Conlang Relay 18/Tariatta

Tariatta language by Tony Harris; as received by Milyamd

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Preface

Here, finally, is the Ring A text in Tariatta. I believe I've included all the vocabulary and grammar notes you'll need, and Tariatta is really a pretty simple language overall. But, don't hesitate to email me any questions you might have.

Tony

Tariatta text

Miaru siura anatta anisisseth koashshitte. Lekasu o fe iliasu o ar fassu lekath.

Kasa lure fe tunisith ette kiri siurasseth. Fipiketasu tunisith fe iyasu pesha imatisu osha siurashsheth. Imatisu oshath fe ritasu, otta akiasu ba isi fe lelasu. Ilu arishi ara pa koashshisseth. Du o arishith ba shala ki affe kishalitte fe ba tilissa ara. Du nel oa lureth fe tunisith ette ba yu tisu erasa ta no tilissath sa. Winasu lureth.

Vocabulary

affe - skin, rind, peel akia - to become anatta - alive, living anisi - corner, bend

ar - that (conj.)

ara - much, many, very

arishi - snow, ice, sleet

-ashshi - (suffix) great, large

ba - (particle indicating the preterite of state verbs)

dessa (du) - am, is, are

e - he

era - to see

fassa (fassu) - to be pleasing, please

fe - and, with

fi- - (prefix) begin, suddenly, start

ila (ilu) - there is/are

ilia - to hope, hope

imati - to rise, go up, lift

isi - small

iya - to cry out, scream

ka - to sleep

ki - as, like

kiri - near kishali - apple koa - house leka - story, to tell a story, narrate lela - to disappear, leave, vanish, invisible lure - man, male miara (miaru) - to stand, sit, be located (class II) nel - however (always follows verb) o - it

oa - them (neuter/combined)

osha - smoke, fog

otta - then, next

pa - on, upon pesha - because piketa - to be awake, wake up

rita - to turn, twist

sa - this, that

shala - smooth

siura - statue ta - (relative pronoun)

-th - (suffix) the (definite article, added after any case endings)

tilissa - beautiful, beauty

tisu - only, alone tunisi - a small fox-like carnivore

wina - smile, to smile

yu - (plural marker, precedes noun)

Grammar Notes

Pronounce Tariatta essentially like Esperanto or Italian, other than th which is /T/ (like English “thin”) and sh which is /S/ (like English “shin”), and of course y and w which have their English values. Accent is normally on the penultimate, although case endings on nouns, and the -tta ending that forms adjectives, do *not* draw the accent from the penultimate of the root.

Sentences and phrases are fairly rigidly VSO, to the point where even relative and interogative pronouns fall in the place in the sentence where they would fit as a subject or object. Only a few words, mostly conjunctions and particles, can precede the verb in a phrase.

Nouns take a few case endings based on their role in the sentence. Adjectives follow nouns but do not decline. There are no plural endings, rather plurality is shown either by context or by adding the particle “yu” before the noun. The direct object is not shown with a case ending, rather the object form of the appropriate personal pronoun, which is merely the pronoun with an “n” prefixed, precedes the noun that is the direct object. The predicate noun or phrase in sentences with stative verbs is marked with the particle “ba". The other case endings that appear in this passage are -tte for the genitive, -sse for the locative, and -shshe for the ablative, indicating possession, position, and motion away from, respectively. Other than the n- prefix for direct object, pronouns take the same case endings as nouns when required. There are no possessive pronouns, the genitive case is used instead.

Verbs fall into two classes. The only tense that conjugates is the present. Past and future are shown with auxiliaries, but not used in this passage. The present is often used in narratives in place of either past or future. The root form of the verb functions as both an infinitive and imperative. For Class I verbs, the present is formed by adding personal endings:

-liu / -lia - 1st person singular / plural

-riu / -ria - 2nd person singular / plural

-su / -sa - 3rd person singular / plural

For Class II verbs, the present has only one form, ending in -u, which is derived from the root most often by replacing the final vowel with -u but can also be more or less irregular depending on the verb. In the vocabulary these are indicated by putting the present tense form in parentheses after the root. Verbs in the vocabulary that do not have this are all Class I.

Following Class I verbs no subject pronoun is generally needed unless there is a reason to show gender in the 3rd person. However, since Class II verbs do not show person, generally the pronoun is used, even if there is a noun subject, for anything other than the 1st person singular, as the pronoun “u” (meaning “I”), is harder to distinguish from the verb ending itself.