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Name: Tesipa

Type: Fusional

Alignment: Direct

Head Direction: First

Number of genders: 0

Declensions: No

Conjugations: Yes

Nouns declined
according to
Case Number
Definitiveness Gender
Verbs conjugated
according to
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect


For a dictionary of verbs, see Tesipa/Verbs. For nouns, see Tesipa/Nouns. For adjectives, see Tesipa/Adjectives. For adverbs, see Tesipa/Adverbs. Other (closed) classes can be found in the text of this page.

Information

Gender Cases Numbers Tenses Persons Moods Voices Aspects
Verb No No No Yes No Yes No Yes
Nouns No No No No No No No No
Adjectives No No No No No No No No
Numbers No No No No No No No No
Participles No No No Yes No No No No
Adverb No No No No No No No No
Pronouns No No No No Yes No No No
Adpositions No Yes No No No No No No
Article No No No No No No No No
Particle No No No No No No No No


Phonology

Alphabet

Tesipa has twenty-two letters, composed of sixteen consonants and eight vowels. The Tesipa alphabet looks like this:

AEIOUÄËÜMNGBFDSZXPTKRJLW
aeiouäëümngbfdszxptkrjlw

Consonants

This is a chart of all the consonants found in Tesipa and what letter represents them, in parentheses.

Bilabial Labiod. Dental Alveol. Postalv. Retrofl. Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn. Epiglot. Glottal
Nasals m (m) n (n) ŋ (g)
Plosives p (p) t (t) k (k)
Fricatives ɸ (b) f (f) θ (d) s (s) ʃ (z) x (x)
Approxim. ɹ (r) j (j)
Trills
Flaps / taps
Lateral Fric.
Lateral Appr. l (l)
Affricates
Co-art. approx. w (w) +velar w (w) +labiod

Vowels

This is a chart of all the vowels found in Tesipa and what letter represents them, in parentheses. If in pairs, unrounded vowels are listed before rounded vowels. Tesipa has eight vowels, five with standard characters, and the other three with standard characters and an umlaut (except for I and O, which do not have an umlaut partner).

Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close i (i)
y (ë)
u (u)
Near-close
Close-mid o (o)
Mid
Open-mid ɛ (e) ʌ (ü)
Near-open
Open a (a)
ɶ (ä)

Phonotactics

Tesipa does not have many phonotactic rules. All word forms are free to be constructed in any way. Other word forms and prefixes and suffixes are free to end and start with consonants and vowels. In addition, no vowel to vowel diphthongs are allowed, so each vowel is pronounced separately. Vowel to Approximant diphthongs are allowed, so syllables like ej, oj, aj, üj (ay, oy, ye, igh) are allowed. Some Consonants of the same method of articulation may not be placed next to each other, unless in different syllables. Nasals may not be placed next to other consonants, unless in different syllables.

Stress

Stress is perfectly regular, with the accented syllable always being the penultimate syllable (except in the case of one syllable words). Stress is light, not heavy.

Spelling

Tesipa is perfectly phonetic. The voicing and aspiration of consonants does not have an effect on spelling.

Grammar

Sentence Structure

Tesipa's sentence structure is very regular, consisting of a SUBJECT VERB OBJECT order in all types of sentences and subclauses. Tesipa also has prepositions (as opposed to postpositions) and adjectives come before nouns. Indirect objects follow direct objects in a sentence. The Morphosyntactic Alignment is Direct.

Affix Heirarchy

The order of affixes usually does not apply, as for most parts of speech there is only one type of suffix and one type of prefix.

NEGATIVE PREFIX - DEPENDENT MORPHEMES - ROOT WORD(S) - GRAMMAR SUFFIX

This system works for all parts of speech.

Verbs

Any verb morphemes can be combined into one verb. Verbs are fusional, with a single suffix for each tense-aspect-mood.

Mood

Moods are the main conjugations for verbs, and exist as suffixes. There are nine moods, which are the Indicative (for facts), Subjunctive (for opinions), Conditional (for conditions), Optative (for hopes, wishes, and desires), Potential (for possibilities (whether very likely or only possible)), Imperative (for commands), Interrogative (for questions), Precative (for requests), and Inferential (for inferences and things that have been deduced). They are all conjugated by the grammar suffixes, with no modal adverbs. The Optative case is also used for making the verbs related to emotion and for exclamative sentences.

Each mood can be changed into negative form by the use of the negative prefix (n-).

Voice

There is only one voice in Tesipa, Active Voice, which consists of normal sentence structure. However, as a replacement to intransitive passive voice, an intransitive verb using only an object is an allowed, which could literally be translated as "bought a house", as opposed to "he bought a house" or "the house was bought".

Tense/Aspect

Tense and Aspect are largely intertwined in Tesipa, and are similar to those in Ancient Greek. They are: future (future events), present (present events), aorist (clean past events), imperfect (imperfect past events), stative (events with no definite tense or have been going on for a very long time in the past and will be in the future), fuperfect (future perfect), perfect (looking at the result of the event), and pluperfect (past perfect). Progressiveness can also be formed by an adverb, though it's much rarer than it is in Germanic languages.

perfective aspect imperfective aspect perfect aspect
future time future stative fuperfect
present time present perfect
past time aorist imperfect pluperfect

Person

There are no conjugations for person in Tesipa and verbs do not agree to any type of person. Instead, it is solely determined by the position of nouns around the verb.

Non-finite Verbs

There are four forms of non-finite verb in Tesipa, which are the Infinitive, Participle, Gerund, and Supine. All types of these verbs function vaguely like moods. There are no gerundives.

Infinitives

Infinitives are the base form of a verb, essentially meaning the verb. In Tesipa, they are conjugated by leaving the verb root alone, with no conjugations. Infinitives function as nouns.

Participles

Participles may be either Adverbial or Adjectival in Tesipa, however, this does not make a difference in pronunciation or spelling. Participles function like a mood. Participles are also the only non-finite verb that can be conjugated by tense/aspect.

Gerunds

Gerunds are a noun form of verbs, as the noun that is the action of doing the verb. Gerunds function like a mood.

Supines

Supines are a noun form of a verb that are the purpose of an action (a finite verb). Supines function like a mood.

Negative

The Negative form of a verb is created by adding the prefix n- (or ne-) to the beginning of the verb. There is no adverb, unlike in English. The negative prefix works with all conjugations, as it is a prefix, not a suffix.

Conjugation Table

There is a short pause between the actual word and its conjugation, but it is not written. The conjugations are also very regular. Many of the suffixes are only very rarely used, such as obscure aspects in the imperative and precative that are usually used more often in the indicative, however, they can still be used if the need arises. Almost every verb is conjugated regularly (the only irregular ones being af (to have), es (to be) and fol (to do)), and even then, it is considered acceptable to conjugate irregular verbs regularly, albeit slang-like.

Present Aorist Imperfect Future Stative Perfect Pluperfect Fuperfect
Indicative -e -a -i -u -o
Subjunctive -ep -ap -ip -up -üp -op -ëp -äp
Conditional -ek -ak -ik -uk -ük -ok -ëk -äk
Optative -et -at -it -ut -üt -ot -ët -ät
Potential -en -an -in -un -ün -on -ën -än
Imperative -em -am -im -um -üm -om -ëm -äm
Interrogative -ez -az -iz -uz -üz -oz -ëz -äz
Precative -ef -af -if -uf -üf -of -ëf -äf
Inferential -es -as -is -us -üs -os -ës -äs
Infinitive No Suffix
Participle -ed -ad -id -ud -üd -od -ëd -äd
Gerund -or
Supine -är

Nouns

Morphemes are often combined, for example, a dog kennel might be directly translated as "dog place". The order does not matter. Nouns do not have true declensions, and are essentially bare, unlike verbs.

Case

Case is not formed by declensions. Instead it is created by a mixture of word order and prepositions. Three cases, Nominative, Accusative, and Dative, are determined from the word order solely. For example, a sentence might run "I traded you apples", which is in the order Nominative, Verb, Accusative, Dative. Every sentence and subclause runs this way. Others cases are created by using prepositions.

Genitive

Genitive, the equivalent of Possessive in English, and in Tesipa is created by adding the particle "uf" between the possessor and the possessed. For example, in English, possessive can be created by the particle "of", which could create the noun House of John. In Tesipa, it would be translated literally into John of House, while having the same meaning as the English.

Definiteness

Definiteness is determined by the demonstrative in front of a noun, if any. If there is no demonstrative, indefiniteness exists.

Adjectives

Comparative

A comparative form is created by adding the word "mari" in front of the adjective.

Superlative

A superlative form is created by adding the word "moli" in front of the adjective.

Negative

A negative form is created by adding the prefix n-, or ne-.

Adverbs

Adverbs are not usually descended from adjectives.

Intensity

An adverb's intensity can be increased the same way as an adjective, using the comparative and superlative. To make it more specific, extra morphemes, adverbs, or adjectives can be added.

Negative

A negative form is created by adding the prefix n- , or ne-.

Pronouns

Pronouns are very simple in Tesipa, and are as basic as possible. The main conjugation for them is for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd).

Personal

1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person Indefinite Reflexive Reciprocal
Mi Ta Ku On Se De

There are no intensive pronouns, which is instead covered by modality. There is no difference between number, gender, or case. A dummy pronoun does not exist, instead, an impersonal verb just stands on its own.

Possessive

A possessive pronoun do not really exist, instead, the standard "uf" particle is used. A sentence would look like "Me of cat."

Indefinite

There is only one indefinite pronoun, On, but determiners may be added to modify it.

Correlatives

Tesipa has relatively few correlatives, and no quantifying correlatives, which are simply created by a determiner and a personal pronoun. Correlatives are regular.

Table of correlatives
interrogative ize- demonstrative eko-
determiner ize eko
human -ne izene ekone
nonhuman -na izena ekona
location -l izel ekol
amount -t izet ekot
time -m izem ekom
manner -r izer ekor
association uf- uf ize uf eko

Relative pronouns use the same set as the Interrogative pronouns. A reason proadverb (why) can be creating by using the literal translation "for what".

Prepositions

Prepositions are found before the noun/noun phrase in Tesipa and function similarly to how to function in English. They serve the purpose of grammatical case.

Copulas

Copulas are very simple in Tesipa. The verb "to be" (es) serves as the copula for all types. It can be conjugated for tense/aspect and mood as well. Some sentences in English which would have a copula are completely served by moods as well, with no copula.

Conjunctions

There are five conjunctions in Tesipa. They are und (and), ind (nor), aps (but), olk (or), and osp (so). Conjunctions are placed between the two words or clauses they connect.

Modality

There are seven modalities that can be used in Tesipa. This a chart that lists what mood to use for each modality.

Name Tesipa English
Verb form Past Present Future
Ability/Availability Potential could, was/were able to can, am/is/are able to will be able to
Requests Precative ---- can, could, will, would
Permission may have, could have may, can, could, am/is/are allowed to will be allowed to
Possibility Potential may have, might have, could have may, might, could
Impossibility Negative Potential couldn’t have couldn’t, can’t
Advisability Subjunctive should have, ought to have, had better have should, ought to, had better
Expectation Optative should have, ought to have should, ought to
Necessity Imperative had to must, have to, has to will have to
Lack of Necessity Negative Imperative didn’t have to don’t have to, doesn’t have to won’t have to
Prohibition Imperative could not must not, may not, cannot
Logical Deduction Inferential must have, had to have, has to have must have, have to have, has to have must, have to, has to
Wish or Desire Optative should have should
Hope Optative would have, should have would, should
Inference Inferential must have, had to have, should have must have, have to have, has to have, should have must, have to, has to, should
Opinion Subjunctive must have, had to have, has to have, should have, would have must have, have to have, has to have, should have, would have must, have to, has to, should, would

Syntax

Reflexive

Reflexive is achieved by using the pronoun Yl as the object and the noun that is acting upon itself as the subject.

Obviate

As a replacement to voices in Tesipa, the less important noun in a sentence can be marked as obviate with the prefix b-. This sets the obviated object as the less important item, so pronouns will usually refer to the non-obviated item and such.

Conditional Sentences

Conditional Sentences are formed similarly to English, with two separate sentences, with both the first sentence being in the Conditional mood. A word for word translation might be "You(OB) heat(COND) water, it boil(IND)." The structure remains the same for various types of conditions and effects.

Dependent Clauses

Noun clauses are formed by adding the demonstrative eko or a relative pronoun in front of an independent clause. They serve as a noun in a sentence

Adjective clauses are formed by changing the repeated noun in an independent clause to the demonstrative eko or a relative pronoun, and inserting the clause in front of the noun (unlike some English).

Adverb clauses are formed by putting a subordinating conjunction in front of the dependent clause and putting it before the independent clause.

Dictionary


No. English
1I
2you (singular)
3he
4we
5you (plural)
6they
7this
8that
9here
10there
11who
12what
13where
14when
15how
16not
17all
18many
19some
20few
21other
22one
23two
24three
25four
26five
27big
28long
29wide
30thick
31heavy
32small
33short
34narrow
35thin
36woman
37man (adult male)
38man (human being)
39child
40wife
41husband
42mother
43father
44animal
45fish
46bird
47dog
48louse
49snake
50worm
51tree
52forest
53stick
54fruit
55seed
56leaf
57root
58bark
59flower
60grass
61rope
62skin
63meat
64blood
65bone
66fat
67egg
68horn
69tail
70feather
71hair
72head
73ear
74eye
75nose
76mouth
77tooth
78tongue
79fingernail
80foot
81leg
82knee
83hand
84wing
85belly
86guts
87neck
88back
89breast
90heart
91liver
92drink
93eat
94bite
95suck
96spit
97vomit
98blow
99breathe
100laugh
101see
102hear
103know
104think
105smell
106fear
107sleep
108live
109die
110kill
111fight
112hunt
113hit
114cut
115split
116stab
117scratch
118dig
119swim
120fly
121walk
122come
123lie
124sit
125stand
126turn
127fall
128give
129hold
130squeeze
131rub
132wash
133wipe
134pull
135push
136throw
137tie
138sew
139count
140say
141sing
142play
143float
144flow
145freeze
146swell
147sun
148moon
149star
150water
151rain
152river
153lake
154sea
155salt
156stone
157sand
158dust
159earth
160cloud
161fog
162sky
163wind
164snow
165ice
166smoke
167fire
168ash
169burn
170road
171mountain
172red
173green
174yellow
175white
176black
177night
178day
179year
180warm
181cold
182full
183new
184old
185good
186bad
187rotten
188dirty
189straight
190round
191sharp
192dull
193smooth
194wet
195dry
196correct
197near
198far
199right
200left
201at
202in
203with
204and
205if
206because
207name


Example text

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