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Pronouns

The following table outlines the basic personal pronouns in Thernese.

Context		Pronoun
1st	Impulsive	.sပံɛ. sien (情)
	Introspective	.ɛပှုƨ. glieh (智)
	Conformative	names, titles, etc.
2nd/3rd	Human	names, titles, etc.
	Non-Human	.ɛဓƨ. gr (個)
Impersonal		.ƨဓံɜ. lrn (人)

Thernese can be analyzed as having no pronouns. In other words, the “pronouns” featured in the table above can be analyzed as nouns, similarly to names, titles, etc. By extension, Thernese can also be analyzed as having no true 1st person (or 2nd person); rather, the self is seen as a collection of many situational manifestations, all of which are refered to from a third-person perspective.

There are three ways in which a Thern may refer to oneself (i.e., in a first-person context). The impulsive pronoun sien, which literally refers to ones sentience or sentient self, is used for expressing innate desires and emotions. The introspective pronoun glieh, which literally refers to ones sapience or sapient self, is used for expressing impersonal or ego-oriented information that is not contingent on emotions or external expectations. The conformative pronouns, which include names and titles, are used for expressing impersonal, group-oriented information. Typically, a Thern will have many names, usually one syllable long, with each name being associated with a different group of Thern and taking on a “personality” of its own. Titles are usually dependent on profession (i.e., healer-patient, teacher-student, etc.), and other nouns indicating various types of relationships are also common.

Typically, the impulsive pronoun is very rarely used outside of talking to oneself or ones closest relations. If a Thern loses their composure or becomes emotional in their speech, then they will use the impulsive pronoun. In such situations where emotions are outwardly displayed, the impulsive pronoun can also be used by others as a second- or third-person pronoun referring to the one who has lost their composure. Similarly, the introspective pronoun can be used as a second- or third-person pronoun referring to one who is sharing or has shared information that is reflective of the introspective pronoun. The impulsive and introspective pronouns can likewise combine with names, titles, etc. to specify the sentient or sapient self of others.

The impulsive, introspective, and conformative pronouns also imply different modalities when combined with modal markers. Use of the impulsive is typically associated with volitive modality, use of the introspective is typically associated with epistemic and dynamic modality, and use of the conformative is typically associated with commissive modality and other deontic modalities. For example, the modal particle mieq can be interpreted differently depending on the pronoun used:

‘It’s not because I want to do it, and it’s not because I must do it by logical necessity; I do it because I am expected to do it.’
or, more literally,
‘[My] sentience does not want, [my] sapience does not need, [but] Mlirn must.’

For second- and third-person contexts, names, titles, or other nouns are used when referring to humans (i.e., Thern other than the self). The word gr is generally used for non-human entities. It is also used as a definite marker similar to English “the” and is the most basic and common classifier word for nouns. For example, lrn gr would mean “the/that person.” zlieq (只) can be suffixed to gr (or any other classifier word) serving as a proximal demonstrative, so lrn gr becomes lrn gr zlieq “this person.” While gr and other classifiers are generally used as distal demonstratives on their own, the distal meaning can be emphasized by suffixing gr onto the classifier, so lrn gr becomes lrn gr gr “that person there.”

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Noun Phrase Ordering

The basic ordering of constituents in Thernese noun phrases is as follows:

Noun – Classifier – Determiner – Numeral – Adjective – Possessor – Postposition – (+classifier) Relative

The determiner is always suffixed to or follows a noun classifier (e.g., suoh suon gr “those trees”). The most generic noun classifier is gr (個). A non-exhaustive list of the most common classifiers are listed below:

gr (個) – most common classifier used for general and abstract objects and people.
suon (叢) – used for long, thin, or tall objects (i.e. trees, sticks).
kuoq (顆) – used for round or circular objects (i.e. bushes, fruits).
(朵) – used for flowers, leaves, mushrooms, and things that float or drift (i.e. clouds, jellyfish).
(隻) – used for mammals and birds.
(溜) – used for fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
(蠕) – used for other animals.
(組) – used for a group, few, or some of something.
(首) – used for poems, songs, stories, lectures, etc.
(卷) – used for books, paintings, etc.

