Tengkolaku

Phonotactics
The maximal syllable in Tengkolaku is CVS, where C is any consonant and S is any of /l m n ŋ s w j/. Nasals followed by a stop assimilate to it: groups like **/mk/ become /ŋk/, while before /b/ and /p/ only /m/ can occur. The groups /ij, ow/, and /uw/ do not occur, but instead resolve into <ī ō ū> respectively.

Grammar
Ūgu wel, nisambi kel, weledi na Akilēs an yi.

sing OPT deity AG anger POSS Achilles PAT TOP

"Sing, o Muse, of the wrath of Achilles."

The grammar of Tengkolaku is generally held together by means of particles, bound morphemes that define the role of words and phrases. Like the English possessive case or clitic, the particles of Tengkolaku operate on the Queen of England's knickers principle: they modify entire phrases rather than attaching at the word level.

Some particles are 'top' particles; these cast the preceding words in a specific grammatical role. In the above sentence, several such function defining particles are in use; wel indicates a verb in the optative mood, while the focus of this post is on nominals like kel, which indicates that the word it governs is a noun and a do-er; and an, which shows a predicate in the more passive role. Top particles almost alwayus conclude their phrases. Any phrase bound by a top particle is a grammatically independent unit.

Words and phrases defined by these 'top' particles are free grammatical elements. The sample sentence has three main clauses. It can be broken down in the following way:

(ūgu wel)(nisambi kel)(weledi na Akilēs an yi).

Any of these elements may appear in any order without loss of notional content, because each phrase is governed by a top particle that defines its grammatical role:

(weledi na Akilēs an yi)(nisambi kel)(ūgu wel)

(nisambi kel)(ūgu wel)(weledi na Akilēs an yi)

These are the nominals; they make nouns of the preceding phrase.

Nominals
These particles make nouns of the preceding words or phrases.

Agent kel; agent (inanimate) kam
These two are used similarly. They specify who in the sentence is the do-er, and an the done-to. In the sentence the muse is being asked to sing; the muse is therefore the active subject.

Gender in Tengkolaku is natural rather than semantic, but not quite. All living things, and things that act of their own accord, like the wind, heavenly bodies, clouds, vehicles, and so forth, are all animate. When an inanimate noun phrase is the actor a different particle is used, to call attention to the unusual circumstance.

Kel can be used without an an phrase to indicate voluntary activity when the object is irrelevant or understood:

Ūgu gau Akilēs kel

sing IMPF.BOUND Achilles AG

means "Achilles is singing (a song)'. A full translation of 'Achilles is singing a song' would in fact be Ūgu gau Akilēs kel ūgu an. Here ūgu acts as both noun and verb; it is verbed by the verbal particle, and nouned by the next particle:

Patient an
This marks the predicate to kel and kam's subjects. It also marks the subjects of sentences that are cast in a more passive role.

Ngeongo us Eketol an.

kill PERF Hector PAT

'Hector was killed.' Subjects requiring an need not be marked with the particle in casual speech;

Ngeongo us Eketol.

would only be understood as 'Hector was killed'. To say 'Hector kills (somebody, people)' you make Hector an agent;

Ngeongo gan Eketol kel.

Dative nel
This is an uncomplicated dative particle.

Eketol kel Peliyam nel kekē an bo us.

Hector AG Priam DAT blade PAT give PERF

"Hector gave the blade to Priam."

Topic yi; non-topic men
Unlike the preceding particles, this is not a top particle. This particle is generally free to appear anywhere, and marks focus or points out main or freshly introduced topics and characters. The opening sentence marks the 'anger of Achilles' as a topic. It could be recast as;

Ūgu wel, nisambi kel, weledi na Akilēs yi an.

Moving the topic marker makes Achilles himself, rather than his anger, the focus.

The non topic marker is much less useful. It can be used for rhetorical effects;

Onu men ebo, nenebe men ebo, dalkuma pu no lenu yi lusu ebo.

clothes NONTOP good, house NONTOP good, tear PAUC POSS.INALIENABLE woman TOP most good.

'While clothes are good, and a house is good, a woman's tears are best.' The non-topic marker is also obligatory when multiple third parties are involved:

''Emulu mengea an yi utoli eye malo us... Amo sila ēuti ongi kel men li yi an sapengi dekimo us.''

"A thin horse (TOP) made himself fat. Along the way a thief (NONTOP) caught him (TOP) to ride." Note how when the pronoun li ('he, she, it') comes into play, the topic m arker appears to make it clear that the referent is the horse and not the thief.