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Trạyn

Australian
Trạyn
Pronunciation Qld: /tr̥ɛːn˥˩/
Std: /tʃʷaːjn˥˩/
Region Australia and New Zealand
Speakers ~38 million (2419)
Language Family

Indo-European
• Germanic
 • West Germanic
     • Anglo-Frisian
       • Anglic
​​​​​​         • Australian

Linguistic Information
Type Isolating
Alignment Nom-Acc
Head Final
Tonal Yes
Declensions Minimal
Conjugations Minimal
Genders None
Geographical Distribution
Australian Language Distribution Map
Natively Australian-speaking areas of Australia.
Australian Language World
Global distribution of speakers.
Meta Information
Completion 132/3000 Words (4.4%)
Creator Masyuu Kawada

Australian (Trạyn) is a Germanic language closely related to English that developed primarily in Australia, where it is one of the official languages alongside Standard International English and Vietnamese. Spoken by approximately 38 million people (as of 2419), it is the native language of the majority of Anglo-Australians (Sam Uóy Cán) and Vietnamese-Australians (Sam Viểt Cán) along the east and south coasts of Australia. It is also spoken by a minority of people in New Zealand, where it is recognised as a third official spoken language, and by a minority of people in Vietnam.

The vocabulary of Australian is primarily descended from English which was previously spoken across the entirety of Australia but is now restricted primarily to the states of Western Australia (Goe Tay Ă-Trạy-Liâ Táy), Tasmania (Thàt-Mân Oư Táy), and the Northern Territory (Goe Bác Lãyn Táy). Mass borrowing from Vietnamese took place in the late 21st century after an influx of Vietnamese immigrants, these words being called Viểt Sam Từ, and were given slightly altered pronunciations to match the underdeveloped tone system of Australian at the time.

The two main dialects of Australian are Queensland Australian (Quìn Lẽn Táy Dả Lêc), spoken in the northern parts of Queensland, and Standard Australian (Càn-Brâ Trạyn). Queensland Australian and Standard Australian dialects vary only subtly in pronunciation, however Queensland Australian borrows substantially more from Languages other than Vietnamese, including Thai and southern Chinese dialects, while Standard Australian is mostly restricted to Vietnamese loan words. The dialects are mutually intelligable. All information on this page refers to Standard Australian unless otherwise specified.

History[]

The Australian language evolved from Australian English under heavy influence from Vietnamese and to a lesser extent other Southeast Asian languages. English was originally brought to Australia by British colonists and convicts in the late 18th century, and records from the early 19th century show a distinct Australian dialect forming as early as 1788.

The Australian English dialect had branched into 3 major varieties by the 1900s; Cultivated, General, and Broad. The Cultivated variety was considered prestigious and more closely resembled contemporary Recieved Pronunciation than the other two varieties. Conversely, Broad Australian English was associated with rural settings and was percieved as rough and uneducated. Despite these dialectal connotations and the widespread adoption of the General variety in the late 20th and 21st century, Cultivated and General Australian English had been entirely overtaken by the Broad variety by the end of the 21st century. This sudden change in preferred variety may have been in part resistance to the disappearance of national identity caused by the government's enforcement of Standard International English in 2068, but is mostly attributed to the large influx in immigration from Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam, and China in the late 21st century. As pronunciation shifted to accomodate for the moderately Vietnamese-speaking population found in Melbourne, Sydney, and the mixed Vietnamese and Chinese population in Brisbane, Australian English developed into its seperate language. Australian is now mutually unintelligable to both Standard International English and the older Australian English.

The name Trạyn comes from a heavily shortened English word Australian, through the Australian English word Strayan.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

Bilabial Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p, pʰ, b t, tʰ, d k, kʰ, g
Fricative f, fʰ, v s, z ʃ, ʃʷ, ʒ h
Affricate tʃ, tʃʷ, dʒ
Approximant ʋ, (ɥ, w) ɹ, ɹʷ j, ɥ w
Trill r
Lateral app. l

Vowels[]

Front Central Back
High i, iː ɨ, ʉ, ʉː u, uː
Near-high ɪ, ɪː
High-mid e, eː ɘː ɤ, o, oː
Mid ə
Low a, aː ɒ, ɒː

Tones[]

Australian has 4 phonemically distinct tones, which combined with vowel length allows for 7 different vowel qualities:

Short Long
Flat/Mid ˧ ː˧
Rising ˧˥ ː˩˥
Falling ˧˩ ː˥˩
Dipping - ː˧˩˥

Phonotactics[]

The maximum syllable is CrVC. Diphthongs are gernerally transcribed with approximants rather than vowels, but are included in V for simplicicty. Legal syllable coda consonants are limited to /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, and /ʋ/. Voiceless stops may be unreleased at syllable coda in Standard Australian particularly amongst younger speakers, but are always released in Queensland Australian.

