The Grammar of Trigedasleng

About Trigedasleng

Trigedasleng is a constructed language (conlang) developed by David J. Peterson for use on the CW show The 100. The Woods Clan (Trigedakru/Trikru) and Sand Nomads (Sanskavakru) have been heard using this language, but other groups of grounders (that is, earth-born people not born inside Mt. Weather) may also speak the language. Some of the Sky People (Skaikru; those from the Ark) began to learn Trigedasleng after repeated contact with the Trigedakru.

Trigedasleng is descended from a heavily-accented dialect of American English. It has evolved rapidly over three generations. Its development was also influenced by an early code-system that was developed shortly after the Cataclysm, but this only affected the lexicon in any substantial way. At the time of the Ark's descent, it is believed that most grounders speak only Trigedasleng; warriors (and certain others, like Nyko the healer) speak both Trigedasleng and American English, a fact which they are careful to hide from their enemies.

Trigedasleng is not a creole, but a descendant of American English alone, and while it may share similarities with AAVE (African American Vernacular English, which is also derived from American English), those similarities are not intentional, and Trigedasleng does not derive from AAVE.

Pronunciation & Writing

Trigedasleng doesn't have its own writing system. The bits of writing that have survived the last 97 years are incomplete and have probably been passed down from warrior to warrior along with English. The writers of The 100 asked Peterson to use a simplified spelling system for the scripts, instead of using more English-like spelling rules. The table below illustrates this simplified system.

Trigedasleng does not use the letters C, Q, or X.

Names

Names in Trigedasleng are rendered phonetically, or 'sounded out', based on the system above. Here are a few examples from the show:

Stress

Stress is lexical, but semi-predictable if you're familiar with the English word(s) that gave rise to the Trigedasleng word(s). Often stress is irrelevant, as many words are monosyllabic.

Monosyllabic Vowel Final Content Words

Monosyllabic content words (i.e. nouns, adjectives and verbs) will end in a vowel. These words will have their vowels lengthened. This happens naturally in English with similar words (for example, the vowel in tree is longer than the vowel in treat). This length will not be marked on the word, but will be indicated in the phonetic transcription.

Morphology and Syntax

Trigedasleng is an SVO language that is largely isolating. Modifiers tend to precede their heads, but there are postposed verbal/nominal particles. The language is prepositional, and where possession is implied without the use of a preposition, the possessor precedes the possessee. Relative clauses follow the nouns they modify.

Nouns

Trigedasleng nouns and pronouns no longer inflect for number or case. To the extent that number marking is required, plurality can be indicated in a few non-obligatory ways:

Verbs also mark their objects with a postposed particle called a verbal satellite. These verbal satellites are subcategorized by the verb, and will be listed with each verb in the lexicon. The verbal satellite always occurs after the object. Some examples are given below:

Verbs

Trigedasleng verbs have lost all tense and agreement forms. They've been replaced by an invariant form of each verb that's supported by participles to indicate tense and aspect. Below are given some examples of the various tense aspect particles and how they combine:

Imperative

The imperative form of the verb is used to issue commands. Comparatives are the simple bare form of the verb with its concomitant postposed particles:

Negative imperatives are formed in the same way negative verbs are formed:

Commands can be given to non-second person entities by using the auxiliary teik:

Valency

Trigedasleng makes use of a few valency-altering techniques to form different types of clauses and emphasize different parts of the sentence. At this stage both passive and causative structures exist.

Passive constructions:

The agent of a passive verb may be introduced with the preposition kom:

Causative constructions are actually formed in the same way that non-second person commands are formed, using the auxiliary teik:

Both constructions can be combined in additive ways:

Finally, intransitive verbs usually come with a postposed particle indicating that the verb takes no object. For most active verbs, that particle is raun. It's only used with active verbs; never with verbs that have been passivized (those use their transitive particles). Verbs that use a different particle will have it listed. Some motile verbs use adverbs instead. Those verbs will be noted in the lexicon.

Negation

To negate a verb, simply place nou in front of the clause. Several examples are shown below:

Participles

Participles are formed in a number of ways. The active participles are listed below:

The differences between these three participles are extremely subtle. A purposive participle is used to describe a noun that will take on or be associated with the characteristics of the participle in the future. An eventative participle is used to describe what a noun is currently in the process of doing or is currently like. A descriptive participle is a phrase used to describe the way a noun always is. In the case of the descriptive participle, the subordinator bilaik is optional, and is more likely to be used in on-the-fly constructions.

Passive participles feature the same split:

Adjectives

Trigedasleng adjectives do not agree in either case or number with the nouns they modify. Adjectives do participate in a comparative paradigm, but that paradigm differs from English.

Comparison

Adjectives in English can take the suffix "-er" to indicate that its quality is greater than another entity, and "-est" to indicate that its quality is superior to all others'. In Trigedasleng, there is only the comparative level; the superlative level has been lost. Comparison is indicated with the preposed particle mou:

The sound changes related to the comparative paradigm have rendered the superlative/comparative distinction moot, as can be seen above. To emphasize the superlative nature of a construction, the postposed particle sou can be used:

To express the comparand, use the preposition kom:

Demonstratives

There are three types of demonstratives in Trigedasleng based on their distance from the speaker. Their adjectival forms are shown below:

These demonstrative adjectives can be turned into demonstrative pronouns as follows:

The locative pronouns have stayed closer to their English forms:

Adverbs

There is no longer a distinction between adjectives and adverbs. Instead, adjectives used in adverbial positions are taken to be adverbs.

Relative Clauses

Relative clauses in Trigedasleng are basically non-existent. What serve as relative clauses are simply clause chains that make use of resumptive pronouns. Some examples are shown below:

In general, Trigedasleng is far more analytic than English is at this stage, despite English itself being fairly analytic now.

Questions

Yes/No Questions

Yes/no questions are questions that are often answered with either "yes" or "no". Yes/no questions are identical in form to their corresponding statements, with the only distinction being intonational:

Negative yes/no questions are quite common, and are formed simply as shown below:

WH-Questions

WH-questions are so called because in English, most WH-questions feature a word that has "w" and "h" in it (i.e. who, why, what, where, when or how [or even which]). To form a WH-question, a WH-word is used to stand in place of the element being questioned:

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Number System

Calendrical Vocabulary

Days of the Week

Months of the Year

Historical Notes

Below is a behind-the-scenes description of the historical processes that gave rise to the alternations seen in Trigedasleng. In the descriptions below, a segment, word or phrase preceded by an asterisk (*) is a proto-form. A proto-form is an older form that's no longer present in the modern language.