A grammer of Kûtêr‡uûknêtîmû
Table of contents
Introduction
Sounds
Phonology
Phonotactics and allophones
The Verb
Verb inflections for subject
Verb inflections for object
Verb inflections for tense and aspect
Verb inflections for voice and mood
Three or more agreement affixes
Comparision
Verb compounds
The noun and descriptive prefix
Noun classes
Descriptive prefix
Plural forms of the noun
Possession
Noun-verb relation
Noun-verb agreement
Noun-verb incorporation
Locationals
Verbs as nouns
Nouns as verbs
Numbers
Basic numbers
Forming higher numbers
Ordinal numbers
Other elements
Particles and clitics
Preverbs
Questions
Relative clauses and related things
Pronouns
Titles
Introduction
The language in this document, though generally known as Terpish by many people and often Kûtêr‡uûknêtîmû(which means very roughly "what people speak") by it's speakers, the Terps or Tu'rîmû(singular is Tu'rîmi) as they call themselves. They do not have an official name for their language and they may call it many other things, but that is it's most common name. This language has aproximately 30 million speakers.
There are several dialects of this language, the main ones being Northern and Southern. The names Northern and Southern are really not all that accurate as the Southern dialect is more southwest than south in it's location and to a small extent surrounds the Northern dialect and the Northern dialect is more northeastern that north. Though the Tu'rîmû are really decended from a micronation that has seceeded, their culture is not nearly as similar to that of the surrounding US as most would expect. Their attitude toward their language, particularly the Northern dialect which is regarded as closer to the original, so to speak, is one of pride and independence. The dialects vary largely on word usage and several phonological differences and are not all that distinct, though the Southern dialect differs in aspect usage.
They associate the English language with profit, business, etc. and since many of them are quite liberal economically, English isn't liked that much. Some people tend to view those who use English widely as somehow greedier or more materialistic than they are, though they are not always willing to admit it. English can be learned in schools, but it is not required. The Southern dialect's lower level of respect seems to come partly from the fact that it has more borrowing from English and words like kara(car) and ðruğa(drug) are not uncommon. Despite 22th century travel technology, many Tu'rîmû prefer to stay in Terra Pvlchra. The outer edges, however, have much contact with the US. English has borrowed a few words from this language, including "geesray", a demotivating feeling of disappointment. The original word is actually jisrê-.
Grammatically, this language is very polysynthetic and has very free word order. Subject-Object-Verb word order seems to be the most neutral, but there are few known rules on syntax. The language appears to be a constructed language which is consistant with the reports of it's origin. It seems to be about 125 years old and thus has diverged relatively little from the original. This document will center around the Northern dialect if there is any differences as that one is more studied. Differences in the Southern dialect will be noted.
There are several abbreviations used that may need to be clarified. First, in a gloss like 3SSA, the 3 is the person, the first letter is the number(S for singular, P for plural), the second letter is the case(S for subject, O for object), and the last letter is for noun class(S for spiritual/immaterial, A for animate, I for inanimate). Reg. is "regularly" and refers to the habitual aspect.
Phonology
Here is the basic consonants as well as ejective and implosive ones.
|
| bilab.
| alveo.
| velar
| uvular
|
| stop
|
| t
| k
| q
|
| nasal
| m
| n
|
|
|
| prenas.
|
| nt
| nk
| nq
|
| fric.
| f
| s
| x
|
|
| afric.
|
| ts
| kx
|
|
| ejec.
|
| t'
| k'
| q'
|
| ejec. afric.
|
| ts'
| kx'
|
|
| implos.
|
| ð
| ğ
| j
|
| Aprox./trill
|
| r
|
|
|
R varies noticeably between dialects and in general. In the Northern dialect it is an alveolar trill. In the Southern dialect, it is an approximate like in English. Interestingly, in surviving records of this language from noted linguist James Smith, this language had a lateral aproximate much as in the 'l' English's word "life" or tap which seems to have been replaced by the rhotics. There are few bilabial sounds, similar to Cherokee and it's relatives. The next set of sounds are clicks, which are numerous enough to require their own table.
| .
| dental
| alveolar
| lateral
|
| velar stop
| |
| !
| ‡
| ||
|
| nasalized
| n|
| n!
| n‡
| n||
|
| glottal closure
| |'
| !'
| ‡'
| ||'
|
| velar africate
| |x
| !x
| ‡x
| ||x
|
| ejective afric.
