Tulwyn vs Nolwynn: view article

Menu 1. Vocabulary: 2. Pronunciation And Spelling: 3. Grammar: 4. Attitudes

Besides vocabulary differences, the two dialects have a few pronunciation differences and grammar differences.

[edit] [top]Vocabulary:

Loan Words
Tulwyn adopts words from

Kirnosan [such as separate words for male and female family members or words for land animals] and it avoids collocations.

Ritual Language
Words specific to Nolwynn culture have largely been lost: for example, Tulwyn does not use the Avoidance Language [something that can cause quite a shock to traditionalists]. Captative verbs, which can be a big deal in standard Nolwynn, are not treated any differently among the Tulwyn; thus, they do not use the particle azuka, which is specifically used in the context of captative verbs.

Pronouns
Masculine pronouns have much wider use.

[edit] [top]Pronunciation And Spelling:

Pronunciation
These pronunciation differences are not written.

Influenced by

Kirnosan, Tulwyn adds /h/ to words beginning with a, o, ey or eey:

aboreey "I climb"
[hɑbɵrɛ:]

Tulwynn uses three clicks in place of the standard dialect's mw, kx, and tx:

mwaa "kiss"
[ʘɑ:]

Tulwyn pronounces vowels differently than standard Nolwynn and stresses different syllables as well.

Other things that make Tulwyn pronunciation different include: different stress patterns, greater use and variety of consonant clusters, different vowels including the diphthong /ai/, and the sound /j’/ [yx] is not used in Tulwyn - instead /j/ [y].

Plurals
In Nolwynn, words ending in -w pluralize like this:

onw > ona

In Tulwyn, words ending in -w, are pluralized differently. In that dialect, you would say

onw > onwa

[edit] [top]Grammar:

Alignment
- Tulwyn marks ergativity differently than the standard dialect. It does not mark ergativity on pronouns and it does not use the special particle azuka.

Asking questions
- When forming questions, in Tulwyn it is common to do this:

Tša zša á ezareylxatša gibeey? "Should I give you a hug?"

By comparison, this is how it is done in standard Nolwynn:

Tša zša á ezareylxa gibeey?

Possessive forms
Tulwyn forms possessive phrases differently:

Bwolo zšeey á - "my foot" literally "a foot at me"

This is simpler than in Nolwynn, where possessive forms change depending on if the thing in question is a body part or "inherently" yours, a living thing, a person, or something else.

Relative clauses
-Tulwyn uses relative clauses differently. Speakers of this dialect are more likely to use a serial verb construction. Read more about the differences in how relative clauses are used here.

Gnomic mood
-Tulwyn speakers use a gnomic mood to express general truths, truisms, and aphorisms. It was adopted into the language from Kirnosan. This mood is not seen in standard Nolwynn except among cosmopolitan younger speakers. Append -yu- to a verb to create the gnomic mood.

eyzma kašiiyul
fish swim

yenko zaltii onkiiyu
It’s important to work hard

Note that in this mood, the verb is conjugated for the third person singular and the noun is also singular. The preceding ii is usually pronounced like ee.

In standard Nolwynn, to state a general truth, you’d simply use the declarative mood with singular nouns and verbs.

Converbs
- Not usually used in Tulwyn. Speakers prefer to use conjunctions instead. Read about conjunctions here and about converbs here

Serial Verb Constructions and Collocations
- Serial verb constructions are more common in Tulwyn, especially in the formation of relative clauses
- Collocations are rare in Tulwyn. In Nolwynn, collocations are a way of naming things that are foreign, but among the Tulwyn, they just adopt the foreign word.

Indirect Objects
- While indirect objects are sometimes incorporated into the verb in Nolwynn, in Tulwyn a preposition is used instead.

Quoting And Indirect Speech
- The defective verb gwina, used for quoting, has a different and more restricted role in Tulwyn.

Prohibitives
- Tulwyn possesses a fully-fledged prohibitive mood. You can read about it here.

[edit] [top]Attitudes

With the strong influences from

Kirnosan, traditional Nolwynn do not look with approval on Tulwyn. Since it has streamlined some aspects of standard Nolwynn, they believe it sounds uneducated and childishly simplistic. But the most shocking thing for traditionalists is how the Avoidance Language is not used. Aspects of the Avoidance Language are used in cursing, which feels like a desecration to some, especially since it is not used in the proper way at all. In addition, the adoption of Kirnosan terms feels like a repudiation of Nolwynn culture and religion. It doesn't help that most Tulwyn are mixed race.

These differences have driven a wedge between traditional sea-faring Nolwynn and younger, more modern Tulwyn.

Among modern Kirnosans, on the other hand, the Tulwyn language is a symbol of their country's dark history of slavery. Some have attempted to learn it in an attempt to reach across the cultural divide. More and more media is being created in Tulwyn, perhaps as a way of atoning for the past. This is in contrast to the times of slavery, when all languages besides Kirnosan were deemed inferior and a threat to national unity. Much effort was placed on eradicating various minority languages, including Tulwyn. As a result, few people actually speak fluent Tulwyn, but that is changing in recent times.

In either case,

Tulwyn has become unfairly politicized. The Tulwyn people themselves have mounted campaigns to raise the prestige of the beleaguered language in an attempt to salvage aspects of their culture.

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