TolsianR

Background

Tolsian Revisited is an attempt at revamping much of that old conlang created something like 15 years ago by a child so that it becomes a slightly more consistent language. It is somewhat influenced by French and Latin but still an a priori conlang. It has its own alphabet which was actually created before the language itself.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial		Labio-dental		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Nasal		m				n						ɲ		ŋ
Plosive		pʰ p b				tʰ t d								kʰ k g
Fricative		ɸ β		f v		θ ð		s z		ʃ ʒ				x ɣ		χ ʁ		h
Approximant												j		w
Trill																ʀ
Flap						ɾ
Lateral approx.						l
Prenasalised occlusives		ᵐb				ⁿd								ᵑg

Vowels

		Front		Central		Back
Close		i y				u
Close-mid		e ø				o
Open-mid		ɛ				ɔ
Open				ä

There are also three nasalized vowels : ɑ̃, ɛ̃, ɔ̃.

Orthography

Tolsian has its own script and an official, perfectly matching romanization. The alphabet is considered to consist of 36 letters, plus diacritics :

Y y - /jo/, /oj/
Æ æ ; Æ̊ æ̊ - /aj/ ; /ja/
A a - /a/
B b - /b/
Q q - /ʃ/
D d - /d/
E e ; Ê ê ; Ě ě - /e/ ; /ɛ/ ; /ø/
G g ; G̊ g̊ ; Ñ ñ - /g/ ; /ᵑg/ ; /ɲ/
H h - /h/
I i - /i/
Ƶ ƶ ; Ƶ̆ ƶ̆ - /ð/ ; /ʒ/
K k - /k/
L l - /l/
M m - /m/
N n - /n/
O o ; Œ œ - /o/, /ɔ/ ; /o/
P p ; Ƥ ƥ - /p/ ; /ɸ/
R r - /ʁ/
C c ; S s - /s/ ; /θ/
T t ; Ŧ ŧ - /t/ ; /tʰ/, /t̚/
U u - /y/
V v ; F f - /v/ ; /f/
Ƿ ƿ - /wi/
Z z - /z/
Ɯ ɯ ; Ɯ̂ ɯ̂ ; Ɯ̌ ɯ̌ - /ɑ̃/ ; /ɛ̃/ ; /ɔ̃/
W w - /u/
X x (ou Ħ ħ) - /χ/
Ƃ ƃ - /bɾa/
Ŋ ŋ - /ŋ/
Ɋ ɋ - /h̪/
Ƀ ƀ - /β/

Tolsian orthography is fairly transparent though there is not always a one to one correspondance between graphemes and phonemes. Some phonemes are not represented in the alphabet above :

/pʰ/ and /kʰ/ are written <ph> and <kh>, respectively
/x/ and /ɣ/ are written <xͪ> and <gͪ>, respectively
/ɾ/ is written <rͪl>
/ʀ/ is written <r̊> (sometimes in old texts, <r̈>)
/j/ is written with the vowel i and the "link", a special diacritic ; for instance, /je/ is written <i͠e>, while /ej/ is written <e͠i>. The grapheme <i͠i> corresponds to /ji/ while /ij/ would be written <i͠ĭ>
/w/ is written in a similar fashion as the other semi-vowel, but with vowels o and u : /wa/ can be written <o͠a> or <u͠a>, /aw/ can be written <a͠o> or <a͠u>. Actually, it is perhaps best described as a non-syllabic [o̯], with a consonant status in the system.
/ɔ/ is written <ò> when there is no coda

The grapheme <y> is ambiguous as there is no way to determine if it corresponds to /jo/ or /oj/. The grapheme <o> also corresponds to two different phonemes, but it is conditioned by its place in the syllable : if there is a consonant coda, it is /ɔ/, if not, then it is /o/, while <œ> is always /o/. But /ɔ/ can also appear without a consonant after ; then, it is written <ò>.

The apostrophe is very rarely used except with articles where it signals the elision of the vowel of the singular feminine articles.

