Tlu

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Revision as of 14:30, 22 July 2016 by IlL (talk | contribs) (→‎Nouns)
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Tlu is an ancient Mustlup language inspired by my oldest draft of Proto-Talmic.

Phonology

Consonants

/m n ɳ ɲ ŋ p t tɬ ʈ c k q ʔ b d dɮ ɖ ɟ g f s̠ ɬ x h z̠ ɮ ʋ l ɭ j/ m n ṇ ñ ŋ p t ƛ ṭ ť k q ʔ b d λ ḍ ď g f s σ ch h z ʒ v l ḷ j

Vowels

/i iː u uː ə əː a aː ai au ei ou ie uo/ i ī u ū ə ə̄ a ā ai au ei ou ie uo

Orthography

Prosody

Stress

Stress falls on the first heavy (CV̄, CVV or CVC) syllable, if it is not the final syllable. If no syllables are long, the first syllable is stressed.

Intonation

Phonotactics

Morphophonology

Morphology

Pronouns

  • 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, 1pl, 2pl, 3pl: sƛī, ŋə̄, bəʔ, bə̄, zad, chau, bəbuo, bəbəv

Nouns

Nouns are reduplicated for plural, and take possessive prefixes. They do not decline for case, unlike adjectives and determiners. When nouns are preceded by a determiner or an adjective, they (even if plural) do not take a plural form.

chnousaṭ - 'priest, shaman'
Number→
State↓
Singular Plural
Indefinite chnousaṭ chəchnousaṭ
1sg possessor łichnousaṭ łichəchnousaṭ
2sg possessor ŋəchnousaṭ ŋəchəchnousaṭ
3sg.m possessor səchnousaṭ səchnousaṭ
3sg.f possessor sūchnousaṭ sūchəchnousaṭ
1pl possessor zdəchnousaṭ zdəchəchnousaṭ
2pl possessor hauchnousaṭ hauchəchnousaṭ
3pl.m possessor səŋchnousaṭ səŋchəchnousaṭ
3pl.f possessor səstchnousaṭ səstchəchnousaṭ


mich sud sə·tətāňi
DEF-ACC man 3SG-PL-house
the man's houses

Adjectives

Adjectives precede nouns and inflect for gender, number and case. Demonstratives and determiners also inflect as adjectives.

[hide]zviṭəʔ 'big' (masculine)
State Singular Plural
Nominative zviṭəʔ zviṭuo
Oblique zviṭuch zviṭəŋ
[hide]zviṭəʔ 'big' (feminine)
State Singular Plural
Nominative zviṭə̄ zviṭə̄f
Oblique zviṭə̄ʔ zviṭə̄st

The definite article inflects as follows:

[hide]miʔ 'definite article' (masculine)
State Singular Plural
Nominative miʔ muo
Oblique mich miŋ
[hide]miʔ 'definite article' (feminine)
State Singular Plural
Nominative mə̄ mə̄f
Oblique mə̄ʔ mə̄st

Verbs

  • łimaḷch = I sit
  • ŋəmaḷch = you sit
  • təmaḷch = he sits
  • kəmaḷch = she sits

Numerals

Tlu uses a base-12 numeral system. Numerals are indeclinable.

  • 1: seiďu /ˈseiɟu/
  • 2: bli /bli/
  • 3: sqā /sqaː/
  • 4: māvuo /ˈmaːʋuo/
  • 5: paiku /ˈpaiku/
  • 6: ə̄ƛich /ˈəːtɬix/
  • 7: zətə̄ /ˈzətəː/
  • 8: baŋud /ˈbaŋud/
  • 9: ďavuň /ˈɟaʋuɲ/
  • 10: fqāchṭī /ˈfqaːxʈiː/
  • 11: bə̄zie /ˈbəːzie/
  • 12: zie /zie/

The ordinal numbers are adjectives:

  • 1: tmugəʔ
  • 2: bligəʔ
  • 3: sqāgəʔ
  • 4: māvgəʔ
  • 5: paigəʔ
  • 6: ə̄ƛigəʔ
  • 7: zətgəʔ
  • 8: baŋudgəʔ
  • 9: ďavuňgəʔ
  • 10: fqāchṭīgəʔ
  • 11: bə̄ziegəʔ
  • 12: ziegəʔ

etc.

Syntax

Constituent order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

Example texts

Other resources