Tinnermockaar: Difference between revisions

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* Unvoiced stops are very mildly aspirated.

* There is some variation in the VOT (voice onset time) for pre-nasalized stops, ''fortis'' might range from moderate aspiration to ''tenuis'' while ''lenis'' might range from almost ''tenuis'' to fully voiced.

* Pre-nasalized stops in final position might result in the allophonic nasalization of the preceding vowel. For instance, '''''amb''''' /amb/ might be realized as something closer to \[ãb̥\].

* Pre-nasalized stops in final position might result in the allophonic nasalization of the preceding vowel. For instance, '''''amb''''' /amb/ might be realized as something closer to [ãb̥].

* The phoneme '''''z''''' /d̥z̥/ is listed under the ''lenis'' prenasalized series since it comes from a historical /ɲɟ/, but its current realization is closer to that of a partially voiced counterpart to '''''ts'''''.

* A fully voiced /ɡ/ was dropped except before front vowels, where it turns into /j/ instead.

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** Historical pre-nasalized /ɲc/ and /ɲɟ/ first experiences a similar shift, turning briefly into /nts/ and /ndz/ before a second shift turned them into pure affricates, with /nts/ merging with /ts/ while /ndz/ became '''''z''''' /d̥z̥/.

** The palatal nasal /ɲ/ turned into /j/. A later change would drop it before front vowels.

* A single coronal nasal '''''n''''' /n/ seems to have developed from a merger between a historical dental /n̪/ and an alveolar /n/. Orthographic evidence (in the native Tinnermockaar script) suggests that the two sounds might have first adopted a complementary distribution before being outright merged in a generally alveolar \[n\].

* A single coronal nasal '''''n''''' /n/ seems to have developed from a merger between a historical dental /n̪/ and an alveolar /n/. Orthographic evidence (in the native Tinnermockaar script) suggests that the two sounds might have first adopted a complementary distribution before being outright merged in a generally alveolar [n].

* It is unclear whether the language ever had a labial fricative (/f/ or /ɸ/), if it did, it must have long dropped or merged with another consonant (likely '''''h''''').

* The 'dental' fricative '''''s''''' is a laminal /s̻/ while the 'alveolar' '''''ś''''' is an apical /s̺/, with speakers commonly pronounced it as a postalveolar \[ʃ\], especially in word-final position.

* The 'dental' fricative '''''s''''' is a laminal /s̻/ while the 'alveolar' '''''ś''''' is an apical /s̺/, with speakers commonly pronounced it as a postalveolar [ʃ], especially in word-final position.

* The 'palatal' fricative '''''x''''' /ç/ often shifts to \[x\] before back vowels.

* The 'palatal' fricative '''''x''''' /ç/ often shifts to [x] before back vowels.

* The 'velar' fricative '''''h''''' is realized either as a glottal fricative /h/ or outright dropped (especially between non-high vowels).

* A glottal stop \[ʔ\] and a rhotic alveolar approximant \[ɹ\] might occur as allophonic pronunciations for glottalized and rhotacized vowels, respectively.

* A glottal stop [ʔ] and a rhotic alveolar approximant [ɹ] might occur as allophonic pronunciations for glottalized and rhotacized vowels, respectively.

The native orthography in the Tinnermockaar script still makes some distinctions that are not preserved in the spoken language:

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Only a short '''''ə''''' is allowed to be simultaneously rhotacized and glotalized: '''''ə̀r''''' for /ɜˀɹ̆/. Historically, '''''v̀r''''' /ʊˀɹ̆/ was also allowed, although it later merged with '''''ə̀r''''' (the distinction is preserved in the native orthography, though).

Some speakers (particularly those in the peripheries of the language, in contact with non-native speakers who might struggle with rhoticity and glottalization) might pronounce rhotacized vowels as plain vowels followed by a rhotic such as \[ɹ\] or \[ɾ\] and pronounce glotalized vowels as plain vowels followed by a glottal stop \[ʔ\].

Some speakers (particularly those in the peripheries of the language, in contact with non-native speakers who might struggle with rhoticity and glottalization) might pronounce rhotacized vowels as plain vowels followed by a rhotic such as [ɹ] or [ɾ] and pronounce glotalized vowels as plain vowels followed by a glottal stop [ʔ].

===Phonotactics===

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* Inanimate third person plural (3p.INAN) - more than one distinct objects or animals. Not distinguished from 3s.INAN for transitive subjects.

Further distinctions in number (such as contrasting 1.EXCL as used for singular 'I' or for plural 'we \[me and others\]') might be made by including an overt pronoun (as discussed within the section for nominals) but that is relatively uncommon.

Further distinctions in number (such as contrasting 1.EXCL as used for singular 'I' or for plural 'we [me and others]') might be made by including an overt pronoun (as discussed within the section for nominals) but that is relatively uncommon.

Definiteness is contrasted for third person inanimate themes, contrasting sentences such as ''enav̀kàccəń'' ('they hunted it', where the animal that was hunted refers to a known individual) and ''eenəkàccəń'' ('they hunted one', where the animal that was some previously undefined individual).

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The '''reciprocal''' or '''mutual''' marker ''-ubbàm'' has a similar usage except that it indicates that individuals within a group do something to each other (but not to themselves). For instance, ''əmàccəńubbàm'' translates to 'they hunted each other'. This would indicate that there were at least two parties, one hunting the other and vice-versa, as opposed to reflexive ''əmàccəńas'' 'they hunted themselves'. Informally, however, it would be relatively common for native Tinnermockaar speakers themselves to use both forms interchangeable, indicating that this distinction is seemingly falling out of use.

For verbals with a distinct subject and object, the '''passive''' and '''antipassive''' voices allow for one of those arguments to be dropped. '''Passive''' ''-it'' converts a transitive verb into a syntactically intransitive one with the original object as its theme as in ''ookàccəńit'' for 'it was hunted', '\[someone\] hunted it'. Conversely, '''antipassive''' ''-àk'' allows the subject alone to to be marked, also becoming the theme of a syntactically intransitive verb as in ''ikàccəńàk'' for 'they hunted \[something]'.

For verbals with a distinct subject and object, the '''passive''' and '''antipassive''' voices allow for one of those arguments to be dropped. '''Passive''' ''-it'' converts a transitive verb into a syntactically intransitive one with the original object as its theme as in ''ookàccəńit'' for 'it was hunted', '[someone] hunted it'. Conversely, '''antipassive''' ''-àk'' allows the subject alone to to be marked, also becoming the theme of a syntactically intransitive verb as in ''ikàccəńàk'' for 'they hunted [something]'.

Verbals corresponding to an ''intransitive'' verb might take the '''causative''' marker ''-eeś'' which turns them into a transitive verb where the subject influences the theme to reach the state normally marked by the intransitive verb. For instance, ''oodeìkvvrm'' 'it was hot' might be used to derive ''enav̀deìkvvrmeeś'', 'they made it hot'. It should be noted, however, that many intransitive verbs have a transitive counterpart that will usually be preferred to a causative form; thus to specify an agent responsible for the state of being hot indicated by ''oodeìkvvrm'' a separate transitive verb, ''enav̀-aakvvr'', 'they heated it'.

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See the sections on noun copula and relatives under the ''Syntax'' header for more information.

===Nominals===

Tinnermockaar nominals include nouns, certain verb forms such gerunds used in present-tense constructions as well as adverbs, determiners and, arguably, even pronouns. Tinnermockaar's own (intrafictional) tradition would also include conjunctions and prepositions under this category.

The structure of nominals is not as rigid as that of verbals, but it's often composed of the following elements:

{| class="wikitable"

! Component !! Optional / Mandatory !! Default (if not present)

|-

| '''Secondary root prefix''' || Optional || -

|-

| '''Root''' || Mandatory || -

|-

| '''Derivational suffix''' || Mandatory Multiple suffixes may be used || -

|-

| '''Definiteness marking''' || Optional || Indefinite

|-

| '''Number marking''' || Optional || Singular or collective (depending on the noun)

|-

| '''Case marking''' || Optional || Absolutive

|}

Nominals are typically consonant-initial (as are most roots, primary or secondary) and are very commonly vowel-final although exceptions to this are not uncommon.

The citation form of a nominal is the one without definiteness, number and case markers.

====Derivational suffixes====

Tinnermockaar nominals require at least one derivational suffix to be added to the primary or secondary root. These suffixes typically hint at the intended meaning of the nominal, although some derivations might be unexpected.

The language has a wide array of derivational suffixes including:

* '''-aa''' - a noun denoting an action or an event, as in ''ccəńaa'', 'hunt'.

* '''-avr''' - groups, as in ''bankumbavr'', 'crowd'.

* '''-eemə''' - materials, as in ''havpeemə'', 'copper'.

* '''-eer''' - Animals or plants, as in ''ddebbeer'' for 'bird' (from ''ooddebb'', 'to fly')

* '''-i''' - an animate actor, as in ''ccəńi'', 'hunter'.

* '''-ò''' - a patient of a concluded transitive action, as in ''ccəńò'' (game, prey that has been hunted).

* '''-v''' - a person who is characterized by an intransitive verb as in ''mindv'', 'visitor' (from ''imind'', 'to arrive').

=====Verb nominals: participles and gerunds=====

Certain derivational suffixes are used for nominals related to verbs. This includes two forms dubbed 'participles' used in relative clauses (the active participle ''-yrbba'' and the passive participle ''-àkka'') and a number of gerunds used for present and future tense constructions whose derivational suffixes encode the verb's voice:

* '''-eynər''' - active voice gerund (also used for reciprocal voice).

* '''-eeccər''' - passive voice gerund (also used for reflexive voice).

* '''-aettsər''' - antipassive voice gerund.

Verbal stems might also form nominals using a gerundive suffix '''''-ae''''' which indicates purpose and which might be required to be used along modal verbs.

====Definiteness====

Nominals corresponding to nouns may be made definite by applying the following sound changes on their final vowel:

* Non-glottalized short vowels are lengthened.

* The resulting vowel or diphthong is replaced by a 'rhotic counterpart' when one exists, as shown below:

{| class="wikitable"

! '''Original''' !! '''Definite''' !! '''Original''' !! '''Definite''' !! '''Original''' !! '''Definite''' !! '''Original''' !! '''Definite'''

|-

| ''a'', ''aa'' || '''''əər''''' || ''à'' || '''''ə̀r''''' || ''aà'' || '''''aà''''' || ''ar'', ''aar'' || '''''əər'''''

|-

| ''e, ee'' || '''''yyr''''' || ''è'' || '''''è''''' || ''eè'' || '''''eè''''' || ''er'', ''eer'' || '''''eer'''''

|-

| ''i, ii'' || '''''ii''''' || - || - || - || - || - || -

|-

| ''o, oo'' || '''''vvr''''' || ''ò'' || '''''ə̀r''''' || ''oò'' || '''''oò''''' || ''or'', ''oor'' || '''''oor'''''

|-

| ''u, uu'' || '''''uu''''' || - || - || - || - || - || -

|-

| ''v, vv'' || '''''vvr''''' || ''v̀'' || '''''ə̀r''''' || ''vv̀'' || '''''vv̀''''' || ''vr, vvr'' || '''''vvr'''''

|-

| ''y, yy'' || '''''yyr''''' || ''ỳ'' || '''''ỳ''''' || ''yỳ'' || '''''yỳ''''' || ''yr, yyr'' || '''''yyr'''''

|-

| ''ə, əə'' || '''''əər''''' || ''ə̀'' || '''''ə̀r''''' || ''əə̀'' || '''''əə̀''''' || ''ər, əər'' || '''''əər'''''

|-

| ''ae'' || '''''aer''''' || ''aè'' || '''''aè''''' || - || - || ''aer'' || '''''aer'''''

|-

| ''av'' || '''''avr''''' || ''av̀'' || '''''av̀''''' || - || - || ''avr'' || '''''avr'''''

|-

| ''ey'' || '''''yyr''''' || ''eỳ'' || '''''eỳ''''' || - || - || - || -

|-

| ''ov'' || '''''vvr''''' || ''ov̀'' || '''''ov̀''''' || - || - || - || -

|-

| ''əi'' || '''''əir''''' || ''əì'' || '''''əì''''' || - || - || ''əir'' || '''''əir'''''

|}

====Number====

By default, Tinnermockaar nouns might be either singular (referring to a single object) or collective (referring to a group of non-distinct objects or to an uncountable substance); this is a lexical property that cannot be determined from affixes alone.

