The Tinxirean Language

Môchasus! Welcome to the page dedicated toi the language of Tinxir. Tinxirean is an invented language - and it is invented by me. As such, it is not designed for the ease of communication (horrible thought!) and neither for being some sort of wannabe Lojban. It follows my sense of phonoaesthetics (and I am serious, I find uvular plosives very nice sounding), and also my sense of a nice grammar (aglutinative, with a lot of features from aglutinative languages around the world, such as Quechua, Sumerian and, to some extent, Japanese). 

I started inventing it in 2002-2003 (I cannot remember which). And well, at first, it was odd. It had no verbs, which, of course, was a problem. I revised it after some time (all that remains from this epoch is the letter q and hard consonant clusters), and added a strange system of combining roots. A third revision came some time after that, when I knew more about linguistics. Still, it was quite remote from the Tinxirean nowdays as such. And well, I changed it from time to time. Adding the locative, instrumental and the orientative a bit before the typological change. Tinxirean has been V S O for quite long, although it wasn't that rigid back then. 

Tinxirean attempts to be a bit odd, hence the breaking of one or two linguistic universals. I do not, however, attempt at making it nonhuman. It is an attempt to a natural language, but one must remember that the same linguistic universals that govern Earth do not govern Kedakhe.

This version is extremely incomplete. More material will be put out on the web as soon as possible, as Tinxirean is a long-time project and not some short mini-language.  

~ Accard, Lord of the Rising Sky Temples of Tnal, Master of the Thousand Storms from Dálayya, the Battler of the Dark Forces of Mneguano, Enforcer of the Laws of Tinzir, and He Who is Feared by the Warriors of the Red Moon 

Phonology
 Vowels
 Consonants
 Phonotactics
Noun morphology
  Nominalization
 Gender
 Noun cases
 Adjectival prefixes
Verbal morphology
 Tense
 Mode
 Voice
 Effect
 Aspect
 Adverbal prefixes
 Conjugations
 Honorifics
Pronouns
Adjectives
Syntax
 The use of the noun
   Instrumental
   Locative
   Orientative
     Ergativity
        Split functions
 The use of the verb
       The Mediopassive 
    The Antipassive
    The Medioactive
 Clauses
 Sentence structure
    The particles
    Word order
    Use of the particles
    Auxilliary verbs
Numbers
Speech styles and honorary constructions
Lexicon (minimal)

Phonology
Tinxirean phonology is rather delibrate and mostly complex. I prefer the Hârdh transcription over the Akar, so Hârdh is what I shall use. Firstly, let's talk about the vowels.

While most languages exploit all vowels in roots, Tinxirean does exploits none. When the root is "filled with vowels", only the "short" ones may be used. These are i, e, a, u, o. In certain grammatical cases and verb forms, their "long" counterpart is used. These are î, ê, â, ô, û. Finally, there is a back, rounded vowel ä, rather like ou in English cought. In a scheme, these are placed like:

And their pronounciations are like:

i is pronounced like i in hit mostly, but may somethimes (in front of q or j) like e.

î is pronounced like ee in keep

e is pronounced like a in English sofa (schwa, in other words) before most gutturals, like e in pen otherwise

ê is like in pen but longer, sort of like Swedish e in se

a is always as in English bat

â is always as in English father

u is very hard for English speakers. Round the lips like in oo in cool, place the tip of the tongue against the lower dental blades and raise the middle part. Actually exactly the sound as in Swedish hund. 

