Tigol/Proto-Tigol
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| Tigol/Proto-Tigol gávthȁ themsármā | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Fusional | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alignment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nominative-accusative | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tonal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Case | Number | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Voice | Mood | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Person | Number | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tense | Aspect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Themsaran is my first constructed language, for my conworld of Hheergrem. The grammar and syntax emits an overpowering odor of Semitic/Celtic languages. The nonconcatenative (tonal) inflection... yeah, I reckon that's Semitic too. Aesthetially it has hints of Baltic, Germanic, Celtic, Semitic, Khmer and Gyeongsang Korean. The main departure from Biblical Hebrew is that the language has been augmented with new features such as strict head-marking inflection, the applicative voice and borderline polysynthesis. So I guess it ends up a tad more like some Native American languages.
Background
The Themsaran language constitutes a separate branch of the Zachydic language family, along with other para-Themsaran languages which are/were spoken in the island of Tálsèm. Themsaran is a typological and lexical outlier in its family due to its long period of isolation and substrate influence. The language possesses strongly head-initial syntax, head-marking in both clauses and possessive NPs, mixed fusional and agglutinative inflection, and nominative-accusative morphosyntax. The name of the language comes from the Themsár region, from whose dialect arose the prestige language of the island. This elevated language existed in a state of diglossia with the diverse and often mutually unintelligible vernacular "dialects". Classical Themsaran was used as a living language by the ruling class for a period spanning 600 years until its demise in the year ca. 220, and was continued to be used as an important literary, academic and religious language on the island and surrounding mainland areas.
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Dorsal | Radical | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ħ~ʜ~ʢ~ʡ ⟨ħ⟩ | (ʔ) | ||||
| Fricative | f v | θ ⟨th⟩ | s z | ʃ ⟨š⟩ ʒ ⟨ž⟩ | x ⟨ch⟩ | h~ɦ ⟨h⟩ | |||
| Affricate | tʃ ⟨ť⟩ | ||||||||
| Approximant | (ʋ) | j | |||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||
| Lateral app. | l | ʎ ⟨ļ⟩ |
[v] is in free variation with [ʋ]. [ʔ] may occur only in morpheme boundaries.
Conditioned allophony
| Phoneme | Allophone | Condition(s) |
|---|---|---|
| /ħ/ | [ħ~ʜ] | #_, C[+voiceless]_ |
| [ʡ~ʢ] | V_V, C[+voiced]_ | |
| /h/ | [ɦ] | V_V, C[+voiced]_ |
| C[+obstruent, ±voiced] | C[+obstruent, ∓voiced] | _C[+obstruent, -guttural, ∓voiced] |
Vowels
Themsaran has six vowels, short and long. Short vowels have one mora (except for epenthetic e which has zero morae), and long vowels have two morae.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ ī /iː/ | y /ʉ̜/ ȳ /ʉ̜ː/ | u /u/ ū /uː/ |
| Mid | e /e̞/ ē /e̞ː/ | o /o̞/ ō /o̞ː/ | |
| Open | a /a/ ā /aː/ |
y ȳ is a close central half-rounded vowel.
The following are the diphthongs, all falling: ai au ei ie ua /ai au ei ie~ia uo~ua/. All diphthongs are bimoraic.
Pitch accent
Pitch accent, or tone, is phonemic in Themsaran. The following is the notation for tones:
| Short | Long | Diphthong | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unmarked | a | ā | ai |
| High | á | a̋ | ái |
| Low | à | ȁ | ài |
| Falling | - | â | âi |
| Rising | - | ǎ | ǎi |
The pitch accent of a word (of more than one mora) consists of two components: the lexical tone, and the position of the downstep (the latter is confined to appear after the 3rd-to-last mora). A high-tone word is consistently high until the downstep, whereafter the pitch drops sharply. A low-tone word starts low and has the highest pitch at the tonic mora, which is immediately before the downstep.
The following are the rules governing the marking Themsaran pitch accent:
- High lexical tone is marked in the initial syllable; low tone is not marked, unless necessitated by rule 2.
- The tonic syllable is always marked:
- If the downstep occurs after a long syllable (syllable with a long vowel or diphthong), the syllable is rising in a low-tone word, and high in a high-tone word.
- If the downstep occurs between the two morae of a long syllable, the syllable has falling tone.