For non-collective nouns (singular by default), three additional grammatical numbers can be formed through suffixes:

* '''Partitive''' (suffix ''-dər'') - indicates a group of elements drawn from a larger group.

* '''Paucal''' (suffix ''-bà'') - indicates a small number of elements.

* '''Plural''' (suffix ''-ga'') - indicates a large number of elements.

The distinction between paucal and plural is a fuzzy one, groups below 3 or 4 objects will generally be marked as paucal while groups above 5 or 6 will usually be marked as plural but the paucal vs plural distinction might also reflect a contrast with expectations. For instance, if a mythological creature had 4 eyes, those might be referred in plural to highlight the anomaly, while a garrison of 10 soldiers where several dozen would be expected might be referred to in the paucal. The partitive number, on the other hand, does not distinguish whether the number of elements is high or low, it only focuses on the fact that only some of the elements (in an otherwise unstated group) are relevant.

Plural marking is mandatory, even when a numeral is given.

Collective nouns, meanwhile, may also take the '''partitive''' suffix (''-dər'') to indicate fraction of the collective or substance, or a '''singulative''' (''-ceèt'' if word final, ''-ceè'' if followed by a case suffix) for indicating a single element drawn from the collective (not applicable to substances).

Finally, nouns of either type (but more usually non-collective ones) might take a '''negative''' suffix ''xoòt'' (or ''-xoò'' if followed by a case suffix) indicating a null quantity.

As an example, consider ''ccəńi'' ('hunter'), a countable noun, which might take the following suffixes:

{| class="wikitable"

! '''Number''' !! '''Example''' !! '''Translation'''

|-

| Singular || ''ccəńi'' || a hunter

|-

| Partitive || ''ccəńi'''dər''''' || some of the hunters

|-

| Paucal || ''ccəńi'''bà''''' || some hunters

|-

| Plural || ''ccəńi'''ga''''' || many hunters

|-

| Negative || ''ccəńi'''xoòt''''' || no hunters

|}

Meanwhile, collective nouns might be exemplified by ''bankumbavr'' (crowd) and ''havpeemə'' (copper) as follows:

{| class="wikitable"

! '''Number''''' !! '''Example 1''' !! '''Translation''' !! '''Example 2''' !! '''Translation'''

|-

| Collective || ''bankumbavr'' || a crowd || ''havpeemə'' || (some) copper

|-

| Singulative || ''bankumbavr'''ceèt''''' || a person in the crowd || - || -

|-

| Partitive || ''bankumbavr'''dər''''' || part of the crowd || ''havpeemə'''dər''''' || part of the copper

|-

| Negative || ''bankumbavr'''xoòt''''' || no crowd || ''havpeemə'''xoòt''''' || no copper

|}

====Cases====

Tinnermockaar nouns inflect for three cases: absolutive (unmarked), marked nominative (or 'ergative', suffix ''-cə'') and benefactive (suffix ''-ngeè''). Unlike other suffixes, case markers are separated from the nominal with a hyphen in Latin script orthography, so the benefactive form of ''ccəńi'' will be spelled as ''ccəńi-ngeè'' rather than ''ccəńingeè''.

The ergative case, which perhaps could be better deemed as 'marked nominative' case, is ''optionally'' required for subjects. Its marker, ''-cə'', is generally found in subjects of transitive verbs although it is often left out for subjects occurring in a fronted position (moved to the beginning of the sentence for emphasis).

More unusually, the suffix might ''-cə'' may be occasionally found in intransitive subjects for verbs with which also have an oblique argument and in present-tense constructions (where the primary verb gerund could also be considered to act as an oblique argument to the auxiliary).

Pronouns seldom bear the ''-cə'' marker, regardless of the situation.

The benefactive case marker, ''-ńgeè'', may be used to indicate an argument other than a subject or theme that benefits or has commanded the action. This case is also used for indirect objects in verbs such as ''eynđ'' ('to give').

All other roles are expressed with the unmarked absolutive case, possibly in combination with prepositions such as locative ''byr'' ('in').

====Pronouns====

Pronouns are used sparingly in Tinnermockaar as they are made largely redundant due to the polypersonal agreement in verbs. They will commonly occur for oblique roles that wouldn't be marked otherwise, though.

Since Tinnermockaar pronouns work largely in the same way as nouns, they might be inflected for number, allowing for finer distinctions than the ones shown in verb prefixes. For instance, while first person exclusive markers don't distinguish between singular "I, me" and plural "we ~ me and others", the overt pronoun ''haańà'' can specify the argument as singular, while the addition of number-marking suffixes can yield more precise plural meanings such as ''haańàdər'' (only some of us), ''haańàbà'' (me and a few others), ''haańàga'' (me and many others) and ''haańàxoòt'' (none of us). It should be noted, however, that it's usually more idiomatic for a Tinnermockaar speaker to drop pronouns.

Tinnermockaar personal pronouns are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"

! !! '''Singular''' !! '''(Dual)''' !! '''Paucal''' !! '''Plural''' !! '''Partitive''' !! '''Negative'''

|-

| '''First person exclusive''' (me [and others]) || ''haańa'' || || ''haańabà'' || ''haańaga'' || ''haańadər'' || ''haańàxoòt''

|-

| '''First person inclusive''' (you and me [and others]) || || ''hàmyy'' || ''hàmyybà'' || ''hàmyyga'' || ''hàmyydər'' || ''hàmyyxoòt''

|-

| '''Second person''' (you [and others]) || ''tsidi'' || || ''tsidibà'' || ''tsidiga'' || ''tsididər'' || ''tsidixoòt''

|-

| '''Third person animate''' (he/she/they) || ''hee-i'' || || ''heerbà'' || ''heerga'' || ''heerdər'' || ''heerxoòt''

|-

| '''Third person inanimate''' (it/they) || ''ccy'' || || ''ccybà'' || ''ccyga'' || ''ccydər'' || ''ccyxoòt''

|}

Number marking is largely regular aside from unmarked 'singular' ''hàmyy'' actually referring to two people ('you and me') and the third person animate pronoun using different roots for singular ''hee-i'' (which doesn't accept any number markings) and plural ''*heer'' (which requires a number marker).

Other than that, Tinnermockaar pronouns only differ from nouns in that they hardly ever take the 'ergative' ''-cə'' marker.

==Syntax==

Tinnermockaar is a somewhat typologically ambiguous language. As intransitive and transitive verbs differ considerably in their paradigm (as far as argument marking is concerned), it is hard to unambiguously classify it as having a nominative-accusative or an ergative-absolutive alignment, morphological clues suggest a tendency towards the latter although it can be noted that what could be interpreted as an ergative case marker might occasionally be used for intransitive subjects, a feature more in line with a nominative-accusative language. While this sort of typologically ambiguity is sometimes found in natural languages, it might not be out of line for one to question the naturalisticness of this conlang.

===Word order===

Tinnermockaar has a fairly flexible word order, although sentences default towards verb-initial orders, mainly VSO (verb-subject-object). This might be altered to place emphasis, with SVO word orders highlighting the subject and VOS (or, more rarely, OVS) word orders highlighting subjects (a practice referred to as 'subject fronting' which usually also involves dropping case makers for this argument). Oblique complements such as adverbial phrases or benefactives are typically found at the end of the sentence, although they might be placed directly after the verb for greater emphasis.

Arguments can be dropped, although transitive verbs will be marked for both their arguments unless given in a valency-decreasing voice (reflexive, passive, antipassive). An entire sentence might consist of just a verb, with all its arguments being left implicit.

Verbs might be expressed as a single ''verbal'' (for generic or past-tense statements) or as an auxiliary verbal followed by a ''nominal'' form of the verb (for present or future tense).

Modifiers, including the equivalent to relative phrases, come after the element they modify.

===Present and future tense constructions===

As previously mentioned, by default a Tinnermockaar verb will refer either to an event in the past or to a generic or habitual statement (this two interpretations usually being distinguished by context alone, although time adverbs could be used to lift any resulting ambiguity).

In order to speak of a specific event taking place in the present, the auxiliary verb '''''iś''''' must be used, followed by a gerund of the intended verb, typically ending in ''-eynər''. The auxiliary takes all the markings related to mood, subject/theme agreement and aspect. Voice marking might involve both the auxiliary and the gerund, as shown in the following table:

{| class="wikitable"

! '''Voice''' !! '''Voice marker in the auxiliary''' !! '''Gerund'''

|-

| '''Active''' || None (active as default) || Active (''-eynər'')

|-

| '''Reflexive''' || Reflexive (''-as'') || Passive (''-eeccər'')

|-

| '''Reciprocal''' || Reciprocal (''-ubbàm'') || Active (''-eynər'')

|-

| '''Passive''' || None (marked only in the gerund) || Passive (''-eeccər'')

|-

| '''Antipassive''' || None (marked only in the gerund) || Antipassive (''-aettsər'')

|-

| '''Causative''' || Reciprocal (''-ééś'') || Active (''-eynər'')

|}

For instance, ''eenəccəń'' might be interpreted as 'they hunted' or 'they hunt (regularly)'; adverbs such as ''mimbyr'', 'yesterday' or ''kkaè'', 'often' may be given to further specify one of those interpretations. In order to indicate a current event such as 'they ''are'' hunting', the auxiliary verb construction with ''iś'' will be needed, resulting in ''eenəś ccəńeynər'', with ''iś'' displaying the agreement markers for subject and object while the primary verb is found as an active gerund.

It should be noted that the verb '''''iś''''' is slightly irregular: telic forms are given as ''-kəəs'' instead of the expected ''-kaś''.

Future tense can be expressed through a similar construction using the auxiliary verb '''''imind''''' (which might also be used on its own as a verb meaning 'to arrive') with the difference that the auxiliary must be marked as having an irrealis mood. For instance, we might find ''indeenəmind ccəńeynər'' for 'they will hunt'.

It is worth noticing, however, that many usages which might be covered by a future tense in other languages might be expressed using moods in Tinnermockaar, such as the potential mood to indicate an unrealized possibility or the optative to indicate a desired future state.