û is like oo in cool

o takes the sound of aw in cow last in a word, otherwise it may be like either o in otter before front consonants, and like au in caught before gutturals

ô is a long o in otter before front consonants, and like au in caught before gutturals (so pôq is pronounced like pauck)

ä sounds like i with the lips spread

We have the diphthongs ai, ei, ou, oe, ui and so on (only ai, ei, oe, ui are marked in the script). Stress falls regularly on the first syllable in a word without a voiced consonant. If a voiced consonant appears, stress falls on the voiced consonant-syllable (the more complex rules of stress in Tinxirean can be found here)

And the pronounciation guide (if you prefer "nice" consonants over "gutturals". Tinxirean phonology is a bit hard):

q is a very common sound, like Arabic qof. The tongue should be far back in the mouth when you pronounce a k

j is very uncommon, unlike anything in English. The tongue should be in position for q when you pronounce a g

th, dh represents the sounds in English thief respetively the

sh, zh represents the sounds in English shore respectively measure

ny in like Spanish ñ or English ny in canyon

kh marks the unvoiced velar fricative (like in Loch, try to make strongly aspirated k that fricativizes)

r is not a nice, alveolar trill. r in Tinxirean is an uvular gargling, like an r at the same place as q and q

h may end words, though it is like in English

gh always marks a voiced velar fricative (put the tongue in position for k and try to pronounce a y in yes)

bh is like v, but with two lips

ph like v, but unvoiced

h is an "unvoiced pharyngeal fricative." No conterpart in any European language.

ng does only appear in some loanwords.

This is the "normal" Accard transcription. 

Script
Modern Tinxirean is written in a myrriad of different ways. Twenty-five is the count, but most of these are really nothing but slight variations of the same theme. Most popular is the Public Script, that resembles south-east Asian Brahmi scripts. It was invented by Tinzir himself, according to the legend. Vowels are shewn by diacritic marks, a number of determiners are used and so on. 

The upper classes use a cursive form of the Public script, while only the Emir may use the Tinxirean Epigraphic Writing. Here's a bit of Tinxirean writing (Public Script):

[No example or script scheme out on the web yet]

Noun morphology
Tinxirean heavily relies on affixes. The noun is inflected in no less than eight cases, each case having separate inflections in each gender. The noun also takes attitudinals and articles as affixes, making the noun quite compact (but the verb is even more compact). 

Nominalization
Tinxireans prefer derivation over compound words. Every regular Tinxirean word has a three-consonantal root. Through ablaut, many new words are formed:

CeCelCu masculine nouns (although most nouns are irregular)
CorCuCa feminine nouns 
CeCaCe neutral nouns

uCuCuCu this one turns the noun into a "holy" noun (utupuku "prophet" from t-p-k "man")
CaCisaC turns the noun into an "unholy" noun (tapisak "heathen man")

mniC(i)CoC place, location for the noun or verb (mnirshok "market")
C(i)CoC a person who does a verb or noun (rishok "salesman")
CesCenC a "negative" version of the noun (ghesrenm "pirate ship")
iCuCuC a place where a verb is done (ifutut "running track")
aCCuCo turns a noun into a "beach version" of itself (atnulo "Tnal Beach")
CaCCah does the same as aCCuCo, although the meaning is "valley version" (safrah "Valley of Gods")
CuCuCar the highest person on the noun (mostly for ships; ghurumar "captain")
sréCuCuC is the same as above, but negative (mostly for ships; sréghurum "pirate captain")
CuaColC thing to do a verb on or against (fuatolt "kicking bag")

Some derivation is done via affixes:

-îz/-zîz language or nation (tinzirîz "Tinxirean")
-zá/-azá ethnicity (tinzirazá "Tinxirean people")
ú-/úl- diminutive (úredzo "small Redzo") 
úm-/úme- superlative (úmeredzo "war-adapted Redzo")
qá-...-eb/qál-...-reb/qál-...-eb/qá-...-reb marks a place of storage for the noun (qághurumeb "docks")

Many nouns are formed trough combining stems: pursha "fruit" + rishok "salesman" = pursharishok "(female/male) fruit vendor" (f./m.). In this case, pursha is feminine and rishok is masculine, and there's a two-way distinction whether the vendor is female or male. When an adjective and a noun combine, the gender of the noun is inherent: pursha + tashal "all" = purshatashal "universal fruit" (f.).

Some nouns consist of a verb and a noun stem: palempismi "monocle" from palem "eye" + pismi "to save", so, in other words, the litteral meaning is saviour of the eye.  

