Tseer

Tseer/Lexicon
Swadesh list for Tseer
Tseer/Sketchbook

Tseer
døluder Tseer
Created by	Inthar
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Language family	Lakovic Tseer

Tseer is a classical language of Talma, second to Windermere; it left a significant influence on Windermere and Scellan. It is aesthetically inspired by Somali, Hmong and Vietnamese and grammatically inspired by Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and Irish.

Tseer is the language of parts of the Fornloíd and other philosophical, historical and literary texts from Ancient Tseer civilization, and it is also the language of some Pidaic texts. Today Classical Tseer survives in liturgical use in Mărotłism.

The predominant vernacular of the Fnüeng dynasty was no longer Classical Windermere, but a form of Tseer. When the Windermere Empire fell in 1004 fT in the aftermath of the Jeodganite-Ngedhraist Revolt, many Tseeric- and Talmic-speaking peoples newly settled in the land. These Tseeric vernaculars represented variation that already existed in the originally Tseer-speaking area. These Tseeric vernaculars were already separate languages by then, and they came to be associated with different nation-states in Talma.

Todo

Wdm and Tseer: like Hebrew and Aramaic?

Nasal vowel dissimilation rule for prefixes (no nasal before nasal)

Grammatical schwebeablaut (CVCC and CCVC root alternations)

Diachronics

Compared to Classical Windermere, Classical Tseer has more conservative vowels but less conservative consonants.

Like Windermere, Tseer merged *H and *F (into **φ), believed by some to be a shared innovation characterizing "Talmo-Lakovic" (Naengic and Tseer). But unlike Windermere it vocalized some laryngeals in clusters, namely *Q, *H, *F but not *X. It also merged PLak *a and *ā into /a/.

Vocalized *f, vowels which were colored by *f, and u-umlaut of /a/ and /e/ are the main sources of /ø/ in Tseer.

The laryngeals *X and *F~*H produced breathy vowels, which eventually became nasal vowels.

• Nasal vowels merge with nonnasal vowels before m/n/ng/l
• Final -ng disappears leaving nasalization (as in Scellan)
• p > f
• final -g, -w disappear
• ś, g > kh /x/
• s- > *θ > t /t/
• š-, y- > x-
• t- > dh /D/
• -s > -x, *s backs to s following ruki; feminine -s becomes -kh or -r
• c, ć > tx, ts
• CäC- > CaC-

Phonology

Consonants

Classical Tseer has 21 phonemic consonants: Syllable-final v ð are allophones of /b d/, and syllable final b d g are allophones of /p t k/. The only weird feature by Talman standards are the retroflex consonants.

m n ng /ŋ/

t th /ʈ/ k ' /ʔ/

b d dh /ɖ~L/ g

f s /s~z/ kh /x/ h

ts /ts/ tx /tʃ/

v đ /ð/ (only syllable finally)

w r /r̝~ʒ/ l y /j/

Notes

• /x/ is [ʂ] in some dialects
• b d g = [p t k] word-finally.

Vowels

Tseer has 10 vowels: 6 oral and 4 nasal.

a e i o u ø /a e i o u ɵ/

aa ee oo øø /ã ẽ õ ɵ̃/

/ɵ/ will be transcribed as /ø/ for convenience.

Stress

Classical Tseer had weak final stress.

Phonotactics

No initial clusters are allowed; also, final -p -t -th -k are forbidden. However, final clusters are allowed unlike in Windermere.

Morphology

Classical Tseer morphology is much like Classical Windermere: nouns have masculine and feminine gender, and verbs inflect for aspect, tense, voice, and gender agreement using prefixes, infixes and reduplication. Like Windermere, Tseer has lost Proto-Lakovic triggers.

