Kośtsiśtsi

Kośtsiśtsi
Pronunciation	['kɔʃtsɯʃtsɯ]
Language family	Turisan languages
Writing system	Kośtsiźda symbols, Latin
Official status
Spoken in	Dróstsiśtsi
Speaker
Technical information
Usage	Official Language
Language code	KTT

Kośtsiśtsi [kɔʃ.tsiʃ.tsi] is the primary and co-official language of the People's Republic of Dróstsiśtsi. It is a member of the Turisan languages, which are found throughout Dróstsiśtsi.

Name

The name derives from káś "language, talk", tsiś "valley", and tsi, a nominative case marker. In its adjective form, as outlined below, it becomes kośtsiźda. The reason the name includes a morpheme meaning "valley" is disputed; it is generally believed to have come from an earlier form of the language before its speakers migrated to modern Dróstsiśtsi, likely somewhere to the west, but its exact location is unknown. Some other hypotheses instead suggest it was another morpheme that also became pronounced tsiś, most likely one meaning "rare".

The proper spelling is Káśtsiśtsi, but it is typically spelled in English beginning with Koś- due to historical spelling. Koshtsishtsi is preferred when acutes are unavailable.

Name in other languages:

• Taqồpaq: koŝtsưŝtsư [kɔʃtsɯʃtsɯ]
• Śácamþaśá: SoSUTTUSqo Qáścycśyśá /'qɑːɕcɵcɕɵʃäː/
• Tosï: koxötïsïxï [koʃtsɨʃ]
• Araçanic: çeha Igrozixi /s̪e.ha i.gro.s̪i.ʃi/

Usage

It is spoken natively in the Birchtree Islands province in northern Dróstsiśtsi; due to this containing the national capital and biggest city, Birchtree City, the language has found some use in the other parts of the country, but has not displaced the other local Turisan languages in their respective regions. However, this status has made it the primary Dróstsiźda language used interŋationally.

Phonology

Unless otherwise noted in ⟨⟩ brackets, the IPA is the same as the romanization. When two values are shown in the same cell with a ~ separating them, the first is found in "front" words while the second is in "back" words.

Initials

		Labial	Dental	Sibilant	Lateral	Trill	Postalveolar	Velar
Stop	Voiceless	p	t	ts	tɬ ⟨tl⟩	tr̥ ⟨tr⟩	tɕ~tʃ ⟨tś⟩	c~k ⟨k⟩
	Voiced	b	d	dz	dɮ ⟨dl⟩	dr	dʑ~dʒ ⟨dź⟩	ɟ~g ⟨g⟩
Fricative	Voiceless	f	θ ⟨tt⟩	s	ɬ ⟨ł⟩	r̥ ⟨ŕ⟩	ɕ~ʃ ⟨ś⟩	ç~x ⟨x⟩
	Voiced	v~w ⟨v⟩	ð ⟨dd⟩	z	l~ɫ ⟨l⟩	r	ʑ~ʒ ⟨ź⟩	ʝ~ɣ ⟨ǵ⟩
Nasal		m	n					ɲ~ŋ ⟨ń⟩

Note: "alveolar", in the context of Kośtsiśtsi phonology, applies to all columns above except the labial and velar columns, which together are referred to as "peripheral".

Consonants in syllables with front vowels have slightly different pronunciations from the same consonants in words with back vowels. They are often slightly palatalized in front words and velarized in back words, though certain sounds take stronger variation. /v/ and /l/ are often heavily velarized in back words, the postalveolar sounds are typically only postalveolar in back words and alveolo-palatal sibilants in front words, and the velar sounds are palatal in front words and velar in back words. Aside from these, the sequence /vu/ is pronounced as [vu] instead of the expected [wu] due to similarity.

Codas

	Labial	Dental	Sibilant	Lateral	Trill	Postalveolar	Velar	Nasal
Phoneme	p	t	s	l	r	ś	k	n
Variants	p~b~f~v	t~d~θ~ð~f~v

The chart in "Initials" only applies for initial consonants; in coda position, the chart collapses, with the stop and fricative series merging into archiphonemes depending primarily on place, although the nasals remain separate. The main archiphonemes vary depending on the following consonant; all codas except nasals assimilate to the next consonant's voicing. The set of coda phonemes is in a table below; these are often fricatives, but with two stops for labial and velar positions, and a nasal that assimilates to the following consonant. Codas occurring next to the same consonant as the next syllable's initial combine to geminate the consonant.