Gender system
The nouns are by no means the most important parts of the grammar, although it does inflect for in about nine cases. Before anyone gets put off, lets consider the genders. These are feminine, masculine and neuter.

redzo "horse" is neuter
thereqet "juridic instance" is masculine
phein "mother" is feminine

Now, all these takes definite forms and such.

mi-redzo "a horse", ûna-redzo "the horse", ne-redzo "horses"
li-thereqet "a juridic instance", de-thereqet "the juridic instance", the-thereqet "juridic instances"
ni-phein "a mother", oha-phein "the mother", ku-phein "mothers"

Throughout this grammar, we separate the article from the noun with either a hyphen or total separation. It is a window into the psyche of Tinxireans, this gender system, as we may see what they consider to be "woman-things", "man-things" and "genderless." For example, most people who attend juridical positions are males, so thereqet is masculine (and an "irregular noun", which we will see the meaning of later in this text). Case depends on gender, although some suffixes are universal. The genitive is marked with -í on every gender, for example. 

The genders are called the following in Tinxirean: haq uzu tepelkí (masculine; "that of men"), haq uzu urugumí (feminine; "that of women") and haq uzu zmaní (neuter; "that of ice"). Shortened, they are hut, hur and huz. 

If the noun begins with a vowel, delete the vowel in the article (ûna- is however transferred into ny- before vowels). This is hysterically rare, but does happen. Proper names and geographical names seldom takes an article, except for when one wants put emphasis on the noun, as in English "who thought it would be That John?" Geographical names are neuter in gender, such as mshanyach "The Mshanhach", or tinzir "Tinxir." Proper names takes the gender they beling in, so Silianye is in feminine while Khazhuthin is in masculine. 

Alien names, such as Ammahpaht or Ergalal end up in neuter, unless one is able to determine the sex of the person in question. Therefore, all nouns can be regularely conjugated in cases.  

Case forms
Tinxirean got a large number of cases. These are absolutive, active, accusative, dative, genitive, locative, orientative, instrumental and vocative. Each of these are declined in one of six conjugations:

I are feminine nouns ending with a vowel
II are feminine nouns ending with a consonant
III are masculine nouns ending with a vowel
IV are masculine nouns ending with a consonant
V are neuter nouns ending with a vowel
VI are neuter nouns ending with a consonant

 Not a too big table, although you still have to master about thirty-four different suffixes. Here are some inflected words:

The use of the cases is more complicated. We will deal with this in the syntax section.

Attitudinals
Basically, these are adjectives prefixed to the inflected stem or root. These are the sames as the verb attitudinals. 

Verbal Morphology
Tinxirean verbal morphology is deeply connected with syntax, as we will see. The verbs are huge and complicated, taking several prefixes, suffixes and infixes. A good Tinxirean verb only works fully when you add these.

Verbal prefixes
Attitudinal + aspect + tense + person

Verbal root
Root_(person)

Verbal suffixes
-Mode -Voice -Effect -Honorifics

Tenses of Tinxirean
Tinxirean has six tenses: present, past, future, universal-present, habitual and habitual-repetitive. Each is marked by a prefix. The universal-present marks something like will forever continue to X, while the habitual-repetitive marks sometimes X. Earlier grammarians have called these sha-form and dhu-form.

Present: 0-
Past: ä-
Future chô-
Universal-present: sha-
Habitual: nyî-
Habitual-repetitive (nonhabitual habitual tense?): dhu-

These are always placed before the verb, and two might not combine.

Modal prefixes
As said before, a verb is placed in one of seven modes (or 'moods').

Subjunctive is used for expressing wishes, or in "may-X constructions", the normal marker for this is -a/-ha.
Imperative is used for expressing commands, and is marked by -ru/-uru.
Indicative has no marker (-0)
Hortative has the role of English "let's ...", and is constructed by -akh/-hakh.
Optative has the role of English "maybe", and the marker is -ge/-ege
Directive is used for directions (he is from Tinzir, for example), and the marker is -ikh/-hikh (this merges with î, i to -îkh)
Irrealis is used for "may have", formed by subjunctive + past

Thier combination with tenses result in rather expressive verbs.

dhukhamuîha I wish to sometimes talk
chôkhamuîge maybe I will talk
nyîkhamuîkh I always talk to (you)
shakhamuhakh Let's talk forever!
äkhamuîha I may have talked

Voice
Tinxirean got five voices: passive, active, antipassive, mediopassive and medioactive. Each of these are marked with suffixes.

