Tixistani

Tixistani Yelað Tikkŕistar
Type
Fusional
Alignment
Ergative
Head direction
right branching
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

General Information

Tixistani (natively Yelað Tikkŕistar /jelʌ́θ tikːrístʌɹ/) is the native language of the alien Cittus, specifically the Tixist people (Tikkŕista) in Tixistan, a large country on Cittus-V (’Es).

Phonology

Consonants

		dental	alveolar	dorsal	glottal
stop	tenuis		t(ː)	k(ː)	ʔ
fricative	voiceless	θ(ː)	s(ː)	ʟ̝̊(ː)	h(ː)
	voiced		z	ɣ ʟ̝(ː)
approximant			ɹ(ː) ɫ(ː)	j
trill			r

• Syllable-final /h/ and geminate /hː/ are allophonically realized as voiceless bidental fricatives [h̪͆].

Vowels

	front	back
high	i	ɯ
low	ɛ	ʌ

Diphthongs: /ɯi̯/, /ɛi̯/, /ɛʌ̯/, and /ʌi̯/

Phonotactics

• CV(C)(C)
• The V can be a monophthong or a diphthong.
• Geminate consonants count as two consonants, can occur before before another (non-geminate) consonant, and cannot occur on a word boundary.
• Clusters of more than three consonants are not allowed.
• Vowel hiatuses are broken up by glottal stops.

Stress

Stress is not phonemic. It is on the first syllable if the word ends in a vowel, or on the second if the word ends in a consonant, ex. gehhu /ɣéhːu/ vs ’eruz /ʔeɹúz/. Words ending in a diphthong can be stressed on either. Long words of over three or four syllables like Yektaððtaysuz "special district" will tend to break this pattern and be stressed on the third or fourth syllable, though this is not considered proper.

Writing System

Native Script

Basics

Tixistani is written in a semi-syllabary called ’Urshef or Rallisata. It has many interesting features:

• The letters for high vowels pull double-duty as consonants (U with G and I with Y). When two are next to each other, it must be inferred from context which are consonants.
• Stop consonants are written as syllable blocks with each vowel. 
• If a stop is not adjacent to any vowel, then the syllable block chosen would be one with a vowel from an adjacent side, and no variation mark (so Sulksay is written as ⟨s.u.r^v.ku.s.a.i⟩ or ⟨s.u.r^v.ka.s.a.i⟩).
• Letter names are not arbitrary. ex. F is feskuŕ "skin", R ralli "cloud", and S sat "eye"
• The script is written in downward columns which move from the left to the right.

Diacritics

• The glottal stop is written as an accent mark on the preceding letter. It is not written at the beginning of a word in the native script.
• L, Ð, and Ŕ are written as R, S, and H plus a variation mark.
• Z and V are written as S and F with a voice mark.
• The variation mark reverses a stop-vowel syllable block. So the common name Hakre is effectively written as ⟨h.ka^v.r.e⟩, sat as ⟨s.ta^v⟩.
• Geminate consonants are not written doubly, but with the lengthener accent mark.

Punctuation

• Words are separated by a small vertical line. Other punctuation marks take the place of the word separator.
• Sentences are separated by a space.
• Proper names are enclosed by small circular marks.
• The question mark is written at the end of a sentence and is always followed by a space.
• The colon is placed before lists, explanations, or clarifications.
• Quote marks surround quotations.
• Parenthesis surround set apart or interjected text.

Letter names

Letter	Name	Meaning
R	ralli	"cloud"
L	luh	"liana, vine"
S	sat	"eye"
Z	sat zeka	"voiced eye"
Ð	ðurz	"dance"
H	hurð	"hoard, riches, bounty"
Ŕ	ŕus	"year"
F	feskuŕ	"skin"
V	feskuŕ zeka	"voiced skin"
U/G	gehhu	"water"
E	’Es	"Cittus-V"
A	’alt	"tree"
I/Y	yeft	"pet/pest animal"
Ku	kuvve	"sand"
Ke	keyfaz	"homeland"
Ka	Kayŕ	"sun"
Ki	kið’a	"claw"
Tu	turra	"reaching plants"
Te	teteh	"spike, thorn, spear"
Ta	taz	"day"
Ti	tig	"joy, happiness, contentment"

Romanization

letter	A	Ð	E	F	G	H	I	K	L
phoneme	/ʌ/	/θ/	/ɛ/	/ʟ̝̊/	/ɣ/	/h/	/i/	/k/	/ɫ/
letter	R	Ŕ	S	T	U	V	Y	Z	’
phoneme	/ɹ/	/r/	/s/	/t/	/ɯ/	/ʟ̝/	/j/	/z/	/ʔ/

Nouns

Nouns decline for case and number.

