Conlang Relay 18/Loknith

Loknith Text:

Ka niiklu stitt, wavv nekhwis vú uk na fissimigu. Íllin chæthiskiv, witt glu dorrikish vel báviv vo loy, jelchu é banu shech. Sheblin ghákk fu tégha shaalchu úv stivv, é váv sespin glu temyish, é váv fúskivyigu, é ka niiklu loy kuwa vú jarka róubina é óbliskiv. Herrilit paakti rellis glu græfta vi forlika. Hitt vi nal glu kiish rispa vikna: hitt glu éikyish vi hitt gill árkipit glu chommish herrilit.

Vocabulary:

árkip clothing, garment

bani to start, to begin

báviv embrace, hug

chæth tree, wood

chommich to clean, cleanse

dorrikta to sleep

é and, with

éki to smile

fissimin to come to life

forlika attractive

fu part of, made of (partitive)

fúskivi to break up, disintegrate

ghákk big, large

gill with (instrumental)

glu past tense of lom, “to be”

græfta mocking, disdainful

herrila face, countenance

hitt he/she/it

ílla dog, hound

jarka roof, top of a building

jellich to wake up, get up

ka I

kiish present participle of kina, “to know”

kuwa female

loy person

na still, yet, another, again

nal not

nekhwis statue, figure/figurine

niiklu past perfective of nokla, “to see”

óbl snow

paakti similar to, like

rellis peach

rispa manners, etiquette

róubina broad, wide

sespin for a long time

shalich to arrive, get (somewhere)

shebla cloud

shech to vocalize, bellow, bark

stitt that/this (demonstrative)

stivv there, that place

temmi to churn, be turbulent

tégha smoke

uk corner, point, vertex

úv to, at

váv they

vel in

vi but

vikna normal, regular

vo of

vú on

wavv how

witt what, who, that (relative pronoun)

Grammar:

Word order is generally SVO, although verbal modifiers tend to come before the verb. Adjectives and prepositional phrases modifying nouns come after the noun.

Adjectives may be formed from nouns with the suffix –(i)skiv, which means something like “pertaining to”.

The past perfective is formed by inflecting the verb itself, whereas the past imperfective is formed periphrastically with “glu” and the present participle of the verb.

Verbs in –ta form their present participle by replacing –ta with –ish, verbs in –min form their past perfective by replacing –min with –migu, and verbs in –(i)ch form the past perfective by replacing –(i)ch with –chu, and the present participle by replacing –ch with –sh. Verbs ending in –i form their past perfective by replacing –i with –u, and the present participle by replacing -i with –yish. All of these changes may be accompanied by a slight spelling change in the stem (to preserve vowel length). Irregular forms are listed in the vocabulary.

Nouns pluralize by adding the suffix –in, which deletes a final –a. Personal pronouns have suffixed forms used as verbal objects and possessors. We see here only –(i)t, which is the suffixed form of “hitt”. A final –a becomes –i- before a suffied pronoun.