Tova language: Difference between revisions

Line 12:

Many Alhi loanwords have entered Tova's vocabulary from contact and conflict, especially when the Kingdom of Alloti took control of the Dominion of Dulama. Tova was suppressed, and usage of it was met with punishment, but since Alloti's transition to a democratic republic, these restrictions were relaxed, and Tova eventually became the most spoken language in Southern Alloti. The usage of the Oulaj script for Tova eventually became obsolete, and the native Imujastunu script became the primary one.

== Geographic distribution ==

Tova is spoken primarily in Southern Alloti, in the province of [[Inlusok (Allotian province)|Inlusok]]. Many people also speak Alhi alongside Tova, but it is not uncommon to see people only speaking Tova, especially in rural zones. Tova is also spoken sparsely in towns along the Inlusok-[[Cring]] border. There are also many Tova speakers in Sinovoz and Ojanka.

== Grammar ==

Tova has a highly synthetic and fusional morphological structure. Verbs are arguably the most complex part of speech in Tova having separate conjugations for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular, plural), gender (inanimate, animate), mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative), aspect (non-aspectual, habitual), tense (non-past, past), and voice (active, passive). The imperative also distinguishes a regular politeness and a suggestive politeness, the latter is used for suggestions or simply as a polite imperative.

Tova has an unusually high amount of noun cases, possessing 9 different cases; nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, comitative, inessive, adessive, ablative, and ~~locative~~. Pronouns have more cases and genders than general nouns. Adjectives will agree with the nouns that they modify. Adverbs are not distinct in their forms from adjectives.

Tova has an unusually high amount of noun cases, possessing 9 different cases; nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, comitative, inessive, adessive, ablative, and vocative. Pronouns have more cases and genders than general nouns. Adjectives will agree with the nouns that they modify. Adverbs are not distinct in their forms from adjectives.

Tova's most unusual feature is a nonconcatenative root system, many different parts of speech are formed from these roots. For example, the root ''k-s-t'' relates to ''going'' or ''travelling''. The first form of this root forms a verb ''kasata'' 'to go, travel'. Depending on how one counts, there are 5, 6, or 9 different forms per root. These roots are also used to derive nouns, adjectives, and participles. E.g. ''k-s-t'' 'going, travelling' → ''kastan'' 'traveller, one who goes'.

Line 211:

Line 214:

The accusative affixes are appended onto the ends of verbs, so Tova can be described as being polypersonal, as verbs are inflected for subjects and direct objects. The genitives are essentially possessives.

=== Roots ===

A ''root'' in Tova is commonly a set of three consonants that is placed into pre-existing patterns to form more specific meaning. Most roots consist of three consonant (''m-j-s'', relating to writing; ''k-s-t'', relating to going, travelling), but there are also two consonant (''t-n'', relating to being, existing) and four consonant (''ś-k-t-s'', relating to enveloping, covering). Most of the vocabulary in Tova is derived from these roots.

Depending on the ''cardinality'' (number of consonants) and ''type'' (quality of consonants) in roots, different forms will be given to the same grammatical form.

{| class="wikitable"

|+Table of ''''I (verb)' forms'''

!

!''t-n''

!''m-j-s''

!''ś-k-t-s''

|-

!Word

|''tani''

|''majasi''

|''śaktasi''

|-

!Form

|'''1a2i'''

|'''1a2a3i'''

|'''1a23a4i'''

|-

!Meaning

|''I am / will be''

|''I write''

|''I cover''

|}

===== Nouns =====

Nouns in Tova decline for 9 different cases, 2 numbers, and 2 definitenesses. Gender is indicated by the conjugation of the verb (if the noun is a subject).

==== Noun cases ====

The nine noun cases in Tova are ''nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, comitative, inessive, adessive, ablative, and vocative''.

===== The nominative case =====

The nominative case is used for subjects of verbs. For copulative verbs (like ''tana'' 'to be, exist'), the objects of them are put in the nominative case.

===== The accusative case =====

The accusative case is used for the direct objects of transitive verbs.

===== The dative case =====

The dative case is used for the indirect objects of transitive verbs, or the arguments of intransitive verbs. Generally, it corresponds to ''''to NOUN'''<nowiki/>'.

===== The genitive case =====

The genitive case is used for the indication of possession. The order of possession is ''possessed noun in the definite'' + ''possesser in the genitive''. For example: ''úmmújes'' ''źatnanik'' 'A cleaner's pen' / 'The pen of a cleaner'.

===== The comitative case =====

The comitative case corresponds to ''''with NOUN'''<nowiki/>'. It is used for accompaniment or instrumental usage, like ''with him'' and ''with a pen'', respectively.

===== The inessive case =====

The inessive case is a locative case that indicates location inside or in the noun that the case is applied to.

===== The adessive case =====

The adessive case is a locative case that indicates location at, upon, or around the noun that the case is applied to.

===== The ablative case =====

The ablative case is a case that indicated motion away from something, but also a location that is ''from'' the noun it is applied to.

===== The vocative case =====

The vocative case is a case that is used for direct addressing of the noun that it is applied to. It is more common to see this case be used in religious texts, but there is still modern usage.

