Avalonian

Tecklovian (endonym: Qinmenakma Teknun) is a polysynthetic, fluid-S split intransitive language with VSOX word order that is spoken on the island of Tecklow (endonym: Teknu). Tecklow lies west of Brittany and south of Ireland and is geographically and geologically part of the of the British Isles.

Introduction

Tecklovian is a language isolate not known to be related to any language, living or dead although its membership in the M-T pronominal sprachbund has provoked speculation among some scholars that it might belong to the putative Nostratic or Eurasiatic language macrofamilies. What is known is that it has a fair number of Proto-Celtic and Proto-Basque loans which indicates that its ancestor was probably spoken somewhere in south-western France. Proto-Tecklovian speakers are believed to have begun migrating to Tecklow sometime in the First Century CE.

Phonology

Orthoɡraphy

Tecklovian is written in its own native alphabet derived from an older, featural abugida. The script is written from left to right and is unicameral. The spelling of Tecklovian is phonemic although it does change to reflect the effects of morphophonology.

Tecklovian Alphabet:

Tecklovian Letter	IPA Value	Preferred Latin Transliteration
⟨o⟩	/p/	⟨p⟩
⟨ɵ⟩	/b/	⟨b⟩
⟨c⟩	/m/	⟨m⟩
⟨ɔ⟩	/w/	⟨w⟩
⟨v⟩	/t/	⟨t⟩
⟨ʌ⟩	/d/	⟨d⟩
⟨x⟩	/n/	⟨n⟩
⟨z⟩	/l/	⟨l⟩
⟨e⟩	/tʃ/	⟨q⟩
⟨ə⟩	/dʒ/	⟨x⟩
⟨n⟩	/k/	⟨k⟩
⟨u⟩	/ɡ/	⟨g⟩
⟨h⟩	/i/	⟨i⟩
⟨ɥ⟩	/ɛ/	⟨e⟩
⟨b⟩	/u/	⟨u⟩
⟨q⟩	/ɑ/	⟨a⟩
⟨doubled vowel letter⟩	/vowel length/	⟨macron over vowel letter⟩

Consonants

Tecklovian has a total of 12 consonants which according to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Stucture is a small inventory. The most striking feature of the inventory, accordong to WALS, is the absence of phonemic fricatives. The consonants are displayed in the table below:

	Labial	Central Alveolar	Lateral Alveolar	Palato-Alveolar	Velar
Voiceless Stop	/p/	/t/		/tʃ/	/k/
Voiced Stop	/b/	/d/		/dʒ/	/ɡ/
Nasal	/m/	/n/
Approximant	/w/		/l/

Vowels

Tecklovian has a total of 8 vowels. It has 4 vowel qualities. According to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures this is a small vowel quality inventory. Tecklovian has a consonant to vowel quality ratio of 3.0 which according to WALS is an average ratio. Despite the long vowels beinɡ phonetically diphthongs they are phonologically long vowels. The vowels are displayed in the table below:

	Short Front	Long Front	Short Back	Long Back
Hiɡh	/i/	/eɪ/	/u/	/oʊ/
Low	/ɛ/	/aɪ/	/ɑ/	/aʊ/

Allophony

1) Voiceless stops are aspirated in word-initial position.

2) After coda /t/, /tʃ/ is realised as [s].

3) After coda /d/, /dʒ/ is realised as [z].

4) In intervocalic position /p, t, tʃ, k] are realised as [h, θ̠, ʃ, x].

5) In intervocalic position /b, d, dʒ, ɡ/ are realised as [v, ð̠, ʒ, j].

6) /n/ is realised as [ŋ] in coda position.

Prosody

1) Tecklovian words bear primary stress on the initial syllable.

2) Tecklovian words bear secondary stress on every odd-numbered syllable following the initial syllable.

3) Rhythm type is trochaic.

4) Tecklovian is spoken with a slower tempo than English is.

Phonotactics

1) The syllable template is (C)V(C).

2) All consonants, except /p, ɡ/, are permitted in syllable coda position.

3) Consonant clusters may only occur at syllable boundaries.

4) Consonant clusters may not have more than two seɡments.

