Tullach language

Tullach
onna t:Túloh on:a t'tUloh
Pronunciation	[ˈonːa təˈhulox]
Region	Ystel
Native speakers	1,445,000 (total)  (2023)
Language family	Ystelo-Atruozan Ystelic Tullachian Tullach
Dialects	Cilnanny Hivasaû Rural
Writing system	Divorced Adzamic
Official status
Official language in	Hranloc Tullachia
CWS code	TLCH

Tullach (on:a t'tUloh; onna t:Túloh, [ˈonːa təˈhulox]) is a Tullachian language within the Ystelic branch of the Ystelo-Atruozan language family. It is most closely related to Stratavite and Rocnaian.

Though spoken by small minorities in neighbouring nations, such as Lower Stratavar and Thraquy, Tullach is only officially recognised in Tullachia and Hranloc.

Tullach is written using a form of the Adzamic script, in which glyphs are no longer interconnected and do not have initial, medial, final or isolated forms. "Divorced" Adzamic also makes use of specific stylisations of certain glyphs as well as some Tullach-specific additions.

Name

In some linguistic discussions, the Tullach language may be referred to as Floxy (on:a vlok:a; onna vlocca, [ˈonːa ˈvloʰkːa]), due to its historical emergence from the marshlands towards the east of the country. This alternate name was deemed warranted due to confusion with the Tullachian language family. Previous attempts to clarify the name ended with Thraxian (on:a hrak:a; onna hracca, [ˈonːa ˈʰr̥aʰkːa]), which then however created confusion with the Rocnaian dialect Thraquy.

Dialects

Tullach is generally divided into three dialects, though these are usually mutually intelligible with each other and only in certain areas do they differ so vastly in phonology, syntax or orthography. It is of course to be understood that in areas where Tullach is for the most part a secondary language, in particular Stratavite and Rocnaian-speaking communities, imperfections in learning have caused other steady non=standard forms of Tullach to arise.

Hivasaû (Standard) Tullach

The dialect of Tullach spoken in and around the Hracciû Metropolitan Area forms the standard variation as is spoken in political and educational environments.

Rural Tullach

The various sub-dialects and accents found throughout Tullachia's sparse rural communities are generally grouped together due to their vast similarities in all but phonology. This dialect encompasses the largest land area of the three main dialects, ranging from as eastwards as Vlencûostiû, as far south as Cilloh to as far westwards as the Flox.

Cilnanny Tullach

This dialect emerged in Inil teCilna and subsequently spread to southern mainland Tullachia. Some linguists argue that Cilnnany diverged enough from Middle Tullach to be considered a separate language, mostly aided by the Cilna Local Council who list it as a proxy-official language. Nonetheless, it is rapidly growing unpopular amongst locals, nowadays only notably visible in the far south-east of Inil teCilna.

Phonology

Consonants

(Standard) Tullach consonant phonemes

			Bilabial			Labio-dental		Dental		Alveolar			Post-alveolar		Palatal		Labio-velar		Velar			Glottal
			short	long	pre-aspirated	short	long	short	long	short	long	pre-aspirated	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long	pre-aspirated	short	long
Nasal	voiceless	plain								n̥									(ŋ̊)
		labialised
	voiced	plain	m	mː						n	nː								(ŋ)
		labialised	mʷ	mʷː						nʷ	nʷː
Plosive	voiceless	plain	p	pː	ʰpː					t	tː	ʰtː							k	kː	ʰkː
		labialised	pʷ	pʷː	ʰpʷː					tʷ	tʷː	ʰtʷː							kʷ	kʷː	ʰkʷː
	voiced	plain	b	bː						d	dː								g	gː
		labialised	bʷ	bʷː						dʷ	dʷː								gʷ	gʷː
Fricative	voiceless	plain				(f)				s	sː		ʃ						x			h
		labialised								sʷ	sʷː		ʃʷ						xʷ
	voiced	plain				v		ð
		labialised				vʷ		ðʷ
Affricate	voiceless	plain								t͡s
		labialised								t͡sʷ
Lateral approximant	voiced	plain								l	lː
		labialised								lʷ	lʷː
Lateral fricative	voiceless	plain								ɬ	ɬː
		labialised								ɬʷ	ɬʷː
Approximant	voiceless																ʍ
	voiced														j		w
Trill	voiceless											ʰr̥
	voiced									r	r:
Flap	voiceless
	voiced									ɾ