Following the determiner is the numeral, which is typically decimal (see the section below on numerals) (e.g., suoh suon gr lie “those two trees”). In the case of no determiner, then the classifer is still used and the numeral directly follows the classifier (e.g., suoh suon lie “two trees”). Adjectives which directly modify the noun, generally implying immediate defining features of the referent, are placed after the noun (e.g., suoh gar “a tall tree”) and follow both determiners and numerals (e.g., suoh suon gr lie gar “those two tall trees”). Possessors of the noun follow the noun and are accompanied by a classifier matching the noun (e.g., suoh suon lrn “ones tree”). Postpositions likewise follow the noun (e.g., suoh zar “at at tree”) and follow the other modifiers (e.g., suoh suon gr lie gar zar “at those two tall trees”). Finally, relative clauses come last and are delineated by a classifier (e.g., suoh suon thlienh gla tar lrn zar zlrq “a tree that grows by my house”). When multiple modifiers modify one noun, only one classifer is used, except in the case of a relative clause, in which additional classifiers are used for each relative clause.

The full noun phrase order is demonstrated below with an example phrase:

‘at those two tall trees of mine, which grow by my house’

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Relative Clauses

As mentioned above, relative clauses follow the noun they modify and are delineated using a classifier. Relative clauses, however, are further marked by an additional particle that comes at the end of the relative clause. There are two relative particles: zlrq (agentive) and zlr (patientive). The agentive particle is used when the modified noun is the subject of the relative clause, while the patientive particle is used when the modified noun is the object of the relative clause. Examples are provided below.

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Verb Phrase Ordering

Verb phrase ordering in Thernese can largely be understood as a verb-initial focus-topic structure, in which the verb always comes first, followed by focal information (i.e., new information in the discourse), with topical information (i.e., given information in the discourse or what the sentence is about) always placed at the end of the sentence. The focus part of a sentence is typically marked with the particle mie.

Verb – Focus (Adverbials – Subject – Object) – mie – Topic (Adverbials – Object – Subject)

When an object or patient is topical and occurs outside the comment, it is always marked using the accusative marker na. Conversely, when a subject or agent occurs in the comment and is followed by a focal object, the subject is marked using the ablative marker lie.

	Topical Subject	Rhemic Subject
Rhemic Object	xlirnq lien muoh mie lrn eat wax.apple FOC EXP “I ate an apple”	xlirnq lrn lie lien muoh mie eat EXP ABL wax.apple FOC “Someone was eating an apple”
Topical Object	xlirnq mie lien muoh na lrn eat FOC wax.apple ACC EXP “I ate the apple”	xlirnq lrn mie lien muoh na eat EXP FOC wax.apple ACC “Someone ate the apple”

Typically, a finite verb only occurs in the topic phrase when causativity is involved (i.e., asking or answering “why”). Accordingly, the causative phrase occurs at the front of the sentence and is marked by mie.

Causative (Verb Phrase) – mie – Topic (Verb Phrase)

For other interrogative pronouns and adverbials, the verb always occurs sentence-initially and the interrogative phrase always occurs within the focus phrase.

Verb – Focus (Interrogatives) – mie – Topic

When multiple adverbials are present within the same clause, they follow a basic ordering as outlined below. When focal, the subject and object precede the adverbials, and when topical, the subject and object follow the adverbials.

Focus (Subject – Object – Time – Place – Instrument – Manner)
Topic (Time – Place – Instrument – Manner – Object – Subject)

Combining four adverbials of these types and assuming they are all focal, the following example sentence can be constructed:

‘Today, one ate a wax apple at home, hurriedly, using chopsticks.’

Adjectives and intransitives verbs follow the same word ordering as outlined above and as demonstrated below through example sentences.

For verbs that take a compliment clause, the subject—whether in focal or topical position—is followed by a particle (dhar when the subject is an experiencer, lie when the subject is an agent), and the main clause is followed by the complimentizer.

Verb – Focus (Subject – dhar/lie – Adverbial) – mie – Topic (Adverbial – Subject – dhar/lie) – Compliment

This is demonstrated below with two example sentences:

‘Thlanyen thinks that that tree is tall.’

‘Thlanyen says that that tree is tall.’

