Tosï

Tosï
Pronunciation	[ˈtɔsɪ], [tos]
Language family	Turisan
Writing system	Latin, formerly Nahan
Official status
Spoken in	Dróstsiśtsi, CMCic Federation (formerly)
Speaker
Endonym	Tosï
Technical information
Usage	Official language
Language code	TOS

Notice:

This page makes dubious use of the Nahan script in a way that is no longer supported by the font

Tosï ([tos], Kośtsiśtsi: káśtsi Tos ['kɒ́ʃtsi tos], Turis tos [tos]) is an official language of Dróstsiśtsi.

History

A form of Tosï, today known as Old Tosï, was originally an official language of the CMCic Federation, written primarily in the Nahan script. After Ruxese, the core of the federation, fell under control, it was nominated as an official language by the new government of Ǵuśese/Ruxese Province. Since all official languages of the provinces are automatically considered official national languages, this meant it is also considered an official language in Dróstsiśtsi.

Little attestation of Old Tosï remains; however, some of the grammar is documented, and these parts show a similarity to modern Tosï. Some scholars have proposed that Old Tosï is a language isolate, but it is generally agreed that it was a form of modern Tosï, which is generally agreed to be a member of the southern branch of the Turisan languages.

Phonology

Consonants

Tosï has 23 consonants:

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t	ʧ ⟨q⟩	k	ʔ ⟨∅⟩
	Voiced	b	d	ʤ ⟨c⟩	g
Fricative	Voiceless	f	s	ʃ ⟨x⟩	x ⟨h⟩
	Voiced	v	z	ʒ ⟨j⟩	ɣ ⟨r⟩
Liquid		w	l	j ⟨y⟩

Vowels

Tosï has 7 vowels:

Caption text

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ ⟨ï⟩	u
Mid	e	ɵ ⟨ö⟩	o
Low		a

Phonotactics and Stress

Tosï's syllable structure is exclusively CV phonemically, but can have consonant clusters phonetically, as the unstressed central vowels <ï, ö> elide in unstressed positions. Tosï has a phonemically penultimate stress pattern, making something like Dörosïqï "Dróstsiśtsi" be pronounced as /dɵɣoˈsɨt͡ʃɨ/ phonemically, but as [dɣoˈsɨt͡ʃ] phonetically, making the final syllable stressed instead of the penultimate one. This shows a seemingly unusual shift of [r] being loaned as [ɣ], believed to have historically came from [r] being loaned as a uvular trill or fricative. Although the loaning of "Dróstsiśtsi" only came about after such a sound was turned into a velar [ɣ], the sound is still orthographically represented as <r>. Due to this reduction, the language allows syllabic fricatives phonetically; for example [dx'fona] "Heufauna" (GEN) has a syllabic [x] in its first syllable after the elision of two unstressed /ɨ/.

In modern Tosï, clusters with multiple obstruents differing in voicing have them all assimilate to the voicing of the first consonant. For example, dïtosï [d'tos] "language" often becomes [dos], and dïhïfona [dxfona] "Heufauna" becomes [dɣvona], or [dɨvona] with the syllabic [ɣ] lowering. Due to the genitive prefix tending to reduce its lone vowel and having an initial voiced stop, many words with initial voiceless obstruents become voiced in the genitive. Words with initial alveolar or palatal stops followed by fricatives in these classes tend to affricate; dïsekoŋi [dze'koŋi] "janitor", dïxirö [dʒir] "federation". Occasionally speakers will affricate with /l/ as well- dïleqo [dɮetʃo] "candy", but more commonly [dletʃo]. This is most common in speakers who have significant exposure to Kośtsiśtsi, where [dl] is not allowed but [dɮ] is common. Hence, it is becoming more common among speakers due to increasing integration in Dróstsiśtsi, where Kośtsiśtsi is the primary national language.

Grammar

Nouns

Tosï has 3 noun cases:

• Accusative (marked with re- /ɣe/)
• Genitive (marked with dï- /dɨ/)
• Dative (Marked with qu- /t͡ʃu/

The nominative case is unmarked. Along with those, Tosï also marks the plural on nouns with fe- /fe/.

As can be seen in the pronouns, the language has two genders, commonly named male and female.

Pronouns

The image to the right, and table below, show the pronouns in Tosï. The accusitive case is also used in the dative and genitive cases.

	nom	acc
1s	la	sa
2s	we	ne
3s.m	bi	mo
3s.f	o	bö

Verbs

Tosï verbs mark for the past tense with ci-, future tense with ga-, and the imperative mood with gï-.

Other

Tosï has a negation affix -so /so/. It is normally suffixal but can also occur as a prefix or separate word (eg. "no entry" being "so idaŋi").

The suffix -ŋi is a common derivational suffix, forming the nominal forms of verbs; zïhïŋi "exit (noun)" but zïhï "exit (verb)". On nouns, it marks abstraction; taqu "god of order", taquŋi "order, democracy".

Word Order

Tosï syntax is overall fairly analytic, with postpositions instead of locatives. Similar to Turis and other Turisan languages, adjectives and genitives follow what they modify, and the word order is overall SVO.

Latijöseŋi

Main article: Latijöseŋi

Latijöseŋi ([latiʒˈseŋi], lit. "Latin-becoming") is a system to write in Tosï. It was originally used in situations where the Nahan script is unavailable or where it is, but without the Strappo, but modern Tosï prefers Latijöseŋi or Dróstsiźda Characters in almost all uses.