• Voiceless [n̥] and [ŋ̊] only ever appear as syllabic consonants:
  • tusknzø tuscnzø [ˈtus.kn̥̩.ˌt͡sø] ('merchant ship')
  • isknzraØh iscnzraǿh [ˌɪs.kn̩.t͡sɾa.ˈøx] ('necromancy')
  • aznkAt azncát [ˌa.t͡sŋ̩̊.ˈkat] ('happiness')
• [ŋ] is an allophone of [n] before velar consonants.
  • ankah ancah [ˈaŋ.kax] ('tremor, earthquake')
• [f] appears only in loanwords, however is nonetheless written and thus often pronounced just as ⟨v⟩ [v].

Vowels

(Standard) Tullach vowel phonemes

	Front		Near-front		Central		Back
Close	i							u
Near-close			ɪ
Close-mid	e	ø						o
Mid					ə
Open	a

Initial mutations

Tullach, similar to other languages in the Tullachian language family, is characterised by its lenitive consonant mutation. These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word or a words primary morpheme under specific morphological and syntactic conditions.

This table shows the phonological effects of lenition across both the affected plain and labialised consonants in Tullach with both Adzamic and Romanised spellings.

	Unmutated				Lenition
	IPA	Example	Pronunciation	Meaning	IPA	Example	Pronunciation	Meaning
p	/p/ /pʷ/	pokta  pocta	/ˈpokta/	camel	/v/ /vʷ/	t'pOkta  t:pócta	/təˈvokta/	of the camel
b	/b/ /bʷ/	brih  brih	/bɾɪx/	bog	/v/ /vʷ/	g'brIh  g:bríh	/gəˈvɾɪx/	at the bog
t	/t/ /tʷ/	twogoh  tûogoh	/ˈtʷogox/	mammoth	/h/ /ʍ/	r'twOgoh  r:tûógoh	/ɾəˈʍogox/	to the mammoth
d	/d/ /dʷ/	dwar  dûar	/dʷar/	headland	/ð/ /ðʷ/	g'dwAr  g:dûár	/gəˈðʷar/	at the headland
k	/k/ /kʷ/	kom:a  comma	/ˈkomːa/	feather	/x/ /xʷ/	t'kOm:a  t:cómma	/təˈxomːa/	of the feather
g	/g/ /gʷ/	gey  geî	/gɛi̯/	pasture	/x/ /xʷ/	ka'gEya  ca:géîa	/kaˈxeja/	in the pastures
s	/s/ /sʷ/	swa  sûa	/sʷa/	gust of wind	/ʃ/ /ʃʷ/	ł'swA  ł:sûá	/ɬəˈʃʷa/	by a gust of wind
l	/l/ /lʷ/	løt  løt	/løt/	crown	/ɬ/ /ɬʷ/	t'lØt  t:lǿt	/təˈɬøt/	of the crown
h	/h/	hutar  hutar	/ˈhutar/	eye	/∅/	s'hutra  s:hutra	/ˈsutɾa/	two eyes
hr	/ʰr̥/	hruk:iw  hrucciû	/ˈʰr̥uʰkːɪʍ/	mattress	/r/	g'hrUk:iw  g:hrúcciû	/gəˈruʰkːɪʍ/	on mattresses

Environments of lenition

Consonant mutation can occur in Tullach in the following circumstances:

• After a case proclitic (exemplified in the table above);
• In the absolutive singular or plural after non-compound numbers and quantifiers:
  • taw dø taû dø [taw ðø] ('three fields')
  • giw hrak:a giû hracca [gɪw ˈraʰkːa] ('great secrecy' [lit: 'a lot of secrecy'])
• After the imperative particle:
  • a tis. a tis! [a his] ('Spread yourselves out!')
  • u a gøn:ay us. u a gønnaî us! [wa ˈxønːai̯ us] ('Don't get angry at me!')

