WORD ORDER
It seems that for the most part word order isn't all that important in Tla Wilano, but rather flow and sound matter more. There is no requirement, most of the time, as to which comes first, the verb or the subject. It does seem that the thing being done is more emphasized than the person or thing doing it.
This requires an understanding of the language and a certain amount of intuitive knowledge of the cultural context from which it is derived. However, there are several exceptions to this such as found in the following example:
Kokohela eshu means=may a smooth day present itself to you or rather, have a nice day whereas
Eshu Kokohela means "presenting a smooth day," or in modern English, "It's a nice day."
Koko, by the way is a component that denotes smooth anytime it is found in a word.
COMMANDS
Also, there are no "commands" in the language as the concept of commanding someone to do something is foreign to the culture. Words that we would think of as being commands in English are more like suggestions in Tla Wilano.
PRONOUN USAGE
Also, pronouns may be excluded from sentences if the knowledge of who is being spoken to is obvious to both speakers. Pronouns are used when it is not obvious or when a particular emphasis needs to be made. Tonality plays a major role in the language. The tone in which something is said can determine its meaning.
For example:
Let's say there are two people present, John and Sue. John says to Sue, "Viu somblinki?" He uses a questioning intonation when he asks, "See the squirrel?" Sue will automatically know he's asking her if she sees the squirrel, so there is no need to say, "Viu tu'u somblinki?" Which means "Do YOU see the squirrel?" He would only add the YOU (tu'u) if he thought it was unclear to her that he was talking to her.
If he changes his tone and simply states, "Viu somblinki." She will translate that as "I see the squirrel." Since commands are not given in Tla Wilano, he would not say, "Look at that squirrel." He would ask if she sees the squirrel, so a questioning tone would never be used toward talking about himself seeing the squirrel.
GENDER
Gender does not seem to play a significant role in speaking the language, meaning that men and women don't have a different way of speaking as in languages like Lakota. There are words to denote female gender of mammals and humans.
SOUNDS AND SIGNS FOUND IN TLA WILANO
Occasionally, hand signs are used with some (a few) Tla Wilano words.
I have attempted to do an IPA chart showing the sounds in Tla Wilano. I am not a trained linguist and have only a basic knowledge of the IPA chart. Perhaps, one day, someone with more knowledge than I will add to this chart or as I learn, I will add to it and correct any errors that might be present.
CONSONANTS:
| bilabials | labiodental | interdental | alveolar | alveopalatal | velar | uvular | glottal | |
| ||||||||
| V’less stops | P as in pot
| t as in take | k as in cot, cake, kite, camera | q (as in gwishi) as in English | ʔ | |||
| V’d stops | b as in boy | d as in Dad | g as in grow | h as in horse | ||||
| V’less fricatives | θ as in thick | s as in said | ʃ, č as in ship | |||||
| V’d fricatives | v | ð as in thin | z as in zoo | ʒ (as in casual) | ||||
| V’daffricatives | ʨ | |||||||
| V’less affricative | tʂ | ɮ (m-shlow-shee/mxloxi) | dʒ | |||||
| Nasals | m as in mother | n | ||||||
| Lateral liquids | L, | ʎ | ||||||
| Rhotic liquids | r (only in a couple of words) | |||||||
| Glides | w | j |
CONSONANT SOUNDS IN ENGLISH LETTER REPRESENTATION:
Thus far, I’ve identified at least 14 individual consonant sounds in the Tla Wilano language.
They are as follows:
P—as in Pama (like English put)
B—as in bwow and balongali (like English boy) This sound appears rarely but does appear.
W—as in winsay and wi’chi’ta (like English wind) This sound appears abundantly.
Y—as in yiyiyu (like English yo-yo)
D—as in dittah and d’kohnini (like English dad)
G—as in igli’igli’u and gwant (like English grow)
J—as in a’i’jah or janso’api (like English jungle)
L—as in lan’i’le’I (like English little)
M—as in me’wi’i’i (like English may)
N—as in nahua (like English notice)
S—as in somblinki (like English some; note, s rarely occurs by itself in Tla Wilano and is usually part of a consonant blend such as “sh” “sp” “sk”
K—as in kokonini (as in English cake) note; K appears with extreme frequency in Tla Wilano
H—as in hiyi (as in English hi)
Z—as in zutlah (like English zoo)
V—appears in a few words but is not frequently occurring. V’ih, Ak’vih, viu (as in English view)
X—as in a’auxusuliwisha (makes the KS sound)
I’ve identified the following 12 consonant blends.
