Tvcēla‘id Ndǭ

Tvcēla‘id Ndǭ (IPA: /tə̃'tʲe:laʔi'd:ɔ̃::/) is the language spoken natively on Tvcēla‘id ‘Ǟ.

Typology
Tvcēla‘id Ndǭ is an unclassified language, but a connection to the Polynesian languages looks promising. In this model, Ndǭ has an unknown pre-Polynesian substrate and a Polynesian superstrate. Similarities between Ndǭ and native American languages have also been made; in particular the existence of a nasalized central vowel has been noted as possibly Algic. However, both Algic and Polynesian languages have relatively simple vowel systems.

Several words with a proposed Polynesian origin are:
 * ūŋe ("boat") < *waka ("canoe")
 * kanǭ < *kanahe ("mullet")

The language lacks any grammatical gender, and is not rich in verbal inflections.

Loanwords from English

 * äläkoholo (< alcohol)
 * copala (< chopper)
 * kīpǫtv (< keyboard)
 * kambyūtala (< computer)
 * ǫtomopīli (< automobile)
 * sukūlu (< school)
 * telehōno (< telephone)
 * wētyo (< radio)

Consonants

 * Historical /ɸ/ and /x/ merged into /h/.
 * Voiced plosives can occur at the end of a word, but are not pronounced. They only influence the following word if it begins on a prenasalized stop, f.e.: ba‘ag /'baʔa/ + ndǭ /ⁿdɔ̃::/ = /'baʔa'gɔ̃::/, and pōb /po:/ + mbvha /ᵐbə̃ha/ = /po:'b:ə̃ha/. Historically, the prenasalized stops were geminate; when combined with another voiced stop, the gemination was taken over by the preceding stop, which explains the resulting pattern today: *ba‘ag /'baʔag/ + *ddǭ /d:ɔ̃::/ = *ba‘ag ddǭ /'baʔag:dɔ̃::/.
 * /t/ and /tʲ/ are historically allophones, in which /t/ occured before /a/, /o/, /u/, and /tʲ/ before /æ/, /e/, /i/. Before /ə̃/, /t/ was in general prenazalised, unless it was an unstressed syllable; in that case, the outcome depends on the following syllable. In most cases it remains /t/, unless followed by a syllable starting on /t/ as well, in which case it is palatalized, f.e. *tvtisa > tvcisa, *tvtāka > cutāka, which implies that the cluster !tvt (or !tǫt, !tǭt) does not exist in the language. Nowadays, various loanwords no longer adhere to these rules, such as telehōno /'teɾeho:no/, "telephone", or copala /'tʲopaɾa/, "chopper".
 * /tʲ/ may actually be a post-alveolar affricate /tʃ/ or a true palatal plosive /c/ for most speakers.
 * Historical overly long o (/o::/) merged with long v, to form ǫ /ɔ̃:/, after which overly long v was adapted to fit with ǫ, to ǭ /ɔ̃::/.
 * /l/ and /ɾ/ are fully interchangeable allophones, with /l/ occuring slightly more word-initially, and /ɾ/ being more abundant between vowels.

Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns may use nominal particles (see section "nouns"), especially following the possessive marker "wi".

Numbers
Ndǭ originally lacked a fully functioning number system. Originally, the only words for counting were:
 * hāha ("nothing")
 * ŋgę ("one")
 * cäm ("two")
 * cäŋę ("three")
 * yipilį ("a little", "few")
 * ‘ųlųlų ("a lot", "many")
 * ŋa'ǭ ("enough")
 * ayhvlǭ ("too little")
 * a‘ųlǭ ("too much")
 * maha ("other")

Later, the counting system was expanding by using the Augnilian‎ numbers:
 * 1) ŋgę or rarely mo (< mǫ)
 * 2) cäm or rarely ‘awsi (< áuþi)
 * 3) cäŋę or rarely mewan (< meðann)
 * 4) sirį (< þrý)
 * 5) pōko (< pókk)
 * 6) nala (< nalla)
 * 7) svsli (< sœhlli)
 * 8) wīti (< hvítt)
 * 9) wvrǫmv (< ðråmm)
 * 10) ‘esā (< ęssá)

Other numbers are regularly formed on the Augnilian numbers: ‘esā-wa-mo (eleven), ‘esā-wa-‘awsi (twelve), but: cäm-ci-‘esā (twenty), cäŋę-ci-‘esā-wa-nala (thirty-six), wvrǫmv-ci-‘esā-wa-wvrǫmv (ninety-nine). "hundred", "thousand", "million" are all based on the short scale variants of English: "handasada", "sausanda", "milyvnv" etc.