Changes to vowel-initial words

In some dialects, particularly Western Rural Tullach, vowel-initial words may undergo n-prosthesis after common approximant-final words.

• Nouns marked by non-compound numbers and quantifiers in the absolutive singular or plural for all noun classes, the dative dual or plural for human nouns, or the instrumental dual for inanimate nouns:
  • taw n'ankaka taû n-ancaca [taw ˈnaŋ.ka.ka] ('three earthquakes')
  • giw n'on:a giû n-onna [gɪw ˈnonːa] ('a lot of talking')
  • ab:ay n'u'hrUn:avakad abbaî n-u:hrúnnavacad [ˈabːai̯ nəˈrunːaˌvacað] ('for the very few bakers')
  • vuw n'u'lOzah vuû n-u:lózah [vou̯ nəˈɬo.t͡sax] ('not with either of the two knives')
• All vowel-beginning verbs in the imperative after the imperative particle:
  • a n'ałEn. a n-ałén! [a naˈɬen] ('get on your knees!')

Prosody

Tullach typically follows an antepenultimate stress system in words with three syllables or more; in words with two syllables, stress tends to fall on the penult. Any other syllable with primary stress is marked with a diacritic. The stressed syllable of a stem word is maintained in compounds and with case proclitics:

• hrak:a hracca [ˈʰr̥aʰkːa] ('dark, black; secret, obscure')
• hrak:a hracca [ˈʰr̥aʰkːa] ('darkness; secrecy, obscurity')
• hrak:ara hraccara [ˈʰr̥aʰkːaˌɾa] ('to be dark, be black; to be secretive, lie in the shadows')
• ahrAk:a ahrácca [aˈraʰkːa] ('to darken, make black, make dirty; to obscure; to afflict')
• ahrAk:ah ahráccah [aˈraʰkːax] ('act of darkening')
• ahrak:aka ahraccaca [aˈraʰkːaˌka] ('stain')
• ahrak:aya ahraccaîa [aˈraʰkːaˌja] ('to become dark, turn black; to get dirty')
• g'hrAk:a g:hrácca [gəˈraʰkːa] ('in secrecy')
• k'ahrak:aka c:ahraccaca [kaˈraʰkaka] ('with a stain')
• a n'ahrAk. a n-ahrác! [a naˈrak] ('make it darker!')

Orthography

Tullach has been written in a variety of scripts over its history. Currently, the dominant script is an adapted form of the Adzamic script, adopted first by Tullachians, but later spread to surrounding countries including Stratavar, Rocnaia and Mermelia. The script is categorised as divorced due to it containing uniform print lettering, as opposed to joined writing with differing initial, medial, final and isolated forms.

Tullach (Divorced Adzamic) script

Tullach	a	i	e	ø	o	u	y	w	p	b	t	d	k	g	m	n	s	z	l	r	ł	v	h
Adzamic	a	i	e	ô	ō	û	ī	ū	p	b	t	d	ḳ	g	m	n	s	z	l	š	ž	f	h
Latin	a	i	e	ø	o	u	î	û	p	b	t	d	c	g	m	n	s	z	l	r	ł	v	h

In addition to these 23 letters, the grapheme ⟨:⟩ appears often in Tullach orthography; though not representing a phoneme in its own right, it serves to geminate the preceding consonant.

• ałUra ałúra [aˈɫuɾa] ('to set on fire')
• ał:Ura ałłúra [aˈɫːuɾa] ('to burn out')

Older forms of Tullach cursive are a direct reference to Adzamic; most writing however is done in block letters or with infrequent ligatures.

Tullach	Adzamic	Latin	English
askatolah	asḳatōlah	ascatolah	'improvement'
yeksagøn	īeḳsagôn	îecsagøn	'skin condition'
paknzredoh	paḳnzšedōh	pacnzredoh	'furniture leg'

Nouns

Noun classes

Tullach nouns are divided into three noun classes: human, animate and inanimate.

• Human nouns correspond to human beings and humanoids, be they sentient non-human species such as dalar or vodholk, figurative humanoids such as artificial intelligence, or supernatural beings such as deities.
• Animate nouns refer to animals and other automative concepts like natural forces (ie. planets, the wind, the tides) and machinery.
• Inanimate nouns correspond to objects not perceived to have any form of agency.

