User:Meuser2/Storage/Proto-Toki-Pona

Proto-Toki-Pona is a hypothetical proto-language spoken in Akizreth. Being a reconstruction, none of the content of this language is certain. Presented here is our best guess.

Consonants
It should be noted that gemination is phonemic in all consonants. /q/ is available ungeminated, though this is rarely seen except in place names (such as Taqur) and a small selection of other loanwords.

Script
Proto-Toki-Pona is not written. Writing first appeared extremely late into the disappearance of the language.

Phonotactics
All syllables are of the form (C)V(S), where C is a consonant, V is a vowel, and S is a plain plosive. Stress is always on the first syllable of a word.

Nouns
Nouns inflect for case, root form and type. The accusative suffix is formed from the nominative suffix by gemination. Note that an equivalent to the prefix ex- on a plain noun can be formed through voicing of the suffix.

Verbs
Verbs form the participle of through gemination of the suffix. They inflect for aspect and root type.

Modifiers
Modifiers inflect for aspect and root type.

Syntax
Northern dialects tend to be head-initial, while southern dialects tend to be head-final. has prepositions. These govern the nominative unless indicating motion, in which case the accusative they govern. Negation is performed using the standard negative word alla-.

Word Order
The word order is typically as follows: (Subclause) (Interjection) (Subject) Predicate. This is inflexible except for the fact that the predicate and subject may be interchanged. An interjection can be either lexical (e.g. a, mu) or vocative (i.e. a noun in the vocative). Vocatives are cased in the accusative. As for the predicate, it is as follows: (Object) Verb Phrase (Prepositional Phrase/s). The verb and object may be inverted, and usually are if the core verb is lug (n root) or i (null root).

Noun and Verb Phrases
Both noun and verb phrases consist of a head, which is the type of phrase (i.e. a verb or noun). This can be followed or proceeded (depending on dialect) by modifiers. These can be bound by pi (see below) to create more precise blocks of information.

Vocabulary
A copy of the lexicon in an 'in progress' form can be found at this website.

Names
In Proto-Toki-Pona, names are never used. Individuals will sometimes be given nicknames, though even these are avoided as much as possible.