Conlang Relay 18/Vašt î Kûvik

Vašt î Kûvik text:

Oft telev dan câz šefš hî kam televezdonavoft. Jesk î tniš glîhoft jiš dažl câz. Oft imnî ôg srôn dažl ctôkl î šefš; oft fêlepušk spârvik lokût a hêvêût. Hî jesk fêlepoft hustel a feleten. Hî spârvik môg rinok fiv tl oft otr î zendâk ôg to o a tl oft hêvêrik a lokrik ôg to rô srôn o.

Ak jesk glîhoft jiš dažl câz šefš, oft ol vrîd težl ctôkl ûžl šefš. Jesk glîhoft zid akî mǎštoft kam vrîd a êžon kam jaskila a kišneoft kam.

Lexicon:

a and

ak as, while

akî and, and then

-av verbal suffix meaning "the opposite of, undoing the action described by the verb"

câz that, this (demonstrative)

ctôkl door, gate, portal

dan on top of, on

dažl inside of

-ezd nominal suffix meaning "pertaining to"

êž oscillate, flap, wave

feleten timid, meek, not assertive

fêlep to appear, seem to be

glîh to walk

hêvê proud

hî but, however

hustel weak, not strong

imnî statue

î of, also separates nouns from adjectives

jaskila hair

jesk psychological female/woman

jiš particle marking progressive aspect

kam particle marking inceptive aspect

kišne to smile

lok strong

mâšt to play with, flirt with

môg 1st person pronoun, does not show number

o ends a relative clause

-oft verbal suffix indicating inaccessibility, used here to mark narrative tense. Can appear on its own if there is no verb in the clause.

ol particle marking perfective aspect

-on verbal or nominal suffix meaning "to become" (forms dynamic verb)

otr personality, ego

ôg part of, made of, of (partitive)

-rik verbal suffix forming a noun which names the action of the verb

rinok to know

rô as much as, the same as (equative)

spârvik in truth, in reality, actually

srôn fox

šefš field, meadow

telev cloud, plume

težl through

tl that (starts relative clause)

tniš pretty, beautiful

-ušk verbal suffix indicating the object of the verb

-ût intensifying suffix

ûžl into

vrîd psychological male, man

zendâk strange, uncommon

zid particle marking cessative aspect

Word order is SVO, with adjectives following nouns, separated by î. Verbs of motion and possession do not exist; instead, the appropriate preposition is used with no verb. Aspect particles come right after the verb, adverbs and prepositional phrases may come either before the subject or after the object. The suffix -oft, used to mark inaccessibility, is used here to indicate narrative tense, since conculturally a story is viewed as inaccessible/outside of normal reality, but not conclusively false.