Taila

Taila (Taila Luyera) is a constructed language developed in 2009 as an experiment in various linguistic concepts. It is an non-tonal analytic language with a relatively simple phonemic inventory, especially to speakers of Western languages. It is currently written using the Latin script and Arabic numerals. The lexicon has been influenced by many languages, most importantly English, Chinese, Khmer, Greek, and Arabic.

=Design= Taila was initially created to be an experiment into isolating/analytic languages like Chinese, Burmese, or Thai. Early grammars explored different ways to manipulate word order to express meaning, relying heavily on Asian influences in most aspects of the language: syntax, lexicon, phonology, et cetera. Eventually, however, Taila started to take on a different timbre in many ways. Tones were dropped, syllable structure was loosened, and word length was increased. Furthermore, the grammar took a turn toward the theoretical, marking not phrasal constituents like subject or object, but instead thematic relations like agent and patient. There are still many Asian-influenced parts of the language, such as its separation of tense, aspect, and mood or its lack of intrinsic number in most nouns or its serial verb constructions (and "serial noun constructions"). It does diverge somewhat greatly in its relative looseness in word order.

=Phonology= In many ways the phonemes of Taila are similar to those of the Spanish language. A five-vowel system coupled with a relatively simple consonantal system.

Consonants
The sounds listed in the table below are the "standard" phonemes of the language, and do not show allophones that appear in certain environments. Where sounds are in pairs, the symbol to the left is unvoiced and the one to the right is voiced.

The orthography generally agrees with the IPA; however, a few sounds are written differently. The semivowels are written y and w, and the two rhotic phonemes are written r and rr. Whenever the vowel "i" is positioned after an orthographically alveolar consonant, it turns it into a palatal sound; thus, zenia (snow), tia  (to go), lino  (rice). This phenomenon also occurs after /ɾ/ which changes into /j/. If this phonemic shift is not desired, an "h" can be inserted to stop it, so is desired, it is transcribed thia instead of tia. The velar nasal stop /ŋ/ is written "n" when immediately before a velar consonant (ng, nk, nx), and "ngh" elsewhere.

Vowels
There are five vowels which are not centralized in any syllables.

The phonemes /i/ and /u/ are sometimes reduced to /j/ and /w/ when placed between a consonant and another vowel (/bia/ becomes /bʲa/ and /lui/ becomes /lʷi/). The only true diphthongs are ai and au, and the only allophones are /iu/ > /y/ and /io/ > /ø/.

=Basic Grammar= Because Taila is an analytic language, it lacks any sort of declension or conjugation like in many Western languages. In order to express number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, or anything else, separate particles must be added in the clause to indicate these.

Noun Functive Particles
After a noun phrase (a string of one or more nouns), a postpositional grammatical particle must be inserted to indicate the role of this phrase in the sentence. In English this is primarily done through word order (The baby ate it versus It ate the baby) and a modest amount of declension when dealing with pronouns (I vs me vs my vs mine). In Taila, the positioning of the noun phrase within the sentence is somewhat loose as long as it is properly marked for thematic role. Please note well that these particles do not show subject or object like in English, but instead agent, patient, etc.

The first six particles are collectively known as the "core" particles and must be fully understood before any sentences can be formed in Taila. As already mentioned, these particles do not show subject or object, instead they indicate thematic role. In the English sentence "Erika was pushed by Jesse", Erika may by the subject of the sentence but Jesse is the one doing the pushing. Erika is simply the receiver of the action, also known as the patient. Because the core is somewhat difficult to understand, each particle will be discussed separately.

Oblique particle. This is close to a "neutral" particle and provides the least amount of information as to the noun phrase's role in the sentence. It is often used with very simple intransitive phrases and in the place of copular statements. The thematic role it describes is content or theme. ''I gave her the book. He likes cereal. The tree is tall.'' Some verbs only take nouns in the oblique as their subject.

Inductive particle. When the agent and the patient of an action are identical, the inductive particle is used to indicate this relationship. '' You jumped. They danced to the song.'' In simple inductive intransitive statements, this particle can be replaced with the oblique particle to emphasize the action itself over the inductor.

Agentive particle. An agent is the willful initiator of an action affecting another party (typically the patient). Often this is equivalent to the subject of an active sentence or the object of a passive sentence in English. '' We pushed them. The mailman was bit by the dog .''

