Conlang Relay 22/iljena
Contents
Text
heqre nikta
unkita ehawm wofra
ahwemo ugert danqe
ohwum aklat agarte
eknis utled ehewni
ahips etildo stava
ehawm adamse hwomu
okafume uknes adamse
atiladu oknis iberdu
anikatu aklat gort
uhuwumu ehwem haws
uhwami keneso bnaga hwemo ahiwasu
iknosa kanosi hwima pruba inikiti
nukt hwasu kensa danoqi
gort klatu nikto baradu
Smooth English
The Echo Song of the Merchant's Fall
A merchant prepared to go on a journey. He harnessed his wagon to a donkey. He loaded his cargo onto the wagon. A child came to watch with a dog. Eventually the child felt hungry. He went to the house to eat. The family forbade the dog to come into the house. The child tied the dog to a bush. The merchant tied the cargo to the wagon. He did not have enough rope. He untied the dog to use the rope. The dog began to run around, making trouble, and the merchant panicked. The merchant sung the rope at the dog, it yelped and the donkey ran. The cargo on the wagon knocked the merchant into the bush.
Grammar
iljena is spoken by the Leyen people, who live on the fourth planet of the Delta Pavonis system. They are crepuscular bipeds with vibrissae all over their bodies. As a result of their sensitivity to air movements, they perceive themselves as being immersed in an active world, and their language reflects this. Every word is a noun and a verb at the same time. The noun consists of a triconsonantal root, which is interdigitated with a vowel pattern representing the verb. Everything is seen as an participant in the overall action of the sentence, playing a particular role. Word order is used to group together related participants, and to indicate the overall flow of the action.
This text is written in a popular form of iljena verse that is organised in couplets. The word shapes in the second line of each couplet echo those in the line before.
Vocabulary
Noun roots
- bng
- reason
- brd
- bush
- dms
- house
- dnq
- a species of pack or draft animal
- grt
- wagon
- hps
- time
- hqr
- echo, couplet, verse composed of couplets
- hwm
- 3rd person singular
- hws
- rope
- kfn
- family
- klt
- cargo
- kns
- a species of sociable, domesticated carnivore
- nkt
- merchant
- prb
- trouble
- stv
- hunger
- tld
- child
- wfr
- journey
Verb patterns
(Numbers represent consonant positions)
- 12a3a
- be
- 12a3u
- hit
- 12e3o
- use
- 12i3a
- make
- 12o3u
- eat
- 12u3a
- obstruct
- 1a23
- suffice
- 1a23e
- pull
- 1a2a3u
- entangle
- 1a2o3i
- run
- 1e23a
- yelp
- 1e23e
- sing
- 1e2e3o
- get up
- 1i23a
- fall
- 1i23o
- leap
- 1o23
- hold
- 1o23a
- carry
- 1u23
- swing
- a12a3
- lie
- a12e3o
- harness
- a1a23e
- receive
- a1i23
- bring
- a1i2a3u
- tie
- e12e3
- have
- e12i3
- accompany
- e1a23
- go
- e1e23i
- watch
- e1i23o
- feel
- i12o3a
- begin
- i1e23u
- restrain
- i1i2i3i
- panic
- o12i3
- sit
- o12u3
- load
- o1a2u3e
- forbid
- u12a3i
- untie
- u12e3
- come
- u12e3a
- prepare
- u1e23
- contain
- u1u2u3u
- not do
| Conlang Relay 22 | |||||||||||
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