#Tlette

[mindutme]

Sdefa Sdaturday #15

If you weren’t able to join us for the livestream of the Conlang Conflict finale, you can watch the video here! Sadly, Team Let’s Have a Bouba didn’t win but I’m pretty sure we still have the most cumulative points across our three games so that should count for something :P

I decided at the last minute to make two short Sdefa fragments for the occasion! This one is a rough translation of “Conlang Conflict”:

It literally reads “A conflict which has to do with conlangs.” I almost made it something like “the conflicts are fighting” instead! Parts of it sound quite a bit like this text from Kopikon, because of the similar subject matter!

And this one says “Team LHAB”:

In this case “LHAB” is borrowed as a proper noun like “hobbit” was in this post, using a prefix that indicates a borrowed word followed by “L” becoming the note E, “H” becoming B (because of German notation), A of course being A, and “B” becoming B♭ (again, because of German notation).

Here is the Zoom background I made for today, featuring the written form of the two Sdefa fragments on either side, along with several other conscripts! Everything on the left reads “Conlang Conflict,” and everything on the right is “Team Let’s Have a Bouba”! At the top is T’owal; the Sdefa text is the colorful blobby shapes, Tlette is below the lower Sdefa glyph on the right, and the rest is two different conscripts for English, one of which (the twisted and knotted ropes) is very new!

[dyst-blogs]

ijus tthough to f ane wtypin gquir ktha tfuckin gsuck s. yo ujus tmov eth elas tlette rove rt ojoi nth enex twor d. :]

[friendball-irl]

FUCKK tHTT HES GOING TO JHURT HIMSELF! IMNOT GOINGTO JUS TLETT HIM DO THAT! I CANT SIT HERE AND JUSTWAIT I HAVETO DO SMTH GRAYS ALWAAYS BEEN THEREFOR MeE I GOTTA DO SOMETHINGG - @aerial-aceing-it

{I... I understand Marv. Just be careful if you do go. I don't want to lose anyone because of this.}

[magicalserendipity]

💜🔮🌙✨🤍🔮🌙🥺💜✨💜🌙✨🔮🤍🌙🔮💜✨🖤🔮💜✨🤍🔮🌙💜🔮✨🌙 IT’S BEEN AGATHA ALL ALONGGGGGGGG!!!!!! 🔮🌙✨🔮💜🖤🔮✨💜🌙🖤🤍✨🌙🔮💜✨🌙✨🤍🖤💜🌙🔮✨🤍🔮🌙💜🖤💜🔮🌙✨🤍🔮🌙🥺💜✨💜🌙✨🔮🤍🌙🔮💜✨🖤🔮💜✨🤍🔮🌙💜🔮✨🌙 Oh. And I killed sparky TOO! Hahahahahahahhahahaha!!!!!! This truly has been one of the best moments in Oogie Boogie Bash. Meeting Agatha was worth the ticket too! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I’m so happy we have the best Halloween Party. OBB IS SO SUPERIOR!!!!!!! Thank you to @littlegraythread for being my variants. 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 https://www.instagram.com/p/CT05k-TlEtt/?utm_medium=tumblr

[superobjectvoid-blog]

Kif jindika l-isem il-film se jkun qed iwassal il-ġrajja mirakoluża tat-tlett it-tfal Lucia, Jacinta u Francisco li f’bosta okkażjonijiet kellhom il-viżjoni tal-Madonna, u minkejja li kienu taħt theddida mill-awtoritajiet li ma emmnux dak li t-tfal kienu qed isostnu li kienu qed jaraw, it-tfal baqgħu konsistenti u waslu biex eluf imorru jitolbu magħhom.