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 Many Alhi loanwords have entered Tova's vocabulary from contact and conflict, especially when the Kingdom of Alloti took control of the Dominion of Dulama. Tova was suppressed, and usage of it was met with punishment, but since Alloti's transition to a democratic republic, these restrictions were relaxed, and Tova eventually became the most spoken language in Southern Alloti. The usage of the Oulaj script for Tova eventually became obsolete, and the native Imujastunu script became the primary one.
+== Geographic distribution ==
+Tova is spoken primarily in Southern Alloti, in the province of [[Inlusok (Allotian province)|Inlusok]]. Many people also speak Alhi alongside Tova, but it is not uncommon to see people only speaking Tova, especially in rural zones. Tova is also spoken sparsely in towns along the Inlusok-[[Cring]] border. There are also many Tova speakers in Sinovoz and Ojanka.
 == Grammar ==
 Tova has a highly synthetic and fusional morphological structure. Verbs are arguably the most complex part of speech in Tova having separate conjugations for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular, plural), gender (inanimate, animate), mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative), aspect (non-aspectual, habitual), tense (non-past, past), and voice (active, passive). The imperative also distinguishes a regular politeness and a suggestive politeness, the latter is used for suggestions or simply as a polite imperative.
-Tova has an unusually high amount of noun cases, possessing 9 different cases; nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, comitative, inessive, adessive, ablative, and locative. Pronouns have more cases and genders than general nouns. Adjectives will agree with the nouns that they modify. Adverbs are not distinct in their forms from adjectives.
+Tova has an unusually high amount of noun cases, possessing 9 different cases; nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, comitative, inessive, adessive, ablative, and vocative. Pronouns have more cases and genders than general nouns. Adjectives will agree with the nouns that they modify. Adverbs are not distinct in their forms from adjectives.
 Tova's most unusual feature is a nonconcatenative root system, many different parts of speech are formed from these roots. For example, the root ''k-s-t'' relates to ''going'' or ''travelling''. The first form of this root forms a verb ''kasata'' 'to go, travel'. Depending on how one counts, there are 5, 6, or 9 different forms per root. These roots are also used to derive nouns, adjectives, and participles. E.g. ''k-s-t'' 'going, travelling' → ''kastan'' 'traveller, one who goes'.
@@ Line 211: / Line 214: @@
 The accusative affixes are appended onto the ends of verbs, so Tova can be described as being polypersonal, as verbs are inflected for subjects and direct objects. The genitives are essentially possessives.
+=== Roots ===
+A ''root'' in Tova is commonly a set of three consonants that is placed into pre-existing patterns to form more specific meaning. Most roots consist of three consonant (''m-j-s'', relating to writing; ''k-s-t'', relating to going, travelling), but there are also two consonant (''t-n'', relating to being, existing) and four consonant (''ś-k-t-s'', relating to enveloping, covering). Most of the vocabulary in Tova is derived from these roots.
+Depending on the ''cardinality'' (number of consonants) and ''type'' (quality of consonants) in roots, different forms will be given to the same grammatical form.
+{| class="wikitable"
+|+Table of ''''I (verb)' forms'''
+!
+!''t-n''
+!''m-j-s''
+!''ś-k-t-s''
+|-
+!Word
+|''tani''
+|''majasi''
+|''śaktasi''
+|-
+!Form
+|'''1a2i'''
+|'''1a2a3i'''
+|'''1a23a4i'''
+|-
+!Meaning
+|''I am / will be''
+|''I write''
+|''I cover''
+|}
+===== Nouns =====
+Nouns in Tova decline for 9 different cases, 2 numbers, and 2 definitenesses. Gender is indicated by the conjugation of the verb (if the noun is a subject).
+==== Noun cases ====
+The nine noun cases in Tova are ''nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, comitative, inessive, adessive, ablative, and vocative''.
+===== The nominative case =====
+The nominative case is used for subjects of verbs. For copulative verbs (like ''tana'' 'to be, exist'), the objects of them are put in the nominative case.
+===== The accusative case =====
+The accusative case is used for the direct objects of transitive verbs.
+===== The dative case =====
+The dative case is used for the indirect objects of transitive verbs, or the arguments of intransitive verbs. Generally, it corresponds to ''''to NOUN'''<nowiki/>'.
+===== The genitive case =====
+The genitive case is used for the indication of possession. The order of possession is ''possessed noun in the definite'' + ''possesser in the genitive''. For example: ''úmmújes'' ''źatnanik'' 'A cleaner's pen' / 'The pen of a cleaner'.
+===== The comitative case =====
+The comitative case corresponds to ''''with NOUN'''<nowiki/>'. It is used for accompaniment or instrumental usage, like ''with him'' and ''with a pen'', respectively.
+===== The inessive case =====
+The inessive case is a locative case that indicates location inside or in the noun that the case is applied to.
+===== The adessive case =====
+The adessive case is a locative case that indicates location at, upon, or around the noun that the case is applied to.
+===== The ablative case =====
+The ablative case is a case that indicated motion away from something, but also a location that is ''from'' the noun it is applied to.
+===== The vocative case =====
+The vocative case is a case that is used for direct addressing of the noun that it is applied to. It is more common to see this case be used in religious texts, but there is still modern usage.