TLINA; QHOL
The city for conlangs
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[edit] A Summary of the Language of the True Tli
Tlina is the language spoken by a renegade band of cultural reconstructionists on the near side of the first moon of Qqhonnos.
[edit] Phonology
Traditionally linguists transcribe Tlina in all capitals. This is because neighboring languages were transcribed with a system of mixed capital and small letters, but the articulation points represented by the capital letters constitute almost the entire phonemic inventory of Tlina.
[edit] Consonants
None of the consonants of Tlina have English equivalents. Though characteristics such as voiced, voiceless, nasal, stop, fricative, and affricate are implied by the transliteration, the articulation points are unknown in English, and relatively rare in Earth languages.
Labiodental (upper lip against lower teeth): P, B, V, M, W
Retroflex (tongue curled toward roof of mouth): T, D, S, TS, DJ, N, L, TL
Uvular (Further back than "k" near the fleshy bulb that hangs down in the back of the throat): Q, G, QH, GH, QQH, GGH, NG, R
Pharyngeal (not quite as far back as glottal): ;
[edit] Vowels
Low back: A (like "a" in "father")
Mid central: E (like "u" in "cup")
High central: I (almost like "i" in "sip" but nearer the roof of the mouth)
Mid back: O (like "o" in "old")
High back: U (like "oo" in "tool")
Cognates with the nearest known related language of Tlina show that G evolved from a trilled r, and in many dialects, the G retains the trill quality. In addition, the R evolved from a velar Y, which presumably followed a consolidation of velar and uvular sounds. Most related language transcription systems use an apostrophe for the glottal stop, which evolved into a pharyngeal stop and is indicated by a semicolon.
The vowels O and U are only rounded when they occur adjacent to a labiodental consonant.
[edit] Syntax
[edit] Core Word Order
Word order in Tlina is generally OVS, but any word that represents the focus escapes the OVS construct and is promoted to the beginning of it. A noun that represent focus takes the -;E; suffix. The following patterns are used:
object-verb-subject (for no focus or for object focus)
subject-object-verb (for subject focus)
verb-object-subject (for verb focus)
[edit] Examples
GHOW GHUP VADJ. The warrior swallows the bug.
GHOW;E; GHUP VADJ. The warrior swallows a bug. ("Bug" is the asserted information.)
VADJ;E; GHOW GHUP. A warrior swallows the bug. ("Warrior" is the asserted information.)
GHUP GHOW VADJ. The warrior swallows the bug. ("Swallow" is the asserted information.) OR A warrior swallows a bug. (Entire sentence is asserted information.)
The focus most often denotes information that is being introduced to the dialog for the first time. The English article "a(n)" is conventionally applied in the translation of the focal phrase, because "a(n)" marks non-specific nouns, which may be new to the hearer. But that does not mean that "a(n)" is always the most accurate way to translate foci in Tlina.