| |x'
| !x'
| ‡x'
| ||x'
|
Clicks are an interesting element in this language. It is not apparent where they would come from. Nonetheless, they're there and initial studies suggest four basic click types, each distinguished in five ways. The click may be accompanied by a velar nasal, a glottal closure, a velar africate, or an ejective velar africate. This number of click distinctions is surprising if they are not native. No other click distinctions are known to be made in this language. It is interesting that there is a bilabial click in a language that is relatively devoid of bilabials and it is speculated that the bilabial click developed somehow from a bilabial implosive. More research is needed into this language to understand it's origin.
|
| front
| mid
| back
|
| closed
| i
|
| u
|
| mid
| e
|
| o
|
| open
|
| a
|
|
Pharyngealized
|
| front
| mid
| back
|
| closed
| î
|
| û
|
| mid
| ê
|
| ô
|
| open
|
| â
|
|
The vowels are interesting in that they have pharyngealized forms. In the Southern dialect, final a's and â's are schwas. The origin of pharyngealized vowels is uncertain and the phonology has a few similarities to Khoisan languages, such as Nama and
!Xóõ. Why this is is unknown at this time. When two or more vowels occur in a row, they generally become diphthoungs in the Southern dialect, while they are pronounced distinct form eachother in the Northern dialect.
The stress is on the second syllable of a word, with a smaller stress on a word if it's four or more syllables long.
Phonotactics and allophones
This language is fairly restrictive in someways. Only pulmonary egressive consonants may occur in clusters, but when they do, they can appear in many ways, though the clusters are limited to two consonants in a row. Almost anything goes except sonorant-obstruent clusters. Initial r-'s are syllabic. Ejectives, implosives, and clicks, on the othe hand are rather restricted and can only occur intervocalically or word initial and never in clusters with each other or other consonants. If C is a pulmonic eggressive consonant, V a vowel, and I a consonant using another airstream mechanism, then the following syllable structures are common: CV, CCV, CVC, CCVC, IV, and IVC. Words generally end in vowels and this is especially true of root words.
The phoneme /n/ has three realizations. The first is /n/, the second /N/, and the third /N\/. The phoneme /r/ is realized as /r/ and /r_=/ in the Northern dialect. Other allophones haven't been studied enough to make any conclusions.
Verbs: Inflections for subjects
The verb inflects for the number, noun class, and person of the subject. This table shows them all:
|
| 1st
| 2nd
| 3rd
| 4th
|
| immaterial
| sa/sâ
| se/so
| si/sû
| sî/so
|
| organic
| ma/mâ
| me/mu
| mi/mû
| mî/mo
|
| inorganic
| na/nâ
| ne/nu
| ni/nû
| nî/no
|
The noun classes will be explained later. For now, just remember that animate includes people so a basic verb is this: Fnômi or "He sings" or "She sings". No distinction of gender is made here.
Verbs: Inflections for objects
The verb also agrees for the object:
|
| 1st
| 2nd
| 3rd
| 4th
|
| immaterial
| ta/tâ
| te/tu
| ti/tû
| tî/to
|
| organic
| ka/kâ
| ke/ku
| ki/kû
| kî/ko
|
| inorganic
| ra/râ
| re/ru
| ri/rû
| rî/ro
|
The verb Tr!arimi or "He sees it" is an example. Both agreement inflections come at the end of the word.
Verbs: Inflections for tense and aspect
There are three tenses: past, present, and future. Past is indicated by -a after the verb. Future is indicated by -e after the verb. If there is two vowels in a row of the same kind, the Northern dialect will separate them, where as the Southern dialect will generally make the vowel long. The imperfect aspect, which is rarely used, especially in the Southern dialect, is shown by ka- attached to the begining of a verb. The more commonly used habitual aspect, who's use varies in the two dialects, is shown by kû- on the verb. In the Northern dialect, it means that the verb is done habitually or progressively. In the Southern dialect, it usually means something done on a daily basis, such as a job. The aspect shown by n|u-, also word initial, generally means a tendency for the verb to occur in the Northern dialect and is used as the habitual aspect in the Southern dialect. The iterative aspect is shown by ‡a-. Here are some examples: Tr!aarimi "He saw it.", N|u|x'îmi "He tends to walk", and Kûfnômi "He sings regularly".
Kû|x'îami
Kû-|x'î-a-mi
reg.-walk-past-3SSA
He walked regularly.