Nouns
Nouns are always preceded by a nominal particle. In general, the nouns have three forms: singular, lesser paucal, and greater paucal. Plural is formed by changing the nominal particle. Nouns are relatively difficult to decline. Here follows an example lele ("tree"): While forms such as "‘ihvlę" at first do not seem to be related to the singular form "lele", they are actually more or less regular constructions which have gone through several historical sound changes. The factual construction is 1. reverse the first syllable (>*elle); 2. add the prefix (>*‘i-elle); 3. elongate the last syllable if it is identical to the first syllable (>*‘i-ellę); 4. remove any impossible clusters (>*‘i-lvlę). The occurence of /h/ instead of /l/ can be explained by the intermediate third step in which an unstable, possibly partially devoiced, geminate /ll/ developed, which merged into /h/.

Definiteness can be constructed by adding "woi" directly after the first nominal particle, so "‘a ndi leled" means "(a) tree", while "‘a woi ndi leled" means "(the) tree".

Dialects
Originally, there were three dialects: Northwestern Main Island (NMI), Southeastern Main Island (SMI), and Southern Islands (ISL). The NMI dialect was most divergent, while the ISL dialect was most conservative. After a large portion of the inhabitants of the main island left the island to look for jobs in Augnil, the main island was partially repopulated by people from the overcrowded Southern Island. As a consequence, the dialects fused into one dialect, which was largely based on the ISL and SMI dialects. The NMI speakers that lived in the cities continued to use their old dialect, which is now radically different from the standard language. In Tvcēla‘id ‘Ǟ‎ itself, only slight difference can be noted between the Main Island dialect (MID) and the original ISL dialect, which continues to be spoken on the Southern Islands.

The following sentence illustrates the dialectual differences:
 * Standard (written): ‘A woi tvcēla‘id ŋgē sa ‘a ŋgilę sa ci-mākalomǭi wa ci-poŋo‘ǭi, ya sa ŋgelōcikalatuhǭi.
 * MID: /ʔa woi̯ tə̃'tʲe:laʔi 'd:e: saŋ 'gile:: sa 'tʲi'ma:kalomɔ̃::i̯ wa 'tʲi'poŋoʔɔ̃::i̯ ja saŋ ge'lo:tʲi'kalatuhɔ̃::i̯/
 * ISL: /ʔa woi̯ tə̃'tè:laʔiŋ 'g:è: saŋ 'g:ilé: sa 'ti'ma:kalomə̃́:i̯ wa 'ti'poŋoʔə̃́:i̯ ja saŋ g:e'lò:ti'kalatuɸə̃́:i̯/
 * SMI: /ʔa wœ tə̃'tʃe:laʔi 'd:e: saŋ 'gile:: sa 'tʃi'ma:kalomœ̃:: wa 'tʃi'poŋoʔœ̃:: ja saŋ ge'lo:tʃi'kalatuhœ̃::/
 * NMI: /ʔa wə tə'tʃɛ:laʔi 'd:ɛ: saɲ 'dʒilɛ: sa 'tʃi'ma:kalomə: wa 'tʃi'poŋoʔə: ja saɲ dʒɛ'lɔ:tʃi'kalatuhə:/
 * English: The Tvcēla‘id people are a very warmhearted and friendly people, who are proud of their traditions.

Sample text

 * Lord's Prayer (‘a woi pelēyala wi ‘a ndi woi lǫtǭ)
 * Yaya wi ‘a ndi ‘vwlǭ, si‘i sa hewenv‘ǭ
 * ‘A woi kiŋwilau wi ‘a ndi mō mbiw yāhatǭ
 * Sį mō sa ndaka‘ǭi sa yāhatǭ, ‘a mäyana pų, ya sa hewenvna‘ǭ
 * ‘Aw cē‘ǭ nyaŋ so vwlǭ tu, ‘a woi ndi lapad sa salu‘ǭi, ya sa wyvwlǭ
 * Wa ‘aw nǟkǭ so vwlǭ tu, ‘a woi ndi sinid, ya ‘vwlǭ sa yalatǭ mahaŋa
 * Wa yū ‘aw lecētōliyǭ so vwlǭ tu
 * Hog ‘aw ‘ucēcēyǭ ‘a woi hulyana
 * ‘Amen