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| {{Infobox | | <div class="boilerplate metadata" id="inuse" style="background: #cfc; border: 1px solid #aaa; margin: 0 2.5%; padding: 0 10px"> |
| |name=Stilio | | This is a half-exolang, with mashed-up features from [[Wikipedia:Bantu languages|Bantu]], and [[Wikipedia:Dravidian languages|Dravidian]]. Everything is [[Wikipedia:voicelessness|voiceless]]. A novel morpho-syntactic alignment was created. All of Cambridge professor Francis Nolan's phrases invented for the movies were incorporated. However, every one of them was in the imperative voice, so I have made free to extravagantly supplement his ideas. |
| | </div> |
| | |
| | {{Language |
| | |English=Stilio |
| |native=zlacuru | | |native=zlacuru |
| |species=snakes and snake-like reptiles | | |subbranch=[[Wikipedia:Snake|snakes and snake-like reptiles]] |
| |creator=Francis Nolan/[[User:Aquatiki|Robert Marshall Murphy]] | | |country=All |
| | |branch=magic |
| | |universe=[[Wikipedia:Harry Potter universe|Harry Potter]] |
| | |speakers=est. < 10,000 |
| | |wordorder=[[Wikipedia:Verb–subject–object|VSO]] |
| | |family=[[a priori conlangs]] |
| | |type=[[Wikipedia:Fusional language|Fusional]] |
| | |alignment=[[Wikipedia:Active–stative language|Active–stative]] |
| | |author=Francis Nolan/[[User:Aquatiki|Robert Marshall Murphy]] |
| |date=2002/2012 A.D. | | |date=2002/2012 A.D. |
| }} | | }} |
| '''Parseltongue''' (in this article) refers to '''{{PAGENAME}}''', a reconstructed form of [[Parseltongue]]. A script for this language is forth-coming. This language a unique [[morphosyntactic alignment]] (which is largely [[Wikipedia:Ergative-absolutive language|Ergative-absolutive]], while incorporating elements of Fluid-S), and defaults to VSO word order. It is, however, strongly [[Wikipedia:Non-configurational language|non-configurational]]. | | '''Parseltongue''' (in this article) refers to '''{{PAGENAME}}''', a reconstructed form of [[Parseltongue]]. This language has a unique [[morphosyntactic alignment]] (which is largely [[Wikipedia:Ergative-absolutive language|Ergative-absolutive]], while incorporating elements of Fluid-S), and defaults to VSO word order. It tends to be either double-marking or dependent marking. It is generally head-initial (right-branching). |
| | |
| == Phonology ==
| |
| Snakes have vastly simplified mouths compared to human-being. We are capable of making every sound they make, though some are easier than others. Snakes have no lips. Their palate is occupied with the vomeronasal organ (Jacobson's organ), which acts as a sense of smell. Snakes have no uvula. Their glottis can move aside when eating large prey. They have no epiglottal region.
| |
| | |
| Sentient and non-sentient snakes hiss their entire volume of air without interruption, so a Parseltongue utterances cannot be longer than about fifteen seconds. Stops are typically initial, and in a verb. Whatever vocal-cords they are graced with by magic, snakes cannot speak very loudly or vary pitch beyond very low frequencies.
| |
| | |
| Given their anatomy, even with the aide of magic, Parseltongue
| |
| * has no labial consonants
| |
| * has no retroflex consonants
| |
| * has no palatal or alveolar-palatal consonants
| |
| * has no uvular or epiglottal consonants
| |
| * has no voiced consonants
| |
| * is all spoken in creaky-voice
| |
| * has no corarticulated consonants
| |
| * of the clicks, has only the dental and the lateral
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| * may begin an utterance with a stop, but they are rare elsewhere in speech.
