Tolosian

English name Native name
Spoken in:	Tolos
Timeline/Universe:	Alternate Earth
Total speakers:	300 000
Basic word order:	VSO
Morphological type:	Agglutinating/synthetic
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Accusative
Created by:
Taelis	01/2006

Tolosian is meant to be a personal conlang for my conworld, Tolos. It's based on a few rules : 144 roots, and only them ; simple grammar rules ; simplification of speech to make the pronunciation easier.

Roots and word formation

There is 144 roots, classed in twelve columns of words (the koti). This repartition is a key example of the importance of the sacred number 12 and its multiples or divisors.

• Koti'lo
  • lo (water), ai (sky), ta (tree), te (cliff), to (earth), fe (grass), cho (wind), ko (stone), la (flower), li (light), om (sun), nu (moon)
• Koti'ia
  • ia (eagle), zi (lizard), se (snake), ka (guanaco), vi (dragonfly), bou (fish), mi (cat), of (wolf), chi (sparrow), qua (frog), hi (mouse), zo (rabbit)
• Koti'ad
  • ad (more), ni (less), en (between), ji (to), in (into), lu (next to), equ (outside of), eb (from), un (away from), di (this), ye (who/which), iv (almost)
• Koti'onn
  • onn (turtle), ar (crow), wi (seagull), ks (cicada), mu (ant), be (sheep), he (goat), re (puma), bo (bear), kr (tuco-tuco), ze (bee), ki (hedgehog)
• Koti'ja
  • ja (fire), pa (house), so (beach), che (snow), tu (hole), lou (pearl), si (sand), do (shell), gou (fruit), fo (cloud), vy (corn), is (salt)
• Koti'go
  • go (around), ab (on), zu (under), fi (few), mo (many), oun (extremely), yd (and/with), ak (itself), dou (for), ek (because), mm (my), op (the most)
• Koti'ti
  • ti (hand), chu (nose), ba (mouth), de (skin), io (eye), du (teeth), ob (body), iou (ear), fu (hair), ra (arm), za (leg), ap (foot)
• Koti'ru
  • ru (old), jo (big), va (moving), rou (soft), ud (hard), pi (small), id (new), it (useful), chou (good), que (bad), wa (fast), och (slow)
• Koti'at
  • at (sign), ea (art), ma (love), su (humor), am (beginning), ya (end), im (middle), yo (action), da (time), el (knowledge), no (material), oum (place)
• Koti'or
  • or (human), fa (woman), ge (man), ol (job), quo (choice), xa (word), tou (part), na (gift), oa (grace), je (defect), yi (yes), ne (no)
• Koti'ev
  • ev (to be), ga (to have), sa (to want), od (to can), ed (to take), on (to give), ke (to must), oup (to carry), cha (to become), er (to forget), ag (to receive), jou (to hold)
• Koti'sou
  • sou (to learn), ot (to search), et (to stay), we (to win), fou (to lose), pe (to seem), ouk (to break), ib (to bring), pou (to throw), em (to dream), ay (to open), bi (to close)

All others words are based on these, by association of ideas. For example, omnu (the day) is made from om and nu, and means literally "from the sun to the moon".

When the pronunciation becomes difficult between two consonants, the first one drops and the second one is doubled. Moreover, it hold a sign ᵛ (called an atru) on the first doubled letter. For example : talafežzu (root) comes from talafet (plant) and zu (under), where the t drops and the z is doubled.

Some words come from the same type of transformation but don't take the atru ; they are generally more recent or more used words, since the atru marks the transition between old and new tolosian. Example : loutto (year) = loud (circle) + to (earth), meaning the circle which is taken by the Earth around the sun.