Tanolian

Tanolian is a language widely spoken on the planet of Kashube. It is said that It is also one of the oldest, but this is not a fact. Tanolian is derived from the languages spoken by the ancestors of the land that is now called Tanehel.

The language itself is similar to the earth languages such as Spanish, Japanese, as well as a little bit of the germanic languages

Setting
Also at one point known as the "Demon's tongue," was originally spoken by the ancient peoples of the modern-day Tanehel, a rural country on the Northern-west region of the continent Venda. It was said to have been spoken to the tribe in the region known as the Marigan by the demonic spirits to be used as a type of dark arts language. Another rumor says that it was bequeathed to them by the last elder of the Marigan tribe who was the only one at that time who could speak it.

Pronunciation
The pronunciation of Tanolian is that of Spanish or Japanese when regarding the vowels. Unlike in English, with which a vowel can have many phonic sounds depending on where it is located in a word, Tanolian vowels will carry only one phonic sound.

A= Ah, as in father

E= Eh, as in Jet

I= EE, as in Believe

O= Oh, as in Hope

U= OO, as in Rude

Some of the consonants have changed from the English pronunciation. The consonants that still undergo the English pronunciation though is: B, D, L, M, N, P, W, and Y. The others have taken on a new phonic sound.

C, K, And Q = they all make the same noise, a hacking noise. K is actually the main character, the C and Q are used for foreign words.

F= It is just the blowing of air with parted lips.

G= It is a combination of a growl and then a K hacking noise.

H= Very guttural. You place your tongue on the top of your mouth, and cover your throat, then expel air quickly.

J= It is a hissing noise, like you are telling some one "hush!"

R= It is trilled like in Spanish, but more breathy.

S= The S is very breathy also, and seems to be a slight hiss also.

T= It makes a CH noise, like CHURCH.

V= The English F.

X= The K hacking noise, then a Tanolian S.

Z= The same as the Tanolian S. It is used for foreign words.

Elongation
When a vowel or consonant is elongated, it is either held out longer, given a brief pause, or changed completely in its phonic sound.

Vowels can be elongated, meaning that if there is two of the same vowel beside each other, the sound that they make will be held out for another count.

Just like vowels, consonants can also be held out for another count and elongated. However, the rules are somewhat different.

The consonants that have the English pronunciation, when elongated, instead of being held out longer, they will be delayed for a count.

Here is an example:

Reddan (Reh—dahn)

This word, meaning “Scarlet,” when the “e” is pronounced, there will be a slight pause before the “d” is pronounced. It would be Re*dan.

When the irregular consonants are elongated, they are hardened, as it were.

CC, KK, QQ - all make a hard English K sound, as in Kick

FF- English equivalent to TH, as in Thank

GG- a hard English G sound, as in Ground

HH- a hard English H sound, as in Hill

JJ- a hard English J sound, as in Jet

TT- a hard English T sound, as in Truck

VV- a hard English V sound, as in Van

ZZ- a hard English ZH sound, as in Genre

R, S, and X cannot be elongated, and therefore, you will never see two of them by each other.

The Alphabet
Here is an example of the Tanolian alphabet. (There is a font available, located here.)



Nouns
Nouns are the simplest figures of speck in Tanolian. Here are a few examples of regular, singular nouns:

Cat - niean

House - monpate

Rabbit - heig

When a noun is plural, simply add ‘a to the ones that end in consonants and a 'ha to the ones that end in a vowel:

Cats - niean’a

Houses - monpate’ha

Rabbits - heig’a

In order for a noun to possess another noun, you can add the suffix ‘en to the noun being possessed.

Girl’s cat - niean’en ttil

Technically, you are saying “cat of girl,” but when translated properly, it is “girl’s cat.”

There are nouns that can be attached with "ar", making them no longer a noun, but a verb. this will be explained later on.

Pronouns
Pronouns, in languages like English and Spanish, change based on where they are placed in a sentence. Here are two examples in English.

I love him.

He loves me.

In these two sentences, they both have a first person pronoun and a third person pronoun, but both of them change considering which part of the sentence they are in. In the first sentence, the first person pronoun, I changes to me when in the second sentence. The third person He turns into him. This will never happen in Tanolian.

I, me - Ga

He, him - Veu

She, her - Dan

You (m.) - Nee

You (f.) - Nei

It - Xett

These pronouns, when plural, have either a or ua added to them without the apostrophe to separate the plurality of the pronoun and the plural suffix, as done with nouns.

We (I) - Gaua

They (He) - Veua

They (She) - Danua

They (It) - Xetta

You all (You) - Nea

As you can see in the list of singular pronouns, there are three “they’s.” This is because they first “They” is directed at all men, the second “They” is directed at all women, and the third “They” is directed at a mixture of the two.When a pronoun is possessing a noun, an -e without an apostrophe is added to the pronoun.

My cat - Gae Niean Our cat - Gauae Niean

Your cat - Neue Niean Your cat - Neuae Nian

His cat - Veue Niean Their cat - veuae Niean

Her cat - Dane Niean Their cat - Danuae Niean

Its cat - xette Niean their cat - xettae Niean

Conjugation
Tanolian verbs are the most complex part of the language. Here are a few verbs in their infinitive form.

To be - nar

To eat - emaer

To study - dodur

To help - jyer

To apologize - tar

To meet - zttettar

To do - ger

To take - or

To need - toder

To run - kar

To be able - ser

To sleep - dear

These verbs, as you can see, all end in -r. All Tanolian verbs in their infinitive will do this. When the verbs are conjugated, these endings will be added to the -r.

