Stālāg (Terbian)

the language of the Terb

Pronouns

Terbian pronouns distinguish three grammatical persons (first, second and third), two numbers (singular and plural), two cases (core and oblique), and, for some persons, gender (masculine and feminine, with the masculine forms being chosen by default and for mixed groups).

In addition to the regular pronouns, Terbian has a parallel set of honorific pronouns for the second and third persons, distinguishing gender in the singular forms.

Each pronoun has a core case form and an oblique form. The regular (non-honorific) pronouns also have distinct possessive forms. The honorific pronouns employ the oblique to show possession.

Regular pronouns

The regular pronouns are used in everyday speech among peers and, in general, between people of roughly the same social standing. This includes members of a family (parents and children) and most members of the extended family. Professional colleagues, co-workers, other acquaintances and the occasional company down the road are all addressed using the regular pronouns, too.

     C      O       PSS          PSS (declined)

1s   å      ū       mån          mån, månō, månnu, månna
2s   lal    lalō    lan          lan, lanō, lannu, lanna
3sM  er     ē       ti (tit-)    ti, titō, tittu, titta
3sF  dar    dā      ta (tat-)    ta, tatō, tattu, tatta
1p   llu    llō     mallun       mallun, -ō, -nu, -na
2p   lallu  lalla   malan        malan, -ō, -nu, -na
3p   nok    nōk     nokan        nokan, -ō, -nu, -na

In educated speech, the possessive forms agree with the possessor in case and number, behaving like Class I adjectives. In colloquial registers and especially among the lower classes, however, this agreement is ignored and the basic forms of the possessives are used in all cases and numbers.

Honorific pronouns

The honorific pronouns are used mainly in contexts where the speaker is of a social rank markedly lower than the hearer or referent of the conversation. For some people it is also customary to use the honorifics to address anyone that does not belong to their village and looks important (or distinguished, or rich). Another context where honorifics are to be employed is when talking about dead people, especially not of one’s own family, and for renowned ancestors in general.

The King and the Queen, the ministers, the noblemen and the town elders all refer to, and address, each other using honorifics, at least in public; this norm of etiquette is not terribly important but tradition recommends “caution rather than offense”. Non-official statements such as discussions in assembly meetings are carried out using honorifics, but it is permissible to shorten them after their first occurrences (indeed, too much emphasizing the full form of the honorific can be taken as sarcastic).

      C          O               Shortened

2sHM  maikyĕ     maikyĕtō        miky, mittō
2sHF  maljåmmiz  maljåmmizdō     åmmiz, åmmizō
3sHM  tikkyĕ     tikkyĕtō        tiky, tittō
3sHF  tappakez   tappakezdō      takkez, takkezō
2pH   maikyĕtās  maikyĕtāskō     mittās, mittaskō
3pH   tikkyĕtās  tikkyĕtāskō     tittās, tittaskō

Table of correlatives

The following table summarizes the deictic words of Terbian. These are words like ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘here’, ‘now’, and the wh-interrogative words.

Terbian has three levels of locational deixis, unlike English, which has two (proximal ‘this’, distal ‘here’). Spanish has three levels of deixis too, but Terbian uses them in a more restricted fashion. The first level refers to objects closer to, or in contact with, the speaker. The second level refers to objects closer to the hearer (though not necessarily very close). The third level refers to objects not in view of the speaker, especially objects found behind physical obstacles to vision.

These deictics are used in discourse too, like the English ones. The first (proximal) level refers to things that have been just mentioned; the second (distal) level refers to things mentioned before, or to the general topic of the conversation. The third level is not used for discoursive deixis.

The deictics that work as pronouns, such as ande ‘this person’, tas ‘something’, etc., can be pluralized regularly as Class I nouns. Those ending in a vowel in the singular core form just drop it: andu ‘these people’, tassu ‘some things’.

The difference between ‘every’ and ‘each’ in the table is roughly the same as in English. ‘Every’ means ‘all, in general’, while ‘each’ means ‘every one, one by one’ (distributive).

	Relative	Query	This	That	Yonder
Thing	sa, sō	isa, isō	han, hān	i, yō	ĕs, ĕsō
Person	tar, tā	itar, itā	ande, andō	ite, itō	ĕste, ĕstō
Adjective	hib, hibō	āb, ābō	han, hān	i, yō	ĕs, ĕsō
Place	nīr, nikō	nīr, nikō	hanis, hansō	inis, insō	ĕzīr, ĕzikō
Time	dded, ddedō	dded, ddedō	atto, attō	ikko, ikkō
Manner	hizeb	ezeb
Reason	hikyo	ekyo

	Such	Some	None	Every	Each
Thing	gwitsa, gwitsō	tas, tasō	ursa, ursō	wikw, wikwō	gawikw, gawikwō
Person	gwitar, gwitā	tatar, tatā	urtar, urtā	makw, makwō	galmakw, galmakwō
Adjective	gwib, gwibō	tib, tibō	urib, uribō	ås, åsō	galås, galåsō
Place		tanīr, tanikō		åznīr, åznikō	galnīr, galnikō
Time		tadded, taddedō	urbaw	attiko, attikō	galded, galdedō
Manner	gwizeb	tazeb	tūmaw
Reason		takyo	kyoraw

Terbian also has a special, additional set of locational deictics. These act as adjectives of Class I.

This side	āgam	That side	īgim
Left-hand	tirril	Right-hand	enr
Across	ssŏs	Edge-on	ukwat
Over	dbai	Behind	kēkey

‘This side / That side’ can also be translated as ‘cis-’ and ‘trans-’. They refer to locations with respect to some boundary, like a wall or the course of a river.
‘Left-hand / Right-hand’ is self-explanatory. Of course it means relative location according to the speaker. To speak of objects with reference to the hearer or some other point, one must use the usual lexical devices.
‘Across’ refers to an object that is going across the field of view of the speaker, or that extends across it (such as a long wall). ‘Edge-on’ refers to an object that appears to be coming towards the speaker, with its narrower dimension in view.
‘Over’ and ‘Behind’ both refer to locations with respect to the ‘eye horizon’ of the speaker, parallel to the floor. Objects vertically above or under the speaker, or on a high angle with respect to this horizon, are not referenced using these.