Tjoc

Tjoc
Tjoc
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|'tjo:tʃ]]
Created by	–
Native to	Kingdom of Angelkinn
Native speakers	30 millions (2012)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian Anglic Anglo-Saxon Tjoc
Official status
Official language in	Kingdom of Angelkinn
Language codes
ISO 639-1	tj
ISO 639-2	tjo
ISO 639-3	tjo
Kingdom of Angelkinn

General informations

Tjoc is a language spoken in the Ljoshare af Angelkinn (= Country of Angelkinn), a country that corresponds to Modern England on a parallel timeline, where the United Kingdom doesn't exist. This language has evolved from the Anglo-Saxon with a scarce influence of Latin, while one can appreciate a Scandinavian influence. Thus Tjoc is a Germanic language that is strongly linked to Modern English.

Phonology

Alphabet

Tjoc alphabet uses letters from Latin alphabet and contains 24 characters:

Letters	Pronunciation	Further informations
a	[a]	short 'a'
å	[ɑ:]	long 'a'
b	[b]	-
c	[tʃ]	-
d	[d]	it can be realized as both a dental and an alveolar
e	[ɛ] / [e:]	in plural cluster -es it is not pronounced
f	[f]	-
g	[g]	it is always pronunced as in the English word "get"
h	[h]	in the digraph 'hv' it is read [k]
i	[ɪ]	short 'i'
j	[j]	it corresponds to y in English you
k	[k]	-
l	[l]	-
m	[m]	-
n	[n]	-
o	[ɔ] / [o:]	-
p	[p]	-
r	[r]	trilled just as in Italian
s	[s]	always voiceless
t	[t]	it can be realized as both a dental and an alveolar
u	[ʊ]	short 'u'
ů	[u:]	long 'u'
w	[v]	it was [w] in Old English, then this sound evolved into [v], but the grapheme <w> remained
y	[i:]	long 'i'

The letter 'c' had two different sounds in Old English: [tʃ] or [k], but when <k> was generalised to express the sound [k], <c> remained to express the sound [tʃ], as in the Old English word ic, "I".

Consonantic phonemes

Tjoc language has the following consonantic phonemes:

Phonemes	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	p b		(t̯) (d̯)	t d			k g
Affricate					tʃ
Nasal	m	(ɱ)		n			(ŋ)
Fricative		f v		s	ʃ			h
Approximant				r		j	(w)
Lateral approximant				l

In the South the final postvocalic <f> is not pronunced, ex.: stof is read as [sto:], wouf is read as ['vɔu̯], and so on. The [w] phoneme is found as a glide in words like wouen, wolves, that is pronounced as ['vɔu̯wɛn].

Vocalic phonemes

In Tjoc there are the following vowels:

Phonemes	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Closed	ɪ	ʊ	i:	u:
Mid-closed			e:	o:
Mid-open	ɛ	ɔ
Open	a			ɑ:

The 'a' is realized not precisely in the front of mouth, but in the mid between the front and centre of the mouth, wehereas the 'å' [ɑ:] is realized in the mid between the back and the centre of mouth.

Vowel length

The short vowels 'a', 'i' and 'u' have got a long counterpart: 'å', 'y' and 'ů'. Only the vowels 'e' and 'o' can be either short or long, but they are written always in one way. The pronunciation of these two vowels, however, seems not to be more relevant in the language. Actually there are words that differ in the pronunciation of these vowels, such as wjor, that means both "far", when it is pronounced ['vjɔr], and "four", when it is pronounced ['vjo:r]. Anyway in the present language the context has become more important than the correct pronunciation of 'e' and 'o'.

Diphthongs and digraphs

Tjoc has got also twenty diphthongs, that is clusters of two vowels pronounced with a single emission of air. These diphthongs are:

Diphthongs	Pronunciation
aj - åj	[aɪ] - [ɑ:ɪ]
au - åu	[aʊ] - [ɑ:ʊ]
ej	[ɛɪ] - [e:ɪ]
eu	[ɛʊ] - [e:ʊ]
ja - jå	[ja] - [jɑ:]
je	[jɛ] - [je:]
jo	[jɔ] - [jo:]
ju - jů	[jʊ] - [ju:]
oj	[ɔɪ] - [o:ɪ]
ou	[ɔʊ] - [o:ʊ]

Tjoc has got two digraphs too: <hw>, that is pronounced [hv] or [kv] depending on the speaker, and <sh>, that is pronounced [ʃ].

