Letaale: Difference between revisions

The name Letaale comes from trisyllabic lemma '''''letaale''''' literally meaning "the Letaale speaker speaks Letaale". This is not the name of the language as such but is used to refer to speaking the language, as in '''''nemaane''''' ("I speak Letaale"). The name of the language in Letaale, although used rarely, is '''''xialetaale''''' [ʔialeˈtaːle], which uses the identifier prefix ''xia-'' for abstract things.

Word stress falls on the last long vowel or diphthong in a word. If all the vowels are short, stress falls on the initial syllable. Prefixes and initial clitics, all of which contain a diphthong other than /ai/, are never stressed.

Secondary vowels are not associated with any particular consonant and only appear in clitics and identifier prefixes. These prefixes are always unstressed.

Prefixes may change over time. When '''''Tuakuumoxu''''' retires from active duty and enters administration, his name will become '''''Xuakuumoxu''''', with the prefix '''''Xua-'''''indicating a tahu in an administrative role. The vocative prefix generally replaces any other prefix although it can sometimes be stacked on to the beginning. For example, the vocative form of '''''Tuakuumoxu''''' may be '''''Xoekuumoxu''''' or '''''Xoetuakuumoxu'''''.

===Clitics===

Infixes in Letaale are single-syllable morphemes beginning with a consonant and containing secondary vowels which contribute grammatical information in a sentence. They are inserted into the word the refer to (or into the first word in a phrase that they refer to) directly after the stressed syllable. They may, themselves be unstressed, but can also be stressed for emphasis, taking the primary stress away from the syllable before it.

| '''hua''' || <small>Q</small> || question clitic, turns the word it is attached to (ie. its "host") into a yes/no question || '''''Vee<span style="color:blue">hua</span>lavi?'''''<br />"<span style="color:blue">Do you</span> eat<span style="color:blue">?</span>" || '''''hua'''''

| '''leo''' || <small>NEG</small> || negative clitic, "not", negates its host || '''''Vee<span style="color:blue">leo</span>lavi.'''''<br />"You <span style="color:blue">do not</span> eat." || '''''gui'''''

| '''gui''' || <small>AFF</small> || affirmative clitic, "indeed", emphatically affirms its host || '''''Vee<span style="color:blue">gui</span>lavi.'''''<br />"You ''<span style="color:blue">do</span>'' eat." || '''''loe'''''

| '''heo''' || <small>NEG</small>.<small>Q</small> || negative question clitic, "not?", turns its host into a question with an expected negative answer || '''''Vee<span style="color:blue">heo</span>lavi?'''''<br />"You <span style="color:blue">don't</span> eat, <span style="color:blue">do you?</span>" || '''''hui'''''

| '''hui''' || <small>AFF</small>.<small>Q</small> || affirmative question clitic, "indeed?", turns its host into a question with an expected affirmative answer || '''''Vee<span style="color:blue">hui</span>lavi.'''''<br />"You <span style="color:blue">do</span> eat, <span style="color:blue">don't you<?" || '''''heo'''''

| '''tui''' || <small>FOC</small> || focus clitic, indicates its host is the focus of the sentence, the new information that is being claimed || '''''Vee<span style="color:blue">tui</span>lavi'''''<br />"(<span style="color:blue">the thing is:</span>) you eat" || '''''nau'''''

| '''nau''' || <small>TOP</small> || topic clitic, indicates its host is the topic of the sentence, known information about which something is claimed in the focus || '''''vee<span style="color:blue">nau</span>lavi'''''<br />"(<span style="color:blue">as for the fact that</span>) you eat" || '''''tui'''''

| '''sau''' || or || inclusive disjunctive clitic, "or", "and/or", indicates an alternative which is not exclusive || '''''vee<span style="color:blue">sau</span>lavi vilaivaa<span style="color:blue">sau</span>'''''<br />"you (<span style="color:blue">either</span>)eat <span style="color:blue">or</span> you dance (<span style="color:blue">or both</span>)" || '''''sau'''''

| '''tau''' || <small>XOR</small> || exclusive disjunctive clitic, "or" "or ... but not both", indicates an exclusive alternative || '''''vee<span style="color:blue">tau</span>lavi vilaivaa<span style="color:blue">tau</span>'''''<br />"you (<span style="color:blue">either<span style="color:blue">) eat or you dance (but not both)" || '''''tau'''''

| '''tia''' || although || causal adversative clitic, "although", "even though", indicates the context under which some other fact is unexpected or contrastive || '''''vilaivaa(<span style="color:red">jeo</span>) vee<span style="color:blue">tia</span>lavi'''''<br />"you dance <span style="color:blue">although</span> you eat" || '''''jeo'''''

| '''jeo''' || but || effective adversative clitic, "but", "however", "nevertheless", indicates something surprising given another fact or situation || '''''vilaivaa(<span style="color:red">tia</span>) vee<span style="color:blue">jeo</span>lavi'''''<br />"you dance, <span style="color:blue">but</span> you eat" || '''''tia'''''