===Negatives===

Tinnermockaar utilizes two negation strategies depending on whether the arguments of the verb are included in the sentence.

If either the subject or the object of the verb are present in the sentence (aside from being referenced by verbal prefixes), then negation is most commonly marked by using the negative 'number' suffix on the relevant noun. For instance, the negation of ''əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacv'' (the man sees a woman) might be given as any of the following:

* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr'''xoò'''-cə nacv'' (negating the subject, literally 'No man sees a woman')

* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacv'''xoòt''''' (negating the object, literally 'The man sees no woman')

Colloquially, negating both elements (still keeping a negative meaning) is also an option, although this wording might be perceived as non-standard.

* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr'''xoò'''-cə nacv'''xoòt'''''.

Since the negative marker ''-xoò(t)'' takes the position of number markers, it might get in the way of expressing certain finer distinctions or imply an unwanted degree of totality in the negation. For instance the wording ''əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacvxoòt'' (~ the man sees no woman) may be taken to imply that that the subject is not seeing any woman so it wouldn't be appropriate to indicate that the man doesn't see ''a'' woman in particular (possibly being able to see others) .

An alternative method involves using the negative particle ''xav'' which must always precede the primary verb of the sentence - before the verbal if there is no auxiliary and between the auxiliary and the gerund otherwise:

* ''Əmbaś '''xav''' jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacv'' (negating the verb, literally ''The man doesn't see a woman').

This second strategy is required for verbs lacking a explicit subject or object. It should be noted that using ''xav'' and avoiding explicit pronouns is by far a more common strategy than using explicit pronouns that might take the ''-xoò(t)'' prefix, although the latter option might be occasionally be used for emphasis:

* '''''Xav''' ijeekajaacc'' (I didn't see you, most common wording with negation using ''xav'' and implicit pronouns)

* ''Ijeekajaacc haańà'''xoòt''''' ('''''''I''''' didn't see you, explicit negated first person pronoun for emphasis)

* ''Ijeekajaacc tsidi'''xoòt''''' (I didn't see '''''you''''', explicit negated first person pronoun for emphasis)

If both negation strategies are combined (something seldom found), the result is typically interpreted as a '''positive''':

* ''Əmbaś '''xav''' jaacceynər nacv'''xoòt''' mpànvvr-cə'' (negating the verb and the object, understood as meaning 'No woman isn't seen by the man').

===Interrogatives===

Polar questions (those that can be answered in English with 'yes' or 'no) are formed in the same way as declarative sentences other than requiring the interrogative mood prefix ''kkaah-''. To continue with the prior example, the polar question 'Does the man see the woman?' may be translated as '''''Kkaah'''əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacv?''.

Other questions, such as the ones formed in English using the 'wh-words' (like 'who' or 'what') generally do '''not''' require the interrogative prefix ''kkaah-''. Interrogative pronouns like ''đvv'' (what, used for inanimates) and ''đey'' (who, used for animates) behave like regular nominals and, unlike personal pronouns, inflect for case a usual. For instance, we might have:

* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər '''đey-cə''' nacv?'' (Who sees a woman?)

* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə '''đey'''?'' (Who does the man see?)

Tinnermockaar does not have a 'wh-fronting' rule like English requiring interrogative pronouns to be moved to the beginning of the sentence, although Tinnermockaar's flexible word order does allows this order, which comes out as somewhat more emphatic. As usual, the ergative marker ''-cə'' is typically omitted for a fronted subject.

* '''''Đey''' əmbaś jaacceynər nacv?'' (Who sees a woman?)

The interrogative mood marker might be combined with an interrogative pronoun in order to make a wh-question about an uncertain event. For instance '''''Kkaah'''əmbaś '''đey-cə''' nacvvr?'' might be translated as 'Does anyone see the woman? If so, who?'. Such combined questions would expect either a negative answer (''Xav əmbaś'' ~ No one does) or the answer to the question word (''Mpànvvr'' ~ the man).

====Yes/no answers====

Polar questions are typically answered by repeating the verb (adjusting argument agreement markers if needed) or the auxilliary, preceded by ''xav'' if negative.

For instance, the expected answers for ''Kkaatsəńỳś jaacceynər?'', 'Do you see me?' will be either ''Ijeeś'' (I do [see you]) or ''Xav ijeeś'' (I do not [see you]).

===Imperatives===

Imperatives (sentences given an order to a second person) are formed using an auxiliary verb (''ittsat'', root ''-ttsat'') and gerunds, in a construction not disimilar from those used for expressing the present and future tense.

Imperatives are generally considered polite for Tinnermockaar speakers, speakers might issue direct commands rather than requiring some workaround construction for politeness like English usually does (compare the blunt sounding ''"Do it!"'' with gentler formulae such as ''"Could you do it?"'' or ''"Would you mind doing it?"'').

Orders where the second person takes the role of a subject (be it of a transitive or intransitive verb) require the active gerund, as in ''Iìttsat mindeynər'' for 'Come!' or ''Ətsèttsat jaacceynər mpànvvr!'' for 'See the man!'.

Imperatives where the second person is required to take the role of a transitive direct object are formed in the same way but using the passive gerund. Note, however, that the auxiliary verb will still be conjugated as a transitive verb in this case. For instance, we might have ''Əncettsat jaacceeccər mpànvvr-cə!'' for 'Be seen by the man!', with the auxiliary taking the prefix ''ənce-'' marking it as a transitive verb with a singular third person animate subject and a second person object.

It should be observed that passive imperatives still represent a command the second person must actively seek to accomplish. The previous example, ''Əncettsat jaacceeccər mpànvvr-cə!'', implies that the listener must to do something to ensure the man sees them, rather than placing responsibility on the man (the latter might indicated instead using a jussive mood construction).

Antipassive gerunds are required for orders with an antipassive meaning. In this case, the auxiliary verb is conjugated as an intransitive verb and does not require the ''-àk'' marker. For instance, ''Iìttsat ccəńaettsər!'' translates to 'Hunt (something)!'.

Negative imperatives are formed by preceding the auxiliary verb with the negative particle ''xav'' (rather than placing it between the auxiliary and the main verb as in present/future-tense constructions). Thus, ''Xav iìttsat ccəńaettsər!'' becomes 'Do not hunt!'.

It is worth remembering that many imperative-like constructions might be formed through verbal mood markers instead, including jussive for indicating a mandatory state (but not one that necessarily requires the second person to take an action towards) and the optative mood for wishes. Compare the following:

* ''Əncettsat jaacceeccər mpànvvr-cə!'' (using a passive imperative) - 'Be seen by the man!' (orders the speaker to ensure that the other person sees them).

* ''Əcaantəncejaacc mpànvvr-cə!'' (using a jussive form of ''əncejaacc'', 'he sees you') - 'The man must see you!' (the requirement is not necessarily the listener's responsibility, pressumably both parties will be required to comply).

* ''Iìttsat ccəńaettsər!'' - 'Hunt something!' (a command, using an imperative construction).

* ''Eytiìccəńàk!'' - 'May you hunt something!' (a wish, using the optative voice).

===Possessives===

Possession is marked with the particle ''əl'' which is placed between the possession and the possessor as in ''havpeeməərdər əl mpànvvr'' for 'some of the copper (''havpeeməərdər'') of the man (''mpànvvr'')' or 'some of the man's copper'.

The same pattern might be used alongside pronouns, such as ''əl tsidi'' for 'your(s)'.

===Noun copula===

Sentences where a noun is equated with another, such as 'X is Y' are typically expressed using the verbal ''an'', whose highly irregular conjugation was showcased earlier on.

Although ''an'' acts as a verb in this construction, it might only take mood and person prefixes (no aspect, voice or tense marking). ''An'' constructions are not necessarily taken to be habitual or past-tense as sentences with bare verbal usually are; its interpretation in regards to tense is usually left to context although time adverbs might be added if necessary.

If ''X'' and ''Y'' are both nouns, the sentence is given as ''an X Y''. For instance, 'the man is a hunter' might be given as ''an mpànvvr ccəńi'' (ATTR man\\DEF hunter) although, depending on the context, the sentence might also be interpreted as 'the man was a hunter' or similar variations.

Pronouns are usually omitted, being marked instead in the conjugation of ''an''. It should be noted, however, that ''an'', nearly all other Tinnermockaar verbs, fails to distinguish number and animacy in the third person. Even though number is unmarked in the verb, it will be marked on the noun that appears as the remaining argument in the copula, so, for instance, the following sentences with ''ccəńiga'', the plural form of ''ccəńi'' (hunter), will necessarily have a plural interpretation:

* ''Əńaàn ccəńiga.'' - We (exclusive) are hunters.

* ''Amyńan ccəńiga.'' - We (inclusive) are hunters.

* ''Tsaan ccəńiga.'' - You all are hunters.

* ''An ccəńiga.'' - They are hunters.

Negatives are formed as usual with the particle ''xav'': as in ''xav əńaàn ccəń'' for 'I am not a hunter'.

Interrogatives also work as usual, with the interrogative mood prefix ''kkaah-'' being required for polar questions.

* ''Kkaahan ccəńiga?'' - Were they hunters?

* ''Tsaan đey?'' - Who are you?

Imperatives for the copula are rare but they might be formed by using ''ittsat'' (usually an auxiliary) on its own:

* ''Iìttsat ccańi!'' - Be a hunter!

===Relative clauses===

The attributive verbal ''an'' is also used for Tinnermockaar's equivalent to relative clauses, sharing the same limitations such as being unable to state tense and aspect. It should be noted that, should the need arise, these limitations can be circumvented by saying the phrases independently. For instance, English 'The man ''who the woman saw'' is hunting' would generally be expressed through a construction that could be roughly interpreted as 'the ''seen-by-the-woman'' man is hunting', which fails to capture explicitly whether the woman is observing him in the present or whether she saw him in the past; should that distinction prove crucial to the discourse speakers might describe the situation through two separate phrases instead: 'The woman saw the man. / He is hunting.'.

Relative constructions where the inner sentence is comprised of a copula between nouns are formed simply by following the antecedent with ''an'' and the nominal to which it is equated: ''mpànvvr an ccəńi'' for 'the man who is a hunter' (or 'who was a hunter').

Otherwise, ''an'' must be followed by a participle. The choice of participle depends on the syntactic role of the antecedent within the relative clause, using active participles (suffix ''-yrbba'') when it appears as a subject or the passive participle (suffix ''-àkka'') when it appears as a direct object (other roles are not supported and require the speaker to use separate clauses instead). Examples include:

* ''mpànvvr an mindyrbba'' - the man who arrived / who is arriving / who is going to arrive

* ''mpànvvr an ccəńyrbba'' - the man who hunted / is hunting / is going to hunt

* ''mpànvvr an ccəńàkka'' - the man who was hunted / is hunted / will be hunted

Other arguments can be introduced to the relative clause using ''əl'' for a subject (as if it was a possessive) or ''ttə'' for a direct object:

* ''mpànvvr an ccəńyrbba ttə ahuulə'' - the man who hunted a wolf

* ''mpànvvr an ccəńàkka əl ahuulə'' - the man who a wolf hunted

Relative clauses are negated by placing ''xav'' before ''an'': ''mpànvvr xav an mindyrbba'' for 'the man who didn't arrive'.