When an auxiliary verb is used, it is placed after the focus phrase and precedes the focus marker mie. In cases where the finite verb occurs in the topic phrase, then the auxiliary directly follows the main verb.

Verb – Focus – Auxiliary – mie – Topic

This is demonstrated below with two example sentences:

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Negation

The most basic form of negation uses the particle murq (莫) and is used to negate the full verb and focus phrase. It typically replaces mie at the end of the focus phrase unless an auxiliary is present, in which case it precedes the auxiliary.

Verb – Focus – murq – (Auxiliary – mie) – Topic

The particle mlrn (免) is a fusion of murq and the perfective auxiliary klrn (沈) and is used for perfective negation implying that something has yet to happen. Similarly, mlieq (靡) is a fusion of murq and the future auxiliary yeq (易) and is used for future and epistemic negation. These particles always occur at the end of the focus phrase and are followed by mie.

Another form of negation is used for focused negation and uses the negation verb vie (非) combined with a relativizer particle zlr/zlrq (之/者) on the topic. This construction is used contrastively and implies an alternative to the element in focus.

vie – Focus – mie – Topic – zlr/zlrq

When including the alternative element, vie (非) becomes a particle which marks the false element in the contrast. This false element always directly follows mie.

Verb – True Focus – mie – False Focus – vie – Topic

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Case-marking and Syntactic Particles

Thernese features a variety of particles that are used for case-marking and delineating constituents. Particles always follow their head constituent. The most common particles are outlined below.

Particle	Case	Function
mie	Focus	– comments/rhemes – focalized information – contrastive information
na	Accusative	– affected, topical patients
zar	Locative	– static locations
dhar	Allative	– goals – unaffected, topical patients
lie	Ablative	– sources – focal or rhemic agents
bieh	Dative	– beneficiaries – recipients
mar	Commitative	– accomplice
yel	Instrumental	– instrument
xlie	Essive	– states – purpose
luo	Comparative	– metaphors – comparatives

ɜပɛ mie (冞) – This particle primarly serves a focus marker and originates from a fusion of a nominalizing particle 物 (mluoq) and the focus particle 也 (yeq). It is used to mark both new information and focalized or contrastive information.

ƨဝɛ na (拿) – This particle marks topical direct objects (e.g., xlirnq lien muoh na “ate the wax apple”, barq prn yelq na “hugs a friend”, gienh kie na “one sees the aforementioned”, gienh prn yelq gr na “one sees that friend”).

sဗƨ zar (在) – This particle is primarily used to mark a static location (e.g., xlirnq mlie mie gla zar “eat at home”).

ƨဗs dhar (到) – This particle primarily marks goals (e.g., zalq gla dhar mie “go home; walk to home”) but is also used to mark objects which are unaffected and indefinite (e.g., gienh lien muoh dhar mie “see a wax apple”) or stative and involve an experiencer (e.g., zurn prn yelq dhar mie “like a friend”).

lie (離) – This particle primarily marks a source (e.g., zalq gla lie mie “leave from home”) but is also used as an ergative marker for marking new or focal agents (e.g., xlirnq lrn lie lien muoh mie “someone was eating an apple”).

bieh (畀) – This particle marks either a benificiary (e.g., slanh gr mie prn yelq bieh “sing for a friend”) or a recipient (e.g., thuonh thirnh mie prn yelq bieh “send letters to a friend”).

ɜဗɛ mar (埋) – This particle marks an accomplice (e.g., zalq mie prn yelq mar “leave with a friend”).

ɛဖɜ yel (由) – This particle marks an instrument (e.g., xlirnq mie gluoh yel “eat with chopsticks”).

ɛပုɜ xlie (為) – This particle marks a purpose or goal when used with inanimates (e.g., slanh gr mie lien muoh xlie “sing for a wax apple”) and marks a state when used with animates (e.g., ngien hluoh mie prn yelq xlie “speak as a friend”).

luo (如) – This particle is used for metaphors (e.g., gar suoh luo mie “tall like a tree”) and comparitives (e.g. gar valq suoh suon gr luo suoh suon zlieq “that tree is taller than this tree”).