The flat tone may vary in realisation depending on the surrounding tones in a sentence to aid pronunciation. For example, Yửt rêt uến ("you all went"), the written tones are dipping-flat-rising, but the middle flat tone may be realised as a falling tone to aid pronunciation, but in careful speech it will generally be realised only as a flat (mid) tone. The flat tone is the only tone that varies.

Orthography[]

The Australian writing system uses the Latin script and is based heavily on the Vietnamese alphabet.

Consonants[]

Grapheme Pronunciation (Std, Qld) Example Notes
B b /b/ bôy · /boj˧/ · "person"
C c /kʰ/, /k/ ca · /kʰa˧/ · "cup"
bác · /bak˧˥/ · "north"

⟨kh⟩ is used instead when preceding ⟨e, ê, i⟩
⟨qu⟩ is used before /w/
Pronounced /k/ in word-final position

Ch ch /tʃ/ chển · /tʃɪːŋ˧˩˥/ · "chicken"
D d /d/ dạu · /daːʋ˥˩/ · "island"
Dr dr /dʒʷ/ /dr/ drịn · /dʒʷiːŋ˥˩/ · "predict"
F f /f/ fă · /fə˧/ · "from"
Fh fh /fʰ/ ɸ fhè · /fʰe˧˩/ · "depart"
G g /g/ góe · /gaɨ˧˥/ · "goat" ⟨gh⟩ is used instead when preceding ⟨e, ê, i⟩
Gh gh /g/ ghếp · /gɪp˧˥/ · "reward" Spelling used instead of ⟨g⟩ before ⟨e, ê, i⟩
Gi gi /z/ giữ · /zʉː˩˥/ · "occupy" Only appears in Vietnamese loanwords
H h /h/ hơ · /hɘː˧/ · "her" Realised as /ʔ/ by some speakers, particularly in rural areas. This pronunciation is not limited to any dialect.
I i /j/ hiểu · /hjeːw˧˩˥/ · "know" Spelling used instead of ⟨y⟩ after consonants
Iy iy /ːj˧/ vaiy · /vaːj˧/ · "vase" Spelling used instead of ⟨yr⟩ in word-final position for long flat-tone vowels
J j /dʒ/ jòe · /dʒaɨ˧˩/ · "disappointment"
K k /k/ koy · /kɒj˧/ · "sky"
Kh kh /kʰ/ khi · /kʰi˧/ · "steal" Spelling used instead of ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e, ê, i⟩
L l /l/ lẽn · /leːn˩˥/ · "country"
M m /m/ máy · /maj˧˥/ · "friend"
N n /n/, /ŋ/ /n/ nam · /nam˧/ · "south"
fền · /fɪŋ˧˩/ · "imagine"
Realised as /ŋ/ after ⟨ê, i, ơ, ư⟩
Ng ng /ŋ/ sông · /soŋ˧/ · "song"
O o /ːʋ/, /ːw/, /w/ /ːw/ lao · /laːʋ˧/ · "love"
phuo · /pʰuːw˧/ · "pool"
Realised as /ːw/ after /u/
Spelling used instead of ⟨u⟩ before ⟨u⟩
P p /p/ pế · /pɪ˧˥/ · "saliva"
Ph ph /pʰ/, /f/ phú · /pʰɤ˧˥/ · "set"
phổ · /foː˧˩˥/ · "specturm"
Pronounced /f/ in Vietnamese loanwords
Qu qu /kʰw/, /kw/ /ʍ/, /k/ quê · /kwɪ˧/ · "village"
quề · /kʰwɪ˧˩/ · "quickly"
/kʰw/ and /kw/ are phonemically distinct, but are not differentiated in writing
R r /r/, /ɹ/, /ː˧/ /d/, /r/ rêt · /rɪt˧/ · "complete"
grãy · /gɹaːj˩˥/ · "class"
car · /kʰaː˧/ · "car"
Realised as /ɹ/ after consonants, excluding /d, t, s/
Indicates long flat-tone vowel word-finally
Ru ru /ɹʷ/ /w/ ruển · /ɹʷɪːŋ˧˩˥/ · "believe"
S s /s/ sàyn · /sajn˧˩/ · "same"
Sh sh /ʃ/ shãy · /ʃaːj˩˥/ · "blame"
Sr sr /ʃʷ/ /r̥/, /ʃ/ srễ · /ʃʷɪː˩˥/ · "shred"
T t /t/ táy · /taj˧˥/ · "state"
Th th /tʰ/ thô · /tʰo˧/ · "primary"
Tr tr /tʃʷ/ /tr̥/ Trạyn · /tʃʷaːjn˥˩/ · "Australian"
U u /w/ uến · /wɪŋ˧˥/ · "go" ⟨o⟩ is used instead when preceding ⟨u⟩
Unpronounced after consonants by some speakers, particularly in rural areas. This pronunciation is not limited to any dialect.
Ư ư /ɥ/ fhêiư · /fʰiːɥ˧/ · "emotion"
V v /v/ vóe · /vaɨ˧˥/ · "vote"
X x /ʒ/, /s/ lè-xâ · /le˧˩ʒə˧/ · "leasure"
xô · /so˧/ · "push"
/ʒ/ only appears in reborrowed English loanwords
Pronounced /s/ in Vietnamese loanwords
Y y /j/ yửt · /jʉːt̚˧˩˥/ · "you all" ⟨i⟩ is used instead when proceeding consonants
Z z /z/ zư · /zʉ˧/ · "zoo" ⟨gi⟩ is used instead in Vietnamese loanwords

