Tjelwu

Phonology

Consonant Phonemes

(with distinctive features!)

• f +labial -son -voice
• w +labial -son +voice
• m +labial (+son) (+voice) +nasal
• ð +coronal (+anterior) +dist +voice +cont
• þ +coronal (+anterior) +dist -voice +cont
• z +coronal (+anterior) -dist +voice +cont
• s +coronal (+anterior) -dist -voice +cont
• d +coronal (+anterior) (-dist) +voice -cont
• t +coronal (+anterior) (-dist) -voice -cont
• n +coronal (+anterior) (+son) (+voice) +nasal
• l +coronal (+anterior) (+son) (+voice) +lateral +back
• r +coronal (+anterior) (+son) (+voice) -lateral
• g +back (-cont) +voice (+high)
• k +back (-cont) -voice (+high)
• µ +back (+son) (+voice) +nasal
• h -voice
• j +high +coronal (+voice) -syll

Vowels

Tjelwu has 5 vowels

       front  central  back
high            y
       e                 u
mid
        æ        
low              a        

note that e and u are lower than high vowels and higher than mid vowels note that u is the only round vowel note e and u are +atr (+tense), but still rather laxly pronounced note that some vowels have slightly different phonetic values in most dialects: e [éj] u [úo] or [úV]; also sometimes [ów] or [úw] æ [æj]

Valid Syllable Onsets

all single consonants, including following combos: (vertical is C1; horizontal is C2)

   r l m n j w f þ
m          x
w  x x     x     x
f  x x     x
ð  ~       x x
þ  ~       x x x
d  x   x   x x
t  x   x   x x x
z      x x x x
s      x x x x x x
n          x
g  x x     x x
k  x x     x x x x
µ          x
h  x x x x x x

    m n µ l r w f ð þ
zj  x x   x   x   x
sj  x x x x x x x   x

Valid Syllable Nuclei

e y u æ a; in cases using -j, the j is a technically a consonant and is in the coda. In vowel combinations like ue, the two vowels make up two separate syllable nuclei, so there's a syllable boundary between them. r l the following are valid nuclei only in special cases, but are valid as the sole element of a syllable; i.e. syllabifiable, but not necessarily able to be put in nucleus if other stuff is in syllable rules for this to be defined later... w m ð þ z s zj sj µ

Syllabification and Metrical Rules

F = foot o = syllable ó = primary stressed syllable in word Syllables are formed following what is allowed in a syallbe, starting on the left of the word and going right. A foot is formed of no more than two syllables (or one if there are no more in the word),starting on the left and going right. The left-most syllable of a foot receives stress. The right-most foot in a word receives primary stress. Examples:

se me ðe re
o   o ó   o
 \ /   \ /
  F     F

tje le we
o    o  ó
 \  /   |
  \/    |
  F     F

tjel wu
 ó   o
  \ /
   F

This can be condensed into a short list of statements about how Metrical Theory is applied to Tjelwu: o-formation: L->R F-formation: L->R stressed syllable of a foot: L stressed foot of a word: R

Phonological rules

the few that exist now.. a few are confusing me; will work on later note that order is important!

C[+back] -> [+cont] / V__                      /V//g/ -> /V/[G]
C[-dist][+cor] -> [-ant][+dist] / __C[+high]   /z//j/ -> [Z]/j/, /t//j/ -> [tS]/j/
C[-cor][+back] -> [+high][-back] / __C[+high]  /k//j/ -> [c]/j/
C[+back][+cont] -> [+high][-back] / __C[+high] [G]/j/ -> [J*]/j/
C[+high] -> 0 / C[-ant][+dist]__               [Z]/j/ -> [Z]
C[+high] -> 0 / C[+high][-back]__              [c]/j/ -> [c], [J*]/j/ -> [J*]
C[+high] -> V[+front][+high] / C[+son][-lat]__C[+son][+lat]C[+high]
                                               /r//j//l//j/ -> /r/[e]/l//j/
C[+son][-lat] -> [+lat] / __C[+high]           /r//j/ -> [l]/j/

Native Writing System

The following graphic gives the forms in this order: a) printed form, b) written form, c) script form

Summary of Tjelwu script

Word formation

Words in Tjelwu consist of two-, three-, or four-cluster consonantal roots. Root notation is in the form of each cluster + e in consecutive order. Examples: the root mjerjelje "peace" consists of the phonemes mj rj lj the root resje "head" consists of the phonemes r sj The consonant phonemes are use in word formation:

Nouns

• the paradigm to form a nominative noun from a root is in the form of

C1 e C2 (C3 u (C4)) and plural C1 ela C2 (C3 u (C4))

• Examples:
  • mjerjelje -> mjerjlju "peace" (pronounced mjerelju, as per phnlg. rules above), mjelarjlju "instances of peace" ( sjelelene -> sjellun "swan", sjelallun "swans" )
  • hleðe -> hleð "cougar", hlelað "cougars"

• the paradigm to form an objective noun from a root is in the form of

C1 y C2 (C3 u (C4)) and plural C1 yla C2 (C3 u (C4))

• Examples:
  • sjelelene -> sjyllun "swan", sjylallun "swans"
  • hleðe -> hlyð "cougar", hlylað "cougars"
  • tenesehe -> tynsuh "something new", tylansuh "news"

Postpositions follow an objective noun to mark what I'll call case for lack of a better word.