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Location words

In addition to the relational markers, the following is a list of spatial words. These always precede a case-marked noun. The spatial words are all derived from the anatomy of jellyfish. The ideal jellyfish for the Thern has four oral arms, the sunrise arm, sunset arm, waxing arm, and waning arm, which correspond to the directions behind, front, left, and right respectively. Due to the nocturnal nature of the Thern, the sunrise is seen as in the past, while the sunset is seen as in the future (similarly to morning corresponding to “tomorrow” or the future and evening to “yesterday” or the past in many diurnal human languages). Conversely to many other languages, the Thern correspond the past (sunrise) to behind and the future (sunset) to in front. The words for left and right, corresponding to waxing arm and waning arm, come from the waxing and waning of the moon. They are always from the perspective of the object in question and never from the perspective of the speaker, unless the speaker is the object in question (this is why waxing is “left” and waning is “right”, since it is taken as the perspective of the moon and not the onlooker).

• mienh kalq 面口 “inside” (mouth side)
• mienh sluo 面觸 “outside” (touching side)
• mienh thanq 面傘 “above, on top” (umbrella side)
• bieh kalq 臂口 “below, under” (mouth arms)
• bieh glar 臂朝 “behind, before” (sunrise arm)
• bieh thieq 臂夕 “in front, after” (sunset arm)
• bieh yen 臂盈 “left” (waxing arm)
• bieh klie 臂虧 “right” (waning arm)
• bieh thalq 臂手 “beside”
• glien thalq 間手 “in between, in the middle”

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Verbal Aspect, Mood, and Polarity

Aspectual Constructions

liel…zar (留…在) – active progressive

liel xlirnq lien muoh zar mie
“I’m currently eating an apple”

vuo…mie (浮…冞) – stative continuous

vuo xlirnq mie lien muoh
“the apple is being eaten”

klrn (沈) – perfective

xlirnq klrn mie lien muoh na
“I have eaten the apple”

yel dhar (游到) – imminent future

xlirnq lien muoh yel dhar mie
“I’m about to eat an apple”

yeq (易) – future/epistemic

xlirnq lien muoh yeq mie
“I will eat an apple”

vuo blanh xlirnq lien muoh yeq mie
“I might eat an apple”

vuo glar (浮朝) – experiential

vuo glar xlirnq lien muoh mie
“I’ve eaten an apple before”

vuo thieq (浮夕) – indefinite future

vuo thieq xlirnq lien muoh mie
“One day I will eat an apple”

Modal Constructions

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Copula “to be”

There are three primary copulas in Thernese, one for equative constructions and two for locative constructions. The equative copula, xlie (為) is used to link two noun phrases meaning “X is Y”. If the Y component is indefinite, it is typically marked with the partical mie.

prn yelq mie suoh suon zlrq
“The tree is a friend.”

xlie prn yelq gr suoh suon
“The tree is the friend (e.g., that I told you about).”

For existential phrases, the copula vuo (浮) is used for indefinite referents and the copula liel (留) is used for definite referents. The copula vuo is ordered Copula-Subject-Location and negated by adding the particle murq after the subject.

vuo lien muoh mie mienh kalq gla zar
“There is a wax apple inside the house.”

vuo lien muoh murq mienh kalq gla zar
“There is no wax apple inside the house.”

The copula liel is ordered Copula-Location-Subject and negated by adding the particle valq after the locational phrase.

liel mie mienh kalq gla zar lien muoh kuoq
“The wax apple is inside the house.”

liel valq mienh kalq gla zar lien muoh kuoq
“The wax apple is not inside the house.”

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Questions

muo (無) – sentence final particle for forming yes-no questions

xlirnq lien muoh na muo

zalq gla dhar yeq mie muo

hie (奚) – interrogative pronoun, “what, where, which”

xlirnq hie

xlirnq lien muoh hie

muoq hie (物奚) – “what (thing)”

lrn hie (人奚) – “who”

xlirnq lien muoh na lrn hie

gienh lrn hie

hlie (誰) – “who” (contraction of lrn hie)

xlirnq lien muoh na hlie

gienh hlie

thlie hie (時奚) – “when”

glieq xan (解安) – “why”

xlirnq lien muoh kuoq na glieq xan

xan (安) – “how, how come”

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Discource Particles

.ɛပɜ. (ye) 噫 – particle expressing excitement or approval
– girnlrq san karthirn ye “I’m so happy today!”
– gr gieq xanq lar pirn’gurq ye “They gave me an apple!”

