Grammar and Sociolinguistics of Turnalon

[Semi-WIP: I've still got a few formatting issues to work out here, but the information is basically solid]

## Social Positioning & the Türnan Honorific System

Perhaps one of the cores of Türnan society is the culture's complex honorific system, reflected heavily in its language. Like any such system, multiple factors have contributed to the Türnan honorific system's origins, including cultural isolation, cultural exceptionalism, external cultural stigma, and the polyamorous structure of the average Türnan family. Making distinctions between cultural insiders and outsiders, from nations down to individual families, is a part of everyday life in Ímaí Türna.

This in-group/out-group signaling most heavily impacts the grammatical forms of nouns, pronouns, verbs, and some determiners (particularly demonstratives). Some adjectives are also in/out-group-specific.

## Nouns

### Noun Cases

Türnalōn uses four noun cases:

**Nominative** is the doer of a verb: **The boy** poured the milk
**Accusative** is the done-to of a verb: The boy poured **the milk**
**Possessive Construct** is something possessed by something else: The boy poured the **milk of the cow** [1] [2]
**Dative** is the recipient of something: The boy poured the milk into **the bucket**

 "the boy poured (the) cow's milk into (the) bucket"

Else: Particle after the noun: - oʊ̯m
 **Accusative** | If starts with consonant & {i,e,a,o,u}: Prefix a-
If starts with consonant & {ai̯,ʊə̯,eɪ̯,oʊ̯}: Prefix ai̯-
If starts with consonant: Prefix ɔ-
Else: Prefix k-
 **Possessive**
**Construct**
If ends with {ɪ,ɜ,ɔ,ʊ,ʌ} consonant: Change final consonant to tʊ
If ends with consonant: Change final consonant to tu
If contains {ɪ,ɜ,ɔ,ʊ,ʌ}: Suffix -tʊ
Else: Suffix -tu
 **Dative** | If starts with vowel: Particle before the noun: tus -
Else: Particle before the noun: tu -
*bucket (dative)*

[1] The possessive construct case in Türnalōn is not interchangeable with Possessive Clusivity in pronouns, which can augment or in many cases completely replace the possessive construct noun case depending on context.

[2] This is the word for milk generally, or milk that has been separated from the animal. Milk still inside or actively coming out of the animal would also be called kálprás, and would be subject to collective noun conjugation. If the boy were *milking* the kálprás to fill the bucket, the sentence would be:

 "the boy poured (the) cow's milk into (the) bucket"

### Plural Nouns

Nouns in Türnalōn can be singular, plural, or collective.

**ơpơdá** /ˈoʊ̯poʊ̯da/
 **Plural** | If ends with {a,u,eɪ̯}C: Suffix -in
If ends with {e,i,ai̯,oʊ̯}C: Suffix -an
If ends with {o,ʊə̯}C: Suffix -en
If ends with {ɛ,ʊ,ʌ}C: Suffix -ɪn
If ends with ɪC: Suffix -ʌn
If ends with ɔC: Suffix -ɛn
Else: Suffix -n**ơpơdán** /ˈoʊ̯poʊ̯dan/
 **Collective** | If ends with ai̯: Change final ai̯ to ˈaiɾa
If ends with vowel: Change final V to ˈiɾa
Else: Suffix -ˈiɾa**ơpơdíṙá** /ˈoʊ̯poʊ̯ˌdiɾa/
*neighborhood*

### Collective Nouns

Collective nouns in Türnalōn are specifically used to denote inalienable nouns, or nouns which are inextricable from one another. One could say that the nouns in question "belong" to each other, as well as sometimes belonging, as a group, to a person or other noun.

In the latter situation, collective nouns can sometimes be considered a part of the larger possessive clusivity and honorific system.

Body parts are often referred to using the collective case:
**bán:** *eye*
**bánín:** *eyes (non-specific, abstract, or figurative)*
**báníṙá:** *eyes (of a living creature)*

#### Formal Usage:

In formal contexts, the possessive construct may be applied to the **subject** when applying the collective form to the **object**. In this circumstance, the possessive construct functions more like a genitive case, but utilizing the same morphological form.

 "the boy's eyes"

#### Informal Usage:

In casual speech, the possessive construct is usually omitted when speaking about collective nouns where context is otherwise obvious.

 "the boy's eyes"

### Other Applications:

When applying the possessive construct to the subject, applying the plural to an object normally considered collective may provide a significantly distinct, yet still grammatically and semantically correct sentence:

 "the boy's eyes"

*In this case the usage is figurative, or could be literal if the boy happens to possess some number of disembodied eyes!*

## Determiners

### Articles

Articles are frequently dropped when using the Informal Mode, and/or when context is obvious (no need to say "the" bucket if there is only one bucket in question).

