T̟alīf

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Shemtov
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T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

T̟alīf is a language spoken on the east coast of the continent where Shaniija and Arrungi are spoken. It is a Triliteral root language.

Phonology:
/p pʰ~f t̪ t̪ʰ~θ ʈ ʈʰ~ɻ̝̊ c cʰ~ç k kʰ~x/ <p p~f t th t̟ t̟h c ch k kh>
/m n ɳ ɲ ŋ/ <m n n̟ ny ng>
/s ʂ h/ <s s̟ h>
/r/ <rr>
/l ɭ/ <l l̟>
/w ɻ j/ <w r y>

/i a ə u/ <i a e u>
/i: a: ə: u:/ <ī ā ē ū>

The fricative allophones of aspirated consonants are used intervocally or between vowels.
Some common noun patterns from verbs:
CaCaC- the Basic derived form T̟alaf- word
CaCīC- a more general or inclusive word- T̟alīf"Language"

Some nouns are not derived from verbs at all:
S̟ēs "Dog"

Noun declension:
Nouns have three cases, Nominative, Genitive and acusittive and three numbers Singular, Dual and Plural.

Nominative singular: S̟ēs
Genitive singular: S̟ēsi
Accusative singular: S̟ēsa


Nominative dual: S̟ēsem
Genitive dual: S̟ēsim
Accusative dual: S̟ēsam


Nominative plural: S̟ēseng
Genitive plural: S̟ēsīng
Accusative plural: S̟ēsāng
Last edited by Shemtov on 14 Jul 2017 20:09, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

Verbs come in 6 forms. All examples here are in 3rd person singular, present tense.

Form I CīCac- The plain form:
T̟īlaf "He is speaking"

Form II CēCeC- The causative form
T̟ēlef "He is causing someone to speak"

Form III CaCūC- the passive form
T̟alūf "He is being spoken to"


Form IV CīC:aC- The intensive form:
T̟īllaf "He is exhorting"



Form V CēC:eC- The intensive causative form
T̟ēllef "He is causing someone to exhort"

Form VI CaC:ūC- the Intensive passive form
T̟allūf "He is being exhorted"


Verbs take person with prefixes:
Ya- 1P
Nu-1P.PLR
Ta-2P
Tē-2P Plural
∅- 3P
Hu- 3P Plural
Thus:
Yat̟īlaf "I am speaking"
Nut̟īlaf "we are speaking"
Tat̟īlaf- "You are speaking"
Tēt̟īlaf -You all are speakig"
T̟īlaf "He or she is speaking"
Hut̟īlaf- "They are speaking"
Last edited by Shemtov on 14 Jul 2017 01:09, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

The past tense is formed by using the personalmarkers as suffixes:
t̟īlafeya "I spoke; I was speaking"
t̟īlafenu "We spoke; we were speaking"
t̟īlafta- "You spoke; You were speaking"
t̟īlafetē -You all spoke; You all were speakig"
T̟īlafū "He or she spoke ; He or she was speaking"
t̟īlafehu- "They spoke; They were speaking"

The demonstratives are proximate Nafa and nakha. To form the future tense, yoou prefix Nakha to the verb.
Nakha Yat̟īlaf
"I will speak"

This is short for the more formal:
Tāt nakha tamal Yat̟īlaf
"At that (DIST) time, I speak"
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

Based on the above, we can form simple sentences:
Nakha yanyīttat nafa s̟ēsa
"I will beat up this dog"
Ny-t-t "To strike"

Kalam t̟alūf
"The Shepherd is being spoken to"
(It must be noted that the word Kalam actually means "Herder of llamas" but I have chosen to go with "shepherd")

S̟ēs nīsatu kalama
"The dog bit the shepherd"

Kalam makūm s̟ēsa
"The shepherd was killed by the dog"

Kalam mīkam s̟ēsa
"The Shepherd killed the dog".

Kalam hēkelu kalīma
"The shepherd caused the llama to be eaten"
Last edited by Shemtov on 25 Jul 2017 18:06, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

Verbs with w and /j/ as the second radical take unusual forms:

Example verb 1: P-Y-T̟
Form I:
Piyat̟

Form II
Peyet̟

Form III
Peyut̟


Form IV:
Pīt̟



Form V
Pēyt̟

Form VI
Pūyt


Example verb 2: M-W-N "To drink"
Form I:
Miwan

Form II
Mewen

Form III
Mewun


Form IV:
Mūn



Form V
Mēwn

Form VI
Mūwen
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

Verbs of Motion:
Let's take for example the verb H-S-K "To run"

The word Hawun means "Beach"

Yahīsak nyehawun
"I run from the beach"

Yathīsak rehawun
"I run to the beach"


You see the prefixes nye- and re- mean "from" and "to", respectively.