====Alternative relative clause construction====

Modern Tinnermockaar seems to be in the process of developing an alternate construction for relative clauses where the attributive ''an'' is not followed by a participle but by a full verb as in ''mpànvvr an ovrccəń'' for 'the man who hunts it' rather than standard ''mpànvvr an ccəńyrbba'' (~ the hunting man).

This construction, however, is still perceived as non-standard and is often relegated to informal situations.

==Numerals==

Tinnermockaar has a fairly simple base-10 numeration system. Numerals follow the noun to which they apply, which must still bear grammatical number suffixes as usual, as in singular ''mpànv pè'' for 'one man', paucal ''mpànvbà cynə'' for 'three men' and plural ''mpànvga bbov'' for 'eight men'.

There is no numeral for 'zero' as null quantities are expressed through the 'negative' grammatical number instead: ''mpànvxoòt'' for 'no men' or 'zero men'.

Numbers from 1 to 10 are expressed as follows:

{| class="wikitable"

! '''Number''' !! '''Tinnemockaar'''

|-

| '''1''' || ''pè''

|-

| '''2''' || ''ccer''

|-

| '''3''' || ''cynə''

|-

| '''4''' || ''pyyr''

|-

| '''5''' || ''zynə''

|-

| '''6''' || ''bbav''

|-

| '''7''' || ''kkuu''

|-

| '''8''' || ''bbov''

|-

| '''9''' || ''hav''

|-

| '''10''' || ''hati''

|}

Multiples of ten are formed by adding the 'tens' digit after ''hati'' as in ''hati ccer'' (ten-two) for 20. The units can then be stated by adding the conjunction ''aa'' (and) and the appropriate digit, as in ''hati hav aa cynə'' (ten-nine and three) for 93. The same pattern applies to larger numbers with ''attè'' for 'hundreds' and ''gumbə'' for 'thousands'. For example, the number 1234 will be given as ''gumbə aa attè ccer aa hati cynə aa pyyr'', literally 'thousand and hundreds-two and tens-three and four'.

==Tinnermockaar script==

Tinnermockaar's native writing system is an alphabet, written horizontally from left to right. The script has some featural elements. Dried palm leaves are its most common writing medium, often being tied together into books.

Most letters are based on incomplete circular outlines formed by a 'bow' which leaves an opening near the bottom of the glyph for letters corresponding to a consonant or near the top for letters for vowels and diphthongs.

Many glyphs come in pairs consisting a 'soft' character where all elements are written within the bow and a 'hard' character where one or more strokes stretch beyond the bow. Paired soft and hard glyphs generally correspond to phonemes with similar articular, such as unvoiced stops and their ejective counterparts or plain vowels and their glottalized counterparts.

===Consonants===

The Tinnermockaar script includes 36 consonant letters, traditionally listed in the following order:

[[File:Tinnermockaar consonants.png|800px|thumb|center|Tinnermockaar consonants]]

As mentioned within the ''Phonology'' section, the Tinnermockaar script retains a number of distinctions that have been lost in the spoken language, resulting in a slightly non-phonetic orthography. Irregularities to keep in mind include:

* The consonant /ts/ (romanized as '''''ts''''') might be written as either ''Ts'' or ''Nts'' depending on the word's etymology.

* Null onsets corresponding to a historical /ɡ/ are written with an initial ''Gg''.

* The glide /j/ is written as ''Gg'' or as ''Ñ'' depending on etymological considerations.

* The consonant /n/ is written as ''N̈'' before back vowels and in all forms of the attributive ''an'', otherwise /n/ is written as ''N''.

* A small number of words have irregular spellings reflecting earlier pronunciations such as the word ''àtte'' (one hundred) retaining an irregularly lost ''h'' and thus being spelled as ''*hàtte''.

===Vowels===

Each non-rhotic vowel or diphthong is represented by one of the following 38 letters, contrasting length and glottalization (or lack thereof):

[[File:Tinnermockaar vowels.png|800px|thumb|center|Tinnermockaar vowels]]

Rhotic vowels are written as their non-rhotic counterparts with a bar below, as seen in the final character of name ''ttỳnaamokkəər'' (Tinnermockaar, the native name of the language) which can be identified as an ''Əə'' character bearing the rhoticity marker above/

[[File:Tinnermockaar in native script.png|thumb|Example: ''ttỳnaamokkəər'' as written in the Tinnermockaar script]]

As shown in the example, Tinnermockaar letters are often written without any space between one another, although exceptions may be made depending on the shape of the intervening letters (as seen above with the ''N'' and the ''Aa''). It is most common for writers not to conjoin letters belonging to separate words, although this rule is by no means universal.

Aside from a few unpredictable irregular spellings (such as the pronoun ''heergà'', 'they', which is spelled as ''heeñiga'') written vowels match pronunciation with one exception: the glottal rhotic vowel /ɜˀɹ̆/ might be written either as ''ə̀r'' (matching its romanization) or as ''v̀r'', reflecting a historical /ʊˀɹ̆/ pronunciation that has since merged with ''ə̀r''.

===Punctuation===

Tinnermockaar punctuation is rather limited when compared to that used in the Latin script and also considerably more flexible in its usage. It includes the following marks:

[[File:Punctuation marks in Tinnermockaar.png|thumb|Punctuation marks in Tinnermockaar]]

{| class="wikitable"

! '''Punctuation''' !! '''Usage'''

|-

| Dot below || Used to separate words. Optional but fairly common. Often omitted after ''an'' (attributive particle/verb) and ''əl'' (possessive particle).

|-

| Two dots || Described intrafictionally as 'marking the end of an idea', this mark is generally used to separate sentences although some authors might omit it between sentences which share a topic.

|-

| Underline || A small underline under the first character of a word is used as an 'emphasis marker' which might be used for any elements that may be considered as particularly 'important' or worthy of deference within a passage. Personal names referring to others are always marked with this punctuation sign as a way to show respect towards them (regardless of whether their role within the text bears much relevance or not). By contrast, the writer's own name (or that of the patron in whose name a scribe composes a text) never bears this marker as doing so could be seen as inappropriately self-aggrandizing. No special considerations are held for marking pronouns, however.

|-

| End of section || This marker replaces the 'two dots' sign at the end of a group of related sentences. Although particulars about its usage might vary from author to author, it could be thought of as a paragraph separator. The 'end of section' mark implies that the text will be continued (possibly on the a different page).

|-

| End of text || Replaces the 'end of section' mark after the final section of a text.

|}

===Numerals in the Tinnermockaar script===

Numbers in written Tinnermockaar are typically expressed through a set of numerals which, much as our own Arabic numerals (0123456789) employ a positional base-10 notation with larger digits written on the left. This means that Arabic numerals might be converted to and from Tinnermockaar simply by replacing the glyphs for each digits.

[[File:Tinnermockaar numerals.png|500px|thumb|center|Tinnermockaar digits]]

==Sample sentences==

The following are four sample sentences to showcase some aspects of Tinnermockaar's morphology and syntax.

{| class="wikitable"

! Sample sentences:

|-

| (1) ''Əmàmańvm mpànv aa nacv.''

|-

| /ɜ.maˀ.ma.ŋʊm mpaˀ.nʊ aː na.tʊ/

|-

| A man and a woman were walking.

|-

|

|-

| (2) ''Kkaahaàmpakəəs jaacceynər nacvvrga-cə mpànvvrga?''

|-

| /kʼaː.haːˀ.mpa.kɜːs̻ ˈjaː.tʼeɪ̯.nɝ na.tʊːɹ̆.ɡ̊a.tɜ mpaˀ.nʊːɹ̆.ɡ̊a/

|-

| Do the women see the men?

|-

|

|-

| (3) ''Xav avńgakanđ càkə̀r an xaalàkka tsidi-ńgeè.''

|-

| /çaʊ̯ aʊ̯.ŋɡa.kan taˀ.kɝˀ an çaː.laˀ.kʼa tsi.d̪̥i.ŋɡeːˀ/

|-

| I didn’t give you the heavy stone.

|-

|

|-

| (4) ''Śə̀r an jaaccàkka əl tsidi ovrkəəs ccəńeynər ddebbeer an đđa-yrbba ttə tsanabà ccer əl haańa.''

|-

| /s̺ɝˀ an jaː.tʼaˀ.kʼa ɜl tsi.di oʊ̯ɹ̆.kɜːs̻ tʼɜ.ŋeɪ̯.nɝ d̪e.beːɹ̆ an da.ɪɹ̆.ba tʼɜ tsa.na.b̥aˀ tʼɝ ɜl haː.ŋa/

|-

| The person you saw is catching the bird that found my two children.

|}

{| class="wikitable"

! Glosses: !! !! !! !! !!

|-

| ''əmà-mańvm'' || ''mpànv'' || ''aa'' || ''nacv'' || ||

|-

| walk || man || and || woman || ||

|-

| || || || || ||

|-

| ''kkaah-aàmpa-kəəs'' || ''jaacc-eynər'' || ''nacv\:r-ga-cə'' || ''mpànv\:r-ga'' || ||

|-

| INT-3p.ANIM>3p.ANIM-TEL.PRS || see-GER || woman\DEF-PL-NOM || man\DEF-PL || ||

|-

| || || || || ||

|-

| ''xav'' || ''avńga-ka-nđ'' || ''càkò\:r '' || ''an'' || ''xaàlàkka'' || ''tsidi-ńgeè''

|-

| NEG || 1s>3s.INAN.DEF-TEL-give || stone\DEF || ATTR.3 || heavy || 2s-BEN

|-

| || || || || ||

|-

| ''śv̀\:r'' || ''an'' || ''jaacc-àkka'' || ''əl'' || ''tsidi'' || ''ovr-kəəs''

|-

| person\DEF || ATTR || see-PTCP.PAS || POS || 2s || 3s.ANIM>3s.INAN.DEF-TEL.PRS

|-

| ''ccəń-eynər'' || ''ddebbeer\:r'' || ''an'' || ''đđa-yrbba'' || ''ttə'' || ''tsana-bà''

|-

| hunt-GER || bird\DEF || ATTR || find-PTCP.ACT || REL.ACC || child-PAU

|-

| ''ccer'' || ''əl'' || ''haańa'' || || ||

|-

| two || POS || 1s || || ||

|}

In Tinnermockaar script:

[[File:Tinnermockaar sample sentences.png|800px|thumb|center|Sample sentences in Tinnermockaar script]]

[[Category:Tinnermockaar]]

[[Category:Languages]]

[[Category:Conlangs]]

[[Category:Scripts]]

