Qtolqjimctadû

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial		Labio-dental		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Nasal		m				n						ɲ		ŋ
Plosive		p b				t̚ t d̚ d								k g
Sibilant Fricative								s z		ʃ ʒ		ʃʲ / ç / ɕ
Non-sibilant Fricative		ɸ β		f v		θ ð		(ɬ / ɮ)		ɧ̙ʷ ɧ̙ʷ̬				x		χ ʁ		h
Approximant								ɹ				j ɥ		w
Trill								(r)								ʀ
Flap								ɾ
Lateral approx.						l ɫ
Prenasalised occlusives														ᵑg

Notes :

In earlier documentation, proper knowledge of IPA was lacking and several of the phonemes had to be identified from either phonetically inaccurate IPA descriptions or vague, impressionistic ones. Several phonemes could not be recovered. Here is a list of deviations from the above table :

Identified phonemes :
/ɸ/ was described as [fʷ] (written <ÎF, îf>).
/β/ was described as [vʷ] (written <ÎV, îv>).
/ʁ/ was described as [ʀ] (written <R, r>).
/ʀ/ was described as [rˤ] (sorte de « r » très roulé, written <RX, rx>).
/ɹ/ was described as [ʀˤ] (sorte de « r » anglais, written <RÛ, rû>).
/ɫ/ was described as [l̪ ] (comme à la fin du mot anglais "well", written <Û, û>).
/χ/ was most likely corresponding to the sound described as [x] (written <X, x>), while /x/ itself was most likely described as [xˤ] (written <ÎX, îx>).
/ŋ/ was probably described as [ɲˤ] (written <ÎÑ, îñ>), while the sound described as [ŋ] (written <ÎÑg, îñg>) probably corresponded to /ᵑg/.
The situation between /ɾ/ and /r/ is unclear : the sound described as [r̺] (written <ĦÛ, ħû>) is also described as being part of the cluster described as [br̺ə] (written <Ë, ë>), which would indicate that it should in fact correspond to /ɾ/ ; however, the choice of IPA notation describes it as "apical", which may indicate that it corresponds rather to the trill /r/, corroborated by the fact that the sound described as [r] (sorte de « r » roulé à la japonaise, written <LÛ, lû>) is also likely to be a flap /ɾ/. But at the same time, it could indicate that it is not considered to be a trill, if there was knowledge that /r/ in IPA represents a proper trill. We'll assume the following :
/ɾ/ was most likely corresponding to the sound described as [r̺] (written <ĦÛ, ħû>, as well as part of the cluster /bɾ/+V with the help of <Ë, ë> as [bɾə], described as [br̺ə]).
/r/ might have been what was described as [r] (sorte de « r » roulé à la japonaise, written <LÛ, lû>).
/ɧ̙ʷ/ and its voiced version /ɧ̙ʷ̬/ are, to this day, subject to doubt regarding their IPA descriptions. They were most likely corresponding to the sounds described as [ʃ ̪ ] (written <ÎQ, îq>) and [ʒ̺̺̺ ] (written <ÎÖ, îö> or <LÎÖ, lîö>).
/t̚/ and /d̚/ are also subject to some doubt regarding their IPA descriptions still. They were described as [t̪] (written <TÛ, tû>) and [d̪] (written <DÛ, dû>).
The phoneme described as [ʃʲ] probably has a realization closer to [ç] or [ɕ] (written <QÛ, qû>).

Unidentified or very doubtful phonemes :
Some /h/-like phoneme, described as [hˤ] (written <ÎH, îh>). It might have corresponded to /ɣ/, but it is not very likely.
/ɬ/ or /ɮ/ might have been what was described as [l̤ʲ] (written <HÛ, hû>). Based on its spelling it is more likely to be devoiced.

Vowels

		Front		Central		Back
Close		i y		ɨ		u
Close-mid		e ø		ə		o
Open-mid		ɛ œ ɛ̃ œ̃				ɔ ɔ̃
Open				ä		ɑ̃

Vowel length is supposed to be phonemic, with regular (or short) vowels, and long vowels.

Similarly to consonants, some vowels had to be "re-identified" from previous documentation and some deviations arise :

/œ/ is probably what was described as [æ] (written <Ù, ù> or <E, ĕ> or <EÔ/Eô, eô>).
/œ̃/ is probably what was described as [æ̃] (written <Ä, è> or <Ä, ä>).
/ø/ is probably what was described as [œ] (written <EU/Eu, eu> or <OE/Oe, oe>).

Orthography

Orthography was made complicated on purpose.