Active -0 is used for most verbs
Passive, see syntax
Antipassive -un/hun, see syntax
Mediopassive is not used as i Greek! This will be described in detail in the syntax part, -eth/-heth
Medioactive is a rather odd construction. This is marked with -as/-las

Their use is a bit more complicated.

Effect
This one is rather odd, and has no equal in English. Basically, two effect suffixes exist. These are success (-er/-nern) and nonsuccess (-edh/-nyedh). To illustrate their use:

chôkhamuîgenern maybe I will have talked
chôkhamuîgenyedh maybe I will not have talked

One might argue that this structure actually is perfective and imperfective aspects, and in that case, yes. Partially.  However, remember that aspects always work as prefixes in Tinxirean, never suffixes (except for negative -efra/-fra).

Aspect
Tinxirean got a system of aspects in order to alterate expressions of time. Since English lack the like, we might say that aspect changes the meaning of the tenses. For example, nyarchôkhamuîge "I will continue to talk."

Perfective fsa-/fsaj- denotes however the action is completed or not (fsajäkhamuî I have been talking).
Progressive mna-/mnar- denotes whether the action continues.
Cessative meq-/meqe- denotes that the action has been cancelled.
Desintensifier hôr-/hô- is not really an aspect, but desintensify the verb (hôkhamu to chat)
Intensifier hain-/hai- is not really an aspect, but intensify the verb (haikhamu to shout)
Repetitive mal-/majo- marks repetition (maläkhamuî I spoke many times)
Repetitive 2 ish/-ishi- marks that the action is repeted, not that a single agent repeats it again, but a general repetition
Negative efr-/efra- marks that the verb is negated (sometimes as a suffix, in fact)

Attitudinals
Prefixing of attitudinal adverbs is common in Tinxirean. About sixty attitudinals have been attested.

ajalchôkhamuîgenyedh tha Will I maybe have spoken homosexually?

The attitudinal abve- is used for constructing yes.

abvehaq yes (lit: noble is)

Other dialects simply use abve and repeats the verb.

Conjugations
Here's the full verb conjugation paragdim in every person.

[Not yet complete]

Honorifics
Used in combination with speech styles, the honorifics convey the general Tinxirean attitude.

Authoritative -an/-nan
Honorary -ogh/-zogh
Rude -aj/-ghaj
Ordinary -0

These are rather easy to use:

khamuîzogh I speak, master

Some scientists have put forth a theory about an "animancy hierarchy." Usually, each of these forms may only affect "lower" forms.

Pronouns
The Tinxirean pronoun is inflected for gender, case and politeness. Each pronoun has three forms, a rude, a normal and a honorary. These are used in combination with the honorifics.

And each one got a honorary and rude form, too:

The declension of each pronoun (in all its forms) isn't to be called irregular. All pronouns are declined the same way. Here's the singular personal pronoun declensions (rude and honorary form):

[no table yet]

The use of the noun
The use of the noun is not that complicated in Tinxirean.

The instrumental case
The instrumental is used after the particle alá. It coveys English "with, by means of."

thaîsam tinzirarî alá mshanyachuq
I travelled to Tinxir on the Mshanyach

uzheîqishu alá ne-zhuqashuq
I conquer with the soldiers

Other uses have been attested. The instrumental case appears as some sort of genitive:

bhaîvakh alá bhevakhoq
I sleep in bed

In the above example, I sleep by means of the bed would sound plain stupid. Some dialects lack this type of constructions.