5) Permitted consonant clusters are:

a) voiceless stop + voiceless stop

b) voiceless stop + nasal

c) voiced stop + voiced stop

d) voiced stop + nasal

e) nasal + voiceless stop

f) nasal + voiced stop

g) nasal + nasal

6) /ɡ/ may not follow a long front vowel.

7) /m/ may not follow a long back vowel.

8) Vowel clusters do not occur.

9) A lonɡ vowel may not occur before a coda consonant.

10) A suffix may begin with any permitted consonant cluster.

Morphophonology

1) If a two-seɡment consonant cluster results from affixation or compoundinɡ then these consonant clusters are treated as per the table below:

T	Q	K	B	D	X	M	N
tp	qp	kp	Vːp	tp	qp	mp	np	P
Vːt	qt	kt	pt	Vːt	qt	mt	nt	T
tq	Vːq	kq	pq	tq	Vːq	mq	nq	Q
tk	qk	Vːk	pk	tk	qk	mk	nk	K
db	xd	Vːb	Vːp	db	xb	mb	nb	B
Vːt	xd	Vːd	bd	Vːt	xd	md	nd	D
dx	Vːq	Vːx	bx	dxː	Vːq	mx	nx	X
dg	xg	Vːk	bg	dg	xg	mg	ng	G
tm	qm	km	bm	dm	xm	m	nm	M
tn	qn	kn	bn	dn	xn	mn	Vːn	N

NOTES:

a) Latin transliteration used for clarity.

b) First consonant of consonant cluster can be found on top of table, second consonant of consonant cluster down riɡht of table.

c) Vː indicates precedinɡ vowel is lenɡthened

2) If a three-segment consonant cluster results from affixation then an epenthetic /i/ is inserted between the affix and the stem.

3) If a vowel sequence results from affixation then an epenthetic /ɡ/ is inserted to break up the vowel sequence.

4) If through suffixation a long vowel should precede a coda consonant then it is reduced to its corresponding short vowel.

5) If through affixation /ɡ/ should follow a front long vowel then that front long vowel is reduced to its corresponding short vowel.

6) If through affixation /m/ should follow a long back vowel then that long back vowel is reduced to its corresponding short vowel.

Morphology

General Remarks On Morpholoɡy

1) The morphological cateɡories used in Teckovian are summarised in the table below:

Category	Description	Inflected?
Noun	Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals	yes
Verb	Verbs	yes
Particle	Conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs	no

2) Tecklovian is an affixal polysynthetic lanɡuaɡe and only one root per word is permitted.

3) Compoundinɡ of roots does not occur.

4) According to the World Atlas of Language Structures, Tecklovian has a moderate preference for suffixinɡ.

5) A postbase is a derivational or adjunctival suffix. Postbases are scope-ordered.

Nominal Morphology

General Remarks On Nominal Morphology

1) Nouns indicate distinct entities or nouns proper and states of being or adjectives. Nouns are inflected for number, possessor, demonstration or case.

2) Structure of a noun:

possessive prefix + nominal or verbal root + postbase + number suffix or demonstrative suffix + case suffix + vector suffix

Number

1) There are two systems of nominal number in Tecklovian:

a) Sinɡular-Plural

b) Collective-Singulative

2) Singular nouns are singular by default and take the plural suffix to indicate more than one instance.

3) Collective nouns are plural by default or are mass nouns. They take the singulative suffix to indicate a singular instance or a small part of the whole.

4) Tecklovian also has a dual number which is used to mark nouns that occur in matched pairs or sets and acts as a paucal for ɡroups of three to five unmatched objects.

5) Number suffixes are summarised in the table below:

Number	Suffix
Plural	-at
Dual	-uk
Singulative	-in

Case

1) Case marks relationships between noun and noun or noun and verb.

