Tagalur

Tagalur is an a posteriori language based on Tagalog with reverted sound changes that aim the level of phonological conservativeness akin to Malay. It also has some features inserted back from Proto Austronesians.

Syllables are in form of (C)V(C).

Palatal nasal and stops can only appear at the beginning of a syllable.

Most of the sound are applied based on the etymology of the word.

• h, ‘, w, or null reverts to l
  • tainga > talinga
  • buwan > bulan
  • bahay > balay
  • daan > jalan
• g reverts to r
  • tulug > tudur
• d reverts to j
  • daan > jalan
• l reverts to d, j, or r
  • sila > sida
  • ngalan > ngajan
• Metatheses are reverted
  • itlog > telur
  • isda > deda

• i reverts to e: dikit > deket
• o reverts to u: itlog > telur

Loan from non-european words can be used to replace loan-words from european language.

• Sapatos > Paduka
• Elefante > Gaja

Indonesian (or malay) are used in the following scenarios:

The Filipino word is European loan and the Indonesian is native

The Filipino word is European loan and the Indonesian is native

Tagalur has VSO word order.

"Kuman i bata ta mansan."

• kuman: eat
• i bata: child
• ta mansan: apple

Sometimes a sentence can be VOS for the sake of clarity or aesthetics. But the verbs always come first.

Adjective follows nouns it modifies

"A balay madakel" - The big house

• balay: house
• madakel: big

Adverbs follows the adjective or the verb it modifies

"Matakebu mabilis i bata" - The child runs quickly

• Matakebu: run
• Mabilis: quick

A sentence can become part of speech of another sentence. For example in the sentence "I want (x) the phrase (x) can be replaced with, for example, "you tell the truth". When combined it becomes "I want you to tell the truth."

In Tagalur the embedded sentence has "ang" preceding it:

• I want (you to tell the truth): Umaw aku ta (ang sumabi aw ta tu'u)

If both of the the focus of the main sentence and the embedded sentence are the same, the focus can be dropped. For example, the sentence "I like (x)" where the (x) is replaced by "I go to the mountain":

• I like (to go to the mountain): Sumuka aku (ang mapergi da ke bundok)

The equivalent of modal verbs in english are adverb in Tagalur, like other adverb they come after the verb they modify:

• Kaya (can): Kuman kaya aku titu (I can eat this)
• Dapat (must): Kuman dapat aw tana (You must eat that)
• Baka (may): Kuma baka iya tu'u (He may eat that)

Consider Tagalog case markers

Tagalur case markers has the patern of:

• Inanimate -a
• Animate: -i

Unlike in Tagalog, Animate markers are used for all humans, not just for proper nouns (names)

Plural is marked with -nga (combination of manga in common and -na in personal).

Next, the consonants for the case position are:

• Absolute: none
• Nominative: s-
• Accusarive: t-
• Oblique: k-
• Genitive: n-
• Locative: d-

Reference: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285207577_The_Case-Markers_of_Proto-Austronesian

Note: Accusative t- here is an innovation in Tagalur.

Combining them, the case markers of Tagalur are

The suffix -nga is a bound morpheme, it cannot stand on its own. While Tagalog can form a phrase like "ang pulang mga mansanas" in Tagalur the same phrase must be translated as "anga mansan pula" instead of *"a pula nga mansan" (additionally this construction also violates the syntax of adjective in Tagalur).

Noun in absolute case may act as nominative or accusative depending on the focus of the verb.

• Agent Focus
  • Bumaca (i taw) (ta aklat)
  • A person is reading a book
• Patient Focus
  • Baca'''en (a aklat) (si taw)
  • A book is read by a person.

In other focus, nominative and/or accsative needs to be present.

• Location Focus
  • Baca'''an a balay (si taw) (ta aklat)
  • A person is reading a book in a house.

Tagalur uses preposition exclusively. Locative case governs locative preposition, by default it means "at"

• Matanah aku (da lungsud madakel) > I live in a big city.

Other locative prepositions includes:

• Ri (from): Nalakebay aku (ri da balay naku) > I ran from my house

The oblique govern most other prepositions.

• Gumawa i ina ka kanen ni (untuk ki ama) > Mom made this food for dad.

Consider Tagalog and Malay personal pronouns:

Pronouns in Tagalur is constructed using the pronominal suffix:

Ref: https://www.academia.edu/3404642/Reconstructing_the_Case_marking_and_Personal_Pronoun_Systems_of_Proto_Austronesian

From here, they'''re constructed with case markers, only genitive is shown for example

Consider Tagalog demonstratives. (Regularized)

Demonstrative determiner in Tagalur are then

• Taw tu, this person near us.
• Taw di, this person near me.
• Taw an, that person near you.
• Taw un, that person far away from us.

And as for the pronouns, the demonstratives can get either a- or i- suffix depending on the animacy of the noun it represents. Shown here in the absolutive.

The word for 'who' and 'what' Tagalur has the same root 'nu' This can be combined with the marker.

The 'nu' particle behave like the determiner.

• Taw nu > What kind of person

The other interrogatives are:

• Panu (how)
• Pija (how many)
• Kapija (when)
• Bakit (why)

The interrogatives are not moved to the front of a sentence unlike in Tagalog:

Verb in Tagalur is conjugated on focus (voice) and aspect. The order of the conjugation are.

• Causative
• Aspect and Focus

The causative pa-, added to intrasitive turns a verb into transitive:

• atay (die) > pa'atay (kill)

The aspects are as follows.

The focuses are as follows.

Stative focus only applies to intransitive verbs (and predicative adjective). These verbs and adjectives can't have actor or patient focus.

Focus and Aspect are combined together in semi regular fashion. In particular, notice that -en is dropped in Perfective and Progressive.

Here are the full combination of the aspect and the focus.

Here are the full combination of the aspect and the focus

Tagalur uses adverb for these constructs. Just like other adverb it comes after the adjective.

Adjectives are stative verbs, they can be used like intransitive verb.

• Matudur a asu > The dog sleeps
• Maputi a balay > The house is white

When used as attributive, it goes after the noun (or noun phrase) it modifies with the link "ya".

• A asu ya matudur > The sleeping dog (the dog who sleeps)
• A balay ya maputi > The white house (the house that is white)

This strategy can even be extended to transitive verbs.

• I taw ya tumayu ta balay > The person who build the house.
• A balay ya tayun si tau > The house that the person build.

For a lot of case, the linker "ya" can be dropped:

• A balay ya maputi = A balay maputi.
• I taw ya tumayu ta balay = I taw tumayu ta balay

Verbs and adjectives may also be used as nouns simply by adding case marker on them.

• A kanen: something eaten, food.
  • Compare to Tagalog "ang kanin".
• A kanan: place where eating is happened.
  • Compare to Tagalog "ang kainan"

The word may and wada are used to mark possession and existence.

• May a kanen > There's food
• Wada a kanen > There's no food

Locative pronoun can also be used.

• May i taw diyun > There's no one there.
• Wada a masala didi > There's no problem here.

Poesession for "X have Y" is expressed as "There's Y at X"

• May a wang daku > I have money (There's money at me)