Verbs: Inflections for voice and mood
Mood is indicated by suffixes at the end of the verb. The most often used ones are -q and -k. The first is for questions and the second for commands. There is -tai, used for asking but not strongly expecting the verb to occur. There is -xoi, used for hypothetical situations and -sao, which indicates lack of certainty. Finally, -ja indicates that verb ought to occur. Necessity is shown with the -'ai but is not widely used. The language appears to use a passive voice, which is indicated by -tu. There is also a reflexive, shown with -‡e. The voice suffixes come right efter the verb. Negation is shown by the suffix -fî before the tense marker, but after the voice marker. Examples: Tr!auama "I was seen", Tr!auamaq "Was I seen?", and Tr!aufîame "You were not seen".
Tr!auamaq
Tr!a-u-a-ma-q
see-passive-past-1SSA-question
Was I seen?
Three or more agreement affixes
Multiple subjects or objects are handled in two ways. If the subjects are the same noun class, person, and number, a plural agreement marker is used. If they are different, then two agreement affixes are used for the same case. The highest person affix goes first if they are the same in other ways. The immaterial affix goes first if they are the same in other ways, followed by the animate and then inanimate. An example would be helpful. N|ikêamima is "He and I fleed".
N|ikêamima
N|ikê-a-mi-ma
flee-past-3SSA-1SSA
He and I fleed.
Comparision
Comparision is indicated by the suffix -!xo, which comes after the verb and right before agreement suffixes. An incorporated noun with the affix -txa- adds the meaning "than *noun*" to the verb.
Mrotxa'i||êa!xolûmi !'ûraû.
Mro-txa-'i||ê-a-!xo-rû-mi !'ûra-û.
4th.-than-make-past-comp.-3POI-3SSA building-plural.
Someone made more buildings than someone else.
Verb compounds
Verbs often compound to form more complex concepts. One example is tu'lîmlika, to be Terpish-American, which combines tu'lî(be Terpish) and mlika(be American). Another is skajânla which means "look for and rescue", roughly. If two verbs have all the same inflections and are both transitive or intransitive, they usually form a compound. If there is an intransitive verb and transitive verb in the sentence or clause that have the same inflections except for the object marker, which doesn't apply to the intransitive verb. A compound verb is not limited to two verb roots and in some colloquial situations, these rules are not followed as strictly, allowing strange combinations.
Rsi'a!x'ônima.
Rsi'a-!x'ôni-ma.
read-sit-1SSA
I am reading and sitting.
Noun classes
There are three noun classes, which are similar to the genders in most Indo-European languages and the animacy distinction in Algonquian languages. These noun classes are: immaterial, animate, and inanimate. They are rather self-explanatory. Immaterial includes nouns that have no physical form, such as ideas, political parties, memories, etc. Animate includes those things considered living. This includes people, animals, plants, etc. The inanimate category includes robots, rocks, buildings, spacecraft, etc. These noun classes are not apparently indicated by final vowels or something similar as often happens in Spanish. They are almost always obvious from the meaning of the noun.
Descriptive prefixes
The descriptive prefix is an interesting morpheme. It is similar to the English prefixes 'Chloro-' and and 'Pseudo-'. The diminutive kti- is a good example of a descriptive prefix. There are apparently hundreds or possibly thousands more and they serve a role not unlike adjectives and adverbs in English. Words like Kti!'ûra or "little house" are common. They can be attached to a noun or a verb. If they attach to a verb, they generally come right before the root. A descriptive prefix can apparently exist as an immmaterial noun. They can be stacked on each other.
Plural noun forms
There are a total of nine ways a noun can be plural. Three will be shown here and the other six will appear later. They each correspond to a noun class. The suffix -u is used on inanimate nouns. The suffix -û is used for animate nouns. The suffix -ô is used for immaterial nouns. They are the only known piece of morphology unique to nouns. Examples include !'Ûrau or "houses" and Têr‡uû or "people". No irregular noun plurals were recorded and it is not clear if there are any.
Possession
Possession is indicated by prefixes like the descriptive prefixes. They agree with the noun that possesses and attach to the possessed noun. Possession by multiple things is indicated by multiple affixes. This table will explain show the possessive prefixes.
|
| 1st
| 2nd
| 3rd
| 4th
|
| immaterial
| ma
| me
| si/sai
| sao/soe
|
| organic
| ma
| me
| mi/mai
| mao/moe
|
| inorganic
| ma
| me
| ni/nai
| sao/soe
|
The phrase !'Ûla ni!xamû means "The building's component", though it really means "building it's-component". This possession system shows the importance of agreement rules.
Noun verb agreement
The verb agrees in noun class, number, and person with both the subject and the object. This allows free word order. Note the following examples, all of which mean "The person builds the building". Têr‡u 'i||êrimi !'ûra. Têr‡u !'ûra 'i||êrimi. !'Ûra têr‡u 'i||êrimi. !'Ûra 'i||êrimi têr‡u. 'I||êrimi !'ûra têr‡u. 'I||êrimi têr‡u !'ûra. The agreement of the verb with the nouns allows very free word order.