However, another Latin transliteration has been designed so as to be more phonemic and easier to write on a computer, and is getting more and more popular :

Grammar

Morphology

There are five main parts of speech in TolsianR : nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions.

Nouns

Nouns have definiteness, gender, number, and case. The case system is actually very reduced, with only three cases : nominative, accusative, and genitive. Definiteness is marked by definite and indefinite articles which agree in gender and number with the nouns. There are two numbers, singular and plural. Finally, the gender system is fairly complicated, as it consists of two dimensions interacting : masculine vs feminine on the one hand and animate vs inanimate on the other. However, different parts of speech agree with these two gender systems : articles and adjectives will take masculine or feminine markings, while verbs are conjugated differently depending upon whether the nouns is animate or inanimate. Nouns themselves are marked for gender, and for animatedness when in the accusative or dative case. Also, when an adjective qualifies several nouns which are not all masculine or feminine, they take a neutral plural suffix ; but beyond those special cases, neutral has disappeared from TolsianR.

Definiteness

There are definite and indefinite articles, agreeing in gender and number with the nouns they modify.

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular Masculine	êl (ê before a consonant)	one (on before a vowel)
Singular Feminine	la (la' [l] before a vowel)	ona (ona' [on] before a vowel)
Plural Masculine	lec (lecͪ [le] before a consonant)	onec (onecͪ [one] before a consonant), dalec (dalecͪ) (neutral)
Plural Feminine	lec (lecͪ [le] before a consonant)	onac (onacͪ [ona] before a consonant), dalec (dalecͪ) (neutral)

Gender

On many nouns ending in a vowel, gender is identifiable as -e and -o are masculine markers, while -a is a feminine marker. But nouns ending with a consonant don't provide such cues. Animatedness is marked in the accusative case as the prefix will be ke- (or k- before a vowel) in the case of an inanimate noun, and dake- (or dak- before a vowel) in the case of an animate noun ; and in the genitive case, with a suffix -o for inanimate nouns (transformed into /w/ after a vowel) and -do for animate nouns (see section on cases for more details). Also, "natural" gender is usually reflected in the grammatical gender (nous which refer to male beings usually are masculine, and vice-versa) ; and "natural" animatedness is usually reflected in grammatical animatedness as well : people, animals and, it is worth noticing, plants, are usually animate, while objects, concepts etc are usually inanimate.

Articles and adjectives agree in gender with nouns depending on their being masculine or feminine, while verbs have a different conjugation depending on the animate vs inanimate opposition, and the accusative and genitive markers differ as well. In the plural there is a neutral form if masculine and feminine nouns are under the scope of the same modifier ; in adjectives, the vowel associated with neutral is -i. If a verb has a complex subject comprised of animate and inanimate nouns, most usually the animate conjugation will be used.

Number

Nouns can be singular or plural and articles, adjectives and verbs agree in number with the noun (or the subject in the case of the verb). Singular is unmarked, while plural is marked only after vowels, with the prefix /-s/, written <-c>. In the written register, it is also indicated after consonants by <-c>.

Case

Nominative is unmarked, and corresponds to the functions of subject, attribute of the subject, but also other functions which are not covered by accusative and dative cases. Accusative corresponds to the function of direct object of a verb and is marked with a prefix which is different depending on the animatedness status of the noun : the prefix will be ke- (or k- before a vowel) in the case of an inanimate noun, and dake- (or dak- before a vowel) in the case of an animate noun. Genitive corresponds to the "possessor" of something and is marked with a suffix -o for inanimate nouns (transformed into /w/ after a vowel) and -do for animate nouns, although if the stem ends in a consonant diverse morphophonological changes take place depending on that consonant : aspirated plosives lose their aspiration ; voiceless obstruents become voiced ; the palatal nasal gets partially assimilated and turns into n ; the voiced velar fricative gets partially assimilated and turns into the plosive g (its distribution being limited to V_V contexts) ; prenasalised occlusives get totally nasalised (their distribution being limited to _V contexts) ; the bilabial fricative becomes a labio-velar approximan [w] ; and there's gemination with the dental occlusives : [dd]. Those changes are usually not reflected in the orthography.

