Tòkvá grammar

Orthography

A a	/a/	J j	/d͡ʒ/	Ś ś	/ʃ/
B b	/b/	K k	/k/	T t	/t/
C c	/t͡ʃ/	L l	/l/	U u	/ʏ/
D d	/d/	M m	/m/	V v	/v~ʋ/
E e	/ə/	N n	/n/	W w	/ɰ/
F f	/f/	O o	/ɔ/	Y y	/j/
G g	/g/	P p	/p/	Z z	/z/
H h	/ɮ~h/	R r	/ɹʲ/	Ź ź	/ʒ/
I i	/i/	S s	/s/	‘	/ʔ/

Each vowel must also take one of three tones: high (a), low (à) and rising (á). These are frequently used to differentiate between word and tense. In some versions of Tòkvá, the low tone is glottalised or pharyngealised, while the rising tone is shown with the following vowel mutations: /a~æ/, /ə~ɛ/, /i~je/, /ɔ~ɪ̈/, /ʏ~u/.

Syntax

There are no set word classes - a word normally used as a noun may function as a verb without being heavily modified, and vice versa. In each sentence, both the subject and verb are inflected to show changes in tense.

The standard word order is Object-Subject-Verb, where the object is usually translated with the preposition “to” to maintain English syntax. However, for some nouns which take other prepositions, such as “from” and “by”, the syntax varies wildly – this will be discussed later on.

Structure of a standard sentence

For the majority of sentences, the pattern described below is used.

K’kvá = go by communal transport (“go among company”)

Using the pronoun “da” as a subject, referring to the first person, we can produce forms such as:

-          Da k’kvá = I go among company

-          Dà k’kvá = I can go among company

-          Dè k’kvá = I went among company

-          Dé k’kvá = I will go among company (in the foreseeable future)

Then, by inflecting the verb as well, we can make many different forms in the same way:

	K’kvá	K’kvà	K’kvè	K’kvé	K’kvi
Da	I go	I should go	I should have gone	I must go	Did I go?
Dà	I can go	I might go	I might have gone	Where will I go?	Where did I go?
Dè	I went	I could have gone	I went before	I went after	I have been and continue going
Dé	I will go	I would go	I will go at an indefinite point	I would have gone	Will I go?

For sentences with both the object and subject, or just the object, the object is inflected like the subject and verb to show the tense of the sentence.

Patterns of inflection

While most words take the inflection pattern shown in the examples above, there are a few nouns which end in “ú”, and then are inflected with “ù”, “o”, “e” and “i” likewise. 

Also, there are several nouns which, instead of taking “á/a” as first inflection and “à” as second, or the same with “ú” and “ù”, reverse this, so “a/ù” goes with the first declension instead.

Distinctions between object and subject in single-noun sentences

In some sentences where the subject is assumed or general (“one”), the subject can be omitted with only the object being used instead – for example:

-          Màzkva k’kvá = one goes among company to Moscow

Of course, this then raises the issue that the sentence can then have two meanings – “one goes to Moscow” or “Moscow goes”, since there is no informal way of specifying the subject. This is a common problem in Tòkvá, and is in many cases simply treated by the listener assuming – of course, Moscow, a city, is very unlikely to physically move, so it is assumed to be the object. In many Tòkvá nouns this seems to be present, with an animate-inanimate system of distinguishing between subject and object that particularly appears to be emerging in informal speech. As such, this hierarchy is marked in official dictionaries of the language.

However, there are two ways of clearing up this distinction for more formal speech, or more technical speech. Firstly, for technicality (but not formality), the pronoun “lú” is used as the subject or object, so that it can be made clear whether or not Moscow is the subject. Then, for formal speech, the verb is changed so that the first consonant is followed by the vowel “á”, so that “k’kvá” becomes “kákvá” for example. In informal speech, these forms of verbs have taken on entirely different meanings, so be careful when using them.

Use of ablative and perlative nouns & alternate verb structures

For some verbs, the object cannot be in the dative (“to”) form because of syntactical reasons. This is where, to show that the object is ablative (“from”) or perlative (“by”, “through”), we take a completely new form.

For example, let’s take the sentence “I thought the food tasted good”.  In Tòkvá this literally translates as “from food a thought went well by me”, but since there is no inflection to show this, the article “c” (pronounced “ch”) precedes the entire sentence. Likewise, if the sentence were “by food a thought went well from me”, the same article would come after the sentence to show a reverse in meaning.

-          “pihú” – food

-          “mùlá” – thought

-          “skvá” – go, pass through

-          “smáú” - good

Therefore, with word order and syntax remaining:

-          “C* pihú mùlá dè* skvá* smáú” – “I thought the food tasted good”

*In very informal speech these can be omitted, since such a sentiment is often used and understood.

Pronouns

In Tòkvá, pronouns function very differently to the way they do in European languages. This is a list of the uninflected pronouns:

-          Da = first person singular

-          Śa = second and third person combined

-          Kú = suggests a neutral viewpoint, observant of but not attached to the conversation

-          Ja = first person plural

-          Jú = a third person being indirectly addressed in the conversation

-          Sú = “all” 

The lack of a pronoun is ambiguous, simply meaning “one”.