and falling in final position.
The non-final tone reduction for the other tones takes the form of contour tone realization as level at the same pitch level. This process is pervasive through all speech varieties classified as Teixo.
In some dialects such as the Bafeio dialect, the high rising and low rising tones merge instead into a single mid rising tone 24, while the low level tone and low falling tone remain distinct in final position.
| Level | Rising | Falling | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | 55 <â> | 35 <á> | 53 <ả> |
| Mid | 33 <a> | ||
| Low | 11 <ǎ> | 13 <ã> | 21 <à> |
Phonotactics
Teixo syllable structure may be described as underlyingly (C)V, with elision of final /ɛ/ producing final consonants. However, due to reanalysis of these forms as underlyingly consonant-final in modern spoken Teixo, these words are usually referred to as (C)V...C words.
Orthography
Teixo is normally written in the Teixo syllabary, a variant of the Iarisuko syllabary family used throughout southern and western Magali. The Teixo syllabary's last reform was in the early 1920s, but the script remains fairly conservative and is not very transparent.
Grammar
Morphology
Teixo nouns decline for number, the construct state, and specificity.
Its verbs conjugate for person and number of highest-ranking / most topical core argument through a direct-inverse system that intersects with transitivity. They also inflect for aspect and mood. Additionally, the majority of verbs take a body-part prefix which often has a directional or instrumental meaning and can be viewed as a special form of derivational compounding.
While the nouns are normally written as one word in the romanization used on CWS, the verbs are usually split into body part prefix, core argument marker, and TAM+voice+verb.stem components.
Teixo inflection is a combination of fusional and agglutinative strategies with high importance given to tone changes.
Syntax
Teixo word order is primarily SVO, although pronoun(s) representing lower-ranking core argument(s) are realized as proclitics on the verbal complex. Teixo is highly pro-drop.