| |
| * affricates are common
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| * must end an utterance with a sibilant/fricative or - less commonly - a vowel
| |
| * has ejective forms of the stops and affricates
| |
| === Consonants ===
| |
| {| style="text-align: center; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1pt solid #c0c0c0; float:right;"
| |
| ! colspan=17 style="text-align:center; background: #efefef;"| Consonants (IPA above, Romanization below)
| |
| |- style="vertical-align: top; font-size: small;"
| |
| |
| |
| ! rowspan="2" | Dental
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| ! colspan="2" | Alveolar
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| ! rowspan="2" | Post-alveolar
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| ! colspan="2" | Velar
| |
| ! rowspan="2" | Pharyngeal
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| ! rowspan="2" | Glottal
| |
| |- style="vertical-align: center; font-size: x-small;"
| |
| | || Central || Lateral || Central || Lateral
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Nasal || || {{IPA|n̥}} || || || {{IPA|ŋ̊}}
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || || '''n''' || || || '''m'''
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Unaspirated Stop || || t || || || k ||
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || || '''t''' || || || '''k''' ||
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Ejective || || t' || || || k' ||
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || || '''f''' || || || '''q''' ||
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Click/Tap || {{IPA|ǀ}} || {{IPA|ɾ}} || {{IPA|ǁ}}
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || '''/''' || '''®''' || '''\'''
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Fricative || {{IPA|θ}} || s || {{IPA|ɬ}} || {{IPA|ʃ}} || x || {{IPA|ʟ̝̊}}
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || '''d''' || '''s''' || '''z''' || '''c''' || '''x''' || l
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Approximant || || {{IPA|ɹ}} || l || || {{IPA|ɰ}} || {{IPA|ʟ}} || {{IPA|ħ}} || h
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || || '''r''' || '''l''' || || '''w''' || l || '''g''' || '''h'''
| |
| |}
| |
| | |
| Most English speakers round their lips anyway when saying word-initial /r/, and any /ʃ/, which snakes regard as quite irritating. For those unfamiliar with the sound /ɰ/, pronounce a 'w' but leave off the lip-rounding. The dental click ('''/''') is used in the English "tsk tsk tsk", while the lateral click ('''\''') is used to spur on a horse. The alveolar tap ('''®''') is found as the 'r' and 'l' of East Asian languages, or the 'd'-like sound in the middle of 'water'. The lateral fricative ('''z''') is found in Welsh but may be very unfamiliar to English speakers elsewhere. The pharyngeal approximant ('''g''') is a very raspy, rattling 'h'.
| |
| | |
| A history of Latin alphabet orthography has given rise to the system as presented in the tables. Some consonants are exactly the same as IPA notation: '''t k x s l h'''. Others require some thought: '''n''' for /n̥/, '''m''' for /ŋ̊/, '''f''' for /t'/, '''q''' for /k'/, '''d''' for /θ/, '''c''' for /ʃ/, '''z''' for /ɬ/, '''r''' for /ɹ/, '''w''' for /ɰ/, and '''g''' for /ħ/. The dental and lateral clicks, and the alveolar flap receive non-letter symbols: '''\ / ®'''.
| |
| | |
| All affricate possibilities are realized in Parseltongue, though most are very rare. Parseltongue does not distinguish between affricate and non-affricate pairs, so the tie-bar is not commonly written, even in IPA. The possibilities are: '''td ts tc tz kx fd fs fc fz qx'''.
| |
| | |
| ===== Allophony =====
| |
| * k/x/q/kx/qx + l > {{IPA|ɫ}}
| |
| * k/x/q/kx/qx + z > {{IPA|ʟ̝̊}}
| |
| === Vowels ===
| |
| {| style="text-align: center; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1pt solid #c0c0c0; float: right;"
| |
| ! colspan=11 style="text-align:center; background: #efefef;"| Vowels (IPA above, Romanization below)
| |
| |- style="vertical-align: center; font-size: small; height: 2em"
| |
| ! || Front || Center || Back
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| High || {{IPA|i}} || || {{IPA|ɯ}}
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || '''i''' || || '''u'''
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Near-high || {{{IPA|ɪ}}} || ||
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || '''y''' || ||
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| High-mid || {{IPA|e}} || || {{IPA|ɤ}}
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || '''e''' || || '''o'''
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Low-mid || {{IPA|ɛ}} || || {{IPA|ʌ}}
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || '''œ''' || || '''v'''
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Near-low || '''æ''' || '''a'''
| |
| |-
| |
| |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| || {{IPA|æ}} || {{IPA|ɐ}}
| |
| |}
| |
| The Parseltongue system of vowels consists of nine sounds. As with consonants, '''''there is no lip-rounding'''''. Hence, '''u''' means /ɯ/ and '''o''' means /ɤ/. English-speakers must remember to distinguish between '''i''' and '''y''': '''y''' always functions as it does in the English "myth" or "system", while '''i''' always a "long 'e'".