Stress

The position of stress in this language is quite regular, because it falls on the root and thus there are few rules to observe:

• In substantives (and in adjectives and adverbs) the stress generally falls on the first syllable, but if they are compound nouns / adjectives, formed by prefix + noun / adjective, the stress falls on the root syllable of the noun / adjective, ex.: jarjewels, "forgiveness", is read as [var'jɛvɛls]. In compounds which are formed by noun / adjective + noun / adjective, the various words are read as if they were written separately, ex.: lerstof, "school", is read as ['le:r 'sto:f];

• In verbs the stress falls always on the root, even if they are compounds, ex.: iwacan, "to wake up", is read as [ɪ'vatʃan].

Grammar

Nouns, gender and number

Tjoc language has got only two genders: common gender (or uter gender) and neuter gender. The previously masculine and feminine words have merged into the uter gender, whereas neuter words have remained neuter, even if in some cases there has been a gender switch.

Nouns can be both singular (denoting just one object) and plural (denoting more than one object). The formation of plural is not always so simple, because there are four ways to form it:

1) Some uter nouns take -es suffix, the <e> in this suffix is generally not pronounced; 2) some uter nouns take -(e)n suffix; 3) some uter nouns take no suffix, some of these undergo a root vowel change too; 4) neuter nouns take no suffix, that is singular and plural forms are identical.

Generally uter nouns ending in -ing or consonant have the first kind of plural, whereas uter nouns ending in -e have the second kind of plural. Some monosyllabic uter nouns ending in consonant experiment a root vowel modification, but they are just few. Endly some uter words have got two kinds of plural: a regular one (in -es or -en) and an irregular one (with no ending at all or/and a root vowel change). Some nouns with their plural form and meaning

Here is a list of nouns of both genders with their plural form, their gender and their meaning:

Singular	Plural	Gender	Meaning
stån	stånes	uter	stone
wot	wet	uter	foot
lond	lond	neuter	land
hjoun	hjounes	uter	sky, heaven
sho	shon	uter	shoe
ljot	ljot	neuter	light
lyf	lyen	uter	life
språc	språcen	uter	language
djor	djor	neuter	animal
bok	bek	uter	book
frywe	-	uter	love
frjå	frjån	uter	lord
frjåstre	frjåstren	uter	lady
mann	menn	uter	man
wyf	wyen	uter	woman
wouf	wouen	uter	wolf
hjort	hjort	neuter	heart
håle	hålen	uter	head
stof	sten	uter	place
tyd	tyd	neuter	time
merjen	merjen	neuter	morning
dag	dages	uter	day
åfning	åfninges	uter	afternoon
hwiltyd	hwiltyd	neuter	evening
nyt	nyten	uter	night
mone	monen	uter	moon
atelkund	atelkundes	uter	nobleman
atlestre	atlestren	uter	noblewoman
trjo	trjo	neuter	tree
hann	hannen	uter	hand
shor	shor	neuter	star
jaw	jawen	uter	eye
lerend	lerend / lerend	uter	teacher
frjond	frjondes / frynd	uter	friend
wjond	wjondes / wynd	uter	enemy
lynd	lyndes / lynd	uter	lover
hůnn	hůnnes	uter	dog

The nouns ending in '-nd' are present participles and have two kinds of plural:

• '-es' plural, that is quite spread;
• zero plural, that is quite literary.

Though the nouns in '-ȝond' have got both an '-es' plural and a zero plural with a vowel change from '-jo-' to '-y-'. In this case the second form is the most spread.

The nouns ending in vowel + 'f' lose final 'f' when forming plural.

Formation of feminine

Distinguishing between nouns that indicate a feminine being and those that indicate a masculine being can be very difficult in a language that has a common gender for both masculine and feminine. However distinguishing is not always so difficult as one could think, because Tȝoch language has a suffix with that the feminine form of a noun can be formed: -estre (pl. -estren).

Usually this suffix causes no changes in root, but some times it is used with a modified root:

• frjå - frjåstre;
• lerend - lerendstre;
• frjond - fryndstre;
• wjond - wyndstre;
• lynd - lyndstre.

Articles

Two kinds of article exist in Tjoc: indefinite and definite article.