@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 * Unvoiced stops are very mildly aspirated.
 * There is some variation in the VOT (voice onset time) for pre-nasalized stops, ''fortis'' might range from moderate aspiration to ''tenuis'' while ''lenis'' might range from almost ''tenuis'' to fully voiced.
-* Pre-nasalized stops in final position might result in the allophonic nasalization of the preceding vowel. For instance, '''''amb''''' /amb/ might be realized as something closer to \[ãb̥\].
+* Pre-nasalized stops in final position might result in the allophonic nasalization of the preceding vowel. For instance, '''''amb''''' /amb/ might be realized as something closer to [ãb̥].
 * The phoneme '''''z''''' /d̥z̥/ is listed under the ''lenis'' prenasalized series since it comes from a historical /ɲɟ/, but its current realization is closer to that of a partially voiced counterpart to '''''ts'''''.
 * A fully voiced /ɡ/ was dropped except before front vowels, where it turns into /j/ instead.
@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 ** Historical pre-nasalized /ɲc/ and /ɲɟ/ first experiences a similar shift, turning briefly into /nts/ and /ndz/ before a second shift turned them into pure affricates, with /nts/ merging with /ts/ while /ndz/ became '''''z''''' /d̥z̥/.
 ** The palatal nasal /ɲ/ turned into /j/. A later change would drop it before front vowels.
-* A single coronal nasal '''''n''''' /n/ seems to have developed from a merger between a historical dental /n̪/ and an alveolar /n/. Orthographic evidence (in the native Tinnermockaar script) suggests that the two sounds might have first adopted a complementary distribution before being outright merged in a generally alveolar \[n\].
+* A single coronal nasal '''''n''''' /n/ seems to have developed from a merger between a historical dental /n̪/ and an alveolar /n/. Orthographic evidence (in the native Tinnermockaar script) suggests that the two sounds might have first adopted a complementary distribution before being outright merged in a generally alveolar [n].
 * It is unclear whether the language ever had a labial fricative (/f/ or /ɸ/), if it did, it must have long dropped or merged with another consonant (likely '''''h''''').
-* The 'dental' fricative '''''s''''' is a laminal /s̻/ while the 'alveolar' '''''ś''''' is an apical /s̺/, with speakers commonly pronounced it as a postalveolar \[ʃ\], especially in word-final position.
+* The 'dental' fricative '''''s''''' is a laminal /s̻/ while the 'alveolar' '''''ś''''' is an apical /s̺/, with speakers commonly pronounced it as a postalveolar [ʃ], especially in word-final position.
-* The 'palatal' fricative '''''x''''' /ç/ often shifts to \[x\] before back vowels.
+* The 'palatal' fricative '''''x''''' /ç/ often shifts to [x] before back vowels.
 * The 'velar' fricative '''''h''''' is realized either as a glottal fricative /h/ or outright dropped (especially between non-high vowels).
-* A glottal stop \[ʔ\] and a rhotic alveolar approximant \[ɹ\] might occur as allophonic pronunciations for glottalized and rhotacized vowels, respectively.
+* A glottal stop [ʔ] and a rhotic alveolar approximant [ɹ] might occur as allophonic pronunciations for glottalized and rhotacized vowels, respectively.
 The native orthography in the Tinnermockaar script still makes some distinctions that are not preserved in the spoken language:
@@ Line 106: / Line 106: @@
 Only a short '''''ə''''' is allowed to be simultaneously rhotacized and glotalized: '''''ə̀r''''' for /ɜˀɹ̆/. Historically, '''''v̀r''''' /ʊˀɹ̆/ was also allowed, although it later merged with '''''ə̀r''''' (the distinction is preserved in the native orthography, though).
-Some speakers (particularly those in the peripheries of the language, in contact with non-native speakers who might struggle with rhoticity and glottalization) might pronounce rhotacized vowels as plain vowels followed by a rhotic such as \[ɹ\] or \[ɾ\] and pronounce glotalized vowels as plain vowels followed by a glottal stop \[ʔ\].
+Some speakers (particularly those in the peripheries of the language, in contact with non-native speakers who might struggle with rhoticity and glottalization) might pronounce rhotacized vowels as plain vowels followed by a rhotic such as [ɹ] or [ɾ] and pronounce glotalized vowels as plain vowels followed by a glottal stop [ʔ].
 ===Phonotactics===
@@ Line 211: / Line 211: @@
 * Inanimate third person plural (3p.INAN) - more than one distinct objects or animals. Not distinguished from 3s.INAN for transitive subjects.
-Further distinctions in number (such as contrasting 1.EXCL as used for singular 'I' or for plural 'we \[me and others\]') might be made by including an overt pronoun (as discussed within the section for nominals) but that is relatively uncommon.
+Further distinctions in number (such as contrasting 1.EXCL as used for singular 'I' or for plural 'we [me and others]') might be made by including an overt pronoun (as discussed within the section for nominals) but that is relatively uncommon.
 Definiteness is contrasted for third person inanimate themes, contrasting sentences such as ''enav̀kàccəń'' ('they hunted it', where the animal that was hunted refers to a known individual) and ''eenəkàccəń'' ('they hunted one', where the animal that was some previously undefined individual).
@@ Line 283: / Line 283: @@
 The '''reciprocal''' or '''mutual''' marker ''-ubbàm'' has a similar usage except that it indicates that individuals within a group do something to each other (but not to themselves). For instance, ''əmàccəńubbàm'' translates to 'they hunted each other'. This would indicate that there were at least two parties, one hunting the other and vice-versa, as opposed to reflexive ''əmàccəńas'' 'they hunted themselves'. Informally, however, it would be relatively common for native Tinnermockaar speakers themselves to use both forms interchangeable, indicating that this distinction is seemingly falling out of use.
-For verbals with a distinct subject and object, the '''passive''' and '''antipassive''' voices allow for one of those arguments to be dropped. '''Passive''' ''-it'' converts a transitive verb into a syntactically intransitive one with the original object as its theme as in ''ookàccəńit'' for 'it was hunted', '\[someone\] hunted it'. Conversely, '''antipassive''' ''-àk'' allows the subject alone to to be marked, also becoming the theme of a syntactically intransitive verb as in ''ikàccəńàk'' for 'they hunted \[something]'.
+For verbals with a distinct subject and object, the '''passive''' and '''antipassive''' voices allow for one of those arguments to be dropped. '''Passive''' ''-it'' converts a transitive verb into a syntactically intransitive one with the original object as its theme as in ''ookàccəńit'' for 'it was hunted', '[someone] hunted it'. Conversely, '''antipassive''' ''-àk'' allows the subject alone to to be marked, also becoming the theme of a syntactically intransitive verb as in ''ikàccəńàk'' for 'they hunted [something]'.
 Verbals corresponding to an ''intransitive'' verb might take the '''causative''' marker ''-eeś'' which turns them into a transitive verb where the subject influences the theme to reach the state normally marked by the intransitive verb. For instance, ''oodeìkvvrm'' 'it was hot' might be used to derive ''enav̀deìkvvrmeeś'', 'they made it hot'. It should be noted, however, that many intransitive verbs have a transitive counterpart that will usually be preferred to a causative form; thus to specify an agent responsible for the state of being hot indicated by ''oodeìkvvrm'' a separate transitive verb, ''enav̀-aakvvr'', 'they heated it'.
@@ Line 312: / Line 312: @@
 See the sections on noun copula and relatives under the ''Syntax'' header for more information.
+===Nominals===
+Tinnermockaar nominals include nouns, certain verb forms such gerunds used in present-tense constructions as well as adverbs, determiners and, arguably, even pronouns. Tinnermockaar's own (intrafictional) tradition would also include conjunctions and prepositions under this category.
+The structure of nominals is not as rigid as that of verbals, but it's often composed of the following elements:
+{| class="wikitable"
+! Component !! Optional / Mandatory !! Default (if not present)
+|-
+| '''Secondary root prefix''' || Optional || -
+|-
+| '''Root''' || Mandatory || -
+|-
+| '''Derivational suffix''' || Mandatory<br>Multiple suffixes may be used || -
+|-
+| '''Definiteness marking''' || Optional || Indefinite
+|-
+| '''Number marking''' || Optional || Singular or collective<br>(depending on the noun)
+|-
+| '''Case marking''' || Optional || Absolutive
+|}
+Nominals are typically consonant-initial (as are most roots, primary or secondary) and are very commonly vowel-final although exceptions to this are not uncommon.
+The citation form of a nominal is the one without definiteness, number and case markers.
+====Derivational suffixes====
+Tinnermockaar nominals require at least one derivational suffix to be added to the primary or secondary root. These suffixes typically hint at the intended meaning of the nominal, although some derivations might be unexpected.
+The language has a wide array of derivational suffixes including:
+* '''-aa''' - a noun denoting an action or an event, as in ''ccəńaa'', 'hunt'.
+* '''-avr''' - groups, as in ''bankumbavr'', 'crowd'.
+* '''-eemə''' - materials, as in ''havpeemə'', 'copper'.
+* '''-eer''' - Animals or plants, as in ''ddebbeer'' for 'bird' (from ''ooddebb'', 'to fly')
+* '''-i''' - an animate actor, as in ''ccəńi'', 'hunter'.
+* '''-ò''' - a patient of a concluded transitive action, as in ''ccəńò'' (game, prey that has been hunted).
+* '''-v''' - a person who is characterized by an intransitive verb as in ''mindv'', 'visitor' (from ''imind'', 'to arrive').
+=====Verb nominals: participles and gerunds=====
+Certain derivational suffixes are used for nominals related to verbs. This includes two forms dubbed 'participles' used in relative clauses (the active participle  ''-yrbba'' and the passive participle ''-àkka'') and a number of gerunds used for present and future tense constructions whose derivational suffixes encode the verb's voice:
+* '''-eynər''' - active voice gerund (also used for reciprocal voice).
+* '''-eeccər''' - passive voice gerund (also used for reflexive voice).
+* '''-aettsər''' - antipassive voice gerund.
+Verbal stems might also form nominals using a gerundive suffix '''''-ae''''' which indicates purpose and which might be required to be used along modal verbs.
+====Definiteness====
+Nominals corresponding to nouns may be made definite by applying the following sound changes on their final vowel:
+* Non-glottalized short vowels are lengthened.
+* The resulting vowel or diphthong is replaced by a 'rhotic counterpart' when one exists, as shown below:
+{| class="wikitable"
+! '''Original''' !! '''Definite''' !! '''Original''' !! '''Definite''' !! '''Original''' !! '''Definite''' !! '''Original''' !! '''Definite'''
+|-
+| ''a'', ''aa'' || '''''əər''''' || ''à'' || '''''ə̀r''''' || ''aà'' || '''''aà''''' || ''ar'', ''aar'' || '''''əər'''''
+|-
+| ''e, ee'' || '''''yyr''''' || ''è'' || '''''è''''' || ''eè'' || '''''eè''''' || ''er'', ''eer'' || '''''eer'''''
+|-
+| ''i, ii'' || '''''ii''''' || - || - || - || - || - || -
+|-
