Tarkandamonian
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| Tarkandamonian | |
|---|---|
| Tarkandamon | |
| Pronunciation | [tar'kandamɔn] |
| Created by | Anyar |
| Setting | Earth |
| Native speakers | 436,232 (1980) |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Ōran Kan (“Beautiful Land”) |
Introduction
Tarkandamonian, from the word Tarkandamon, meaning "Those who speak properly", is the official language spoken in Ōran Kan, a country situated between the border of the Pakistani-admininstered Gilgit-Baltistan region, and Indian-administered Kashmir. It is separated from Ladakh by a small strip of land approximately 25KM in length extending from Gilgit-Balikstan to Kashmir. It is estimated that roughly 100,000 speakers live outside of Ōran Kan, the vast majority having fled the country after a military coup led by Brigadier General Enor Gavilna overthrew President Gar Tindra in early July 1983. The majority of the expatriate community lives in various parts of the EU, with the largest number in Spain and Italy.
Knowledge of the language's history is unknown prior to the 1870's, when British explorers arrived after the First Anglo-Sikh War and began documenting the language. Although phylologists and linguists have attempted to link the language to neighbouring Indo-Aryan and Sino-Tibetan languages, as well as the language isolate Burushaski also located in the same geographical region, Tarkandamonian shows no genetic relationship to any of its neighbors. More exotic relationships have been proposed, the most prominent of these being the Austronesian theory proposed by Samuel Burdock from the University of Kentucky. Proponents of the theory point to the preponderance of circumfixation in verb forms, even though none of these circumfixes show any similarity in form or function as those of the Austronesian languages.
Typologically, Tarkandamonian is a fusional language, with SOV syntax and Nominative-Accusative alignment. Nouns do not inflect for gender, number, or case (with the exception being the construct state case marker). Core case relations are expressed by strict word order of the core noun arguments, with the nominative argument preceding the patient argument; however, when the direct object is omitted, obligatory agreement markers surface in the verb forms. Postpositions mark oblique nominal arguments. The language lacks both definite and indefinite markers, although indefiniteness can be explicitly expressed by the cardinal number nomir("one").
Pronouns display more inflectional complexity. There are portmanteau forms that encode agent and patient core arguments. While the language does not mark for gender, it differentiates third person core arguments with two distinct forms, a proximal and obviative form.
Phonology
Orthography
Inscriptions dating from the end of the third millennium BCE were discovered in 1942 in the remote northwestern province Baida Nor. These inscriptions, carved on a rock face near the villages of Belat and Trima, are indigenous to the area, resembling neither the different varieties of cuneiform in Mesopotamia nor the Indus Valley script dating from the same era. The inscriptions remain largely undeciphered, but their highly iconic nature suggests that at least some of them were measure symbols of some kind, in particular the symbols of what appear to be baskets with lines drawn inside suggesting sheaves of wheat. Greek coins, also found in Baida Nor, most likely originated in nearby Bactria, but evidence that the Greek alphabet was adopted by the inhabitants of the area remains lacking, although some ruins of a non-Greek civilization have been found in some archeological sites.
The earliest evidence of a continuous writing system dates to the 9th CE, shortly after the Islamic conquest of Iran. The Arabic-derived script was adopted by speakers of the earliest attested form of Tarkandamonian, termed by scholars as Medieval Tarkandamon. Although Islam was adopted by only a small number of the ruling elite, the system continued to be in use until its discovery by Western explorers in the 1870's. After the British annexed Ōran Kan, the Latin alphabet was introduced and replaced the Arabic script.
The Language Regulation Act of 1973 established the Academy of Proper Speech, responsible for standardizing the national language. The Academy enacted a series of orthographic reforms in 1976 to reflect the pronunciation of the Geruna dialect, which formed the basis of the standard language. After the July 1983 Revolution, the leaders of the military coup, all from Bāzor Province, declared the Bāzor dialect as the basis of a new official standard language. The Academy instituted another series of language and orthographic reforms, however these reforms were incomplete as of 2017. The modern standard language, a hybrid of the two dialects, was a result of these incomplete reforms. The orthography, as it was originally meant to reflect the pronunciation of Geruna dialect, still remains faithful to that dialect's phonology. However, the orthography did not accurately reflect the pronunciation of words from the Bāzor dialect. Numerous spelling irregularities have arisen, particularly noticeable where Bāzor cognate words supplanted Geruna terms. For example, the Geruna word for "immediately" <orin> was replaced by the Bāzor cognate /toɾm/, but the modern spelling retains the Geruna spelling. Even more striking differences include the word for “blitzkrieg”, /glɛvka/ in the modern pronunciation but retaining the original Geruna spelling <mozkadi>.
