Tlu

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⟩

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.

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.

zviṭəʔ 'big' (masculine)
State	Singular	Plural
Nominative	zviṭəʔ	zviṭuo
Oblique	zviṭuch	zviṭəŋ

zviṭəʔ 'big' (feminine)
State	Singular	Plural
Nominative	zviṭə̄	zviṭə̄f
Oblique	zviṭə̄ʔ	zviṭə̄st

The definite article inflects as follows:

miʔ 'definite article' (masculine)
State	Singular	Plural
Nominative	miʔ	muo
Oblique	mich	miŋ

miʔ 'definite article' (feminine)
State	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mə̄	mə̄f
Oblique	mə̄ʔ	mə̄st

Verbs

• vimaḷch = I sit
• ŋəmaḷch = you sit
• ʔəmaḷch = he sits
• ʔūmaḷch = she sits
• zamaḷch = we sit
• chamaḷch = you people sit
• ʔəmmaḷch = they sit

• vimaḷchau = I sat
• ŋəmaḷchau = you sat
• ʔəmaḷchau = he sat
• ʔūmaḷchau = she sat
• zamaḷchau = we sat
• chamaḷchau = you people sat
• ʔəmmaḷchau = they sat

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/
• 144: ʔənƛə̄ḷ
• 1728: kapkis

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.