+| ''o, oo'' || '''''vvr''''' || ''ò'' || '''''ə̀r''''' || ''oò'' || '''''oò''''' || ''or'', ''oor'' || '''''oor'''''
+|-
+| ''u, uu'' || '''''uu''''' || - || - || - || - || - || -
+|-
+| ''v, vv'' || '''''vvr''''' || ''v̀'' || '''''ə̀r''''' || ''vv̀'' || '''''vv̀''''' || ''vr, vvr'' || '''''vvr'''''
+|-
+| ''y, yy'' || '''''yyr''''' || ''ỳ'' || '''''ỳ''''' || ''yỳ'' || '''''yỳ''''' || ''yr, yyr'' || '''''yyr'''''
+|-
+| ''ə, əə'' || '''''əər''''' || ''ə̀'' || '''''ə̀r''''' || ''əə̀'' || '''''əə̀''''' || ''ər, əər'' || '''''əər'''''
+|-
+| ''ae'' || '''''aer''''' || ''aè'' || '''''aè''''' || - || - || ''aer'' || '''''aer'''''
+|-
+| ''av'' || '''''avr''''' || ''av̀'' || '''''av̀''''' || - || - || ''avr'' || '''''avr'''''
+|-
+| ''ey'' || '''''yyr''''' || ''eỳ'' || '''''eỳ''''' || - || - || - || -
+|-
+| ''ov'' || '''''vvr''''' || ''ov̀'' || '''''ov̀''''' || - || - || - || -
+|-
+| ''əi'' || '''''əir''''' || ''əì'' || '''''əì''''' || - || - || ''əir'' || '''''əir'''''
+|}
+====Number====
+By default, Tinnermockaar nouns might be either singular (referring to a single object) or collective (referring to a group of non-distinct objects or to an uncountable substance); this is a lexical property that cannot be determined from affixes alone.
+For non-collective nouns (singular by default), three additional grammatical numbers can be formed through suffixes:
+* '''Partitive''' (suffix ''-dər'') - indicates a group of elements drawn from a larger group.
+* '''Paucal''' (suffix ''-bà'') - indicates a small number of elements.
+* '''Plural''' (suffix ''-ga'') - indicates a large number of elements.
+The distinction between paucal and plural is a fuzzy one, groups below 3 or 4 objects will generally be marked as paucal while groups above 5 or 6 will usually be marked as plural but the paucal vs plural distinction might also reflect a contrast with expectations. For instance, if a mythological creature had 4 eyes, those might be referred in plural to highlight the anomaly, while a garrison of 10 soldiers where several dozen would be expected might be referred to in the paucal. The partitive number, on the other hand, does not distinguish whether the number of elements is high or low, it only focuses on the fact that only some of the elements (in an otherwise unstated group) are relevant.
+Plural marking is mandatory, even when a numeral is given.
+Collective nouns, meanwhile, may also take the '''partitive''' suffix (''-dər'') to indicate fraction of the collective or substance, or a '''singulative''' (''-ceèt'' if word final, ''-ceè'' if followed by a case suffix) for indicating a single element drawn from the collective (not applicable to substances).
+Finally, nouns of either type (but more usually non-collective ones) might take a '''negative''' suffix ''xoòt'' (or ''-xoò'' if followed by a case suffix) indicating a null quantity.
+As an example, consider ''ccəńi'' ('hunter'), a countable noun, which might take the following suffixes:
+{| class="wikitable"
+! '''Number''' !! '''Example''' !! '''Translation'''
+|-
+| Singular || ''ccəńi'' || a hunter
+|-
+| Partitive || ''ccəńi'''dər''''' || some of the hunters
+|-
+| Paucal || ''ccəńi'''bà''''' || some hunters
+|-
+| Plural || ''ccəńi'''ga''''' || many hunters
+|-
+| Negative || ''ccəńi'''xoòt''''' || no hunters
+|}
+Meanwhile, collective nouns might be exemplified by ''bankumbavr'' (crowd) and ''havpeemə'' (copper) as follows:
+{| class="wikitable"
+! '''Number''''' !! '''Example 1''' !! '''Translation''' !! '''Example 2''' !! '''Translation'''
+|-
+| Collective || ''bankumbavr'' || a crowd || ''havpeemə'' || (some) copper
+|-
+| Singulative || ''bankumbavr'''ceèt''''' || a person in the crowd || - || -
+|-
+| Partitive || ''bankumbavr'''dər''''' || part of the crowd || ''havpeemə'''dər''''' || part of the copper
+|-
+| Negative || ''bankumbavr'''xoòt''''' || no crowd || ''havpeemə'''xoòt''''' || no copper
+|}
+====Cases====
+Tinnermockaar nouns inflect for three cases: absolutive (unmarked), marked nominative (or 'ergative', suffix ''-cə'') and benefactive (suffix ''-ngeè''). Unlike other suffixes, case markers are separated from the nominal with a hyphen in Latin script orthography, so the benefactive form of ''ccəńi'' will be spelled as ''ccəńi-ngeè'' rather than ''ccəńingeè''.
+The ergative case, which perhaps could be better deemed as 'marked nominative' case, is ''optionally'' required for subjects. Its marker, ''-cə'', is generally found in subjects of transitive verbs although it is often left out for subjects occurring in a fronted position (moved to the beginning of the sentence for emphasis).
+More unusually, the suffix might ''-cə'' may be occasionally found in intransitive subjects for verbs with which also have an oblique argument and in present-tense constructions (where the primary verb gerund could also be considered to act as an oblique argument to the auxiliary).
+Pronouns seldom bear the ''-cə'' marker, regardless of the situation.
+The benefactive case marker, ''-ńgeè'', may be used to indicate an argument other than a subject or theme that benefits or has commanded the action. This case is also used for indirect objects in verbs such as ''eynđ'' ('to give').
+All other roles are expressed with the unmarked absolutive case, possibly in combination with prepositions such as locative ''byr'' ('in').
+====Pronouns====
+Pronouns are used sparingly in Tinnermockaar as they are made largely redundant due to the polypersonal agreement in verbs. They will commonly occur for oblique roles that wouldn't be marked otherwise, though.
+Since Tinnermockaar pronouns work largely in the same way as nouns, they might be inflected for number, allowing for finer distinctions than the ones shown in verb prefixes. For instance, while first person exclusive markers don't distinguish between singular "I, me" and plural "we ~ me and others", the overt pronoun ''haańà'' can specify the argument as singular, while the addition of number-marking suffixes can yield more precise plural meanings such as ''haańàdər'' (only some of us), ''haańàbà'' (me and a few others), ''haańàga'' (me and many others) and ''haańàxoòt'' (none of us). It should be noted, however, that it's usually more idiomatic for a Tinnermockaar speaker to drop pronouns.
+Tinnermockaar personal pronouns are as follows:
+{| class="wikitable"
+!  !! '''Singular''' !! '''(Dual)''' !! '''Paucal''' !! '''Plural''' !! '''Partitive''' !! '''Negative'''
+|-
+| '''First person exclusive'''<br>(me [and others]) || ''haańa'' ||  || ''haańabà'' || ''haańaga'' || ''haańadər'' || ''haańàxoòt''
+|-
+| '''First person inclusive'''<br>(you and me [and others]) ||  || ''hàmyy'' || ''hàmyybà'' || ''hàmyyga'' || ''hàmyydər'' || ''hàmyyxoòt''
+|-
+| '''Second person'''<br>(you [and others]) || ''tsidi'' ||  || ''tsidibà'' || ''tsidiga'' || ''tsididər'' || ''tsidixoòt''
+|-
+| '''Third person animate'''<br>(he/she/they) || ''hee-i'' ||  || ''heerbà'' || ''heerga'' || ''heerdər'' || ''heerxoòt''
+|-
+| '''Third person inanimate'''<br>(it/they) || ''ccy'' ||  || ''ccybà'' || ''ccyga'' || ''ccydər'' || ''ccyxoòt''
+|}
+Number marking is largely regular aside from unmarked 'singular' ''hàmyy'' actually referring to two people ('you and me') and the third person animate pronoun using different roots for singular ''hee-i'' (which doesn't accept any number markings) and plural ''*heer'' (which requires a number marker).
+Other than that, Tinnermockaar pronouns only differ from nouns in that they hardly ever take the 'ergative' ''-cə'' marker.
+==Syntax==
+Tinnermockaar is a somewhat typologically ambiguous language. As intransitive and transitive verbs differ considerably in their paradigm (as far as argument marking is concerned), it is hard to unambiguously classify it as having a nominative-accusative or an ergative-absolutive alignment, morphological clues suggest a tendency towards the latter although it can be noted that what could be interpreted as an ergative case marker might occasionally be used for intransitive subjects, a feature more in line with a nominative-accusative language. While this sort of typologically ambiguity is sometimes found in natural languages, it might not be out of line for one to question the naturalisticness of this conlang.
+===Word order===
+Tinnermockaar has a fairly flexible word order, although sentences default towards verb-initial orders, mainly VSO (verb-subject-object).  This might be altered to place emphasis, with SVO word orders highlighting the subject and VOS (or, more rarely, OVS) word orders highlighting subjects (a practice referred to as 'subject fronting' which usually also involves dropping case makers for this argument). Oblique complements such as adverbial phrases or benefactives are typically found at the end of the sentence, although they might be placed directly after the verb for greater emphasis.
+Arguments can be dropped, although transitive verbs will be marked for both their arguments unless given in a valency-decreasing voice (reflexive, passive, antipassive). An entire sentence might consist of just a verb, with all its arguments being left implicit.
+Verbs might be expressed as a single ''verbal'' (for generic or past-tense statements) or as an auxiliary verbal followed by a ''nominal'' form of the verb (for present or future tense).
+Modifiers, including the equivalent to relative phrases, come after the element they modify.
+===Present and future tense constructions===
+As previously mentioned, by default a Tinnermockaar verb will refer either to an event in the past or to a generic or habitual statement (this two interpretations usually being distinguished by context alone, although time adverbs could be used to lift any resulting ambiguity).
+In order to speak of a specific event taking place in the present, the auxiliary verb '''''iś''''' must be used, followed by a gerund of the intended verb, typically ending in ''-eynər''. The auxiliary takes all the markings related to mood, subject/theme agreement and aspect. Voice marking might involve both the auxiliary and the gerund, as shown in the following table:
+{| class="wikitable"
+! '''Voice''' !! '''Voice marker in the auxiliary''' !! '''Gerund'''
+|-
+| '''Active''' || None (active as default) || Active (''-eynər'')
+|-
+| '''Reflexive''' || Reflexive (''-as'') || Passive (''-eeccər'')
+|-
+| '''Reciprocal''' || Reciprocal (''-ubbàm'') || Active (''-eynər'')
+|-
+| '''Passive''' || None (marked only in the gerund) || Passive (''-eeccər'')
+|-
+| '''Antipassive''' || None (marked only in the gerund) || Antipassive (''-aettsər'')
+|-
+| '''Causative''' || Reciprocal (''-ééś'') || Active (''-eynər'')
+|}
+For instance, ''eenəccəń'' might be interpreted as 'they hunted' or 'they hunt (regularly)'; adverbs such as ''mimbyr'', 'yesterday' or ''kkaè'', 'often' may be given to further specify one of those interpretations. In order to indicate a current event such as 'they ''are'' hunting', the auxiliary verb construction with ''iś'' will be needed, resulting in ''eenəś ccəńeynər'', with ''iś'' displaying the agreement markers for subject and object while the primary verb is found as an active gerund.
+It should be noted that the verb '''''iś''''' is slightly irregular: telic forms are given as ''-kəəs'' instead of the expected ''-kaś''.
