Tenkotesh

**Tenkotesh** is the language that was spoken and written by the people of Kentotra. It is named after the writing system's human founder Tenkotu, who is said to have also helped develop clear grammar rules. It is presumed to be the only true language isolate on Earth. Thanks to efforts from some anonymous sources, it is easily translated into romantic languages.

## Scripts

While I have been unable to get much straightforward information from what few... er, "locals" I have found, Tenkotesh has been the principal if not only glyphic grapheme system of writing for some time. It's associated language has even more limited data surrounding it. However, there are two writing systems that I have noted in my research, with one being decidedly older than the other. I have designated them "Script A" and "Script B."

It appears that Script A was developed before inks and papers were mainstays of Kentotran society, and it was written with a carved dowel that was thin on one end and thick on the other. Symbols were written in soft clay, using different levels of pressure with different ends of the dowel. The clay was then baked into solid tablets.

The Script B consists of simplified versions of the Script A characters. They were primarily written with the ink we are familiar with today along with wooden dip pens, but it seems young children used erasable charcoal until they learned proper pen control. The Script B is still far more complex than many terrestrial systems of writing, but they remove the depth and associated width aspect of their predecessors.

## Grammar

Tenkotesh utilizes a subject-verb-object sentence structure, but it also has a set of particles to indicate what role each word plays in a sentence (makes things a bit easier for a Japanese speaker like myself!). The only exceptions being adjectives and adverbs, each word in a sentence is either preceded or succeeded by a singular syllable that pinpoints the subject, object, location, and even the tense of the verb in a sentence.

Compound words exist in Tenkotesh, but each single word is separated by a singular punctuation mark, Romanized by an apostrophe ('). This punctuation also sees use in names, both given and family names, if the name is made up of multiple pre-existing words or root words.

A common feature of Tenkotesh is the ability to combine multiple words together to describe a complex concept. These compound words can extend for as long as the speaker needs provided that each single word is separated by the right punctuation. The language bears similarity to German in that regard, as it is possible to create one unified word for any phenomenon. Some of these words turn into local slang, so their uses differ depending on the region.

(table of particles)

Be- The present tense verb particle.

Da- Specifies a plural noun. As singular and plural nouns are often left up to context or specified via numbers, "da" is only used in 1. exceedingly formal speech such as an academic report or 2. a situation when plurality cannot be clarified any other way. For example, "Aran'khutu da" is grammatically correct, but sounds stiff and awkward in everyday conversation.

Ni- "And."

Ze- "But."

- "Because." Can be placed at the beginning or end of a clause, but is more naturally placed at the beginning.

Ya- The subject marker.

- The object marker.

Mi-The past tense verb particle.

Wu-The future tense verb particle.

Hko-Used in the same way as "would" in a conditional sentence. (Ex. I would have woken up sooner, but I went to bed too late last night.) Placed before the verb.

Ji-"To," or indicates a person or place of destination or recipience. (Ex. I gave a gift to my mother.)

-"At," or indicates where something took place. Specific location words such as "above," "below," or "next to" take the role of adjectives to make up the prepositional phrase.

## Vocabulary

Though some "local" assistance has helped with translation, many of these words were inferred through context across many texts.

(put this info into a table later I forget how to change the number of rows and columns)

Akto- Human, person

Aran- Divine, having to do with gods or demigods

Khutu- Person in a position of power, either in divinity or a government or military position. This is often used as a general honorific for referring to someone in a higher rank with respect, like "captain" or "officer" in English (i.e. Khutu Iwata! ...if I ever had that kind of power)

Maba- Hello. Used to signify any greeting (ex. good morning, happy holidays, happy birthday, etc.). Often shortened to "ma" as a casual greeting between friends, most often used by teens and young adults.

Meti- Royal, regal. Used for the economic upper-class and royal families (i.e. Meti'khutu for "monarch")

Uvum- Wine