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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 referred 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/Relative – Possessor – Postposition – (Relative)

Noun classifiers occur in the following contexts: to mark definite nouns (e.g., suoh suon “the tree(s)”), to connect a determiner (e.g., suoh suon gr “that tree”), numeral (e.g., suoh suon lie “two trees”), or possessor (e.g., suoh suon mlirn “Mlirn’s tree”) to a noun, to connect adjectives to a definite or contrastive noun (e.g., suoh suon gar zlrq “the tall tree” or lit. “the tree that is tall”), or to connect relative clauses to a noun (e.g., suoh suon thlienh gla tar zar zlrq “the tree that grows by the house”). Only one classifier can follow a noun, unless it is used to introduce (additional) relative clauses, in which case more than one classifier is used (e.g., suoh suon lie gar zlrq, suon thlienh gla zar zlrq, mlirn “Mlirn’s two tall trees, which grow by [their] house”). The most generic noun classifier is gr (個). A non-exhaustive list of the most common classifiers are listed below:

.ɛဓƨ. gr (個) – most common classifier used for general and abstract objects and people.
.sဒံɛ. suon (叢) – used for long, thin, or tall objects (i.e. trees, sticks).
.ɛဒ့ɛ. kuoq (顆) – used for round or circular objects (i.e. bushes, fruits).
.ƨခ့s. dhurq (朵) – used for flowers, leaves, mushrooms, and things that float or drift (i.e. clouds, jellyfish).
.ɛဖ့ɜ. pielq (匹) – used for mammals and birds.
.ɜဖှုɛ. mlielh (溜) – used for fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
.sဒုɜ. ngluo (蠕) – used for other animals.
.sဒ့ƨ. zuoq (組) – used for a group, few, or some of something.
.sစု့s. thlalq (首) – used for poems, songs, stories, lectures, etc.
.ɛဒှုံƨ. gluonh (卷) – used for books, paintings, etc.

Determiners precede numerals, which are typically decimal (see the section below on numerals) (e.g., suoh suon gr lie “those two trees”). These likewise precede adjectives and relative clauses (e.g., suoh suon gr lie gar “those two tall trees”), which precede possessors of the noun (e.g., suoh suon gar zlrq mlirn “Mlirn’s tall tree”). Postpositions naturally follow the noun (e.g., suoh zar “at a tree”) and occur at the end of noun phrases following the other modifiers (e.g., suoh suon lie gar zlrq mlirn zar “at Mlirn’s two tall trees”). When nouns are indefinite or unspecified, adjectives directly modify the noun without the determiner (e.g., suoh gar “a tall tree / some tall trees”).

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

‘at those two tall trees of Mlirn, which are growing by their house’

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Relative Clauses

As mentioned above, relative clauses follow the noun they modify and are accompanied by 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: the active relative particle .sဓု့ƨ. zlrq and the passive particle .sဓုƨ. zlr. The active particle is used when the modified noun is the subject of the relative clause, while the passive particle is used when the modified noun is the object of the relative clause. Examples are provided below.

The particle .sဓုƨ. zlr is also used as a generic possessive particle indicating the noun is possessed by some referent that is usually given or accessible in the discourse (e.g., gla tar zlr “their house”).

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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, with topical information always placed at the end of the sentence. The focus part of a sentence is typically marked with the particle mie.

Verb – Focus – mie – Topic

Topical information denotes information that is referentially accessible—information that is presupposed or available to interlocutors via context, whether in the form of a given speech situation, cultural knowledge, or as established previously in the discourse itself. Topical information likewise is important to the development of a discourse, being mentioned frequently or maintaining continuity. Focal information, on the other hand, indicates information that is not referentially accessible—information that is not available to both interlocutors, cannot be presupposed from context, and usually relates to or expands on topical information.

With regards to the core constituents of transitive phrases (e.g., objects and subjects), the topicality of the constituent triggers differential argument marking. When an object or patient is topical and occurs outside the focus, it is always marked using the accusative marker na. Conversely, when a subject or agent is focal and occurs inside the focus, if the subject is followed by other focal information or if its role as the agent cannot be assumed from context, then the subject is marked using the ergative marker lie.

	Topical Subject	Focal Subject
Focal Object	xlirnq lien muoh mie lrn 飲 蓮霧 冞 人 eat wax.apple ꜰᴏᴄ person ‘The person ate an apple.’	xlirnq lrn lie lien muoh mie 飲 人 離 蓮霧 宩 eat person ᴇʀɢ wax.apple ꜰᴏᴄ ‘Someone was eating an apple’
Topical Object	xlirnq mie lien muoh na lrn 飲 宩 蓮霧 拿 人 eat ꜰᴏᴄ wax.apple ᴀᴄᴄ person ‘The person ate the apple.’	xlirnq lrn mie lien muoh na 飲 人 宩 蓮霧 拿 eat person ꜰᴏᴄ wax.apple ᴀᴄᴄ ‘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, their ordering is determined by their level of focality and topicality, with the exception of manner adverbials. Manner adverbials always directly follow the verb. Otherwise, focal elements are ordered from most focal (i.e., more directly relates to the topic) to least focal (i.e., less directly relates to the topic) information, while topical elements are ordered from least topical (i.e., less important to the discourse) to most topical (i.e., more important to the discourse) information.