Pronouns

	I (m.)	I (f.)	we (inc. du.)	thou (m.)	thou (f.)	he	she	we (exc.)	we (inc. pl.)	you (pl.)	they
Full pronouns	ree		baa	khen	kheer	in	eer	aari	baaba	kheekhe	inin
Possessive/Object Suffixes	-ri, -iri		-am	-kh, -ekh	-kher	-in	-er	-ar	-aba	-akhe	-anin
Predicative Suffixes	-nire	-sire	-b	-nekh	-sekh	-nin	-sir	-mari	-maba	-makhe	-manin

• Full pronouns are used as subjects of verbal sentences, and subjects of "is-the" predicative sentences.
• Possessive and object suffixes are used as possessive pronouns on nouns and direct object affixes on verbs.
• Predicative suffixes are used on predicate nouns in "is-a" predicative sentences.

	I (m.)	I (f.)	we (inc. du.)	thou (m.)	thou (f.)	he	she	we (exc.)	we (inc. pl.)	you (pl.)	they
Possessive/Object Suffixes	aafuri 'my child'		aafuam	aafukh	aafukher	aafuin	aafuer	aafuri	aafuaba	aafuakhe	aafuanin
Predicative Suffixes	aafunire 'I am a child'	aafusire	aafuba 'we are children'	aafunekh	aafusekh	aafunin	aafusir	aafumari	aafumaba	aafumakhe	aafumanin

Note: is-the uses the zero copula "FOCUS TOPIC" construction: '*I* am the child' is Ree aafu.

Correlatives

Todo: correlatives table

• this.M, that.M = ten, fen
• this.F, that.F = teer, feer
• these, those = sti, sfi

here, there = mid, mif

Nouns

Like Classical Windermere, each noun has an intrinsic gender, either masculine or feminine. For most feminine nouns, the feminine is marked with -kh or -er (from PLak *-s).

• atev = son-in-law; atever = daughter-in-law
• bakhoo = uncle; bakhookh = aunt
• athaay = lion; athaayer = lioness

Plurals are formed by reduplication with the reduplicant modified for phonotactic or euphonic reasons.

• athaay 'lion' > a'athaay 'lions'
• moog 'feather' > momoog 'feathers'

TODO: plural reduplication rules

Unlike Windermere, Tseer has no definite or specific articles.

Verbs

Verb template

feminine-TAM-pluractionality-voice-ROOT-TAM

Agreement

Feminine subject: wa-, it often becomes part of preverbs

Danutx ree u ownakh = I loved the girl (male speaker)

Wadanutx ree u ownakh = I loved the girl (female speaker)

Voice

• Passive: ra-
• Causative la- (Wdm verbalizer lă-)

Verbal number

Pluractionality is used when a verb is done multiple times or done to multiple objects.

Pluractionality: e(e)Fe- or e(e)FeL- (cf. Windermere frequentative enFă-)

In Modern Tseer pluractionality is marked by pluralizing the verbal noun.

TAM

Aspects in early Tseer were reinterpreted as tense + telicity in Classical Tseer.

• Perfective aspect -> Telic past: if marked, -aa (from *-H)
• Imperfective -> Atelic past: if marked, reduplication
  • no wa- for feminine, but it can become part of a preverb?
• Inceptive -> Atelic nonpast: sa-
• Intensive -> Telic nonpast: tho-, ~ Wdm. thu-

The citation form is the perfective or telic past form. For the verb dagoo 'he wrote', these forms are dagoo, dadagoo/ledagoo, sadagoo and thodagoo.

The progressive oo- also existed in Early Tseer and was added to the imperfective stem, but it was deleted. This explains the lack of feminine wa- in the imperfective form.

The imperative is marked with a particle fa (m sg) or faw (f sg): fa thodagoo toyab = 'write a book (to a man)'; eer faw thodagoo toyab = let her write a book (perf)'.

A Tseer verb may have marked perfectives with -aa and unmarked imperfectives, or marked imperfectives (with reduplication) and unmarked perfectives.

Verbs are negated with di (in the imperative, by replacing fa with khay).