Plurality

Tullach nouns can be inflected in the singular, dual or plural.

Case system

Tullach is perceived to have six grammatical cases: absolutive, ergative, dative, genitive, locative and instrumental. The absolutive, ergative and dative are core cases. Due to the inconsistent morphosyntactic alignment of Tullach, each one has several different uses, some of which overlap; this is addressed in the verb class section. The non-core cases are the genitive, locative and instrumental.

• The genitive is used to indicate both alienable and inalienable possession. It is also used to attribute qualities to a person (ie. 'a man of great strength'). For objects perceived to be inherently unpossessable, generally considered things that can be associated to a person but that they can never exhibit control over (ie. people, land, overpowering emotions), ownership is illustrated with the possessor in the dative.
• The locative case is used to mark the location of an action. It can also be used on abstract nouns as a primitive adverbial case.
• The instrumental case indicates an object with which an action was performed. It additionally functions as a comitative case, demonstrating the companionship and togetherness of two or more objects.

Verb system

Tullach verbs can be differentiated into four verb classes. Classes do not vary much grammatically, however they can be distinguished by the respective epenthetic vowel placed between prefixal morphemes and the case that the direct object takes (if any apply), usually absolutive or dative.

Verb classes

Transitive verbs (Class 1 verbs)

Class 1 verbs always have an ergative subject and an absolutive direct object. Some examples are "eat", "hold" and "lead".

Exertive verbs (Class 2 verbs)

Class 2 verbs are similar to Class 1 verbs in their metagrammatical sense, however use the same thematic epenthesis as Class 3 verbs. Additionally, subjects take the absolutive case and direct objects take the dative case. Verbs in this class, such as "punch", "address" and "drown", imply a sense of direction towards the object, be it physically or figuratively. A causative active Class 4 verb functions as a Class 2 verb.

Intransitive verbs (Class 3 verbs)

Intransitive verbs only have a subject and no direct object. Some examples are "sleep", "run" and "talk". A causative antipassive Class 4 verb functions as a Class 3 verb.

Stative verbs (Class 4 verbs)

Class 4 verbs differ from Class 3 verbs in that stative verbs lack agency or culpability in the action. Actions such as sleeping and running are made consciously; in contrast, "hurt" (ie. "feel pain") is still an intransitive, non-passive action that affects the subject. Verbs formed by suffixing -ra onto adjectives fall into this category.

Verb components

Tullach is an agglutinating language. Agglutination means that affixes each express a single meaning, and they usually do not merge with each other or affect each other phonologically. Each verb tense, aspect and mood is formed by adding a number of prefixes and suffixes to the verb stem. Certain affix categories are limited to certain tenses, aspects and moods. In a given tense-aspect-mood, not all possible markers are obligatory. The components of a Tullach verb form occur in the following order:

Tullach verb template

prepositional preverb	voice marker	subject marker	direct object marker	{thematic epenthesis}	indirect object marker	{thematic epenthesis}	VERB ROOT	causative marker	past marker	mood marker	relativiser marker

Preverb

Much like in Gfiewish, though to a greater extent, Tullach verbs may be prefixed in a way to denote various aspectual distinctions or outright alter the meaning of the verb entirely. Etymologically, these verbal prefixes either stemmed from prepositions or common adjectives that adopted new meanings.

Preverbs are morphologically detached from the main verb root, and always appear as the first morpheme of a conjugated verb.

