Tözen Tan

Tözen Tan is a Tannic language, a sister language of Sajem Tan created by Tözen (Fog), spoken by the Foglodytes. It is descended from Sajem Sülem, diverging from it during the late Sajem Sülem stage of the language.

Vowels
The vowels of Tözen Tan are as follows:

Tözen Tan is one of the non-fronting Tannic languages, in which Sajem Sülem's /u/, /o/, and /ɔ/ did not front to /y/, /ø/, and /œ/, respectively (according to the theory whereby this is how Sajem Tan's front rounded vowels came to be). As such, Tözen Tan lacks front rounded vowels except as a result of vowel harmony in particles.

Vowel harmony
Tözen Tan has vowel harmony based on roundedness, similar to Ţeţat Tan. The unrounded/rounded pairs are as follows. Sometimes the vowel's actual pronunciation is not that of the symbol used to represent it phonemically. For those vowels, a more accurate pronunciation is indicated in square brackets.

There is no vowel harmony within roots. Vowels in particles harmonize with what is known as the fithnomsoksejun "lighthouse vowel". This is the vowel that was stressed in Old Tözen Tan. It is usually the final vowel of the word in Modern Tözen Tan, even though Tözen Tan now has penultimate stress. When derivational suffixes are added, the vowel in the final one is the "lighthouse vowel": dok means "spear", and its lighthouse vowel is /o/. However, when -met "full of, plenty of" is added, the lighthouse vowel is /e/. Inflectional suffixes and pronouns change their vowels in harmony with the lighthouse vowel: Dokmetym dy, "It is full of spears."

In dictionaries, inflectional suffixes and pronouns show the base form and the "harmonized" form, like this: "et, harm. öt 'habitual aspect marker'"

Gender
Nouns in Tözen Tan have genders that are marked on the noun. The genders are animate and inanimate (a merger of Sajem Sülem's vegetal and inanimate). The markers descend from the third person personal pronouns: as in Sajem Tan, they could be used as demonstratives in Sajem Sülem (example: *divom "thunder", *divomzo "that thunder"). In the early stages of Tözen Tan, they came to be used as definite articles and then they simply fused to the nouns to mark gender.

Therefore, the gender of a noun can be determined by its ending as well as its meaning. The ending is a result of the final consonant of the root and the first consonant of the article. The following list lists the gender endings by the end of the Sajem Sülem root.

These are the animate endings: And these are the inanimate endings:
 * SS */k/: /ːθ/ (example: zhilíth < *ʒiɮik-ɮo)
 * SS */t/: /ːθ/ (example: vithíth < *viθit-ɮo)
 * SS */ts/: /ːs/ (example: thusús < *ɬusuts-ɮo)
 * SS */n/: /ːl/ (example: kemól < *kɛmon-ɮo)
 * SS */m/: /ːl/ (example: thefnól < *θɛfnom-ɮo)
 * SS */k/: /ːs/ (example: gamús < *gɑmuk-zɛ)
 * SS */t/: /ːs/ (example: thethás < *θɛθɑt-zo)
 * SS */ts/: /ːs/ (example: sís < *tsits-zo)
 * SS */n/: /ːz/ (example: tozéz < *tozɛn-zo)
 * SS */m/: /ːz/ (example: divóz < *divom-zo)

When particles beginning with a vowel are added to the end of a word, the long vowel shortens and the original ending consonant resurfaces. For example, gamús "tree" + -o "vocative particle" becomes gamuko "O tree!" When a word beginning with a consonant is added, the gender ending drops but the vowel stays long. For example, gamús + nesís "fruit" becomes gamúnesís "fruit tree". In dictionaries, words are listed by their dictionary form (with the gendered ending) followed by the "compound form" (the form in which the original ending consonant resurfaces), as such: "gamús, gamuk inan. 'tree'"