Derivation

• xi- adjectivizer (~ Wdm. yă)
• -ay- infix: nomz.
• -ee- or -kh- infix (from ⟨X⟩): instrument
• ø- = negative (from *f-)
• PLak Trigger infixes
• nu- = agentive (source of Wdm nu-)
• Nominalizers, verbalizers, instrument, place, etc.

Syntax

SVO or VSO

Poetry

Meter

Classical Tseer poetry is based on lines with

• a prescribed number of syllables
• a caesura somewhere in the middle
• the lines rhyme in some rhyme scheme, usually in rhyming couplets (aa) or rhyming quatrains (aaaa).

We use "m+n" to denote a meter of m syllables + caesura + n syllables.

Some meters were:

• 4+4
• 4+6
• 5+5
• 6+4
• 4+7
• 6+5
• 6+6
• 7+7

Sketchbook

PLak with H-F merger: **ŋiFt ntor mangār se dak kaFt. "meF raq śenam?" dambic pin bindaq PN. mi qangFnung katkaat nataX qemrecal sen Fdān: "šruk day qatsFiw: dak manknas, tap day amFuc tramp, liw qatsalFiw, tak malFuc, Fdān talak." "Fna meF raq, sru XenFden grāt nataX? dambic pin bindaq PN. "GaŋaX, pin bindaq: cār bindik panratFaŋ, day Fanpsak binkawantik nataX ya pin grāt pi!" "qaruy šaX-kaFt se caruŋ sen tapal panaw panaw." empsFŋim šaX pin kaFt pin bindaq PN.

Pre-Tseer: (double = breathy) **ŋüüt ntor mangār se dak kååt. "möö raq śen śen?" dambic pin bindaq PN. mi qangönung katkwaat nataa qemrecal sen ödān: "šruk day qatsüüw: dak manknas, tap day amuuc tramp, liw qatsalüüw, dak maluuc, ödān talak." "öna möö raq, sru eenöden grāt nataa? dambic pin bindaq PN. "Gaŋaa, pin bindaq: cār bindik panrataaŋ, day Fanpsak binkawantik nataa ya pin grāt pi!" "qaruy šaa-kååt se caruŋ sen tapal panaw panaw." empsFŋim šaa pin kååt pin bindaq PN.

(breathy > nasal with ii/öö > ee, üü > øø, uu > oo)

"Tseer": **Ngøød aathor maagar te dak kood. "Mee ra khekhen?" daabits fi beeda PN. Mi angønoo katkaad nathaa eeretsal ten ødan: "Srug day atsøø! Dag maaknas, tab day amoots thaab, liw atsaløø, dag maloots, ødan thalag." "Øna mee ra, tru enøden khrad nathaa? Daabits fi Beeda PN. "Khangaa, fi Beeda: tsar beedig faarathaa, day Oobsag begwaathig nathaa si fi khrad fi!" "Aruy si kood te tsaroo te thafal fanaw fanaw." eetøngim si fin kood fi Beeda PN.

Wdm: Ngiiθ dur mogor se taχ χaaθ. "Măra łĭnam?" tăbits φin Pĭda Brăwid. Mi-ăngnuung căχθaaθ năθa emrĭtsal sen doon: "Șrüχ te-stiiw: taχ mognas, θaφ te-müts θraaφ, liw stăliiw, θaφ te-müts mălsaaχ, taχ mălüüts, doon tălaχ." "Ǎna mee ra, srü hĭdeen croθ năθa?" tăbits φin Pĭda Brăwid. "Op cănga, φin Pĭda: tsor pădiχ φnărtaang, te ămsaχ păχwădiχ năθa ya φin croθ φi!" eφθooc φin χaaθ. "Ăruy șa-χaaθ ses tsărüng φănaw φănaw." esngim șa φin χaaθ φin Pĭda Brăwid.

Ter nooma tru bamødee afal noos khekhen dha? dhaaser ta beema sithabeeg. Tomatmaad oolakhaa ten otsaløs baa tothadh!