Toede (language)

Human Toede (LF: Lashe Toide) is the dialect of the language spoken by the amphibian Toede population of Southwestern Nacafi.
== Distribution ==
Human Toede is spoken across the Loshui Upland province, the western Outer Rud province and the southwestern Ruste-Esh Province as well as in the Duistu marshes. It is an exceptional minority language in Nacafi, because its number of speakers has not decreased notably since the Ankacau expansion that made Lashe Felse the only official language of the Kingdom.
== Phonology ==
Toede has a rich inventory of vowels and diphthongs. The language has evolved from an ancestor language called Proto-Toede. 
Toede Consonant Inventory
 	Bilabial	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar 	Labialized Velar	Glottal
Nasal 	m 	ɳ <n> 	 	ŋ <ng> 	 	
Pren. Stop 	ᵐb <mb> 	ᶯɖ <nd> 	 	ᵑg <ng>	ᵑgʷ <ngw> 	ʔ <'>
Plain Stop 	p b 	ʈ ɖ <t d>	 	k g 	kʷ gʷ <kw gw> 	
Ejective 	pʼ 	ʈʼ 	 	kʼ 	kʷʼ <kwʼ> 	
Fricative 	ɸ <f> 	ʂ ʐ 	 	x 	 	h
Affricate 	pɸ 	ʈʂ <ts> 	 	kx 	 	
Trill 	 	ɽ <rr> 	 	 	 	
Approximant 	w 	ɻ <r> 	j 	 	 	
Lateral Appr.	 	 	ʎ <l> 	 	 	
Amphibian Toede uses a bilabial fricative similar to /ɸ/, which in Human Toede is often realised as its labiodental counterpart /f/. In a similar fashion the retroflex consonant are often realized as their alveolar counterparts by human speakers.
Toede Vowel Inventory
 	Front	Central	Back
Close 	i y 	 	u
Close-Mid	e 	 	o
Mid 	 	ə 	
Open-Mid 	ɛ* œ*	 	ɔ*
Open 	 	a 	
Vowels marked with an asterisk (*) only appear in diphthongs.
Toede Diphthongs
Quality** 	a 	e 	i 	y 	o 	u
Centering 	ɔa	ɛa	iə	yə	oə	uə
Closing 	- 	- 	ɛi	œʏ	aɔ	ɔu
i-Fronting	ai	ɛi	ɛi	- 	oi	-
**Quality describes the (long) vowel the diphthong evolved from.
== Number System ==
The Toede, having four fingers on each hand, use a senary (base-6) number system by counting the spaces between the fingers. For numbers larger than 15sen (11dec), they use a subbase of 12.
Toede Number System
Decimal	Senary	Toede Name 	Gloss
5 	5 	/wi/ 	five
6 	10 	/ɹœ/ 	six
7 	11 	/ɹœ.ʈo/ 	six-one
11 	15 	/ɹœ.wi/ 	six-five
12 	20 	/wɛʂ/ 	twelve
20 	32 	/wɛʂ.ɹœ.vɛ/ 	twelve-six-two
33 	53 	/wɛi.wɛʂ.ɹœ.kʷe/ 	two-twelve-six-three
36 	100 	/roi/ 	thirty.six
70 	154 	/roi.wɛi.wɛʂ.ɹœ.ʈuə/	thirty.six-two-twelve-six-four
=== Numerals ===
Toede Numerals
Decimal	Senary	Toede	Decimal	Senary	Toede
0 	0 	 	6 	10 	/ɹœ/
1 	1 	/ʈo/ 	12 	20 	/wɛʂ/
2 	2 	/wɛ/ 	24 	40 	/wɛi.wɛʂ/
3 	3 	/kʷe/	36 	100 	/roi/
4 	4 	/ʈuə/	144 	400 	/ʈuə-roi/ or /ǂœɐ wɛʂ/ "grand dozen"
5 	5 	/wi/ 	216 	1000 	/ɹœ.roi/
== Nouns ==
=== Noun Classes ===
Toede has at least 19 noun classes, more than half of which are for singular nouns, five are for plurals and one covers collective nouns. The singular classes distinguish nouns more specifically, while the plural classes make broader distinctions based on animacy. The noun classes reflect Toede lifestyle, having a dedicated class for water bodies and natural phenomena and grouping insects together with (other) edible foodstuffs. Several noun classes contain suffixes for specific locations. It is unknown whether there are more place-related noun suffixes than the three attested classes.
(tbc)
== Verbs ==
=== Verb Agreement and Direct-Inverse Alignment ===
The subject and object of a transitive sentence are marked on the verb by suffixes. However, the hierarchy of noun classes doesn't allow for some suffix orders. In such cases, an inverse marker is required to form the correct verb form.
For instance, in the sentence that translates to "the fly hovers above the lake", "fly" is the subject and "lake" the object (the respective verb is transitive in Toede). However, since flies belong to the inanimate Noun Class V and water bodies to the semi-animate Noun Class IV, the person marker that denotes the fly cannot precede the marker that denotes the lake. The suffixes are switched and the Inverse prefix is added to the verb.
=== Tense and Aspect ===
Toede distinguishes three tenses (Nonpast, Immediate Past and Remote Past) and at least four aspects (Perfective, Imperfective, Inchoative, Cessative).
(tbc)
=== Directional-Active-Stative Alignment ===
A special feature of Toede is its use of so-called light verbs to indicate the directionality of a verbal phrase or, for movement-neutral verbal phrases, its active or stative quality. Directionality can be towards (allative) or away from the speaker (ablative). There are therefore only four main light verbs in Toede which are prefixed to an often nominal stem to make up the core of a verbal phrase.
== Example Sentences ==
1) Söymdè däwörllò däi mwaoonggoe sankuetgoedè.
/ʂœʏ̯m.ɖə ɖɛ.wœɻ.ʎɔ ɖɛɪ̯ mwa.oːŋ.ɡɔɐ̯ ʂa.ǂuə̯ʈ.gɔɐ̯.ɖə/
söym-dè dä-wör-llò däi mwa-oong-goe sa-nkuet-goe-dè.
human-CL1P CL1P.POS-fire-CL3 NEG have-know-CL1a go-capture-CL1a-CL3
Category:Languages
The humans aren't able to bring their fire under control. / Don't give humans too many responsibilities.
2) Dägaosdè mundänäsee kròerehozagoen.
/ɖɛgaɔ̯ʂɖə muɳɖɛɳɛʂeː kɻɔɐ̯ɻehoʐagoə̯ɳ/
dä-gaos-dè mund-änä-see kroe-re-hoza-goe-n
CL1P.POS-saint-CL1P 1P.POS-tongue-CL4b INV-do-scare-CL1P-CL4b
Their gods fear our tongues.