Tjoc
| Tjoc | |
|---|---|
| Tjoc | |
| Pronunciation | [[Help:IPA|'tjo:tʃ]] |
| Created by | – |
| Native to | Kingdom of Angelkinn |
| Native speakers | 30 millions (2012) |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Kingdom of Angelkinn |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | tj |
| ISO 639-2 | tjo |
| ISO 639-3 | tjo |
 Kingdom of Angelkinn | |
General informations
Tjoc is a language spoken in the Ljoshare af Angelkinn (= Country of Angelkinn), a country that corresponds to Modern England on a parallel timeline, where the United Kingdom doesn't exist. This language has evolved from the Anglo-Saxon with a scarce influence of Latin, while one can appreciate a Scandinavian influence. Thus Tjoc is a Germanic language that is strongly linked to Modern English.
Phonology
Alphabet
Tjoc alphabet uses letters from Latin alphabet and contains 25 characters:
| Letters | Pronunciation | Further informations |
| a | [a] | short 'a' |
| å | [ɑ:] | long 'a' |
| b | [b] | - |
| c | [tʃ] | - |
| d | [d] | it can be realized as both a dental and an alveolar |
| e | [ɛ] / [e:] | in plural cluster -es it is not pronounced |
| f | [f] | - |
| g | [g] | it is always pronunced as in the English word "get" |
| h | [h] | in the digraph 'hv' it is read [k] |
| ƕ | [hv] or [kv] depending on the speaker | - |
| i | [ɪ] | short 'i' |
| j | [j] | it corresponds to y in English you |
| k | [k] | - |
| l | [l] | - |
| m | [m] | - |
| n | [n] | - |
| o | [ɔ] / [o:] | - |
| p | [p] | - |
| r | [r] | trilled just as in Italian |
| s | [s] | always voiceless |
| t | [t] | it can be realized as both a dental and an alveolar |
| u | [ʊ] | short 'u' |
| ů | [u:] | long 'u' |
| w | [v] | it was [w] in Old English, then this sound evolved into [v], but the grapheme <w> remained |
| y | [i:] | long 'i' |
The letter 'c' had two different sounds in Old English: [tʃ] or [k], but when <k> was generalised to express the sound [k], <c> remained to express the sound [tʃ], as in the Old English word ic, "I".
Consonantic phonemes
Tjoc language has the following consonantic phonemes:
| Phonemes | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p b | (t̯) (d̯) | t d | k g | ||||
| Affricate | tʃ | |||||||
| Nasal | m | (ɱ) | n | (ŋ) | ||||
| Fricative | f v | s | ʃ | h | ||||
| Approximant | r | j | (w) | |||||
| Lateral approximant | l |
In the South the final postvocalic <f> is not pronunced, ex.: stof is read as [sto:], wouf is read as ['vɔu̯], and so on. The [w] phoneme is found as a glide in words like wouen, wolves, that is pronounced as ['vɔu̯wɛn].
Vocalic phonemes
In Tjoc there are the following vowels:
| Phonemes | Short | Long | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | Front | Back | |
| Closed | ɪ | ʊ | i: | u: |
| Mid-closed | e: | o: | ||
| Mid-open | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | a | ɑ: | ||
The 'a' is realized not precisely in the front of mouth, but in the mid between the front and centre of the mouth, wehereas the 'å' [ɑ:] is realized in the mid between the back and the centre of mouth.
Vowel length
The short vowels 'a', 'i' and 'u' have got a long counterpart: 'å', 'y' and 'ů'. Only the vowels 'e' and 'o' can be either short or long, but they are written always in one way. The pronunciation of these two vowels, however, seems not to be more relevant in the language. Actually there are words that differ in the pronunciation of these vowels, such as wjor, that means both "far", when it is pronounced ['vjɔr], and "four", when it is pronounced ['vjo:r]. Anyway in the present language the context has become more important than the correct pronunciation of 'e' and 'o'.
Diphthongs and digraphs
Tjoc has got also twenty diphthongs, that is clusters of two vowels pronounced with a single emission of air. These diphthongs are:
| Diphthongs | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| aj - åj | [aɪ] - [ɑ:ɪ] |
| au - åu | [aʊ] - [ɑ:ʊ] |
| ej | [ɛɪ] - [e:ɪ] |
| eu | [ɛʊ] - [e:ʊ] |
| ja - jå | [ja] - [jɑ:] |
| je | [jɛ] - [je:] |
| jo | [jɔ] - [jo:] |
| ju - jů | [jʊ] - [ju:] |
| oj | [ɔɪ] - [o:ɪ] |
| ou | [ɔʊ] - [o:ʊ] |
Tjoc has got a digraph too: <sh>, that is pronounced [ʃ].
Stress
The position of stress in this language is quite regular, because it falls on the root and thus there are few rules to observe:
- In substantives (and in adjectives and adverbs) the stress generally falls on the first syllable, but if they are compound nouns / adjectives, formed by prefix + noun / adjective, the stress falls on the root syllable of the noun / adjective, ex.: jarjewels, "forgiveness", is read as [var'jɛvɛls]. In compounds which are formed by noun / adjective + noun / adjective, the various words are read as if they were written separately, ex.: lerstof, "school", is read as ['le:r 'sto:f];
- In verbs the stress falls always on the root, even if they are compounds, ex.: iwacan, "to wake up", is read as [ɪ'vatʃan].
