Tsɑkø is an extinct language west of the Nyji nations that influenced Early Nyji through trade and intermarriage. Most of the texts found were inventories, sales records, and recipes. It is known that it influenced the rise of paucal in Nyji as well as adding some phonemes. For simplicity's sake and to make it easier to compare to Nyji, in its various versions, the orthography is the same as IPA. Tsɑkø words and phonemes will be marked like this.
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(Vowels beside periods are: unrounded . rounded) |
The scant Ocalan records and reconstructions indicate that it had vowel height harmony and minor rounding harmony. All vowels must match in height and a round vowel will be followed by another round vowel, unless seperated by two consonants.
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It also has long vowels and closing diphthongs.
| closed | neutral | open | |
|---|---|---|---|
| starting with e | ei ey | eæ | |
| starting with ø | øy | ||
| starting with o | oy | oø | |
| starting with ɯ | ɯi ɯy | ||
| starting with ɑ | ɑø ɑe ɑæ | ||
| starting with ɔ | ɔø |
Velar consonants (k g ɣ ŋ) and the semivowel j only appear medially. The labial fricatives (f β) only appear initially. The only fricative that appear medially is ɣ and no affricates appear medially.
Verbs end in l. Nouns formed from them simply remove the final consonant. To create a verb from a noun, l or el was added, with the needed sound changes.
Paucals were formed by suffixing them if the word ended with a consonant with ɑt for open vowel words and in for closed vowel words, or, by replacing the final vowel, with the needed modifications as shown in the table below.
The rounding of the suffix follows the rules of vowel harmony, thus, for example: (armlet) ojmø → ojmɑt, not *ojmɔt. If a word has neutral vowels except for the final vowel, which would be replaced, the word takes the open suffix, for example: (chest) femɣey → femɣɑt, not *femɣin.
| end | closed | open | examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| consonant (unround) | -in | -ɑt |
(wheat) milel → milelin, (pan) fɑkɑæt → fɑkɑætɑt |
| consonant (vowel harmony) | -yn | -ɔt |
(leather) ɯmekjøønyn → ɯmekjøønyn, (basket) tøntoøn → tøntoønɔt |
| short vowel (unround) | dɯ → din | dæ → dɑt | (wool) ʣɯirø → ʣɯirin, (linen) βɑɑkkɑ → βɑɑkkɑt |
| short vowel (vowel harmony) | ytɯ → ytyn | ɔtæ → ɔtɔt | (crystal) tøyroymo → tøyroymyn, (rice) popød → popødɔt |
| long vowel (unround) | rii → din | rææ → dɑt |
(mill) mɯytrøbjee → mɯytrøbjin, (interest) togɑɑmee → togɑɑmɑt |
| long vowel (vowel harmony) | yrɯɯ → yryn | ɔree → ɔrɔt |
(value) enokyy → enokyn, (court) ɑegɔnønoo → ɑegɔnønɔt |
| diphthong (unround) |
mey (round) → mein (unround) mei → mein mɯi → mɯin mɯy (round) → mɯin (unround) |
meæ → mɑt mɑø (round) → (unround) mɑɑt mɑe → mɑɑt mɑæ → mɑɑt |
(cloak) ɯitrei → ɯitrein, (rivet) bɑækɑdɑæ → bɑækɑdɑɑt |
| diphthong (vowel harmony) |
føy → føyn foy → foyn foø → foyn |
foø → fɔn fɔø → fɔɔt |
(tool) pɯiløy → pɯiløyn, (rum) mɑøʦɔø → mɑøʦɔɔt |
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with sound change dz → d ts → t |
(baker) æteæʣe → æteædɑt, (grain) fɯmotyʦ → fɯmotytyn |
Plurals had more steps.
| vowel | to closed vowel | to open vowel |
|---|---|---|
| ø | y | ɔ |
| o | o | ɔ |
| e | ɯ | ɑ |
Not many adjectives are known, but what is known is that adjectives end in edz and agree with the noun in number. Adjectives follow the noun.
A handful of derivational prefixes are known. As above, some sounds have to be changed because they can't appear medially.
Many of the words borrowed into Nyji started with vowels, which isn't possible in Nyji. Therefore, the nouns were prefixed with mor or fɯje while the verbs were prefixed with tin (all of these vary depending on whether it's an open or closed vowel word - see the tables below) These prefixes are strong indicators that a Nyji word was borrowed from Tsɑkø.
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* It's not known for sure what the meaning of this verb prefix was. Theories include it being a tense or aspect marker, an emphasis particle, or dozens of other things. There don't exist enough texts to be sure.
Adjectives beginning with a vowel are preceded with n if they're closed or t if they're open, presumably by taking the consonant from a paucal noun.
View the list of known words