TolsianR

Background

Tolsian Revisited is an attempt at revamping much of that old conlang created something like 15 years ago by a child so that it becomes a slightly more consistent language. It is somewhat influenced by French and Latin but still an a priori conlang. It has its own alphabet which was actually created before the language itself.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial		Labio-dental		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Nasal		m				n						ɲ		ŋ
Plosive		pʰ p b				tʰ t d								kʰ k g
Fricative		ɸ β		f v		θ ð		s z		ʃ ʒ				x ɣ		χ ʁ		h
Approximant												j		w
Trill																ʀ
Flap						ɾ
Lateral approx.						l
Prenasalised occlusives		ᵐb				ⁿd								ᵑg

Vowels

		Front		Central		Back
Close		i y				u
Close-mid		e ø				o
Open-mid		ɛ				ɔ
Open				ä

There are also three nasalized vowels : ɑ̃, ɛ̃, ɔ̃.

Orthography

Tolsian has its own script and an official, perfectly matching romanization. The alphabet is considered to consist of 36 letters, plus diacritics :

Y y - /jo/, /ɔj/
Æ æ ; Æ̊ æ̊ - /aj/ ; /ja/
A a - /a/
B b - /b/
Q q - /ʃ/
D d - /d/
E e ; Ê ê ; Ě ě - /e/ ; /ɛ/ ; /ø/
G g ; G̊ g̊ ; Ñ ñ - /g/ ; /ᵑg/ ; /ɲ/
H h - /h/
I i - /i/
Ƶ ƶ ; Ƶ̆ ƶ̆ - /ð/ ; /ʒ/
K k - /k/
L l - /l/
M m - /m/
N n - /n/
O o ; Œ œ - /o/, /ɔ/ ; /o/
P p ; Ƥ ƥ - /p/ ; /ɸ/
R r - /ʁ/
C c ; S s - /s/ ; /θ/
T t ; Ŧ ŧ - /t/ ; /tʰ/, /t̚/
U u - /y/
V v ; F f - /v/ ; /f/
Ƿ ƿ - /wi/
Z z - /z/
Ɯ ɯ ; Ɯ̂ ɯ̂ ; Ɯ̌ ɯ̌ - /ɑ̃/ ; /ɛ̃/ ; /ɔ̃/
W w - /u/
X x (ou Ħ ħ) - /χ/
Ƃ ƃ - /bɾa/
Ŋ ŋ - /ŋ/
Ɋ ɋ - /h̪/
Ƀ ƀ - /β/

Grammar

Morphology

There are five main parts of speech in TolsianR : nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions.

Nouns

Nouns have definiteness, gender, number, and case. The case system is actually very reduced, with only three cases, corresponding to two forms : nominative, accusative, and oblique, the lattest having formally merged with nominative (it is considered Oblique mostly out of grammatical tradition). Definiteness is marked by definite and indefinite articles which agree in gender and number with the nouns. There are two numbers, singular and plural. Finally, the gender system is fairly complicated, as it consists of two dimensions interacting : masculine vs feminine on the one hand and animate vs inanimate on the other. However, different parts of speech agree with these two gender systems : articles and adjectives will take masculine or feminine markings, while verbs are conjugated differently depending upon whether the nouns is animate or inanimate. Nouns themselves are marked for gender, and for animatedness when in the accusative case. Also, when an adjective qualifies several nouns which are not all masculine or feminine, they take a neutral plural suffix ; but beyond those special cases, neutral has disappeared from TolsianR.

Definiteness

There are definite and indefinite articles, agreeing in gender and number with the nouns they modify.