Alphabet

A, a /a/
B, b /b/
C, c /s/
D, d /d/
E, e /ə/ ; E, ç/ë /e/ ; E, ù/ĕ /œ/ ; E, ÿ/ê /ɛ/
F, f /f/
G, g /g/ (/j/ in word-final position)
H, h /h/
Ħ, ħ soundless ; mostly used in composed graphemes.
I, i /i/
J, j /ð/
K, k /k/
L, l /l/ (/j/ in word-final position)
M, m /m/
N, n /n/
O, o /o/ or /ɔ/
P, p /p/
Q, q /ʃ/
R, r /ʁ/
S, s /θ/
T, t /t/
U, u /y/
V, v /v/
W, w /wi/ (/j/ in word-final position)
X, x /χ/
Y, y /jo/ or /ɔj/
Z, z /z/
Â, â /aj/
Ê, ê /ja/
Û, û /ɫ/
Î, î /ɨ/ soundless when used in composed graphemes.
Ô, ô /o/
Ä, ä /ɑ̃/ ; Ä, à/ă /ɔ̃/ ; Ä, é/â /ɛ̃/ ; Ä, è/ä /œ̃/
Ë, ë /bɾə/
Ü, ü /j/
Ï, ï /ɨ/
Ö, ö /ʒ/
Ã, ã /a/
Õ, õ /o/
Ñ, ñ /ɲ/

History

Like most, if not all, versions of Tolsian, Qtolqjimctadû was meant to be written with the original Tolsian script. Some graphemes were chosen because of the limitations of the French keyboard, but were initally supposed to correspond to another, preexisting grapheme, with a diacritic, in order to reflect the original script. Some graphemes with diacritic are supposed to represent letters in the original script that are not simply versions of another letter with a diacritic ; this is why in the list below, <ë> appears to represent /e/, alongside <ç>, whereas in <Ë, ë> it represents /bɾə/ in the alphabet : they have different underlying identities.

<e> with diaeresis ¨ becomes <ç> (or <ë>)
<e> with cedilla or possibly hook below (accent « petite courbe vers le bas ») becomes <ù> (or <ĕ>)
<e> with circumflex accent ^ becomes <ÿ> (or <ê>)
<O, o> (or <Ô, ô> ?) with circumflex accent becomes <Õ, õ>
<U, u> with dieresis becomes <Ü, ü>
<U, u> with circumflex accent becomes <Û, û>
<Â, â> with circumflex accent becomes <Ê, ê>
<Î, î> with circumflex accent becomes <Ï, ï>
<ä> with cedilla or hook below becomes <à> (o <ă>)
<ä> with circumflex becomes <é> (or <â>)
<ä> with diaeresis becomes <è> (or <ä>)
<Â, â> with circumflex becomes <Ã, ã>

Spelling rules

Long vowels are spelled with doubled graphemes (<Aa, aa> /a:/, etc).

Some graphemes, namely <E, e> /ə/ ; <E, ç/ë> /e/ ; <E, ù/ĕ> /œ/ ; <E, ÿ/ê> /ɛ/ and <Ä, ä> /ɑ̃/ ; <Ä, à/ă> /ɔ̃/ ; <Ä, é/â> /ɛ̃/ ; <Ä, è/ä /œ̃/> use the same capital letter, but different minuscule letters, for different phonemes. This is partly due to limitations on a French keyboard, and partly to reflect the original Tolsian script in which these phonemes use the same letter but with different diacritics.

The grapheme <Î, î> denotes /ɨ/, except in front of some consonants (<F, f>, <V, v>, <Q, q>, <Ö, ö>, <Ñ, ñ>, <X, x>, <H, h>) ; the grapheme <Ï, ï> is used instead in order to denote /ɨ/.

There are many digraphs and even trigraphs ; usually, all letters are capitalized, when capitalization is needed.

Digraphs with <Î, î>

In the original documentation, these are described as "purified" (épurés).

ÎF, îf /ɸ/
ÎV, îv /β/
ÎQ, îq /ɧ̙ʷ/
ÎÖ, îö /ɧ̙ʷ̬/
ÎÑ, îñ /ŋ/
ÎX, îx /x/
ÎH, îh unknown, possibly /ɣ/

It is unclear if the following are considered to be "purified" :

<Äî, äî> /an/
<Äî, àî> /on/ or /ɔn/
<Äî, éî> /in/ or /im/
<Äî, èî> /un/ or /œm/

Trigraphs with <Î, î>

These were also considered to be "purified".