The indefinite article has got no plural form and the singular one is the same for all the genders: an. This article is used to talk about things, facts, beings that are introduces for the first time into the conversation, that is we use the indefinite article to talk about new and not known informations, to talk about undetermined informations.

The definite article is used to talk about well known things, facts, beings instead. These informations are familiar to the speakers, because they are already talking about them, or because they belong to the experiences baggage of the speakers, that is we use the definite article to talk about known informations, to talk about determined informations.

Even if Tjoc has lost nouns inflection, the definite article has three cases, in addition to the plural forms:

Definite article	Uter	Neuter	Plural
Nom. / Acc.	se	tat	te
Gen.	tes	tes	tejr
Dat.	tem	tem	ten

The nominative case refers to the subject of a sentence; the accusative case, that is identical to the nominative, refers to the object of a sentence or to the complements that indicate movement; the genitive case refers to possession and the dative case refers to the addressee or to the complements that indicate state. The plural forms are the same for both uter and neuter gender.

Often it is sufficient to use this inflection to express syntactic functions of the elements of a sentence or a phrase, ex.:

• Se språc tes mann - The language of the man;
• Jef het tem frjåstre - Give it to the lady.

Adjectives

The adjectives generally precede the noun to whom they refer, but in some case they follow the noun. In Tjoc the adjectives have two different forms: one for the singular (without ending) and one for the plural (with '-e' ending). Moreover the form ending in '-e' is used for both singular and plural when the nouns to whom the adjective refers is preceded by a determiner, that is a possessive, a demonstrative or the definite article, this form of the adjective is called weak form.

If the substantive is not preceded by a determiner (remember that the indefinite article is not a determiner), than it is used the adjective without ending for the singular and that with '-e' ending for the plural, this form is called strong form.

Adjectives in predicative position, that is after a verb, are never inflected.

Here is a list of adjectives with the two forms:

Strong singular	Strong plural / Weak	Meaning
goj	goje	good
iwel	iwele	bad
glåj	glåje	happy
sari	sari (!)	sad
hjå	hjå	tall / high
skam	skame	short
shen	shene	beautiful / goodlooking
unfawer	unfawre (!)	ugly
grjat	grjate	big / great
litel	lille (!)	little / small
gemel	gemle (!)	old
jong	jonge	young
strong	stronge	strong
wåk	wåke	weak
håt	håte	hot
call	calle	cold
joker	jokre (!)	terrible
njå	njå	near / close
wjor	wjorre	far / distant

As it can be seen, adjectives ending with '-i' or with a long vowel don't take the '-e' ending in the weak forms and in the plural form. An example of use:

• An litel katt - A little cat;
• Se lille katt - The little cat.

Comparative

The higher degree comparative is formed with the suffix '-ar' (some irregular adjectives form it with '-er'). The second term of comparation is introduced by als and is in the same case of the first, ex.:

• An blosne shenar als an trjo - A flower more beautiful than a tree.

The same degree comparative is formed with the periphrasis så + adjective + hů, ex.:

• An blosne så shen hů an trjo - A flower as beautiful as a tree.

The lower degree comparative is formed with the periphrasis lass + adjective + als, ex.:

• An blosne lass shen als an trjo - A flower less beautiful than a tree.

Adjectives with an irregular higher degree comparative

Some adjectives have got an irregular form of higher degree comparative:

Positive	Strong comparative	Weak comparative
goj	beter	betre
iwel	wyrs	wyrse
litel	småler	smålre
grjat	gryter	grytre
gemel	eller	elre
jong	jenger	jengre
hjå	hyr	hyrre
strong	strenger	strengre
njå	nyr	nyrre
wjor	wyr	wyrre

Irregular higher degree comparatives are used as normal comparatives, ex.:

• Tů jart hyr als y (jom) - You are taller than I (am).

Superlative

The superlative degree is formed with the suffix '-ast' (some irregular adjectives form it with '-est'). The relative superlative is the same form of the absolute superlative, but it is preceded by the definite article and is generally followed by a limitation, that is expressed with i + dative case, ex.:

• Se shenast blosne i tem werl - The most beautiful flower in the world.

Adjectives with an irregular superlative

The same adjectives that have an irregular higher degree comparative have got also an irregular superlative form:

Positive	Strong superlative	Weak superlative
goj	best	beste
iwel	wyst	wyste
litel	smålst	smålste
grjat	gryst	gryste
gemel	ellest	elste
jong	jengst	jengste
hjå	hyst	hyste
strong	strengst	strengste
njå	nyrst	nyrste
wjor	wyrst	wyrste

Pronouns and kinds of adjectives

Personal pronouns

In Tjoc personal pronouns inflect according the four cases that have been seen for the definite article: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.