Pluralization

Plurals are formed regularly by the use of a disfix, which removes the final phoneme of a noun stem and degeminates any new final consonant before case suffixes are applied. Some examples:

• feskuŕ "skin" > fesku "skins"
• taysuz "district" > taysu "districts"
• kuvve "sand" > kuv > kuvu "sands"
• taz "day" > ta > taga "days"

Case morphology

The general suffixes are below, but nouns are highly irregular.

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	0	y/a/i	(a)r	(i)f
pl	(gV)	y/a/i	(a/y)r	(i/y)f

• The ergative case ending is -y if a diphthong can be formed, -a if it follows a consonant and the previous vowel is not also ⟨a⟩, -i if it follows a consonant and the previous vowel is ⟨a⟩, and -’i if the noun ends in ⟨i/y⟩ or ⟨ea⟩.
• The singular dative and oblique use the vowels in parenthesis if the noun ends in a consonant. If the final consonant is a stop, however, they with use the inherent vowel of the stop syllable block.
• If the noun when disfixed is monosyllabic, then the plural absolutive ending is -gV, where the V is an echo vowel of the previous syllable. If the vowel is ⟨u⟩, then the g is dropped.
• The plural dative and oblique are -yr and -yf if the plural form of the noun is monosyllabic and a diphthong can be formed, -ar and -if if the plural form of the noun ends in a consonant cluster, and -r and -f otherwise.

Examples

herkuz "wanderer, traveler, tourist"

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	herkuz	herkuza	herkuzar	herkuzif
pl	herku	herkuy	herkur	herkuf

sat "eye"

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	sat	sati	satar	sataf
pl	saga	say	sayr	sayf

gehhu "water"

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	gehhu	gehhuy	gehhur	gehhuf
pl	gehge	geha	gehar	gehif

ŕi’ahe "rain"

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	ŕi’ahe	ŕi’ahey	ŕi’aher	ŕi’ahef
pl	ŕi’ah	ŕi’ahi	ŕi’ahar	ŕi’ahif

Case usage

Absolutive case

The absolutive case is used for the subject of intransitive verbs and the object of transitive verbs. ’atta rey sayu. "I am the person"

Ergative case

The ergative case is mainly used for the subject of transitive verbs. It is also used in vocative expressions, with the instrumental preposition, and with locative prepositions to give them ablative meaning. ex. lay ŕi’ahey "out of the rain"

Dative case

The dative case is mainly used for the indirect object of ditransitive verbs. It is also used to indicate destinations, with locative prepositions to give them lative meaning, and in genitive/possessive expressions. ex. feskuŕ ’altar "bark", literally "skin to-tree"

Oblique case

The oblique case is exclusively used with prepositions. Most prepositions require the oblique. It gives locative prepositions stationary meanings. ex. lay sayf fef "in my eyes"

Compounding

Compound nouns can be formed from any two nouns by attaching the singular absolutive form of the modifying noun or adjective to the beginning of the head noun and geminating the final consonant of the modifier if possible. ex. yektaððtaysuz "special district"

Personal pronouns

The pronouns decline for number and case, with many irregular forms and suppletions.