Due to this divergence from the original Geruna spelling and the pronunciation of the standard dialect, foreign media transcribe Tarkandamonian in various formats; no standard as of yet has arisen. In this article, the IPA representation will be provided alongside the Tarkandamonian word or phrase if the pronunciation deviates from the older Geruna-based spelling.
Morphology
Nouns
Gender
Modern Tarkandamonian does not distinguish gender, although a masculine-feminine distinction existed up until the 15th century. Masculine nouns were marked with the suffix -e-, whilst feminine nouns were marked with the suffix -i. Traces of the old gender system in Modern Tarkandamonian survive as irregularities in the number system, particularly in words indicating body parts and a few high-frequency or culturally significant words, where the original -I feminine marker surfaces (c.f. karan -> karandokon /kangon/ “hammers”, vs. baralt -> baraldokin /baʒgin/ “ears”).
Number
Case
Tarkandamonian has only two formal cases, a direct case and a construct case. The direct case represents both the subject and the object, differentiated by word order. The construct case marks the dependent noun argument in possessive phrases.
| Case | Singular | Plural | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct | -∅ | -dokon |
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| Construct | -na -a |
-don |
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Case relations are otherwise expressed by prepositions, many of which which exist separately as relational nouns, followed by the noun in the construct case:
| Preposition | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dative |
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| Benefactive | yere /jɛ/ |
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| Comitative | on /'vani/ |
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| Allative | gela /gla/ |
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| Ablative | derin |
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| Locative | nai /naɪg/ |
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** Ungrammatical
Pronouns
Tarkandamonian pronouns mark for person and number. The pronouns are divided into two classes based on polarity, one class for positive statements, and the other for indicating negation. The so-called negative personal pronouns are unusual in that unlike the positive class, the negative class can optionally mark for direct objects, provided that an overt direct object does not surface. Additionally, they obligatorily encode tense, aspect, and mood (TAM). TAM and polarity marking in the negative class arose from cliticization of pronominal forms to a copula, which itself encoded negation.
Positive Forms
Independent
| Singular | Plural | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 Prox | 3 Obv | 1 | 2 | 3 Prox | 3 Obv | ||
| va | aja /ad͡ʒ/ | ahen /a:n/ | iri /ɛ'ɾi/ | na | ja jat |
he /aɪ/ | ria /ja/ | ||
Possessive Pronouns
| Singular | Plural | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 Prox | 3 Obv | 1 | 2 | 3 Prox | 3 Obv | ||
| vali | ajali /ad͡ʒil/ | ahenli /anli/ | irili /ɛ'ɾli/ | nali | jali jatli |
heli /aɪl/ | rial /jal/ | ||
Negative Forms
Intransitive
| Singular | Plural | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 Prox | 3 Obv | 1 | 2 | 3 Prox | 3 Obv | ||
| Declarative Present | vala | ajla | lan | lassi | nala | tala | hela | rila | |
| Perfective | valak | ajlak | lanak | landri | nalak | talak | lak | lāti | |
| Imperfective | valan | ajunla | lana | lasse | nalan | taluna | lan | lāse | |
| Future | valak | ajalla | lakan | lassar | nalak | tala | lakan | lāsar | |
| Future Imperfective | vala | ajaljal | lana | lassati | nala | tala | lan | lasāti | |
Transitive
Verbs
First person singular object paradigm with -maz, "to teach", to lead".