Noun verb incorporation
A noun can be incorporated into the verb. If a noun is incorporated, it comes between the aspect marker and the verb root. This allows for long and complex words capable of expressing an entire sentence in one word. This is seen in a word like Kû!'ûrau'i||êarûma which means "I built buildings regularly". Noun-verb incorporation allows some potencially very long words. The subject and object can't both be incorporated except in some poetic situations and related circumstances. Generally only one noun is incorporated if there are more of them. Possessed nouns can be incorporated, but the possessors stay unincorporated.
Kû!'ûrau'ikêarima
Kû-!'ûra-u-'ikê-a-rû-ma
reg.-building-plural-make-past-3SOI-1SSA
I built buildings regularly.
Locationals
Locationals are widely used in this language. They are placed between the incorporated noun and the aspect marker. This is true with a number of other affixes that serve roles that are similar to cases in Indo-European languages. There are over twenty of these affixes known and others are expected to be discovered. Here are some examples using known locatives and similar affixes: !'Ûratskiksami or "He is inside the building", Têr‡uri ||'ojia'i||êarimî or "He made a person out of snow".
Têr‡uri ||'ojia'ikêarimî
Têr‡u-ri ||'oji-a-'ikê-a-ri-mî
person-3SSI snow-translative-make-past-3SSI-4SSA
He made a person out of snow.
Verbs as nouns
Here is where it gets truely interesting. The use of verbs as nouns is a very interesting subject that is far from completely studied. There is no real distinction between a normal verb and one being used as a noun. A sentence like Kû!'ûrau'ikêrûmi n!âatimi. means "The building-builder noticed something", but the first word doesn't inherently mean one who does something. It means basically "He makes buildings regularly". The whole sentence means "He makes buildings regularly and noticed something". Most verbs being used as nouns begin with the aspect kû- though not all do. Some begin with the aspect n|u- and others may have no aspect marker.
A nominal verb takes a descriptive prefix on the begining of the word or if the word is already very long, it can have prefix-ksa-subject.marker floating by it. To make a verb like this plural, the subject agreement marker is changed to the plural version, as in this example: Kû!'ûra'ikêrûmi Kû!'ûra'ikêrûmû meaning building-maker building-makers. Because there are two persons and three noun classes that a nominal verb can be in, there are six possible plurals. If you refer to a person in the second person as a nominal verb, it inflects for the second person instead of the third, like this: Kû!'ûrau'ikêrûme, which means basically, "You, the building-maker".
Nouns as verbs
A noun can take on some of the morphology of a verb under some circumstances. To make a noun root first, second, or fourth person, an apropriate agreement affix, like this Têr‡ume for "You, the person". As will be shown later, some verb clitics can be attached to nouns as well.
Basic numbers
Numbers are an interesting thing in this language. They act as ordinary descriptive prefixes but frequently occur independently. This table shows the numbers from 1-9 and 10-19. 10-19 are apparently formed by adding -ro.
|
| 0-
| 1-
|
| 0
| 'li-
| 'loro-
|
| 1
| !x'â-
| !x'âro-
|
| 2
| ‡'e-
| ‡'ero-
|
| 3
| ‡'ê-
| ‡'êro-
|
| 4
| tma-
| tmaro-
|
| 5
| tmê-
| tmêro-
|
| 6
| tmu-
| tmuro-
|
| 7
| 'sû-
| 'sûro-
|
| 8
| kma-
| kmaro-
|
| 9
| n|ê-
| n|êro-
|
Forming higher numbers
Higher numbers are formed by piling smaller ones together, 141 is Tmeko!x'â or "fourteen-one". The affixes -'li- for 0, -'sâ- for 000, and -'sî- for 000,000 are used, so one million is !X'â'sî.
Ordinal numbers
Ordinals are formed by adding -n!e- after them and before the noun. One millionth is !X'â'sîn!e-, for example. First is 'lin!e-. These behave pretty much like ordinary descriptive prefixes. The high level of regularity seems to suggest, along with other evidence, that this language is constructed, an interesting concept.
Particles and clitics
There are a number of particles in this language. All known ones come before the word they effect. They cliticize the that word. The known ones are u meaning "before" or "until", ji meaning "during", ja meaning "after", ‡i meaning "when" or "if", qê meaning "because", tî meaning "thus" or "therefore", and i meaning "but" or "yet". A good example of this is U-tr!aarima or "Before I saw it". As mentioned before, some can effect nouns. The phrase U-stârûmî, which means "Before the storm", is an example. These are still being researched and more are likely to be discovered.