[bipeoplearentyourpawns]

look I know you're 14 and bullying aces on the internet is probably an outlet for stuff you're dealing with, but just so you know your actions do have consequences and harm actual LGBTQ+ people. you should really just deactivate, because when you get older you're gonna look back on this and be really embarrassed that you used to get so caught up in this bullshit "discourse." there's got to be a less spiteful hobby you could take up. knitting is fun, or playing guitar. or photography or something

lobok  I    n/ksoow,w  yyooUU ‘rre 144 anddb uulllngg  aces,s  oonntt hhe  i inter rnn  e tis probaably aan mouut;tlett for  sttuu,ff y,,ou'r'e deali,,ng iwwth,,b  ut ujst  so yyot,,u ,, nknn  owwy our aactiionss do Haveec onn,e  quencees ,a..ndd.. haa,,rm ,ac,,tu,uaalL  GbT.T,Q+ eppoopLLe.., y,ou,,u ssuho;;ulld,, rE,Eal ly jjustt, deacaattiivvaa..te,,,, be;;cauu.see  w,,whenn yoou geett , olddeer   your’'e ggonnla ll,oookbacko n  tt;;hIIs  ann.dd be reeally  mmbbarasssde.e thaa,,t yyu,, uus;s..ed t to ]get  sso,,o  ;;Cau..ug gth   uup;;p in tthis b,buulll,shhiitt “diis csouruuse.” tehre'ss  got  torbbe;; ra lEss  ssp,,Iteful hobbby cyyo ucouuld   tak;;e uuP.. kni,itt,,ingg. I SS,fu,n orr p,layi;;izNggUittaar. or pphooTOG  GrappH..y   or  s.ometthing

[malteseboy]

Counting in Maltese

A lot of online sources just give you the absolute form of numbers and that’s it. This will eventually cause problems when counting nouns because numbers in Maltese actually change form when used with counted nouns.

the “normal” numbers are (1-10):

wieħed (m) waħda (f)

tnejn

tlieta

erbgħa

ħamsa

sitta

sebgħa

tmienja

disgħa

għaxra

if you want to say, for example, “5 dogs”, you can’t use the absolute form and say “ħamsa klieb” because it would sound incorrect. Instead you use the forms of the numbers for counted nouns. 

2-10 in “counting form:”

żewġ

tliet

erba’

ħames

sitt

seba’

tmien

disa’

għaxar

now, if you say “ħames klieb”, it would still sound a bit off, because there is another rule.

The numbers get an extra -t as a suffix and the counted nouns get an i- as an affix if the noun is 1 syllable long. 

So, 5 dogs, would be ħamest iklieb since “klieb” is only 1 syllable.

If for example you want to say, 5 books, you’d say ħames kotba. Kotba in this case has 2 syllables so no alterations are needed.

since some forms change with the extra -t I’ll list them down too:

żewġt, tlitt/tlett, erbat, ħamest, sitt, sebat, tmint, disat, għaxart

11-19:

ħdax, tnax, tlettax, erbatax, ħmistax, sittax, sbatax, tmintax, dsatax

when used with counted nouns, you just add -il with the numbers and no change happens. The counted noun however must be in singular.

11 dogs – ħdax-il kelb

12 books – tnax-il ktieb

20-90:

għoxrin, tletin, erbgħin, ħamsin, sittin, sebgħin, tmenin, disgħin

when used with counted nouns, these get no change or addition, but just like 11-19 the counted nouns must be in singular.

20 dogs – għoxrin kelb

30 book – tletin ktieb

to do compound nouns you take the last number and add it at the beginning and add u (and) so twenty one would be “wieħed u għoxrin” (1 and 20)

[kliemiehor]

Iz-Zija Nina

I wrote this essay in Maltese a few days ago - excuse me for writing so much in Maltese lately, seems like my emotions tend to come out clearly (not really) , or rather more intensely in my native tongue.

Biex nibda din in-narrativa nixtieq ngħid li din l-istorja hija kompletament vera.Iva,forsi hemm xi dettallji esaġerati jew anki saħansitra xi ftit injorati, imma l-essenza ta’ din l-istorja xorta tibqa’ hemm (għall-inqas nispera li tibqa’ hemm għax min jaf x’xeba tagħtini z-Zija Nina mill-ġenna jekk ma nirrakkontahiex sew).