⟨kas⟩+⟨sa⟩=⟨kassa⟩ [kas:a] "I close" ⟨laf⟩+⟨tsi⟩=⟨lattsi⟩ [lat:si] "arm (NOM)"

The /t/ coda is the most variable; when before a stop or nasal, as well as a peripheral fricative, it becomes a [t] or [d] depending on the following consonant's voicing, and before alveolar stops results in phonetically geminating the following stop. However, when before an alveolar fricative, it can become [θ]~[f]; these are in free variation, except before /θ/ and /ð/ where it is always dental to form a geminate, and before /ɬ/ and /l/, where it dissimilates to [f v]. Final /k/ is typically palatalized [c~ɟ] next to /i, e/, uvularized [q~ɢ] next to /o, ɔ/, and before /x/ and /ɣ/ fricativizes to form a geminate. /p/ will also fricativize to form a geminate before /f/ and /v/; note that this is exclusive from the contexts where /t/ can become [f], keeping them separate.

⟨pók⟩+⟨tsi⟩=⟨póktsi⟩ [poktso] "eye [NOM]"

⟨pók⟩+⟨du⟩=⟨pógdu⟩ [pogdu] "eye [ACC]"

⟨pók⟩+⟨sæ⟩=⟨póksa⟩ [poksα] "I see"

⟨pók⟩+⟨vo⟩=⟨póǵvo⟩ [pogwo] "they see"

⟨pók⟩+⟨ne⟩=⟨pógne⟩ [pognə] "you see"

⟨kæs⟩+⟨tsi⟩=⟨kastsi⟩ [kastsi] "neck [NOM]"

⟨kæs⟩+⟨du⟩=⟨kazdu⟩ [kazdu] "neck [ACC]"

⟨kæs⟩+⟨sæ⟩=⟨kassa⟩ [kassa] "I close"

⟨kæs⟩+⟨vo⟩=⟨kazvø⟩ [kazvo] "they close"

⟨kæs⟩+⟨ne⟩=⟨kazne⟩ [kazne] "you close"

Vowel

	Front	Back
High	i ⟨i⟩	u ⟨u⟩
Mid	e ⟨e⟩	o ⟨o⟩
Low	æ~a ⟨æ⟩	ɔ~α ⟨a⟩

All vowels occur with a low or high tone; the low tone is unmarked, while high tone is an acute.

Phonotactics

The syllable structure is CV(C), with a mandatory onset consonant and vowel. Codas are optional, but syllables without codas are largely limited to grammatical affixes. See the Codas section above for more.

Orthographic notes

The Latin script version of Kośtsiśtsi uses mostly the basic Latin script, with the addition of the acute. Acutes can go on á, ǽ, é, ǵ, í, ł, ń, ó, ŕ, ś, ú, and ź, and versions with and without the acute are considered separate letters. The preferred way of representing letters with acutes in the Latin script without acutes is with -h; simply dropping the acutes results in significant information loss. Phonetic affricates, as well as dental fricatives, are represented as digraphs with <t> or <d> as the initial letter, as in the chart above.

Orthographically, in the Latin alphabet the coda assimilation is represented somewhat irregularly; normally they are written the same as in onsets, but pairs of sounds corresponding to the same phoneme with the only writing difference being the acute are written the same. At the ends of words only the unvoiced version is used, as all (non-nasal) consonants are devoiced in this position.

Morphology

The grammar system is polysynthetic, somewhat similar to Inuit-Yupik-Unangan languages (although not as extensive as in those), with a word initial root and a wide variety of grammatical suffixes able to follow. It is best described as a moderately polysynthetic language of the affixal and templatic types, meaning that typically each word has only one root plus affixes and that those affixes are arranged in a specific order.

Roots are not inherently marked as a verb or noun; instead, this information comes from the affixes. Nouns must be marked with one of a number of case affixes, while verbs must be marked with the person of their subject. Hence, roots cannot come alone. Words normally only have one root plus affixes; however, sometimes a ve

Particles

Words like "tix" (only) and "me" (and) can appear by themselves in a sentence. They take the prior word or two as arguments instead; for example, "me" can appear by itself in a phrase following two words of the same class; for nouns, they must both be of the same case, for verbs they must have the same arguments, and for adjectives they must both be marked as adjectives. In cases of two adjectives, they both modify what came directly before them. Two words of different types cannot fill the two slots of "me".