| |
| | |
| Korean-speakers will have an advantage distinguishing '''e''' from '''œ''' from '''v''': 에 vs. 애 vs. 어.
| |
| | |
| The presence of diphthongs is disputed (see Phonotactics below).
| |
| | |
| There are two non-phonemic sounds that snakes are readily capable of making, the trilled 'r' and the glottal stop. However, /r/ is a highly erotic sound which no snake would make in polite company, and stopping the flow of air during an utterance is indicative of sickness or eating.
| |
| | |
| === Phonotactics ===
| |
| Parseltongue is extremely difficult to analyze phonotacticly. Even with enunciating as one would to a fool or simpleton, snakes never cease the continuous airstream. Syllable boundaries, therefore, are somewhat arbitrary. Snakes we interviewed regard this as an unimportant, human problem, akin to transcribing choking or sneezing. For our purposes, we should regard Parseltongue syllables as capable of having either a vowel or a fricative in the nucleus. The overwhelming majority of syllables are '''V''', '''CV''', or '''CVC'''. Like [[Estonian language|Estonian]], Parseltongue distinguishes [[geminate]] consonants and vowels with a high degree of specificity. Under some analyses, there are ''three'' levels of gradation, but this is disputed and typically called a supersegmental feature. In our notation, doubling of any letter indicated gemination.
| |
| | |
| A fricative (in the onset or in the nucleus) may be long or short, labialized or not. A syllabic fricative may be preceded by a stop, and hence, part of an affricate. It may also be preceded by an approximant or another fricative. Open syllables, in this case, are common. A short fricative or a nasal can be analyzed as the coda of a fricative-nucleus syllable.
| |
| | |
| If a vowel is the syllable nucleus, it may be preceded by a tap, click, either nasal, a stop (which may be preceded by a fricative), a fricative, an affricate (which may be preceded by a fricative) or an approximant (which may be preceded by a stop or a fricative). The coda of a vowel-nucleus syllable may be a nasal (which may be followed by a fricative), a fricative, l or h, or it may be left open. Clicks and taps may only follow an open, vowel-nucleus syllable.
| |
| == Grammar ==
| |
| Parseltongue uses a system of cases similar to Latin or Estonian. Nouns and verbs are not marked for number or gender, but there are four noun-classes as well as four verb-classes.
| |
| === Nouns ===
| |
| There are four 'core' cases - Nominative, Accusative, Agentive and Patientive - and five 'oblique' cases - Dative, Possessive, Partitive, Genitive, and Ablative. The definite article is a prefixed /s/, while indefiniteness is marked in the verb.
| |
| | |
| The oblique cases function generally like Indo-European cases, but with some notable exceptions.
| |
| ; Dative : Some linguistics prefer to call this the "topico-dative" because it can function similarly to the Japanese は/wa, or the Korean 는/은. These instances are typically best translated as "in regards to" or "as for". Otherwise, the Dative is often equivalent to the English prepositions "to, for, by, with, from" and/or indicates the Indirect Object.
| |
| ''The other four cases fall under the 'genitive' umbrella in many languages''
| |
| ; Partitive : Like the Uralic languages, the partitive means "some of" or "part of" or "any". It cannot, however, be used for the object of an atelic action. 'Half of my possessions’; ‘some of the branches’; ‘the poor among of the people’
| |
| ; Possessor : Like the English ''''s'''. This is the subjective genitive. "Love of God" would have to mean (in this case) "God's love", not "my love of God"
| |
| ; Genitive : This can be Epexegetical or Attributive/Descriptive.
| |
| ; Ablative : Objective Genitive, "concerning, against, about, on, from", separation, adverbial
| |
|
| |
|
| === Pronouns ===
| | # [[Stilio/Phonology|Phonology]] |
| 'Measure words' can also be used as pronouns, with or without numbers attached.