Verbs

There are two main classes of verbs : (A) those whose stem ends in a vowel, and (B) those whose stem ends in a consonant. Verbs ending with an -a or an -i usually just take an -r to form the infinitive, while the other ones usually take a -ƃ /bɾa/. Verbs agree in person, animatedness and number with their subject. There are formally seven persons in TolsianR : first singular, second singular, third singular, first plural, second plural, third plural, and the "polite" second person used in formal contexts for which number is neutralized.

Tense

TolsianR's tense system is divided into past, present, and future, which are encoded in the conjugation of the verbs in the indicative mode.

Grammatical Aspect

A distinction between perfective and imperfective aspects is marked morphologically in the past tense, while other aspectualities, such as progressive and perfect, are marked with auxiliaries : progressive with the auxiliary cƿƃ "to be" and the present participle, and perfect with the auxiliary vuƃ "to have" and the past participle.

Some aspectual values of the different morphological verb forms :

Indicative present : neutral, habitual
Indicative Imperfect Past : habitual, continuous
Indicative Perfect Past : perfective
Indicative Future : neutral, habitual, inchoative (usually followed by "now" or something indicating it's going to happen very soon)
Conditional, Subjunctive : neutral, habitual. Also, they express a present tense by default.
Absolute : gnomic

Grammatical Mood

Realis

Indicative and so-called Absolutive are the two realis moods of TolsianR. Indicative is used to express statements or facts, and also other modalities not expressed with other moods. Absolutive is traditionally treated as a mood in TolsianR because of its specific grammatical markings, but better corresponds semantically to the gnomic aspect. It can also be used to express a higher degree of certainty than indicative, or to express emphasis.

Irrealis

The two other moods of TolsianR are subjunctive and conditional. Subjunctive is used for instance in dependent clause whose main clause's verb expresses an opinion, an inference, a belief (verbs such as "to think", "to believe", "to consider", etc), a desire or a wish ("to want", "to hope"). It is also used to express commands, interdictions and requests, as there is no distinct imperative mood in the language. Conditional is used to speak of events whose realization depends on a certain condition ; then, it is used in both the main and the dependent clauses.

Polarity

The default polarity is positive : something is asserted. In order to express negation, the negative adverb ne is placed right before the verb. If a subject pronoun is used, it is inserted between the negative adverb and the verb.

Examples : æ̊ cƿ "I am" ; ne æ̊ cƿ "I am not".

Conjugation

Verbs are inflected for person, mood, tense, and animatedness. There are four moods : indicative, subjunctive, conditional, and so-called "absolute" (gnomic). The indicative mood splits into four tenses : present, imperfect past, perfect past, and future. There are also a present partitive and a past partitive, especially used for progressive aspect and passive voice, respectively.