Vowels[]

Grapheme Pronunciation (Std, Qld) Example Notes
A a /a/ at · /at˧/ · "us"
 â /ə/ /ɐ/ gân · /gən˧/ · "will"
Ă ă /ə/ ă puõe · /ə˧pwaːɨ˩˥/ · "explode"
E e /e/ khen · /kʰen˧/ · "permissibly"
Ê ê /ɪ/, /e/ lêc · /lɪk˧/ · "slang"
viểt · /vjeːt˧˩˥/ · "Vietnam"
Realised as /e/ after /j/
I i /i/ bi · /bi˧/ · "beer"
O o /ɒ/ oư · /ɒɥ˧/ · "island"
Ô ô /o/ hô · /ho˧/ · "hop"
Ơ ơ /ɘː/ thơp · /tʰɘːp˧/ · "plastic grass" Always a long vowel
U u /ɤ/, /u/ /ɤ/, /ʉ/ lù · /lɤ˧/ · "appear"
tu · /tu˧/ · "tour"
⟨u⟩ is always pronounced /u/ in closed syllables. It may be pronounced either as /ɤ/ or /u/ in open syllables. These are phonemically distinct, but not differentiated in writing.
Ư ư /ʉ/ nưm · /nʉm˧/ · "noon"
Ay ay /aj/ /ɛ/ vay · /vaj˧/ · "them"
Oe oe /aɨ/ /ɘ/ noe · /naɨ˧/ · "no"
Oy oy /ɒj/ /oj/ troy · /tʃʷɒj˧/ · "taste"
Ôy ôy /oj/ /ɘj/ tôy · /toj˧/ · "I"

Tones[]

Tone Contour Diacritic Vowels with Diacritic
Fué flat or mid; /˧/ unmarked Aa, Ââ, Ee, Êê, Ii, Oo, Ôô, Ơơ, Uu, Ưư
Sác short rising; /˧˥/ acute accent Áá, Ấấ Éé, Ếế, Íí, Óó, Ốố, Ớớ, Úú, Ứứ
Uãy long rising; /ː˩˥/ tilde Ãã, Ẽẽ, Ễễ, Ĩĩ, Õõ, Ỗỗ, Ỡỡ, Ũũ, Ữữ
short falling; /˧˩/ grave accent Àà, Ầầ, Èè, Ềề, Ìì, Òò, Ồồ, Ờờ, Ùù, Ừừ
Nạng long falling; /ː˥˩/ underdot Ạạ, Ẹẹ, Ệệ, Ịị, Ọọ, Ộộ, Ợợ, Ụụ, Ựự
Hỏy dipping; /ː˧˩˥/ hook Ảả, Ẻẻ, Ểể, Ỉỉ, Ỏỏ, Ổổ, Ởở, Ủủ, Ửử

Long flat/mid vowels have different representations that depend on the vowel:

Vowel Representation IPA Example
A a a_r /aː˧/ car · /kʰaː˧/ · "car"
E e ea /eː˧/ sueam · /sweːm˧/ · "competition"
Ê ê êa /ɪː˧/, /eː˧/ dêa · /dɪː˧/ · "reserve"
I i êi /iː˧/ fhêiư · /fiːɥ˧/ · "emotion"
O o o_r /ɒː˧/ uor · /wɒː˧/ · "war"
Ô ô ô_r /oː˧/ yôur · /joːw˧/ · "you all"
U u uo /uː˧/ cuo · /kʰuːw˧/ · "adequate"
Ư ư ưe /ʉː˧/ yưe · /jʉː˧/ · "you"
Y y iy /ːj˧/ graiy · /gɹaːj˧/ · "graze"

Punctuation[]

Spacing & Hyphenation[]

Whether syllables are separated by a space or a hyphen depends on their etymology. For native multisyllabic words, syllables are always separated by a space. Most words borrowed from Vietnamese follow the same spacing convention, with the exception of a number of non-native vietnamese words being reborrowed into Australian, notably tivi ("television"). The syllables of proper nouns, such as in the names of places or people, will be separated by hyphens, for example Ă-M-Rui-Câ ("America").

