TolsienO
Introduction
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||||||||||||||
| Plosive | p b | t̚ tʰ t d | k g | ||||||||||||||||
| Fricative | ɸ β | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ ʒ ɧ̙ʷ | χ ʁ | h | ||||||||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||||||||||||||
| Flap | (ɾ) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Lateral approx. | l | ||||||||||||||||||
| Prenasalized occlusive | (ᵑg) |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i y | u | |||||
| Close-mid | e (ø) | o | |||||
| Open-mid | (ɛ) (œ) ɛ̃ | ɔ ɔ̃ | |||||
| Open | ä | ɑ̃ |
Notes :
It is very likely that some phonemes or graphemes that do not appear explicitly in the associated documentation were nonetheless meant to be included. These would be :
The phoneme /ɛ/, which is not mentioned explicitly but is probably the reason the grapheme <Ê ê> appears in the alphabet.
The phoneme /ø/ or /œ/ is also not mentioned explicitly, and there is no grapheme either, but the presence of a ";" shows that it was probably meant to be included. However, this is only very indirect evidence.
In a similar way, there is reason to believe that the phoneme /ɲ/ is included, and corresponds to the explicitly mentioned grapheme <Ñ ñ> ; meanwhile, the phoneme /ᵑg/ is only evidenced by a ";".
The flap /ɾ/ is indirectly mentioned by its inclusion in the syllable /bɾa/ corresponding to the grapheme <Ƃ ƃ>.
Some IPA symbols used in the original description are most likely to be erroneous :
The phoneme /χ/ is probably what was meant by /ħ/ ;
The notation /ɧ̙ʷ/ is the most recent agreed upon description of a phoneme that probably corresponds to what was described as /h̪/ in the original documentation.
Orthography
Alphabet
Y y /jo/ or /ɔj/
Æ æ /aj/ ; Æ̊ æ̊ /ja/
A a /a/
B b /b/
Q q /ʃ/
D d /d/
E e /e/ ; Ê ê /ɛ/ (E, e ; Ê, ê ;)
G g /g/ ; Ñ ñ /ɲ/ (G, g ; ; Ñ, ñ)
H h /h/
I i /i/
Ƶ ƶ /ð/ ; Ƶ̆ ƶ̆ /ʒ/
K k /k/
L l /l/
M m /m/
N n /n/
O o /o/ or /ɔ/ ; Œ œ /o/
P p /p/ ; Ƥ ƥ /ɸ/
R r /ʁ/
C c /s/ ; S s /θ/
T t /t/ ; Ŧ ŧ /t̚/ or /tʰ/ or /t/
U u /y/
V v /v/ ; F f /f/
Ƿ ƿ /wi/
Z z /z/
Ɯ ɯ /ɑ̃/ ; Ɯ̂ ɯ̂ /ɛ̃/ ; Ɯ̌ ɯ̌ /ɔ̃/
W w /u/
X x (or Ħ ħ) /χ/
Ƃ ƃ /bɾa/
Ŋ ŋ /ŋ/
Ɋ ɋ /ɧ̙ʷ/
Ƀ ƀ /β/
Spelling rules
The so-called "link" is a diacritic that is used with either <i> and another vowel, in order to denote the approximant /j/, or <w> (or more rarely, <o>) and another vowel to denote the approximant /w/. A breve accent is also sometimes used in addition to the link, where it would otherwise be ambiguous. Here are a few examples :
i͠e /je/
o͠a /wa/
ê͠w /ɛw/
i͠i /ji/
i͠ĭ /ij/
w͠w /wu/
w͠w̆ /uw/
w͠o ou o͠o /wo/
o͠w̆ ou o͠ŏ /ɔw/
Phonotactics
Morphophonology
Morphology
Nouns
Gender
There are two genders : masculine and feminine. Canonically, a neuter gender also existed, but has been absorbed by the masculine and the feminine. Gender is usually indicated with so-called thematic vowels, in the ending of a noun : the masculine has the thematic vowels -o- and -e-, although the latter is mostly found in adjectives (which agree in number and gender with the noun they qualify) ; the feminine has the thematic vowel -a-.
Number
There are two numbers : singular and plural. The plural of a noun is usally built by adding the suffix -c, pronounced /s/ after a vowel but with no phonetic realization after a consonant.
Adjectives
Adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun they qualify. However, most adjectives also have a plural neuter form with thematic vowel -i- when qualifying several nouns of different genders.
Verbs
There are three verbal groups in TolsienO : group A includes verbs whose stem form ends in a consonant, group B those whose stem ends in a vowel, and group C verbs that are inherited from Latin. Verbs from groups A and B have an infinitive in -ƃ, while the infinitive of verbs from the group C is usually in -ar or -ir. Verbs are conjugated for mood, tense, and person. There are seven persons : first, second and third person, in both the singular and the plural, as well as a second person of politeness. There are four moods : indicative, absolute (gnomic), conditional and subjunctive.
Indicative Mood
The indicative mood has four tenses : present, imperfect past, perfect past and future.
| Person | Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -a | - | -a |
| 2SG | -ac | -c | -ac |
| 3SG | -at | -t | -at |
| 1PL | -amw | -m | -mwc |
| 2PL | -atc | -tc | -tic |
| 3PL | -an | -n | -na |
| 2POL | -e | -e | -e |
| Person | Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -ta | -t | -ta |
| 2SG | -tac | -tc | -tac |
| 3SG | -tat | -ŧ | -tat |
| 1PL | -tamw | -tm | -tamo |
| 2PL | -tatc | -ŧc | -tati |
| 3PL | -tan | -tn | -tana |
| 2POL | -te | -te | -te |
| Person | Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -fa | -f | -fa |
| 2SG | -fac | -fc | -fac |
| 3SG | -fat | -ft | -fat |
| 1PL | -famw | -fmw | -famo |
| 2PL | -fatc | -ftc | -fati |
| 3PL | -fan | -fn | -fana |
| 2POL | -fe | -fe | -fe |
| Person | Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -ra | -r | -ra |
| 2SG | -rac | -rc | -rac |
| 3SG | -rat | -rt | -rat |
| 1PL | -ramw | -rm | -ramo |
| 2PL | -ratc | -rtc | -rati |
| 3PL | -ran | -rn | -rana |
| 2POL | -re | -re | -re |
Absolute (gnomic)
| Person | Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -yh | -yh | -y |
| 2SG | -ys | -ys | -yc |
| 3SG | -yŧ | -yŧ | -yt |
| 1PL | -yƥ | -yƥ | -yf |
| 2PL | -yƶ̆1 | -yƶ̆1 | -yz |
| 3PL | -yƿ | -yƿ | -yn |
| 2POL | -yƶ | -yƶ | -yœ |
Conditional
| Person | Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -o | -o | -o |
| 2SG | -oc | -oc | -oc |
| 3SG | -ot | -ot | -ot |
| 1PL | -omw | -omwc | -omwc |
| 2PL | -otc | -otic | -otic |
| 3PL | -on | -ona | -ona |
| 2POL | -o͠e | -o͠e | -o͠e |
Subjunctive
| Person | Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -ko | -ko | -ko |
| 2SG | -koc | -kc | -koc |
| 3SG | -kot | -kt | -kot |
| 1PL | -komw | -km | -komwc |
| 2PL | -kotc | -ktc | -kotic |
| 3PL | -kon | -kn | -kona |
| 2POL | -ke | -ke | -ke |