Taadži Language

## The Taadži Language (*Tade Taadži)*

IPA: Vowels

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Basic word order is **SOV**, with **OVS** subordinate clauses. Nominative-Accusative alignment, posessee is marked rather than possessor. Adjectives and descriptive clauses precede the noun they modify. Postpositions are used. Base 6 number system.

### **Phonotactics**

(C){V,N,W}(C), with N = m, n and ng, and W = j, ɫ, and w.

Geminate consonants, long vowels, and nasal vowels are contrastive versus their basic counterparts.

* plosives can't be next to each other.
* ts/dž can't follow plosives or sibilants except t/d
* ng can't follow plosives, sibilants or rhotics
* rhotics can't follow labial(ized) or glottal plosives

### **Stress**

* Stress defaults to the first non-affix syllable.
* If there are one or more long vowels in a non-final position, the stress falls on the first long vowel. (ex. )
* If there are geminate consonants, the non-ultimate syllable following the long consonant or incorporating it as its onset takes the stress, *unless* it is an affricate or fricative.

### **Nouns and Adjectives**

There is only a very weak distinction between nouns and adjectives, which are treated the same grammatically. Adjectives are better thought of as modifying nouns. Tade Taadži is early in the process of transitioning from an analytic to an synthetic language, and thus features five fairly regular declension patterns.  Noun and Adjective cases are Nominative, Accusative, Possessed, Allative, Instrumental, and Vocative.  Adjectives agree with the case of the noun they modify. Note: Standalone case markers can still be used as a dummy pronoun or for emphasis.

* Nominative marks the actor for both transitive and intransitive verbs, and modifiers of verbs. It is unmarked in the singular form.

```
 Example: *Ozà huumà.*
[ozɐ huːmɐ]
reptomammal.PL.NOM sleep.STAT
“Animals sleep.”

```

* **Accusative** marks the **patient of transitive verbs.**

```
Example: *Naiddahe saangwus haap*.
[naidːahe saːŋwus haːp]
Naiddahe.NOM prawn.ACC see.NEARPAST
“Naiddahe saw a prawn.”

```

* **Possessed** marks an object **possessed** by something (his *book*, the person's *word*), an **origin** (people *from the islands*), and **apposition** (my sister, *a healer*). Possessed nouns come before the noun they modify, and can be compound-forming, though the case marker may be dropped depending on sound similarity. The word order of noun adjuncts also follows this pattern (ex. "face mask" would be literally rendered "mask (of the) face").

```
Example: *Uzumii papã kamitsigwis kii.*
[uzumiː papã kamit͡sigwis kiː]
body-paint.POS moon.NOM crater.PL.ACC exist.STAT
“The moon’s shadows are craters.”

```

* **Allative** marks **motion toward** (I went *to the house*), **direction** (I went *north*), and also **marks indirect objects of most verbs** (I gave the stone *to her*). The Allative comes after the Nominative and Accusative.

```
Example: *Aratmàpà jazdu idd aannagu.*
[aɾatmɐpɐ jazdu idː aːnːagu]
Aratmàpà.NOM sea.ALL go.INFV want.PRES
“Aratmàpà wants to go to the sea.”

```

* **Instrumental** acts as the **agent of passive voice construction** (I was hit *by the stick*), and to indicate **location** (I work *in the field*), **time** (I work *today*), **participation in an action** (she benefited from *her mother's love*), substance of **composition** (a wheel *of cheese*), **source** (a portion *of food*), and **comitative statements** (I went *in the company of Steve*). Instrumental nouns follow the noun they modify.

```
Example: *Laranwà kushïngïr swtsddur sïdurpï.*
[laɾanwɐ kushɨŋɨɾ̥ swt͡sːdːuɾ̥ sɨduɾpɨ]
tree.PL.NOM east.PL.INST wind.INST curve.STAT
“Trees from the east are bowed because of the wind.”

```

* **Vocative** identifies an **addressee**, and is the default case for **referring to the gods**. Some dialects may use the vocative only as a pejorative, while others are beginning to use the vocative as a topic marker.

```
Example: *Xummmaa, nga us tsap pavà pavapso?*
[xumːaː ŋa us tsap pavɐ pavapso?]
friend.VOC 2S.NOM ACC animate-question-marker therefore do.NEARPAST.that.ACC
“Oh friend, why did you do that?”

```

### **Verbs**

**Verbs** have four tenses: **Remote Past, Past, Present,** and **Future.** Tense is strictly absolute (centered on the “now”) unless directly quoting someone.

* **Remote Past** tense is usually used to refer to events that occurred more than one day ago. It can also function as a discontinuous past tense, where the event has experienced a change. It may also be used for recent events that the speaker was present for but does not clearly remember.
* **Past** tense or **Simple Past** tense refers to events within the past day, or when the speaker wants to emphasize the clarity of their memory.
* **Present** tense can be used for statements that would refer to the continuous or perfective present, but not for habitual or attributive (see below).
* The same is true for the **future** tense.

Verbs can be **marked for person** in the nominative and accusative case in most dialects of the language, with some additionally marking the instrumental case. This is not required, nor are pronouns required if sufficient context is established. In multi-verb constructions, the nominative marking is applied to the first verb, and the accusative and/or instrumental marking is applied to the final verb.