	Class A Animate Gender	Class A Inanimate Gender
Indicative Present	stemV-∅ ; stemV-s ; stemV-t ; stemV-m ; stemV-ts ; stemV-n ; stemV-ne	stem-jV ; stem-jVs ; stem-jVt ; stem-jVm ; stem-jVts ; stem-jVn ; stemV-je
Indic. Imperfect Past	stem-(i)tV ; stem-(i)tVs ; stem-(i)tVt ; stem-(i)tVmo ; stem-(i)tVts ; stem-(i)tVn ; stem-(i)tVne	stem-(i)tʃV ; stem-(i)tʃVs ; stem-(i)tʃVt ; stem-(i)tʃVmo ; stem-(i)tʃVts ; stem-(i)tʃVn ; stem-(i)tVje
Indic. Perfect Past	stem-(i)fV ; stem-(i)fVs ; stem-(i)fVt ; stem-(i)fVmo ; stem-(i)fVti ; stem-(i)fVn ; stem-(i)fVne	stem-(i)fjV ; stem-(i)fjVs ; stem-(i)fjVt ; stem-(i)fjVmo ; stem-(i)fjVti ; stem-(i)fjVn ; stem-(i)fVje
Indicative Future	stem-(i)rV ; stem-(i)rVs ; stem-(i)rVt ; stem-(i)rVmo ; stem-(i)rVti ; stem-(i)rVn ; stem-(i)rVne	stem-(i)rjV ; stem-(i)rjVs ; stem-(i)rjVt ; stem-(i)rjVmo ; stem-(i)rjVti ; stem-(i)rjVn ; stem-(i)rVje
Subjunctive	stemV-ko ; stemV-kos ; stemV-kot ; stemV-komus ; stemV-kotis ; stemV-kona ; stemV-ke	stemV-kjo ; stemV-kjos ; stemV-kjot ; stemV-kjomus ; stemV-kjotis ; stemV-kjona ; stemV-kje
Conditional	stemV-no ; stemV-nos ; stemV-not ; stemV-nomus ; stemV-notis ; stemV-nona ; stemV-ne	stemV-jo ; stemV-jos ; stemV-jot ; stemV-jomus ; stemV-jotis ; stemV-jona ; stemV-je
Absolute (Gnomic)	stemV-jo ; stemV-jos ; stemV-jot ; stemV-jof ; stemV-joz ; stemV-jon ; stemV-je	stemV-joh ; stemV-joθ ; stemV-jot̚ ; stemV-joɸ ; stemV-joʒ ; stemV-jowi ; stemV-joð ; stemV-joː

In this table, the endings correspond, respectively, to 1SG, 2SG, 3SG, 1PL, 2PL, 3PL, and 2FORMAL persons. "Stem" represents the stem of the verb minus its final vowel, as the diverse verbal categories markers can be inserted between the final vowel and the rest of the verb root. The final vowel is represented by the letter "V". The verbal declensions are given in phonological form ; indeed, orthography is not entirely transparent here, which can be most appreciated with the [tʃ] of the inanimate imperfect past which results from affrication of /t/ before /j/. The "(i)" is an epenthetic i sometimes inserted to break some consonant clusters (rules not perfectly described yet). Let's illustrate this table with a Class A verb, barinir, "to want" :

Present Animate : barini, barinic, barinit, barinim, barinitc, barinin, barinine
Present Inanimate : bariñi, bariñic, bariñit, bariñim, bariñitc, bariñin, barinije (here there is also a palatalization of /n/ that has become a /ɲ/)
Imperfect Animate : barinti, barintic, barintit, barintimo, barintitc, barintin, barintine
Imperfect Inanimate : barinti͠i, barinti͠ic, barinti͠it, barinti͠imo, barinti͠itc, barinti͠in, barintije
Perfect Animate : barinifi ; barinific ; barinifit ; barinifimo ; barinifiti ; barinifin ; barinifine
Perfect Inanimate : barinifi͠i, barinifi͠ic, barinifi͠it, barinifi͠imo, barinifi͠iti, barinifi͠in, barinifije
Future Animate : barinri, barinric, barinrit, barinrimo, barinriti, barinrin, barinrine
Future Inanimate : bariniri͠i, bariniri͠ic, bariniri͠it, bariniri͠imo, bariniri͠iti, bariniri͠in, barinrije
Subjunctive Animate : bariniko, barinikoc, barinikot, barinikomuc, barinikotic, barinikona, barinike
Subjunctive Inanimate : bariniky, barinikyc, barinikyt, barinikymuc, barinikytic, barinikyna, bariniki͠e
Conditional Animate : barinino, barininoc, barininot, barininomuc, barininotic, barininona, barinine
Conditional Inanimate : bariniy (or barinii͠o), bariniyc (barinii͠oc), bariniyt (barinii͠ot), bariniymuc, bariniytic, bariniyna, barinii͠e
Absolute Animate : bariniy, bariniyc, bariniyt, bariniyf, bariniyz, bariniyn, barinii͠e
Absolute Inanimate : bariniyh, bariniys, bariniyŧ, bariniyƥ, bariniyƶ̆, bariniyƿ, bariniyƶ, bariniyœ

But it is debated whether orthography should reflect better the palatalization and some write : barintqi, barintqic, barintqit, barintqimo, barintqitc, barintqin.

