Conlang Relay 23/WSL

English

Cinderella's story tells the history of the king's daughter.

The queen commanded that she turn grass into gold.

The queen's dwarfs and Santa's pigs join the guards and a small dinosaur to help her depart in silence and avoid detection.

Cinderella and the small dinosaur meet up with Peter Pan and blow up a spaceship after big fights between the troops.

I would continue to tell this story, but my sister is drawing it.

WSL

Sa Sinderelajh patmjoinu patmjoin, voram ob ayiv, voram jereha tagavor martu es.

Ka tagavor gin i asev mek a, vor ner i hot a zol im es

Ka miatu ves stilik mart i a, voramu ajn tagavor um, jev ves wtajn gundan i a, voramu Santa um, ves-kax krivin mart jo jev mets ajam mek iz es, vor ognu mek jo, vor tiho gunav ajn tey its ner i jev'otc ner a tsanwtu.

Ka miatu Sinderela a mets ajam a Pitr Pan jo is'ka payteru ren i nav taratih a mek heto es, vor mets krivu mart i a.

Ka jes i asev ajs patmjoin avelijoin a bi isk tce mek iz es, vor mek i, vor jesu ayiam jehpajr, ajs a kartc im.

Grammar Sketch

All clauses in Wjerih Sarak begin with a Projector which indicates the type of clause. This is the only required element; anything else can be dropped if it is clear from context. Other parts of speech are Nouns, Roles, Quantifiers, Modal Particles, and Conjunctions. Modal Particles always occur clause-finally and, as their name suggests, indicate the grammatical mood. The default is declarative/indicative. More complex modal concepts can be encoded by quantification over possible scenarios, but none of those constructions are used here. In between the Projector and Modal Particle (if any) come a series of argument phrases, which consist of an optional Quantifier, zero or more Nouns, and either a specifier clitic or one or more Roles. There is no grammaticalized number marking. Nouns encode monovalent predicates, and cover approximately the semantic space of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Multiple Nouns in a single phrase serve to further narrow down the identity of a common referent, like a sequence of adjectives. Aside from idiomatic phrases, order is irrelevant. Roles encode divalent predicates, and cover the semantic space of case markers, adpositions, and some nouns (especially kinship terms). One argument slot of a Role is filled by the preceding Noun/Quantifier phrase, while the other is filled by the clausal specifier; thus, all Roles in a single clause share one common argument, given by the specifier phrase. When more than one phrase has the same Roles, it is equivalent to conjoining sequences of Nouns. Two phrases with the same set of Roles, but in differing orders, indicates a reciprocal, but none of those occur in this text. There is no grammaticalized tense or aspect. These are indicated solely by temporal phrases. The phoneme/grapheme <u> has some special properties. Several roots have a "fleeting u", which appears or disappears in different phonological environments, dependent on the presence or absence of certain affixes. Other morphemes contain an "alternative u", which does not disappear but alternates with <v> depending on the morphophonological environment.

Equational clauses (clauses which assert that two phrases refer to the same thing) can have two specifiers, or one specifier and one unmarked Noun/Quantifier phrase.

Phrase order within a clause matters only for the resolution of quantifier scope.

Lexicon (in order of first usage, unless I messed up)

sa (Projector) Introduces an positive equational clause.

-ih/-jh (Suffix) Derives an abstract Noun having some unspecified relation to the base Noun. Roughly equivalent to "of" or genitive case.

pat(u)m (Noun) To tell a story or narrative

jo (Role) Marks semantic themes

-in/-jn (Suffix) Participial suffix. Combined with a Role, it derives a new Noun referring to whatever bears the given relation to the base Noun.

-u / -v (Clitic) Marks the specifier phrase.

vor (Projector) Introduces a positive nominal clause.

-am (Clitic) Indicates the relativized phrase in a nominal clause. When attached directly to the Projector, it introduces an externally-headed relative clause, and must be followed by a Role or specifier clitic.

ob (Role) About or concerning.

ayi (Noun) Girl

jereha (Role) Child of

tag (Noun) Crown / tiara

-avor (Suffix) Derives a new Noun referring to a person who has some relation to the base.

mart (Noun) Man

es (Modal Particle) Emphasizes the indicative mood. Often used simply to disambiguate clause boundaries.

ka (Projector) Introduces a positive, non-equational independent clause.

gin (Noun) Woman

i (Role) Indicates semantic agents. In participles, it merges with -in/-jn.

ase (Noun) Speak, say, tell

mek (Noun) Thing. Often used as a placeholder for dislocated nominal clauses.

a (Role) Indicates semantic patients.

ner (Pronoun) 3rd person singular.

hot (Noun) Grass

zol (Noun) Gold (metal)

im (Role) Indicates results

miat (Noun) To join up or combine with someone/thing

ves (Quantifier) All/Every

stilik (Noun) Small

ajn (Pronoun) Approximately "that". Often used as part of phrases which can be referred to with a bare "ajn" later on.

jev (Conjunction) And, used to join non-propositional elements of the same syntactic type.

wt (Noun) To eat

gundan (Noun) Animal

um (Role) Indicates locations and owners.

kriv (Noun) Fight

mets (Noun) Big

ajam (Noun) Any ground-dwelling bird

iz (Role) Indicates causes or purposes.

og(u)n (Noun) Help, to help

tiho (Noun) Quiet

g(u)na (Noun) To go

tey (Noun) Place

its (Role) Indicates sources (ablative)

votc (Projector) Introduces negative nominal clauses.

tsanwt (Noun) To find or notice

isk (Conjunction) And, used to join propositions.

payter (Noun) To explode, explosion

ren (Pronoun) 3rd person plural

nav (Noun) Ship or boat

tarat (Noun) Vacuum (as in a volume without air, not the cleaning device)

heto (Role) Indicates that the specifier is behind or temporally after the argument.

ajs (Pronoun) Approximately "this". Like "ajn", it can be used to mark phrases for later reference with a bare "ajs".

aveli (Role) Indicates the specifier is "more" than the argument.

bi (Modal Particle) Marks irrealis.

tce (Projector) Introduces a negative, non-equational independent clause.

jes (Pronoun) 1st person singular.

jehpajr (Role) Sibling of

kartc (Noun) Picture, drawing