			Absolutive		Ergative		Dative		Oblique
			sg	pl	sg	pl	sg	pl	sg	pl
1			ra	gið	rey	giða	rer	giðar	ref	giðf
2			fe	’ihha	fey	’ihhay	fer	’ihhar	fef	’ihhaf
3	strong	neutral	tu’	sah	tu’a	sahi	tu’ar	sahar	tu’if	sahif
		feminine1	tu’le		tu’ley		tu’ler		tu’lef
		masculine1	tu’ka		tu’kay		tu’kar		tu’kaf
	weak2		(’)e		(’)ey		(’)er		(’)ef
reflexive			gesi		gesi’i		gesir		gesif
reciprocal				gele’u		gele’uy		gele’ur		gele’uf

1. The feminine and masculine third person pronouns are used only to explicitly express gender.
2. The weak third person pronouns are used where proper syntax does not allow pronoun dropping.

Adjectives

Adjectival morphology

Adjectives match the nouns they modify in case and number. Adjective plural forms use an -a suffix rather than a disfix, as in nouns.

Vowel stem

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	0	y/’i	r	f
pl	(’)a	’ay/a’i	(’)ar	(’)af

• The singular ergative is -’i if the adjective ends in ⟨i/y⟩ or ⟨ea⟩. Otherwise it is -y.
• The plural absolutive, dative, and oblique are found without a glottal stop if the adjective ends in ⟨e⟩.
• The plural ergative is -a’i if the adjective ends in ⟨e⟩. Otherwise it is -’ay.

ex. vikali "right (direction)"

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	vikali	vikali’i	vikalir	vikalif
pl	vikali’a	vikali’ay	vikali’ar	vikali’af

Consonant stem

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	0	i	ar	if
pl	a	ay	ar	af

ex. ðuykt "narrow, thin"

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	ðuykt	ðuykti	ðuyktar	ðuyktif
pl	ðuykta	ðuyktay	ðuyktar	ðuyktaf

Comparative forms

The comparative form of adjectives is signified by the circumfix s(u)-(’)ey, which drops the y in the plural. It changes any consonant stem to a vowel stem. Initial glottal stops are erased.

The superlative form replaces the prefix of the comparative with fe(’)-.

Endings:

	abs	erg	dat	obl
sg	(’)ey	(’)ey’i	(’)eyr	(’)eyf
pl	(’)ea	(’)ea’i	(’)ear	(’)eaf

Examples:

• ðuykt "narrow, thin" > suðuyktey "narrower, thinner" > feðuyktey "narrowest, thinnest"
• ’ilak "cold" > silakey "colder" > fe’ilakey "coldest"
• rittuvu "correct" > surittuvu’ey "more correct" > ferittuvu’ey "most correct"

Verbs

Verbs conjugate for tense, mood, and intensity and have several non-finite forms and derivations to other parts of speech. They typically conjugate by the use of combinations of irregular varying stems and regular affixes.

Verbal morphology

Stems

Each verb has three stems.

• Simple stem: used for simple nonfuture, future, and gnomic forms.
• Intensive stem: used for intensive forms. Formed with the regular suffix -(i)(y)t(i), where the first i is for epenthesis, the last i only appears word-finally, and the y is only found if it can form a diphthong.
• Irrealis stem: used for simple subjunctive, imperative, and passive participle forms. Formed with an irregular suffix which degeminates a final consonant. The suffix can take several forms: the regular suffix -(e)rre (rittuvu "correct" > rittuvurre), degemination plus an echo vowel (sivva "drink" > sivi), or the irregular infixed diphthong plus consonant change (selga "speak, talk, say" > seyra).
• Participle stem: used for infinitive, active participle, and converb forms. Formed with a mostly regular suffix -(i)k, which may cause earlier vowel changes in a root (ta "be" > tek).

Affixes

There are four non-converb affixes. They are exceedingly regular.

• Nonfuture prefix: ’a(t)-, used for nonfuture and subjunctive forms.
• Future suffix: -s, used for future and future participle forms.
• Nonfuture participle suffix: -le, used for nonfuture participle and intensive imperative forms.
• Zero affix: no affix, used for gnomic, simple imperative, and infinitive forms.

Converb prefixes are discussed below.