The locative case
The locative is a merging of the Sankur cases locative, ablative and allative. It denotes position.

bhaîvakh mshanyachij
I sleep in the Mshanyach

Note that prepositions are rarely used in Tinxirean. Instead, the locative is some sort of all-around.

bhaîvakh bhevakhodat
I sleep in bed

The particle ilm implies locative. ilm is something like "role of."

hia ilm ny-ammahpahtij!
I am the Ammahpaht!

The orientative case
Orientative is found in a few obscure languages, like Chukchee - it resembles English preposition "according to."

uzheîqishu ny-ammahpahtanaq
I conquer according to the Ammahpaht

The active case
Being an ergative-absolutive language, Tinxirean has got a case named the active. This is either the nominative or the ergative, the nominative being unmarked and the ergative marked. In the underlying syntax, Tinxirean is always nominative-accusative. We shall examine under which cases which typology is used.

In all tenses except for the habitual-repetitive, Tinxirean retains ergative status:

är-     iqif       ny-   ammahpaht -um  isadr
är=    iqif        ny=   ammahpaht=  um   isadr= 0
PST.-murder DEF.- ammahpaht   -Act. isadr -Abs.
The Ammahpaht murdered Isadr

dhu- iqif       ny-      ammahpaht          isadr  -us
dhu= iqif         ny=     ammahpaht= 0        isadr=  us
HRP.-murder DEF.-  ammahpaht  -Nom. isadr    -Ack.
The Ammahpaht sometimes murder Isadr

Tinxirean does break a language universal, being tense-based split ergative with the ergative typology in the present tense. The last example follows the typology of a true nominative-accusative language, while the above one is truly ergative. If we study Tinxirean syntax, we'll come to the conclusion that the underlying structure is nominative-accusative. Since most ergative languages have an antipassive voice (Tinxirean has both passive and antipassive, as seen above), a passive construction requires a nominative-accusative typology.

iqif      isadr -um   ku-ghabhah
iqif        isadr= um   ku= ghabhah= 0
murder isadr  -Act. Pl.-  emir        -Abs.
Isadr murders the emirs

iqif      ku- ghabhah-any isadr
iqif        ku= ghabhah= any  isadr= 0
murder Pl.-  emir        -Acc. isadr -Nom.
The emirs are being murdered by Isadr

Note the typological change in the above examples. This is clearly the most frequent usage of nominative-accusative in Tinxirean. Summed up, these typological changes are:

V S O (active voice) > V O S (passive voice) 

More resently, an antipassive voice has been found in Tinxirean.  This antipassive replaces the passive when:

   1. Directive mode may affect the typology
   2. The directive mode sometimes takes the antipassive

Since a dependent clause usually is modified by the directive mode, the thumb rule for the antipassive is "when directive mode linked to a directive clause decrees valency of a transitive verb."

ta-î-vazh  -ikh  de-      zenelqu îzug,        majo-   mô- tavazh -ikh   de-      zenelqu  mnie!
ta-î-vazh=   ikh   de=      zenelqu    îzug,         majo=   mô= tavazh= ikh    de=      zenelqu     mnie
throw-1sg. -Dir. DEF.-  star/sun   2sg.Dat., REP..-   2sg.- throw    -Dir.  DEF.- star/sun    1sg.Dat
I throw the star to you, then you throw the star back to me! 

ta-î-vazh  -ikh   de-     zenelqu îzug,       majo-  mô-   tavazh  -ikh -un      mnie!
ta-î-vazh=  ikh    de=     zenelqu    îzug,        majo=  mô=   tavazh=   ikh= un       mnie
throw-1sg. -Dir. DEF.- star/sun   2sg.Dat., REP.-  2sg.-   throw     -Dir. -ANP. 1sg.Dat.
I throw the star to you, then you throw [it] back (the star)

As you see, the word order is still the same. 

Diverbal sentences
Naturally, some sentences have two verbs. The English sentence She sees he who kissed Isadr would be rather awkward in a language like Tinxirean. To not be rude, Tinxireans would say she sees the kisser of isadr, or she sees him, (he who) kissed Isadr. Since the latter example introduces a Nominative-Accusative split, we'll render the first example:

V                      S                             O      
see-3sg.Pres.  DEF.-kisser-Erg.  isadr-Gen.-Abs.
 
dhîpalmein oha-mqotene isadrí

The second example introduces a familliar nominative-accusative split, since the second clause is depending on the first.