	Class B Animate Gender	Class B Inanimate Gender
Indicative Present	stem-a ; stem-as ; stem-at ; stem-im ; stem-its ; stem-an ; stem-ine or stem-e	stem-ja ; stem-jas ; stem-jat ; stem-jim ; stem-jits ; stem-jan ; stem-jine or stem-je
Indicative Imperfect Past	stem-ita ; stem-itas ; stem-itat ; stem-itʃmo ; stem-itʃi ; stem-itan ; stem-itʃne or stem-ite	stem-itʃa ; stem-itʃas ; stem-itʃat ; stem-itʃimo ; stem-itʃits ; stem-itʃan ; stem-itʃe
Indicative Perfect Past	stem-ifa ; stem-ifas ; stem-ifat ; stem-ifimo ; stem-ifits ; stem-ifan ; stem-ifine or stem-ife	stem-ifja ; stem-ifjas ; stem-ifjat ; stem-ifjimo ; stem-ifjits ; stem-ifjan ; stem-ifje
Indicative Future	stem-ira ; stem-iras ; stem-irat ; stem-irimo ; stem-irits ; stem-iran ; stem-irine or stem-ire	stem-irja ; stem-irjas ; stem-irjat ; stem-irjimo ; stem-irjits ; stem-irjan ; stem-irje
Subjunctive	stem-iko ; stem-ikos ; stem-ikot ; stem-ikomus ; stem-ikotis ; stem-ikona ; stem-ike	stem-ikjo ; stem-ikjos ; stem-ikjot ; stem-ikjomus ; stem-ikjots ; stem-ikjona ; stem-ikje
Conditional	stem-o ; stem-os ; stem-ot ; stem-omus ; stem-otis ; stem-ona ; stem-e	stem-jo ; stem-jos ; stem-jot ; stem-jomus ; stem-jotis ; stem-jona ; stem-je
Absolute (Gnomic)	stem-jo ; stem-jos ; stem-jot ; stem-jof ; stem-joz ; stem-jon ; stem-je	stem-joh ; stem-joθ ; stem-jot̚ ; stem-joɸ ; stem-joʒ ; stem-jowi ; stem-joð ; stem-joː

Let's illustrate this table with the Class B verb vekƃ, "to help" :

Present Animate : veka, vekac, vekat, vekim, vekitc, vekan, vekine / veke
Present Inanimate : vekæ̊, vekæ̊c, vekæ̊t, veki͠im, veki͠itc, vekæ̊n, veki͠ine / veki͠e
Imperfect Animate : vekita, vekitac, vekitat, vekitimo, vekititi, vekitan, vekitine / vekite
Imperfect Inanimate : vekitæ̊, vekitæ̊c, vekitæ̊t, vekiti͠imo, vekiti͠itc, vekitæ̊n, vekiti͠e
Perfect Animate : vekifa, vekifac, vekifat, vekifimo, vekifitc, vekifan, vekifine / vekife
Perfect Inanimate : vekifæ̊, vekifæ̊c, vekifæ̊t, vekifi͠imo, vekifi͠itc, vekifæ̊n, vekifi͠e
Future Animate : vekira, vekirac, vekirat, vekirimo, vekiritc, vekiran, vekirine / vekire
Future Inanimate : vekiræ̊, vekiræ̊c, vekiræ̊t, vekiri͠imo, vekiri͠itc, vekiræ̊n, vekiri͠e
Subjunctive Animate : vekho (< vekiko), vekhoc (< vekikoc), vekhot (< vekikot), vekhomuc (< vekikomuc), vekotic (< vekikotic), vekhona (< vekikona), vekhe (< vekike) (with class B verbs ending in -k, we have /kʰ/ instead of expected/kik/)
Subjunctive Inanimate : vekhy (< vekiky), vekhyc (< vekikyc), vekhyt (< vekikyt), vekhymuc (< vekikymuc), vekhytc (< vekikytc), vekhyna (< vekikyna), vekhi͠e (vekiki͠e)
Conditional Animate : veko, vekoc, vekot, vekomuc, vekotic, vekona, veke
Conditional Inanimate : veky (or veki͠o), vekyc (veki͠oc), vekyt (veki͠ot), vekymuc, vekytic, vekyna, veki͠e
Absolute Animate : veky, vekyc, vekyt, vekyf, vekyz, vekyn, veki͠e
Absolute Inanimate : vekyh, vekys, vekyŧ, vekyƥ, vekyƶ̆, vekyƿ, vekyƶ, vekyœ