- If the first syllable is tonic, the second syllable is marked as low.
If the downstep occurred word-finally, the first syllable of a following high tone word would have slightly lower pitch. In pausa, a word final high short syllable is realized as a falling, short vowel.
Clitics, unmarked, phonologically behave as parts of the following word and inherit the tone of the following word.
Phonotactics
The maximal syllable structure is CCCVCC, where V is any vowel or diphthong, the third consonant in the complex onset must be /j/, and the second consonant in the complex coda must be an obstruent. /ħ/ and /h/ are disallowed to occur in coda. Vowel hiatus is prohibited, as in Balto-Slavic and Semitic languages.
Orthography
Morphology
Nouns
Nouns and adjectives have a rich morphology, albeit less ornate than verbs. They inflect for number, definiteness and possessedness, but not for case. Nouns have two genders, masculine and feminine. In third-person possessed forms, Themsaran makes a distinction, realized tonally, between the absolute possessed form, which indicates a noun possessed by a pronoun, and the conjunct possessed form, used to indicate a possessive relationship between two nouns and agreeing with the gender of the possessor.
Definite forms are used as the vocative. Names of proper names, deities or deifications are primarily indefinite, but take definite agreement.
First declension
The first declension consists primarily of masculine nouns. Nouns ending in a consonant may contain an epenthetic e to break up a forbidden consonant clusters, particularly those ending in resonants. Nouns ending in -i display a lengthened -ī before a possessive suffix beginning with a consonant, and a -j before one beginning with a vowel.
| First declension | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||||||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |||||
| Unpossessed | -Ø | -ē | -ach | -ō | ||||
| 1sg | -ken | -n | -āst | |||||
| 2sg.m | -gze | -ze | -git | |||||
| 2sg.f | -kvi | -vi | -gis | |||||
| 3sg.m | -ku | -u | -ū | |||||
| 3sg.f | -ki | -i | -ȳ | |||||
| 4sg.m | -ksu | -thu | -thū | |||||
| 4sg.f | -ksi | -thi | -thȳ | |||||
| 1ex | -kam | -am | -che | |||||
| 1in | -kent | -ent | ||||||
| 2pl.m | -kys | -ys | -sra | |||||
| 2pl.f | -kyth | -yth | -sre | |||||
| 3pl.m | -kech | -eich | ||||||
| 3pl.f | -ker | -ier | ||||||
| 4pl.m | -ksech | -theich | ||||||
| 4pl.f | -kser | -thier | ||||||
Second declension
The second declension consists primarily of feminine nouns.
| Second declension | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||||||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |||||
| Unpossessed | -e | -ā | -ir | -enā | ||||
| 1sg | -ťen | -an | -aist | |||||
| 2sg.m | -zze | -za | ||||||
| 2sg.f | -ťve | -va | ||||||
| 3sg.m | -ťu | -au | ||||||
| 3sg.f | -ťi | -ai | ||||||
| 4sg.m | -šťu | -ath | ||||||
| 4sg.f | -šťi | -eth | ||||||
| 1ex | -ťem | -iem | ||||||
| 1in | -ťent | -ant | ||||||
| 2pl.m | -ťis | -ais | -ansra | |||||
| 2pl.f | -ťith | -aith | -ansre | |||||
| 3pl.m | -ťech | -āch | ||||||
| 3pl.f | -ťer | -air | ||||||
| 4pl.m | -šťech | -thāch | ||||||
| 4pl.f | -šťer | -thair | ||||||
Third declension
The third declension consists mainly of mass, collective and abstract nouns of both genders.
| Third declension | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||||||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |||||
| Unpossessed | -Ø | |||||||
| 1sg | -tun | -in | ||||||
| 2sg.m | -tize | -ize | ||||||
| 2sg.f | -tive | -ivi | ||||||
| 3sg.m | -tu | -ju | ||||||
| 3sg.f | -ti | -ji | ||||||
| 4sg.m | -ssu | -thu | ||||||
| 4sg.f | -ssi | -thi | ||||||
| 1ex | -tēm | -īm | ||||||
| 1in | -tent | -int | ||||||
| 2pl.m | -tys | -ȳs | ||||||
| 2pl.f | -tyth | -ȳth | ||||||
| 3pl.m | -tech | -īch | ||||||
| 3pl.f | -ter | -īr | ||||||
| 4pl.m | -ssech | -thich | ||||||
| 4pl.f | -sser | -thir | ||||||
Tonal patterns of nominals
Every noun falls under one of three tonal paradigms.
