Verse:Hmøøh/USB

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Tizian
tízimso
Pronunciation[/ˈtʰizimso/]
Created by
Extinct220 v.T.
Language codes
ISO 639-3qti
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.


Tizian
tízimso
Type
Fusional
Alignment
Nominative-accusative, head-marking
Head direction
Initial Mixed Final
Primary word order
Verb-second
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
No
Nouns decline according to...
Case Number
Definiteness Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect


Tizian (amysso tízimso /ˈʔamʉsso ˈtʰizimso/)

Inspirations: Welsh, Sanskrit, Burmese

Phonology

Consonants

Tizian consonants
Labial Coronal Lateral Velar Radical Glottal
Nasal m m̥ n n̥
Plosive voiceless p t k ʡ (ʔ)
voiced b d g
voiceless aspirated ʡʰ
voiced aspirated
Fricative/Affricate voiceless f θ s ɬ x ħ h
voiced v ð z ɣ ʕ (ɦ)
voiceless aspirated pfʰ tθʰ sʰ tɬ dɮ kxʰ
voiced aspirated bvʱ dðʱ zʱ tɬʰ dɮʱ gɣʱ
Approximant w ʍ l
Trill r r̥

Word-finally consonant aspiration is realized as aspirated or released consonants. Medial voiced aspirated consonants are prenasalized.

Some rather archaic dialects realize the radical consonants /ʡ ʡʰ ʕ ħ/ as /q qʰ χ qχʰ/.

Consonant gradation

Tizian employs grammatical consonant gradation, diachronically from tonal distinctions (namely alternation between unaspirated (commonly called "viscous") and aspirated ("dilute") consonants, of which the latter is marked with an acute accent (historical high tone), after the affected consonant) in nouns, adjectives and verbs. This gives Tizian a theoretical inventory of 50-odd consonants, exceeding Proto-Zachydic in its complexity.

Consonant gradation
Grapheme m p b f w v n t d th ð s z r l λ ŧ š ž c g ch gh q ħ Ø, h
"Viscous" /m/ /p/ /b/ /f/ /w/ /v/ /n/ /t/ /d/ /θ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /r/ /l/ /tɬ/ /dɮ/ /tʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /k/ /g/ /x/ /ɣ/ /ʡ/ /ʕ/ Ø
"Dilute" /m̥/ /pʰ/ /bʱ/ /pfʰ/ /ʍ/ /bvʱ/ /n̥/ /tʰ/ /dʱ/ /tθʰ/ /dðʱ/ /sʰ/ /zʱ/ /r̥/ /ɬ/ /tɬʰ/ /dɮʱ/ /tʃʰ/ /dʒʱ/ /kʰ/ /gʱ/ /kxʰ/ /gɣʱ/ /ʡʰ/ /ħ/ /h/

and λ come from loanwords (especially Raxicisms).

Vowels

Front Central Back
plain rhotacized plain rhotacized plain rhotacized
Close i /i/ ii /i˞(ˑ)/ y /ɵ/ yy /ɵ˞(ˑ)/ u /u/ uu /u˞(ˑ)/
Mid e /æ/ ee /æ˞(ˑ)/ a /ɑ/ aa /ɑ˞(ˑ)/
Open

Nouns

Main article: Tizian/Declension patterns

Four numbers are used in Tizian: generic, partitive, singulative and plurative. The generic number refers to an unspecified member or members of a set or to the whole set. The partitive number is used with quantifiers and also with the meaning "some X". Singulative and plurative respectively denote one and multiple specific items.

Declension
Number→ Generic Partitive Singulative Plurative
Indefinite -ch -s -syr
Definite -so -sno
1sg
2sg
3sg.animate
3sg.inanimate
1ex
1in
2pl
3pl.animate
3pl.inanimate
Impersonal
Relative

Possession

Possession is marked on the possessum with a possessive suffix (possessum-suffix possessor) if and only if said possessum is definite.

Aspiration may be lost or gained in conjunct state: byrs /bʉrs/ "a cloud" > býrs /bʱʉrs/ "a cloud of..."

Pronouns

The first person singular can be used as an impersonal pronoun.

Besides their respective literal meanings, in contexts with unclear clusivity cho has a more "objective" connotation and wến a more intimate/"rhetorical" one.

  • 1sgv: nó
  • 2sgv: í
  • 3sgv.an: ðe
  • 3sgv.inan: ŧé
  • 1plv.ex: cho
  • 1plv.in: wéen
  • 2plv: sló
  • 3plv.an: ðu
  • 3plv.inan: ŧú
  • 3gen: ða
  • 3part: ti
  • Impersonal: is

Verbs

Verbs display consonant gradation based on tense and subject agreement. The predesinential consonant is unvoiced resonant/aspirated plosive in the present, and changing this to voiced resonant/unaspirated plosive in the jussive or past tense: (arlí /ar̥ɬi/: "I set up, prepare (transitive)"; arli /arli/: "that I may prepare")

Generic nouns take singular agreement if referring to an inanimate, and plural if animate.

Split ergativity

The ergative particle le is used before an ergative noun phrase. The default alignment is ergative, with 1st and 2nd person arguments inducing nominative/accusative alignment on both nouns and verbs; only 1st and 2nd person patients can be passivized, and only 3rd person agents can be antipassivized.

Syntax

Word order

Tizian is a mostly V2 language, i.e. in independent clauses the word order is most commonly SVO, but in dependent clauses will change to VSO. It will not be difficult to analyze Tizian as a topic prominent language in which the basic VSO word order changes to front the topic in independent clauses.

Copulas

The copula im literally means "to be an element/subset of", thus it turns the predicate into the generic number.

Equivalence of one entity to another, on the other hand, is expressed with a different copula vók.

Relative clauses

The relativizer r(i)- and/or the relative pronominal suffixes are used only for the case of restrictive relative clauses. In non-restrictive relative clauses 3rd person resumptive pronouns are used as in a full clause; in the same vein, predicate adjectives are used as non-restrictive adjectives.

Conjunctions

  • i (e before i): and
  • wadee: again, also
  • vynt: also, too
  • el: or
  • nu: xor
  • ach: but