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular Masculine	êl (ê before a consonant)	one (on before a vowel)
Singular Feminine	la (la' [l] before a vowel)	ona (ona' [on] before a vowel)
Plural Masculine	lec (lecͪ [le] before a consonant)	onec (onecͪ [one] before a consonant), dalec (dalecͪ) (neutral)
Plural Feminine	lec (lecͪ [le] before a consonant)	onac (onacͪ [ona] before a consonant), dalec (dalecͪ) (neutral)

Gender

On many nouns ending in a vowel, gender is identifiable as -e and -o are masculine markers, while -a is a feminine marker. But nouns ending with a consonant don't provide such cues. Animatedness is marked in the accusative case as the prefix will be ke- (or k- before a vowel) in the case of an inanimate noun, and dake- (or dak- before a vowel) in the case of an animate noun. Also, "natural" gender is usually reflected in the grammatical gender (nous which refer to male beings usually are masculine, and vice-versa) ; and "natural" animatedness is usually reflected in grammatical animatedness as well : people, animals and, it is worth noticing, plants, are usually animate, while objects, concepts etc are usually inanimate.

Articles and adjectives agree in gender with nouns depending on their being masculine or feminine, while verbs have a different conjugation depending on the animate vs inanimate opposition, and the accusative marker differs as well. In the plural there is a neutral form if masculine and feminine nouns are under the scope of the same modifier ; in adjectives, the vowel associated with neutral is -i. If a verb has a complex subject comprised of animate and inanimate nouns, most usually the animate conjugation will be used.

Number

Nouns can be singular or plural and articles, adjectives and verbs agree in number with the noun (or the subject in the case of the verb). Singular is unmarked, while plural is marked only after vowels, with the prefix /-s/, written <-c>. In the written register, it is also indicated after consonants by <-c>.

Case

Nominative and so-called oblique are unmarked, while accusative is marked with a prefix which is different depending on the animatedness status of the noun : the prefix will be ke- (or k- before a vowel) in the case of an inanimate noun, and dake- (or dak- before a vowel) in the case of an animate noun.

Verbs

There are two main classes of verbs : (A) those whose stem ends in a vowel, and (B) those whose stem ends in a consonant. Verbs ending with an -a or an -i usually just take an -r to form the infinitive, while the other ones usually take a -ƃ /bɾa/. Verbs agree in person, animatedness and number with their subject. There are formally seven persons in TolsianR : first singular, second singular, third singular, first plural, second plural, third plural, and the "polite" second person used in formal contexts for which number is neutralized.

Verbs are inflected for person, mood, tense, and animatedness. There are four moods : indicative, subjunctive, conditional, and so-called "absolute" (gnomic). The indicative mood splits into four tenses : present, imperfect past, perfect past, and future. There are also a present partitive and a past partitive, especially used for progressive aspect and passive voice, respectively.

	Class A Animate Gender	Class A Inanimate Gender
Indicative Present	stemV-∅ ; stemV-s ; stemV-t ; stemV-m ; stemV-ts ; stemV-n ; stemV-ne	stem-jV ; stem-jVs ; stem-jVt ; stem-jVm ; stem-jVts ; stem-jVn ; stemV-je
Indicative Imperfect Past	stem-(i)tV ; stem-(i)tVs ; stem-(i)tVt ; stem-(i)tVmo ; stem-(i)tVts ; stem-(i)tVn ; stem-(i)tVne	stem-(i)tʃV ; stem-(i)tʃVs ; stem-(i)tʃVt ; stem-(i)tʃVmo ; stem-(i)tʃVts ; stem-(i)tʃVn ; stem-(i)tVje
Indicative Perfect Past	stem-(i)fV ; stem-(i)fVs ; stem-(i)fVt ; stem-(i)fVmo ; stem-(i)fVti ; stem-(i)fVn ; stem-(i)fVne	stem-(i)fjV ; stem-(i)fjVs ; stem-(i)fjVt ; stem-(i)fjVmo ; stem-(i)fjVti ; stem-(i)fjVn ; stem-(i)fVje
Indicative Future	stem-(i)rV ; stem-(i)rVs ; stem-(i)rVt ; stem-(i)rVmo ; stem-(i)rVti ; stem-(i)rVn ; stem-(i)rVne	stem-(i)rjV ; stem-(i)rjVs ; stem-(i)rjVt ; stem-(i)rjVmo ; stem-(i)rjVti ; stem-(i)rjVn ; stem-(i)rVje
Subjunctive	stemV-ko ; stemV-kos ; stemV-kot ; stemV-komus ; stemV-kotis ; stemV-kona ; stemV-ke	stemV-kjo ; stemV-kjos ; stemV-kjot ; stemV-kjomus ; stemV-kjotis ; stemV-kjona ; stemV-kje
Conditional	stemV-no ; stemV-nos ; stemV-not ; stemV-nomus ; stemV-notis ; stemV-nona ; stemV-ne	stemV-jo ; stemV-jos ; stemV-jot ; stemV-jomus ; stemV-jotis ; stemV-jona ; stemV-je
Absolute (Gnomic)	stemV-jo ; stemV-jos ; stemV-jot ; stemV-jof ; stemV-joz ; stemV-jon ; stemV-je	stemV-joh ; stemV-joθ ; stemV-jot̚ ; stemV-joɸ ; stemV-joʒ ; stemV-jowi ; stemV-joð ; stemV-joː

