Talish

Natively known as: Talisso /Taˈlisso/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
a fo sasair ipeir co biru a geir co ponu pime enacu dair
Pronunciation: /a fo saˈsair iˈpeir co ˈbiru a ˈgeir co ˈponu ˈpime eˈnacu ˈdair/
Talish word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b c d f g h l m n p r s t v z/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	c	g
Fricative		f v	s z			h
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u/

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: (C)V
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, z
Mid-word consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, z
Word final consonants: N/A

Phonological rules (in order of application):

• h → Ø / _#
• r → n / _C
• d → Ø / _N
• e → æ / _P
• b → p / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
chi	ci
gi	g

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Noun

Nouns have both a plural affix and dual affix for precisely two things.

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	Suffix -ha aluboha /ˌaluˈboha/	Suffix -cu alubocu /ˌaluˈbocu/
Plural	Suffix -na alubona /ˌaluˈbona/	Suffix -mi alubomi /ˌaluˈbomi/
Dual	Suffix -so aluboso /ˌaluˈboso/	Suffix -ze aluboze /ˌaluˈboze/

Pronouns

1st singular	ma /ma/ I, me
2nd singular	he /he/ you
3rd singular masc	fo /fo/ he, him, it
3rd singular fem	na /na/ she, her, it
1st plural	o /o/ we, us
2nd plural	ga /ga/ you (all)
3rd plural	i /i/ they, them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	de /de/ my
2nd singular	i /i/ your
3rd singular masc	co /co/ his, its
3rd singular fem	te /te/ her, its
1st plural	u /u/ our
2nd plural	po /po/ your
3rd plural	ba /ba/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Future
1st person	Suffix -cu pimoircu /ˌpimoˈircu/	Suffix -ze pimoirze /ˌpimoˈirze/	Suffix -so pimoirso /ˌpimoˈirso/
2nd person	Suffix -si pimoirsi /ˌpimoˈirsi/	Suffix -ta pimoirta /ˌpimoˈirta/	Suffix -po pimoirpo /ˌpimoˈirpo/
3rd person	Suffix -ge pimoirge /ˌpimoˈirge/	Suffix -lo pimoirlo /ˌpimoˈirlo/	Suffix -me pimoirme /ˌpimoˈirme/

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am studying,
and habitual actions, such as I study (every night).

It is indicated with the word:

Imperfect particle

de /de/ imperfect particle

Perfect aspect

Perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’,
which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken
but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.

In Talish, the perfect is constructed with an affix :

Perfect

Suffix -ta pimoirta /ˌpimoˈirta/

Derivational morphology

Adjective → noun = Suffix -ni
Noun → adjective = Suffix -di
Noun → verb = Suffix -pi
Verb → noun = Suffix -vi
Verb → adjective = Suffix -ta
Adjective → verb = Suffix -fu
Adjective → adverb = Suffix -cu
One who Xs (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ni
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ta
Diminutive = Suffix -vo
Augmentative = Suffix -su
nm = Suffix -o
nf = Suffix -a
v = Suffix -ir

Geographical Distribution

Talish is only spoken regularly in Pianti with regional dialect differences between the northern and southern regions. Northern Talish incorporates far more hard consonants than the southern dialect.

Talish - English Dictionary

Common Phrases

Ti ava fu alubo rair!

In the mouth of the wolf!

_{- Said to someone about to undergo a difficult task. A "good luck".}

"Ruirge aluboha rair ruzeir!"

"May the wolf die!"

_{- The response to "In the mouth of the wolf."}

Common Female Names

Madu, Ezedi, Zua, Apeni, Ihi, Neluna

Common Male Names

Bago, Rairni, Cihine, Sol, Olumi, Vihi

Common Unisex Names

Zute, Sarefini, Nete