Din hija l-istorja kif iz-Zija ta’ nanti, Nina, il-bniedma li matul ħajti sejjaħtilha z-Zija Nina, saret taf u tħobb lir-raġel tagħha li ismu,sfortunatament insejtu u minħabba f’hekk ser insejjaħlu Toni.

Iz-Zija Nina kienet bniedma fuq ruħha u kemm xejn imqarqċa.Missierha dejjem kellu bokka biha għax kienet waħda minn dawk it-tfajliet li għalkemm ma kinux jiġbduk bl-isbuħija tagħom, il-karattru tagħhom kien isaħħrek.Kull tfajjel f’Birkirkara kien joqgħod iħares lejha biex forsi jiġbdulha l-attenzjoni tagħha - le,mhux vera.

Iz-Zija Nina kienet bniedma fuq ruħha,imqarqċa u bla xenxilli ta’ xejn.Ma kellha xejn partikolarment spettakolari fil-karatterstiċi tagħha.Kienet tfajla tipikament Maltija għal dawk iż-żminijiet (1940ijiet),xagħarha iswed tuta u nnukklat, ta’ tul medju u b’għajnejha kannella daqs il-pudina kienet tiffanga fiha kull nhar ta’ Ħadd.Kif qed tindunaw, Nina, jew ‘Antonina’ kif kien isejħila l-Biżnannu , xbejba ta’ sittax -il sena min-naħa ta’ Santa Liena f’Birkirkara,ma kellha xejn speċjali.

Bħalma kien jiġri kull sena, il-festa ta’ Santa Liena kienet tiġi f’nofs Awwissu.Żmien il-festa kien ifisser ħafna affarijiet għal bosta nies.Għad-dulċier, kien ifisser ħafna aktar xogħol biex ilaħħaq mal-ordnijiet kollha tal-pasti.Għall-kappillan, qabda ġiri ‘l hemm u ‘l hawn biex l-armar tal-festa jkun perfett,u għat-tfajliet tar-raħal?Kienet opportunita’ oħra biex iħitu libsa ġdida biex forsi jimpressjonaw lil dak it-tfajjel gustuż b’għajnejn żoroq u dik in-nokkla sewda sewda li kienet tmellislu ġbinu.Il-libsa taz-Zija Nina dik is-sena kienet ċilesta u kienet tilħqila sal-irkoppa.Għal magħha xtrat żarbun abdjad b’ċoff fuq quddiem.

Il-festa ta’ Santa Liena kienet fl-aqwa tagħha;il-banda għaddejja ttanbar u ddoqq il-marċijiet tal-festa, id-dwal għaddejjin minn naħa ghall-oħra tat-triq waqt li n-nies waddbu l-karti mill-gallariji u tfal jgħajtu u jċapċpu waqt li l-istatwa tal-patruna għaddiet min-nofs tal-folla.Kollox kien tipiku.Iz-Ziju Ton, li dak iż-żmien ma kienx għadu z-ziju, kien qed jomxot xagħru bil-petne f’nofs il-folla meta ra liz-Zija Nina tiġri quddiem il-vara b’żarbuna nieqsa.Id-daħka tagħha waqt li ġriet sat-tarf l-ieħor tat-triq, tgħajjeb lil ħabibtha, kienet biż-żejjed biex fil-qiegħ ta’ qalbu jħoss lilu nnifsu jinġibed lejha.

Wara dak il-lejl għamel tlett ijiem jipprova jsibha imma għalxejn,ma kienx fejn kien jista’ jerġa jaraha.Alla ried li ġimagħtejn wara kien f’ħanut tal-merċa ,u b’ħaġa tal-għaġeb,daħlet warajh bil-ġewlaq f’idha .Baqa’ jiċċassa lejha minn ħdejn il-bieb tal-ħanut sakemm daret u ħarset lejh,ħmaret,u tbissmitlu.