Nouns

Nouns do not have gender, but must be marked with case and number. Cases are as follows:

• nominative: tsi
• accusitive: du
• dative: rus

2.1.2 Genitives and Posession

• genitive: da
• possessive: noś

Roń noś sa lóź   go  źiźb  da  dduńda.

car-POS-1S house-LOC brick-GEN red-GEN

"My car is at the red brick house"

The "genitive" marks all English modifiers- genitives, adjectives, and adverbs- except posession, and does not take agreement. Posession is marked by -noś on the noun being posessed with the preceding noun being the posessor, but a pronoun can follow the -noś instead, where the pronoun is the possessor instead of the previous word.

2.1.3 Locatives

The four locative cases are used for positional and temporal contexts. It connotes a meaning of being at a position when used with a verb with a static aspect, and of going to or from something when it is used with a verb with a dynamic aspect. Temporal meanings are distinguished by context.

• locative: go

This is used for locations the referent before the suffix is going to or at. Temporally, it is used for it being a specific time.

lóźgo vadvoxól "he is at the house"

lóźgo vadvoxóldenar "he went to the house"

beptsi dógo daźgo vadvoxól "it is 8 in the morning" lit. "time 10-LOC morning-LOC is"

• ablative: sox

This is used for something being far from another, or motion away from something.

lóśsox vadvoxól "he is far from the house" lóśsox vadvoxóldenar "he left the house"

• adessive: dźex

This is used for something being on the surface of, above something, to the side of, or moving to any of those positions.

lóźdźex vadvoxól "he is at the house" lóźdźex vadvoxóldenar "he went to the house"

• intrative: źi

This is used for a position or motion between other things, when used with a dual or plural number, or for being inside something without that.

lóźźite vadvoxólte "he is between the two houses"

lóźźiku vadvoxólkudenar "he went between the (plural) houses"

lóźźi vadvoxól "he is inside the house"

lóźźi vadvoxóldenar "he went inside the house"

2.1.4 Other Cases

• vocative: ka

Śidźiguka! "hey Śidźigu!"

• comitative: rat

Śidźigurat vadsevo "I am with Śidźigu"

• instrumental: pof

tteźdu zaspof zafsavo "I cut the tree with an axe"

• benefactive: sax
• causal: zax
• distributive, partitive: dlaf

Additionally, cases can stack if needed; they are ranked with the more important ones closer to the root.

pókkunoźnepovzax "because of using your eyes", eye-PL-POS-2PS-INST-CAU

2.1.5 Number

• dual: te
• plural: ku

tteśte, tteśku "two trees, trees (plural)" but only tteś "tree (singular)"

For number, the nouns take the same affixes as verbs do. These must agree for the relevant position, so it is common to see -te or -ku appear on multiple words in a sentence.

Verbs

Verbs mark for a number of categories, but many of them either aren't necessary or have one option unmarked. They follow the order of "person, number, tense, aspect, mood, evidentiality" from left to right. There isn't a formal passive voice marker; instead, the objects are simply promoted to subjects without any special marking.

2.2.1 Person and Number

Person marking is polypersonal, with the marking of both the subject and object necessary on verbs which are taking an object. The marker for the subject always comes before that of the object, and the number of each person follows the person marker. Each position has the option of being occupied by a first, second, and third person proximate or obviative (hereafter referred to as fourth person- 4P) marker.

Typically, if two person markers are attached right next to each other, they are treated as being separate markers; the singular is normally unmarked, and only used to specify two preceding markers as both referring to the same speaker.

1P	2P	3P	dual	plural
sa	ne	vo	te	ku

póxsa "I see"

póxsane "I see you"

póxsanete "I see you two"

The third person marker <vo> is often repeated to refer to a verb whose subject and object positions are both occupied by 3rd person referents; the 4th person is primarily only used with animate referents, and to prevent confusion where doubling the 3P marker could cause it. If doubled, it is reduced to <vof>, keeping the same phonetic variations <vo> has as well as the normal coda variations. <vó> is an acceptable variant of <vo>.

2.2.2 Tenses

Remote past	Past	Future	Remote future
des	de	tó	tós

Temporal divisions are separated into 5 tenses, with the present being unmarked. The divisions between past, present, and future are clear, but the divisions between the remote past and future and their non-remote counterparts is less so; it is essentially context dependent, with it being used to separate different events by time. In discussions with only one event, the simple past or future is always used (de instead of des).

