The Conditional construction

In previous posts we learnt the conditional conjugation of the verb. This conjugation is used primarily to form the conditional construction, the kind of construction in such English sentences as "If I were you I wouldn't do that". Tulvan construction is very similar to that of English, albeit with some few differences.

Conditional I

This is the predictive conditional, indicating that it is possible to fulfil a condition which is given in the if-clause. To introduce the if-clause Tulvan employs the particle "ti" which has to come before and after the clause. So we have;

ti tulv kwam ti kuëvud kem.
If I think, I will know.

ti ëv kem ipoilu ti kuprim kwam urëlik ikem.
If I'm logical, I will protect my mind.

Conditional II

This would be the speculative conditional, implying it is theoretically possible to fulfil a condition which is given in the if-clause. In this case we use the subjunctive coupled with the conditional tense.

ti ëvpuaki meme ukem ti kyatumil mem.
If you listened, you would learn.


This is the same that you could use in the construction "If I were you".

ti ävi kem mem ti kyasut vu kwam.
If I were you, I wouldn't do it.


More about the Conditional constructions for coming posts.

kep

IPA: [kʰep]
vb. to speak, to talk, to say.

In people so fond of talking as are the Tulvans this word has a lot of uses, derivations and combinations. The word in itself is quite regular, but can undergo several changes and affixations.  So for instance we have ikkep 'to converse' (ik, between), which means to maintain a dialogue. You also have cikep 'to speak on behalf of' (ci, for, by), cumkep 'to speak for someone, on his defense or to speak well of someone' (cum, for), sivkep 'to speak thoroughly, to speak from beginning to end, to give a dissertation' (siv, through), and also migkep 'to speak at a party' (mig, around). This last one is the most interesting to my mind, it means that at social gatherings it is expected that you speak to all guests around you and partake in their conversations. One of many Tulvan codes of etiquette.

Another derivation is cnarakep (cnara, black) which means 'to curse', it is akin to the idea of a 'foulmouth' or, in this case, a 'blackmouth'. So for example a common warning to children is cnarakepi vu! 'Don't curse!'.

Example: Caur kep tote utimu, mas ikkep utimen usim vithi.
He wanted to talk to a tree, and trees only speak with each other.

Enunciation of verbs

This question just occurred to me once. How would you enunciate verbs in the Tulvan language? For example, if you had a Tulvan language dictionary, how would verbs appear there? As it happens I do have a Tulvan language dictionary, hehe, which I use for myself and I thought this would be something interesting to post, since it refreshes the notion of verbal morphology in Tulvan.

So how do you do it? First of all there are 4 paradigms to have in mind when talking about Tulvan verbs. The first one is the normal present tense paradigm, the form of the verb with no changes at all. The second one is the past tense, with the infixation seen in past posts. The third is the infixed perfective participle as explained above. And finally we have the infinitive with the defusing.

So for instance a verb like lev, should be included in the dictionary in this way:

lev. luev, leyv, leu. [leʋ] vb. to see, to look.

Some other examples of how to enunciate verbs are:

tulv. taulv, tuylv, tulu. [tulʋ] vb. to think, to ponder.
cur. caur, cuyr, cur. [kur] vb. to want.
thark. thuark, thayrk, tharz. [θarkʰ] vb. to use, to employ.

Finally we have an irregular verb, the verb ëv 'to be':

ëv. äv, ëü, eu. [jeʋ] vb. to be, to exist.

This last verb uses an irregular contraction to form the past and perfective paradigms. This verb further changes when weak tense prefixes are applied. So, for instance, you get këv, käv, kaëv, kuëv, kyav, for the different weak tenses and their prefixes.

From these forms the different tenses can be easily made out. So, to make the Strong Tenses: The Present Tense is the basic form, then the past is also part of the paradigms, the perfective participle as well, finally the imperative uses the basic form plus an -i suffix and the subjunctive does the same from the form of the Past Tense. The Weak Tenses use the prefix ki- plus the present and past tense forms, and then we have the Perfect, Future and Conditional that each use a prefix, namely; ka-, ku- and kya- respectively.

For further information see the post for Strong Tenses and Weak Tenses.

sut

IPA: [sut]
vb. to do, to make, to cause.


Quite a simple word for quite a simple verb. This verb is used very widely as it is in many languages. It may take prefixes to denote certain constructions not unlike the use of prepositions, so for instance, adding the prefix ik 'between', we get iksut 'to make rashly and awkwardly'. Also we have on the other end of the spectrum from siv 'through', sivsut 'to make wholly, from beginning to end, to make thoroughly'. This is the same siv used in the title of the blog.

So to give an example;
ti tig vu mem sivsut ti iksuti vu mem!
If you can't do it well, then don't do it lamely

Defusing a verb

Another very important aspect of Tulvan grammar is the 'defusing' of verbs. Such is the term used in Tulvan for the creation of gerunds and gerundives, or verbal nouns, such as thinking, eating, resting, or even "to be or not to be". Some verbs can be used as nouns, but some must undergo a subtle transformation which Tulvan acknowledges as 'nullifying sounds'.

This process implies that all 'v's revert to 'u's, all dotted letters such as 'ë' and 'ä' rever to their non-dotted versions. Also all final dentals fall back to 's', all final velars to 'z' and all final labials to 'm'. Some examples are as follow:

the verb tulv- 'to think', becomes tulu when defused.
Such as; cur kwam tulu, I want to think.

the verb ëv- 'to be', becomes eu when defused.
Such as; eu ë eu vu, to be or not to be.

Other examples are ëvpak/eupaz, to listen; and also ëvud/euus, to know.

This construction suits perfectly the place of the gerund, as in;

Ëv tulu itrum, it is good to think, or, thinking is good.

ëvpak

vb. to hear, to listen, to give heed. The act of paying attention to what is being said and listening.

It is most frequently used in the sense of 'giving heed' or also used to ask for attention. Ëvpaki (kem) is a common phrase to ask for attention, or also to shut someone up when you want to comment on something that was just said, which happens quite a lot in Tulvan discussions, specially about poilu. Also very much used is ëvpak vu mem 'you don't listen to me'.

tulv

vb. to think, to ponder. The act of engaging on a mental exercise to determine a solution or to analyze a problem.

It must not be confused with "to meditate" which has another different word. The best translation into English would be "to ponder", and a perfectly valid equivalent with be the latin "cogito". It must be noted that it should not be used to express "I think today might be a good day" or to express doubt or uncertainty. In fact the word means to think in the most active word.

E.g.:
cur mem uspär? Do you want some water?
kutulv kwam. I will think (about it...)

The famous phrase from Descartes is usually rendered; Tulv kwam, kik ëv kem. Cogito ergo sum.
Although the most common translation, it is subtly different from the idea conveyed in the original. So native speakers of Tulvan would make another reading from this phrase, which would appear very evident to them as "I have the volition to think, therefore I must exist/be, independently of anything else". This is because of the usage of different first person singular pronouns. Maybe the phrase would be better translated as Tulv kem, kik ëv kem. But this matter I will explain furtherly in subsequent posts.