L-ewwel darba li ħarġu flimkien kienu marru jiżfnu x-Xalet.Ġimgħa wara li seħħet din l-affari z-Ziju Ton, mingħajr eżitazzjoni ta’ xejn, iddeċieda li Nina, dik it-tfajla xejn speċjali, kien irid jiżżewwiġha.Missierha, bniedem ta’ ċertu prinċipji konservattivi, b’xejn ma kien irid iħallieh joħodlu lil bintu ż-żgħira u minfolk offrielu lil bintu l-kbira, imma għalxejn.Ton kellu għajnejh fuq Nina u ħadd ma kien jista’ ineħħihomlu minn fuqha.Jum wara jum iz-Ziju Ton kien imur fuq l-għatba tad-dar tal-Biżnannu u jsaqsieh biex jiżżewwiġha sakemm, wara sitt xhur missierha finalment ċeda u ħallihom jiżżewwġu.

Wara festin żgħir,iż-żewġ mizzewgin friski marru għall-‘honeymoon’ fit-Teatru Rjal (dak li issa twaqqa’) għal ballu bil-ftit flejjes li kien qalgħu bħala rigal tat-tieġ .Skond iz-Zija Nina, dak il-lejl għamluh jiżfnu mingħajr waqfien u ssokktaw jiżfnu anke meta kienet waqfet il-mużika.Kienet tgħidli li dik l-għaxija kienet tħaddan ġo fiha l-imħabba li kienu jħossu lejn xulxin.Biex nikkonkludi fi kliemha “wara dak il-lejl sa meta mietli Tonin, qatt ,u qed ngħidlek,qatt ma waqaft niżfen”.

[mindutme]

Lexember 15: Latıhì

Today’s word is latıhì /la.tɨ.ˈhɨ/, meaning “owl.” It’s a sort of compound word, based on latı /ˈla.tɨ/ “bird.” The second part is basically just “hoo,” though the back vowel has shifted forward from /u/ to /ɨ/. In other words, it’s like saying “hoo-bird.”

Although the word latı is a collective noun (with singulative form latomen /la.ˈtõ.mẽ/), latıhì is a singular noun—after all, owls are much more solitary than many other kinds of bird. Its plural is latıhwí /la.tɨ.ˈhwi/.

[mindutme]

Tlette Tlursday #11

Let’s talk about maps!

Tlette has two and a half words for maps, to refer to two very different kinds. The first kind is a tlalkequ /tɬaɬ.ˈkɛ.qu/, or tlalké /tɬaɬ.ˈke/ for short. The longer word is used in formal Tlette, and the shorter one in informal speech. Their plurals are tlalkeqúy /tɬaɬ.kɛ.ˈquj/ and tlalkéy /tɬaɬ.ˈkej/ respectively. This kind of map is relatively small-scale, used for navigation. The category includes street maps of towns and cities and maps of roads between nearby towns and cities, but not much larger-scale than that. The word comes from the verb kequ /ˈkɛ.qu/, meaning “to guide” or “to lead.” It’s derived as an inanimate agentive noun, like tlahllán, so it literally means “thing that guides.”

Tlalkéy are often very inacurrate in terms of scale and proportion. They’re not attempts to accurately depict the world as it is; instead, they’re navigational tools. They show how roads meet and what landmarks they are, which are the important things one needs when traveling, but will often distort distances and angles as a matter of convenience for the mapmaker and map-reader. In a way they’re a lot like subway maps!

From left to right: tlalkequ, tlalké, tlalkeqúy, tlalkéy, kequ.

To talk about the other kind of map, first I need to talk about the world where Tlette is spoken. I’ve talked a bit about it in some previous posts, but here’s a brief overview: it’s a fantasy world that is completely fixed in space, neither orbiting a sun nor rotating on an axis. It has no moon, so the only celestial objects are the stars, which don’t move in the sky—unless you travel. For every star in the sky, there’s a place on the surface of the world where that star is directly overhead, and for many cultures each star is thought of as a deity that protects that part of the world.