Some write instead : vekitqmo, vekitqi , vekitqne (imperfect animate), vekitqa, vekitqac, vekitqat, vekitqimo, vekitqitc, vekitqan, vekitqe (imperfect inanimate).

Participles

Verbs have present and past participles :

	Class A - Animate	Class A - Inanimate	Class B - Animate	Class B - Inanimate
Present Participle	stemV-tɑ̃	stemV-taɲ	stem-ɑ̃	stem-aɲ
Past Participle	stemV-d	stemV-ʒ	stem-id	stem-iʒ

Illustration : barinitɯ, barinitañ, barinid, bariniƶ̆ ; vekɯ, vekañ, vekid, vekiƶ̆.

Adjectives

Adjectives agree in number and gender (masculine/feminine) with the noun they qualify. They're usually derived from nouns, but sometimes from verbs as well. Adjectives derived from nouns take on the suffix -el(c), -al(c), -ilc (/el/, /al/, /il/ ; masculine (masculine plural), feminine (feminine plural) and neuter plural, respectively) if the noun stem ends in a consonant ; or the suffix -le(c), -la(c), -lic (/le(s)/, /la(s)/, /lis/) if it ends in a vowel. As for adjectives derived from verbs, they're usually past participle with added suffixes for gender and number : -e(c), -a(c), -i(c). The neutral only exist in the plural form nowadays and is used when an adjective qualifies several nouns of diverging gender. Adjectives are usually placed after the noun they qualify.

Adverbs

Adverbs are invariable and are usually formed from the old singular neutral form of an adjective by adding the suffix -ƿn /win/. Thus, an adjective derived from a noun will yield such adverbs as stemV-liƿn or stem-ilƿn, depending on the stem ending with a vowel or a consonant, and an adjective derived from a past participle will yield such adverbs as stemV-dƿn, stemV-ƶ̆ƿn, stem-idƿn or stem-iƶ̆ƿn. Adverbs are usually placed directly after the word (verb or adjective) they modify.

Prepositions

To express many spatial or temporal relations and mark some diverse semantic roles, TolsianR relies on several function words which are placed before their complement and are thus prepositions. Here is a non-exhaustive list of prepositions :

Syntax

Declarative Sentences

Word order in simple declarative sentences can be SVO or SOV. It is thought SVO order is used to highlight the object more, while SOV would emphasize the process instead. Anyway, the important point is that the verb be placed after its subject in the sentence. In complex sentences with a main sentence and a dependent sentence, the order of the constituents is Subject - Verb- Dependent sentence. I suck at syntax. Inside the dependent sentence, the word order can be SOV or SVO as well, but is also commonly OSV.

Questions

In yes-no questions, the order can be VSO or OVS ; there is an inversion between subject and verb. In open questions ("wh-questions"), an interrogative pronoun is used and placed before the verb and the subject : Pronoun - Verb - Subject. If the question is precisely about the subject, then the order is Verb - Pronoun (like in "Says who ?").