Tsjai language

The **Tsjai** **language**, (Tsjai: tsjai quvuik [tsʲai cçɯβɰiʔ]) also called **Tsyai**, **Tsai**, or **Atlucut**, is an Atalamic language spoken by about 2,000 people in the state of New Karavarash in Sununda. Speakers often refer to their language as *tsjai çałnik* or *utłukut.* Despite being an Atalamic language, there are many abnormalities that prevent it from being classified further. The language may be related to the Salic languages and the extinct Pola language. Its initial range was spread across the southwest coast of the Karavarash Peninsula, but is now restricted to the Iksa (Łitsja) and Kaidena (Ałunvuri) islands in the Kolmyk River Delta and to the north near the Chasêm River. It is a recognized minority language in the Tsjai and North Delta counties.

Tsjai has little influence from other languages, but contains loanwords from languages like Eksi, Kalena, and Tugyinre, which make up 5% of all loanwords in the language. Less than 1% is from other languages. About 3 to 4% of its lexicon has unknown etymologies, but some theorize they came from the extinct language isolate, Tarihn. Evidence for this is minimal, but is being supported more and more by the linguistic community.

Tsjai's lexicon is almost purely native words, with less than 2% being loanwords. Of these loanwords, Eksi, Kalena, and Tugyinre make up the most of them. A portion of these loanwords come from some poorly-attested languages, like Tarihn and Myaqis, two unclassified languages/isolates that were spoken in the area.

## Dialects

Originally, Tsjai was divided into three dialects: Coastal Tsjai, Alpine Tsjai, and Upriver Tsjai. Alpine and Upriver Tsjai are both extinct.

Alpine Tsjai sounded more "sharp" to other speakers of the language. Affricates had an ejective-like quality to them because of the longer duration of the sibilants and the increased airflow.

Upriver Tsjai was more similar to Coastal Tsjai, with the main difference being the existence of [ɮ] and [dɮ] in place of [ɬ] and [tɬ].

Modern Coastal Tsjai is often regarded as one single dialect by most linguists. Although, some (predominantly Atalamian) scholars believe that (Coastal) Tsjai should be divided into two to four subdialects, based on the effects the alveolars have on /a/ and /ɯ/. Most linguists studying the language divide up the subdialects into two: Island-West Tsjai and North River Tsjai, each with smaller accents. Two accents, Kairkul Tsjai and Shaltsa Tsjai, were proposed as subdialects, but were disregarded. Many still classify them as accents.

Six accents are accepted, with Island-West Tsjai having two and North River Tsjai having three. Island-West Tsjai has the Island and Western accents while North River Tsjai has the Central, Kairkul, and Shaltsa dialects.

## Phonology

Tsjai has 13 consonants and three vowels, which is small for an Atalamian language. Though, Upriver Tsjai had even fewer, with only 11. Tsjai's phonology is extremely unusual and variable (in the fact that some phonemes have many allophones), with a couple phonemes being disputed, like /ɬ/ and /ç/.

All of the Tsjaic languages have small consonant inventories

Before /ɯ/, /ç/ becomes /s/. Intervocalically, /ɬ/ becomes /l/. Before plosives, /ts/ becomes /s/.

Unlike most languages, Tsjai lacks the voiced bilabial nasal [m], but can be found as an allophone of /n/ before labial consonants. Rather that the more common [l] and [sʲ] (though both are allophones of their respective phonemes), Tsjai has /ɬ/ and /ç/, which are both rare cross-linguistically, along with /ɽ/. /p/ does not exist in Tsjai, as it merged with /b/, but this is common in 10% of the worlds languages, like Arabic.

Alveolar continuants (including affricates) are sometimes labialized. [n͡m] is found in Kairkul Tsjai as an allophone of /nʷ/. /nʷ/ is unique to this accent/subdialect and is only found in transitional North River subdialects.

Occasionally, /k/ is [c] by some speakers, primarily in Kairkul and some North River Tsjai subdialects. /k/ is [ʔ] word-finally.

Word-finally after [i], coronal consonants /n/, /t/, /ɬ/, and /ɽ/ become [ɲ], [c], [ç], and [ɾʲ]. [ɲ], [c], and [ɾʲ] are not represented in the orthography, but [ç] is occasionally. Rarely, /ɬ/ and /ɽ/ become [ʎ̝̊] and [ʎ̆] respectively, but are only used by some speakers. This feature was more prominent in Alpine Tsjai. On another note, /ɬ/ becones the approximant /l/ intervocalicaly. Sometimes, it is also voiceless.

Tsjai syllables follow a CVC syllable structure.

Vowels
 Open

The language has a three-vowel system, with no distinction in rounding.

Before a palatal or palatalized consonant, /a/ becomes [ɘ], but to [ɜ] (or [ɞ] by some speakers) when neighboring alveolars.

By some speakers, some alveolar consonants are labialized. After vowels, /a/ and /ɯ/ tend to become [ɞ] and [u]. Although, /ɯ/ becoming [u] is becoming increasingly rarer. [b] and [β] can also cause vowels to be labialized, and is present in almost every dialect.

## Phonotactics

All consonants are permitted as an onset and all vowels are permitted as the nucleus. All consonants except affricates are allowed as the coda, with the exception being [tɬ] and [cç].

When two of the same vowel are adjacent to one another but are separated by a word boundary, -*ç* is added in between on the first vowel. This is similar to English's *a* and *an*, but this applies to all words and is not restricted to pronouns. Compare *uviç unnatłabaçin* "he attacked" to *uvu buvaçin* "he drank". The pronoun *uvu* "he" becomes *uviç*. Traditionally this would be *uvuç*, but phonotactics cause [ɯ] to become [i]. This does not change grammatical meaning and is used to separate the words so that they don't appear as one word.

With the phrase *uvuk unnatłabaçin a* "he attacked me," the third-person singular is in the ergative case, marked with the suffix *-k*. There is no need to add *-ç* because the two adjacent vowels are separated.

## Grammar

All verbs are divided up into stative and dynamic verbs. Dynamic verbs remain unaffixed while stative verbs are marked with *b-*, which evolved from PAtl. \**mjen*, meaning "to do," but soon came to mean "to be in the state of doing something." Occasionally there are some inconsistencies, like *buv* "to drink" becoming *mmuv* "in the state of drinking." Leaving out the *b-* suffix states that it is an action, rather than a current state.