| | ## [[Stilio/Phonology#Consonants|Consonants]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Phonology#Vowels|Vowels]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Phonology#Phonotactics|Phonotactics]] |
| | # [[Stilio/Concepts|Concepts]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Concepts#Cases|Cases]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Concepts#Persons|Persons]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Concepts#Classes|Classes]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Concepts#Evidentiality|Evidentiality]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Concepts#Number|Number]] |
| | # [[Stilio/Morphology|Morphology]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Morphology#Nouns|Nouns]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Morphology#Verbs|Verbs]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Morphology#Adjectives|Adjectives]] |
| | ## [[Stilio/Morphology#Adverbs|Adverbs]] |
| | # [[Stilio/Syntax|Syntax]] |
| | ## Word Order |
| | ## Relative Clauses |
| | ## Particles |
| | # [[Stilio/Texts|Texts]] |
| | ## From the Films |
| | ## Translations |
| | # [[Stilio/Lexicon|Lexicon]] |
|
| |
|
| {| class="wikitable"
| | It is everyone involved's sincere desire that this project serve as an inspirational model for magical/muggle interactions in the future. Parseltongue is an excellent pattern to follow since it's existence is only known by magic but only muggles have developed the science of linguistics. This project is dedicated to the first martyr of this charitable cause, Charity Burbage, and the very kind Parselmouth Penelope Gaunt, without whose help none of this would have been possible. |
| |+ 2nd person
| |
| ! Case
| |
| ! Form
| |
| ! Ex.
| |
| |-
| |
| ! N
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| | gasy
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| | / You fell
| |
| |-
| |
| ! A
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| | gasv
| |
| |
| |
| |-
| |
| ! A
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| | gassi
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| | sayhagassi hœd / You (will) Leave him (alone)!
| |
| |-
| |
| ! P
| |
| | gassa
| |
| | haceagassa cig / You (will) go away!
| |
| |-
| |
| ! D
| |
| | gassas
| |
| | to you
| |
| |-
| |
| ! P
| |
| | gasswa
| |
| |
| |
| |-
| |
| ! P
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| | gashh
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| | / (my) Eating of you is killing me
| |
| |-
| |
| ! G
| |
| | gascc
| |
| | /She is longer than you
| |
| |-
| |
| ! A
| |
| | gasus
| |
| |
| |
| |}
| |
|
| |
|
| === Verbs === | | == History and Learning == |
| All verbs have a lexically contained expectation for which case the subject will be in. Hence, all verbs are active or passive and volitional or non-volitional by default, which will also indicate which paradigm it follows. When given an unexpected case, intentionality or casuality will be signified:
| | [[File:Snake door.jpg|right]] |
| | Paracelsus (1493—1541), was an Austrian physician, born Phillip Von Hohenheim. On accident, he discovered he could speak to snakes. He had no explanation for the phenomenon and made no attempt to document its simple existence. |
|
| |
|
| {| class="wikitable"
| | In the 1990's, the now-famous Harry Potter discovered that he was a Parselmouth (a wizard with the unconscious, magical ability to speak to snakes). He never learned any vocabulary or grammar, but was able to produce novel utterance, even with derived morphologies. He subsequently lost this magical ability. After the worldwide rediscovery of magic (hidden since 1692) and the creation of the Ministry of Muggle Relations, our department was given a grant to study Parseltongue and Parselmouths. To date, we have only found one conscious snake to interview, though communities of Parselmouths have been found in Estonia, Bukina-Fasa, and Sri Lanka. |
| |
| |
| ! Active Non-Volitional
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| ! Passive Non-Volitional
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| ! Active Volitional
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| ! Passive Volitional
| |
| |-
| |
| ! Nominative
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| | Involuntary Agent
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| | Involuntary Cause
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| | Unintentional Agent
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| | Unintentional Cause
| |
| |-
| |
| ! Accusative
| |
| | Direct Object
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| | Descriptive
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| | Unintentional Patient
| |
| | Pseudo-Passive Object
| |
| |-
| |
| ! Agentive
| |
| | Agent!
| |
| | Cause!
| |
| | Ergative Subject
| |
| | Intentional Cause
| |
| |-
| |
| ! Patientive
| |
| | Intentional D.O.
| |
| | Pseudo-Passive Agent
| |
| | Absolutive Obj
| |
| | Stative
| |
| |}
| |
|
| |
|
| Verbs inflect for an astronomical ''eight'' persons:
| | On the one hand, Parseltongue is like any other language that human beings may study and learn. On the other hand, it is a magical ability possessed by only a minuscule fraction of the wizarding community. This ability requires no conscious attention by the wizard or witch, but seemingly adds a layer of "pseudo-consciousnes" to the snake with whom they are speaking. This snake is then able to articulate speech and hear the Parselmouth, both of which are otherwise physically impossible. |
| {| class="wikitable"
| |
| ! Person
| |
| ! Meaning
| |
| ! Example
| |
| |-
| |
| ! -1
| |
| | Universal negation
| |
| | "No one eats himself."
