The Shidinn Language - DocDroid

[Pages:19]The Shidinn Language

Shidinn (Mandarin: , full name: , lit. the New Chinese Language of the Shidinn Alphabet, Shidinn: xdi8 Aho FHLmA) is a constructed language created by Zhihu () linguist crank ( ) Huang Quefei (, Zhihu acount: @). There are two big types of Shidinn: Shidinn Mandarin () and Shidinn Chinese ().

Phonology

(Translator's note: The following section is taken from Zhihu user @UntPhesoca's post) (Crossed out words have some problems and need to be fixed)

Consonants

There are 23 unlabialized consonants and 18 labialized consonants, for a

total of 41 consonants.

labial alveolar alv. aff. palatal velar

nasal

m

l /n/

H /nz/ n //

N //

plosive

unasp. asp.

b /p/ p /p/

d /t/ t /t/

z /ts/ D /ts/

j /t/ q /t/

g /k/ k /k/

fricative

f

s

x //

h /x/

approximant

w //

r //

y /j/

4i /j/

All consonants except labials can be labialized, and it's marked by adding to the end of the consonant, but with exceptions: /t/ is written . /t/ is written . /n/ is written .

/k/ is written . /k/ is written . // is written .

 The labialized version of y is pronounced //. The labialized version of h is pronounced //. The labialized version of 4i is written and is pronounced / /.

Glides

There are 5 glides: /j/ - i except for any of the situations below. // - i after labialized consonants except for any of the situations below. /j/ - i after unlabialized velar consonants. If there is a E after an

unlabialized velar consonant, then /j/ is inserted between, like gE /kji /. / / - i after labialized velar consonants. If there is a E after a labialized

velar consonant, then / / is inserted between, like BE /k i/. // - i after w and f.

// is a consonant that can only be used for glides. It is a postalveolar approximant, having that little labialization as in //, but it is in fact labiodentalized here, as below: w2 /? / f2 /f? / wi2 /? / fi2j /f? ti/

Syllabic consonants

There are 3 syllabic consonants: / /, / / and //. A is pronounced / / after w and f: wA / / fA /f /

E is pronounced / / after z, D, H, s and r: zE /ts / DE /ts / HE /nz / sE /s / rE / /

1s is pronounced / / after l, d and t. iA is pronounced // after w and f, and is pronounced like the glide //: wiA // fiA /f/

There are also two syllabic consonants that are not commonly used: m /m /, used in Shiddin Mandarin mmT /m m/ "mom, mother; the

sound of a young cow calling its mother" N / /, usedin Shiddin Shaoyang dialect to show negation, as in Nda / ta/

"not big".

The two syllabic consonants above are not used in Standard Shiddin.

Vowels

There are 7 monophthongs.

Front

Close

i

Mid

e

Open

Central

i /y/, // 1 //, //

a

Back

u o

There are 4 diphthongs, which are Y /?e/, L /o/, /e/ and 6 //. There are 4 nasal vowels, which are 2 /? /, T //, 8 /e/ and 3 / /.

Phonological rules and syllable structure

The syllable structures of Shidinn are is usually CGV(or a syllabic consonant) (more exactly: CV, CVC, CVV, CCV, CCVV and VCV. Vowels can be diphthongs), and multiple syllables form a word. Glides don't have to appear, and consonants and vowels don't have to appear (but at the same time), but it can't just be a glide and a vowel. The following chart shows all syllables allowed. O and C means open and closed respectively, which represents whether or not the consonant is labialized (closed) or not (open). This is used in Chinese rime tables.

P means palatalized (referred to as , equivalent to division I in rime

tables), O means other (, division III) and UP means unpalatalized (,

division IV).

aoeYL62T83

E1

A

P

O

UP

P

O

UP

P

O

UP

bpm

OC

bia pja

ba

bE

pa

pi

b1 p

biA

bA

p

pu

jqnxzDH O

xa a

sa sa

xE

sE

i

s

sr

C

xua a

sua sa

xA

sA

y

su

ldt

O

dja tja

da ta

dE

d1

ti

t

vF7

C

Fia ta

Fa ta

FE ti

diA

dA

ty

tu

Ngk

O

gia

ga

kja

ka

gE

g1

kji

k

5Bc

C

Bia

Ba

k a ka

BE k i

giA

gA

k

ku

O h

C

hia

ha

xja

xa

hua

a

hE

h1

xji

x

huE

i

hiA

hA

x

xu

wf

OC

fia

fa

fa

fa

fE

f1

fi

f

fiA

fA

f

f

y4

O

ya ja

4ia ja

4a a

C

yua a

4ua a

yE

4E

41

ji

ji

4uE

i

yA

4iA

y

4A u

no cons.

OC

a

E

a

ji

1

A

y

Shidinn alphabetic languages have no tones. One of the important goals of Shidinn is to eliminate homophones, which is the reason there are no tones. Shidinn has stress, like when reading the names of the letters, the stress lands on the first syllable. A-da is pronounced /'a da/, and X-b is pronounced /'i bo/. Apart from stress, Shidinn has Mandarin dialects (like Hunan dialect and Shaoyang dialect), so when reading, the intonations sound like tones. However, no matter what tones are used when reading the Shidinn, the meanings are always the same.

Features of Shidinn

Shidinn has a few unique features: It excludes the lateral /l/ in its set of alveolar consonants, and

emphasises the nasal /n/ and its variants. In Shidinn, and represents /n/ and represents //. There is also the letter , which is pronounced //. There are no retroflex sounds. Alveolar and velar nasals are combined into a nasalized vowel. The pronunciations of Shidinn nasals are nasalized vowels. For example, the letter (corresponding to Mandarin "ang" with the velar nasal) is pronounced //, as in French sans /s/. The letter (corresponding to Mandarin "an" with the alveolar nasal) is pronounced /? /.

