Taalen Morphology

Nominals

Pronouns

The pronominal system of Taalen distinguishes for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and an obviative 4th) and animacy (in the 3rd person), but not number. Number is instead handled by complex pronouns, wherein the semantics of the pronoun are concatenations of person:

1+2 : 'I and you'; inclusive 'we'
1+3 : 'I and s/he or them'; exclusive 'we'
2+3 : 'you and s/he or them'; you, pl.

This is not quite the same as the usual 2nd pl. pronoun, as it does not address directly more than one person. Instead it focuses on one individual as representative of a group.

1+2+3 : 'I and you and s/he or them'; people, the ubiquitous "they", a generic plural
4 : the other, one, a generic singular

Implies more time or location specific identity than 1+2+3

Each person has a characteristic consonant and epenthetic vowel, used when marking verbs and nominals.

Person	Consonant	Vowel
1	n	e
2	h (rarely t)	i
3an	0 (null)	a
3in	s	a
4	r	o
1+2	m	e
1+3	th	e
2+3	v	u
1+2+3	l	o

Verbs

Verbal Complex

PAT	ASP1	DER1	ROOT	DER2	ASP2	AGT

PAT : Patient: the patient or experiencer of the verb ASP₁ : Aspect prefix: provides specialization of primary (ASP₂) aspectual marker DER₁ : Derivative prefix: instrumental and claassifying prefixes ROOT : the verb itself DER₂ : Derivative suffix: directionals, applicatives, evidentials ASP₂ : Aspect suffix: primary aspectual marker AGT : Agent : the agent or causative force of the verb