Experimental features

Preface

All living languages, constructed or natural, have a tendency to fluctuate organically. A conlang like Toaq is by its very nature prescribed by its author (see reference grammar). While the inherent prescriptiveness of loglangs (whatever they are) does mean that there will always be a discernible “barrier” between the official and the unofficial, this does not mean that the prescriptive standard cannot embrace features found within the community over time. Unofficial features may improve the language’s ergonomics by experimentation, and may eventually become adopted officially if they prove useful. Others may not gain traction, or be outright dismissed by the community or the language's author. In Toaq, unlike some other loglang communities, rejected features typically die out rather than form discrete dialects used by paticular members. The creator of Toaq has himself put forth several proposals with the intention that the community test them, and even some of those have not stood the test of time. This page documents unofficial, experimental features of the language. Each particular feature is not elaborated upon beyond what is necessary to grasp the gist of it. This is not a discussion page nor a soapbox (try Discord instead), and is intended as a historical, at-a-glance document.

Live proposals

Lexical features

Redefinitions

soq, suı

officially ___ is the most [least] in property ___

• ___ is the singular least [most] among the however many most [least] in property ___ (2021-09, xorxes et al.) – preserves the x₂ of the original definition by relying on the cardinality being expressed in the x₃. Convenient with left grouping (see below).
• ___ satisfies property ___ the most [least] (2022-01, uakci) – attributive, not predicative; suı is not an exact opposite of soq (as it is not alienans; use soq bủ appropriately)
• ___, among ___, is the ___-est (hoaqgıo) – convenient in serial usage. Will probably be the one replace the status quo given [[Frame#Table of serial frames|the serial verb simplification pending

ko

officially ___ is N-th amongst ___, where N = ___, in property ___

• ___ is ___-th amongst ___ (2021, Hoemaı, probably, given the new hard cap of 3 slots)
• ___ is the last amongst the ___ (number) most ___ (property). (2021-09, xorxes)

mu

officially ___ satisfies relation ___ with the slots swapped

• ___ satisfies the converse of relation ___; ___ and ___ satisfy the converse of relation ___ (2021, Ntsékees et al.)

Determiner-like predicates

Some of the above could be turned into determiners, since they pass the tuq test: (in older Toaq,) ke tủq hỏa ≡ sa tủq hỏa ≡ tu tủq hỏa, hence tuq is determiner-like (and has been turned into a determiner with the release of Toaq γ).

cuaq

officially ___ is the idea of satisfying property ___

• ___ is the property of satisfying property ___. 2021-2022, uakci et al.

peı

• ___ is the number representing the cardinality of ___

Additions to the core vocabulary/lexicosemantics

puoq

___ is for purpose ___ (2021-09-18, Seoqrea)

sıy, fay

___ is an event with ___ as its source [destination] (2021-10, uakci)

Grammatical features

Particles extending existing classes

da

kâ

sloppy declarative illocution; does not require the speech act to be the direct cause of the proposition stated (2021-09-10, uakci)

shôu

offerative illocution (2022-02, seoqrea)

= sou

non-literal, non-assertive, “consider this” illocution (2022-02-07, magı; previously so) (2021-09-27 uakci)

daha, moho

humorous da, moq (2022-02-15, Ntsékees)

ru

huq

‘not X, but rather Y’ (2018, Ntsékees) – useful for corrections

re

‘iff’ (2018, Ntsékees)

buru

‘not X and Y’

rubu

‘X and not Y’ (2021)

po

lo

___ is a repetition/instance of X; po-class equivalent of guo (2021-08-04; hoaqgıo)

bı

bıbı, bına

signal the beginning and end of the scope of a multi-sentence prenex (2018-03, Ntsékees)

la

so

signals non-polar question in forethought (2022-02, magı)

Predicate-like particles; predicatizers

poı

(2017-10, originally proposed by Hoemaı) As a plain predicate: ___ is an event whose first-slot participant also satisfies property ___. Requires so-called structure-preserving propositions to function. As a particle: pòı and põı used to be official particles until [?] happened.

po in mı

(2021-11, uakci) Make po accept all kinds of phrases – like mı, mıru, unlike mea, jeı – including prepositionals (po nèo tóqfua ga kủe ‘book on the table’) as well as elliptical “phrases” (chỉ jí pó bũ ‘I think not’).

Serial predicate composition

Head-initial composition

(2019, spearheaded by xorxes) Define the serial composition relation ∘ as left-associative. This brings benefits in more complicated constructs where filling two slots one at a time is necessary.

Numeric predicate interactions

(2018-03, various people, notably Ntsékees, Seoqrea, uakci) A restricted version of the above: define some predicates as numeral-consuming and group them tight with following numerals, e.g., ((ko shỉ) pảq).

See Ntsékees’ detailed document on Toaq number system proposals for more.

New grammatical productions

Focus tag maker ku

(2018-11, uakci) Originally meq; consumes a predicate to turn into a focus marker (ku class – like ku, mao, tou, juaq).

sâ in pre-complementizer position

(2021-11-09, Lynn) sa may precede complementizers in a clause. Such determiners take in a content clause and in a relative clause. They quantify instances of an event – i.e., sâ pảı is ‘some friendship’, while bâq pảı is ‘instances of friendship in the abstract’. Canonically, bâq hảo is interpreted as the guo₂ version of lâ hảo.

ju ru

(2022-03, uakci) In contrast with ru ju, which connect sentences, ju ru are like regular ru but with ju “flavour” – e.g., tıu ru ‘and thus’.

Accepted proposals

Lexical features

Additions to core vocabulary

• laı – sign, symbol.

Grammatical features

Particles extending existing classes

hu

jıy

self-identification particle, I am ___, hu’s converse (2020-02-08, Hoemaı et al.)

Dead proposals

Lexical features

Lexeme cemetery

• chıq – bug.
• loe – measure (now mıeq).

Grammatical features

Particles extending existing classes

po

deı

___, ___, ___… satisfy relation X

loao

property ___ is satisfied by X (2019-02-18; hoaqgıo)

mu

(the no longer extant class of predicate modifiers)

doı

forces the highest arity in a predicate (2018-11). Inactive by virtue of Hoemaı’s inclusion of doı

hu

so – attitudinal particle

turns following phrase into an ad-hoc interjection, such as so jảı ‘yay!’ (2018, Ntsékees)

da

pa

signal that one’s part has been concluded (2021, uakci)

New grammatical productions

Conjunctivizer jıoı

(2019-02-20, Ntsékees) For any binary predicate phrase hảo, jıoı hảo ga constitutes a conjunction that feeds both “branches” of a sentence to hảo. Specifically, nủ shí jıoı hảo ga gú ≡ hảo nû shí cy nû gú.

raı go raı

(2018-11, uakci) Redundant to the present-day genitival serial construction.

Make one thing work like another thing

sa in raı

(2019, uakci)

hı, co in la

(2019-03, uakci)

bı in da

(2021, uakci)

bı as an illocution would function as a general ‘offering up to discourse’ particle.

Serial predicate composition

Predicate-consuming slots

(2019-04, uakci) Certain verbs would subordinate entire predicates, consuming all of their places. Originally motivated by jane.