Fuomi Language
| Fuomi | |
|---|---|
| Fuómî́' | |
| Pronunciation | /fu̯ɔ˨˩miʔ˦˥/ |
| Native to | a lot |
Morei
| |
Early form | Old Fuomi
|
| Morèi script, Jozunian script | |
| Official status | |
| Regulated by | me |
Fuomi is the most widely spoken Morèi language, spoken natively in the central states such as Kute, Dauta and Waiten, and throughout the wider region as a lingua franca. It is notable among the Morèi languages for having developed a rich contour tone system.
History
Varieties
Phonology
The following tables show the consonants, vowels and tones of Fuomi in the standardised Dauta dialect:
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | [ŋ] | |||
| Stop | aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | [tɕʰ] | kʰ | |
| unaspirated | p | t | [tɕ] | k | ʔ | |
| Fricative | f | s | [ɕ] | x | ||
| Approximant | ɹ | j | w | |||
[ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ before velar consonants; [tɕʰ] of /tʰ/ and /kʰ/, [tɕ] of /t/ and [ɕ] of /s/ and /h/ before /i/ or /j/.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | ||
| Mid | ə | ɔ | ||
| Open | a | |||
In addition there are the opening diphthongs /i̯ə/ and /u̯ɔ/ and the closing diphthongs /ei̯/, /ai̯/, /au̯/ and /ou̯/. Sequences of /ə/, /i/, /i̯ə/ or /ei̯/ followed by /ɹ/ are realised as [ɚ]; such sequences with all other vowels and diphthongs as [a˞].
Tones
| Tone number | Description | Tone letter | Example word | IPA | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Low | ˧ | ge | /kə˧/ | (prepositional marker) |
| 2 | High | ˥ | tâ' | /tʰaʔ˥/ | "citadel" |
| 3 | Low falling | ˨˩ | gèun | /kou̯n˨˩/ | "kill" |
| 4 | High falling | ˥˩ | kầi | /kʰai̯˥˩/ | "marriage" |
| 5 | Low rising | ˩˨ | géu' | /kou̯ʔ˩˨/ | "sorghum" |
| 6 | High rising | ˦˥ | Kû́' | /kʰuʔ˦˥/ | (a river) |
| 7 | Falling-rising | ˧˨˦ | kěu' | /kʰou̯ʔ˧˨˦/ | "asphalt" |
Tone sandhi
lol, lmao
Phonotactics
The structure of the Fuomi syllable is CV(F), where V includes diphthongs and the category of final consonants F includes only /n/, /ɹ/ and /ʔ/. /w/ and /j/ do not occur in initial position before the opening diphthongs /i̯ə/ and /u̯ɔ/.
Grammar
Vocabulary
Writing systems
The Morèi script has been used to write the Moraisic languages since 767 CE, adsfdjkljdjk
Fuomi can also be written in the Jozunian script, for reasons . The following table shows the correspondences between Dauta Fuomi sounds and the Roman and Jozunian orthographies.
| Consonant | Roman | Jozunian | Vowel | Roman | Jozunian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| m | m | a | a | ||
| n, [ŋ] | n | ə | e | ||
| pʰ | p | i | i | ||
| p | b | ɔ | o | ||
| tʰ | t | u | u | ||
| t | d | i̯ə | ie, ye (word-initially) | ||
| [tɕʰ] | q | u̯ɔ | uo, wo (word-initially) | ||
| [tɕ] | j | ei̯ | ei | ||
| kʰ | k | ai̯ | ai | ||
| k | g | au̯ | au | ||
| ʔ | ' | ou̯ | eu | ||
| f | f | ||||
| s | s | ||||
| [ɕ] | x | ||||
| x | h | ||||
| ɹ | r | ||||
| j | y | ||||
| w | w |
In addition, the following diacritics are used to mark tone:
(table)