LÎÖ, lîö /ɧ̙ʷ̬/
ÎÑg, îñg /ᵑg/

Digraphs with <Û, û>

Some of these digraphs were originally described as "wet" (mouillés) :

TÛ, tû /t̚/
QÛ, qû /ʃʲ/ (probably realized [ç] or [ɕ])
DÛ, dû /d̚/

Others were not considered to be "wet" :

LÛ, lû /r/
HÛ, hû possibly /ɬ/ or /ɮ/
ĦÛ, ħû /ɾ/
RÛ, rû /ɹ/

=====Trigraphs with <Û, û>=====
There is only one such trigraph, and only the first letter is capitalized, if needed. It is possibly meant to appear only word-initially as it was only given as <Tûhh> :
Tûhh /θ/

=====Digraphs with <Ħ, ħ>=====
These can also be written as trigraphs, swapping <Ħ, ħ> for <Hh, hh>. As digraphs, one may likewise capitalize both letters or only the first one. As trigraphs, Only the first letter is capitalized.
Ħ, ħ can be found on its own but is soundless. It may be used as part of the following digraphs, or used to maintain a hiatus between vowels and <I, i> or <O, o>. It can also be written <Hh, hh>.
PĦ/Pħ, pħ /f/ (or <Phh, phh>)
TĦ/Tħ, tħ /s/ (or <Thh, thh>
JĦ/Jħ, jħ /ʒ/ (or <Jhh, jhh>)
BĦ/Bħ, bħ /v/ (or <Bhh, bhh>)
DĦ/Dħ, dħ /z/ (or <Dhh, dhh>)
SĦ/Sħ, sħ /z/ (or <Shh, shh>)

=====Digraphs and trigraph with <Ë, ë>=====
The phoneme /ɾ/ also appears as part of a syllable /bɾə/, written <Ë, ë>. When <Ë, ë> is followed by a vowel, the /ə/ is replaced by that vowel :
Ëa, ëa [bɾa]
Ëç, ëç [bɾe]
Ëÿ, ëÿ [bɾɛ]
Ëu, ëu [bɾy]
Ëo, ëo [bɾo] or [bɾɔ]
Ëï, ëï [bɾi]
Ëä, ëä [bɾɑ̃]
Ëà, ëà [bɾɔ̃]
Ëé, ëé [bɾɛ̃]
Ëè, ëè [bɾœ̃]
Ëou, ëou [bɾu]

Some more consonantal digraphs

RX, rx /ʀ/ QJ/Qj, qj /ʒ/

Vocalic digraphs

<Oi, oi> [i]
<EU/Eu, eu> [ø]
<OU/Ou, ou> [u]
<EA, ea> [ɛ]
(But <Ea, ea> [əa])
<OE/Oe, oe> [ø]
<EÔ/Eô, eô> [œ]

Nasal vowels

Some digraphs and trigraphs denote nasal vowels, with <N, n> and <M, m> :

<An, an> /ɑ̃/
<Am, am> /ɑ̃/
<En, en> /ɑ̃/
<Em, em> /ɑ̃/
<In, in> /ɛ̃/
<Im, im> /ɛ̃/
<Ein, ein> /ɛ̃/
<Eim, eim> /ɛ̃/
<On, on> /ɔ̃/
<Om, om> /ɔ̃/
<Un, un> /œ̃/
<Um, um> /œ̃/

However, if there are two <N, n> or <M, m> following a vowel, then it is not nasalized but pronounced as V+[n or m] instead (<Ann, ann> [an], <Amm, amm> [am],... etc). Besides, vocalic graphemes other than <A, a>, <E, e>, <I, i>, <O, o>, <U, u> do not get nasalized when followed by an <N, n> or <M, m>.

Diphtongues

They have been described as diphtongues, but should rather be analyzed as combinations of vowels and approximants. There are three different approximants : /j/, /w/ and /ɥ/, which only appear in a limited number of cases.

• Diphtongues /j/ + vowel :

They are usually written with a <I, i> followed by a vowel. There is a list of accepted spellings where <I, i> stands for /j/ :

<Ia, ia> [ja]
<Ie, ie> [jə]
<Iç, iç> [je]
<Iù, iù> [jœ]
<Iÿ, iÿ> [jɛ]
<Io, io> [jo] or [jɔ]
<Iu, iu> [jy]
<Iô, iô> [jo]
<Iä, iä> [jɑ̃]
<Ià, ià> [jɔ̃]
<Ié, ié> [jɛ̃]
<Iè, iè> [jœ̃]
<Ii, ii> [ji]
<Iou, iou> [ju]
<Ieu, ieu> [jø]

However, there are a few exceptions :

ÜÃ, üã [ja]
ÜÕ, üõ [jo]

• Diphtongues vowel + /j/ :

They are usually written with a <Ü, ü> preceded by a vowel. There is a list of accepted spellings where <Ü, ü> stands for /j/ (minus the exceptions above) :

<AÜ, aü> [aj]
<EÜ, eü> [əj]
<EÜ, çü> [ej]
<EÜ, ùü> [œj]
<EÜ, ÿü> [ɛj]
<OÜ, oü> [oj] or [ɔj]
<UÜ, uü> [yj]
<ÔÜ, ôü> [oj]
<ÄÜ, äü> [aɑ̃j]
<ÄÜ, àü> [ɔ̃j]
<ÄÜ, éü> [ɛ̃j]
<ÄÜ, èü> [œ̃j]
<ÃÜ, ãü> [aj]
<ÕÜ, õü> [oj]
<EUÜ, euü> [øj]