2.2.3 Aspect

Perfective	Progressive	Frequentative	Habitual	Inchoate	Cessative
-	nar	lit	bam	tśiś	suf
static	dynamic	dynamic	static	dynamic	dynamic

Verbs are by default classed as perfective, which in Kośtsiśtsi implies a stative verb. Habitual marking also implies a stative verb; the four other aspect markers imply dynamic verbs. The inchoative is also used with the meaning of becoming something.

gudvotśiś "it is becoming yellow" (yellow-3P-INCH)

For continuative marking, instead of the progressive, the perfective is used.

"I am wearing clothes"= pińvo "I am putting on clothes"= pińvonar

Lexical aspect is also indicated with aspectual suffixes.

vadsa "I go"

vadsasuf "I come" (literally "I stop going")

vadsatśiś "I leave" (literally "I start going"

2.2.4 Moods

The default and unmarked form is the indicative.

• conditional: lóx

póxsanelóx "I would see you"

• hypothetical: lón

Counterfactual statements also use this affix, as well as a past tense affix.

póxsanelón "I can see you" póxsanedelón "I would have seen you"

• subjunctive: gań

Primarily used for recommendations.

póxsanegań: "I recommend that I see you"

• interrogative: ǵu

póxsaneǵu  "Can I see you?"

• optative: drot

póxsanedrot "I hope I can see you"

• dubitative: baf

póxsanebaf "I doubt I see you"

• permissive: łoś

póxsanełoś "I am allowed to see you"

• imperative: box

Also used where "need to" is in english.

póxsanebox "I need to see you"

• accidental: los

póxsanelos "I accidentally saw you"

2.2.5 Evidentials

Evidentiality is marked by more suffixes, indicating the source or evidence of information.

• reportated: sól

mogdu mudvodesól "I heard that the forest burned"

• witnessed: pó

mogdu mudvodepóx "I saw that the forest burned"

• inferred: dax

mogdu mudvodedax "I can tell that the forest burned"

• prior knowledge: tses

mogdu mudvodetses "I know that the forest burned"

2.2.6 Other

Negation is done via the affix -zo. Normally this is placed after the root and before any other affixes, but can come directly after an affix if it is modifying the affix.

navzogo vadvode "It was not on the left"

pógzosavo "I did not see it"

mogdu mudvodesólzo "I did not hear that the forest burned"

The morpheme tsa can appear at the end of a verb to indicate surprise/mirativity, although this isn't necessary.

Syntax

The language defaults to VSO word order, but the other components can move to put an emphasized portion at the front with the suffix -tsu. Modifiers always come right after what they modify; eg. adjectives follow nouns.

Vocabulary

Kośtsiśtsi roots are necessarily monosyllabic. With the restricted syllable structure outlined above, the result is that there is only just over 2000 possible monosyllabic roots. This is moderated by the language not distinguishing roots by lexical aspect, transitivity, etc; also, certain roots can have completely different meanings in certain uses, typically due to different words in the proto-language merging after significant reduction. As a result, one root is often able to encompass a wide semantic space. Compounding is common, often to specify a type of whatever the root is, but also in fairly simple vocabulary. In compound words, the first one is the "main" root- that which determines the semantic category it falls into. For example, the word for "rose", a type of flower, is literally "flower-thorn" (tśikpós), with tśix "flower" coming first indicating that it is a type of flower. "Póstśix", the reverse, would indicate a type of thorn with something relating to flowers.

⟨dzix⟩ "sea"+⟨źil⟩ "circle"=⟨dzigźil⟩ [dziɟʑil] "island"

As noted above, words used in normal speech take on noun or verb affixes, with roots unable to appear in isolation. However, a handful of particles and numerals are allowed to, as well as names and words not being used in a phrase.

Numerals

The language traditionally uses a base 60 numeral system, with a subbase of 8. In writing, each "digit" from 0 to 59 is written with two characters representing its base 8 structure; in speech it is similar, but with certain numbers having separate words, and that single digit octal numbers do not have a preceding 0. In the Ŋorld it has switched to effectively just using base 8, as base 64 fits better with Stackcode.

Noun Incorporation

Additionally, objects can be incorporated into the verb to stress that the object is nonspecific or has already been talked about. In this case, the object appears between TAME grammatical markers and person/number marking, without any case marking with the object. Only the accusitive object can be incorporated, and no other object can appear in the accusitive form when this happens. However, if the object is already specific, typically a compound or loanword, it can stay with a general version being incorporated instead.

Zódesavo tsózda. "I ate the/a fish"

Zódetsóssavo. "I ate a fish"

Zódetsóssavo kodxódu. "I ate cod."

Getsóssavo. "I poison a fish"- "getsós" can be an independent word, "fish poison", but the -savo implies it is part of an incorporated structure.