How it's made
Essentially all we do to write tlag is talk about it during meetings or on our discord, and if we come to a consensus, it's changed! No other hassle, we're extremely informal when it comes to changing or adding to tlag, since we're descriptive rather than perscriptive.
Tlag at a glance
Phonology
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Sound inventory
- m /m/
- n /ɳ/
- g /ŋ/
- p /pʼ/
- t /ʈʼ/
- k /kʼ/
- s /ʂ/
- z /ʐ/
- c /ɕ/
- x /x/
- h /h/
- f /p̪f/
- b /b̪v/
- ts /tsʼ/
- j /j/
- r /ɾ/
- l /ɮ/
- tl /ʈɭ˔~tɬ/
Vowels
- i /i/
- e /ɛ/
- a /æ/
- v /ə/
- u /u/
- o /o/
- aa /ɑ/
Syllables are (C)V(C) diphthongs count as two syllables. Notable spellings: g = /ŋ/, v = /ə/, aa = /ɑ/.
7 phonological rules
- Nasal place assimilation
- Schwa deletion before non-high vowels
- Consonant deletion before same consonant
- Vowel lengthening in open syllables
- Vowel lengthening before voiced consonants
- Retroflex assimilation of /tsʼ/
- Syllable-final h-deletion
Morphology & syntax
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Word order
VSO in main clauses, SVO in subordinate clauses. Noun first before adjectives; determiners, numerals and possessors come before the noun.
Noun cases
- cina nominative, no ending
- cinahv definite accusative, -hv
- cinamic genitive, -mic
- cinaibi ablative / instrumental, -ibi
Verb forms
- caam non-past
- ucaam past, u-
- nicaam irrealis, ni-/nij-
- icaam imperative, i-/ij-
- caamus active participle, -us
- caamek passive participle, -mek
- caamir gerund, -ir/-jir
Possession split
Alienable: objects, friends, property. Inalienable: body parts, family, personal qualities, creations and past deeds.
Other features
- No wh-movement
- No agreement
- Null copula
- Pro-drop
- No infinitive
Gloss
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Dictionary
906 entries: mostly nouns (597) and verbs (108), searchable by Tlag or English and filterable by part of speech and category such as food & drink, organisms, and kinship.
Pronouns
First, second and third (animate/inanimate) persons with singular, paucal and plural numbers. Includes inclusive/exclusive “we” and sentence-final tone tags like ne (jocular) and jaa (sarcastic).
Particles & affixes
Enclitics such as diminutive -uvu, intensifier -e/-je and causative -va; bound morphemes such as adjectivizer -xeu, verbalizer -leg, agentive -paali and negation -(j)ol.
Numbers
Base-4 leaning system: itli 1, ku 2, tipi 3, naape 4, naapitli 5 (lit. “four one”), ikaapaa 8, tuhu 10.
Word of the day
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Tlag in use
Homaa pvnv tlaghv ne.
like.NPST 1PL.INCL.NOM tlag-DEF.ACC JOC "We (you and I included) like tlag, lol."