- kanûar ('sitting'): The most common paradigm, the downstep remains stationary, except as required by downstep rules or in the presence of the downstep-attracting absolute possession suffixes.
- šanťîel ('shunning/evading'): The downstep is never on the suffix.
Irregular nouns
Fossilized case marking
A descendant of a language with developed noun and adjective cases, Themsaran preserves vestigial case marking.
Irregular definiteness
The definite unpossessed inflection is a generalization from the accusative case, which marked the definite direct object in addition to adverbial uses, certain oblique objects and time expressions. As such definiteness is required in objects of a small number of prepositions, and some time expressions (e.g. nǐežȁm/minâm/krúamâm (< *nējžȁ-mî etc., instead of **nējžè-mî) "today"/"tonight"/"tomorrow", nǐežȁť ("that day"), krúamâ/ra̋zȁ/ħíŋšȁ/minâ "in the morning/at daytime/at dusk/at night") and adverbial expressions.
Fossilized oblique cases
Adjectives
Attributive adjectives agree in number, definiteness, gender and possessedness with their heads. Adjectival declension disagrees with nouns in that absolute possessive form of adjectives modifies the conjunct possessive of nouns. Predicate adjectives are declined differently. Adjectives also take degree inflection (positive, "less/least", "more/most", elative, "X enough", "too X"). Adjectives exhibit tonal ablaut like those of nouns.
Declension
Adjectives are either declined in 1st declension in the masculine and the 2nd for feminine, or the 3rd declension for masculine and 2nd for feminine with an extra suffix -m- added between the stem and the ending.
Predicate adjectives
| 1st/2nd declension | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | -e | -ū |
| Feminine | -a | -ān |
| 3rd declension | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | -et | -tie |
| Feminine | -em | -mtie |
Degree
Adjectives with degree inflections may be nominalized to derive meanings such as "supreme strength" from "the very strongest".
Irregular adjectives
Adverb formation
The adverbial suffix is -ar, and it can mean "[adjective]ly", or "like a [noun]" (latter meaning is less productive).
Pronouns
Personal
The independent personal pronouns are used in equational sentences, and for emphasis of what is already marked on the heads, whether the marking is about the subject, direct object, or oblique.
| Independent personal pronouns | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex |
na̋ |
châm |
| 1.in |
táŋên | |
| 2.m |
zéi |
srâs |
| 2.f |
véi |
srâth |
| 3.m |
žá |
žû |
| 3.f |
žî |
žân |
| 4.m |
ťá |
ťû |
| 4.f |
ťî |
ťân |
The fourth person has a more "focused" meaning, so it is used as the obviative and for other functions.
Demonstrative
The demonstratives have identical endings to personal pronouns in feminine singular and the plural. The adnominal demonstratives are mé (near speaker), ħé (near hearer), and ťá (distal; identical to 4th person pronoun), and the pronominal demonstratives are ím(é), íž(á), and íť(á).
When a demonstrative modifies a noun phrase, the noun and adjective modified take the indefinite form if unpossessed, and the definite form if possessed.
Reflexive
The reflexive pronoun is ktên, identical to the gender and number of the subject.
Reciprocal
The reciprocal pronoun, "each other", is nadnék. It originated from an adverb that was later reanalyzed as a pronoun.
Table of correlatives
| Table of correlatives | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interrogative | Near speaker | Near hearer | Distal | Existential | Negational | Elective | Collective | Distributive | |
| Adnominal | jé (who); jî (fem., rare); ján (what) |
mé | ħé | ťá | rôg | ||||
| Pronominal | ímé | ížá | íťá | ||||||
| Quality (what kind of) | jélt (declined like ímé) | mélt | ħélt | ťélt | |||||
| Place | jách; émmâ | mách; dátè | ħách | ťách | |||||
| Origin | |||||||||
| Destination | |||||||||
| Time | |||||||||
| Quantity/Extent | |||||||||
| Manner | jêr, díeŋkúl | mêr | ħêr | ťêr | |||||
| Cause | jěn | měn | ħěn | ťěn | |||||
| Purpose | |||||||||
In highly humble language, the "near speaker" and "near hearer" demonstratives are used in epithets for 1st and 2nd person respectively in lieu of grammatical 1st or 2nd person.
