Tolakiso

Tolan Tolakiso
Pronunciation:	['to.la.ˌki.so]
Spoken in:	Tola, Tolan Empire
Conworld:	Kalna
Total speakers:	None
Genealogical classification:	Kalnaean Seranic Tolan
Writing System:	Tolan Syllabary
Basic word order:	SVO
Morphological type:	Agglutinating
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Created by:
Ian Cook	August 1, 2012

Tolan (Tolakiso ['to.la.ˌki.so]) is an ancient language which was once spoken on the continent of Seran in the region of Tola and by the Tolan Empire on the planet of Kalna. Tolan is the only member of the Seranic language family to survive after the Tolan Empire conquered and ruled Seran. However, its descendants were all influenced by the other languages of the various regions.

Tolan is typologically highly agglutinative, although it shows occasional fusional and isolating characteristics. It modifies and inflects nouns (though nominative and accusative are shown through word order), pronouns, and verbs, depending on their roles in the sentence. There are twelve noun cases, and verbs conjugate to show four moods, three tenses, eight aspects, and two voices.

Phonology

Primary stress on Tolan words is always given to the first syllable in the word. Secondary stress is usually placed on alternating syllables thereafter, but it is often such a small stress that it is barely noticeable. In compound words, each component after the first receives secondary stress on its first syllable.

Tolan has five vowels, however there is some allophony based on the different regions in which Tolan was spoken. Allphones are shown in parentheses below.

Vowels
	Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
High	i [i]	(i) [y]								u [u]
Near-high				(i) [ɪ]				(u) [ʊ]
High-mid		e [e]								o [o]
Mid					(e) [ə]
Low-mid			(e) [ɛ]							(o) [ɔ]
Near-low				(a) [æ]
Low					a [a]					(a) [ɑ]

All vowels are analyzed as occurring within the time frame of one mora Therefore, doubled vowels are treated as a sequence of two identical vowels, rather than as a long vowel. Two different vowels in sequence are treated as distinct syllables, rather than as a diphthong.

Tolan uses only twelve consonants. None of the plosives or fricatives are voiced, and there are no affricates

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m [m]						n [n]
Plosive	p [p]						t [t]						k [k]
Fricative			f [f]				s [s]								h [h]
Approximants		w [w]										y [j]
Flap or Tap								r [ɾ]
Lateral Approximant								l

The basic syllable structure is (C)V(n) where "C" is any consonant, "V" is any vowel, and "n" is the letter "n". This can create long strings of vowels, all of which are considered separate syllables, but can not create any consonant clusters.

Sample Translations

Each of the following translations from English to Tolakiso will include the original text, the translated text, a gloss of the translated text, and a retranslation of the text back to English.

Schleicher's Fable

Schleicher's Fable is an artificial text which was composed by August Schleicher in his version of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language in 1868. Schleicher was the first scholar to compose a text in Proto-Indo-European.

Schleicher's Fable by August Schleicher

On a hill, a sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses". The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool". Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain.

Kianika Selakeresa Aguseta Selakerete

Sa oenmo, ken enma unfa hekotaya tenahe yuwa enma run, ken enma manfaheto heni omuso, ken yeheto faanla fenhuso, i ken yeheto mui suli. Unfa minihe runti: "Ennou nosa konu no, tenato mui suro pinto run". Run minihe: "yooka, unfa, ennou nokinsa konu nokin sakan nokin tena kanso: mui, anlio, wuo hekotako samin enyuso hontihin. I kansoni unfa ka wuna hekota". Sakan unfa minyahe kanso, enma unkohe feuni ironwe.

story.DIM Schleicher.GEN August Schleicher.CAU

on hill-ADE, one CL14 sheep.NOM wool.ABE see-PST.IND some CL14 horse.ACC, one CL14.NOM pull-PST.IND-PROG wagon.ACC be.heavy-PART, one.NOM carry-PST.IND-PROG load.ACC be.large-PART, and one.NOM carry-PST.IND-PROG man.ACC quickly. sheep.NOM say-PST.IND horse-DAT: "heart.NOM I-GEN hurt.PRES.IND I.ACC, see.PRES.IND-PROG man.ACC who drive.PRES.IND-PROG horse.ACC". horse say-PST.IND: "listen.IMP, sheep.VOC, heart.NOM we.GEN hurt.PRES.IND we.ACC when we.NOM see.PRES.IND this.ACC: man.NOM, master.NOM, make.PRES.IND wool.INST clothing.ACC be.warm-PART self-BEN. and that sheep.NOM not have.PRES.IND wool.ACC". When sheep.NOM hear-PST.IND this, CL14.NOM flee-PST.IND in grassland-LAT.

Schleicher's Little Story by August Schleicher

On a hill, a sheep without wool saw some horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a large load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: “My heart hurts me, seeing a man who is driving horses”. The horses said: “Listen, sheep, our hearts hurt us when we see this: a man, master, makes with wool warm clothing for himself. And that sheep does not have wool.” When the sheep heard this, it fled into the grassland.

The North Wind and the Sun

The North Wind and the Sun is one of Aesop's Fables by the ancient Greek slave and storyteller Aesop.

The North Wind and the Sun by Aesop

The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

The King and the God

The King and the God is a text by S. K. Sen loosely based on the "king Harishcandra" episode of Aitareya Brahmana and translated into Proto-Indo-European.

The King and the God by S. K. Sen

Once there was a king. He was childless. The king wanted a son. He asked his priest: “May a son be born to me!” The priest said to the king: “Pray to the god Werunos”. The king approached the god Werunos to pray now to the god. “Hear me, father Werunos!” The god Werunos came down from heaven. “What do you want?” “I want a son.” “Let this be so”, said the bright god Werunos. The king's lady bore a son.

The Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel is a story from the Book of Genesis which tells of how God spread the peoples of the world throughout the earth and gave them distinct languages.

The Tower of Babel

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.