Verb – (Manner Adverbial) – Focus (Most Focal > Least Focal) – Topic (Least Topical < Most Topical)

For example, if we assume a scenario where a Thern named “Mlirn” is describing to their friend what they did tonight, they might say something like the following:

‘Tonight at home, [I] was hurriedly eating a wax apple with chopsticks.’

In the above example, we see that “Mlirn” is the most topical piece of information, as Mlirn is talking primarily about themself; “tonight” and “at home” are likewise already given, either explicitly mentioned previously in the discourse or from context, with the detail of “at home” being more important to the story than “tonight”. Conversely, “wax apple”—the thing Mlirn was eating—is positioned as the most focal piece of information, as this is the bit of new information that Mlirn primarily wants to convey about themself (while being at home that night), with the detail of “with chopsticks” being secondary.

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 when topical is followed by the ergative particle lie, and the main clause is followed by the complimentizer.

Verb – Focus (Subject) – mie – Topic (Subject – lie) – Compliment

This is demonstrated below with two example sentences:

‘Thlanyen thinks that that tree is tall.’

‘Someone said that that tree was tall.’

Auxiliaries, similarly to manner adverbials, always directly follow the verb (and precede manner adverbials if present).

Verb – Auxiliary – Focus – mie – Topic

This is demonstrated below with two example sentences:

Multiple verbs can also be strung together in the verbal position as serial verbs.

‘Thirhla let us know that they were going to bed.’

Similarly, multiple verb+focal phrases can be serialized.

‘Sirqlien said nothing lying on the ground.’

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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.

Verb – Focus – murq – Topic

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 typically follows true focus (marked by mie) but may also occur before the true focus.

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
.ɜပɛ. (冞) mie	Focus	– comments/rhemes – focalized information – contrastive information
.ƨဝɛ. (拿) na	Accusative	– affected, topical patients
.sဗƨ. (在) zar	Locative	– static locations
.ƨဗs. (到) dhar	Allative	– goals – unaffected, topical patients
.ƨပɜ. (離) lie	Ablative-Ergative	– sources – focal or rhemic agents
.ɜပှs. (畀) bieh	Dative	– beneficiaries – recipients
.ɜဗɛ. (埋) mar	Commitative	– accomplice
.ɛဖɜ. (由) yel	Instrumental	– instrument
.ɛပုɜ. (為) xlie	Essive	– states – purpose
.ƨဒɜ. (如) luo	Comparative	– metaphors – comparatives

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

.ƨဝɛ. na (拿) – This particle marks topical direct objects, or rather, objects that appear in the topical part of the sentence appearing after the mie particle (e.g., xlirnq mie lien muoh na “I ate the wax apple”).

.sဗƨ. zar (在) – This particle is primarily used to mark static locations (e.g., gla zar “at home”).

ƨဗs dhar (到) – This particle primarily marks goals (e.g., zalq gla dhar mie “I went home”) but is also used to mark topical objects which are unaffected (e.g., gienh mie lien muoh dhar “I see the wax apple”) and objects of stative verbs involving an experiencer (e.g., zurn mie prn yelq zlr dhar “I like my friend”).

.ƨပɜ. lie (離) – This particle primarily marks a source (e.g., zalq gla lie mie “I left [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”).

.ɜပှs. 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 the wax apple”) and marks a state when used with animates (e.g., ngien prn yelq xlie mie “speak as a friend”).

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

Case-marking particles can occur alone (without a noun) if the referent is highly accessible in the discourse or inferable from context.

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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 Auxiliaries and TAM

TAM	Marker	Usage	Examples
Progressive	zar (在)	To emphasize a dynamic or on-going activity	xlirnq zar lien muoh mie “I’m eating an apple”
Perfective	klrn (沈)	To emphasize a completed activity	xlirnq klrn mie lien muoh na “I have eaten the apple”
Future-Epistemic	yeq (易)	To emphasize an activity that is yet to happen or might happen	xlirnq yeq lien muoh mie “I will eat an apple” xlirnq yeq blanh blanh lien muoh mie “I might eat an apple”
Experential	glar (朝)	To emphasize an activity completed in the indeterminate past	xlirnq glar lien muoh mie “I’ve eaten an apple before”
Indefinite Future	thieq (夕)	To emphasize an activity that might happen in the indeterminate future	xlirnq thieq lien muoh mie “One day I will eat an apple”
Deontic	mieq (覓)	To mark an activity as necessary or desirable
Dynamic
Inconcludent	blanh blanh (瓣瓣)	To denote reluctance or inability to draw conclusions about an event
Tentative	tien harq (天昊)	To denote low certainty or weak priors about an event
Assertive	tien hlieq (天狹)	To denote high certainty or strong priors about an event

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Copula “to be”

To form basic equative phrases, the verb xlie is used with the predicate noun being placed in the focus phrase. The verb vie is used as the negative form of xlie.