Patientive particle. A patient is the recipient or experiencer of an action initiated by another party (typically the agent), and undergoes a change of state due to this action. Often this is equivalent to the object of an active sentence or the subject of a passive sentence in English. ''We pushed them. The mailman was bit by the dog. The bird fell from the sky.'' Notice the lack of an agent in the last example sentence.

Effectuative particle. The effectuative particle shows the enabler of an action that causes a chain of events, ultimately resulting in the final stated action. Taking the sentence The man emptied the water from the tub, if the man is placed in the effectuative then it means he caused the tub to be emptied (probably by pulling the drain plug); if the man is placed the the agentive then it means he is actively removing water from the prob (possibly by pouring it out somehow).

Affective particle. This particle indicates a passive experiencer of an involuntary action. Typically it is used with the senses, emotional states, and bodily functions. '' The child coughs. The loud noise startled her. He was very upset.''

Choosing to use different thematic particles can change the way the sentence is translated into English completely. Often, this change is reflected in the verb used. For example, kunon is a verb indicating an act of sight and the "standard" way to express this is: However, by toying with the thematic role of each of these nouns, different nuances can be described: The remaining particles are called the "periphery", and their use is fairly straightforward.
 * Ongh han kunon stariam ya. Man– AFFECTIVE see book– OBLIQUE . The man sees the book.
 * Ongh su kunon stariam ya. Man– INDUCTIVE see book– OBLIQUE . The man watches the book. (idiomatic for: The man reads the book.)
 * Ongh on kunon stariam ti. Man– AGENTIVE see book– PATIENTIVE . The man inspects the book.
 * Ongh su kunon. Man– INDUCTIVE see. The man looks (around).
 * Ongh men kunon nim han stariam ya. Man– EFFECTUATIVE see woman– AFFECTIVE book– OBLIQUE . The man causes the woman to see the book. (He shows her the book).
 * Stariam ya kunon. Book– OBLIQUE see. The book is seen.

Noun Possessive Particles
English possessives are quite ambiguous in many instances. If someone hears "Mark's jacket", they cannot know for sure whether they have parsed these words correctly without the context. Is this the jacket that he's currently wearing? Is this a jacket that he bought? Did he personally design this jacket? The possessive "Mark's" can indicate all of these things in English. In Taila, however, the possessive particle must be carefully chosen to indicate which of these meanings is appropriate to the situation.

The possessive particle (se) is the most common of these four, and can be used in many situations. Typically, it refers to more temporary possession and does not indicate ownership. "Boy se book" may refer to a book that he's currently holding or reading, but does not show that he owns the book or that he authored it. The proprietive particle (du) identifies an alienable possession that the possessor has either purchased or has somewhat permanent ownership over. "Boy du book" may refer to a book that he has purchased, but is not currently reading/holding. The productive particle (xal) is appropriate when the possessor created the possessed. "Boy xal book" shows that he wrote or edited the book, but does not show that he's reading it or holding it in his hands. The genitive particle (arai) can be used to indicate something intrinsic to the possessor that cannot be separated from him/her. "Boy arai arm" or "boy arai father" are correct because these cannot be alienated from the boy.

Measure Words
Taila, like many East Asian languages, makes extensive use of measure words to quantify countable nouns. A similar phenomenon is seen in English with words like rice. It doesn't make sense to say a rice, a countable quantifier must be inserted, for example a grain of rice. The word grain in this sentence is acting as a measure word. In Taila, a measure word is required whenever any noun is being assigned a number. The phrase lai tonsai (one rabbit) is incorrect. The measure word appropriate for animals linu must be used, making it lai linu tonsai. Some nouns have measure words unique to them; for example, oni is the only measure word to use with sionte (god).

Personal Pronouns
There are multiple sets of personal pronouns that can be used in Taila according to the formality or familiarity desired. The standard set of pronouns should be used in most everyday situations. Formal pronouns should be reserved for conversations with your superiors such as a boss or possibly your parents. Familiar pronouns are only appropriate when talking with close friends or loved ones.

The bare form is the most common, and it leaves the number to be inferred from context. Often it indicates a singular or general meaning, and when it is important to know further information about the specific number, quantifying particles can be added, such as do and sam above. The paucal particle shows a few of something. In most instances this means around five or less, but it isn't a formula and can be applied to larger quantities as well. The collective particle is used when referring to a large group of something, especially when they are working together as a unit.

