Aquarian

Aquarian (an sheeb weskoyrish, pronounced [æn ʃib wɛs'kɔjrɪʃ] in Aquarian) is an ongoing and developing artlang project first created by Owen Fish in early 2012. After various proto-forms, Aquarian is starting to develop into a usable language for conworld and conculture use. The premise of Aquarian is that it is the main language spoken in the Kingdom of Aquaria (Weskoyrick [wɛsk'hɔjrɪk]) an as-yet undiscovered country.

Orthography

Aquarian is written using the unmodified Latin (English) alphabet without diacritics or variations. This was done to facilitate the language's use for online typing, Twitter, instant messaging and compatibility within all English-language system fonts.

Phonology

Aquarian is designed to be spoken as if it were English; in other words, you would read Aquarian as you would standard English.

Vocabulary and Etymology

The vocabulary and grammar of Aquarian is heavily influenced by the Celtic languages (Cornish, Welsh, Manx, Gaelic) but also by regional English dialects and slang, Yucatan Mayan, Turkish, Japanese and probably a dozen other languages. Being an artlang foremost, a degree of aesthetics and a sing-song cadence to the language was more important than the evidence of development through parent languages etc.

Example Phrases

Nee chyon qui chintas, araany yas. [ni tʃ^jon kwi tʃɪn'tæs, ə'rɑnni jæs]

Not all that glitters is gold.

Yas an Chey Howell da! [jæs æn tʃe hawl dɑ]

There is The White House!

Vas ee a h-iracky heck an blywnes ugle. [væs i ə hɪræki hɛk æn bl^junɛz ugəl]

She was just reading the old books.

Chy a h-affy allen Londra, gava? [tʃi ə hæfi ælən lɒndrə, gɑvə]

We come from London, and you?

Cha s'a h-affy, besh cha g'a dicky? [tʃɑ sæ hæfi, bɛʃ tʃɑ gɛ dɪki]

Were I to go, what would I see?

Chey meen, chey voon yas! [tʃe min, tʃe vun jæs]

My house, is your house!

Cas gally yoon yas a h-iracky how, onged surrys! [kæs gæli jun jæs ə hɪræki haw, ɒŋgæd səris]

If you can read this, well done!

Other Texts & Translations

• The Lord's Prayer - Palleth an Aytrar

• The Ring Poem from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

Tether Haugh ben an Ereffhoyes foy'n indra,

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

Lether ben an Nannagarlonnes dhe'n rentres argeous heem,

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Danver ben Downes Nenhonty, dammys a honto,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

Yan ben an Arlon Twodell ar ilden twodell heen

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

Dhe Teer Mordar ry yash a yally an Cheas.

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Yan Haugh ben a curallo dhem pob, yan Haugh ben a rasto dhem,

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

Yan Haugh ben a hecarro dhem pob, ga dhe'n twodder a cacho dhem

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

Dhe Teer Mordar ry yash a yally an Cheas.

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.