Verbs

• the paradigm to form an active verb from a root is in the form of

C1 æ C2 a (C3 (u C4))

• Examples:
  • mjerjelje -> mjærjalj "to be at peace / peaceful" (pron. mjæljalj per rules)
  • tenesehe -> tænasuh "to be new"
  • hleðe -> hlæða "to lurk"
  • wenedetje -> wænadutj "to find, look for"
  • æðþa wænadutjysju "I seek it; I intend to make it found"

Adjectives

Adjectives are essentially passive verbs in Tjelwu, conjugated and all The meaning is such as, in English, "I am happy" would be "I am made happy". Or English "I ate" would be "X[accusative] me[abl] was eaten." X can be nothing, if no semanticobject is needed, but the accusative marker is still needed.

• the paradigm to form a passive verb from a root is in the form of

C1 y C2 a (C3 (u C4))

• Examples:
  • mjerjelje -> mjyrjalj "at peace / peaceful / was/is made peaceful" (pron. mjyljalj per rules)
  • tenesehe -> tynasuh "new / made new"
  • hleðe -> hlæða "lurked / did lurk / was made to lurk"
  • wenedetje -> wynadutj "found, was found; sought after"
  • usnæðe wynadutjysjæð "it was found by me"

Verb Conjugation

Present tense X = perfective or imperfective verb stem

1. if X ends in a consonant, add y
2. add sj to current form
3. add pronoun to current form

Negative

1. add -l to current form

Pronouns

  Singular    |   Plural
______________|_____________
I       - u   |   we   - aµ
you     - æs  |   you  - aþ
s/he/it - æð  |   they - an

Posessive suffixes (to nouns)

  Singular        |   Plural
__________________|______________
my          - ju  |   our   - jaµ
your        - jæs |   your  - jaþ
his/her/its - jæð |   their - jan

Vocab

word roots

• wetene - speak
• mjerjelje - peace
• wenele - walk
• sjelelene - swan
• hleðe - cougar
• resje - head
• sjehene - mountain
• tekene - star
• zjetj - tree
• lene - wood
• lenete - sky
• dese - moon
• mjese - life
• tenesehe - new, news
• geµele - take
• renele - death, die
• wenetje - sound
• wenedetje - find, sometimes look for/seek
• tjede -
• tjelewe -
• feðere - pen
• sereke - wise, wisdom
• semeðere - destination, goal, purpose
• dere - be, exist
• wenezje - circle
• wele - category, categorise, sort, sorting
• zefere - sky
• reµe - dome
• teremene - light
• reweµe - orb
• kedewele - wander
• ljereke - eternity; eternal
• melere - guard, care for, act as a sentinal
• klefere - protect
• wjeðese - world
• hesjre - unite
• rekleme - (active) make to be enlightened, enlighten; (passive) made to be enlightened, enlightened
• wesjlegre - animal
• fehwege - eat
• gerjene - (active) cause to explode, explode.tr; (passive) are made to explode, explode.intr
• derefe - pollen, spores
• njeµe - another, other(s), some other(s)
• behe - heat
• jehele - depart for/towards, leave for (for translates as yðea)
• kere - home
• seleme - eye
• seþene - to love romantically
• ðemele - night
• jekese - good, to be good

• tjeme - one who does

other vocab

• dujmzyj - forever
• jelj - but
• wam - and
• jesj - if
• -tjem/-tjelam - one who does. added to passive or active verb stem, depending on meaning
• wamwu - and so... thus... and then... because of that...
• kuhkal - much, a lot (adv)

Postpositions

þa - accusative case / direct object wr - in zmuw - commutative case: with, accompanying zmuwnyt - without snæðe - means: by, with, using; performed by, done by myj - " " sjea - from, originating in ðek - like, as tjuµ - because, since lja - genitive case: of, ´s (w)awyl - object of metamorphosis, into ljastr - about

       located at        moving away from          moving towards
in      in - wr            out of - sjr              into - yðr
on      on - wuj           off of - sjuj             onto - yðuj
at      at - wea          away from - sjea            to - yðea
now   during - wrer        after - sjrer            before - yðrer

numbers

• 1 - rew
• 2 - kyw
• 3 - ðea
• 4 - wea
• 5 - fyn
• 6 - sje
• 7 - lew
• 8 - sjæ
• 9 - dju
• 10 - mek

• 11 - mekrew
• 12 - mekkyw

..&c..

• 20 - kywmek
• 21 - kywmekrew
• 22 - kywmekkyw

..&c..

• 30 - ðeamek
• 40 - weamek

..&c..

• 100 - ljem
• 200 - kywljem
• 300 - ðealjem

..&c..

• 999 - djuljemdjumekdju
• 1000 - drae
• 888'345 - sjæljemsjæmeksjædrae ðealjemweamekfyn

NUMBER + etja = ordinal number

• ex. fynmeklewetja = 57th

Phrases and Examples

jykas ðemlujæs - /jykas ðemlu+jæs/ - ["j1.x6s ðem.lo."jæjs] - + <ðemele> + - "good night", "your night be made good"

An example of Tjelwu from the first line of a conlang relay