V                     O,         V                              O
see-3sg.Pres. he-Acc. Perf.-kiss-3sg.Pst. isadr-Acc.

dhîpalmein ruq, fsajädhîmqeit isadrus

Another example is this:

V                           O,             V              V                 O
ensure-1sg.Pres. you-Abs. good_be, own-1sg. things-Abs. DEM.

cheîmeth izug, abvehaq, hpal humzeh âgh
I guarantee that my vares are of highest quality (lit: "I ensure you, good be, things that I own")

This parting into subclauses sometimes work.
 
The use of the verb
Much as in the Celtic languages, the verb comes first in the sentence. Reflexive verbs are formed like verb + reflexive pronoun + da.

labar eny da
I wash myself

Otherwise, the transitivity of the verb governs the typology, as described above. Well, one of the most striking things in Tinxirean is the large number of verbal affixes - adjectives as well as grammatical affixes are simply added to the stem. Especially the mode, or mood, system can be a bit hard. 

Mediopassive and medioactive verbs
These have no equal in English. To desribe them, one might say that they implies existence of either a patient or agent. If we look at two incomplete sentences (both are intransitive):

V S vs. V O 

*thralran enzun
Lord Zun rains

*thralran enzun 
Rains on Lord Zun

As nothing shows what's the object or subject in the above sentences, mediopassive and medioactive comes into use:

thralranas      en-   zun
thralran=as     en=   zun= 0
rain       -MA. lord- zun   -Abs.
Lord Zun is raining

thralran  -eth    en-   zun
thralran=   eth    en=   zun= 0
rain           -MP  lord- zun   -Abs.
It rains on Lord Zun

Now, everything should become clear. The mediopassive implies that a subject is lacking, and the medioactive implies that an object is lacking. Basically, these may  be called transitivizers.

The use of modes
The use of modal prefixes is not that complicated:

chôthralranaheth enzun
(I) wish Lord Zun would rain

The subjunctive clearly expresses wishes or musts. 

chôfsamnakhamuî
I wish I will have been talking

This is not to be confused with the optative, which expresses "may", "maybe", "can" and so on. Another mode a bit odd for English speakers is the hortative, like English "let's ..."

khamuhakh 
Let's talk!

And the directive governs some prepositional clauses and the dative. This also governs the antipassive voice. The last of the odder modes in Tinxirean is irrealis, which marks could have.

äkhamuîha
I could have talked

Clauses

[Not done yet]

Sentence structure
The sentence structure of Tinxirean is rather complicated.

Particles
In order to master Tinxirean, a number of particles must be learned. A + indicates that the particle is placed before the noun, and - marks that it is placed after the noun (or verb).

nâdh + of, about, as for (nâdh chifat "about the clock", "as for the clock")
nyak - causative, corresponds to English "that's why..." (khamuî nyak "that's why I speak")
hash - negative causative, corresponds to English "that's why X not ..."

hqôh - intensify a preposition (as in English "really high up!")
zukh - deintensify a preposition (like English "not that high up")

mval - uncertainness of truth value (a.k.a affirmative particle, such as "I am not sure that I spoke")
ssal - certainness of truth value, like mval but positive
aril - certainness of truth value implied by a dream
pro - certainness of untruth percieved through a dream
hal - certainness of truth percieved through instinct or "Deus ex machina"
zheu - as hal but negative

tuj - expresses surprise, really a verb (huv tujemar, brutus! "et tu, Brute!")

