Ip Mun

Phonotactics
Similar to Mandarin and Vietnamese, Ìp Mũn consists exclusively of single syllables. Each syllable contains at minimum a vowel, diphthong, or triphthong. The vowel is often but not necessarily preceded by an initial consonant or consonant cluster, and is often but not necessarily succeeded by a coda consonant or consonant cluster. The resulting syllable structure is (C)V(C). Each syllable is assigned one of five tones.

Writing System
The alphabet consists of the 26 standard Latin characters without diacritics. This alphabet and the letter names below are primarily used for spelling but not pronunciation. Pronunciation is dependent on the position of the letter in the word and whether it is incorporated into a cluster, diphthong, or triphthong. Additionally, two letters (F and Z) are only seen in loanwords and international names.

Spelling rules for medials

 * 1) When a syllable's coda is null, the letter i is written as y in all diphthongs and triphthongs ending in /j/. This also occurs in diphthong -eoe-, seen in the word béoy (goat).
 * 2) Similarly, the letter u is written as w in the diphthongs and triphthongs of null-coda syllables, such as in the word rẽaw (house). This does not occur with -eu-, however, since that grapheme represents /y/ and not a w-glide /w/.
 * 3) When a syllable's initial is null and the vowel is an j-glide, the letter i is left intact. However, in a w-glide, the gliding letter u is replaced with grapheme ou.

Tones
Tones are placed over the first letter in the vowel that is not a glide.

Spacing
Ìp Mũn can be written with spaces placed either between each syllable, or (in some literature) with spaces between each compound word. For example, the sentence "All doctors and professors graduate university." can be written as:

Ouõi vuót xuéi iab vât hóis niyt plunh nhâ léaw plunh.

Ouõivuót xuéi'iab-vât hóis niytplunh nhâ léawplunh.

(school-big succeed-study-PAST all medicine-expert and book-expert)

In the literary form, the apostrophe is used for a null initial or coda in places where the division may be ambiguous otherwise. For example:

bpun ãt (bpun'ãt)  - side table

bpu nãt (bpu'nãt)  - rain drop (lit. "rain particle")

Apostrophes will not appear in the beginning or end of a word, nor are they doubled when used as a coda and initial in adjacent words. For example:

bpu iùn ( bpu"iùn bpu'iùn) - rain cloud

bpui ùn ( bpui"ùn bpui'ùn) - ladybug (lit. "dot insect")

Dashes are used to attach grammatical particles to concepts, regardless of phonology. In the sentence above, -vât is added to xuéi'iab to indicate the verb is in past tense.

Nouns
Nouns are generally composed of several simpler morphemes. As a result, related concepts will share syllablesb.

dtán não (dtánnão) - computer (lit. "electric smart")

dtán eui (dtán'eui) - telephone (lit. "electric speech")

nhuôp [dtán] não (nhuôp[dtán]não) - cell phone (lit. "hand smart")

bpui ùn (bpui'ùn) - ladybug (lit. "dot insect")

cão ùn (cão'ùn) - grasshopper (lit. "grass insect")

bpui mèaw (bpui'mèaw) - jaguar (lit. "dot cat")

cão gkuéw (cãogkuéw) - lawn (lit. "grass square")

cão rẽaw (cãorẽaw) - hut (lit. "grass house")

Syntax
OVS sentence structure. Analytic in grammatical form. [details to follow]

Example sentences:

My goat played with the toy on the lawn.

Cão gkuéw kúyn phránh ouòi jẽoc vât béoy diy mónh.

Cãogkuéw-kúyn phránh-ouòi jẽoc-vât béoy diy-mónh.

(grass-square-ON toy-INSTRUMENTAL play-PAST goat POSS-1sg)

All of the villagers live in huts.

Cão rẽaw xày mlat hóis cì géit.

Cãorẽaw-xày mlat hóis cìgéit.

(grass-house-IN reside every local-person)

There are four tones in Ìp Mũn. Five if you include the neutral tone.

'''Nhô krí sĩym muõc Ìp Mũn. Nhô meonh viés qìt iôc, krí xhéu.'''

'''Nhô krí-sĩym muõc Ìpmũn. Nhô'meonh viésqìt ioc, krí-xhéu.'''

(tone COUNTER-four has Ìp Mũn, tone-neutral include you COUNTER-five)