Tolko

--Tolko is a constructed language designed for fun. It is a full member of the Indo-European language family, designed to be close to Italic, Germanic and Celtic branches. It is derived from Proto-Indo-European using formal sound laws either unique to its branch, or shared with its closest sibling languages.

=Basic Grammar=

Tolko is a typical member of the indo-European family, with a grammar very similar to Late Latin or present day German (member of the North-West European Sprachbund). Typologically, it a semi-synthetic language (with emerging analytic features), with a SVO word order and an accusative alignment.

Phonology
Tolko uses Latin alphabet as its primary script. Here is the consonant inventory in the native orthography. The "/" denotes phonemic voicing contrast (voiceless/voiced). Phonetic values are given in ASCII IPA.

There are 6 vowels and 3 closing diphtongs : ai, ei, oi. Neither vowel length nor word stress are phonemic.

Nouns and adjectives
The nouns are inflected in gender, number and case.

There are :


 * 3 genders : masculine, feminine and neuter
 * 2 numbers : singular and plural
 * 3 cases : nominative, accusative and oblique


 * Nominative is used for the subject of a finite verb, for the subject complement and as locative in time and space.
 * Accusative is used for direct objects, direct object complements and for duration in time/destination in space.
 * Oblique case is used for indirect objects, as a surrogate genitive and for spatial provenance.

Nouns are declined according to their final letter in nominative singular (a, o, e, or any consonant). Neuter nouns share the same declension as the masculine or feminine nouns, except that they always share the same form for nominative and accusative cases, and for their -a suffix in the nominative/accusative plural form.

Adjectives are declined in the same way as the noun they refer to, and follow the same declination pattern. New adverbs can be formed from adjectives with the ë ending (historically, a fossilized locative singular ending).

Nouns ending in -o

The accusative has two forms :
 * whether the determiner exhibits a form constrasting with the nominative : in such a case, the bracketed (n) are dropped.
 * whether there is no determiner or its form is identical in the nominative : the (n) is then retained.

Nouns ending in -a

The accusative has two forms :
 * whether the determiner exhibits a form constrasting with the nominative : in such a case, the bracketed (n) are dropped.
 * whether there is no determiner or its form is identical in the nominative : the (n) is then retained.

Nouns ending in -e

The accusative has two forms :
 * whether the determiner exhibits a form constrasting with the nominative : in such a case, the bracketed (n) are dropped.
 * whether there is no determiner or its form is identical in the nominative : the (n) is then retained.

Nouns ending in -u

The accusative has two forms :
 * whether the determiner exhibits a form constrasting with the nominative : in such a case, the bracketed (n) are dropped.
 * whether there is no determiner or its form is identical in the nominative : the (n) is then retained.

Nouns ending with any consonant

They often exhibit a different stem for nominative singular and all other cases

The accusative has two forms :
 * whether the determiner exhibits a form constrasting with the nominative : in such a case, the bracketed (n) are dropped.
 * whether there is no determiner or its form is identical in the nominative : the (n) is then retained.

Articles
There are definite and indefinite articles. Here is the flexion of the definite article (animate/neuter)

The indefinite article ëno,ëna,ën behaves as a regular adjective. It has no plural form.

Personal pronouns
The third person form is the only one marked for gender (masc/fem/neuter).

Relative pronoun
The relative pronouns agrees in gender (animate/inanimate) and number with its determiner, and agrees in case according to its function within the relative proposition.

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated in tense, voice, mode, and as for finite modes in number and person. The sole auxiliaries verb is ezon (to be), and exhibits the sole fully irregular conjugation. All other verbs all fall into several classes, whose conjugation is given below.
 * There are three grammatical persons, with no inclusive/exclusive distinction
 * The are two grammatical voices : active and passive
 * There are two simple tenses : present and past
 * There are five modes : indicative, subjunctive, optative/imperative (finite) ; infinitive, participle (non-finite)


 * ezon + past participle is used for the passive voice conjugation

Subjects pronouns can be indicated to alleviate ambiguities, especially in oral speech, but they can normally be safely dropped.

Uses of Tenses and Moods

 * Indicative is used for declarative and interrogative statements (in whiche cas word order switches to VSO instead of usual SVO). Subjunctive is used to express hypothetical statements (overlaps subjunctive and conditional moods of Germanic and Romance languages), whereas Optative is used to express wishes and/or commands. As forthe non-finite moods, grossly, infinitive can be seen as the nominal form of the verb, and participle as its adjectival form.

Past and Present are the only tenses marked in the verb morphology. Analytical periphrases can be used if needed to add for more precision. Specifically:
 * Future tense can be expressed using the subjunctive mood if the outcome is uncertain. When the outcome is certain, indicative is most commonly used. To avoid ambiguities, the construction qemon +infinitive is used as a periphrastic future tense (much akin to English will auxiliary).
 * Relative anteriority can be expressed using compoind tenses formed with cabon + past participle, similarly e.g. to French
 * ezon + present participle is used to emphasize to progressive nature of the action, similar to English continuous tenses : Esen menont (I am thinking)

Conjugations
Esen, bum, buno

Participles : ezont (present active), bus (past active), buno (past passive)

Infinitives : ezon (present), buon (past)

Class I (most common class) : meno, mana, manto (to think)

Note : the alternative form of the 2nd person of the Optative is used as an imperative in main clauses.

