Conlang Relay 17/Iljena

Text

rkama hnaqa

eljen ohneq. ulajna honq. hniqe lujon. lajoni. ihinqa. oplite uhneq. hanoqi. ljuna.

Smooth English

The Bad Unicorn

A Leyen had a unicorn. He mounted the unicorn. The unicorn attacked him. He ran. The unicorn screamed. A multitude of unicorns came. The unicorns ran. The Leyen died.

Grammar

In iljena, every word is a noun and a verb at the same time, because of the Leyen belief that everything involved in an action is an active participant, playing a particular role. The noun part of a word is a triconsonantal root, denoting a particular participant in the action, and the verb part is a vowel pattern, indicating the role of a given participant. The word order is used to bring closely related participants together, and to indicate the overall flow of the action between the participants.

Vocabulary

Noun roots

hnq

A mythical beast, which according to legend, can only be ridden by a powerful sorceror.

ljn

Leyen, sentient crepuscular bipeds with vibrissae all over their bodies, from the fourth planet of the Delta Pavonis system.

plt

512 (the Leyen count in base 8), a great multitude.

rkm

bad thing.

Verb patterns

(123 indicate consonant positions)

12a3a

be

12i3e

attack

12u3a

die

1o23

hold

1a2o3i

run

1u2o3

suffer

e12e3

have

i1i23a

scream

o12e3

belong

o12i3e

compose

u12e3

come

u1a23a

mount