 **Partitive** | **sẹ̇ȿ** /seɪ̯ʃ/
 **Indefinite** | **sá** /sa/
*a*

### Article Conjugation

Articles have plural agreement with nouns.

**ẹ̇** /eɪ̯/
 **Plural** | If ends with V: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -eɪ̯n
**ẹ̇n** /eɪ̯n/
 **Collective** | If ends with V: Suffix -tana
Else: Suffix -ana
**ẹ̇táná** /ˈeɪ̯tana/
*the (collective)*

## Demonstratives

Türnalōn demonstratives use a three-way distinction. (Near me, near you, away from both of us.)

Like many other forms of speech in Türnalōn, demonstratives have case and clusivity/honorific agreement with nouns, adjectives, and pronouns.

*this*
*that (medial)*
 **Plural** | **íȶèn** /ˈiθen/
*these*
*those (medial)*
 **Colective** | **íȶènaí** /ˈiθenai̯/
*these (collective)*
*those (medial collective)*
*those (distal collective)*

This system is used to indicate both physical and social distance.

Depending on the subject and context, speakers are more likely to use the proximal form when speaking to or about insiders, the distal form when speaking about outsiders to insiders, and the medial form when speaking directly to outsiders.

The medial form is seen as a polite, neutral tone, and is often used in public interaction, business dealings, proclamations and government business, etc.

## Verbs

Verbs have 5 forms:

**Ancient past:** A rare form reserved for storytelling, and for speaking of eras before the Türna first settled in the valley.
**Remote past:** For speaking about things which happened "very long ago", but often still in living memory. Elders tend to use this form when speaking about their childhoods, for example.
**Past:** For all other past events.
**Present:** For things happening currently.
**Future:** For most things which will or are expected to happen in the future.
**Remote Future:** Most often used in the hypothetical or "someday" sense, but can also be used to describe the far future.

### Other Verb Aspects

**om** /om/
 **Imperfective** | If ends with {ɔ,ʊ,ɜ,ʌ,ɪ} & vowel: Suffix -teɪ̯s
If ends with {ɔ,ʊ,ɜ,ʌ,ɪ} & consonant: Suffix -eɪ̯s
If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɹn
Else: Suffix -eɪ̯ɹn

**lōnẹ̇s** /ˈlɔneɪ̯s/
 **Progressive** | If ends with {ɔ,ʊ,ɜ,ʌ,ɪ} & consonant: Suffix -ʊə̯n
If ends with {ɔ,ʊ,ɜ,ʌ,ɪ} & vowel: Suffix -nʊə̯
If ends with vowel: Suffix -la
Else: Suffix -ala

**omílá** /ˈomila/
 **Habitual** | Particle after the verb: - ʃim

**dơȶā ȿím** /ˈdoʊ̯θɔ ʃim/
*stands*

# Pronouns & Clusivity

## Personal Pronouns

Due to their isolated environment, Türnan society was almost entirely insular for nearly 300 years, and in modern times the average Türna's interaction with other cultures is typically limited to commerce or travel. In addition, the complex structure of the average Türnan family requires clarity in one's relationship to others, biological or otherwise. As a result, the personal pronoun system of Türnalōn is easily the most complex on the continent, and possibly on the entire planet. A Türnan joke goes:

*Q: How does one know his child is old enough for school?
A: Her teacher is not her sister, and her bondsmother is no longer a stranger.*

The joke hinges on both rhyming words (**kaí** = sister, **faí** = teacher), and the often incorrectly-applied pronoun usage of young children during language acquisition. It's arguably much funnier untranslated.

*Q: íká ơȶènátú tèboútú púnom ẹ̇bá faínom?
A: táẹ̇ onáfaílơtú nom onákaílơtú nom ȿaí, ơ táè másáná nom átáèko másánáko nomơȶơ ȿaí*

## Modes & Clusivity

### Inclusive/Informal Mode

The basic personal pronouns for in-group members are used by Türna, for Türna, and among Türna. The Inclusive mode, sometimes called the Informal mode, is the mode used between family members and close friends, and when speaking casually about other members of the in-group. If a Türna refers or speaks to a non-Türna using the Informal mode, it means the speaker considers the non-Türna to be family, or equivalent to family.

The Inclusive mode acts as the root for the Formal and Exclusive modes, using a surprisingly logical and regular system of affixes.

/eˈna/
*I*
/oʊ̯ˈθeɪ̯/
*you*
/ˈtae/
*he, she, they (singular)*
/aˈti/
 **Plural** | **ẹ̇nán**
/eɪ̯ˈnan/
*we*
/oʊ̯ˈθenan/
*you (plural)*
/ˈtaenan/
*they (plural)*
/aˈtin/
 **Collective** | **ná**
/na/
*we all,*
*our kind*
/oʊ̯ˈθena/
*you (collective)*
/taˈei̯na/
*they (collective),* *their kind*
/aˈtina/
*they (collective, inanimate)*

Collective case in personal pronouns is complex. 1st Person Personal Pronouns are especially of note. The most direct translation for the 1st Person Collective word **ná** would be "we all", but the unspoken implication is "we, as Türna" in effect speaking for the group as a whole. This form is frequently used singularly, that is, in place of **ẹ̇ná**, and when used in that context, means "I, as a Türna".