But what about location? The prefix there is Pha:

Nakha yat̟īlaf phahawun
"I will speak at the beach"


Some nouns, mostly those not derived from verbs, take the suffix -es instead:

Nakha yat̟īlaf lat̟hules
"I will speak at the house"


The prefix <re>, seen above meaning "to go to" also has a dative meaning with an accusative ending:
S̟-kh-n "To Give"

S̟īkhaneya kalīmang rekalama
"I gave llamas to the shepherd"
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

T̟alīf has a rich system of prepositions. This post will discuss some non-locative ones.
Ngī-Like, used in qualitive comparison:
Ngi kalam thīsak rekalīmeng
Ngi kalam thīsak re-kalīm-eng
like shepherd run.3P to-llama-PLR
"Like a shepherd, he ran towards the llamas"

Rra- "there is not" used like German "Kein". Not used to negate verbs.

S̟īkhaneya kalīmang rra rekalama
"It was not llamas I gave to the shepherd [but something else]"

Phan- with
Phan kalam yathīsak rekalīmeng
"I ran with the shepherd to the llamas"

Nyēn "Part of; some of"
Nyēn kalīmeng mīrrakhehu
"Some of the llamas escaped"
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Omzinesý »

The language looks interesting.
You though say quite little and it's hard to read the grammar from the example sentences. I know I do the opposite and just tell the grammar without examples, which is at least as difficult.
The prefix <re>, seen above meaning "to go to" also has a dative meaning with an accusative ending:
S̟-kh-n "To Give"

S̟īkhaneya kalīmang rekalama
"I gave llamas to the shepherd"
Is <re> some kind of a serial verb or just a case/clitic?

I like the means to express location/direction. There is interesting redundancy.
My meta-thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5760
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

Omzinesý wrote:
Is <re> some kind of a serial verb or just a case/clitic?

It is a proclitic.
Omzinesý wrote:


I like the means to express location/direction. There is interesting redundancy.
Can you give examples of what you like? And what do you mean "Redundancy"?
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

More locative prepositions:
Phahā- On top of
Kalam mīs̟afū s̟esa phahā kalīma
Kalam mīs̟af-ū s̟es-a phahā kalīm-a
shepherd PLAIN\place-3P.PST dog-ACC on.top.of llama-ACC
"The Shepherd put the dog on top of the llama"

pes̟-Under:
Kalam mīs̟afū s̟esa pes̟ kalīma
Kalam mīs̟af-ū s̟es-a pes̟ kalīm-a
shepherd PLAIN\place-3P.PST dog-ACC under llama-ACC
"The Shepherd put the dog under the llama"

Phasakan- to the right of
Kalam mīs̟afū s̟esa phasakan kalīma
"The shepherd put the dog to the right of the llama"

Phatatam- to the left of
Kalam mīs̟afū s̟esa phatatam kalīma
"The shepherd put the dog to the left of the llama"

Phasat̟akh- in front of
Kalam mīs̟afū s̟esa phasat̟akh kalīma
"The shepherd put the dog in front of the llama"

Phan̟anyas- behind of
Kalam mīs̟afū s̟esa phan̟anyas kalīma
"The shepherd put the dog behind the llama"
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Omzinesý »

Shemtov wrote:
Omzinesý wrote:
Is <re> some kind of a serial verb or just a case/clitic?

It is a proclitic.
Omzinesý wrote:


I like the means to express location/direction. There is interesting redundancy.
Can you give examples of what you like? And what do you mean "Redundancy"?
I just mean variation between /pha/ and /es/.
My meta-thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5760
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

Omzinesý wrote:
Shemtov wrote:
Omzinesý wrote:
Is <re> some kind of a serial verb or just a case/clitic?

It is a proclitic.
Omzinesý wrote:


I like the means to express location/direction. There is interesting redundancy.
Can you give examples of what you like? And what do you mean "Redundancy"?
I just mean variation between /pha/ and /es/.
This was inspired by Biblical Hebrew, which had two ways of saying "going to": a common proclitic /lə/ and a rarer suffix /ɔh/, but some locations in the canon never take /ɔh/.
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

Negation of verbs is formed by putting the particle N̟ā in front of the verb or verb phrase:
N̟ā nakha yanyīttat nafa s̟ēsa
"I will not beat up that dog"

Coordinating Conjunctions:
Rū "and":
S̟īkhaneya kalīmāng rū s̟ēsāng rekalama
S̟īkhan-eya kalīm-āng rū s̟ēs-āng re-kalam-a
PLAIN\give-1P.PST llama-PLR.ACC and dog-PLR.ACC DAT-shepherd-ACC
"I gave the shepherd llamas and dogs"

Wi- for; because
S̟īkhaneya kalīmang rekalama wi thīsakū rekalīmeng
S̟īkhan-eya kalīm-ang re-kalam-a wi thīsak-ū re-kalīm-eng
PLAIN\give-1P.PST llama-ACC.PLR DAT-shepherd-ACC because PLAIN\run-3P.PST to-llama-PLR
"I gave the shepherd llamas because he ran toward the llamas"

