Conlang Relay 15/Calénnawn

by René Uittenbogaard

The text

'El or panaléyavra zóno fá$e csívi

'É$e toráddo zóno ðon ifúrta fes molt be uráro se scìpala-snómobov bólitol be hi uráro se di$áli félo noteytíno se núsvo ifúrti. Cas hort or csìvi-ánnavra tof. Sófa fa lúxci sum cas ífna, fa csívimo. Nocuxàfe-gáwna zóno bru mòðëo-folcsìvi-tëéled ðo elíso be $ánxa cas ífna. Fa molt-gáwna hes balmítemor sno bru folcsívi or nosílgovra. Fa márcamumo pra sínu-bwam cas séfnu. Bru folhalówbu elìso-snómomo tof sìnu-ródo$ fa halòwbu-gáwna sínu nus cas ífna. Sófa pso ray o bru mòðëo-folcsívi or pèla-vúvennvra pra be ùlumub-vúvennvra. Ray or snómovra fond félo ðo álëumo pey ðo nus sínu núsvo ifúrti pey.

Vocabulary

álëumo (adj)

complicated, difficult

ánna (v)

teach (someone)

balmíte (v)

hinder, obstruct

be (conj)

(appositive: subject of 1st sentence is identical to subject of 2nd)

bólitol (n)

sound

-bov (suffix)

(inverse participle used as adjective)

bru (poss.pron)

his/her

-bwam (conj)

(appositive: prepositional object of 1st sentence is identical to subject of 2nd)

cas (pron)

someone

csívi (v)

dance

cuxáfe (v)

assume

di$áli (n)

music

ðo(n) (art)

(predicate article, see note (5))

é-, el (pron)

I (1SG)

elíso (adj)

happy, joyful

fa (pron)

he/she (3SG, animate, nominative)

félo (conj)

(restrictive: object of 1st sentence is identical to subject of 2nd)

fes (conj)

(restrictive: subject of 1st sentence is identical to subject of 2nd)

fol- (prefix)

act of ... (verbal noun; gerund)

fond (pronoun)

something

gáwna (v)

can, be able to

halówbu (v)

behave, act

hes (adv)

not at all, not in the least (degree)

hi (adv)

not (boolean)

hort (numeral)

no, none, zero

ífna (numeral)

all, every

ifúrta (n)

person

lúxci (v)

give (sth)

márcamu (v)

turn (tr.)

me (conj)

(ends construct started with 'félo' or 'fes')

-mo (suffix)

(habitual aspect)

móðëo (adj)

usual, habitual

molt (v)

move (intr.)

-mor (suffix)

(inverse participle used as adverb)

no(r)- (prefix)

(puts verb in inverse voice)

nus (adj)

different

o (art)

the (definite, countable, nominative)

or (adv)

(or ... -vra: perfective aspect)

panaléya (v)

see

péla (adj)

beautiful

pey ... pey (adv)

both A and B (rendered as: A pey B pey)

pra (pron)

(reflexive pronoun)

pso (prep)

because of

ray (pron)

he/she/it (obviative)

-ródo$ (conj)

(degree abstraction: prepositional object of 1st sentence is identical to degree of 2nd)

scípala (n)

voice

se (art)

(indefinite, countable, accusative)

séfnu (v)

live

sílgo (v)

show, demonstrate (something)

sínu (prep)

compared to; like; as; than (for positive, comparative and superlative)

sno (conj)

and (connecting sentences that have no overlapping constituents)

snómo (v)

create, make

sófa (conj)

but

spíxo (adv)

only

sum (prep)

to, towards, for

$ánxa (v)

to please (someone)

$e (adv)

(past tense; often clitic)

tëéled (n)

style

teytíno (v)

play, perform (music)

tof (pron)

him/her (3SG, accusative)

toráddo (v)

perceive

úlumub (adj)

sad

uráro (v)

use

-vo (suffix)

(suffix for making ordinals out of cardinal numbers)

-vra (suffix)

(or ... -vra: perfective aspect)

vúvenn (v)

change (tr)

zóno (conj)

(fact abstraction: the direct object of 1st sentence is identical to the fact expressed by the 2nd)

Grammar

Calénnawn is a pro-drop language, usually with SVO word order.

$ is an alternative spelling for s-caron (i.e. s-hachek, š) for non-UTF-8 environments. These represent the same letter (/S/).

Acute and grave accents denote primary and (in compounds) secondary stress, respectively. Vowels with acute or grave accents are not fundamentally different from the plain vowels, since the stress can shift when words are combined into compound words.

Adjectives precede the nouns, but can also occur standalone (e.g. the big [one]). Cardinal numerals follow the nouns they belong to, ordinals precede them.

There is no copula "to be": a noun or adjective may be used as predicate directly. If the predicate article is used and the subject is omitted, it denotes an existential construct.

There are two cases used in this text: nominative and accusative. The cases are marked on the article.

The absence of an article in the nominative indicates indefiniteness.

All prepositions govern the nominative.

The plural forms of nouns are formed (in this text) by replacing the vowel in the last syllable with "i".

In compound words, the first part is the modifying part: a predicate A-B is a B of type A.

Verbs have two voices: active and inverse. There are corresponding active and inverse participles, which have different forms depending on whether they are used as adjectives or adverbs.

There are many conjunctions, nearly all of which express that one constituent of the first sentence is identical to one of the constituents in the second sentence. The constituent may be left out from one of the sentences. If one of the constituents is a prepositional object, a compound of the conjunction and the preposition is used.

Smooth English translation of 'Yelms

I have seen him dancing

I have perceived that there is a person that moves and uses sound created by his voice and doesn't use music played by others. Nobody has helped him become proficient at dancing. But he gives to all, he always(*) dances. It can be assumed that his habitual dancing style is joyful and pleasing to all. He knows how to move and not be hindered and his dancing has been demonstrated. He always(*) turns as if he is part of one who is alive. His behaviour always makes him happy insofar as he can act like everybody else. But this is the cause why his habitual dancing has become beautiful and sad. This has created something which is both complicated and is different from all others.

(*) in the "habitual" sense

Smooth English translation of Calénnawn

I have seen him dance

I perceived that there is a person who moves and uses voice-created sound and doesn't use music played by other people. Nobody has taught him to dance. But he gives to all, he always dances. It can be assumed that his habitual dancing style is happy and pleases all. He can move unhindered and his dancing has been demonstrated. He always turns as if he is alive. His behavior always makes him happy insofar as he can behave like all others. But because of this, his habitual dancing has become beautiful and sad. This has created something which is both complicated and different from other people.