+Future tense can be expressed through a similar construction using the auxiliary verb '''''imind''''' (which might also be used on its own as a verb meaning 'to arrive') with the difference that the auxiliary must be marked as having an irrealis mood. For instance, we might find ''indeenəmind ccəńeynər'' for 'they will hunt'.
+It is worth noticing, however, that many usages which might be covered by a future tense in other languages might be expressed using moods in Tinnermockaar, such as the potential mood to indicate an unrealized possibility or the optative to indicate a desired future state.
+===Negatives===
+Tinnermockaar utilizes two negation strategies depending on whether the arguments of the verb are included in the sentence.
+If either the subject or the object of the verb are present in the sentence (aside from being referenced by verbal prefixes), then negation is most commonly marked by using the negative 'number' suffix on the relevant noun. For instance, the negation of ''əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacv'' (the man sees a woman) might be given as any of the following:
+* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr'''xoò'''-cə nacv'' (negating the subject, literally 'No man sees a woman')
+* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacv'''xoòt''''' (negating the object, literally 'The man sees no woman')
+Colloquially, negating both elements (still keeping a negative meaning) is also an option, although this wording might be perceived as non-standard.
+* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr'''xoò'''-cə nacv'''xoòt'''''.
+Since the negative marker ''-xoò(t)'' takes the position of number markers, it might get in the way of expressing certain finer distinctions or imply an unwanted degree of totality in the negation. For instance the wording ''əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacvxoòt'' (~ the man sees no woman) may be taken to imply that that the subject is not seeing any woman so it wouldn't be appropriate to indicate that the man doesn't see ''a'' woman in particular (possibly being able to see others) .
+An alternative method involves using the negative particle ''xav'' which must always precede the primary verb of the sentence - before the verbal if there is no auxiliary and between the auxiliary and the gerund otherwise:
+* ''Əmbaś '''xav''' jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacv'' (negating the verb, literally ''The man doesn't see a woman').
+This second strategy is required for verbs lacking a explicit subject or object. It should be noted that using ''xav'' and avoiding explicit pronouns is by far a more common strategy than using explicit pronouns that might take the ''-xoò(t)'' prefix, although the latter option might be occasionally be used for emphasis:
+* '''''Xav''' ijeekajaacc'' (I didn't see you, most common wording with negation using ''xav'' and implicit pronouns)
+* ''Ijeekajaacc haańà'''xoòt''''' ('''''''I''''' didn't see you, explicit negated first person pronoun for emphasis)
+* ''Ijeekajaacc tsidi'''xoòt''''' (I didn't see '''''you''''', explicit negated first person pronoun for emphasis)
+If both negation strategies are combined (something seldom found), the result is typically interpreted as a '''positive''':
+* ''Əmbaś '''xav''' jaacceynər nacv'''xoòt''' mpànvvr-cə'' (negating the verb and the object, understood as meaning 'No woman isn't seen by the man').
+===Interrogatives===
+Polar questions (those that can be answered in English with 'yes' or 'no) are formed in the same way as declarative sentences other than requiring the interrogative mood prefix ''kkaah-''. To continue with the prior example, the polar question 'Does the man see the woman?' may be translated as '''''Kkaah'''əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə nacv?''.
+Other questions, such as the ones formed in English using the 'wh-words' (like 'who' or 'what') generally do '''not''' require the interrogative prefix ''kkaah-''. Interrogative pronouns like ''đvv'' (what, used for inanimates) and ''đey'' (who, used for animates) behave like regular nominals and, unlike personal pronouns, inflect for case a usual. For instance, we might have:
+* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər '''đey-cə''' nacv?'' (Who sees a woman?)
+* ''Əmbaś jaacceynər mpànvvr-cə '''đey'''?'' (Who does the man see?)
+Tinnermockaar does not have a 'wh-fronting' rule like English requiring interrogative pronouns to be moved to the beginning of the sentence, although Tinnermockaar's flexible word order does allows this order, which comes out as somewhat more emphatic. As usual, the ergative marker ''-cə'' is typically omitted for a fronted subject.
+* '''''Đey''' əmbaś jaacceynər nacv?'' (Who sees a woman?)
+The interrogative mood marker might be combined with an interrogative pronoun in order to make a wh-question about an uncertain event. For instance '''''Kkaah'''əmbaś '''đey-cə''' nacvvr?'' might be translated as 'Does anyone see the woman? If so, who?'. Such combined questions would expect either a negative answer (''Xav əmbaś'' ~ No one does) or the answer to the question word (''Mpànvvr'' ~ the man).
+====Yes/no answers====
+Polar questions are typically answered by repeating the verb (adjusting argument agreement markers if needed) or the auxilliary, preceded by ''xav'' if negative.
+For instance, the expected answers for ''Kkaatsəńỳś jaacceynər?'', 'Do you see me?' will be either ''Ijeeś'' (I do [see you]) or ''Xav ijeeś'' (I do not [see you]).
+===Imperatives===
+Imperatives (sentences given an order to a second person) are formed using an auxiliary verb (''ittsat'', root ''-ttsat'') and gerunds, in a construction not disimilar from those used for expressing the present and future tense.
+Imperatives are generally considered polite for Tinnermockaar speakers, speakers might issue direct commands rather than requiring some workaround construction for politeness like English usually does (compare the blunt sounding ''"Do it!"'' with gentler formulae such as ''"Could you do it?"'' or ''"Would you mind doing it?"'').
+Orders where the second person takes the role of a subject (be it of a transitive or intransitive verb) require the active gerund, as in ''Iìttsat mindeynər'' for 'Come!' or ''Ətsèttsat jaacceynər mpànvvr!'' for 'See the man!'.
+Imperatives where the second person is required to take the role of a transitive direct object are formed in the same way but using the passive gerund. Note, however, that the auxiliary verb will still be conjugated as a transitive verb in this case. For instance, we might have ''Əncettsat jaacceeccər mpànvvr-cə!'' for 'Be seen by the man!', with the auxiliary taking the prefix ''ənce-'' marking it as a transitive verb with a singular third person animate subject and a second person object.
+It should be observed that passive imperatives still represent a command the second person must actively seek to accomplish. The previous example, ''Əncettsat jaacceeccər mpànvvr-cə!'', implies that the listener must to do something to ensure the man sees them, rather than placing responsibility on the man (the latter might indicated instead using a jussive mood construction).
+Antipassive gerunds are required for orders with an antipassive meaning. In this case, the auxiliary verb is conjugated as an intransitive verb and does not require the ''-àk'' marker. For instance, ''Iìttsat ccəńaettsər!'' translates to 'Hunt (something)!'.
+Negative imperatives are formed by preceding the auxiliary verb with the negative particle ''xav'' (rather than placing it between the auxiliary and the main verb as in present/future-tense constructions). Thus, ''Xav iìttsat ccəńaettsər!'' becomes 'Do not hunt!'.
+It is worth remembering that many imperative-like constructions might be formed through verbal mood markers instead, including jussive for indicating a mandatory state (but not one that necessarily requires the second person to take an action towards) and the optative mood for wishes. Compare the following:
+* ''Əncettsat jaacceeccər mpànvvr-cə!'' (using a passive imperative) - 'Be seen by the man!' (orders the speaker to ensure that the other person sees them).
+*  ''Əcaantəncejaacc mpànvvr-cə!'' (using a jussive form of ''əncejaacc'', 'he sees you') - 'The man must see you!' (the requirement is not necessarily the listener's responsibility, pressumably both parties will be required to comply).
+* ''Iìttsat ccəńaettsər!'' - 'Hunt something!' (a command, using an imperative construction).
+* ''Eytiìccəńàk!'' - 'May you hunt something!' (a wish, using the optative voice).
+===Possessives===
+Possession is marked with the particle ''əl'' which is placed between the possession and the possessor as in ''havpeeməərdər əl mpànvvr'' for 'some of the copper (''havpeeməərdər'') of the man (''mpànvvr'')' or 'some of the man's copper'.
+The same pattern might be used alongside pronouns, such as ''əl tsidi'' for 'your(s)'.
+===Noun copula===
+Sentences where a noun is equated with another, such as 'X is Y' are typically expressed using the verbal ''an'', whose highly irregular conjugation was showcased earlier on.
+Although ''an'' acts as a verb in this construction, it might only take mood and person prefixes (no aspect, voice or tense marking). ''An'' constructions are not necessarily taken to be habitual or past-tense as sentences with bare verbal usually are; its interpretation in regards to tense is usually left to context although time adverbs might be added if necessary.
+If ''X'' and ''Y'' are both nouns, the sentence is given as ''an X Y''. For instance, 'the man is a hunter' might be given as ''an mpànvvr ccəńi'' (ATTR man\\DEF hunter) although, depending on the context, the sentence might also be interpreted as 'the man was a hunter' or similar variations.
+Pronouns are usually omitted, being marked instead in the conjugation of ''an''. It should be noted, however, that ''an'', nearly all other Tinnermockaar verbs, fails to distinguish number and animacy in the third person. Even though number is unmarked in the verb, it will be marked on the noun that appears as the remaining argument in the copula, so, for instance, the following sentences with ''ccəńiga'', the plural form of ''ccəńi'' (hunter), will necessarily have a plural interpretation:
+* ''Əńaàn ccəńiga.'' - We (exclusive) are hunters.
+* ''Amyńan ccəńiga.'' - We (inclusive) are hunters.
+* ''Tsaan ccəńiga.'' - You all are hunters.
+* ''An ccəńiga.'' - They are hunters.
+Negatives are formed as usual with the particle ''xav'': as in ''xav əńaàn ccəń'' for 'I am not a hunter'.
+Interrogatives also work as usual, with the interrogative mood prefix ''kkaah-'' being required for polar questions.
+* ''Kkaahan ccəńiga?'' - Were they hunters?
+* ''Tsaan đey?'' - Who are you?
+Imperatives for the copula are rare but they might be formed by using ''ittsat'' (usually an auxiliary) on its own:
+* ''Iìttsat ccańi!'' - Be a hunter!
+===Relative clauses===