In this table, the endings correspond, respectively, to 1SG, 2SG, 3SG, 1PL, 2PL, 3PL, and 2FORMAL persons. "Stem" represents the stem of the verb minus its final vowel, as the diverse verbal categories markers can be inserted between the final vowel and the rest of the verb root. The final vowel is represented by the letter "V". The verbal declensions are given in phonological form ; indeed, orthography is not entirely transparent here, which can be most appreciated with the [tʃ] of the inanimate imperfect past which results from affrication of /t/ before /j/. The "(i)" is an epenthetic i sometimes inserted to break some consonant clusters (rules not perfectly described yet). Let's illustrate this table with a Class A verb, barinir, "to want" :

Present Animate : barini, barinic, barinit, barinim, barinitc, barinin, barinine
Present Inanimate : bariñi, bariñic, bariñit, bariñim, bariñitc, bariñin, barinije (here there is also a palatalization of /n/ that has become a /ɲ/)
Imperfect Animate : barinti, barintic, barintit, barintimo, barintitc, barintin, barintine
Imperfect Inanimate : barinti͠i, barinti͠ic, barinti͠it, barinti͠imo, barinti͠itc, barinti͠in, barintije
Perfect Animate : barinifi ; barinific ; barinifit ; barinifimo ; barinifiti ; barinifin ; barinifine
Perfect Inanimate : barinifi͠i, barinifi͠ic, barinifi͠it, barinifi͠imo, barinifi͠iti, barinifi͠in, barinifije
Future Animate : barinri, barinric, barinrit, barinrimo, barinriti, barinrin, barinrine
Future Inanimate : bariniri͠i, bariniri͠ic, bariniri͠it, bariniri͠imo, bariniri͠iti, bariniri͠in, barinrije
Subjunctive Animate : bariniko, barinikoc, barinikot, barinikomuc, barinikotic, barinikona, barinike
Subjunctive Inanimate : bariniky, barinikyc, barinikyt, barinikymuc, barinikytic, barinikyna, bariniki͠e
Conditional Animate : barinino, barininoc, barininot, barininomuc, barininotic, barininona, barinine
Conditional Inanimate : bariniy (or barinii͠o), bariniyc (barinii͠oc), bariniyt (barinii͠ot), bariniymuc, bariniytic, bariniyna, barinii͠e
Absolute Animate : bariniy, bariniyc, bariniyt, bariniyf, bariniyz, bariniyn, barinii͠e
Absolute Inanimate : bariniyh, bariniys, bariniyŧ, bariniyƥ, bariniyƶ̆, bariniyƿ, bariniyƶ, bariniyœ

But it is debated whether orthography should reflect better the palatalization and some write : barintqi, barintqic, barintqit, barintqimo, barintqitc, barintqin.