Conjugation paradigms are arranged according to object agreement type, e.g. first person singular object, etc. In the glosses below, the verb root appears in dark bold to show the complex placement and interposition of the verbal affixes, which combine to encode person, aspect, and tense:
First Person Singular Object
| Object Pronominal Affixes | Verbal Affixes | Sample Texts with Gloss | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preverbal Affix | Verbal Infix | Postverbal Affix | |||
| Declarative Present | v- vi- |
- | -ind- | -a |
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| Perfective | v- | -arin- | - | - |
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| Imperfective | v- | -ank- | -ind- | - | |
| Future | v- | -az- | - | - | |
| Future Imperfective | v- | -ant- | -ind- | -a | |
Second Person Singular Object
| Object Pronominal Affixes | Verbal Affixes | Sample Texts with Gloss | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preverbal Affix | Verbal Infix | Postverbal Affix | |||
| Declarative Present | ti- | -lum- | -ind- | -a |
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| Perfective | ti- | -lus- | -ta |
| |
| Imperfective | ti- | -lunk- | -ind- | - | |
| Future | t- | -az- | - | - | |
| Future Imperfective | t- | -ant- | -ind- | -a | |
Third Person Singular Object
| Object Pronominal Affixes | Verbal Affixes | Sample Texts with Gloss | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preverbal Affix | Verbal Infix | Postverbal Affix | |||
| Declarative Present | hi- | -non- -nom- |
-ind- | -ará |
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| Perfective | h- | -arin- | - | - |
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| Imperfective | h- | -ank- | -ind- | - | |
| Future | h- | -az- | - | - | |
| Future Imperfective | h- | -ant- | -ind- | -a | |
| Object Pronominal Affixes | Verbal Affixes | Examples | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Preverbal Affix | Verbal Infix | Postverbal Affix | ||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 Prox | 3 Obv | 1 | 2 | 3 Prox | 3 Obv | |||||||
| Declarative Present | v- vi- van(d)- |
t- ti- tan(d)- |
h- hi- hen(d)- |
k(V)--s(V)- | n- nan(d)- |
- | -ind- | -a | Va himindaza
| |||||
| Perfective | var- | tar- | har- | sar- | nar- | |||||||||
| Imperfective | valan | atunla | lana | lasse | nalan | taluna | lan | lāse | ||||||
| Future | valak | atalla | lakan | lassar | nalak | tala | lakan | lāsar | ||||||
| Future Imperfective | vala | ataltal | lana | lassati | nala | tala | lan | lasāti | ||||||
Adverbs
Adverbs do not form a distinct word class. The majority are identical in form with adjectives, differentiated only by syntax. A smaller set of adverbs are uninflectable particles, primarily time adverbials.
| Adverb | Meaning | POS Source | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| mon /'tɛmon/ | very, really; hard, with exertion |
Particle |
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| sejál | clumsily | Adjective |
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| pir /pɛɾ/ | now | Particle |
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| orin /'toɾm/ | immediately | Particle |
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Derivation
Tarkandamonian has a large inventory of derivation affixes. Furthermore, multiple affixes may be combined to generate complex words that diverge significantly from the meanings of their roots.
| Affix | Function/Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -ta | Derives nouns, usually persons, from adjectives and particles |
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| -la- | (Pseudo-verb) no, not, is not, does not | [placeholder] |
| [placeholder] | asik |
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| [placeholder] | domai | mountain |
| [placeholder] | sivga, sijga | mountain stream, river |
| [placeholder] | suin | brilliant; glorious; civilization |
| -tan | agentive deverbal |
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| m- | reversative |
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A complication arises wherein a derivation may exist in one dialect and not the other, and because the language reforms were incomplete, the reader may need to resort to context to use the correct word. For example, the word mozkadi (blitzkrieg, lit. "not a long war") originates from the Geruna dialect, but as the Bāzor dialect has superseded the former, Bāzor speakers must read in the word glevka << gleb + va + ka, which literally means "sky-swoop-downwards and seizure".
Syntax
Tarkandamonian exhibits strict SOV order, and modifiers to heads also display strict ordering: adverbs precede the adjectives and verbs they modify, the positive polarity particle vor always appears as the initial element of a clause, while its counterpart, the negative polarity pseudo-verb -la-, follows the subject in intransitive clauses, and between the subject and object clausal arguments. Any oblique arguments, including the indirect object, always occurs after the direct object in transitive verbs, and after the pseudo-verb -la-, if expressed in intransitive clauses. The interrogative particle tunima obligatorily appears immediately before the verb; it is the only particle that may appear between the verb and any of its adverbial modifiers.
Texts
- Sener zi va ahen arintar.
/'sɛnɛɾ zva:n 'aɾɪntaɾ/
sener zi=va=ahen arin-tar
PN to=1S=3S.PROX PST-speak.about
Sener spoke to me about it.
- Pavan garidjna vali, tilumzindkarín!
/'pon ga'ɾɪd͡ʒɘn 'vali tlum'zɪnkaɾɪn/
pon garidj-na vali ti-lum-zu-ind-karin-a
DAT head-CONSTR 1S.POSS 2S.ACC-bring.ruin-DECL.PRS-bring.ruin-DECL.PRS-bring.ruin-DISTR/PL
By my head, I will reign ruin upon you!
Vocabulary
| Tarkandamonian | Meaning |
|---|---|
| tuva |
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| -la- | (Pseudo-verb) no, not, is not, does not |
| gota |
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| asik |
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| domai | mountain |
| sivga, sijga | mountain stream, river |
| suin | brilliant; glorious; civilization |
| kopen |
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| hoz |
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