There are also a few exceptions :

EÎ, eî [əj]
EÎ, çî [ej]
EÎ, ùî [œj]
EÎ, ÿî [ɛj]
IÎ, iî [ij]

• Diphtongues with /w/ :

These are usually written with a <O, o>, either followed or preceded by a vowel. There is a list of accepted spellings where <O, o> stands for /w/ :

<Oa, oa> [wa]
<Oe, oe> [wə]
<Oç, oç> [we]
<Où, où> [wœ]
<Oÿ, oÿ> [wɛ]
<Oo, oo> [wo] or [wɔ]
<Oy, oy> [wy]
<Oô, oô> [wo]
<Oä, oä> [wɑ̃]
<Oà, oà> [wɔ̃]
<Oé, oé> [wɛ̃]
<Oè, oè> [wœ̃] (This one was described as [wœ̃] already in the original documentation (instead of expected [wæ̃] and has therefore cast some doubt on the identification of vowels /ø/, /œ/ and /œ̃/.)
<Oi, oi> [wi]
<Oeu, oeu> [wø]
And reciprocally (<Ao, ao> [aw]... etc).

There are however a few exceptions :

<Io, io> is ambiguous and can denote either /iw/ or /jo/
<Oi, oi> is ambiguous and can denote either /i/ or /wi/
<Oe, oe> is ambiguous and can denote either /wə/ or /ø/
<OU/Ou, ou> always denotes /u/ (/wy/ is denoted <Oy, oy> instead).

• Diphtongues with /ɥ/ :

UÎ, uî [ɥi]
Ui, ui [ɥi]
Ua, ua [ɥa]
Uç, uç [ɥe]
Uÿ, uÿ [ɥɛ]

Triphtongues

They should also be analyzed as combinations of approximant + vowel + approximant. Besides using <I, i> and <O, o> or even <Ü, ü> and <U, u>, there is a handful of special spellings that denote such "triphtongues" :

ÜÂ, üâ [jaj]
ÜY, üy [jɔj]
ÊÜ, êü [jaj]
YÜ, yü [joj] or [jɔj]
ÃÎ, ãî [aji]
ÕÎ, õî [oji]

Word-final position induced changes

The original consonants /g/ <G, g>, /l/ <L, l> and syllable /wi/ <W, w> turn into [j] when in a word-final position. Instead, the spellings <gue>, <lle> and <wi> are used.

<g> /j/
<l> /j/
<w> /j/
<gue> /g/
<lle> /l/
<wi> /wi/

There are some other special spellings :

<ebm> /ɛjm/
<ebn> /ɛjn/

Finally, some letters are simply not pronounced at the end of a word, and other spellings are used instead :

<e>
<ô>
<d>
<q>
<s>
<t>
<z>
<er>
<dde> /d/
<qe> /ʃ/
<sse> /θ/ (or possibly /s/ ?)
<tte> /t/
<ze> /z/

Table of phonemes and their principal corresponding graphemes

		Bilabial		Labio-dental		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Nasal		m <M, m>				n <N, n>						ɲ <Ñ, ñ>		ŋ <ÎÑ, îñ>
Plosive		p <P, p> ; b <B, b>				t̚ <TÛ, tû> ; t <T, t> ; d̚ <DÛ, dû> ; d <D, d>								k <K, k> ; g <G, g>
Sibilant Fricative								s <C, c> alt. <TĦ/Tħ, tħ> ; z <Z, z> alt. <DĦ/Dħ, dħ> alt. <SĦ/Sħ, sħ>		ʃ <Q, q> ; ʒ <Ö, ö> alt. <JĦ/Jħ, jħ> alt. <QJ/Qj, qj>		ʃʲ / ç / ɕ <QÛ, qû>
Non-sibilant Fricative		ɸ <ÎF, îf> ; β <ÎV, îv>		f <F, f> alt. <PĦ/Pħ, pħ> ; v <V, v> alt. <BĦ/Bħ, bħ>		θ <S, s> alt. <Tûhh, s> ; ð <J, j>		(ɬ / ɮ <HÛ, hû>)		ɧ̙ʷ <ÎQ, îq> ; ɧ̙ʷ̬ <ÎÖ, îö> alt. <LÎÖ, lîö>				x <ÎX, îx>		χ <X, x> ; ʁ <R, r>		h <H, h>
Approximant								ɹ <RÛ, rû>				j <I, i> (before a vowel), <Ü, ü> (after a vowel) ; ɥ <U, u> (before some vowels)		w <O, o> (before or after a vowel)
Trill								(r <LÛ, lû>)								ʀ <RX, rx>
Flap								ɾ <ĦÛ, ħû>
Lateral approx.						l <L, l> ɫ <Û, û>
Prenasalised occlusives														ᵑg <ÎÑg, îñg>