Capitalisation[]

The first letter of sentences and the first letter of each syllable of proper nouns are always capitalised. Pronouns are never capitalised unless at the beginning of a sentence.

Punctuation[]

The punctuation conventions of Australian largely follow those of Standard International English. Decimal numbers are separated with a dot ⟨.⟩ and thousands are separated with a comma ⟨,⟩ or a space. Hours and minutes are separated with a comma ⟨,⟩ and 24-hour time representation is preferred. Date is separated with a slash ⟨/⟩ and follows the dd/mm/yyyy format.

Grammar[]

Pronouns[]

There exist two sets of pronouns, one is used exclusively in the nominative case, while the other is used in all other cases. In casual speach, the non-nominative pronouns may be used in all positions in a sentence. Pronouns are the only words with such declension.

Person Nominative Accusative
1st Singular tôy / ôy mi
1st Plural sam tôy at
2nd Singular bạn yưe / yâ
2nd Plural yửt yôur
3rd Sg. Inanimate ế
3rd Pl. Inanimate vền
3rd Sg. Neuter này / niữn vền
3rd Pl. Neuter họ vay
3rd Sg. Feminine
3rd Pl. Feminine sam bà sam hơ
3rd Sg. Masculine ayn hi
3rd Pl. Masculine sam ayn sam hi

Nouns[]

Australian nouns are not inflected. However, various particles can be attatched to nouns to alter their meaning or function in a sentence. The two most common are demonstrated below.

To form plural nouns, sam is prefixed onto the noun:
   Singular: niãn, ă puốy
   Plural: sam niãn, sam ă puốy
Example usage: Tôy rêt lưiy sam niãn. ("I lost the rings".)

To form posessive nouns,  is suffixed onto the noun:
   Plain: khé, goe nam
   Posessive: khé ză, goe nam ză
Example Usage: Ế jă khé ză cộ lâ? ("Is this the cat's collar?")

Verbs[]

As with nouns, various particals may be attatched to verbs indicating tense, aspect, or mood. Unlike its ancestor English, Australian verbs are not conjugated, with the one exception of ù ("to be"), which retains some of its original forms from English, demonstrated below:

Ù ("to be") Singular Plural
Plain ù ar
Past uôy
Infinitive bì yên

All other verbs may recieve one particle for tense, aspect, or mood, and no more. Some of the most common particles are listed in the table below, with an example word fền ("imagine"):

Particle Position Effect Example Meaning
rêt before past tense rêt fền imagined
uến before past tense uến fền imagined
gân before future tense gân fền will imagine
êt before continuous êt fền is imagining
bên before past continuous bên fền was imagining
hền after infinitive fền hền to imagine
before passive bì fền be imagined
goe before imperative goe fền imagine!
cán after imperative (polite) fền cán please imagine
móy before potential móy fền can imagine
uổn before optative uổn fền want to imagine

More complex verb forms may be constructed using the inflections of ù before the particle of the main verb. For example, the seperate sentences tôy uổn uến ("I want to go") and tôy rêt uến ("I went") may be combined into tôy uôy uổn uến ("I wanted to go"), a construction difficult to express using just a particle.

Syntax[]

Australian word order is strictly subject-verb-object. Adverbs and adpositional phrases may come before or after the verb, while adjectives and relative clauses all come before the noun.

Vocabulary[]

The majority of Australian words derive from English or were borrowed from Vietnamese. A large portion of the Latin and Greek-derived vocabulary found in English disappeared from Australian as it developed due to a preference for single-syllable words. Similarly, loanwords from Vietnamese are primarily one-syllable long. The following list demonstrates some of these word shortenings:
 • Know: hiểu from Vietnamese hiểu biết
 • Fire: lủ from Vietnamese ngọn lửa
 • Vietnam: viểt from Vietnamese Việt Nam
and the following list shows some displaced words:
 • Occupy: giữ from Vietnamese giữ displaced ồ kiư phoy from English occupy
 • Question: hỏy from Vietnamese hỏi displaced quệt chân from English question
 • Emotion: fhêiư from English feel displaced i mọe shăn from English emotion
and the following is a list of some Latin-derived English words that remain in Australian:
 • Explode: ă puõe from English explode
 • Dialect dả lếc from English dialect
 • Collar: cộ lâ from English collar

New nouns are often formed in Australian through compounding of an English-derived word and a Vietnamese-derived word. For example, three of the four cardinal directions in Australian are formed by combining the Australian word goe ("direction") and the Vietnamese borrowings for each cardinal direction, resulting in the compounds goe tay, goe bác, and goe nam, meaning "west", "north", and "south" respectively.

