Conlang Relay 15/Old Albic

From FrathWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

by Jörg Rhiemeier

The Text

Talal sugunthul

Salétha raiganthal! Na bá san ratharam, na bá laras silendil, na bá gribinthid lurusul danal raiganthalal. Haiesi meneth hanath amath vantesi. Mar há seraigan am raigan mithinith, am raigan sallaranath raigenimil cvenimil. Na hai raigirim phlisirim amal hai. Chvalasa a vaivasa meneth am thajá bá sam mantham sin. Thajá dang san caras lindith sin. Mai dési reigiri deni vernes machar brasteri pichiri? Mar na dési sam trad.

Interlinear

Talal sugunthul
story hide-VN-LOC
Salétha raiganthal!
see-SBJ-3PL:P-2SG:A dance-VN-LOC
Na san ratharam,
not ESTAR-PRS-3SG:P 3PL-DAT chief-OBJ
na laras silendil,
not ESTAR-PRS-3SG:P music 3PL-voice-PL-PRT
na gribinthid lurusul danal raiganthalal.
not ESTAR-PRS-3SG:P learn-VN-ABL plan-LOC any-LOC dance-VN-LOC-LOC
Haiesi meneth hanath amath vantesi.
go-PRS-3PL:A way-PERL some-PERL REL-PERL desire-PRS-3PL:A
Mar seraigan im raigan mithinith,
but SER-PRS-3SG:P 3PL-dance the:I:OBJ dance graceful-SUP
am raigan sallaranath raigenimil cvenimil.
the:I:OBJ dance harmonic-SUP dance-PL-LOC all-LOC
Na hai raigirim phlisirim amal hai.
not SER-PRS-3PL:P dance-er-PL lithe-COMP REL-LOC SER-PRS-3PL:P
Chvalesi a vaivesi
turn-PRS-3PL:A and weave-PRS-3PL:A
meneth am thajá sam mantham sin.
way-PERL CPL seem-PRS-3SG:P ESTAR-PRS-3SG:P one mind-OBJ 3PL-DAT
Thajá dang san caras lindith sin.
seem-PRS-3SG:P thing this work easy-SUP 3PL-DAT
Mai dési reigiri deni vernes machar
INT make-PRS-3SG:P-3PL:A dance-er-PL-AGT any-PL-AGT beauty great-COMP
brasteri pichiri?
effort-INS little-COMP-INS
Mar na dési sam trad.
but not make-PRS-3SG:P-3PL:A one step

Smooth English

Story of Hiding

May you see them dancing! There is no chief to them, there is no music of their voices, there has been no learning of any plan for their dance. They go some way which they desire. But the dance is the most graceful, the most harmonic of all dances. They turn and they weave along such a way that there seems to be one mind to them. This work seems the easiest to them. Do any dancers make more beauty with less effort? But they do not make one step.

Vocabulary

a (objective stem am)
relative pronoun.
am
inanimate definite article.
b-
to be (momentarily).
brastar
effort.
d-
to make.
dan
any.
caras
work.
cvenim
all.
grib-
to learn.
h-
to be (permanently).
hai-
to go.
laras
music.
lenda
voice.
mach
great.
mai
interrogative particle.
mantha
mind.
mar
but.
mithin
graceful.
phlis
lithe.
pich
little.
raig-
to dance.
raigan
dance.
rathara
chief.
sal-
to see.
sallaran
harmonic.
sam
one.
san
this.
sug-
to hide.
talal
story.
thaj-
to seem.
trad
step.
vant-
to desire.
vernes
beauty.

Grammar

Phonology

The vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/ cause umlaut of the preceding vowel:

  • /a/ lowers (/i/ > /e/, /y/ > /ø/, /u/ > /o/)
  • /i/ fronts (/a/ > /e/, /o/ > /ø/, /u/ > /y/)
  • /u/ rounds (/a/ > /o/, /e/ > /ø/, /i/ > /y/)

Two subsequent vowels of the same quality contract into a long vowel (marked with acute accent).

Some suffixes undergo vowel harmony with the preceding vowel. Such harmony vowels are transcribed as ° below.


Morphology

Nouns

Animate nouns have an agentive stem (AS), and an objective stem (OS) obtained by adding -m to the AS. The AS is listed in the vocabulary section. Inanimate nouns have only an OS (listed) and no AS. Cases occuring in the text:

partitive
AS-l
dative
AS-n
objective
OS-0
instrumental
OS-i
locative
OS-°l
ablative
OS-°d
perlative
OS-°th

Nouns modifying other nouns undergo suffixaufnahme.

Adjectives
comparative
-°r
superlative
-°th.

Adjectives agree with their head nouns in gender, number and case.


Verbs
present tense
-a-
subjunctive mood (also used as imperative)
-i-
2nd person singular agent
-tha
3rd person singular agent
-sa
3rd person plural agent
-si
3rd person singular patient
-a
3rd person plural patient
-i
verbal noun
-°nth

There is one instance of a periphrastic perfect formed with b- 'to be (momentarily)' and the ablative case of the verbal noun.


Syntax

VSO, modifiers follow their heads.

See also Old Albic

Conlang Relay 15
Ring A Ring B Ring C
Pete BleackleyKhangaþyagontorch
What is a relay?list of relays and participantsedit the TOC aboveedit this template