The difference between the two words for 'here' is that of clusivity: mách means "where I am/we(exc) are or pointing" whereas dátè means "where we(inc) are".
Verbs
Finite verbs are marked for TAM, mirativity, voice (active and mediopassive), the subject's person, number, and gender and, if the direct object is definite, is obligatorily marked with the (usually direct) object's person, number, and gender in most TAMs, except in the imperative. The verb may agree with an indirect object (which is typically animate) instead of with the direct object. Object agreement is often omitted in poetry. Verbs also have several non-finite forms, used with various subordinating conjunctions and relative clauses.
| −3 | −2 | −1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | /Downstep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mood/Evidential/Mirative | Applicative prefix | Imperfect prefix | STEM | Supplementary aspect | Supplementary voice | Voice-TAM-Subject-Object | Voice-TAM-Subject-Object |
An example of a fully inflected verb:
- zekmiheklēzittnévrīn
/zèkmihekleːzitːnevꜜriːn/
RDPL-mi-he-klēz-iħ-tn-évrīn
SBJV-APP.GOAL-PAST.IPFV-mix-ICP-APP/PAST.IPFV.PSS.3SG.F>3PL.F
they supposedly were beginning to obtain it by mixing them
Tense-Aspect-Mood
Basic TAMs
The basic tenses, marked with a combination of tone, suffixes and prefixes, are:
- Imperative
- Present
- Past imperfective
- Past perfective
- Future imperfective
- Future perfective
- Jussive
Imperative
The imperative is used to issue positive, direct orders.
Present
The present is used for events that take/are taking place in the present time, or for gnomic statemnets.
Jussive
The jussive bears a wide range of uses:
- optatives (wishes), polite requests and hortatives (urging);
- prohibitions, with the prohibitive marker (Ham skőtîr! "Don't walk!");
- imperatives in indirect speech, with the complementizer ne (Kýlês ne stumî. "He ordered me to go back.");
- purpose clauses, with a relativizer or other conjunctions; (ħéistê rin ti̋gamthé "the word to say"/"the word that should be said").
Supplementary aspects
Inceptive
The inceptive is the suffix -iħ (first conjugation) placed after the stem.
Cessative
The cessative is the suffix -ša (second conjugation).
Perfect
The perfect is formed periphrastically. The perfect clitic lakš is used with the past tenses to give the present perfect or pluperfect (there is no distinction) tense and is used with the future tenses to give the future perfect tenses.
Supplementary voices
Causative
The causative expresses causation or facilitation of the action. It is indicated by the suffix -nuh- after the masculine singular imperative, where the h assimilates to any fricative or may leave compensatory lengthening of the u.
Applicative
The applicative suffix, placed after the masculine singular imperative, is -t(e)n-. The applicative promotes an oblique object of a verb to the direct object position, for example "fight (a war)" > "fight (someone)" and downgrades the core object argument to an oblique argument. An optional applicative prefix may be used to qualify the relationship of the new object to the base verb (vi- for instrument, ša- for location, lua- for comitation, and mi- for goal). In the passive, the applicative finds much syntactic utility in constructing impersonal statements about an oblique object.
Supplementary moods
The mirative, marking information, inference or realization new to the speaker, is marked by a prefix consisting of first consonant of stem + e + last consonant of stem. The subjunctive, used for doubtful statements and for hypothetical outcomes, is marked by a similar prefix, with said consonants in reverse order.
- gélga̋lis!
/gélgaːꜜlis/
RDPL-ga̋lìs
MIR-sing-PRES.3SG.F
(Hey, look,) she's singing! - légga̋lis
/léggaːꜜlis/
RDPL-ga̋lìs
SBJV-sing-PRES.3SG.F
She supposedly sings/She would sing
Non-finite forms
The non-finite forms are participles and two infinitives.
The participle, which is available for all verbal categories, is used to construct VOS clauses, where O and S are full noun phrases, or O is a noun and S is a third- or fourth-person pronoun. VOS sentences lend more emphasis to the predicate than the neutral VSO. The tense of a participle is the tense relative to the tense of the main clause.