		Front		Central		Back
Close		i <I, i> alt. <Oi, oi> ; y <U, u>		ɨ <Î, î> alt. <Ï, ï>		u <OU/Ou, ou>
Close-mid		e <E, ç/ë> ; ø <EU/Eu, eu> alt. <OE/Oe, oe>		ə <E, e>		o <O, o> alt. <Ô, ô> alt. <Õ, õ>
Open-mid		ɛ <E, ÿ/ê> alt. <EA, ea> ; œ <E, ù/ĕ> alt. <EÔ/Eô, eô> ; ɛ̃ <Ä, é/â> ; œ̃ <Ä, è/ä>				ɔ <O, o> ; ɔ̃ <Ä, à/ă>
Open				ä <A, a> alt. <Ã, ã>		ɑ̃ <Ä, ä>

Prosody

Stress

There is no lexical stress. It can be assumed that most words or verbal and nominal groups have a slight stress on the last syllable, like in French ; however, there is supposed to be a distinction between short and long vowels, so we can assume that long vowels would be stressed.

Morphology

There are five main parts of speech in Qtolqjimctadû : nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and particles.

Nouns

Nouns have definiteness, gender, and number. Definiteness is marked by definite and indefinite articles which agree in gender and number with the nouns. There are three genders : neuter, masculine, and feminine.

Gender

Gender is usually marked by the ending of the noun. Nouns that correspond to non-animate things are usually neutral whereas nouns that describe animate things are usually masculine or feminine. However, some nouns can have all three genders, with the masculine and feminine forms built on an underlying neutral form ; this is common for instance for animal names, or for professions.

According to documentation, most neuter nouns in the singular end either in <-e> or in a consonant. There is however no indication of how to distinguish masculine and feminine nouns, but based on the description of neuter forms, it may be posited that they must typically end in some kinds of vowels. Nouns that end in <-e> in the singular neuter are part of a paradigm that builds masculine and feminine forms on this underlying neuter form :

Ending in -e

Gender / Number	Singular	Plural
Neuter	-e /ə/	-ea /ɛ/
Masculine	-e /ə/	-ebn /ɛjn/
Feminine	-ea /ɛ/	-ean /əɑ̃/

According to documentation, it is common for the neuter to present as a masculine singular ending in the singular, and as a feminine singular ending in the plural.

Definiteness

Earlier documentation does not explicitly state that the definite and definite articles must agree with nouns in number and gender, but it is apparent in corpus that there is at least a masculine or neutral singular definite article that differs from a feminine singular definite article. From this and comparison with other versions of Tolsian, one can infer that articles, both definite and indefinite, come in at least three forms : masculine singular, feminine singular, and a plural form that covers all genders. Based on the existence of a neutral gender, it may be posited that there must be a neutral singular form as well. There is however no actual indication of whether there is only one plural form for all genders, or if there are also different plural forms for different genders. We'll assume the following paradigm :

Definite and indefinite articles

Definiteness / Gender	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Plural
Definite	-	pna /pna/	pnÿ /pnɛ/	-
Indefinite	-	-	ad /a/	-

Number

There are two numbers, singular and plural ; singular is unmarked while plural is marked with a suffix that differs depending on the ending of the noun. Besides the "-e" paradigm above, different groups of endings take different plural markings. It is likely that the consonantal endings indicate neuter nouns, whereas the vocalic endings indicate masculine and feminine nouns.

Table of plurals

Types of endings	Plural affix	Pronunciation
-c ; -f ; -j ; -l ; -m ; -n ; -v ; -û ; -ë	-c	-cc /s/ ; -fc /fs/ ; -jc /θ/ ; -lc /js/ ; -mc ; -nc ; -vc /fs/ ; -ûc /ɫ/ ; -ëc /bɾɛk/
-b ; -d ; -g ; -p ; -q ; -w ; -ü ; -k	-tt	-btt /pt/ ; -dtt /d̚/ ; -gtt /kt/ ; -ptt /pt/ ; -qtt /ʃt/ ; -wtt /wit/ ; -ütt /jt/ ; -ktt /kt/
-s ; -r	-ch	-sch /ʃ/ ; -rch /?/ ("[hˤ]" see notes on consonants) ; -rsch /ʁʃa/
-h ; -t ; -x ; -z ; -ö ; -ñ	-c or -tt	-hc /k/ ; -tc /ts/ ; -xc /χs/ ; -zc /s/ ; -öc /s/ ; -ñc /s/ -htt /ht/ ; -ttt /t̚/ ; -xtt /χt/ ; -ztt /st/ ; -ött /ʃt/ ; -ñtt /t/
Vowel endings (other than "e")	-es	not pronounced.