Intersections

	Nonfuture affix	Future affix	Nonfuture participle affix	Zero affix
Simple stem	simple nonfuture	simple future		simple gnomic
Intensive stem	intensive nonfuture & intensive subjunctive	intensive future	intensive imperative	intensive gnomic
Irrealis stem	simple subjunctive	passive future participle	passive nonfuture participle	simple imperative
Participle stem		active future participle	active nonfuture participle	infinitive

Finite forms

	Nonfuture	Future	Gnomic	Subjunctive	Imperative
simple	’a(t)-root	root-s	root-0	’a(t)-root-(e)rre	root-(e)rre-0
intensive	’a(t)-root-(y)ti	root-(y)t-s	root-(y)ti-0	’a(t)-root-(y)ti	root-(y)t-le

Nonfinite forms

Infinitive

root-(i)k-0

Participles

	Nonfuture	Future
active	root-(i)k-le	root-(i)k-s
passive	root-(e)rre-le	root-(e)rre-s

Converbs

Converb forms show that a verb is adverbially subordinated.

• While verbing: ze-root-(i)k
• Upon verbing: ðig-root-(i)k
• Before verbing: ’aŕe-root-(i)k
• After verbing: tul-root-(i)k

Usage

Nonfuture

The nonfuture tense is used for definite events in both the past and present, with the intended time having to be determined from context or by the use of adverbs. ex. ’Arize gið ðigsivvak rifhu ðevittegar. "We fell asleep when we drank the mystery liquid."

Future

The future tense refers exclusively to any definite event happening after the present time. ex. Rizes ra estal. "I'll go to bed later."

Gnomic

The gnomic tense is used to refer to any general statements of truth and falsehood at any time, be it past, present, or future. ex. Rize tu’ka la’ah. "He sleeps a lot."

Subjunctive

The subjunctive mood is primarily used in subordinate clauses. If found in an independent clause, it expresses a condition or hypothetical situation. It merges with the nonfuture in the intensive form. ex. ’Atisse rey yeða ’arizerre sah. "I wish that they would go to sleep."

Imperative

The imperative is used to form commands and requests. In the intensive, it is the only finite verb form to have a usually non-finite suffix. ex. Rizerre sirgef. "Go to sleep, please."

Intensive

The various intensive forms express strong belief, general emphasis, or unexpectedness/outrage toward the verb. ex. Rizeyti fe ’ityu! "You never sleep!"

Negation

Negation is simply shown with the particle ’it, which is placed immediately after the verb. The particle ’it is not necessary if a negative expression (like ’isku "nothing, nobody") is already in the clause.

Dictionary forms

In dictionaries, the infinitive of a verb is listed first, followed by the imperative, followed by any irregular stems, then any anomalous irregular forms.

Examples

sivvak, sivi "to drink"

	Nonfuture	Future	Gnomic	Subjunctive	Imperative
simple	’asivva	sivvas	sivva	’asivi	sivi
intensive	’asivvayti	sivvayts	sivvayti	’asivvayti	sivvaytle
	Participles			Converbs
active	sivvakle	sivvaks		zesivvak	ðigsivvak
passive	sivile	sivis		’aŕesivvak	tulsivvak

Syntax

Clause-level word order

Verb-Subject-(Direct Object)-(Indirect Object)-(Prepositional phrases)-(Adverbs)

Subject pronouns are not required if it can be determined from context.

Noun phrases

(Preposition)-Noun-(Adjectives)-(Adjectival nouns)

Prepositions

sig- for

lay- in

Vocabulary

Because of differences in anatomy and physiology, many categories of words are very different from their Earthly counterparts.

Numbers

The Cittus typically crawl on all six limbs, but they do use their first two pairs of limbs for manipulation. On each foot they have three clawlike fingers and a clawlike thumb. Their counting base is twelve, achieved by counting the fingers of their manipulative limbs, not counting the thumbs, which the second set of limbs only possess less dexterous remnants of.