Present singular

I, me - u

You - o

He, she, it - i

Past singular

I, me - ugh

You - ogh

He, she, it - igh

Future singular

I, me - uk

You - ok

He, she, it - ik

Present plural

We - us

You all - os

They - is

Past plural

We - ughe

You all - oghe

They - ighe

Future plural

We - uke

You all - oke

They - ike

When conjugating a verb, the endings will attach pertaining to what the noun or pronoun is. Here are a few examples pertaining to each.

I am a widow - Ga naru trejen

You are strict - nee naro kele

It is a song - xett nari tom

I was wrong - ga narugh seltten

You were radiant - nee narogh poja

It was a rabbit - xett narigh heig

I will be there - Ga naruk verse

You will be with us - nee narok make gaua

The rose will be red - rosbade narik krenson

The same rules apply for the plural forms of all of these pronouns and nouns. Always keep in mind that a noun is usually replaced by third person pronouns, like he, she, and it, along with their plural counterparts.

There are also rules for when a verb is with another verb.

Conjugate-Infinitives
The first one we shall go over will be the Conjugate-Infinitive verb rule. This is when a conjugated and infinitive verb come together, such as:

You need to study.

The underlined verb is the conjugated verb, while the bolded verb is the infinitive. Here is a translation to this sentence.

Nee todero dodur.

“Todero” is conjugated, while “dodur” is the infinitive.

I am + Verb-ing
When a conjugated verb is added to a verb that ends in -ing, this system is called present progressive. Here is an example in both English and Tanolian.

I am eating - ga emae-naru.

When the verb is in present progressive in Tanolian, the verb that has -ing in English will drop the -r and add the conjugated verb of “to be.”

I am studying - ga dodu-naru

You are sleeping - nee dea-naro

He is running - veu ka-nari

I was crying - ga kna-narugh

You were lying - nee sonde-narogh

She was coming - dan satte-narigh

Verb + Verb
When handling two conjugated verbs, this is what it looks like in English.

I think you are.

When writing this in Tanolian, you would have:

Ga prosuru te nee naro.

“Te” is added in between the two verbs. It carries no distinct or direct translation, but it could be the English equivalent to “that” in this example. This will happen for all verb on verb.

Can I?
Why, yes you can!

When dealing with can, or the unconjugated “To be able,” the verb will act just like “to be” in present progressive. Here is an example of this in English.

I can run.

Here is the Tanolian translation.

Ga ka-seru

This is the same concept as the present progressive verb sequence.

Negating a Verb
In order to negate a verb, no matter what rule the verb follows, add “do” in front of the verb.

It is not a song - xett do nari tom

You do not need to study - Nee do todero dodur

I am not eating - ga do emae-naru

I don’t think you are - Ga do prosuru te nee naro

I think you aren’t - Ga prosuru te nee do naro

I cannot run - ga do ka-seru

Verb Modifiers
The following list is of words that emphasize the verb.

should - vel

(You should go - nee vel’kredero)

(You should have gone - nee vel’krederogh)

could - ttel

(You could go - nee ttel’kredero)

(You could have gone - nee ttel’krederogh)

would - kel

(You would go - nee kel’kredero)

(You would have gone - nee kel’krederogh)

might - akal

(You might go - nee akal’kredero)

(You might have gone - nee akal’krederogh)

used to - zol

(you used to go - nee zol’krederogh)

“Used to” is a modifier that only attaches to verbs with a past tense.

Have (Been) - el

(You have gone - nee el’krederogh)

(What have you done now? - nee el’gerogh yern gon e?)

“El” is a modifier that doesn’t carry a distinct meaning. It simply puts the verb in a sense of past perfect tense.

Commands and Suggestions
When commanding a person, in English, the most commonly used verb is in third person present tense omitting the "You." In Tanolian, it is put in second person tense, with 'te added to the verb. The "You" is omitted in familiar situations, but to keep the sentence polite, the "You" is kept.

(You) study! - (Nee) dodurote

(You) Sleep! - (Nee) dearote

When making a suggestion to someone, in Tanolian, it can either be found in second or third person, singular and plural. It softens the command, and makes it suggestive. For

Sleep now please? - Nee Dearota irn ne

Let's sleep now - Dearusta irn

Let's study - Dodurusta

The Verb "Ar"
There is a verb called "ar." It allows a noun to attach to it, turning the noun into a verb. This, however, does not work with EVERY noun. Here are a few examples of nouns that do work with this rule.

Kiss - pel

I kissed her - Ga pel'arugh dan

Love - Kan

I love you - Ga kan'aru nee

The apostrophe is not actually added in the Tanolian scripts. It was simply added to show the different parts of the verbs.

Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun. In Tanolian, the adjective follows up behind the noun that it is describing, taking on the last two letters of the noun. However, when the noun is plural, the adjective takes on the last three letters of the noun.

Here are a few examples:

Old - polo Good - rod Fast - kied

She is old - Dan nari polo It is a good cat - Nari niean rod-an That is a fast car - kott nari audi kied-di

I am good - Ga naru rod The cars were old - Audi'a narighe polo-di'a They are fast cats - Naris niean'a kied-an'a

As you can see, pronouns do not carry the same rules as nouns do. When they are being modified by an adjective, the word modifying them will not take the last two letters of the word being modified if it is a pronoun.

Example text


De hettan'a fettnaris grenzi-an'a a reggo-an'a le mattoe a seli. Xetta taleris make sindile a kranesen a vel'deraris glehatte'ha le koien rog renerike.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)