Pronouns

Personal subject pronouns

Grammatical description	English translation	Pronoun
1SG	I	êü /jaj/
2SG	you	oü /oj/ or /ɔj/
3SG.masc	he	tag /taj/
3SG.fem	she	tal /taj/
3SG.impersonal	"man", "one"	tawi /tawi/
1PL	we	îhalÿn /xalɛn/
2PL	you	hiçve /hjev/
3PL.masc	they	tagg /tag/ (or /tagj/ ?)
3PL.fem	they	tall /tal/ (or /talj/ ?)
2POLITE	you	îqann /ɧ̙ʷan/

Demonstrative pronouns

Grammatical description	English translation	Pronoun
Singular demonstrative pronoun	this	fe /fə/
Plural demonstrative pronoun	these	îvae /βa/

Personal reflexive pronouns

Grammatical description	English translation	Pronoun
1SG	myself	kab /kab/
2SG	yourself	kat /ka/ (or /kat) ?)
3SG.masc	himself	kaad /ka:/ (or /ka:d/ ?)
3SG.fem	herself	kaad /ka:/ (or /ka:d/ ?)
3SG.impersonal	oneself	kad /ka/ (or /kad/ ?)
1PL	ourselves	aö /aʒ/
2PL	yourselves	av /av/
3PL.masc	themselves	aann /a:n/
3PL.fem	themselves	aann /a:n/
2POLITE	yourself ; yourselves	enn /ən/

Reflexive pronouns are placed immediately after the subject pronoun, like in French : "êü kab ... " je me ...

Possessive pronouns

Grammatical description	English translation	Masculine and neuter singular	Feminine singular	Masculine and neuter plural	Feminine plural
1SG	my, mine	kabħe /kavə/	kabħa /kava/	kabħei /kavi/	kabħae /kavaɥ/
2SG	your, yours	katħe /kasə/	katħa /kasa/	katħei /kasi/	katħae /kasaɥ/
3SG	his, her, hers, its	kadħe /kazə/	kadħa /kaza/	kadħei /kazi/	kadħae /kazaɥ/
1PL	our, ours	pħaöe /faʒə/	pħaöa /faʒa/	pħaöei /faʒi/	pħaöae /faʒaɥ/
2PL	your, yours	pħave /favə/	pħava /fava/	pħavei /favi/	pħavae /favaɥ/
3PL	their, theirs	pħann /fan/	pħana /fana/	pħani /fani/	pħanae /fanaɥ/
2POLITE	your, yours	ïqann /iʃan/	aîqann /aɧ̙ʷan/	ïqani /iʃani/	aîqane /aɧ̙ʷan/

Possessive pronouns agree in gender and number with the nouns denoting what is "possessed".

Verbs

There are two main verbal groups, one ending in "-ë" (usually with a radical ending in a vowel), and one ending in "-er" (usually with a radical ending in a consonant). Verbs are conjugated for person, tense, and mood. There are formally seven persons : first singular, second singular, third singular, first plural, second plural, third plural, and the "polite" second person used in formal contexts for which number is neutralized.

Mood

There are four moods : indicative, conditional, imperative and so-called "absolute" (can also be called gnomic).

Indicative

The indicative and absolute moods are forms of realis : indicative is used to express statements or facts, and also other modalities not expressed with other moods.

Absolute

The absolute is traditionally treated as a mood because of its specific grammatical markings, but better corresponds semantically to the gnomic aspect. It can also be used to express a higher degree of certainty than indicative, or to express emphasis. According to documentation : L'absolu est un mode intemporel. Il peut traduire un présent de vérité générale, parler d'une propriété intrinsèque à un corps, être utilisé en poésie... Il peut être utilisé aussi en tant que présent s'il décrit une action a priori continue dans le temps, comme lorsqu'on emploie des adjectifs qualificatifs.

Imperative

The conditional and imperative moods are forms of irrealis : the imperative expresses commands, prohibitions and requests. It is not used with the seventh person (2nd person used for politeness), in which case it is substituted for a hypothetical conditional.

Conditional

The conditional expresses hypotheticals, desires and wishes. According to documentation, so-called "hypothetical conditional" corresponds to the French subjunctive mood.

Tense

There are three main tenses : present, past and future.

Present

• In the indicative mode, there is one present, the indicative present.
• In the conditional mood, there are two kinds of present : the conditional present and the so-called "hypothetical conditional present" (conditionel hypothétique présent), meant to correspond to the French subjunctive present.
• In the imperative and absolute moods, there is only a present tense.