The possessor of the first infinitive represents the verb's subject. It is used in reason clauses, time clauses, indirect speech (as the first infinitive copula váls + participle) whose truth is doubted by the speaker, and more rarely purpose clauses.
The possessor of the second infinitive represents the verb's object. It is used as a complement to certain verbs and in any other situation calling for a verb with no independent subject or TAM, and is used adverbially with prepositions.
Conjugation of the active
The active voice is the default voice, used when the subject is the agent of the verb.
The three conjugations of Themsaran verbs are demonstrated below respectively with the verbs mólî - 'let me thank', nesâi - 'let me slay/kill (animate subject)', takvêi - 'let me know' (The citation form is the 1st person jussive). The first conjugation subsumes ħ-stem verbs, where the ħ assimilates into any consonant that begins an ending, and h-stem verbs, for which only fricative-beginning endings are so geminated, and for other consonants, undergoes compensatory lengthening of the vowel preceding the ending.
Subject affixes
| Imperative | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.in |
- |
mólèns! |
| 2.m |
mól! |
mólèls! |
| 2.f |
mólt! |
mólèrs! |
| Present | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex |
mólȉ |
mólmà |
| 1.in |
mólènse | |
| 2.m |
mólèr |
mólèlse |
| 2.f |
mólȅ |
mólèrse |
| 3.m |
mólè |
mólvì |
| 3.f |
mólìs |
móltì |
| Past imperfective | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex |
hémolêi |
hémólme |
| 1.in |
hémóltā | |
| 2.m |
hémolér |
hémolslé |
| 2.f |
hémolé |
hémolsré |
| 3.m |
hémólen | |
| 3.f |
hémólni |
hémolstí |
With initial vowels the he prefix combines thus:
- he+a→hā
- he+e→hē
- he+i→hei
- he+o→hō
- he+u→hū
- he+y→hȳ
- he+long vowel/diphthong = h+long vowel/diphthong
| Past perfective | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex |
mólén |
mólàm |
| 1.in |
móltȁ | |
| 2.m |
mólér |
mólslé |
| 2.f |
mólé |
mólsré |
| 3.m |
mólès | |
| 3.f |
mólsàr |
mólstí |
| Future imperfective | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex |
kámólin |
kámólam |
| 1.in |
kámólit | |
| 2.m | ||
| 2.f | ||
| 3.m | ||
| 3.f | ||
The ka- future imperfective prefix is combined the following way:
- ka-+a=kā-
- ka-+e=kai-
- ka-+i=kai-
- ka-+o=kā-
- ka-+a=kau-
- ka-+y=kau-
| Future perfective | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex |
mólchì |
mólchym |
| 1.in | ||
| 2.m | ||
| 2.f | ||
| 3.m |
mólchè |
|
| 3.f |
mólchà |
|
| Jussive | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex |
mólî |
mólémt |
| 1.in |
mólédna | |
| 2.m |
mólîr |
mólélt |
| 2.f |
mólét |
mólért |
| 3.m |
mólìm |
mólivá |
| 3.f |
mólisá |
mólitá |
Non-finite forms
The active participle is formed by infixing ⟨an⟩ before the nucleus of the first syllable of the stem of the third person masculine form and removing any final vowels.
The first infinitive is formed by suffixing -s to the 2nd person masculine singular imperative.
Conjugation of the mediopassive
The mediopassive marks the subject as a patient of the verb. Apart from passivity, mediopassives may have a derivational function; they may indicate reflexive action or change of state. As such there are quite a few deponent verbs, verbs that are inherently mediopassive, and also mediopassive counterparts of active intransitive verbs.