Grammar
Nouns, gender and number
Tjoc language has got only two genders: common gender (or uter gender) and neuter gender. The previously masculine and feminine words have merged into the uter gender, whereas neuter words have remained neuter, even if in some cases there has been a gender switch.
Nouns can be both singular (denoting just one object) and plural (denoting more than one object). The formation of plural is not always so simple, because there are four ways to form it:
1) Some uter nouns take -es suffix, the <e> in this suffix is generally not pronounced; 2) some uter nouns take -(e)n suffix; 3) some uter nouns take no suffix, some of these undergo a root vowel change too; 4) neuter nouns take no suffix, that is singular and plural forms are identical.
Generally uter nouns ending in -ing or consonant have the first kind of plural, whereas uter nouns ending in -e have the second kind of plural. Some monosyllabic uter nouns ending in consonant experiment a root vowel modification, but they are just few. Endly some uter words have got two kinds of plural: a regular one (in -es or -en) and an irregular one (with no ending at all or/and a root vowel change). Some nouns with their plural form and meaning
Here is a list of nouns of both genders with their plural form, their gender and their meaning:
| Singular | Plural | Gender | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| stån | stånes | uter | stone |
| wot | wet | uter | foot |
| lond | lond | neuter | land |
| hjoun | hjounes | uter | sky, heaven |
| sho | shon | uter | shoe |
| ljot | ljot | neuter | light |
| lyf | lyen | uter | life |
| språc | språcen | uter | language |
| djor | djor | neuter | animal |
| bok | bek | uter | book |
| frywe | - | uter | love |
| frjå | frjån | uter | lord |
| frjåstre | frjåstren | uter | lady |
| mann | menn | uter | man |
| wyf | wyen | uter | woman |
| wouf | wouen | uter | wolf |
| hjort | hjort | neuter | heart |
| håle | hålen | uter | head |
| stof | sten | uter | place |
| tyd | tyd | neuter | time |
| merjen | merjen | neuter | morning |
| dag | dages | uter | day |
| åfning | åfninges | uter | afternoon |
| hwiltyd | hwiltyd | neuter | evening |
| nyt | nyten | uter | night |
| mone | monen | uter | moon |
| atelkund | atelkundes | uter | nobleman |
| atlestre | atlestren | uter | noblewoman |
| trjo | trjo | neuter | tree |
| hann | hannen | uter | hand |
| shor | shor | neuter | star |
| jaw | jawen | uter | eye |
| lerend | lerend / lerend | uter | teacher |
| frjond | frjondes / frynd | uter | friend |
| wjond | wjondes / wynd | uter | enemy |
| lynd | lyndes / lynd | uter | lover |
| hůnn | hůnnes | uter | dog |
The nouns ending in '-nd' are present participles and have two kinds of plural:
- '-es' plural, that is quite spread;
- zero plural, that is quite literary.
Though the nouns in '-ȝond' have got both an '-es' plural and a zero plural with a vowel change from '-jo-' to '-y-'. In this case the second form is the most spread.
The nouns ending in vowel + 'f' lose final 'f' when forming plural.
Formation of feminine
Distinguishing between nouns that indicate a feminine being and those that indicate a masculine being can be very difficult in a language that has a common gender for both masculine and feminine. However distinguishing is not always so difficult as one could think, because Tȝoch language has a suffix with that the feminine form of a noun can be formed: -estre (pl. -estren).
Usually this suffix causes no changes in root, but some times it is used with a modified root:
- frjå - frjåstre;
- lerend - lerendstre;
- frjond - fryndstre;
- wjond - wyndstre;
- lynd - lyndstre.
Articles
Two kinds of article exist in Tjoc: indefinite and definite article.
The indefinite article has got no plural form and the singular one is the same for all the genders: an. This article is used to talk about things, facts, beings that are introduces for the first time into the conversation, that is we use the indefinite article to talk about new and not known informations, to talk about undetermined informations.
The definite article is used to talk about well known things, facts, beings instead. These informations are familiar to the speakers, because they are already talking about them, or because they belong to the experiences baggage of the speakers, that is we use the definite article to talk about known informations, to talk about determined informations.
Even if Tjoc has lost nouns inflection, the definite article has three cases, in addition to the plural forms:
| Definite article | Uter | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | se | tat | te |
| Gen. | tes | tes | tejr |
| Dat. | tem | tem | ten |
The nominative case refers to the subject of a sentence; the accusative case, that is identical to the nominative, refers to the object of a sentence or to the complements that indicate movement; the genitive case refers to possession and the dative case refers to the addressee or to the complements that indicate state. The plural forms are the same for both uter and neuter gender.
Often it is sufficient to use this inflection to express syntactic functions of the elements of a sentence or a phrase, ex.:
- Se språc tes mann - The language of the man;
- Jef het tem frjåstre - Give it to the lady.