1.1.2. What has not been implemented, but will be?

THIS IS AN OLD VERSION OF TOAQ. IF YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT TOAQ, GO HERE INSTEAD: MODERN TOAQ

There will not be multiple different words for connectives for different parts of speech, there are no direct equivalents of tanru, and there are no elidible terminators. The formal grammar is quite a bit shorter and simpler than Lojban's; {bo}-like patchwork mechanisms are nowhere to be seen. Yet, a Lojbanist can feel quite at home. Prior knowledge in one of the other Loglandic languages is likely to facilitate the learning of Toaq, though it's not a requirement by any means.

If you are a Lojbanist, you might expect all the things you can find in Lojban to be found in Toaq as well. This is not the case. The languages are related, to be sure, but they are both unique. Some things found in Lojban are never going to be part of Toaq — one example being Lojban {kau} — because Toaq would have little use for them or because the author doesn't agree with their design.

The general approach used in the creation of Toaq Dzu is the search for general mechanisms that are applicable in a variety of situations, as opposed to having 100 different solutions to 100 different problems. The language is simple in its overall structure, and completely regular. Apart from the pronunciation of the tones, anyone should be able to grasp the rules of the language in a very short time. Another asset is that it is relatively succinct; the average Toaq Sentence is about as long as an English one, though there are many cases where it's noticeably shorter than English. And compared to Lojban, Toaq needs slightly over 50% fewer syllables to express the same things.

The general approach used in the creation of Toaq Dzu is the search for general mechanisms that are applicable in a variety of situations, as opposed to having 100 different solutions to 100 different problems. The language is simple in its overall structure, and completely regular. Apart from the pronunciation of the tones, anyone should be able to grasp the rules of the language in a very short time. Another asset is that it is relatively succinct; the average Toaq Sentence is about as long as an English one, though there are many cases where it's noticeably shorter than English. And compared to Lojban, Toaq needs slightly over 50% fewer syllables to express the same things.

Toaq Dzu (working title) is a tonal loglang (a logical language based around predicate logic) invented by selpa'i. Work began in August 2013. An online parser and an online dictionary are now available at tools.selpahi.de:20000/parser and tools.selpahi.de:20000/dict respectively.

Every word in Toaq is monosyllabic, so anything said about syllables is also true for words, excepting borrowings or lexical compounds, which may consist of multiple syllables. The vast majority of words, and certainly all the base words are monosyllabic.

Every word in Toaq is monosyllabic, so anything said about syllables is also true for words, excepting borrowings or lexical compounds, which may consist of multiple syllables. The vast majority of words, and certainly all the base words are monosyllabic.

and the longest syllable is more or less:

()-brackets denote optional components, | means xor, and []-brackets are merely for grouping purposes, but don't mark their content as optional.

CC is one of the predefined consonant clusters, and VV is a predefined diphthong.

C means any consonant other than /w/ and /j/, V means any of the five vowels.

In terms of Lojban, /ə/ is "missing" as a phoneme. However, in the word "na", the /a/ can be realized as [ə] in non-sentence-final position.

/w/ and /j/ can only appear in a very specific spot, namely right after the initial consonant of a word. They may never begin a syllable.

Also, pay extra attention to the fact that <y> is not a vowel, but that it stands for /j/.

As can be seen, the "missing" consonant phonemes (from a Lojban perspective) are /x/ and /ʔ/. On the other hand, there is an additional phoneme /ŋ/, denoted by the grapheme <q>.

The phonology of Toaq is similar to that of Lojban in that it uses much of the same phonemes, but differs from Lojban in that it permits fewer clusters and that the syllable structure is a bit simpler. Toaq has two phonemes less than Lojban.

(3.2c) could be imagined as an answer to "Please help me carry this table".

A natural situation in which (3.2b) occurs is as an answer to a question such as "Where are you going?". The questionee doesn't repeat the entire question, but only fills in the blank(s).

A natural situation in which (3.2b) occurs is as an answer to a question such as "Where are you going?". The questionee doesn't repeat the entire question, but only fills in the blank(s).

(as said by an angry parent who just scolded the first of two children, and is about to scold the second)

A non-sentence is a sentence without a predicate. As such, it can occur in different shapes. The main types are: Prenex-sentences (containing nothing but a prenex), and term-sentences (containing nothing but a list of terms)

A non-sentence is a sentence without a predicate. As such, it can occur in different shapes. The main types are: Prenex-sentences (containing nothing but a prenex), and term-sentences (containing nothing but a list of terms) .

Both (3.1a) and (3.1b) have dropped subjects, which is a common thing to do in Toaq. Anything that is obvious from context can be omitted. In a different context, (3.1a) and (3.1b) could have different interpretations, of course.

Both (3.1a) and (3.1b) have dropped subjects, which is a common thing to do in Toaq. Anything that is obvious from context can be omitted. In a different context, (3.1a) and (3.1b) could have different interpretations, of course.

Constituents marked in bold are mandatory, the rest is optional. This means that the most basic of sentences is

The general form of a sentence can be described with this simple formula:

There are two types of sentences: Full sentences (those that contain a predicate), and non-sentences (those that don't).

There are two types of sentences: Full sentences (those that contain a predicate), and non-sentences (those that don't).

In this primer, the ASCII tone letters are used so that the student can directly copy and paste the example sentences into the parser and verify them.

Nine may seem like a lot, but it's really manageable. Chances are that your native language makes use of tones, and you just aren't fully aware.

There are nine tones. No, that's not a typo. The following table will show what they are, how to write them and what to call them.

A major aspect of Toaq are the tones. The tones do almost all the work! They are to thank for a lot of the succinctness of Toaq.