Past

• In the indicative mood, there are four kinds of past : the so-called "foregone past" (passé révolu), which is meant to correspond to the French pluperfect ; the "descriptive past" (passé descriptif), meant to correspond to the French simple past and imperfect past ; the "general past" (passé général), meant to correspond to the French imperfect and passé composé (present perfect) ; and the "anterior past" (passé antérieur), built analytically with the auxiliary verb "kavaver"(to have) in the foregone past and the past participle.
• In the conditional mood, there are three kinds of past : the "past conditional" (conditionnel passé), the so-called "retrospective conditional" (conditionnel rétrospectif), which is meant to correspond to the French conditionnel passé de seconde forme, and the so-called "hypothetical conditional past" (conditionel hypothétique passé), meant to express the French past subjunctive.

Future

In the indicative mood, there are two kinds of future : the "general future" (futur général), which indicates event that are yet to happen, and the "retrospective future" (futur rétrospectif), which corresponds to the traditional "future perfect" (futur antérieur), used to express an action that will be completed before another action in the future.

Conjugation tables

The only available conjugation tables describe the endings in the indicative present for verbs of the first and second groups.

Indicative present of the first group : "kalûaë", to be

Person	Ending	Example
1SG	-qni /ʃni/	kalûaqni /kaɾaʃni/
2SG	-qniî /ʃnij/	kalûaqniî /kaɾaʃnij/
3SG	- (radical)	kalûa /kaɾa/
1PL	-cÿcq /sɛsʃ/	kalûacÿcq /kaɾasɛsʃ/
2PL	-tts /t/	kalûatts /kaɾat/
3PL	-me /mə/	kalûame /kaɾamə/
2POLITE	-i /i/	kalûai /kaɾai/

Indicative present of the second group : "kavaver", to have

Person	Ending	Example
1SG	- (radical)	kav /kav/
2SG	-s (unpronounced)	kavavs /kavav/
3SG	- (radical)	kavav /kavav/
1PL	-m /m/	kavavm /kavavm/
2PL	-ês /ja/	kavavês /kavavja/
3PL	-n /n/	kavavn /kavavn/
2POLITE	-i /i/	kavi /kavi/

Note : the first and seventh persons are irregular in this case.

The verb kalûaë, being a high frequency verb, also has contracted, less formal forms :

Informal indicative present of kalûaë, "to be"

Person	Kalûaë
1SG	kaqni /kaʃni/
2SG	kaqniî /kaʃnij/
3SG	kaq /kaʃ/
1PL	kacÿcq /kasɛsʃ/
2PL	katts /kat/
3PL	kame /kamə/
2POLITE	kai /kai/

Participle

Present participle

There are two different kinds of present participles ; the regular present participle, and a so-called substantival present participle (participe présent substantivé).

• Regular present participle :

It is built by adding either the ending -klûenat /kɾna/ or the ending -kvi /gvi/ to the verb radical. These endings correspond directly to the present participles of the verb kalûaë : klûenat, and of the verb kavaver : kvi. Example : çctekvi /estegvi/, "losing".

• Substantival present participle :

It is used for instance for expressing continuing action (Il sert par exemple à transcrire l'idée d'action continue : en français, "être en train de..."). It is built by adding the ending -m to the infinitive form. Example : kavaverm /kavavm/ "having", kalûaëm /kaɾam/ "being", çctÿeëm /estɛbɾəm/ "losing". Example : Êü kavaqni çcteëm nda tÿmg kabbhe, "I am wasting my time" Subject pronoun "I" + verb "to have" + substantival present participle of the verb "to lose" + particle "in, from, of" + "time" + possessive pronoun "mine".

Past participle

The past participle is built by adding the ending -ut /y/ to the verb radical, for verbs of the first group ; and by adding the ending -ç /e/ to the verb radical, for verbs of the second group. Exceptions : kalûaë : klûu /kɾy/ (or /kɾu/ ?), "been" ; kavaver : avvç /av:e/. The past participle agrees in gender and number with the object of the verb :

Past participle

	first group	second group
Masculine singular	-ut /y/	-ç /e/
Neuter singular	-ut /y/	-ç /e/
Feminine singular	-uet /y/	-çe /e/
Masculine plural	-uts /y/	-çs /e/
Neuter plural	-uts /y/	-çs /e/
Feminine plural	-uets /y/	-çes /e/

Example : çcteut, çcteuts, çcteuet, çcteuets /esty/.

Adjectives

Adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns they qualify. It is marked with a prefix that changes depending on the beginning of the neuter singular form.