Intimate pronouns are only used when talking to someone known intimately such as a spouse, close friend or family member. In other instances, their use would be seen as overly familiar and unwarranted, sometimes even rude. Note that number is seldom mentioned with these pronouns. Even when indicating paucality or plurality, speakers will normally switch to standard pronouns (do lak is preferred to *do ne).

Formal Pronouns:
 * First Person: yangha (males), piogen (females), arinzu (children)
 * Second Person: hunen (superior), bol (inferior), krinos (peer)
 * Third Person: diaran (humans)

Notice that each formal pronoun has specific instances when it can be used. The third person formal pronoun for non-humans becomes e ... zin where "..." is replaced by the appropriate measure word.

Demonstrative Pronouns
English has a two-way distinction in demonstrative pronouns, but Taila makes a three-way distinction: proximal (near me), medial (near you), distal (away from us). Furthermore, there is a base demonstrative pronoun that simply shows definiteness.

If these pronouns are being used as a determiner, a measure word must be added. An-yo go ongh (That man over there). This formation has a colloquial equivalent: ongh-yo. The basic demonstrative pronoun and measure words are dropped, leaving just the positional suffix. This has a more familiar feel to it, and is therefore less common in formal settings.

Relative/Interrogative Pronoun
There is only one pronoun that functions as all of the English relative and interrogative pronouns (what, which, who, when, why, how, that, etc.). This is mat, and its meaning depends on its position in the sentence, and the postposition modifying it. For example, mat ano would translate to "when", and mat vei would be "where". Also, this pronoun is often used to form dependent clauses with the help of the subordinating particle lo.

Numbers
The numbers in Taila are fairly simple, and just amount to addition and multiplication.

Using this method, number names can get very long (54,321 is bun ziman ved daus mau miul sen los lai). Often above 1000, the numbers are just read in order, so 54,321 becomes bun ved mau sen lai and 50,403 is bun zero ved zero mau.

Ordinal numbers are easy to form, and they are treated as adjectives; therefore, they go after the noun modified. An ordinal number consists of the ordinating particle dian followed by the number. So, "the first rabbit" is translated to tonsai dian lai, and "the 27th rabbit" is tonsai dian sen los non.

Decimal numbers are made with the word xut which is the measure word for punctuation. So, 21.53 is sen los lai xut bun mau. Fractions are made with i (and), and toniam (above/over). "One half" is  toniam sen, "two thirds" is sen toniam mau, and "one and three quarters" is lai i mau toniam ved.

Verbs
In many languages, verbs are of two types: transitive and intransitive. However, in Taila, the transitivity of a verb depends on the number and type of nouns used in conjunction with it. The main distinction made among verbs is between stative verbs and functive verbs. Stative verbs behave very similarly to adjectives in English, but they are called verbs because they do technically fulfill the role of a verb. These often take nouns in the oblique as their arguments, and normally only express existential information. Functive verbs show an action, and use the full core as arguments.

Verbal Qualities
Unlike most Western languages, verbs do not conjugate to express tense, polarity, aspect or mood. Instead, particles are affixed around the verb or placed at specific points in the sentence to indicate these. Each quality will be reviewed below.

Tense
There are three tenses used in Taila, present, past and future. There is a particle for each of these tenses which is placed immediately before the verb, but tenses behave differently than in English. In English, every verb must share the same tense, but in Taila, once the tense has been specified it doesn't have to be mentioned again until the tense changes. The past tense particle is saban; so, hoi su kunon (I see) turns into hoi su saban kunon (I saw). The present tense particle is nin, but it is rarely used. Often, adverbs will be used like atano (now) to express this tense. If it is being used, then hoi su kunon becomes hoi su nin kunon. The future tense particle is tium; so, hoi su kunon is hoi su tium kunon. The past and future particles can be combined with helu to form the remote past (saban helu) and remote future (tium helu).

The tense particles can be negated to form the nonpast (du saban), nonpresent (du nin), and nonfuture (du tium) tenses.

Polarity
The affirmative polarity is standard, and shows that an action is happening, but there are two other polarities: negative and declarative. In order to negate a verb, the particle du is placed in front of the verb: hoi su kunon (I see) becomes hoi su du kunon (I don't see). The declarative particle yak is used to reaffirm that an action did happen: hoi su kunon (I see) becomes hoi su yak kunon (I do see).

Aspect
The aspect particles are placed immediately after the verb and they describe the temporal flow of the action. There are three true aspect particles which are used to express the continuous, perfective, and habitual aspects. Further aspects can be shown using adverbs.