| '''vui''' || and || simultaneous conjunctive clitic, "and", indicates a simultaneous addition || '''''veevuilavi vilaivaavui'''''<br />"you eat and dance (at the same time)" || '''''vui'''''

| '''nua''' || first || initial conjunctive clitic, "first", "initially", indicates its host occurs first in a sequence || '''''veenualavi vilaivaasua'''''<br />"first you eat, then you dance" || '''sua'''

| '''sua''' || subsequently || subsequent conjunctive clitic, "then", "subsequently", indicates an addition that follows in time || '''''vilaivaa(nua) veesualavi'''''<br />"you dance, then you eat" || '''''vui'''''

| '''kua''' || when || simultaneous punctual temporal clitic, "when", indicates that another event or situation occurs at the same time as what is marked with '''kua'''  || '''''Veekualavi vilaivaatui.'''''<br />"When you eat, you dance." || '''''tui''''' / '''''nau''''' / '''''kua''''' / '''''jau'''''

| '''jau''' || while || simultaneous continuous temporal clitic, "while", indicates that its host is the temporal context for for another event or situation || '''''Veejaulavi vilaivaatui'''''<br />"While you're dancing, you eat." || '''''tui''''' / '''''nau''''' / '''''kua''''' / '''''jau'''''

| '''mua''' || before || antetemporal punctual clitic, "before", indicates that its host comes ''after'' another event or situation || '''''Veemualavi vilaivaatui.'''''<br />"Before you dance, you eat." || '''''tui''''' / '''''nau''''' / '''''nio'''''

| '''goe''' || until || antetemporal continuous clitic, "until", indicates that its host represents the end point of another event or situation || '''''Veegoelavi vilaivaatui.'''''<br />"Until you dance, you eat." || '''''tui''''' / '''''nau'''''

| '''nio''' || after || posttemporal punctual clitic, "after", indicates that its host comes ''before'' another event or situation || '''''Veeniolavi vilaivaatui.'''''<br />"After you eat, you dance." || '''''tui''''' / '''''nau''''' / '''''mua'''''

| '''joe''' || since || posttemporal continuous clitic, "since", "from", indicates that its host represents the starting point of another event or situation || '''''Veejoelavi vilaivaatui.'''''<br />"Since you ate, you've been dancing."<br />"From the time when you eat, you're going to dance." || '''''tui''''' / '''''nau'''''

| '''gua''' || because || specific causal clitic, "because", "since", "as", indicates that its host is the cause of another event or situation || '''''Veegualavi vilaivaatui.'''''<br />"Because you eat, you dance." || '''''tui''''' / '''''nau''''' / '''''noe'''''

| '''noe''' || therefore || specific effective clitic, "therefore", "so", indicates that its host is the effect caused by another event or situation || '''''Vilaivaa(gua) veenoelavi.'''''<br />"You've been dancing; therefore, you eat." || '''''tui''''' / '''''nau''''' / '''''gua'''''

| '''vue''' || if.<small>REAL</small> || generic/potential causal clitic, "if", indicates that its host, ''if it does turn out to be the case'', is the cause of another event or situation || '''''Veevuelavi vilaivaajue.'''''<br />"If you eat, (then) you dance." || '''''jue'''''

| '''jue''' || then.<small>REAL</small> || generic/potential effective clitic, "then", indicates that its host is the effect caused by another ''possible'' event or situation || '''''Veevuelavi vilaivaajue.'''''<br />"If you eat, (then) you dance." || '''''vue'''''

| '''viu''' || if.<small>IRR</small> || irrealis causal clitic, "if", indicates that its host is a ''hypothetical'' event or situation that, ''if it were true'', would the cause of another event or situation || '''''Veeviulavi vilaivaajiu.'''''<br />"If you ate, (then) you would dance." || '''''jiu'''''

| '''jiu''' || then.<small>IRR</small> || irrealis effective clitic, "then", "would" indicates that its host would be the effect caused by another ''hypothetical'' event or situation || '''''Veeviulavi vilaivaajiu.'''''<br />"If you ate, (then) you would dance." || '''''viu'''''

| '''gau''' || preparatively || telic causal clitic, indicates that its host is done in preparation in order to achieve another event or situation || '''''Veegaulavi vilaivaaneo.'''''<br />"You eat preparatively in order to dance." || '''''neo'''''

| '''neo''' || so.that || telic effective clitic, "so that", "in order that", indicates that its host is the intended goal behind another event or situation || '''''Vilaivaa(gau) veeneolavi.'''''<br />"You dance in order to eat." || '''''vue'''''

'''''Jomijo''''' is, however, not simply an equivalent of an accusative case. In many instances, another root is used to indicate the roll of the object.