	Class B Animate Gender	Class B Inanimate Gender
Indicative Present	stem-a ; stem-as ; stem-at ; stem-im ; stem-its ; stem-an ; stem-ine or stem-e	stem-ja ; stem-jas ; stem-jat ; stem-jim ; stem-jits ; stem-jan ; stem-jine or stem-je
Indicative Imperfect Past	stem-ita ; stem-itas ; stem-itat ; stem-itʃmo ; stem-itʃi ; stem-itan ; stem-itʃne or stem-ite	stem-itʃa ; stem-itʃas ; stem-itʃat ; stem-itʃimo ; stem-itʃits ; stem-itʃan ; stem-itʃe
Indicative Perfect Past	stem-ifa ; stem-ifas ; stem-ifat ; stem-ifimo ; stem-ifits ; stem-ifan ; stem-ifine or stem-ife	stem-ifja ; stem-ifjas ; stem-ifjat ; stem-ifjimo ; stem-ifjits ; stem-ifjan ; stem-ifje
Indicative Future	stem-ira ; stem-iras ; stem-irat ; stem-irimo ; stem-irits ; stem-iran ; stem-irine or stem-ire	stem-irja ; stem-irjas ; stem-irjat ; stem-irjimo ; stem-irjits ; stem-irjan ; stem-irje
Subjunctive	stem-iko ; stem-ikos ; stem-ikot ; stem-ikomus ; stem-ikotis ; stem-ikona ; stem-ike	stem-ikjo ; stem-ikjos ; stem-ikjot ; stem-ikjomus ; stem-ikjots ; stem-ikjona ; stem-ikje
Conditional	stem-o ; stem-os ; stem-ot ; stem-omus ; stem-otis ; stem-ona ; stem-e	stem-jo ; stem-jos ; stem-jot ; stem-jomus ; stem-jotis ; stem-jona ; stem-je
Absolute (Gnomic)	stem-jo ; stem-jos ; stem-jot ; stem-jof ; stem-joz ; stem-jon ; stem-je	stem-joh ; stem-joθ ; stem-jot̚ ; stem-joɸ ; stem-joʒ ; stem-jowi ; stem-joð ; stem-joː

Let's illustrate this table with the Class B verb vekƃ, "to help" :

Present Animate : veka, vekac, vekat, vekim, vekitc, vekan, vekine / veke
Present Inanimate : vekæ̊, vekæ̊c, vekæ̊t, veki͠im, veki͠itc, vekæ̊n, veki͠ine / veki͠e
Imperfect Animate : vekita, vekitac, vekitat, vekitimo, vekititi, vekitan, vekitine / vekite
Imperfect Inanimate : vekitæ̊, vekitæ̊c, vekitæ̊t, vekiti͠imo, vekiti͠itc, vekitæ̊n, vekiti͠e
Perfect Animate : vekifa, vekifac, vekifat, vekifimo, vekifitc, vekifan, vekifine / vekife
Perfect Inanimate : vekifæ̊, vekifæ̊c, vekifæ̊t, vekifi͠imo, vekifi͠itc, vekifæ̊n, vekifi͠e
Future Animate : vekira, vekirac, vekirat, vekirimo, vekiritc, vekiran, vekirine / vekire
Future Inanimate : vekiræ̊, vekiræ̊c, vekiræ̊t, vekiri͠imo, vekiri͠itc, vekiræ̊n, vekiri͠e
Subjunctive Animate : vekho (< vekiko), vekhoc (< vekikoc), vekhot (< vekikot), vekhomuc (< vekikomuc), vekotic (< vekikotic), vekhona (< vekikona), vekhe (< vekike) (with class B verbs ending in -k, we have /kʰ/ instead of expected/kik/)
Subjunctive Inanimate : vekhy (< vekiky), vekhyc (< vekikyc), vekhyt (< vekikyt), vekhymuc (< vekikymuc), vekhytc (< vekikytc), vekhyna (< vekikyna), vekhi͠e (vekiki͠e)
Conditional Animate : veko, vekoc, vekot, vekomuc, vekotic, vekona, veke
Conditional Inanimate : veky (or veki͠o), vekyc (veki͠oc), vekyt (veki͠ot), vekymuc, vekytic, vekyna, veki͠e
Absolute Animate : veky, vekyc, vekyt, vekyf, vekyz, vekyn, veki͠e
Absolute Inanimate : vekyh, vekys, vekyŧ, vekyƥ, vekyƶ̆, vekyƿ, vekyƶ, vekyœ

Some write instead : vekitqmo, vekitqi , vekitqne (imperfect animate), vekitqa, vekitqac, vekitqat, vekitqimo, vekitqitc, vekitqan, vekitqe (imperfect inanimate).