Subject affixes
| Imperative | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.in |
- |
mólvàns!
|
| 2.m |
mólvàr!
|
mólvàls!
|
| 2.f |
mólvȁ!
|
mólvàrs!
|
| Present | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex |
mólȉv
|
mólchỳs
|
| 1.in |
mólnìv
| |
| 2.m |
mólèrem
|
móllìv
|
| 2.f |
mólèrte
|
mólrìv
|
| 3.m |
mólèv
|
mólvìni
|
| 3.f |
mólvìn
|
mólvìti
|
| Past imperfective | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex | ||
| 1.in | ||
| 2.m | ||
| 2.f | ||
| 3.m | ||
| 3.f | ||
| Past perfective | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex | ||
| 1.in | ||
| 2.m |
mólû
|
|
| 2.f | ||
| 3.m | ||
| 3.f | ||
| Future imperfective | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex | ||
| 1.in | ||
| 2.m | ||
| 2.f | ||
| 3.m | ||
| 3.f | ||
| Future perfective | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex | ||
| 1.in | ||
| 2.m | ||
| 2.f | ||
| 3.m | ||
| 3.f | ||
| Jussive | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1.ex | ||
| 1.in | ||
| 2.m | ||
| 2.f | ||
| 3.m |
mólémth
|
|
| 3.f | ||
Non-finite forms
The static passive participle is formed through the infix ⟨ir⟩ in the stem. The dynamic passive participle is formed with the ⟨(i)s⟩.
Object affixes
- Main article: Themsaran bipersonal affixes
The object affixes combine at the end of the verb, sometimes in less predictable ways, to agree with the direct object.
| Object affixes | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | 2sg.m | 2sg.f | 3sg.m.dir | 3sg.f.dir | 4sg.m | 4sg.f | 3sg.m.inv | 3sg.f.inv | 1ex | 1in | 2pl.m | 2pl.f | 3pl.m.dir | 3pl.f.dir | 4pl.m | 4pl.f | 3sg.m.inv | 3sg.f.inv |
| -(e)n | -ze | -ve | -(j)u | -(j)i | -ť(u) | -ťi | -th(u) | -thi | -am | -(e)nt | -sŋa | -sŋe | -(e)ch, -ū | -(e)r, -īn | -ťech, -ťū | -ťer, -ťīn | -thech, -thū | -ther, -thīn |
Prepositions
Prepositions in Themsaran are inflected with pronominal enclitics. If the resulting combination is monosyllabic the syllable takes ´ or ˆ as the accent. If disyllabic (unless 1s, 3mp and 3fp) the second takes the ´ accent.
| Pronominal enclitics on prepositions | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | 2sg.m | 2sg.f | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 4sg.m | 4sg.f | 1ex | 1in | 2pl.m | 2pl.f | 3pl.m | 3pl.f | 4pl.m | 4pl.f |
| -(e)n | -ze | -vi | -(j)u | -(j)i | -thu | -thi | -am | -(e)nt | -sra | -sre | -(e)ch | -(e)r | -thech | -ther |
The following are inflections of prepositions:
| Inflection of ā, āC (comitative) | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | 2sg.m | 2sg.f | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 4sg.m | 4sg.f | 1ex | 1in | 2pl.m | 2pl.f | 3pl.m | 3pl.f | 4pl.m | 4pl.f |
| âħan | āzzé | āvví | āħá | āħé | ātthú | ātthí | ǎm | ǎnt | āsrá | āsré | āħách | āħár | ātthéch | ātthér |
| Inflection of di, d' 'in, at' | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | 2sg.m | 2sg.f | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 4sg.m | 4sg.f | 1ex | 1in | 2pl.m | 2pl.f | 3pl.m | 3pl.f | 4pl.m | 4pl.f |
| dîen | dîeze | dîevi | dîe | dî | dîethu | dîethi | dîem | dîent | dîesra | dîesre | dîech | dîer | dîethech | dîether |
| Inflection of vo 'to, for' | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | 2sg.m | 2sg.f | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 4sg.m | 4sg.f | 1ex | 1in | 2pl.m | 2pl.f | 3pl.m | 3pl.f | 4pl.m | 4pl.f |
| vôjen | vôzze | vôvve | vū | vȳ | vôthu | vôthi | vōtám | vônt | vōsrá | vōsré | vōjéch, vôch | vōjér, vôr | vosséch | vossér |
| Inflection of nai' 'with, by means of' | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | 2sg.m | 2sg.f | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 4sg.m | 4sg.f | 1ex | 1in | 2pl.m | 2pl.f | 3pl.m | 3pl.f | 4pl.m | 4pl.f |
| nâin | naizé | naivé | nājú | nājí | naithú | naithí | nājám | nâint | naisrá | naisré | nâich | nâir | naithéch | naithér |
| Inflection of la 'also | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | 2sg.m | 2sg.f | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 4sg.m | 4sg.f | 1ex | 1in | 2pl.m | 2pl.f | 3pl.m | 3pl.f | 4pl.m | 4pl.f |
| lâin | laizé | laivé | lajú | lâi | laithú | laithí | lajám | lâint | laisrá | laisré | lâich | lâir | laséch | lasér |
| Inflection of gle, gl' 'from' (ablative, partitive, substance) | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | 2sg.m | 2sg.f | 3sg.m | 3sg.f | 4sg.m | 4sg.f | 1ex | 1in | 2pl.m | 2pl.f | 3pl.m | 3pl.f | 4pl.m | 4pl.f |
| glên | glēzé | glēvé | glējú | glî | glēthú | glēthí | glējám | glênt | glēsrá | glēsré | glêch | glêr | glēthéch | glēthér |
The following prepositions have completely regular inflection:
- ašt 'without'
- chaŋ (! definite object) 'concerning'
- det 'towards'
- dienem 'inside, amidst'
- flyr 'agent'
- ħal 'in front of'
- mel 'agent, interchangeable with flyr'
- rimên 'because of (cause)'
- tor 'because (implication)'
- trig 'around'
Numerals
Themsaran employs a vigesimal numeral system.
