1: Orthography
The orthography is generally identical to English save for
the following letters (and the lack of “f” as a character):
-
a = /a/
-
c = /t͡ʃ/
-
e = /ɛ/
-
eu = /ə̃/
-
h = /ɦ/
-
i = /i/
-
j = /j/
-
o = /o/
-
s = /ʃ/
-
ss = /s/
-
u = /u/
-
v = /v/
-
w = /f/
-
z = /ʒ/
2: Verbs
2.1: Verb
infinitives and basic conjugation
All verbs in their infinitive must have a final vowel of “i”
– usually, there is no vowel afterwards, for example “sesi” (“to provide”), but
sometimes another consonant will follow, usually in the pattern “-ik” or “-it”,
e.g. “ssit” (“to offer, to deal”).
Verbs are conjugated for past, present and future and all
six persons of pronoun, as well as distinctions for male and female genders.
When the gender of the subject noun is in doubt or question, the feminine form
is used.
|
|
Present
|
Past
|
Future
|
|
1st
sing.
|
-e/-o
|
-aj/-oj
|
-en/-u
|
|
2nd
sing.
|
-ke/-ko1
|
-kaj/-koj1
|
-ken/-ku1
|
|
3rd
sing.
|
-te/-to1
|
-taj/-toj1
|
-ten/-tu1
|
|
1st
plu.
|
-pe/-po2
|
-paj/-poj2
|
-pen/-pu2
|
|
2nd
plu.
|
-ce/-co
|
-caj/-coj
|
-cen/-cu
|
|
3rd
plu.
|
-ne/-no
|
-naj/-noj
|
-nen/-nu
|
1 “k”, “t” become “g”, “d” after voiced
consonants
2 “p” after unvoiced sibilants (“c”, “s”, “ss”),
“b” after “z” and “m” after the rest
It should be noted that for verbs ending in double
consonants, such as “pli” (“to go”), a vowel is inserted between the original
consonants when an ending with a consonant is used (e.g. “pelto” – “she goes”)
2.2: Articles
Articles can often come either before or after the verbs to
change their meanings or to add additional moods. Most importantly are the
conditional and negative articles:
-
“da” = “not”
-
“ota” = “never”
-
“het” – “would”
-
“heta” – “would not”
And the two main modal articles:
-
“on sesi/sesi on” – “to be able to provide”
-
“de sesi/sesi de” – “to have to provide”
Simple interrogatives are formed with the article “he”,
always placed after the verb (“henda” in the negative).
2.3: Compound verb
contractions
For phrases where the subject noun is not a simple pronoun,
the subject noun is itself shortened and prefixed to the verb, which is then
conjugated in the first person (singular or plural, depending on the noun).
Some verbs, known as “core verbs”, change their stem form as well in these
compounds – for example, “sesi” becomes “se” (past “saj”, future “sen”).
There are few real patterns for these changes, except for often
removing the final syllable and inflecting the penultimate syllable in its
place.
2.4: Predicate
Compounds cannot be formed with the predicate verb (“ti”,
“to be”), but in present third-person expressions the verb can simply be
omitted.
3: Nouns
3.1: Essential
noun forms
Most nouns (the exceptions largely being members of species)
are not distinguished by singular or plural, but do take certain different
forms:
-
The lative form, which indicates motion towards
the noun – this ends in “i” or “j”, except for in the few cases where the
pronoun ends in “-i” beforehand (for example, the pronoun “udi” (“she/her”),
which has a lative “dej”)
-
The possessive form – equivalent to the “’s”
ending in English (but not the genitive, which is often shown simply with the
original form) – that ends in “u”
For compound verbs (see 2.3.) nearly all nouns have a
separate form, usually by removing the final syllable and adding “-i-“ between
it and the verb. However, for single-syllable words, the ending is “-ssi” (e.g.
“hot” (“cat”) – “hossi-“)
3.2: Formal nouns
Most animate nouns have a formal equivalent – for example,
the formal address form of the name “Robert” would be “Roberten”. This is often
equivalent to using the affix “Mr” or “Mrs” in English. This is usually “-en”
or “-n”.
4:
Adjectives, adverbs and prepositions
4.1: Adjectives
Adjectives are indeclinable, but they are nearly always
formed with the ending “-u” (with a few notable exceptions, such as “ej”
(“with” or “and”)).
For adjectives of subject nouns which are not shown, but are
incorporated into verbs, the article “nu” follows the adjective.
Adjectives generally follow the noun in question.
Prepositions are generally shown as adjectives, either with
the normal or lative forms, such as:
-
Ku – in (“into” with lative)
-
Vju – from (“through” with lative)
-
Ej – with (sometimes “and”)
-
Visu – around, in the area of
-
Tu – over
-
Eu – under
-
Ou - for
4.2: Adverbs
Adverbs are formed from adjectives by dropping the “-u”
ending (if present) and adding an “i-“ (or “ite-“ with comparatives) as a
prefix. “Secondary” adverbs – adverbs that appear less important that the main
ones – are generally not modified in this way.
5:
Vocabulary
-
Kau – some
-
Ssku – all
-
Suj – who
-
Sen – what
-
Ske – how
-
Osek – why
-
Keju – one
-
Ssin – two
-
Ese – three
-
Eni – four
-
Bit – five
-
Mes – six
-
Otes – seven
-
Jab – eight
-
Inab – nine
-
Ksol - ten