+The attributive verbal ''an'' is also used for Tinnermockaar's equivalent to relative clauses, sharing the same limitations such as being unable to state tense and aspect. It should be noted that, should the need arise, these limitations can be circumvented by saying the phrases independently. For instance, English 'The man ''who the woman saw'' is hunting' would generally be expressed through a construction that could be roughly interpreted as 'the ''seen-by-the-woman'' man is hunting', which fails to capture explicitly whether the woman is observing him in the present or whether she saw him in the past; should that distinction prove crucial to the discourse speakers might describe the situation through two separate phrases instead: 'The woman saw the man. / He is hunting.'.
+Relative constructions where the inner sentence is comprised of a copula between nouns are formed simply by following the antecedent with ''an'' and the nominal to which it is equated: ''mpànvvr an ccəńi'' for 'the man who is a hunter' (or 'who was a hunter').
+Otherwise, ''an'' must be followed by a participle. The choice of participle depends on the syntactic role of the antecedent within the relative clause, using active participles (suffix ''-yrbba'') when it appears as a subject or the passive participle (suffix ''-àkka'') when it appears as a direct object (other roles are not supported and require the speaker to use separate clauses instead). Examples include:
+* ''mpànvvr an mindyrbba'' - the man who arrived / who is arriving / who is going to arrive
+* ''mpànvvr an ccəńyrbba'' - the man who hunted / is hunting / is going to hunt
+* ''mpànvvr an ccəńàkka'' - the man who was hunted / is hunted / will be hunted
+Other arguments can be introduced to the relative clause using ''əl'' for a subject (as if it was a possessive) or ''ttə'' for a direct object:
+* ''mpànvvr an ccəńyrbba ttə ahuulə'' - the man who hunted a wolf
+* ''mpànvvr an ccəńàkka əl ahuulə'' - the man who a wolf hunted
+Relative clauses are negated by placing ''xav'' before ''an'': ''mpànvvr xav an mindyrbba'' for 'the man who didn't arrive'.
+====Alternative relative clause construction====
+Modern Tinnermockaar seems to be in the process of developing an alternate construction for relative clauses where the attributive ''an'' is not followed by a participle but by a full verb as in ''mpànvvr an ovrccəń'' for 'the man who hunts it' rather than standard ''mpànvvr an ccəńyrbba'' (~ the hunting man).
+This construction, however, is still perceived as non-standard and is often relegated to informal situations.
+==Numerals==
+Tinnermockaar has a fairly simple base-10 numeration system. Numerals follow the noun to which they apply, which must still bear grammatical number suffixes as usual, as in singular ''mpànv pè'' for 'one man', paucal ''mpànvbà cynə'' for 'three men' and plural ''mpànvga bbov'' for 'eight men'.
+There is no numeral for 'zero' as null quantities are expressed through the 'negative' grammatical number instead: ''mpànvxoòt'' for 'no men' or 'zero men'.
+Numbers from 1 to 10  are expressed as follows:
+{| class="wikitable"
+! '''Number''' !! '''Tinnemockaar'''
+|-
+| '''1''' || ''pè''
+|-
+| '''2''' || ''ccer''
+|-
+| '''3''' || ''cynə''
+|-
+| '''4''' || ''pyyr''
+|-
+| '''5''' || ''zynə''
+|-
+| '''6''' || ''bbav''
+|-
+| '''7''' || ''kkuu''
+|-
+| '''8''' || ''bbov''
+|-
+| '''9''' || ''hav''
+|-
+| '''10''' || ''hati''
+|}
+Multiples of ten are formed by adding the 'tens' digit after ''hati'' as in ''hati ccer'' (ten-two) for 20. The units can then be stated by adding the conjunction ''aa'' (and) and the appropriate digit, as in ''hati hav aa cynə'' (ten-nine and three) for 93. The same pattern applies to larger numbers with ''attè'' for 'hundreds' and ''gumbə'' for 'thousands'. For example, the number 1234 will be given as ''gumbə aa attè ccer aa hati cynə aa pyyr'', literally 'thousand and hundreds-two and tens-three and four'.
+==Tinnermockaar script==
+Tinnermockaar's native writing system is an alphabet, written horizontally from left to right. The script has some featural elements. Dried palm leaves are its most common writing medium, often being tied together into books.
+Most letters are based on incomplete circular outlines formed by a 'bow' which leaves an opening near the bottom of the glyph for letters corresponding to a consonant or near the top for letters for vowels and diphthongs.
+Many glyphs come in pairs consisting a 'soft' character where all elements are written within the bow and a 'hard' character where one or more strokes stretch beyond the bow. Paired soft and hard glyphs generally correspond to phonemes with similar articular, such as unvoiced stops and their ejective counterparts or plain vowels and their glottalized counterparts.
+===Consonants===
+The Tinnermockaar script includes 36 consonant letters, traditionally listed in the following order:
+[[File:Tinnermockaar consonants.png|800px|thumb|center|Tinnermockaar consonants]]
+As mentioned within the ''Phonology'' section, the Tinnermockaar script retains a number of distinctions that have been lost in the spoken language, resulting in a slightly non-phonetic orthography. Irregularities  to keep in mind include:
+* The consonant /ts/ (romanized as '''''ts''''') might be written as either ''Ts'' or ''Nts'' depending on the word's etymology.
+* Null onsets corresponding to a historical /ɡ/ are written with an initial ''Gg''.
+* The glide /j/ is written as ''Gg'' or as ''Ñ'' depending on etymological considerations.
+* The consonant /n/ is written as ''N̈'' before back vowels and in all forms of the attributive ''an'', otherwise /n/ is written as ''N''.
+* A small number of words have irregular spellings reflecting earlier pronunciations such as the word ''àtte'' (one hundred) retaining an irregularly lost ''h'' and thus being spelled as ''*hàtte''.
+===Vowels===
+Each non-rhotic vowel or diphthong is represented by one of the following 38 letters, contrasting length and glottalization (or lack thereof):
+[[File:Tinnermockaar vowels.png|800px|thumb|center|Tinnermockaar vowels]]
+Rhotic vowels are written as their non-rhotic counterparts with a bar below, as seen in the final character of name ''ttỳnaamokkəər'' (Tinnermockaar, the native name of the language) which can be identified as an ''Əə'' character bearing the rhoticity marker above/
+[[File:Tinnermockaar in native script.png|thumb|Example: ''ttỳnaamokkəər'' as written in the Tinnermockaar script]]
+As shown in the example, Tinnermockaar letters are often written without any space between one another, although exceptions may be made depending on the shape of the intervening letters (as seen above with the ''N'' and the ''Aa''). It is most common for writers not to conjoin letters belonging to separate words, although this rule is by no means universal.
+Aside from a few unpredictable irregular spellings (such as the pronoun ''heergà'', 'they', which is spelled as ''heeñiga'') written vowels match pronunciation with one exception: the glottal rhotic vowel /ɜˀɹ̆/ might be written either as ''ə̀r'' (matching its romanization) or as ''v̀r'', reflecting a historical /ʊˀɹ̆/ pronunciation that has since merged with ''ə̀r''.
+===Punctuation===
+Tinnermockaar punctuation is rather limited when compared to that used in the Latin script and also considerably more flexible in its usage. It includes the following marks:
+[[File:Punctuation marks in Tinnermockaar.png|thumb|Punctuation marks in Tinnermockaar]]
+{| class="wikitable"
+! '''Punctuation''' !! '''Usage'''
+|-
+| Dot below || Used to separate words. Optional but fairly common.<br><br>Often omitted after ''an'' (attributive particle/verb) and ''əl'' (possessive particle).
+|-
+| Two dots || Described intrafictionally as 'marking the end of an idea', this mark is generally used to separate sentences although some authors might omit it between sentences which share a topic.
+|-
+| Underline || A small underline under the first character of a word is used as an 'emphasis marker' which might be used for any elements that may be considered as particularly 'important' or worthy of deference within a passage.<br><br>Personal names referring to others are always marked with this punctuation sign as a way to show respect towards them (regardless of whether their role within the text bears much relevance or not).<br><br>By contrast, the writer's own name (or that of the patron in whose name a scribe composes a text) never bears this marker as doing so could be seen as inappropriately self-aggrandizing.<br><br>No special considerations are held for marking pronouns, however.
+|-
+| End of section || This marker replaces the 'two dots' sign at the end of a group of related sentences. Although particulars about its usage might vary from author to author, it could be thought of as a paragraph separator.<br><br>The 'end of section' mark implies that the text will be continued (possibly on the a different page).
+|-
+| End of text || Replaces the 'end of section' mark after the final section of a text.
+|}
+===Numerals in the Tinnermockaar script===
+Numbers in written Tinnermockaar are typically expressed through a set of numerals which, much as our own Arabic numerals (0123456789) employ a positional base-10 notation with larger digits written on the left. This means that Arabic numerals might be converted to and from Tinnermockaar simply by replacing the glyphs for each digits.
+[[File:Tinnermockaar numerals.png|500px|thumb|center|Tinnermockaar digits]]
+==Sample sentences==
+The following are four sample sentences to showcase some aspects of Tinnermockaar's morphology and syntax.
+{| class="wikitable"
+! Sample sentences:
+|-
+| (1) ''Əmàmańvm mpànv aa nacv.''
+|-
+| /ɜ.maˀ.ma.ŋʊm mpaˀ.nʊ aː na.tʊ/
+|-
+| A man and a woman were walking.
+|-
+|
+|-
+| (2) ''Kkaahaàmpakəəs jaacceynər nacvvrga-cə mpànvvrga?''
+|-
+| /kʼaː.haːˀ.mpa.kɜːs̻ ˈjaː.tʼeɪ̯.nɝ na.tʊːɹ̆.ɡ̊a.tɜ mpaˀ.nʊːɹ̆.ɡ̊a/
+|-
+| Do the women see the men?
+|-
+|
+|-
+| (3) ''Xav avńgakanđ càkə̀r an xaalàkka tsidi-ńgeè.''
+|-
+| /çaʊ̯ aʊ̯.ŋɡa.kan taˀ.kɝˀ an çaː.laˀ.kʼa tsi.d̪̥i.ŋɡeːˀ/
+|-
+| I didn’t give you the heavy stone.
+|-
+|
+|-
+| (4) ''Śə̀r an jaaccàkka əl tsidi ovrkəəs ccəńeynər ddebbeer an đđa-yrbba ttə tsanabà ccer əl haańa.''
+|-
+| /s̺ɝˀ an jaː.tʼaˀ.kʼa ɜl tsi.di oʊ̯ɹ̆.kɜːs̻ tʼɜ.ŋeɪ̯.nɝ d̪e.beːɹ̆ an da.ɪɹ̆.ba tʼɜ tsa.na.b̥aˀ tʼɝ ɜl haː.ŋa/
+|-
+| The person you saw is catching the bird that found my two children.
+|}
+{| class="wikitable"
+! Glosses: !!  !!  !!  !!  !!
+|-
+| ''əmà-mańvm'' || ''mpànv'' || ''aa'' || ''nacv'' ||  ||
+|-
+| walk || man || and || woman ||  ||
+|-
+|  ||  ||  ||  ||  ||
+|-
+| ''kkaah-aàmpa-kəəs'' || ''jaacc-eynər'' || ''nacv\:r-ga-cə'' || ''mpànv\:r-ga'' ||  ||
+|-
+| INT-3p.ANIM>3p.ANIM-TEL.PRS || see-GER || woman\DEF-PL-NOM || man\DEF-PL ||  ||
+|-
+|  ||  ||  ||  ||  ||
+|-
+| ''xav'' || ''avńga-ka-nđ'' || ''càkò\:r '' || ''an'' || ''xaàlàkka'' || ''tsidi-ńgeè''
+|-
+| NEG || 1s>3s.INAN.DEF-TEL-give || stone\DEF || ATTR.3 || heavy || 2s-BEN
+|-
+|  ||  ||  ||  ||  ||
+|-
+| ''śv̀\:r'' || ''an'' || ''jaacc-àkka'' || ''əl'' || ''tsidi'' || ''ovr-kəəs''
+|-
+| person\DEF || ATTR || see-PTCP.PAS || POS || 2s || 3s.ANIM>3s.INAN.DEF-TEL.PRS
+|-
+| ''ccəń-eynər'' || ''ddebbeer\:r'' || ''an'' || ''đđa-yrbba'' || ''ttə'' || ''tsana-bà''
+|-
+| hunt-GER || bird\DEF || ATTR || find-PTCP.ACT || REL.ACC || child-PAU
+|-
+| ''ccer'' || ''əl'' || ''haańa'' ||  ||  ||
+|-
+| two || POS || 1s ||  ||  ||
+|}
+In Tinnermockaar script:
+[[File:Tinnermockaar sample sentences.png|800px|thumb|center|Sample sentences in Tinnermockaar script]]
 [[Category:Tinnermockaar]]
 [[Category:Languages]]
 [[Category:Conlangs]]
+[[Category:Scripts]]