Ch—as in chin’til (like English church)
Zhl (sometimes written as xl)—as in Zhli
X (often written as zh) as in zhizhis
Jzh—as in jzh’jis (jzh-jees)
Gw—as in gwant
Sk—ski ski (as in English ski)
Sl—linkislisli (as in English sleep)
Sh—as in shi’tani (as in English sheep)
Tl—as in Tla Wilano (no English equivalent that I am aware of)
kw—as in kwak-shi
kl—as in Klongliwiah
Gl—as in Gliututli (like English glee)
Gw—as in a’gwi’gwi
I have found the following vowel sounds thus far:
I: as in bean ini (one)
U: as in moon uliu (carry)
ə as in about aləpa (tomorrow)
e as in day moeah (white)
ʌ as in fun wichisniup (home)
a as in father hapli (four)
aɪ as in hide i’aina (seed)
o as in hope goinkni (rabbit) *note rabbit can also be said using the term: wah’bozh
ɪ as in tip go ɪnk ni (rabbit)
/ɛ/as in bed apunkatentam (a really good time)
VOWEL CLUSTERS:
Tla Wilano has many words with large vowel clusters but not many words (if any) with large consonant clusters.
Examples: a’a’ui’yiyiyu, o’hi’u, akama’ai’na, gabi’washi’i, a’e’yi, a’a’wah, a’a’way’ a’gi’ishi
*Tla Wilano often builds words by repeating phonemes.
Examples:
Uli’uli’u, igli’igli’u, kwi’kwi’u, a’gwi’gwi, chi’chi’lawi
ua as in the word Nahua (nah oo wah) and sounds kind of like an English “w” as in the word “Nahuatl;” In Tla Wilano Nahua means “song” or “music.”
***NOTE about I. When I is followed by a k or m it sounds like an “i” in itch and when it is preceded by an h it is a long “I” sound and sometimes when it is followed by a y, like in hiyi
MORPHOLOGY
Tla Wilano words are made up of morphemes with each sound adding a particular meaning to a word. Below are several examples.
Take the words kanawaga and watauga for example.
Ka or kah-is a morpheme that means sacred, significant or special. Wa + ga=means water so Kanawaga means that sacred water. If we add another morpheme Niu we get Niukanawaga which means that scared flowing water or sacred river.
Tau-Now in the case of watauga we have the wa+ga again but this time we have a different morpheme added into the word--tau. Tau denotes force or a push, so we are saying a forceful, pushing water.
A’kama—it appears that a’kama is a morphological unit that connotates “problematic.” We already know that Ka means a specific, special, significant or even sacred thing but when combined with "ah" before and "ma" after, it takes on the connotation of a specifically negative issue. When used with niklia it indicates a person having a problem. Niklia appears to mean “misunderstanding.” So, a’kamaniklia indicates a person with an unclear perception, or a problem.
When used with the word for wind, wisha, akamaniklia indicates an “ill wind” or threatening weather on the horizon.
However, when used in A’kamaju’wish, the person IS problematic.
Ju’wish seems to indicate more than problematic. It denotes spoilage and indicates that something or someone is bad or ruined. When used with “kwau” as in a’kamaju’wishkwau, it means, “the food is rotten.”
A'Kamaniklia Jerry—Jerry has a problem.
Eshu a’kamaju’wish kwau. This food is rotten/spoiled.
Eshu a’kamaju’wish Sammy. Sammy is a rotten/spoiled/awful/bad kind of person.
Koh--is a morphological unit that mimics the clicking sound that a bear makes when it is happy or satisfied. By itself it can mean that everything is just fine or all is well. Things are okay.
The word A’koh (the Koh is actually a click made by placing the flattened tongue to the mid-palette in the roof of the mouth) is used to denote bear but the sound is also used in words to express forms of hunger
Akalkohkwau literally means “bear hunger” or in modern lingo, hungry as a bear. The word would translate as very hungry.
D’koh means an adult male or father and seems to draw some lost correlation between a man and a bear.
Nini is a morpheme that means young, so A’kohnini means a young bear while D’kohnini means a little boy.