		kwara cûara "to go, move"	on:a onna "to speak, talk"	rosta rosta "to take, capture"
	Meaning of prefix
a- a-	"towards, at"	ak:wa accûa "to go out, set off, begin a journey; to progress"	aOn:a aónna "to make literate, teach language (to)"	arOsta arósta "to take, seize (a person), kidnap; to violate"
ad- ad-	"down, under, up to; wrong, astray"	adakwa adacûa "to go under or down, die; to sneak up (on)"	adOn:a adónna "to mumble, slur; to misspeak"	adrOsta adrósta "to trap, beguile, deceive; to collapse, crumble"
en- en-	"cause within, inside"	enkwa encûa "to set in motion; to cause; to inspire"		enrOsta enrósta "to absorb, engross"
ta- ta-	"about, around"	tak:wa taccûa "to wander around; to err, make a mistake"	taOn:a taónna "to circumlocute; to talk around a subject"
da- da-	"up, above, on top"	dak:wa daccûa "to ascend, mount; to pass away; to grow up"	daOn:a daónna "to articulate, put into words"	darOsta darósta "to undergo, endure; to bear or beget children"
ga- ga-	"on, at the surface"	gak:wa gaccûa "to walk or step on; to climb onto"	gaOn:a gaónna "to interrupt, talk over, speak out of turn"	garOsta garósta "to receive, accept; to hear; to obtain"
sa- sa-	"from; outwards, away"	sak:wa saccûa "to leave, exit; to escape (from)"	saOn:a saónna "to pronounce; to enunciate, speak clearly"	sarOsta sarósta "to steal, take away; to take as hostage"
ra- ra-	"back; opposite"	rak:wa raccûa "to return, come back; to turn away from"	raOn:a raónna "to speak a foreign language"	rarOsta rarósta "to confiscate, (authorities) seize"
ła- ła-	"altogether, as one; at the same time"	łak:wa łaccûa "to group, swarm; to be an ally of; to have sex"	łaOn:a łaónna "to converse; to chant, speak all at once"	łarOsta łarósta "to share with or amongst a group"
Rarer attested verbal prefixes
ub- u(b)-	"either one of two; both at the same time"		ubOn:a ubónna "to contradict; to confute"
tir- tir-	"after"			tir:Osta tirrósta "to avenge, exact revenge"
me- me-	"close, nearby"	mek:wa meccûa "to get close or near, approach"
nu- nu-	"before, previously"			nurOsta nurósta "to anticipate, expect; to take charge"
sø- sø-	"big, great, vast"		søOn:a søónna "to give a speech, orate"
hon- hon-	"long-lasting, for a long time; repeatedly, often"	honkwa honcûa "to travel often; to live a nomadic lifestyle"		honrOsta honrósta "to beseige"

Voice

Tullach verbs can be inflected either in the active, antipassive or applicative voice.

Verb personality

Verb subject and objects (direct and indirect) are reflected in conjugation.

Tullach pronominal verb infixes

		Singular				Dual				Plural
		masculine	feminine	animate	inanimate	masculine	feminine	animate	inanimate	masculine	feminine	animate	inanimate
Subject	first-person	-cr-				-s-				-nt-
	second-person	-g-				-cc-				-cîu-
	third-person	—		-s-	-l-	-pt-	-elt-	-st-	-m-	-bn-	-eûl-	-us-	-br-
	fourth-person	-c-	-t-	-c-		-dî-	-tî-	-d-		-dû-	-tû-	-dû-
Direct object	first-person	-n-				-nî-				-cnî-
	second-person	-l-				-cû-				-cu-
	third-person	-b-	-û-	-z-	-al-	-md-	-ult-	-ze-	-am-	-md-	-lt-	-zû-	-z-
	fourth-person	-ec-	-iûc-	-ecc-		-eddî-	-iûtî-	-ettî-		-eddû-	-iûtû-	-ett-
Indirect object	first-person	-ov-				-on-				-onî-
	second-person	-ul-				-uc-				-ucû-
	third-person	-ob-	-oû-	-os-	-oł-	-omt-	-olt-	-ost-	-omm-	-ombn-	-oûlt-	-ostû-	-ol-
	fourth-person	-og-	-oûc-	-occ-		-od-	-oûdî-	-ot-		-oddû-	-oûdû-	-ott-

Thematic epenthesis

Epenthesis occurs in consonant clusters between multiple persons or beside the verb root. It is described as "thematic" due to the used vowel changing between verb classes.

