tsaatanä - seems incorrect as two vowels together aren't allowed. probably tsa-atanä?
just tsatanä I think (but not sure).
I think it can be tsa-atan. This seems to be the same as fya'o-o, oe-eo etc.
...however last I recall they do contract. Was there ever a ruling on this, and if so, what was it?
I don't recall that this has ever been addressed.
The only ruling we have is about dual/trial leniting forms, ekxan was specifically mentioned at one point that it would become mekxan/pxekxan. So this could call for *pekxan as "which barrier" but with this we have the choice to put it at the end.
Up to now, the only things that do contract are plurality markers and the attributive -a- on adjectives (apxa + -a > apxa).
I would suspect that fì- and tsa- are more like the adpositions, where we know contraction is resisted, but someone should definitely ask Herr Professor Doktor Frommer about this.
I would save the hyphens for an audience before the Tsahìk and Olo'eyktan at best.
Prrton, by this last statement, are you inferring that using hyphens in situations like the above is a ceremonial usage?
NO! Not at all. I'm just showing a morpheme boundary.
They *might* be pronounced a bit differently in very formal speech, but I don't think we need to capture that in writing. Based on Paul's ruling, they just collapse into each other.