It can be difficult to identify the English source of native Australian words, because as Australian developed unstressed syllables often elided into single-syllable words, vowels shifted and merged away from those of English, and the final consonants of words evolved into a tone system partially due to influence from Vietnamese. The recent semantic widening and compounding of many native English and Vietnamese words adds to this difficulty.

Below is a list of common Australian phrases:

Phrases Australian Notes
Hello Yă ray máy

"Yă" is often omitted in casual speech
Generally not used at night time

Good morning Gă mổyn "Gă" may be omitted in casual speech
Good day Này tốt
Good afternoon
Good evening
Áp nưm "Áp" may be omitted in casual speech
Use at night time (instead of yă ray máy)
Good bye Baiy
Good night Gă nóy
Please Phuiy
Excuse me Ồy cán Use exclusively when seeking attention (from a waiter, etc.)
Sorry Sò rui
Don't worry about it Óy Use as a response to both sorry and thank you.
Thank you (for helping) Kạn ơn cán Use for actions or compliments.
Also means "good bye."
Thank you (for this gift) Fáng cán Use after recieving an object (gift, money, etc.)
What is your name? Bạn ză tên cõu uố?
My name is _____. Tôy ză tên cõu _____.
Nice to meet you. Gă mĩn.
Are you well? Jă bạn gũ?
Yes Yes/no responses are generally used in casual speech.
Use full sentences in formal conversation.
No Noe Yes/no responses are generally used in casual speech.
Use full sentences in formal conversation.
I am well. Tôy gũ.
How about you? Uố báu bạn?
Where are you from? Bạn fă uêr?
I am from _____. Tôy fă _____.
How old are you? Uố bạn ză õu?
I am _____ years old. Tôy _____ õu. See Lexicon for numbers.
Do you speak _____? Jă bạn pì _____ tiến? See Lexicon for names of countries and languages.
I don't understand. Tôy dóen hiểu noe.
Please say it again. Say vền gên phuiy cán.
Please speak slower. Thò mor suoe phuiy cán.
Please write it down. Ruóy vền phuiy cán.
What does _____ mean? _____ niã mêin uố? Use when asking about Australian words.
How do you say _____? Uố _____ ză gị say? Use when asking about non-Australian words.
What time is it? Thòyn uố?
It is _____ o'clock. Thòyn _____ giờ. See Lexicon for numbers.
What is this? Vêt uố?
How much is this? Phuoyt uố? Use when asking the price of something.
How many are there? Uố mểy ar? Use when asking the quanitity of something.
Also means "how much is there?"
I would like _____ please. Tôy heo _____ phuiy.
Where is the restroom? Thồy lấ uêr?
How do I get to _____? Uay uố fă _____?
Go [straight/left/right]. Uến fă [-] cán. [ tráy / goe lếp / goe ruóy ]
Take the [bus/tram/train/taxi]. Uến fă [-] cán. [ bat / tràn / trayn / tạk-si ]
Help! Heau!
Call the [police/ambulance]! Goe ruền [-]! [ kông cán / ẹm boe ]

Example Text[]

Ôur Phộ Hiự Men Ză Sam Ruóy Say Cay (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Buồ 1: Ôur hiự men cán bì bôn rạyn ân sàyn fă sam phạn ân sam ruóy. Họ cán bì grén cho lỗ jì ân gêip thàn, ân shúo bì lòy fă ôur vay cán uêo tềin ân thàn.
Buồ 2: Ôur cán bì ă lãu phép fă ôur ruóy ân ôur pri rạyn ăn vêt say cay rêt cay, uêo áu noe cõyn áu các ví sụ fă ệp nế, cả, sếc, lếc tiến, giáu, chín o vâ ă phện, heo giữ, bôn, o vâ táy chạng. Hon nũ áu các fă chín, jụ rui táy, o uết cán bì giữ ăn ză lẽn o lãyn táy ză áu lẽn táy chạng ză grãun sợ nố bì gân mày, nếu này lập, trát, nố lập gao, o vâ lập gao tô.

See Also[]

Trạyn Lexicon

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