Class	Infix	Example
Transitive verbs (Class 1 verbs)	-a-	g-a-z-î-én 2.SG-EP-3.PL.INAN-drink-PST g-a-z-î-én 2.SG-EP-3.PL.INAN-drink-PST 'You drank them.'
Exertive verbs (Class 2 verbs)	-u-	a-g-u-n-u-łúr-en PVB-2.SG-EP-1.SG-EP-set.alight-PST a-g-u-n-u-łúr-en PVB-2.SG-EP-1.SG-EP-set.alight-PST 'You set me on fire.'
Intransitive verbs (Class 3 verbs)	-u-	a-s-as-u-hracc-aî-en PVB-ANTIP-2.DU-EP-be.dark-CAUS-PST a-s-as-u-hracc-aî-en PVB-ANTIP-2.DU-EP-be.dark-CAUS-PST 'Us two may have made [something] darker.'
Stative verbs (Class 4 verbs)	-e-	cr-e-nûécc-en 1.SG-EP-be.central-PST cr-e-nûécc-en 1.SG-EP-be.central-PST 'I was in the centre.'

Verb root

The length of the verb root typically ranges from one to four phonemes. Preverbs, though present in the infinitive and all possible conjugations of the verb, are not considered a part of the root.

Past marker

Tullach verbs only function with two tenses: past and non-past. Non-pastness is not marked. Some verbs may have past-specific stems.

Mood

The language has three moods: the indicative, subjunctive and conditional. The subjunctive mood is fairly common, being used to mark uncertain declarations, questions, some futures and, in formal contexts, may also appear beside negatives.

Syntax

Word order

Basic Tullach sentences tend to follow a subject-object-verb word order. Indirect objects normally precede direct objects.

(1a)

aus

she.ERG

ûisca

I.DAT

cnuû

story.ABS

ninula

make.PST

aus ûisca cnuû ninula

she.ERG {I}.DAT story.ABS make.PST

'She wrote the story for me.'

Word order, however, is not all too strict, due to prominent case markings that identify the role of a word in the sentence. The following sentences are grammatically correct and can be translated as the same, though with emphasis on different arguments.

(1b)

Prioritisation of recipient:

ûisca

I.DAT

cnuû

story.ABS

ninula

make.PST

aus

she.ERG

ûisca cnuû ninula aus

{I}.DAT story.ABS make.PST she.ERG

'She wrote the story for me.'

(1c)

Emphasis on action and pronoun dropping:

Ø-al-uc-a-ninula

3.SG.AN-3.SG.INAN-1.SG-EP-make.PST

cnuû

story.ABS

Ø-al-uc-a-ninula cnuû

3.SG.AN-3.SG.INAN-1.SG-EP-make.PST story.ABS

'She wrote the story for me.'

Morphosyntactic alignment

Tullach syntax and verb agreement are largely those of an ergative-absolutive language. That means that the subject of an intransitive verb will take the same case markings as the direct object of a transitive verb. However, this is not a fully accurate representation, as some transitive objects take a third case, in effect acting as tripartite alignment.

Relative clauses

In Tullach, relative clauses are not marked by any relative pronoun, instead with the main verbs of the clause taking on a relative marker and separated by punctuation. The antecedent of the relative cause is reduplicated within the verb as a person marker.

(2)

baga-Ø

plate-SG

g-hrácca-Ø

LOC-secret-SG

g-al-ov-a-ninul-i,

2.SG-3.SG.INAN-1.SG-EP-make.PST-SR

vrang-aî-en

break-CAUS-PST

baga-Ø g-hrácca-Ø g-al-ov-a-ninul-i, vrang-aî-en

plate-SG LOC-secret-SG 2.SG-3.SG.INAN-1.SG-EP-make.PST-SR break-CAUS-PST

'The plate that you secretly made for me broke.'

(3)

aû

3.SG.ERG

Ø-cnuû

ABS-story.SG

u

NEG

panen

already

a-cr-al-uc-ǿbr-en-øt-i,

PVB-1.SG-3.SG.INAN-2.DU-recite-PST-SUBJ-SR

Ø-ov-és-en

3.SG.H-1.SG-give-PST

aû Ø-cnuû u panen a-cr-al-uc-ǿbr-en-øt-i, Ø-ov-és-en

3.SG.ERG ABS-story.SG NEG already PVB-1.SG-3.SG.INAN-2.DU-recite-PST-SUBJ-SR 3.SG.H-1.SG-give-PST

'He gave me a story, which I may not have recited to you two yet.'