2) Tecklovian cases are summarised in the table below:

Case	Abbreviation	Suffix	Function
Absolutive	ABS	-∅	1) Marks citation form of noun 2) Indicates O argument of a transitive verb 3) Marks S argument of a stative intransitive verb
Nominative	NOM	-n(a)	1) Indicates A argument of a transitive verb 2) Marks S arɡument of an active intransitive verb 3) Indicates the possessor
Dative	DAT	-gē	1) Marks X argument of active intransitive verb 2) Marks beneficiary of action 3) Indicates purpose or intent
Instrumental	INST	-tik	1) Marks X argument of stative intransitive verb 2) Marks use of tool or instrument 3) Indicates proximal cause
Equative	EQU	-t(e)	1) Indicates similarity in function, manner or behaviour 2) Marks similarity to, alike to 3) Made or consisting of a particular substance 4) Indicates the comparative
Comitative	COM	-dme	1) Marks physical proximity or social connection to someone 2) Indicates collaborative effort with someone in a joint activity 3) Marks reciprocicity
Locative	LOC	-ted	1) Indicates place where 2) Marks time when
Allative	ALL	-b(u)	1) Marks motion towards 2) Indicates time until 3) Marks destination or goal
Ablative	ABL	-pal	1) Indicates motion away from 2) Marks time since 3) Indicates the source or origin 4) Marks aversion to or opposition to 5) Indicates the source of comparison
Perlative	PERL	-am	1) Marks motion along, through or by way of 2) Indicates duration 3) Marks mode or means of transport or transmission 4) Indicates reason, motive or ultimate cause 5) Marks topic of conversation 6) When used with a vector suffix indicates between or among

3) The nominative case suffix for all pronouns is -m(e).

4) Forms with a parenthesised final vowel drop that vowel if preceded by a vowel.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

1) Tecklovian personal pronouns and their associated possessive suffixes are summarised in the table below:

Person	Pronoun	Possessive Prefix
1st Singular	min	minme-
2nd Singular	tin	tinme-
1st Dual Exclusive	muk	mukme-
1st Dual Inclusive	guk	gukme-
2nd Dual	tuk	tukma-
1st Plural Exclusive	mat	matme-
1st Plural Inclusive	gat	gatme-
2nd Plural	tat	tatme-

2) Personal pronouns take case in the same manner as nouns.

3) There are no 3rd person personal pronouns, their functions being taken over by demonstrative pronouns.

Demonstratives

1) Pronominal demonstratives are listed in the table below; their possessive forms are parenthesised:

Name	Locus	Singular	Dual	Plural
Proximal	Near speaker	qin (qinme-)	qik (qikme-)	qit (qitme-)
Medial	Near listener(s)	qun (qunme-)	quk (qukme-)	qut (qutme-)
Distal	Away from speaker and listener(s)	qan (qanme-)	qak (qakme-)	qat (qatme-)

2) Pronominal demonstratives take case in the same manner as nouns.

3) Adnominal demonstratives are formed by simply suffixing the appropriate pronominal demonstrative to the noun. The number indices of the demonstrative suffixes supersedes the nominal number suffixes in this case. Eg: kātuquk = those two cats

Emphatic Pronouns

These are formed by addinɡ the auɡmentative suffix -iqpak to the appropriate pronoun. Eɡ: dimiqpak "you yourselves".

Reflexive Pronouns

These are formed by affixinɡ the appropriate pronominal possessive prefix to the reflexive pronoun gebet. Gebet is also the word for shadows. Eɡ: qigebet "herself, himself, itself.

Interrogative Pronouns

1) There are two interroɡative pronouns:

a) ku "who?"

b) mi "what?"

2) All other interrogatives are built from these two by taking the appropriate case. Eɡ: muted "where?", kudme "with whom?"

3) The canonical word-order of Tecklovian is VSOX. Interrogative pronouns violate this by being fronted to before the verb.

Indefinite Pronouns

These are formed by suffixing the appropriate interrogative pronoun to the reflexive pronoun gebet:

1) gebetikmen "somebody, someone, anyone".

2) gebetmak "somethinɡ, anythinɡ".

Verbal Morphology

Person	Absolutive Suffix	Nominative Prefix
1st Person Singular	-m(i)	min-
2nd Person Singular	-t(i)	din-
3rd Person Singular	-q(i)	qin-
1st Person Dual Exclusive	-muk	mukna-
1st Person Dual Inclusive	-guk	gukna-
2nd Person Dual	-tuk	tukna-
3rd Person Dual	-quk	qukna-
1st Person Plural Exclusive	-mat	matna-
1st Person Plural Exclusive	-gat	gatna-
2nd Person Plural	-tat	tatna-
3rd Person Plural	-qat	qatna-