Case	1st person
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	y		we
Accusative	mek		ůs
Dative	me		ůs
Genitive	myn		ůr
Case	2nd person
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	tů		je
Accusative	tek		jou
Dative	te		jou
Genitive	tyn		jower
Case	3rd person
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	he	hjo	het	hy
Accusative	hin	hir	het	hy
Dative	him	hir	him	hem
Genitive	his	hjos	his	heras

Please note that the dative form of the 2nd person singular, te, is the same as the nominative form of the plural definite article. In a sentence the pronouns in dative case are positioned before of those in accusative case, so prepositions could be omitted, ex.:

• Jef me het - Give it to me.

When there are a pronoun and a noun, the pronoun always precedes the noun, ex.:

• Jef het tem frjåstre - Give it to the lady;
• Jef hir se hůnn - Give her the dog.

Tjoc has also preserved two ancient 2nd person pronouns which indicate a couple, they are the dual pronouns wit and jit, respectively we two and you two. Even if they are quite old, they are still very used:

Case	Wit	Jit
Nominative	wit	jit
Accusative	unk	ink
Dative	unk	ink
Genitive	unker	inker

Nowadays the difference between we and wit and between je and jit is fading and is losing its original number distinction: wit and jit are more and more used to express a higher grade of intimacy and informality, whereas we and je are acquiring a shade of formality and politeness. It is to be said that in the West zone of Angelkinn also the forms ůnk/ynk and ůnker/ynker are found, probably due to a contamination with the plural pronoun we (acc. ůs/gen. ůr) and to a generalisation of the long vowel.

Demonstratives

Demonstratives are formed with the three place adverbs her (here, "near to the speaker"), ter (there, but in Tjoc meaning "near to the listener") and jon (yon, but in Tjoc meaning "far from both speaker and listener"). These pronouns match perfectly the three persons:

Person	Adverb	Demonstrative	Meaning
1st	her	se / tat ... her	this one
2nd	ter	se / tat ... ter	that one (near you)
3rd	jon	se / tat ... jon	that one (over there)

If a noun is inserted between the definite article and the adverb, the demonstrative functions as an adjective, ex.:

• Se her - This one (here), but Se katt her - This cat (here).

As the place adverbs inflect, even the demonstratives "inflect". In fact the place adverbs take three kind of suffix to show if the indicate state, movement towards or movement from a definite place. So it is possible, with verbs denoting movement or state, to indicate this aspect with the demonstrative:

Relation	Her	Ter	Jon
State	tem ... her	tem ... ter	tem ... jon
Movement from	tem ... hens	tem ... tens	tem ... jons
Movement towards	se / tat ... heder	se / tat ... teder	se / tat ... jonner

This use of the demonstrative allows us not to use prepositions, ex.:

• Y jom tem hůs her means "I'm in this house" and there's no need to use the preposition i (= in);
• Y kume tem hůs tens means "I come from that house" without using af (= from);
• Y gå tat hůs jonner means "I go to that house over there" without using to (= to).

But it is true that these three sentences show a particularly refined language, colloquially speaking, these sentences become respectively:

• Y jom i tem hůs her;
• Y kume af tem hůs ter;
• Y gå to tat hůs jon.

People tend not to inflect demonstratives (nor place adverbs).

Possessives

Possessives are the same when they're used as both adjectives and pronouns and, while possessive adjectives don't need article before, possessive pronouns need it:

Person	Singular	Plural
y	myn	myne
tů	tyn	tyne
he / het	syn	syne
hjo	hirs	hirs
wit	unker	unkre
jit	inker	inkre
we	ůr	ůre
je	jower	jowre
hy	heras	heras

Possessives derive from the genitive of the personal pronouns, except for the 3rd masculine and neuter singular. Hirs and heras only have a single form for both singular and plural. Here are some examples:

• Myn katt > Se myn - My cat > Mine;
• Tyn hůnn > Se tyn - Your dog > Yours;
• Syn wyf > Se syn - His wife > His;
• Hirs mann > Se hirs - Her man > Hers;
• Ůr djor > Tat ůr - Our animal > Ours;
• Jower frjond > Se jower - Your friend > Yours;
• Heras hjort > Tat heras - Their heart > Theirs.