A person might use the collective singular to signal loyalty, to imply that they are a typical example of a Türna, somewhat analogous to the way one might say, "Americans like hot dogs", or as a form of evidentiality, to emphasize that *of course* something is true of them, because they are Türna.

 "I love walking in the forest"

 "I/We all love walking in the forest"
"I, like all Türna, love walking in the forest"

The 2nd and 3rd Person Collective Case is used when referring to a smaller group of people, such as a family, sports team, subcultural group, etc. These tenses do not always hold the same Ímaí Türna-wide implications as the 1st Person tense, but are often used to generalize about the smaller group in similar ways.

### Formal Mode

Formal mode is used when respect is called for: in business interactions, addressing mixed groups of insiders and outsiders, and addressing someone whose status is ambiguous. Formal pronouns agree with Medial demonstratives. This form is also the polite form used by outsiders when speaking to insiders about insiders.

Else: Prefix sa-**sơȶẹ̇** /ˈsoʊ̯θeɪ̯/
*you (formal)*

### Exclusive Mode

In Türnalōn, Exclusive Mode is more expansive than a simple including/not-including you type of clusivity. Clusivity in Türnalōn extends to the entire language in multiple ways, including in the use of pronouns. Exclusive pronouns agree with Distal demonstratives. Exclusive mode should be used by outsiders when speaking about themselves and to other outsiders. It is also a form used by Insiders to refer to outsiders in less formal contexts - usage of the exclusive rather than the formal to address an outsider infers a degree of familiarity between speakers, while still maintaining a level of social distance.

Insiders *never* use the exclusive mode to refer or speak to other insiders. A Türna using the exclusive to refer to another Türna would be seen as both bizarre/nonsensical, and greatly offensive. Türna don't even use the exclusive to refer to Türnan social outcasts and despised criminals - it's simply not done.

**ơȶẹ̇ko** /oʊ̯ˈθeɪ̯ko/
*you (outsider)*

## Personal Pronoun Cases

Case conjugation for personal pronouns is similar, but not identical, to case conjugation for nouns. Personal pronouns are not modified for the nominative case (though certain other, non-personal pronouns may be). Note also that Collective pronouns use the suffix -na rather than -iɾa to denote the specific in-group signaling. Pronoun case is not conjugated by clusivity: the formality rules are applied to the word first, and the case is applied afterward.

### Singular

*me, myself*
*you, yourself*
*him/her/them (sg)*
*himself/herself/themselves (sg)*
 **possessive construct** | **ènátú** /eˈnatu/
*my, mine*
*your, yours*
*his, hers, her (gen),*
*theirs (sg), their (sg)*
 **Dative** | **tús èná** /tus eˈna/
*to me*
*to you*
*to him, to her, to them (sg)*
*to it*

### Plural

*us*
*you all*
*them (pl)*
 **possessive construct** | **ẹ̇nántú** /eɪ̯ˈnantu/
*our, ours*
*your (pl), yours (pl)*
*their (pl), theirs (pl)*
 **Dative** | **tús ènán** /tus eˈnan/
*to us*
*to you all*
*to them (pl)*
*to them (ina)*

### Collective

/aˈna/
*all of us*
/koʊ̯ˈθena/
*all of you all, your kind*
/aˈtaeɪ̯na/
*all of them, their kind*
/kaˈtina/
 **possessive construct** | **nátú**
/naˈtu/
*all of our, all of ours*
/oʊ̯ˈθeɪ̯natu/
*all of your, all of yours, belonging to your kind*
/taeˈnatu/
*all of theirs, belonging to all of their kind*
/aˈtinatu/
 **Dative** | **tú ná**
/tu na/
*to us all*
/tus oʊ̯ˈθeɪ̯na/
to all of you all
/tu ˈtaena/
to all of them, to all of their kind
/tus aˈtina/
to all of them (ina)

# Numerals

Numerical values in Türnalōn follow a very regular system. One through ten have their own words, the rest of the tens through one-hundred follow the structure: #Tens, #Ones. Note that the word for zero is also the word for "nothing".

 "eleven", "twenty-four", "thirty-seven", "fourty-two"

There are individual words for hundred, thousand, and million (though million is also the word for "unfathomably huge").

Numerals over 100 follow the same structure as the others, but with the zero specified, if it's present.

Counting requires a counter suffix appended to the number:

 "one, two, three"

Counting backwards (down) uses the same counter, but has two different ways of reaching zero. The first is more formal/adult than the second: