tinglik

Tinglik is a fictional linguistic concept used in worldbuilding and speculative fiction to describe a communication system that encodes meaning through a combination of tonal vocal signals and embodied gesture. The term is commonly employed in gaming supplements, science fiction, and collaborative storytelling to explore how sound and gesture can form a unified message.

In the fictional archipelago of Kairu, tinglik is said to have emerged among seafaring communities around the 14th century as a ritual register used in councils and ceremonies. In many depictions, speakers produce a sequence of musical intonations while performing accompanying hand and palm gestures, and the timing of gestures aligns with the tonal pattern. Ordinary conversation can switch to tinglik in contexts of ritual, negotiation, or dramatic storytelling.

Linguistic features: Tinglik blends a limited tonal system with a fixed set of conventional gestures. Meaning is derived from the combination of tone, tempo, and gesture alignment rather than from lexical items alone. The grammar is often described as postpositional with flexible word order; it relies on discourse-pragmatic cues, alignment with the addressee, and prosodic markers to encode focus, evidentiality, and affect.

Example and usage in practice: A tinglik utterance might pair a rising tone with a palm-facing gesture toward the interlocutor to express surprise, while a falling tone paired with a palm-down motion can signal discontinuation of a topic.

See also: Constructed languages; Sign language; Tone language; Worldbuilding.

Note: Tinglik is a fictional concept; there is no real-world usage.