Adjective starts with a vowel

Gender / Number	Singular	Plural
Neuter	-	es- /əθ/
Masculine	a- /a/	ai- /aj/
Feminine	e- /ə/	es- /əθ/

Adjective starts with h-, t-, x-, z-, ö-,ñ-

Gender / Number	Singular	Plural
Neuter	-	cs- /s/
Masculine	q- /ʃ/	qs- /ʃ/
Feminine	c- /s/	cs- /s/

Adjective starts with b-, d-, g-, p-, q-, w-, ü-, k

Gender / Number	Singular	Plural
Neuter	-	hm- /hm/
Masculine	m- /m/	ebm- /ɛjm/
Feminine	hm- /hm/	hebm- /hɛjm/

Adjective starts with s-, r-

Gender / Number	Singular	Plural
Neuter	-	kbett- /kbət/
Masculine	kbet- /kbət/	kbest- /kbət/
Feminine	kbeat- /kbɛt/	kbeast- /kbɛt/

Adjective starts with c-, f-, j-, l-, m-, n-, v-, û-, ë-

Gender / Number	Singular	Plural
Neuter	-	atûïve- /at̚ɨvə/
Masculine	etûove- /ət̚ovə/	etûïve- /ət̚ɨvə/
Feminine	atûova- /at̚ova/	atûïva- /at̚ɨva/

Adverbs

There is no information on adverbs but, based on other versions of Tolsian, we can assume they are invariable in form, qualify verbs and adjectives, and are usually placed before the verb or adjective they qualify.

Particles

Particles are function words that include prepositions, postpositions, conjunction words, etc.

• One notable particle is the so-called subject particle, which is used with stative verbs to introduce the subject's attribute. It can take two different forms, usually depending on whether the subject is animate (particle "tke?") or inanimate (particle "ke?"), but also potentially on whether the relationship between subject and attribute is perceived as "temporary" or "eternal".
• Another notable particle is the "possessive" particle, which is suffixed to the noun that represents a "possessor", akin to a genitive marking. It can be used instead of possessive pronouns, when suffixed to a personal subject pronoun : for instance, the personal pronoun "êü" + the possessive particle "-dô" becomes "êüdô", my. On the other hand, when using one of the possessive pronouns, a so-called "possessed particle" is placed in front of the "possessed" noun.
• Some particles are more like traditional prepositions ; for instance, "nda" means in, from, of.

Derivational morphology

Adjectives

Adjectives can be derived from nouns by adding the suffix -ke. The resulting adjective agrees in gender and number with the noun it qualifies, following the regular agreement rules for adjectives. Example : "tolsian", neuter singular : tolqjimke, masculine singular : qtolqjimke.

Nouns

Nouns can be derived from adjectives or past participles by adding the suffix -ctadû /stad̚/. The resulting noun is usually masculine. According to documentation, if a noun is derived from an adjective that was itself derived from a noun with the suffix -ke, then this suffix should be dropped, which sure sounds a lot like we're back to deriving a noun from a noun. Example : (the) Tolsian (language) : pna Qtolqjimctadû.

Verbs

Verbs can most likely be derived from nouns by adding either the suffix -ë (probably if the noun ends in a vowel) or the suffix -er (if it ends in a consonant).

Syntax

Constituent order

• Sentences with a stative verbs have a different constituent order depending on whether the attribute is an adjective or a noun phrase ; in the first case, it is akin to a SVO order, in the second, to an OSV order :

"I am Tolsian" (the speaker is a woman) : êü kalûaqni tke? ctolqjimke.

Subject + "to be" + subject particle + "Tolsian" (f.sg.)

"I am a (Tolsian) woman" : Ad tke? mqarea (ctolqjimke) êü kalûaqni.

Article + subject particle + "woman" (+ "Tolsian") + subject + "to be".

• The basic constituent order of a declarative sentence is SVO.

Example : "I am wasting my time" : Êü kavaqni çcteëm nda tÿmg kabbhe.

Subject pronoun + "to have" + substantival present participle of the verb "to lose" + particle "in, from, of" + "time" + possessive pronoun "mine".

Noun phrase

If there is a determiner (for example, a definiteness article), it is placed at the beginning of the noun phrase. If there is an adjective, it can be placed either right before, or right after, the noun it qualifies. Most particles are placed between a determiner and the adjective + noun (or noun + adjective) group. A prepositional phrase or clause comes after.

Example :

"I am Tolsian" (the speaker is a woman) : êü kalûaqni tke? ctolqjimke.

Subject + "to be" + subject particle + "Tolsian" (f.sg.)

• Genitive phrase :

"My mother" : (Pnÿ) êüdô maîha.

(Definite article) + Subject pronoun + possessive particle suffix + "mother".

"My mother" : Ne maîha kabħa.

"Possessed" particle + "mother" + possessive pronoun.

"This is my mother" : Fe kalûa ne maîha kabħa.

Demonstrative pronoun + "to be" + "possessed" particle + "mother" + possessive pronoun.

"Mine" : Pnÿ kabħa.

Definite article + possessive pronoun.

"It is mine" : Fe kalûa pnÿ kabħa.

Demonstrative pronoun + "to be" + definite article + possessive pronoun.

Verb phrase

The subject pronoun is optional, but placed right in front of the verb if used.