Toki Telan

**Toki Telan** (literally, **"Telan language"** or **"language of Telan"**), also occasionally referred to as **Ma Telanese**, is a language primarily spoken within the Chiefdom of Ma Telan by the inhabitants of its several dispersed island communities. It is not a member of any known or recognized language family; however, some believe that its vocabulary bears some resemblance to some isolated or ancient languages. Toki Telan is recognized as a minority language in the City-State of Dal Sulo and has been used on certain occasions by international associations.

## History

Until roughly 100 G.E., Toki Telan was almost exclusively spoken on the island of Nakasima and had not spread to any other communities on nearby islands. Its name is believed to be derived from a word in an ancient precursor tongue of the language in which "Telana" meant realm or world.

By 200 G.E., nearly all islands that are now a part of Ma Telan had adopted the language in order to facilitate the spread of culture and trade between communities.

In 365 G.E., Toki Telan was adopted as the official language of the newly formed nation of Ma Telan and education programs were implemented across the country to encourage the use of the language.

## Phonology

Toki Telan has nine consonants (/p, t, k, s, m, n, l, j, w/) and five vowels (/a, e, i, o, u/). Stress falls on the initial syllable of a word. There are no diphthongs, contrasting vowel length, consonant clusters (except those starting with the nasal coda), or tones. Both its sound inventory and phonotactics are compatible with the majority of all languages in the world, and are therefore readily accessible.

### Vowels

 Mid
 Open

## Syllable structure

Syllables are of the form (C)V(N), i.e. optional consonant + vowel + optional final N, or V, CV, VN, CVN. The consonant is obligatory in syllables that are not word-initial. As in most languages, CV is the most common syllable type, at 75% (counting each root once). V and CVN syllables are each around 10%, while only 5 words have VN syllables (for 2% of syllables). Most roots (70%) are disyllabic; about 20% are monosyllables and 10% trisyllables.

## Phonotactics

The following sequences are not allowed: \*/ji, wu, wo, ti/, nor may a syllable's final nasal occur before /m/ or /n/ in the same root.

Proper nouns are usually converted into Toki Telan proper adjectives using a set of guidelines. The native, or even colloquial, pronunciation is used as the basis for the subsequent sound conversion.

## Writing System

14 letters, *a e i j k l m n o p s t u w*, are used to write the language.

Besides these letters, which are the most convenient and most used way of writing the language, a logographic writing system called *sitelen sitelen* is used by many communities as the primary method of writing the language. This non-linear system uses two separate methods to form words: logograms representing words and an alphasyllabary for writing the syllables (especially for proper names).

## Grammar

Toki Telan's word order is subject–verb–object. The word *li* introduces predicates, *e* introduces direct objects, prepositional phrases follow the objects, and *la* phrases come before the subject to add additional context.

Some roots are grammatical particles, while others have lexical meanings. The lexical roots do not fall into well defined parts of speech; rather, they may be used generally as nouns, verbs, modifiers, or interjections depending on context or their position in a phrase. For example, *ona li moku* may mean "they ate" or "it is food".