Terahnyan Sjol

Terahnyan Sjol

Terahnyan Sjol was first documented on Earth in multi-species urban communities in the mid-23rd century. It is clearly related to the official language of the Klingon Empire, but it is more characteristic of an indigenous Earth language, such as French, Navajo, or Antarctican. It is believed to have emerged in Klingon-speaking communities who became more pluralistic after local Klingon authorities had established administrative and cultural centers.

Phonology

The sounds of Terahnyan Sjol are as follows:

Vowels

• a - like "a" in "father"
• e - like "ai" in "aircraft"
• i - like "ee" in "feet"
• o - like "oa" in "boat"
• u - like "oo" in "school"

Diphthongs

• ay - like "i" in "pipe"
• aw - like "ou" in "output"
• ew - no English equivalent, like German "ö" or French "eu"
• ey - like "ay" in "ray"
• iw - no English equivalent, like German "ü" or French "u"
• oy - like "oy" in "boy"
• uy - like "ouy" in "bouy"

Consonants

• b - as in English
• d - as in English
• h - as in English. Unlike in English, this occurs at the end of syllables, though in many dialects it is dropped in such a position.
• k - as in English
• l - as in English
• m - as in English
• n - as in English
• ng - as in English
• p - as in English
• r - as in Spanish or Italian (trilled)
• s - as in English
• sj - like "sh" in "ship"
• t - as in English
• th - like "th" in "think"
• t - as in English
• v - as in English
• w - as in English
• y - as in English
• z - as in English
• zj - like "si" in "provision"

Consonant Clusters

• dzj - like "j" in "jump"
• ny - like "ny" in "canyon"
• tsj - like "ch" in "chair"

Assimilation

When either of the sounds s or z occurs adjacent to either of the sounds sj or zj within a word, the second sound's articulation point changes to match that of the first.

• s+sj becomes ss
• z+zj becomes zz
• sj+s becomes sjsj
• zj+z becomes zjzj
• s+zj becomes sz
• z+sj becomes zs
• sj+z becomes sjzj
• zj+s becomes zjsj

Noun Morphology

TS is agglutinative. Nouns have 5 types of suffixes. A noun may have at most one suffix of each type, and the suffixes must be ordered according to their type numbers.

Type 1

• -hah : augmentative
• -sjom : diminutive

Type 2

• -mey : plural

Type 3

Note: Type 3 suffixes are archaic and only used in highly stylized language. Their meanings are difficult to capture in English, so we paraphrase them here.

• -nah : "That which I know to be"
• -sjey : "That which I believe to be"
• -kok : "That which I ironically call"

Type 4

• -vam : this, these
• -veth : that, those
• -wiz : my
• -liz : your (singular)
• -daz : his, her, its
• -maz : our
• -raz : your (plural)
• -staz : their

Type 5

The default case for nouns is accusative. The other cases are:

• -heh : nominative
• -dak : locative
• -voh : ablative
• -vad : dative
• -moh : causative

Verb Morphology

Verb suffixes are governed by rules similar to those for noun suffixes. The exception is type 1 verb suffixes, of which a verb may have more than one. The type 1 suffixes still occur in a specific order, so they are often classified as 1A, 1B, and 1C.

Type 1

• (A) -sjah : equivalent to dis- or anti- in English. Indicates opposite or undoing.
• (B) -mosj : causative/transitivizer
• (C) -stuh : implies totality or absolution of action or state

Examples:

• yon - be satisfied
• yonsjah - be dissatisfied
• yonmosj - satisfy
• yonstuh - be completely satisfied
• yonsjahmosj - dissatisfy
• yonmosjsjtuh - completely satisfy
• yonsjahstuh - be completely dissatisfied
• yonsjahmosjsjtuh - completely dissatisfy

Type 2

• -hezj : reflexive
• -stuk : reciprocal

Examples:

• kip : hit
• kiphezj : hit oneself
• kipstuk : hit one another, hit each other

Type 3

• -stosj : begin, become
• -kah : resume

Examples:

• nudstosj - begin examining
• nudkah - resume examining

Type 4

These suffixes indicate aspect of verbs.

• -puh - perfect
• -tasj - continuous
• -besj - anticipative

Examples:

• sam - find
• sampuh - just found
• samtasj - finding
• sambesj - about to find

Type 5

These represent the verb modalities.

• -lasj : be able to
• -kang : want to
• -nis : need to
• -stoh : ought not to
• -vip : be afraid to

Type 6

These represent the qualifiers.

• -bez : I know that...
• -bah : it is obvious that...
• -lawh : I think or have heard that...

-bez indicates firsthand knowledge, while -lawh indicates secondhand knowledge. -bah indicates shared knowledge and is used simply to stipulate some established information, often when changing the subject.

Type 7

• -moh - conjunction (because)
• -vis - conjunction (while)
• -dih - conjunction (when)
• -stuzj - conjunction (if)
• -pah - conjunction (before)
• -bozj - relativizer (who, which, that)
• -mesj - purpose clause (in order to)
• -zjast - gerund (-ing)