| Themsaran numerals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | nth | n times | n each/at a time | 1/n | n days | n years | |
| ? | jǐes | jínáš | jísslè | ||||
| 1 | kêm | ħélàš | kêmslè | ||||
| 2 | títhâr | ŷrnàš | tístlè | ||||
| 3 | nárgè | palsáš | nárslè | ||||
| 4 | mullé | mulláš | mulslé | ||||
| 5 | |||||||
| 6 | |||||||
| 7 | |||||||
| 8 | |||||||
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| 40 | |||||||
| 60 | |||||||
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| 380 | |||||||
| 400 | |||||||
| 203 | |||||||
| 204 | |||||||
Syntax
The default constituent order is (time-place)-verb-subject-pronominal oblique object-direct object-(place-time). Any constituent may be topicalized or focalized by being placed in front of the verb.
Noun phrases
Numerals precede nouns; possessors follow their possessa (with poetic exceptions); demonstratives occur after attributive adjectives, which follow nouns. Inflected quantifiers (uninflected quantifiers, such as rôg "every/all", precede the numeral) come after the adjective by default, but precede the noun when a demonstrative is used and precede the numeral when a numeral is used. Within these boundaries there is a lot of leeway; an attributive adjective or a demonstrative can occupy any position between its head and the relative clause.
Distributive possession
To express the meaning of "our/your/their respective NP", the last noun of the NP is reduplicated in absolute possessed forms. The plural persons are decomposed as follows:
- 1ex.m: noun-1sg›sg noun-3sg.m›sg or noun-3sg.m›sg noun-1sg›sg
- 1ex.f: noun-1sg›sg noun-3sg.f›sg or noun-3sg.f›sg noun-1sg›sg
- 1in.m: noun-2sg.m›sg noun-1sg›sg or noun-1sg›sg noun-2sg.m›sg
- 1in.f: noun-2sg.f›sg noun-1sg›sg or noun-1sg›sg noun-2sg.f›sg
- 2pl.m: noun-2sg.m›sg noun-2sg.m›sg
- 2pl.f: noun-2sg.f›sg noun-2sg.f›sg
- 3pl.m: noun-3sg.m›sg noun-3sg.m›sg
- 3pl.f: noun-3sg.f›sg noun-3sg.f›sg
- 4pl.m: noun-4sg.m›sg noun-4sg.m›sg
- 4pl.f: noun-4sg.f›sg noun-4sg.f›sg
These exact forms are always used disregarding the finer aspects of gender composition in the group. Thus, for example, if the only male in a group speaks of "our (exclusive) respective villages", he will still say chmásán chmásâu "my village his village".
Equational sentences
The copula vákî is rarely used in the present tense. Instead, a 3rd- or a 4th-person pronoun (cliticized and therefore toneless) agreeing with the subject may be used anywhere in the sentence, or omitted (as is often the case, as the predicate adjectives and the end of each noun phrase are quite transparent). Both subject-predicate and predicate-subject orders may be found. The predicate-subject order tends to indicate a more permanent state of being, while the subject-predicate order denotes a more temporary state. The uncliticized pronoun is used when the subject is pronominal or when the copular pronoun is used at the end of a clause.