Other aspects able to be shown with adverbs include: prospective, inceptive, pausative, resumptive, and cessative.

Mood
The modality of a verb is separate from tense in Taila, unlike in English. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult for English speakers to settle on the proper mood to use in a phrase. The mood particle appears at the end of the sentence, and it considered to be separate from the verb phrase. Thus, it can even appear when the verb in a sentence is dropped or implied. This is really only common with the interrogative particle, and is considered to be a colloquialism.

Notice that some moods have multiple uses. The renarrative mood also functions as the inferential mood, and the optative mood can be used as a cohortative mood.

Stative Verbs and Adjectives
Stative verbs can behave as either verbs or adjectives in Taila. As verbs, they show a current state or property of the noun in the oblique. They typically have no duration or endpoint, so aspects as not used with them. The only difference from functive verbs are the way tense is expressed. The regular tense particles are only used for additional emphasis; instead, stative verbs normally will take their own tense particles which are rarely dropped. The additional past tense particle is munghe, and the additional future tense particle is ferro.

As adjectives, the stative verb is placed immediately after the modified noun. For example, ongh tiriste ya (man tall OBL ) means "the tall man".

Regardless of the manner the stative verb is being used (verb or adjective), degree particles can be added. Equatives, comparatives, superlatives, and excessives can be formed by prefixing the stative verb with one of these particles: gen (as), kimo (more), yaga (less), estat (most), paira (too). So, "I am told the man was too tall" would be: Ongh ya munghe paira tiriste rua.

Verb Serialization
Verbs can be combined sequentially to create more complex actions, similarly to Chinese and many African languages. This is not completely foreign to English speakers, as English has constructions such as "I want to go get some food" where "go" and "get" are serialized. In Taila, a group of serialized verbs is treated as a single verb, and the whole group must share a uniform tense, polarity, aspect, mood, and topic.

Some verbs, called co-verbs, can only be used when combined with other (co-)verbs through serialization because their meaning is too vague when alone. Co-verbs are a subset of functive verbs. For example, zak is a co-verb that means "to move", and tia is a co-verb that means "to get away from". Neither can be used alone, so they are joined to make the serial verb: tia zak or "to go". Sometimes a specific co-verb will have an antonym, and simply switching a single co-verb can alter the entire meaning. The antonym to tia is xoi, so the antonym of tia zak is xoi zak or "to come".

All verbs, stative and functive, can be serialized. Often, stative verbs are combined with functive verbs to allow for the use of aspect.

Sentence Structure
The sentence structure of Taila is fairly loose for an analytic language. In some regards, it is more loose than in English. However, there are many rigid rules when forming a sentence. The generic template for a sentence is:
 * {|class="wikitable"

! colspan="2" | Topic ! colspan="3" | Verb ! rowspan="2" | Adverbs ! colspan="5" | Noun Phrases ! rowspan="2" | Mood Notice that the verb is normally placed as the second-most item of a sentence. In most sentences, there is one thematic role promoted to the topic of the sentence, and it is placed first; however, this is not required. When there is not a nominal topic, the verb itself is emphasized over any of the adjoining noun phrases.
 * Noun Phrase
 * Particle
 * Tense
 * Verb Root
 * Aspect
 * Phrase
 * Particle
 * Phrase
 * Particle
 * etc.
 * }
 * }

Dependent Clauses
Dependent clauses are formed with the mat ... lo subordinating construction, and are positioned immediately before the noun modified. In a mat ... lo construction, a full sentence can be inserted. Immediately after the mat, the modified noun's thematic role is specified, followed by the remaining noun phrases. The verb goes last, just before the lo. Then, if necessary, the thematic role of the dependent clause can be indicated after the particle lo. Mat su "store" zi tia zak lo ongh han kunon stariam ya means "While he goes to the store, the man spots a book."

Copular Statements
There is no verb equivalent to the English verb "to be". Instead, copular statements are formed using the noun particles. The particle used is chosen based on the meaning, and then both pieces of the statements are placed side-by-side in this thematic role. For example, "The man is Bob." would be Ongh ya Bob ya. "I am at the store" would be Hoi vei "store" vei.

=Dictionary= ...

=Example text= Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
 * Henta kul saban yensiato avat partil bu biniam i halid zi. Sam zin ti aidi bu wastun i midix ya. Sonson ya nin kiotet no sam zin tomo tiau.
 * 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.