This is true of the Tlette people and their neighbors who speak Mindutme. The associations between places and stars are so strong that the Tlette word for the Mindutme speakers is Kottúllate, derived from name of the brightest star above where those people live. Many other exonyms in Tlette are derived from the names of stars rather than names from the respective languages. Tlette fiction even sometimes describes travelers journeying to far-off lands, referring to made-up places and peoples with names of stars that Tlette speakers are familiar with.

So the other kind of map that Tlette speakers use is called a kıssì /kɨs.ˈsɨ/, plural kısswí /kɨs.ˈswi/. The word comes from a borrowing from Old Mindutme, *kus suu, literally “star paper.” It’s basically a star map with additions, showing (usually with two different colors of ink) major stars and major cities, plus some combination of coastlines, rivers, roads, borders, and such.

kıssì, kısswí

Because kıssì maps are drawn so that the stars on the paper match the stars as they are seen in the sky, the geographical features on them are actually mirrored! If you were to travel using such a map, you would orient it with your destination at the bottom. That way, the stars above you are near the center of the map, and those nearer to the horizon ahead of you are at the bottom, and stars to your left are on the left side of the paper as well. You could also think of holding the map above your head to match up with the stars, in which case the bottom of the map actually is farther ahead. But Tlette speakers are used to mirrored maps, so they don’t usually do that.

The map at the top of the post is a kıssì. It’s more of a sketch, really, and not necessarily final—I’m not sure how much I want to even define the map of this world at all. Don’t look too closely or you’ll see I don’t really know much about how rivers work!

The map is labeled Tan Qelút /ˌtã.qɛ.ˈlut/, “The Known World,” though it’s a fairly small portion of the world. In black are the stars and national borders, drawn very abstractly. Some other maps may show borders in more detail, but they are often defined broadly as paths between major stars, and narrowly by geographical features that line up with those paths for a stretch. The large polygon is Lwé Tlette, and the smaller one to its left is Lwé Kottúllate, where Mindutme is spoken; the large star within that region is Kottú. A few other important stars are also labeled, and in purple are coastlines and rivers.

[mindutme]

Tlette Tlursday #9

Today I want to talk about formal pronouns in Tlette! Everything I’ve posted so far uses the informal register of the language, which is used among friends and family. Outside of those contexts, though, there are some differences, and the biggest difference is the pronouns.

The most common formal first-person pronoun is hlú /ɬu/, which comes from a shortening of the word ahllú /aɬ.ˈɬu/, meaning “servant” (pl. ahlluli /aɬ.ˈɬu.li/). There is also a longer form, hlúwakhı /ˈɬu.wa.xɨ/, from the phrase ahllú akh ì “your servant,” though the short form is much more common. This pronoun is fairly neutral, used by both people in most interactions between two adults (who aren’t friends or family) in day-to-day life.

In conversations between people with a noticeable difference in social status, the person of lower status would still use hlú to refer to themself, but the other person is likely to use a different pronoun. There are various pronouns that they might use, depending on the specific situation and social roles of the people involved. Confusingly, in such a situation the person of higher social status might also use hlú, but as a second-person pronoun, not a first-person one! The long form of this is hlúwakhte /ˈɬu.wax.te/, from ahllú akh te “my servant,” but as with the first-person use the short form is more common.

The noun ahllú has an earlier meaning of “guard” or “protector,” which eventually got broadened to “servant.” It’s the active participle of the verb fú /fu/, so it can literally be used to mean “serving” or “one who is serving.” Before the “protector” meaning, its meaning was actually “to cook” or “to preserve,” and its use was extended from preservation of food to preservation of life.

Early on the title of “protector” (then something like alfól /al.ˈfol/ or ahllól /aɬ.ˈɬol/) was actually a high-status one, even used in some communities for the leader. Over time, though, the values of Tlette society changed and greater importance was placed on those that are protected than those that protect, and so ahllú ended up as a term used to humble oneself.

