Tirelat grammar notes

Language notes

This new version of Tirelat is somewhat different from the current version on the web page, and from other earlier versions of the language. The earlier versions may be of some interest, but in case of conflicts between the web page and these notes, the newer version takes precedence.

http://www.io.com/~hmiller/lang/Tirelat/index.html
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/lang/Czirehlat.html
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/lang/Tirehlat.html
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/lang/Tirehlat-old.html
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/dict/Tirehlat-English.html

The new version of Tirelat is a mix of features from a number of different older versions. It is spoken by furry non-humans called the Sangari, who live on a planet in the Azirian universe. They are only slightly shorter than humans, and distantly related to the Zireen (members of the same species, but a different subspecies). They have four-fingered hands and count by twelves. Unlike the Zireen, who have a rather Epicurean lifestyle, the Sangari in general (with notable exceptions such as the Mayushi) are devoted to logical reasoning and the pursuit of knowledge. Even so, they have a great love of music and lyrical verse. The Tiredin who speak Tirelat are very typical Sangari in that respect.

About the text

"So riiva itsyndari" is in the form of a song, with two verses of three lines each. Each line is divided into two parts, the first part having three stressed syllables, and the second part with two. Some minor liberties have been taken with grammar in order to fit the meter, and a number of unstressed vowels have been elided. The interlinear text gives the full form of the Tirelat roots and affixes.

The categories of verbs

Tirelat has three basic categories of verb: stative, dynamic, and transitive. Stative and dynamic verbs both take a single argument in the nominative case, which is considered the subject of the clause. However, stative verbs typically go _before_ the subject, while dynamic verbs go _after_ the subject. Transitive verbs typically have a subject in the nominative case, which precedes the verb, and an object in the accusative case, which follows the verb.

Verb prefixes

Both the subject and the object of a verb are expressed with a prefix, although usually only one of the two is expressed.

Evidentials and tenses

All Tirelat verbs in main clauses have a mandatory evidential/tense suffix. It's impossible to separate evidential and tense; they always occur as an inseparable unit. The differences between the evidential forms can be subtle, and aren't always necessary to translate, but it's good to keep them in mind. In the interlinears, I use a two-letter abbreviation for evidential and tense, such as "HP" for "hearsay, past" or "PN" for "predictive non-past". Past and non-past are the only two tenses in Tirelat. Past covers events that take place entirely in the past; all other events use the non-past suffixes.

Basic evidentials:

DP = Direct:       directly observed by the speaker
EP = Experience:   directly experienced by the speaker
HP = Hearsay:      heard from someone else, not directly observed
IP = Inferential:  inferred from other facts, not directly observed
OP = Opinion:      stated as being the speaker's opinion, not fact
PP = Predictive:   deduced or predicted
YP = Hypothetical: taken as a hypothesis without being assumed true

Aspect

Tirelat has two aspects: perfective (PF) and imperfective (IPF). Perfective aspect generally refers to events as a whole, while imperfective refers to events in progress.

Infinitives

Tirelat has no infinitives. When one verb takes a form of a verb as an object, the verb is made into a noun by adding a nominalizing suffix (typically -ri).

Adjectives

Tirelat has no special class of adjectives; verb roots (typically stative verbs, but also dynamic or transitive verbs) are used as participles to modify nouns. When a transitive verb is used as an adjective, it acts as a passive participle.

The cases of nouns

Nine cases are recognized in Tirelat grammar: nominative, comitative, instrumental, accusative, locative, temporal, dative, oblique, and vocative. Case and number are marked by a particle, which precedes the noun phrase, and agrees in number and animacy with the head noun at the end of the phrase. The general meaning of each case particle is listed in the vocabulary. The main difference between case particles and prepositions is that case particles are marked for singular or plural number.

Possession is marked by a prefix on the possessed noun. The prefix agrees with the possessor, which precedes the possessed noun.

nik   i       -lox
mouse POSS(3s)-tail
the tail of a mouse

Topic-comment structure

A typical construction in Tirelat is to use a noun or verb phrase as a topic, followed by a comment related to the topic. If the topic is a single word, it occurs by itself without a marker (such as a case particle). More complex topics are followed by the topic particle "da", which is followed by a brief pause (marked with a comma) and then the comment follows.