Shidinn has a few more features compared to Pinyin: Some letters from Pinyin are taken and modified. For example: The

in Pinyin is moved to Shidinn as , the phoneme is still kept (/ts/), but the pronunciation rules are different. Some glides such as -i- and -u- are removed in writing. Consonants j, q and x can be directly combined with vowels, like when "" (Pinyin: gu?ji) is written as in the Shidinn Mandarin, but the pronunciation still keeps the glide -i- (/go tia/, the glide -u- is removed entirely). Some phonemes and usages are added. Examples of this include /nz/ (written as , and is sometimes pronounced as //. This can be analyzed as a dialectal reading) and // (written as ), which can be placed at the onset of a syllable.

Orthography

(Translator's note: The following section is taken from Zhihu user @Raymond's post)

The Shidinn Alphabet

One of the most common forms of writing Shidinn is the Shidinn alphabet,

which contains 45 letters. Some of the characters are taken from Latin, but

some of them are created by Huang Quefei instead.

Shidinn character

Pronunciation in IPA

Romanization

Hanzi case

Name in Shidinn

Corresponding Hanzi radical meaning

 b

/po/

b(o)

is from nature

x-b

()

(radicals: )

p p /po/

p(o)

is from construction

s-p

()

(radicals: )

m m /mo/

m(o)

is from borders

j8-m

()

(radicals: )

w w /o/ (/wo/)

v / w

is from terrain

s2-w

()

(radical: )

j j

/t i/

j(i)

is from skin and fur

di8-j

()

(radicals: )

q

/t i/

ch / q

is from transportation

z3-q

()

(radicals: )

x x

/i/

sh / x

yE-x

is from living essence ()

(radicals: )

y y /ji/ (/?e/)

y(i)

is from grass and

y-ya

flowers ()

radical:

n n

/i/

ny / nh

ji-n

is from flight ()

(radicals: )

z z

/ts /

z(w)

is from movement

z1-z

()

(radicals: )

D D /ts/

ts(w)

is from body

DY-D

movements ()

(radicals: )

s s

/s /

s(w)

is from minerald

xT-s

()

(radical: )

r r

/ /

r(w)

is from literature and

D-r

art ()

(radicals: )

H H

/nz / (/n/)

nz / nd

o-H

is from characters with no radicals

()

N N

/e/

ng(e)

is from metal

N-wu

()

(radicals: )

l l

/ne/

n / l

is from force

Ee-l

()

(radicals: )

d d /te/

d(e)

L-d

is from land ()

(radicals: )

t t

/te/

t(e)

g g /ke/

g(e)

k k /ke/

k(e)

h h /xe/

h(e)

4 4

/e/ (/e/)

`(e)

5 5

/u/

ngu

v v

/nu/

nn(u)

F F /tu/

du

7 7 /tu/

tu

B B

/ku/

gu / B

c c

/ku/

k(u) / c

f f

/f /

f(w)

u u

/ /

vw(u)

a a /a/

a

o o /o/

o

e e /e/

e

E E

/ji/

yi

is from diseases,

qi-t

death, ghosts and gods ()

(radicals: )

is from livestock

ma-g

()

(radicals: )

is from insects

f2-k

()

(radical: )

is from crops

j6-h

()

(radicals: )

is from enclosing

i2-4

things ()

(radicals: )

is from covers

sT-5

()

(radicals: )

is from animals

j6-v

()

(radicals: )

is from feelings

F-z

()

(radicals: )

is from tools

d2r8-7

()

(radicals: )

is from aquatic

Y-B

products ()

(radicals: )

is from trees

wT-c

()

(radicals: )

is from covers

xa-f

()

(radicals: )

is from clothing

u-u

()

(radical: )

is from textiles

a-da

()

(radicals: )

is from mouth sounds

o-k6

()

(radical: )

is from bodies

e-s1

()

(radicals: )

is from water and ice

E-yL

()

(radicals: )

A A /y/

ue

is from mother and

A-nA

daughter ()

(radicals: )

Y Y /?e/

ai

is from mentality

Y-ni2

()

(radicals: )

L L /o/

ao

is from drinks and

L-ru

food ()

(radicals: )

6 6 //

eu

is from gasses

s-6

()

(radical: )

2 2 /? /

an

is from bamboo-made

2-y6

things ()

(radicals: )

T T //

ann

is from the facial

T-r

features ()

(radicals: )

8 8

is from manual actions

/e/

ein / in

8-yue

()

(radicals: )

3 3

/ /

eun

is from jade and stone

3-l

()

(radicals: )

V

is from humans

/e/

ei

-r8

()

(radicals: )

1 1

// (//)

ew

is from ports and cities

1-yi

()

(radicals: )

i i

/ji/ (/i/)

i

is from speech

g3-i

()

(radicals: )

The letters of the Shidinn alphabet is the pronunciation of the letter plus the pronunciation of its Hanzi, called its Hanzi case (), in Shidinn Mandarin. For example, the Hanzi case of the letter A is , which is pronounced "da" in Shidinn Mandarin. Therefore, the name of the letter A is "A-da". The hyphen is here to differentiate it from "Ada", which is a word, instead of a letter.

The shapes of the Shidinn letters are similar to those of Cherokee, a writing system invented by native Cherokee linguist Sequoyah in the early 19th century. However, Shidinn and Cherokee are fundamentally different.

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