	#	#+12	#*12
0	verstis	reð	verstis
1	’arf	’arfre	reð
2	kay	kayre	tehat
3	tur	turre	seyh
4	heks	heksre	riga
5	latte	lattere	yusta
6	vis	vissre	viter
7	zuyta	zuytre	zuytter
8	zayra	zayrre	zayrter
9	tiŕu	tiŕure	tiŕtiz
10	tiŕ’ar	tiŕ’arre	tiŕ’atiz
11	tiŕkay	tiŕkayre	tiŕkatiz
12	reð	tehat	heysu’

Directions

	West		East
North	’uŕesskuf	’uŕes	’uŕesstarat
	kuf		tarat
South	ðegkuf	ðeg	ðegtarat

Swadesh list

No.	English	Tixistani
1	I	—
2	you (singular)	—
3	he	—
4	we	—
5	you (plural)	—
6	they	—
7	this	—
8	that	—
9	here	—
10	there	—
11	who	—
12	what	—
13	where	—
14	when	—
15	how	—
16	not	—
17	all	—
18	many	la’ah ði
19	some	—
20	few	—
21	other	—
22	one	’arf
23	two	kay
24	three	tur
25	four	heks
26	five	latte
27	big	—
28	long	—
29	wide	—
30	thick	—
31	heavy	—
32	small	—
33	short	—
34	narrow	ðuykt
35	thin	ðuykt
36	woman	—
37	man (adult male)	—
38	man (human being)	—
39	child	—
40	wife	—
41	husband	—
42	mother	—
43	father	—
44	animal	—
45	fish	—
46	bird	—
47	dog	—
48	louse	—
49	snake	—
50	worm	—
51	tree	—
52	forest	—
53	stick	—
54	fruit	—
55	seed	—
56	leaf	—
57	root	—
58	bark	feskuŕ ’altar
59	flower	—
60	grass	’alt
61	rope	—
62	skin	feskuŕ
63	meat	—
64	blood	—
65	bone	—
66	fat	—
67	egg	—
68	horn	—
69	tail	—
70	feather	—
71	hair	—
72	head	—
73	ear	—
74	eye	sat
75	nose	—
76	mouth	—
77	tooth	—
78	tongue	—
79	fingernail	—
80	foot	—
81	leg	—
82	knee	—
83	hand	—
84	wing	—
85	belly	—
86	guts	—
87	neck	—
88	back	—
89	breast	—
90	heart	—
91	liver	—
92	drink	sivvak, sivi
93	eat	—
94	bite	—
95	suck	—
96	spit	—
97	vomit	—
98	blow	—
99	breathe	—
100	laugh	—
101	see	—
102	hear	—
103	know	—
104	think	—
105	smell	—
106	fear	—
107	sleep	rizek, rizerre
108	live	—
109	die	—
110	kill	—
111	fight	—
112	hunt	—
113	hit	—
114	cut	—
115	split	—
116	stab	—
117	scratch	—
118	dig	—
119	swim	—
120	fly	—
121	walk	—
122	come	—
123	lie	—
124	sit	—
125	stand	—
126	turn	—
127	fall	—
128	give	—
129	hold	—
130	squeeze	—
131	rub	—
132	wash	—
133	wipe	—
134	pull	—
135	push	—
136	throw	—
137	tie	—
138	sew	—
139	count	—
140	say	selgak, seyra
141	sing	—
142	play	—
143	float	—
144	flow	—
145	freeze	—
146	swell	—
147	sun	Kayŕ
148	moon	—
149	star	—
150	water	gehhu
151	rain	ŕi’ahe
152	river	—
153	lake	—
154	sea	—
155	salt	—
156	stone	—
157	sand	kuvve
158	dust	—
159	earth	—
160	cloud	ralli
161	fog	—
162	sky	—
163	wind	—
164	snow	—
165	ice	—
166	smoke	—
167	fire	—
168	ash	—
169	burn	—
170	road	—
171	mountain	—
172	red	—
173	green	—
174	yellow	—
175	white	—
176	black	—
177	night	—
178	day	taz
179	year	ŕus
180	warm	—
181	cold	’ilak
182	full	—
183	new	—
184	old	—
185	good	—
186	bad	—
187	rotten	—
188	dirty	—
189	straight	—
190	round	—
191	sharp	—
192	dull	—
193	smooth	—
194	wet	gehuy
195	dry	—
196	correct	rittuvu
197	near	—
198	far	—
199	right	vikali
200	left	—
201	at	—
202	in	—
203	with	—
204	and	—
205	if	—
206	because	—
207	name	—