As the meaning of fú changed from “cook” or “preserve” to “protect” and then to “serve,” the verb qhase /ˈꭓa.se/, originally “bake,” took on the more general meaning “cook.” This gives the word ahllase /aɬ.ˈɬa.se/ “cook” or “baker,” and even the phrase ahllú ahllase, literally “cooking servant,” formed from two different eras’ words for “cook.”

There are still traces of the older meaning of fú in Tlette. The word qefú /qɛ.ˈfu/, pl. qefuli /qɛ.ˈfu.li/, means “pickle” or sometimes food preserved through other means, coming from the passive participle of fú. There is also the verb fuwwıye /fuw.ˈwʉ.je/, meaning “slow-cook” (from the phrase fú wıye “cook slowly”).

From left to right: hlú, ahllú, hlúwakhı, hlúwakhte, fú, qhase, fuwwıye.

[mindutme]

Tlette Tlursday #5

I missed last week so Tlette Tlursday is now a number behind the other two days, which definitely won’t bother me going forward.

I’ve been working on updating and expanding the documentation for the language, so I have been spending a good amount of time with it—it’s just that not much of that is really producing anything presentable.

So today I’ve got a short post, just a new word and example sentence. The word is sakhı /ˈsa.xɨ/, meaning “beautiful.” Its plural form is saqhwí /saꭓ.ˈwi/. It is often rhymed in Tlette poetry with qakhı /ˈqa.ꭓɨ/ “true,” and since qakhı is also commonly used as an intensifier (“truly,” “really,” etc.) there is a slightly silly-sounding but common phrase sakhı qakhı “really beautiful.” (At least it doesn’t sound as silly in the plural form!)

Kheti ká sirı sakhwí qakhı. Moqq, qakhı! /ˈxe.ti.kas.ˈsi.ɾɨ.sa.ˈxwiq.ˌqa.xɨ | ˈmoq.ˈqa.xɨ/ Onion flowers are really beautiful. No, really!

[mindutme]

Tlette Tlursday #3

Today we’re learning the Tlette alphabet! It is a descendant of the Old Mindutme alphabet, which had 25 letters. This alphabet was borrowed and adapted by early Tlette speakers, and changed in quite a different direction from the modern Mindutme alphabet, which you can see in use in Lexember posts from 2022. Only 19 of the letters were borrowed due to differences in the languages, but two of them were borrowed for two different sounds and several new letters were later created though ligatures of letter combinations.

Below is a chart showing the original sound and meaning of the letter, various forms of the letter, and the modern sound. The various forms are:  A: Old Mindutme  B: Old Tlette  C: Middle Tlette  D: Modern Tlette (formal, angled style)  E: Modern Tlette (informal, cursive style)

One important feature of the Old Mindutme alphabet is that its writing direction was not standardized. Right-to-left, left-to-right, and top-to-bottom were all common, and with these differences in writing direction came differences in letter direction. With horizontal writing it was common to have the letter facing the direction of writing, but with the vertical direction that Tlette settled on the letters could go either way. So a few letters ended up reversed from the original directions.

The sound /q/ was present in Old Tlette but not Old Mindutme, while the reverse was true of /ɡ/. So the early Tlette scribes borrowed the Mindutme letter for /ɡ/ and used it for /q/. But they had another sound, /ʔ/, which had no letter, and so they used one letter for both sounds. Similarly, they used a single letter for both /x/ (present in both languages) and /ꭓ/ (only in Old Tlette). Since each of these letters had two variants, they eventually settled as two different letters for different sounds (much like the real-world histories of i and j or u and v).

There is another important feature of the Tlette alphabet not shown in the chart. Around the Middle Tlette period, people began to connect letters together, especially when they were part of the same syllable. For this reason, the two letters which could originally act as the coda of a syllable (l and n) gained vertically flipped variants, depending on which side would need to connect. In the chart, the first version of each is the one used in a syllable onset, and the second version in a coda.