| |
| |-
| |
| ! 0
| |
| | Indefinite
| |
| | "Someone ate the prey."
| |
| |-
| |
| ! ½
| |
| | dim. part of ego
| |
| | "Me (my mid-section) is coming."
| |
| |-
| |
| ! 1
| |
| | Ego
| |
| | "I ate the mouse."
| |
| |-
| |
| ! 1½
| |
| | a.k.a. 1 inclusive
| |
| | "We (you and I) are friends."
| |
| |-
| |
| ! 2
| |
| | Interlocutor
| |
| | "You are handsome."
| |
| |-
| |
| ! 3
| |
| | Near other party
| |
| | "She is our daughter."
| |
| |-
| |
| ! 4
| |
| | Obviative
| |
| | "He bit her."
| |
| |}
| |
| As with nouns, Parseltongue does not mark number. Tense is assumed or conveyed via adverbs.
| |
|
| |
|
| Aspect is either imperfective or perfective. There are three mood: Indicative - for independent clauses; Subjunctive - for dependent clauses; and Illocutionary - for magical or imperative clauses. The subjunctive is very plain, conjugating only for aspect, but not person or evidentiality.
| | Parseltongue itself seems to be a magically generated amalgam created by magic from the minds of speakers. It bears many strong resemblances to languages from Africa and India, both areas with long histories of human-snake interaction. All over the world, Parselmouths, Snake-animagi, and sentient snake-like creatures all speak the same version of the language, without being in physical contact. The language is magically maintained among all speakers and updates itself, however slowly. In Sapir's terminology, there is only short-term unidirectional drift, not long-term cyclic drift. Given the small number of speakers, this drift is assumed to be ''very'' small and gradual. Dialects do not exist. |
|
| |
|
| All indicative/independent verbs in Parseltongue must be marked for evidentiality. Snakes senses are (in decreasing order of assuredness):
| |
| ; Taste/Smell : Snakes extend their tongues into the air/water and pull "smells" into their mouths, where their "noses" (Jacobsen's organs) are. This gives them a ''very'' refined and directional sense. Knowledge obtained this way is the most certain and so is most analogous to human's "I see" or "I know".
| |
| ; Heat/IR : Snakes have special sensors where other animals' "noses" would be which detect heat or Infra-red radiation. Snakes report not "seeing" a field - as humans do with sight - but "feeling" the nearness and/or warmth of things. This is most akin to a human saying "I feel like you are ..." or "I sense not everyone in the room agrees with ...".
| |
| ; Hear/Vibration : A snake's entire body functions like an "ear", sensing vibrations. This knowledge is very accurate, but because it comes from their whole body (not just their head) it is more like "gut knowledge". '''''Magic causes snakes internal ear to hear external speech.'''''
| |
| ; Sight : Most snakes have poor vision, with a majority not being binocular. This mood is used metaphorically as a person would say, "I suppose" or "I guess".
| |
|
| |
|
| == Idioms == | | <div class="boilerplate metadata" id="inuse" style="background: #cfc; border: 1px solid #aaa; margin: 0 2.5%; padding: 0 10px"> |
| ; (like a) Human's face in the nose : "It's self-evident." Snakes' faces are unreadable, but they generally know how to read human body language, mainly through smell and temperature sensing. Smells are "in one's nose" because smell samples are brought into the mouth by the tongue and placed upon the Jacobsen's organ. | | Dr. Nolan specializes in Finnish and Estonian, and he subscribes to the theory that gemination in those languages follows ''three'' levels of gradation, though he recognizes that this is disputed and only included two levels in Parseltonuge. In his notes, he often uses /ʕ/ but labels it a voiceless fricative, so we have used /ħ/ instead. Of the vowels, he only uses /a ɪ i ɛ e/, but the actors pronounce /œ æ/ on occasion. There are no stops or affricates in his phrases, but the snake in "Philosopher's Stone" says /θejŋksː/. There are several moments of "unscripted" Parseltongue in the movies, which make extensive use of /k/ and /t/. </div> |
| ; This must pass over the nose : Food is passed over the Jacobsen's organ as it is eaten. If something is noxious, to eat it would be unbearably intense. Snakes say this meaning "It's too awful" or "I don't want to!"
| |
| ; Passing over roughness aids molting : "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger in the end."
| |
| ; Some have eggs inside, some have eggs outside : "Different strokes for different folks." Some snakes have pouches for their eggs to hatch inside their bodies, giving the appearance of live births. Many snakes do not.
| |
| ; ''I'' <u>am</u> the venom. : Not all snakes are poisonous, but all snakes spur themselves on to overcome fear and strike out (often metaphorically) by willing themselves to be their own venom. "I can ''do'' this!"