Predicative possession
"X has Y" is expressed with the verb gîe (exist, there is) followed by the possessive noun phrase "Y-indefinite-of X", if X is animate. If X is inanimate, the construction X ā Y ('X is with Y') is used.
Subordinating clauses
Themsaran prefers sentences with one independent (tensed realis) clause, with infinitives, jussives or participles in subordinate clauses (except usually in complement clauses).
Subordinating conjunctions
ach: although
ānne: when (with finite verb)
ar: if (provisional)
at: or
gin: if (metaphorical/counterfactual)
ie: and
ne: that (complementizer)
nit: if (gnomic)
nitrôg: that (restrictive)
nu: xor/nand
rin: that, which (non-restrictive)
seim: but, however
Relative clauses
The participial relative clause is introduced with a participle. An active participle's possessor is the object and a passive participle's possessor is the agent.
The finite relative clause is introduced optionally with a relativizer rin (non-restrictive and default) or nitrôg (restrictive; etymologically "whenever"). When the head is omitted, the relativizer is mandatory.
Complement clauses
Negation
Finite negation is done with the pre-verbal clitic tir, except in the future imperfective, where the particle vēt is used with the jussive.
The predicate negator is dâ(r).
Imperatives and jussives are negated by using the irrealis negation clitic ham with the jussive. Hám may be used as a standalone exclamation ("do not!"/"may it not happen!").
Coreferentiality
There are several situations where the strictly head-marking language tracks coreferentiality, or which agreeing noun a verb or pronoun taking a given agreement refers to.
Inverse marking
Themsaran has verbal affixes that force a particular, marked order of the sentence, called inverse marking. This marker serves simultaneously to trigger a more focused meaning on the more fronted constituent.
| Constituents | Direct (unless otherwise marked) | Inverse (forced reading) |
|---|---|---|
| VN | VS | VO |
| NV | SV | OV |
| VNN | VSO | VOS |
| NVN | SVO | OVS |
| NNV | OSV | SOV |
"Impersonal" sentences
There exist impersonal pronouns (identical to the interrogative "who"/"what", and distinguished by not being fronted), but they are only used as an intransitive subject. In other cases, the verb is put into the mediopassive (or mediopassive of causative or applicative, as appropriate).
Derivational morphology
Affixal
Nouns and Adjectives
- -índ-: diminutive
- -īd (f, 3): abstract noun
- -m-: originating from [noun/adjective]
- -ol-: pejorative
- -se (f, 2): singulative
- tir- non-, un-
- semantic agent of [verb]
- capable of agenthood
- semantic patient
- capable of patienthood
- fit to be a [noun/adjective]
- action of [verb]
- resultative of [verb]
- associated with [noun]
- instrument
- place
- -ful
- -less
- manner of [verb]ing
- [noun]-manship, proper way of [verb]ing/being [adjective]
Verbs
- intensive
- iterative
- momentane
- see/depict as
- [verb] to completion
- un-, dis- (intransitive)
- un-, dis- (transitive)
Compounding
Sample texts
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This language was made-to-attract-attention at-one-time.
Because of the best-ness of its quality, its believability and its ways-of-using, it was called for its being-made-to-attract-attention.
Sárthaittígā Tirléŋħā sŋéfȉl Láugvi̋dnīch Itávō
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Méisȁ 1
Article 1
Ta̋ŋrèvi rôg itávō dǔanȕ ie státhe̋dū sŋéfȉl ħalgīdîch ie láugvīdîch.
be.born.-pres.3pl.m all human-pl.def free.pl.m.pred and equal.pl.m.pred w.r.t. dignity-3pl.m›def.sg and entitlement-3pl.m›def.sg
All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
Tor pláħévnier ťlâħe ie ftiļiny̋že vōjéch, širŋúre tolbasêich ān nadnék nai hélki šyrfǎmīd.
as.implied.by bestow.pass.first.inf-3pl.f/conj reason and conscience dat.3pl.m, compulsory.-sg.m.pred behave.first.inf-3pl.m›def com one.another ins spirit-3sg.f›indef.sg/conj brotherhood.
They have been endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.