For existential phrases, the verb yelq is used with its negated form being muo. The negated form is always used in combination with the negative focus particle.

The existential verbs can also be used to denote possession. When the possessor is topical it is unmarked, but when the possessor is focal, then it is marked with the allative marker. Conversely, when the possessed is focal it is unmarked, but when topical it is marked with the accusative marker.

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Questions

muo (無) – This particle marks basic yes-no questions. It is placed after the focus phrase and replaces the focus particle mie (宩) when used.

hie (奚) – This is the basic interrogative pronoun denoting “what, where, which, etc.” When modifying a noun with the meaning of “which,” it is usually combined with a noun classifier. The focus particle 宩 is also dropped when the interrogative pronoun is used.

muoq hie (物奚) – This is an alternative to hie (奚) which is most commonly used in equative constructions or for emphasis. It literally translates to “what (thing).”

hlie (誰) / lrn hie (人奚) – These are the basic interrogative pronouns for animate referents meaning “who.” hlie (誰) is a contraction of lrn hie (人奚), the latter being used most often for emphasis.

thlie hie (時奚) – “when”

glieq xan (解安) – “why”

xan (安) – “how, how come”

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Sentence Final Particles

.ɛပɜ. (ye) 噫 – particle expressing excitement or approval

.ɛမɛ. (kir) 噙 – particle expressing frustration, impatience, or hesitation

(lah) 喇 – particle expressing shock or exasperation

.ƨဒɜ. (luo) 囉 – particle expressing surprise (also used as an interjection like “wow!”)

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

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

.ɛပ့ɛ. (thieh) 𧶽 – particle expressing a request or a favor

(gaq) 㗎 – particle expressing speculation or offering a suggestion

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Numbers and Classifiers

Numbering Systems and Numerals
Thernese uses two different numbering systems: octal and hexadecimal. The octal system is used for basic counting and noun quantification. The hexadecimal system is used for time, including years, days of the month, and smaller time units. Thernese numerals themselves are actually a 4 bit binary system, and only the hexadecimal system utilizes the full set of numerals. See the page on Thernese math notation for more information.

Numeral	Value	Octal	Hexadecimal
ɛဝɜ	0	.ƨမံɜ. (零) lien	.ɛခုံƨ. (中) glurn
ɛဝs	1	.ɛဖ့ɜ. (一) yelq	.sစƨ. (周) zal
ɛဝƨ	2	.ƨပɜ. (二) lie	.ɛပုံs. (閑) hlien
ɛဝɛ	3	.sဝံs. (三) than	.sဗ့s. (少) tharq
sဝɜ	4	.sပs. (四) thieh	.sပံs. (羨) thien
sဝs	5	.sဒ့ɜ. (五) nguoq	.sဝုɛ. (差) sla
sဝƨ	6	.ƨဖ့ɜ. (六) lielq	.sဓံƨ. (增) zrn
sဝɛ	7	.sပ့ɛ. (七) sieq	.ƨပɜ. (銳) lie
ƨဝɜ	8	.ɜဝု့s. (八) blaq	.ɛဓုံƨ. (更) glrn
ƨဝs	9	–	.ƨဒံs. (斷) luon
ƨဝƨ	10	–	.sဒုံƨ. (裝) zluon
ƨဝɛ	11	–	.sခံƨ. (眾) zurn
ɜဝɜ	12	–	.sပုs. (睟) slie
ɜဝs	13	–	.sဓံɛ. (盛) srn
ɜဝƨ	14	–	.ɜဝ့ɜ. (法) vaq
ɜဝɛ	15	–	.ɛမံɜ. (應) yenh

Octal System

Hexadecimal System and Thernese Time

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Conjunctions

klrn mie (沈宩) – and, and then (connecting verb phrases, pre-verbal)

klieq mie (卻宩) – but, however, yet (pre-verbal)

klieq (卻) – but, however, yet (post-verbal)

gr mie (個宩) / grn (咁) – therefore, because of that (pre-verbal)

yenh gr (樣個) – therefore, thus, like that (post-verbal)

muo lan (無然) / mlan (謾) – or, otherwise (verb phrases)

mar (埋) – and, with (connecting noun phrases)

valq (否) – either…or (noun phrases)

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