The Qolst

The Qolst are people from the North end of what they call "Ṇaš," which was a continent located in their world. They speak Qolst, and are a very poetic people.

Phonology

Consonants
LabialsDentalsRetroflexPalatalsVelarsUvularGlottal
Plosivesp b t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k g q ɢ ʔ
Fricativesf v s ʃ ʒ š ž x ɣ χ ʁ
Affricatesʦ ʣ
Nasalsm n ɳ ɲ ñ ŋ
Liquidsl
Semivowelsw j
Vowels
FrontCentralBack
Highi y ɯ
Closee c o ʊ
Openɛ ə ʌ
Lowæ a

This is a table showing all of the sounds in this language. A lot of time there is a romanization of certain symbols at the far right of the box, and those are not sounds in themselves.

I will also be putting some sound rules here. The basic rule for syllables is CV(l)(f)(C), the l for liquids and f for fricatives. Another important rule is that everything in the uvular column changes to a velar in between vowels, including at the start and end of a word. This does mean that in some cases the name of the language is pronounced "Kolst" (though you won't find this distinction in the writing system)

Another cool thing is that z only exists in the "dz" combination. This is just because of a "ds" combination, which got changed to a "dz."

Grammar

Now that we have that out of the way, I would like to start of with the basic grammar. The first thing I would like to note is that there are no adjectives in Qolst. Kinda. See, verbs can be "adjectivized," as in a "blue-ing ocean." Instead of "the wall is green," you say "the wall greens."

The cases in Qolst are nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. Since Qolst is in most cases a fusional languages, these suffixes combine with how many of the object there are.

The tenses are far past, near past, present, near future, future, and narrative.

And, the language is usually SOV (subject-object-verb).

Here is a table of the pronouns they use:

SingularPlural
First personʣɛʣə (inclusive), ʣəl (exclusive)
Second personpwʌqʌʔ
Third personjəlŋciŋ

As we learned before, the subject comes at the beginning of a sentence. How about we try to make a sentence?

ʣɛ- I
qolst- person

Now how would we say "I am a person?"

ʣɛ kolst.

1s person

I am a person.


Remember how the vowel makes the q become a k!

You might notice how there is no copula here. That's because Qolst doesn't use a copula! This is how you say something is not something else.


el- Negative

ʣɛ elqolst.

1s NEG-person

I am not a person.


This negates the qolst! The weird thing is, kolst became qolst again! That's 'cause the vowel isn't next to qolst anymore! So you always have to mind if there is a vowel around the q.

The language also has a definite article, or a "the."


- The

ʣɛ elpɯkolst.

1s NEG-DEF-person

I am not the person.


Another interesting thing is that "qolst" is related to the word for "the Qolst people." It is actually "pɯkolst." The way you distinguish it is through context.


ʣɛ pɯkolst.

1s DEF-qolst

I am a Qolst.


Next up, pronouns.

NOMACCDATGEN
1-džɛž-ʣɛgy-ʣɛa-ʣɛʔ
2-pwʌž-pwʌɢ-pwʌɢ-pwʌ
3s & 3p-jəlš (singular) jəlše (plural)jəgy ja (singular) je (plural)jəʔ (singular) jəʔe (plural)

(why did I make this a fusional language?)

As you can see, there are some oddities. For example, 3rd person being the only one with a plural (the old plural marker, -e) and the 2nd person grouping the accusative and dative together.

So what this table is about is basically what any noun gets marked with. I would give you an example but there is one more thing we need.

Okay, so... verbs. Right when I was complaining about a fusional language. So, verbs change for two things. Tense and aspect. Time to make another table.

PerfectiveImperfectiveHabitualCompletive
Far Past-ño-ñolš-ñežɪn-neko
Near Past-vao-valož-væžɛn-vɛnqo
Present-bo-bolž-božɛn-bɪnqo
Near Future-so-saloš-saložɛn-seko
Far Future-ṇwo-ṇʊlož-ṇʊžɛn-nɯko
Narrative-o (if ends with vowel) wo (if ends with consonant)-loš-žɪn-nqo

Okay, we're finished. So, example. Here is an example. Say we're talking to our friend, and we are saying we ate.Let's name "us" as ʔales for this example.


ʔoj- to eat

ʔalesdžɛž ʔojvao.

ʔales-1.NOM eat-PERF.IMM.PST

I ate (recently).


The next thing I want to talk about are the dative and genitive. But I also want to give some examples, so I'll just go through quickly.

So the dative and genitive always come after the nominative and accusative, so that clears up the second person accusative and dative thing.

That's all I can think of right now. Oh yeah, when it's not a nominative, instead of a pronoun you use the suffix from the table above except it doesn't attach to anything.


ḍaš- to give
folž- food
ɟɪʔ- King, ruler
ɟol- know, have (a ruler, a boss, a worker, etc.)
pæweʔ- friend

Nolstjəlʃ folžjəgy ḍašvao ʣɛa .

Nolst-3.NOM food-3.ACC give-PERF.IMM.PAST 1.DAT

Nolst gave me the food.


ʣɛ ɟɪʔjəgy ʣɛʔ ɟolbo.

1.ACC ruler-3.ACC 1.GEN know-PERF.PRESENT

I know our ruler.


ʣɛ ɟɪʔjəgy ɟolbo.

1.ACC ruler-3.ACC know-PERF.PRESENT

I know a ruler.


Nolstpwʌž pæweʔ ʣɛʔ.

Nolst-2.NOM friend 1.GEN

Nolst, you are my friend.


Nolstpwʌž pæweʔñɛ ʣɛʔ.

Nolst-2.NOM friend-PST 1.GEN

Nolst, you were my friend.


Here, we see something interesting: "-ñɛ" meaning "was!" In the same fashion, "will be" is "-so." This is only for nouns, and they don't show as much variety as the verb tenses.

Another thing we can do is to negate the verb. This is simple; all you need to do is put the "el-" in front of the verb just like normal.