N|ikêemek u-|'ilûemû.
N|ikê-e-me-k u |'ilû-e-mû
flee-future-2SSA-command before attack-future-3SPA
Flee before they attack.
Preverbs
There are dozens of these apparently. The major ones are je- which indicates wanting and jî which indicates an attempt. Others include ljêi- for continuing to do something and ljô- for learning to do something. These preverbs come between the aspect and incorporated locative. The locative-like affix -tqî- is used to make the marked noun the doer of the verb root. These examples will help. Jesaðema means "I want to eat". Jemlitqî'ikêlima !'ûra. means "I want you to build a building".
Jemlitqî'ikêlima !'ûra.
Je-mri-tqî-'ikê-ri-ma !'ûra.
want-2SA-doer-make-3SOI-3SSA building
I want you to build a building.
Questions
In addition to the the mood indicated by -q, there are other elements in a question. The affixes qta- for animate nouns, tqei- for inanimate nouns, and tqeo- for immaterial nouns are treated more or less like nouns. They even pluralize in the same way. The others are treated like locatives and don't pluralize. They are qte- for "where", qti- for "why", qto- for "when", qtu- for for "how", tqao- for "using what", tqau- for "what resulted", and tqae- for "to whom". Tqai- is basically "how many" and tqoe- is basic "which". Both are treated as descriptive prefixes. Qtaksamiq? means "Who is he?". Jeqlîlimeq tqoe!'ûra? means "Which building do you want?".
Jeqrîrimeq tqoe!'ûra?
Je-qrî-ri-me-q tqoe-!'ûra
want-possess-3SOI-2SSA-question which-house.
Which building do you want?
Relative clauses and related things
Relative clauses are apparently non-existant in this language. A sentence like "The man who crashed knows me" would be expressed as "The man crashed and knows me". There is nothing like "and", either. A sentence like "I make buildings and sleep" would be expressed as "I-make-buildings I-sleep" or Kû!'ûra'ikêlûma kû‡xa!ôma.
Kû!'ûrau'ikêlûma kû‡xa!ôma.
Kû-!'ûra-u-'ikê-rû-ma kû-‡xa!ô-ma.
reg.-house-plural-make-3SOI-1SSA reg.-sleep-1SSA
I make buildings and sleep
Pronouns
Pronouns are rarely used. They are apparently used only to take locative and other affixes while incorporated into the verb. They are often used to allow verbs being used as nouns to be involved in locatives. Here are the pronouns I managed to get information on.
|
| 1st
| 2nd
| 3rd
| 4th
|
| immaterial
| mna
| mnâ
| mni/mniô
| mne/mneô
|
| organic
| mra
| mri
| mru/mruû
| mro/mroû
|
| inorganic
| mra
| mre
| nra/nrau
| nre/nreu
|
A good example of this is the following sentence: Nrarğo|x'îamâ kû‡xâ!euk'ôrirûni. The part nrarğ- is targeted to a 3rd person, singular, inanimate noun or verb. In this case, the bank or "It-stores-money-regularly". This is the main use of pronouns and it is not surprising in a language like this that inflects verbs heavily and has less dependency on syntax. Nonetheless, pronouns serve an important role in a language where many nouns we take for granted are actually verbs in this language.
Nrarğo|x'îamâ kû‡xâ!euk'ôrirûni.
Nra-rğo-|x'î-a-mâ kû-‡xâ!e-u-k'ôri-rô-ni.
3SI-toward-walk-past-1SSA reg.-money.unit-plural-contain-3SPI-3SSI.
We walked to the bank.
Titles
Some Tu'rîmû are opposed to government or rank and thus resent titles. For a number of people, social classes are viewed with some derision, if not outright contempt. This is because Terra Pvlchra was one of the few places someone with liberal politics could go without being hated and mocked. While the founders of Terra Pvlchra weren't anarchists or communists, they placed importance on helping others and were willing to tolerate their views so long as they didn't hurt anyone.
This brings us to titles. They are not as widely used as in the US. The main ones encountered are Tfî and Tsîtfî, which are the titles for the president and the advisors respectively. Other titles include Kso for what is roughly a mayor. Ma and Na, which are equivalent to "Mom" and "Dad" in informal English, could also be included here.
A title cliticizes with the name it goes with. Tfî-N|u|x'îmi is basically how it works. The title and name are treated as one unit as far as agreement goes.