.ƨဝs. (la) 啦 – particle expressing disbelief or mild annoyance
– mrluoye lar lrn la “I really dislike people.”
– sievan na pirn’gurq la “You ate the apple? (How could you?)”
– xlir la “How could this be?”

.ɛမɛ. (kir) 噙 – particle expressing frustration, impatience, or hesitation
– mir sievan kir mie pirn’gurq “Stop eat the apple already!”
– nieq kir mrglie “Damn, I guess you don’t know either.”
– xanq kir gar klr lar thanlien “I guess I should go to the store.”

.ƨဒɜ. (luo) 囉 – particle expressing surprise (also used as an interjection like “wow!”)
– sievan na ngurqgr pirn’gurq luo “You ate all five apples!”
– luo, gr pirn’gurq lan glrlar luo “Wow, that apple is huge!”

.ɛဝs. (ha) 吓 – particle seeking confirmation or posing a rhetorical quesition

.ƨဝɛ. (na) 吶 – particle expressing resignation (also used as an interjection like “oh well” or “alas”)

.ɛပ့ɛ. (kieq) 乞 – particle expressing a request or a favor
– ngielnarq kieq “Give me milk please!”
– lirq gieq xanq glie kieq “Please tell me!”

(gaq) – particle expressing speculation or offering a suggestion

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Numbers and Classifiers

Numbering Systems and Numerals
Thernese uses three different numbering systems: decimal, duodecimal, and hexadecimal. The decimal system is used for counting. The duodecimal system is used for naming months of a year and hours of a day. And the hexadecimal system is used for naming years and days of a month. Thernese numerals themselves are actually a 4 bit binary system, and only the hexadecimal system utilizes the full set of numerals. The connector diacritic is used for connecting numerals under 1000, while the seperator is used for separating numerals in groups of 10^3, so for example (εs’εɜ.ɛɜ) represents 10,000 or literally (10*10^3 + 0).

Numeral	Value	Decimal	Duodecimal	Hexadecimal
ɛɜ	0	.ƨမံɜ. (零) lirn	.sပ့ƨ. (子) zieq	.ɛခုံƨ. (中) glurn
ɛs	1	.ɛပ့ɜ. (一) yeq	.ɛစု့ɛ. (丑) klalq	.sစƨ. (周) zal
ɛƨ	2	.ƨပɜ. (二) lie	.ɛမံɜ. (寅) yirn	.ɛပုံs. (閑) hlien
ɛɛ	3	.sဝံs. (三) than	.ɜဗ့ɛ. (卯) marq	.sဗ့s. (少) tharq
sɜ	4	.sပs. (四) thie	.sဓံɛ. (辰) srn	.sပံs. (羨) thien
ss	5	.sဒ့ɜ. (五) nguoq	.sပs. (巳) thie	.sဝုɛ. (差) sla
sƨ	6	.ƨဖ့ɜ. (六) lielq	.sဒ့ɜ. (午) nguoq	.sဓံƨ. (增) zrn
sɛ	7	.sပ့ɛ. (七) sieq	.ɜပုɛ. (未) mlie	.ƨပɜ. (銳) lie
ƨɜ	8	.ɜဝု့s. (八) blaq	.sဓံs. (申) thrn	.ɛဓုံƨ. (更) glrn
ƨs	9	.ɛဖ့ƨ. (九) gielq	.ɜဖ့s. (酉) yelq	.ƨဒံs. (斷) luon
ƨƨ	10	–	.sဓုs. (戌) slr	.sဒုံƨ. (裝) zluon
ƨɛ	11	–	.ɛဗs. (亥) har	.sခံƨ. (眾) zurn
ɜɜ	12	–	–	.sပုs. (睟) slie
ɜs	13	–	–	.sဓံɛ. (盛) srn
ɜƨ	14	–	–	.ɜဝ့ɜ. (法) vaq
ɜɛ	15	–	–	.ɛမံɜ. (應) yirn

Decimal System

Duodecimal System

Hexadecimal System

Noun Classifiers

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Conjunctions

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