Terahnyan Sjol

Background

Terahnyan Sjol was first documented on Earth in multi-species urban communities in the early 24rd 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"
• ua - like "wa" in "schwa"
• ue - like "wea" in "swear"

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"
• st

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
• -ua : endearment (-wa on a root that ends in vowel)

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 ..."

The suffix -nah now has a completely different use as a nominalizer. See below.

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
• -loh : instrumental

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
• -luh : passive

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

• -hah - interrogative
• -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)

Nominalization

No root word can be both a noun and verb. Often a verb will have a noun form that differs only by the addition of one nominalizing suffix.

• -zjast - gerund
• -wih - agentive
• -lih - patientive
• -loh - resultative
• -nah - general nominalizer

Syntax

Basic Word Order

Basic word order in TS is SOV.

• Sjodheh yas wahdist lezj. The captain sees the first officer.
• Yas wahdistheh sjod lezj. The first officer sees the captain.

The suffix -heh indicates the subject of the sentence.

Adverbs and adverbial phrases occur almost anywhere in a sentence, but most neutrally they are found right before the verb.

• Sjodheh yas payh lezj. The captain suddenly sees the officer.
• Sjodheh yas mesjdak lezj. The captain sees the officer on the bridge.

Tense

Tense is usually contextual and implicit, but it can be emphasized with special adverbs.

• Sjodheh yas dasj lezj. The captain now sees the officer.
• Sjodheh yas nyuzj lezj. The captain then saw the officer.
• Sjodheh yas zjik lezj. The captain then will see the officer.

Voice

The suffix -luh indicates passive voice.

• Yasheh lezjluh. The officer is seen.
• Yasheh sjodmoh lezjluh. The officer is seen by the captain.

All transitive verbs are assumed to have an object, even if it is implicit.

• Terahnyanmeyheh sop. Terrans eat them.

If the object must be indefinite, the pronoun vayh can be employed.

• Terahnyanmeyheh vayh sop. Terrans eat.

Focus

Noun phrases may follow verbs if they are focal or indefinite.

• Yas lezj sjodheh. A captain sees the officer. The CAPTAIN (as opposed to someone else) sees the officer.
• Sjodheh yas lezj mesjdak. The captain sees the officer on a bridge. OR ... on the BRIDGE (as opposed to somewhere else).

Accusative nouns cannot occur after the verb. The passive must be employed.

• Sjodmoh lezjluh yasheh. The captain sees an officer. The captain sees the OFFICER (as opposed to someone else).

Adjectives

A noun may be preceded by a stative verb.

• tin duz : big ship

Possessive

Two nouns that occur next to each other form a possessive construction. The first noun is the possessor, while the second is the possessee. The second noun must be followed by -daz or -staz (depending on the number of the possessor).

• sjod duzdaz : captain's ship
• zazjmey nusjsjtaz : the enemies' weapon

Nominals

The suffix -zjast creates a gerund out of an entire verb phrase.

• kohmey posmosjzjast - opening worlds
• Kohmey posmosjzjastheh tsjath. Opening worlds is difficult. (It is difficult to open worlds.)
• Sjoltezmeyheh kohmey posmosjzjast tiv. Linguists enjoy opening worlds.

Serial Verbs

Many verbs can occur in serial to form more complex phrases. These often correspond functionally to English prepositions.

• mihtsjed kel zath : talk-consider math (talk about math)
• pah hel yit : walk-enter room (walk into the room)

Other verbs can be used in an adverbial sense. These are often idiomatic and difficult to apply broadly.

• stev stop : bite-separate (bite off)
• mez puv : fly-leave (fly away)
• lim chong : sleep-delay (sleep in)
• sal sayhmosj : clean-ascend (clean up)

Pronouns

The nominative pronouns are as follows:

• zi - I
• so - you (singular)
• zja - he, she
• ho - it
• ma - we
• thi - you (plural)
• sta - they (plural of zja)
• bi - they (plural of ho)

The accusative pronouns are as follows:

• mu - me
• ni - you (singular)
• lu - him, her, it
• nu - us
• li - you (plural)

There are is no accusative pronoun corresponding to "them". Transitive verbs are assumed to have an object, which is always "them". If it is important to emphasize "them", the passive can be used.

The other cases for pronouns are formed by attaching type 5 noun suffixes to the nominative forms of the verbs.

• hodak - on/in/at it
• zivad - for/to me
• sovoh - from you
• stamoh - due to them

Conjunctions

The simple conjunctions can be used to join any kind of phrase.

• X hez Y - X and Y
• X koz Y - X or Y or both
• X pazj Y - X or Y

To Be

There is no explicit copula in TS.

• Kamahheh zjokwih. The prisoner is a spy.

Sentence as Object

The pronoun heh is similar to English "that" in objectizing an entire sentence.

• So kawhah heh zi vum? Do you remember that I work?

Question Words

• nuk : what
• hiv : who
• nukdak : where
• zjodzj : when
• kath : why
• stayh : how

Question words do not have special positions in sentences.

TODO

• relative clauses
• imperatives
• negatives
• examples... lots and lots of examples