âgh - functions like English "that"

tha -/+ question particle
il a weak negation (double negation is common in Tinxirean)

srâl + dedicated for, governs dative (I dedicated this book to her)
ilm + in the role of, corresponds to English "as a ..." in "I killed him as an enemy!"
alá + instrumental particle
hurg + without

datemn - is not really a particle, but more of an adjective describing that the noun is harmless
tatemn - is not really a particle, but more of an adjective describing that the noun is harmful
datémna - marks that the noun cannot harm for the moment
tatémna describes the opposite to datémna

A correct use of these marks cultivation in Tinxirean society. Many grretings are based around these:

môchasus ssal! (I am) sure (that) you meet (me)!

Some particles are compunds:

tujenâdh what!
palmen ilm behold! (watch that which is!)

Word order
Tinxirean word order is in theory free, although most use strict V S O. 

The use of particles
Some sentences take a lot of particles.

nâdh mlal âgh, fsaj.ä.môr.ubenyihu uzu tha
TOP. mlal DEM. Prf.-PST.-2sg.-kick it-Abs. QUE
As for that mlal, didn't you kick it?

Evidence particles may end a clause, but never start one:

nâdh mlal âgh, fsajämôrubenyihu uzu ssal tha
As for that mlal, (I am) not sure whether you kicked it?

ghorubebizu mlal ssal tha
Aren't we kicking the mlal? 

Another use of evidence particles is in such handy sentences as:

haq ssal, (ul) raîshlak qûny   

Compound particles can appear anywhere:

palmen ilm fsajäriqif oha-khlobene uzun mval!
Behold the girl that perhaps did murder stuckup Zun!

Circumfixing of particles may result in an alteration of meaning. tha...il signifies a "yes-no" question:

tha iqif il
Murder, yes? No?

Not all particles may form circumfixing particles. For example, the combination *ssal...mval is strictly forbidden. To make it short, the best way to find "legal" combinations is to read a Tinxirean text. The double negative, il efra-X, is common in Tinxirean. It percieves the thought of "Never! Absolutely not!"

il efriqif 
Absolutely not murder!

Auxiliary verbs
Not conjugated for tense, only for person, the verbs haq, qan and chrai play a major role in every sentence. Since a Tinxiriean sentence never may be without a verb, haq takes the position of such lacking verb.

"haq zun isadr," abvenädhikhamui!   
"Zun is Isadr," she spake gloriously!

tha haq ûna-kedakhemu hurg isadr 
What would the world be without Isadr?

haq could be transelated as "to be", but a totally true translation is indeed impossible. qan is like haq, but prepositional.

haq nâdh uny, qan zun mshanyachuq ssal - pismiru kizug!
As for me, I know that, Zun is in the Mshanyach - (so) save him!

In the above example, please take note in the use of nâdh instead of the orientative. The orientative seldomly appear in colloquial speech. And, you may also note the use of the accusative, and not the absolutive. Well, in such case as the one above, the accustative is indeed as correct as the absolutive to use. A more true phrase would then be:

haq tsuny, qan zun mshanyachuq ssal - pismiru izug!
According to me, Zun is in the Mshanyach - (so) save him!

This example uses both haq and the nominative-accusative typology.

haq nâdh izug, dhumôpalmen isadrus mshanyachij
As for you, you sometimes find Isadr in Mshanyach 

Numerals
The eight numbers of Tinxirean are adjectives, although they do not behave as such. A number is placed before the word it modifyes:

evir zero
vir one
sas two
mlo three
psat four
sin five
msi six
fich seven
hmana eight

Cardinal numbers are formed through reduplication of the last two sounds:

virir first
sasas second
mlolo third
psatat fourth
sinin fifth
msisi sixth
fichich seventh
hmanana eighth

And to illustrate:

dhikhamui virir ûna-mlalarî!
She speaks to the first mlal!

Other numbers are formed by adding. 
 
Using titles and speech styles

[Not done yet]

Lexicon 
All words are sorted by root. Under gompa, you'll find ugumupu and so on too. Noun gender is given like following: (m.), (n.) and (f.). Adjectives are marked by (adj.) Compund words are parted up, and loanwords are noted with (l.). Note that this lexicon is rather small. 

[Lexicon not out on the web yet]

Copyright (c)2005 A. Hard 
All rights reserved