Participles : menont (present), manus (past active), manto (past passive)

Infinitives : menon (present), manon (past)

Class II (infinitive ending in -cun/gun/-kun) : liku, leleqa, lecto (to lie, as on a bed)

Note : the alternative form of the 2nd person of the Optative is used as an imperative in main clauses.

Participles : likunt (present), lekus (past active), lecto (past passive)

Infinitives : likun (present), lelekun (past)

Class III (other infinitive ending in -un) : du, deda, doto (to give)

Note : the alternative form of the 2nd person of the Optative is used as an imperative in main clauses.

Participles : dunt (present), dus (past active), doto (past passive)

Infinitives : dun (present), dedon (past)

=Dictionary=

Swadesh list
==

=Example text=

Ëmos comos send gantos prios dekil' ed rectom. Arement ed soiment send datos em ; is skelond agon soi-aloi bratellë.

''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.''

=Derivation from PIE=

Consonants
PIE *b, *d, *g are preserved before non-stop consonants

PIE *bh and *b are merged to b.

PIE *dh became *ð/θ, then merged with s/z

PIE *gh became /ç/ (before front vowels) or /x/ before back vowels or consonants, both allophones written c.

PIE labio-velars *gw, *gwh and *kw merged to q /g/ before vowels. Before consonants, they expanded into *gu, *ghu and *ku before further evolution.

PIE *dt* or *tt became *ss, then s (with no intervocalic voicing).

PIE *s is preserved, except between vowels where it voiced into z, or word-finally where it is deleted (hardening the previous consonant if any). E.g.: PIE *w°lkwos > fulku

PIE *r and *l are preserved.

PIE *w became f  at syllable onset (turning o to u), else undergoes metathesis with the following vowel and further change. E.g.: PIE *sweks > *sewks > sëk. Intervocalic *w is deleted after coloring the following vowel if possible.

PIE *j is preserved.

If a stop consonant is followed by another, the first one is fricativized (b/p > f, t/d > s or z, g/k > c) and its voicing assimilated to the next consonant. Two consecitive dentals merge into *ss, then s. E.g.: PIE *sept°m > seftan

PIE *n and *m at the end of a syllable first nasalized the previous vowel into ã (central vowels a and ë), ẽ (front vowels e and i), õ (back vowels o and u). Nasal vowels were subsequently lost at a later stage, restoring a syllable final an, en, on.

Vowels
PIE word accent disappears with compensating lengthening of the accented vowel before further evolution.

PIE length contrast became an height contrast, with long vowels becoming more closed. Thus, PIE long *e/*i became i, short *e/*i became e, lon *o/*u became u, short *o/*u became o, long *a/*@ became ë and short *a/*@ became a.

PIE schwa *@ is deleted if possible, else turned into a short a (like on other western IE languages), i after the glide *i or u after the glide *w.

PIE sonorants *°r, *°l, *°m and °n turned into *@r, *@l, *@m, *@n before further evolution.

i-ending diphtongs with a long first element where preserved. Short first element diphtongs underwent monophthongization: *ai > e, *oi > ë, *ei > i

u-ending diphtongs always underwent monophthongization: *au > o, *eu > ë, *ou > u.

PIE final long vowels became short vowels before further evolution. PIE final short front vowels are deleted (eventually voicing the previous consonant if possible. E.g.: PIE 3rd singular ending *-eti > -ed), PIE final short back vowels are deleted (evtentually devoicing the previous consonant).

Examples : from PIE to Tolko

 * 1: PIE *oinos,a > *oino,a > Tolko ëno,ëna
 * 2: PIE *duwo > *duwu > Tolko du
 * 3: PIE *treies > *treie > *trie > Tolko tri
 * 4: PIE *kwetwor > Tolko qetur
 * 5: PIE *penkwe > *kwenkwe (as in Italic and Celtic) > *kwenku > Tolko qenku
 * 6: PIE *sweks > *sewks > *sewk > Tolko sëk
 * 7: PIE *sept°m > *septã > *septan > Tolko seftan
 * 8: PIE *okto > *oktu > Tolko oct
 * 9: PIE *new°n > Tolko nefun
 * 10: PIE *dek°m > *dekã > Tolko dekan
 * Father: PIE *p@ter > Tolko patir
 * Mother: PIE *mater > Tolko mëter
 * Brother: PIE *bhrater > Tolko bratir
 * Sister: PIE *swesor > *sewsur > Tolko sësur
 * Daughter: PIE *dhug@ter > *ðogtir > Tolko zoctir
 * Fingernail: PIE *@negwhe-los > Tolko anqilo
 * Tongue: PIE *d@ngwhes > Tolko dancu