Note: If a vowel is phonotactically required to attach a person marker to a verb, but none is given in the table, then an echo vowel is used. If the preceding syllable has a consonantal nucleus, it is either echoed or ï is used, depending on context.

* The **infinitive** is the noninflected form of the verb with its stem included, and can be used as the **gnomic aspect**, describing **general truths** rather than specific events. The infinitive is often used in multi-verb constructs, including some with grammatical functions (see below).
* **Attributive** verbs can be created by removing the verb stem. This is not represented in the writing system. (ex. The burning fire pit warms the child.)
* **Perfective** **aspect** is created by taking the infinitive verb and adding the verb kus (“to come”). This auxiliary verb takes most inflection, except for nominative person marking (see above). (Ex. We laid the clay in the sun to make bricks.)
* **Passive** **verbs** are formed in a similar manner, using the auxiliary verb su (“to take”). The subject of the verb is placed in the instrumental case, and the object remains in the accusative.
* **Hypothetical** **mood** is created in the same way, with the auxiliary verb kaanja (“to hear”). (Ex. “The bridge could have broken in today’s storm.”)
* **Imperative** **mood** is formed either through the verb tsã (“to require” or “must”), or through a grammaticized suffix form –Vdžã.

 **Attributive** | Verb - stem
 **Perfective** | Infinitive + *kus* ("to come")
 **Passive** | Infinitive + *su* ("to take")
 **Hypothetical** | Infinitive + *kaanja* ("to hear")

### **Pronouns**

Third person pronouns are split into **five grammatical genders**, each matching a gender role within Taadži culture. (sot/pit/ran/kur/taat, from most to least feminine, translated to english as she/xe/they/e/he). When referring to children, outsiders, or unmarked Taadži adults, impersonal pronouns (it/that) are used.

**Plural pronouns do not reflect gender** in the third person, instead splitting between "**near**" and "**far**" categories: A speaker will use the "near" pronoun for a group that is close to them on the gender spectrum, and the "far" pronoun for all others. Nearness counts as 2 steps towards masculine/feminine for female/male speakers, 1 step in either direction for all others.

There is a **weak remnant of a grammatical gender system** in the endings of nouns and adjectives, which is mostly used to determine the use of near/far person markers on verbs. Adjectives no longer agree with the gender of their noun, but Poetic or archaic speech may use personal pronouns in agreement with a noun's gender.

### Interrogatives

There are two primary interrogatives in Tadži: *tsap* and *hhak*, which can receive conjugation, and may combine with modifiers where necessary to specify precise meaning. In their base form, they can be placed before a verb for yes/no questions.

* *Hhak* is used with questions where the answer will relates to one or more objects or concepts that take impersonal pronouns. This includes all polite speech and references to people unknown to the speaker. In this context, it covers the domains of *how* (Instrumental)*, how far* (hhak łè)*, how long* (hhak kavaxe for short periods or or hhak ijãã for longer ones)*, how much* or *which* (hhak hmrï for small quantities and hhak ntà for large ones) *, what* or *who* (Nominative or Accusative)*, what kind* (hhak rumà), *when* (hhak mavat)*, where* (hhak he)*,* and *why* (hhak pava).
* *Tsat* is used with questions where the answer is assumed to relate to people known to the speaker, and covers the same meanings.

### **Postpositions**

There are two main postpositions that cover many spatial and temporal relationships in Tadži: *paarà* and *łè*. These can be thought of as covering the domains of "association" or "dissociation".

* *Paara* covers concepts of motion toward, into, closeness, and to be among something. It is often paired with the Allative case.
* *Łè* has the contrasting meaning of motion away, out of, distance, and to be apart from something. Both *paarà* and *łè* can be used as intensifiers, which color the adjective or action they refer to.

Both words can be used in phrases that provide other spatial or temporal distinctions, such as *pozbur* ("back (anatomy)") to create postpositional phrases meaning "behind" (*pozbur paarà*) versus "far behind" (*pozbur łè*).

### Grammatical Suffixes

Certain suffixes are generative and can form new words. These are not always required to bring a word into a new grammatical role or alter meaning, they do decrease ambiguity. Note that since the distinction between nouns, adjectives and adverbs is rather weak, these suffixes provide specific guidance as to the meaning. For example, if one begins with the verb *jaado* ("to shout"), one can produce *jaadõ* ("a shout"), *jaador* ("loud(ly)"), and *jaadotja* ("intense(ly)").

 Adj → V
 V; Adj; POS → N
 V → Adj
 N → Adj
 Adj → Adv

### **Numbers**

Base 6 system (senary/seximal/heximal).

*Pawo* ("and") may be placed between heximal places, ex. *mi pawo hã* (Sen 14, Dec 10). If *pawo* is not used, *ngii* ("one of") must be used anywhere the numeral 1 would appear in roman numerals, ex. *ngii mi hã* (Sen 14, Dec 10). All numerals at a given base besides the final are placed in the Possessed case, and the base is in the nominative. The final base or numeral may display noun case agreement.