In addition to these 19 (now 21) letters, there were six more that arose as ligatures of letter combinations. These are shown below, along with one letter which arose as a repetition mark, to show that the previous vowel was long without writing it twice (more on that here). Also shown below are variants of four of the vowel letters that are used when a codaa consonant follows, allowing the letters to connect together. Finally, there are two common ligatures for short words.

The columns in the chart are:  A: Middle Tlette, individual letters (for ligatures only)  B: Middle Tlette, combined forms  C: Modern Tlette (formal, angled style)  D: Modern Tlette (informal, cursive style)

In all periods of written Tlette there are variants of many of the letter forms, and modern cursive Tlette has many different styles, including many different possible ligatures. Some of these variations are visible in Lexember posts—if you have too much time on your hands, see if you can find them!

[mindutme]

Tlette Tlursday #4

Yes, I know it’s not Thursday. I completely forgot to make a post yesterday, so here’s one for today. For Tlette going forward I think I’ll keep making Lexember-style posts for the most part, with new words and example sentences.

Today I have three new words. First is lır /lɨɾ/, meaning “door.” It’s a straightforward singular word, with plural lıráy /lɨ.ˈraj/.

Second is tlatsán /tɬat.ˈsã/, meaning “handle” (pl. tlatsamen /tɬat.ˈsã.mẽ/). It’s a shortening of the earlier form tlaqesán, a compound that is closely related to the Lexember word tlahllán, meaning “box.” That word was formed as a compound meaning “thing that holds,” from the proto-Tlette words *pala “thing” and *al-sam, the active participle of *sam “to hold” (san in modern Tlette). The word “handle” is identical except that it uses the passive participle *qe-sam, so it means “thing that is held.”

Third is worra /ˈwor.ra/, meaning “center.” During the era when the Tletti had a vast empire, the Tlette homeland (Lwé Tlette) was sometimes also referred to as Worra, “the center.”

The hobbit’s door was perfectly round, with a handle in the center. Hopit ká lır hıkke qakhı ta sankı tlatsán wi worra. /ˈho.pit.kal.ˌlɨɾ.ˈhık.ke.ˌqɑ.xɨ.ta.ˈsã.kɨ.tɬat.ˈsã.wi.ˈwor.ra/

[mindutme]

Lexember 18: Tlahllán

Today’s word is tlahllán /tɬaɬ.ˈɬã/, pl. tlahllamen /tɬaɬ.ˈɬã.mẽ/, meaning “box” or “container.” It’s related to the word san “to hold” from earlier this Lexember, and literally translates to “holder” (or, more specifically, “thing that holds”). In this post I talked about participles, and showed the active participle ahllıte “curved” of the verb fıte “to bend.” The active participle of san is similar: ahllán.

In Tlette some verbs have a derived inanimate agentive noun. This form comes from the proto-Tlette word *pala, “thing” (mentioned in yesterday’s post) combined with the active participle, which was formed in proto-Tlette with the prefix *al-. In essence, you’d be saying “a thing that does [verb],” or in this case “a holding thing.” The two prefixes combined as *palaʔal-, which changed over time to palal-, then plal-, then tlal-, and then all sorts of weird things happened to the prefix depending on the form of the verb.

In the end, though, the agentive noun ends up looking like the active participle with an extra tl- at the beginning. Along with tlahllán, there’s also tlonnon’’i /tɬõn.ˈnõʔ.ʔi/ “rolling pin” from no’’i “flatten.” If speakers of Tlette had invented the radio, they might have called it a tlalehll /tɬa.ˈleɬ/, from ehll “to sing.”

[mindutme]

Lexember 9: Pahl

Today’s word is pahl [paɬ], meaning “root” or “tuber.” It’s a collective-singulative noun, with singulative form páhllamen [ˈpaɬ.ɬã.mẽ], but it also has a plural form, pahlláy [paɬ.ˈɬaj], to refer to different types of roots (especially those that are eaten). In addition, the similative plural pahlláytti [paɬ.ˈɬajt.ti] is used to refer to starchy foods in general, including those that are not themselves roots.