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| <!--
| |
| aicagassi - excuse-you
| |
| sœzz - lord-v
| |
| sa - there is
| |
| sjehh - what
| |
| nagini
| |
| lœha - in-front
| |
| nœssja - door-of
| |
| madas - me-to
| |
| magalas - muggle
| |
| //-->
| |
| [[Category:Conlangs]] | | [[Category:Conlangs]] |
| [[Category:A priori conlangs]] | | [[Category:A priori conlangs]] |
| [[Category:Artlangs]] | | [[Category:Artlangs]] |
| | [[Category:Stilio]] |
Parseltongue (in this article) refers to Stilio, a reconstructed form of Parseltongue. This language has a unique morphosyntactic alignment (which is largely Ergative-absolutive, while incorporating elements of Fluid-S), and defaults to VSO word order. It tends to be either double-marking or dependent marking. It is generally head-initial (right-branching).
- Phonology
- Consonants
- Vowels
- Phonotactics
- Concepts
- Cases
- Persons
- Classes
- Evidentiality
- Number
- Morphology
- Nouns
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Syntax
- Word Order
- Relative Clauses
- Particles
- Texts
- From the Films
- Translations
- Lexicon
It is everyone involved's sincere desire that this project serve as an inspirational model for magical/muggle interactions in the future. Parseltongue is an excellent pattern to follow since it's existence is only known by magic but only muggles have developed the science of linguistics. This project is dedicated to the first martyr of this charitable cause, Charity Burbage, and the very kind Parselmouth Penelope Gaunt, without whose help none of this would have been possible.
History and Learning
Paracelsus (1493—1541), was an Austrian physician, born Phillip Von Hohenheim. On accident, he discovered he could speak to snakes. He had no explanation for the phenomenon and made no attempt to document its simple existence.
In the 1990's, the now-famous Harry Potter discovered that he was a Parselmouth (a wizard with the unconscious, magical ability to speak to snakes). He never learned any vocabulary or grammar, but was able to produce novel utterance, even with derived morphologies. He subsequently lost this magical ability. After the worldwide rediscovery of magic (hidden since 1692) and the creation of the Ministry of Muggle Relations, our department was given a grant to study Parseltongue and Parselmouths. To date, we have only found one conscious snake to interview, though communities of Parselmouths have been found in Estonia, Bukina-Fasa, and Sri Lanka.
On the one hand, Parseltongue is like any other language that human beings may study and learn. On the other hand, it is a magical ability possessed by only a minuscule fraction of the wizarding community. This ability requires no conscious attention by the wizard or witch, but seemingly adds a layer of "pseudo-consciousnes" to the snake with whom they are speaking. This snake is then able to articulate speech and hear the Parselmouth, both of which are otherwise physically impossible.
Parseltongue itself seems to be a magically generated amalgam created by magic from the minds of speakers. It bears many strong resemblances to languages from Africa and India, both areas with long histories of human-snake interaction. All over the world, Parselmouths, Snake-animagi, and sentient snake-like creatures all speak the same version of the language, without being in physical contact. The language is magically maintained among all speakers and updates itself, however slowly. In Sapir's terminology, there is only short-term unidirectional drift, not long-term cyclic drift. Given the small number of speakers, this drift is assumed to be very small and gradual. Dialects do not exist.
Dr. Nolan specializes in Finnish and Estonian, and he subscribes to the theory that gemination in those languages follows three levels of gradation, though he recognizes that this is disputed and only included two levels in Parseltonuge. In his notes, he often uses /ʕ/ but labels it a voiceless fricative, so we have used /ħ/ instead. Of the vowels, he only uses /a ɪ i ɛ e/, but the actors pronounce /œ æ/ on occasion. There are no stops or affricates in his phrases, but the snake in "Philosopher's Stone" says /θejŋksː/. There are several moments of "unscripted" Parseltongue in the movies, which make extensive use of /k/ and /t/.