Twa—is morpheme that indicates the feminine gender. Twani means mother or woman. Hitwani means grandmother or elderly woman. Twanini means little girl or little sister.Dittahtwa means a doe or female deer whiledittahtwanini means a female fawn andakohtwaniis a female bear while akohtwanini is a young female bear.
Hi--(pronounced Hee) is a morpheme that seems to indicate advancement in age as it is used in the words for both grandfather and grandmother. Hihunn (grandfather) and Hitwani (grandmother).
Chin—is another morpheme in the language that denotes violence whenever it is added to any word. For example, ohiu means to speak but if one adds ohiuchin, the speech takes on an aggressive tone.
All words that have to do with battles, fighting, war or arguments include a variation of the “chin” morpheme.
Words that include anger, violent motion (as is sometimes made with farm tools or hand tools) often also include the Chin or chino morpheme.
Chinochalkli—battle (noun) or to do battle (verb), depending on the context in which it is used. Chinit—Fence (perhaps penning anything up against its wishes was viewed as an act of violence or aggression.)
Chinit’ahrahtl—to pen something up/corral.
Chinochi’tenzho—forceful or violent sex.
Chinochalkli—a battle/to do battle
Chinohi uiyiyiu--a wrench the addition of the morpheme “hi” could indicate a human element in that it is associated with both grandfather and grandmother and uiyiyiu denotes the hands. This word would have been spoken while making a hand motion of wringing something.
Chinoksli—Argument/disagreement
Chinokslisli—a very strong argument. NOTE ABOUT SLI and SLI SLI—it appears that whenever sli is present, it indicates a bit “more” of a concept or action as if it makes it more forceful and when sli-sli is present in a word that it magnifies the emphasizes or indicates “much more”.
Chinokutamtiki—a light disagreement, maybe with a little yelling, pushing or shoving but no punches.
Chinokuwatl—an attack as in a war.
Chinotlitihan—the road to war, the war path.
Chinoslisli-ancho-gabi—to slap one in the face. (Notice the morpheme slisli)
Chinoslsilsanch—to strike, punch, hit or slap. (again, note that slisli is present)
Chinoslislianchtli—to strike down, to kill another person.
Chinotatani’odah—to stab another person with a knife.
Chinotl—to fight, to go to war
Chinotli uiyiyiu--pliers
Chinotlslikinik—Arnic Montana Arnica Montana—this word is made up of some very specific morphemes. Chin, of course, indicates aggression. Sli indicates forcefulness/more, kinik is used in conjunction with medicine, so the understanding is that this plant was either violent in its side effects or that it was used to treat battle-induced wounds. A quick search of the plant shows that it has been used to treat injuries. In that context, the morphology of the word makes sense.
Chinotshi’iam’ta’I uiyiyiu—garden hoe
Chinotshi’iam’ta’I zhakapuit—horse-drawn plow
Chinozhazhi—a powerful negotiation
Chintopak--hammer
Chinuptli—a good fight.
Chinuptlitli—fighting, violence
Kali’kiu’hon’chini—Chicken hawk
Noakni Chinotli’tihan—prepare for war
Shu’uhauan’chinotlitihan—to be dressed for war; one who is dressed for war
Tloat’kalu’i’chino—wood pile/pile of wood that has been split (attacked with an ax)
Ahepechino—to shove someone
Eaiiki—(pronounced as ay—eye—eekee) it appears that eaiki is a morpheme that indicates playing.
Eaiiki’ipi—to playfully wrestle down
eaiikiamahuai—playfully make love
eaiiikichinotl—play fight or play war games.
Waganiueaiki—to play in water.
Ipi—is a morpheme that implies someone “going down” as to the ground. Consider the following words:
Abi’ipi’odah—to throw or bring/take someone down.
Tu’wuh ipi eaiki ma’huai—perhaps you will come lie down (for love making)
Pamahipi—we fall down
Kimihipi—I fell down
Eaiki’ipi—to playfully wrestle down
E’ipi—to lie down.
Ama and amaua(h)—These two morphemes are related in that they both refer to love.
Amauako—love bear (nickname for a male partner) Notice the “ko” (also spelled koh) and remember that it refers to bear. This sound is actually a clicking sound made by bears.
Amaua’ui’akli—love struck, crazy love, smitten by someone.
Amauahini—loved little one.
Amauhaux—needing immediate attention in the form of love or sex.
D’konit Nakiska’amahua—an eligible bachelor who doesn’t love anyone.