L̟a-or
S̟īkhaneya kalīmāng l̟a s̟ēsāng rekalama
S̟īkhan-eya kalīm-āng l̟as̟ēs-āng re-kalam-a
PLAIN\give-1P.PST llama-PLR.ACC or dog-PLR.ACC DAT-shepherd-ACC
"I gave the shepherd either llamas or dogs"
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

We have seen two noun-forming patterns with verb roots: CaCaC and CaCīC.
Stems come in two types based on how they interact with these patterns "Generalizers" and "Actors", Hereafter referred to as G-Stems and A-Stems.
G-Stems take the CaCaC pattern and use it to refer to a specific or limited noun related to the verb, and the CaCīC pattern as a general word related to the verb. They are unpredictable on exactly what "limited" and "general" mean.
Examples:
T̟-L-F "Speech"
T̟alaf- word
T̟alīf"Language"

Ny-T-T "to slap"
Nyatat "a slap"
Nyatīt "a slap-fight"


H-S-K "to run"
Hasak "a swift motion"
Hasīk "Swiftness"


A-stems use the CaCaC pattern to refer to actors on the verb and the CaCīC pattern to refer to undergoers:
K-L-M "To herd"
Kalam "a shepherd"
Kalīm "a Llama"

M-W-N "to drink"
Mawan "A Thirsty person"
Mawīn "Water"

G-Stems form their "actor" forms with the pattern CūCuC and their undergoer forms with the pattern maCeCīC:

T̟ūluf "a speaker"
Mat̟elīf "one spoken to"

Nyūtut "a slapper"
Manyetīt "one slapped"

Both form the gerund with the form CāCeCā
Tālefā "Speaking"
Nyātetā "Slapping"
Hāsekā "running"
Kālemā "Herding"
Māwenā "Drinking"
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Lambuzhao »

FYI:

actor [->] agent

undergoer [->] patient

I don't know how 'old-fashioned' it is, but nomen agentis (Lit. 'name of the doer') is the term for the NMLZ that turns a verb into an actor/agent.

I think they're called agent nouns now.
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Lambuzhao »

The demonstratives are proximate Nafa and nakha. To form the future tense, yoou prefix Nakha to the verb.
Nakha Yat̟īlaf
"I will speak"
Okay, so nafa = PROX 'this' and nakha = DIST 'that' ?

But…
Based on the above, we can form simple sentences:
Nakha yanyīttat nafa s̟ēsa
"I will beat up that dog"
:?:
:wat:
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

Lambuzhao wrote:
The demonstratives are proximate Nafa and nakha. To form the future tense, yoou prefix Nakha to the verb.
Nakha Yat̟īlaf
"I will speak"
Okay, so nafa = PROX 'this' and nakha = DIST 'that' ?

But…
Based on the above, we can form simple sentences:
Nakha yanyīttat nafa s̟ēsa
"I will beat up that dog"
:?:
:wat:
That was a simple mistake in translation. Nothing to get that worked up about.
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

Lambuzhao wrote:FYI:

actor [->] agent

undergoer [->] patient

I don't know how 'old-fashioned' it is, but nomen agentis (Lit. 'name of the doer') is the term for the NMLZ that turns a verb into an actor/agent.

I think they're called agent nouns now.
A. I've been reading a lot of old grammars that use "actor" and "undergoer" and b. I've been doing a lot of reading about Austronesian languages where the terms "actor" and "undergoer" are still used in the literature. This influenced my choice of words.
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Omzinesý »

Sorry for again commenting terms instead of the language.
Shemtov wrote:
Lambuzhao wrote:FYI:

actor [->] agent

undergoer [->] patient

I don't know how 'old-fashioned' it is, but nomen agentis (Lit. 'name of the doer') is the term for the NMLZ that turns a verb into an actor/agent.

I think they're called agent nouns now.
A. I've been reading a lot of old grammars that use "actor" and "undergoer" and b. I've been doing a lot of reading about Austronesian languages where the terms "actor" and "undergoer" are still used in the literature. This influenced my choice of words.
Robert Van Valin uses "actor" to mean a generalized agent, the most agentlike argument. Verbs like 'kill' or 'sing' have quite pure agents but verbs like 'see' or 'think' have less agentlike subjects. So he calls subjects of all those verbs "actors". Similarly his "undergoer" can mean patients, themes..., even recipients sometimes, the most patientlike argument.
That's though just one way to use the terms.
My meta-thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5760
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Re: T̟alīf

Post by Shemtov »

More Nominalazation patterns:
muCāCēC " a place where the action happens:
Mukālēm "a herding ground"
Munyātēt "a Whipping-post"
Mumāwēn "a well"

t̟iCiCāC "a tool that does the action"
T̟ikilām "a Shepherd's staff"
T̟inyitāt "a whip"
T̟imiwān "a cup"
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