Plural forms:

• Myne kattes > Te myne - My cats > Mine;
• Tyne hůnnes > Te tyne - Your dogs > Yours;
• Syne ƿyen > Te syne - His wifes > His;
• Hirs menn > Te hirs - Her men > Hers;
• Ůre djor > Te ůre - Our animals > Ours;
• Jowre frynd > Te jowre - Your friends > Yours;
• Heras hjort > Te heras - Their hearts > Theirs.

Relatives and 'interro-exclamatories'

Interrogative pronouns, which are used also to make exclamations, function also as relatives:

Case	Hwå (who)	Hwat (what)
Nominative	hwå	hwat
Accusative	hwan	hwat
Dative	hwam	hwam
Genitive	hwas	hwas
Instrumental	-	hwy

Ex.:

• Hwå is he? - Who is he?
• Hwat an shen hůnn! - What a beautiful dog!
• Hwas is se bok her? - Whose is this book?
• Hwam hafstů isagd het? - Whom have you said it to?
• Se jon is se wyf ƕan y frjowe - That there is the woman whom I love.

Instrumental case hwy corresponds perfectly to English "why" (but also to the English "because"!), ex.:

• Hwy haftů iskån se metning ter? - Why have you made that painting?

Indefinites

Indefinites give us incomplete informations, because they don't define the precise quantity or the identity:

Indefinite	Meaning
ålcen	someone/anyone
ålcet	something/anything
nån	nobody
nåt	nothing
åwilk	each
jall	all
oter / o'r	other

The indefinite jall and oter have got also a plural form: jallen and oteren/o'ren.

Indefinites can be formed also with the word elles:

• Elles hwå / elshwå - Someone else;
• Elles hwat / elshwat - Something else;
• Te elles - The others.

In elshwå and elshwat <sh> isn't a digraph, so it has to be pronounced as if it were written <s-hw>!

If these indefinites are used as interrogatives, than elles follows the pronouns:

• Tjarftů hwat elles? - Do you need something else?
• Knaut hjo hwan elles? - Does she know someone else?

Numerals

Numerals don't inflect. Here are the numerals from 0 to 100:

Number	Cardinal	Ordinal
0	naut	-
1	ån	wirst
2	twejn	twejd
3	try	trid
4	wjor	wjort
5	wy	wift
6	sys	syst
7	sjoun	sjount
8	jåt	jåtet
9	nejn	nejnt
10	ten	tent
11	elljoun	elljount
12	twelf	twelft
13	trjotin	trjotint
14	wjortin	wjortint
15	wiftin	wiftint
16	systin	systint
17	sjountin	sjountint
18	jåttin	jåttint
19	nejntin	nejntint
20	twejnti	twejntit
21	twejnti-ån	twejnti-wirst
22	twejnti-twejn	twejnti-twejnt
30	tryti	trytit
40	wjorti	wjortit
50	wifti	wiftit
60	systi	systit
70	sjounti	sjountit
80	jåtti	jåttit
90	nejnti	nejntit
100	hůdre	hůdret

Units are written linked to the tens with a hyphen, while tens and hundreds are written detached, ex.: 195 hůdre nejnti-wy.

From 100 on, numerals are formed with a suffix '-od': 200 twåod, 300 tryod, 400 wjorod, 500 wyod, 600 sysod, 700 sjounod, 800 jåtod, 900 nejnod. This form is the evolution of a former juxtaposition, ex.: try hůd > tryod.

Please note that the numeral 200 is irregular, because an alternative form of 2, that is twå, is used. Also the form for hundred in compounds is irregular: hůd, this form is quite archaic nowadays.

The ordinals of the numbers from 200 to 900 are obtained by substituting the final '-d' for '-t', ex.: 200 twåod > 200th twåot.

A thousand is said tusenn and its ordinal form is tusent. The numbers from 1000 on are expressed with a hypen, ex.: 2000 twejn-tůsenn, 5000 wy-tůsenn, 9000 nejn-tůsenn and so on.

The word for a million is miklenn (< O.E. miclung, "greatness" × Ti. tůsenn) and it behaves as tůsenn.

A thousand million is an tůsenn miklenn. A billion (in the sense of a million million) is biklenn, from the French "bi- + million", that has been substituted for "bi- + miklenn".