Ckul

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Tskxul
Tskxul
Pronunciation[ʦkʼul]
Created byAquatiki
Date2025
SettingSomething distantly related the Avatar movies
Native toNone
Early form
Proto-Tskxul
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Tskxul (autoglossonym: tskxul; Tskxul: [ʦkʼul) is a Italic language, with strong influence of Na'vi. It is the result of a prolonged contact among members of the language.

While its vocabulary derives for the most part from Vulgar Latin, Na'vi influence is most notable in its phonology and its some of its grammar.

Etymology

The language name derives directly from the Latin word for 'exile', suggesting the speakers were isolated from Earth and somehow transported to and transmuted to be able to live on Pandora. Again, in an unknown way, these people find a way onto our planet and apparently back into human form, so they are twice exiles. Ultimately from Latin exsul (exile (person)), it came to refer to "a person in exile on Earth, after having been exiled on Pandora."

Orthography

The Tskxul alphabet consists of 24 symbols, some of which are used to make digraphs. There seven vowels are and twenty consonant sounds, include the glottal stop written with an apostrophe.

Letters of the Tskxul alphabet
' Aa Ää Ee Ff (g) Hh Ii Ìì Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww (x) Yy Zz
  • The letter x is used to make ejectives, named kx, px, and tx.
  • The letter g is only used to distinguish n from ng.
  • The syllabic consonants are written as doubles of their letter, namely rr and ll.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Dorsal Glottal
Nasal m n /ŋ/ ng
Ejective /pʼ/ px /tʼ/ tx /kʼ/ kx
Stop p t k /ʔ/ '
Fricative v- f s h
Affricate ts
Fricative v+ v z
Liquid /ɾ/ r
Lateral l
Glide w /j/ y

When in the coda, the voiceless stops are unreleased. In all positions, the voiceless stops are unaspirated.

Vowels

Front Back
High i u
Near High /ɪ/ ì
Middle /ɛ/ e o
Low /æ/ ä /ɑ/ a

There are also five diphthongs and two syllabic consonants: ay, aw, ey, ew, oy, rr, and ll.

Phonotactics

  • Allowed simple onsets: p, t, k, px, tx, kx, ’, m, n, ng, r, l, w, y, f, v, s, z, ts, h, ø
  • Allowed complex onsets: {f, s, ts} + {p, t, k, px, tx, kx, m, n, ng, r, l, w, y}
  • Allowed nucleus: a, ä, e, i, ì, o, u, ay, aw, ey, ew, oy, rr, ll
  • Allowed coda: p, t, k, px, tx, kx, ’, m, n, l, r, ng, ø

The only exception to this formatting is that a syllabic consonant nucleus requires an onset consonant (not null), and may not take a coda consonant.

Vowel hiatus is common. VCV is typically syllabified as V.CV.

Morphophonology

Mutation

In certain situations, several consonants undergo mutation (or lenition).

Consonant px tx kx p t k ts '
Mutation p t k f s h s ø

Simplifications

  • Because identical vowels cannot occur next to each other, they contract
  • It is possible for the syllabic consonants to occur immediately after their consonant-counterpart. When this happens in an unstressed syllable, the pseudovowel disappears. In a stressed syllable, the infix disappears. Pseudovowels in monosyllables behave as though unaccented.
  • In rapid speech final -e is frequently elided when the following word starts with a vowel.

Grammar

Tskxul has singular, dual, plural. All are formed by prefix

  • tu+ (from duo) makes the dual
  • plu+ (from plūrēs) makes the plural

Affixes

Nouns

Tskxul nouns show three case endings (absolutive, ergative, and dative), and two case-like structures (genitive and topical). There are three numbers: singular, dual, and plural.

Singular Dual Plural
Absolutive pxätxrr - a father tupätxrr - two father flupätxrr - fathers
Ergative pxätxrun - a father did... tupätxrun - two fathers did... flupätxrun - fathers did...
Dative pxätxri - to a father tupätxrri - to two fathers flupätxri - to fathers
te te pxätxrr / pxätxrrte - of a father te tupätxrr / tupätxrrte - of two fathers te flupätxrr / flupätxrrte - of fathers
fpi+ fpipätxrr - as for a father fpitupätxrr - as for two fathers fpiflupätxrr - as for fathers

The mutating prenoun lì+ can mean "this" or "the". Similarly, tsì+ can mean "that" or "this". Other determiners include possessive pronouns, and quantifiers:

Pronoun

Singular Dual Plural
A E D A E D A E D
1st excl yo yon yoy tuno tunon tunoy no non noy
1st incl 'ämfno 'ämfnon 'ämfnoy ngo ngon ngoy
Second txu txun txi 'ämftxu 'ämftxun 'ämftxi wo won woy
3rd ani ya yan yay tua tuan tuay ear ean eay
3rd inanim yìn yìi tuì tuìn tui eor eon eoy

Possessive Adjectives

Singular Dual Plural
A E D A E D A E D
1st excl mea mean meay tum tumun tumi noytsrr noytsrun noytsri
1st in 'ämpor 'ämpon 'ämpori ngoytsrr ngoytsrun ngoytsri
2nd ve' ve'an ve'i 'ämnge 'ämngen 'ämngi veytsrr veytrun veytrsi
3rd ani sa san say tuv tuvan tuvay lor lon loy
3rd inan sìn sìi tuk tukan tukay lu lun lui

Adjectives

Verbs

Lexical entries for verbs look different from other words because the contain middle dots where the second and third infix locations are. For example, sa.ngftxì.

Sample Texts

Our Father

Pxätxrr ngoytsrr tswo sto ìn skxäl,
sastingftxì nom txu
sì'atweng reng txu
fi wolung txu,
fretswom ìn skxäl tswom ìn txrr.
Pxan ngoytsrr kxotxitstanton noy oy,
'ì' sìpxrrton ngoy flusepìtx ngoytsrr,
tswom non pxrrton
'ì'

Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.