Vrne tartal

Vrne Tartal (VT: The Green language), called Eylastal after passing out of common usage, is my language; it's both an artistic and personal constructed language. It is an inflected fusional language with two grammatical genders and

It is based on no other language, but it is nonetheless mostly conventional.

Phonology

IPA equivalents are given here for letters in the most common writing system I use. There is theoretically an independent writing system for Eylastal but I haven't had any success in making it; this is all romanization nonetheless and as such I may spell inconsistently.

Vowels

Vowel	IPA
a	[a, ə]
e	[ɛ]
ê	[eɪ, e]
i	[i]
o	[ɔ]
ô	[oʊ]
u	[u]

• At the end of a word, r can also serve as a vowel.
• When two vowels are juxtaposed, o = ô and e = ê. Hence ear [eɪ.ar]
• er = [er], not [ɜr]

Diphthongs

Diphthong	IPA
ay	[aɪ]
oy	[ɔɪ]
uy	[uɪ]
aw	[aʊ]
ew	[eʊ]

Consonants

Consonant	IPA
b	[b]
c	[k]
ch	[ʧ]
d	[d]
dh	[ð]
f	[f]
g	[g]
h	[h]
k	[x]
l	[l]
m	[m]
n	[n]
ng	[ŋ]
p	[p]
r	[r]
s	[s]
sh	[ʃ]
t	[t]
th	[θ]
v	[v]
w	[w]
x	[ks]
y	[j]
z	[z]

At the end of a word, o is pronounced as ô and e as ê.

Stress

Stress falls on the first syllable unless there is an accented vowel:

• a -> á
• e -> é
• ê -> è
• o -> ò
• ô -> ó
• u -> ú

which, naturally, takes the stress. Also, any diphthong automatically takes the stress, including the "diphthongs" ar, er, ir, or, and ur, unless there is an accent mark, which always overrides it; however, stress cannot fall on the last syllable unless there is an accent written. Thus, "sathay" is pronounced ['saθaɪ] whereas "satháy" is pronounced [saθ'aɪ].

Syllable rules

Where C represents any consonant above and V any vowel, generally:

Word-initially, a syllable may take the form CCVC; Medially, a syllable may take the form CVC; Word-finally, a syllable may take the form CVC.

This boils down to a word structure of CCVCCVCCVCCVC, at most. In other words, you can never have more than two consonants next to each other, including liquids.

Some exceptions:

• If the last consonant is a spirant (denoted as s) [s] or [z], the final syllable can take the form CVCs.

• When the last consonant is r functioning as a vowel, the cluster can end in CCVCr or even theoretically CCVCsr. For example, "tiryatr" (to the kingdom), "èmatr" (to the animal), "cutsr" (to the cube).

When a voiced consonant comes in contact with an unvoiced consonant, the whole consonant cluster becomes voiced. Thus, satha (white) + varósa (clothed) = sadhvarósa (white-clothed)

Two plosives can never be juxtaposed. When there is a consonant cluster of the form PP (where P is a plosive), it will become FP, where F is the fricative equivalent according to the following rule:

• p -> f
• b -> v
• t -> th
• d -> dh
• ch -> sh
• c -> k
• g -> g

The resultant is then voiced if necessary; since there is no voiced equivalent of k, it simply disappears.

The following clusters will change as follows, where P is any plosive, V any vowel, and F any fricative, N any nasal and P(n) that nasal's plosive equivalent, and L any approximant or fricative:

• PvV -> PwV
• PgV -> PyV
• kyV -> shV
• hLV -> cLV
• NN -> P(n)N

This transformations are performed before applying the two-consonant rule to reduce clusters. Hence, nelki (to hate) + ya (3rd person singular present) = nelsha

Grammar

Nouns

Eylastali nouns have the following properties:

• Two genders: masculine and feminine;
• Two numbers: singular and plural. Gender is lost in the plural.
• Six cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative, and vocative;
• Two "aspects": definite and indefinite;
• Two "verities": positive and negative.

I can't figure out how to do a fancy table so bear with me here:

For the prototypical masculine noun I here use "neldas" (the nose), for the prototypical feminine "etwês" (the star).

Not all nouns are regular; many nouns end simply in a consonant rather than the -a or -e gender ending. These words must simply be memorized along with their gender (normally denoted by the nominative pronoun they take, "ga" (masculine) or "e" (feminine)).

Regular masculine paradigm

• Nominative positive: nelda (a nose), neldas (the nose)
• Nominative negative: nelday (not a nose), neldays (not the nose)

• Accusative positive: neldo (a nose), neldos (the nose)
• Accusative negative: neldoy (not a nose), neldoys (not the nose)

• Genitive positive: nelden (a/the nose's)
• Genitive negative: neldedmá (not a/the nose's)

• Dative positive: neldar (to a/the nose)
• Dative negative: neldamá (not to the nose)

• Locative positive: neldov (at the nose)
• Locative negative: neldoyv (not at the nose)

• Vocative positive: neldat (O nose!)
• Vocative negative: neldayt (O non-nose!)

Regular feminine paradigm

• Nominative positive: etwe (a star), etwês (the star)
• Nominative negative: etweya (not a star), etwêsmá (not the star)

• Accusative positive: etwo (a star), etwôs (the star)
• Accusative negative: etwoy (not a star), etwôsmá (not the star)

• Genitive positive: etwin (a/the star's)
• Genitive negative: etwidmá (not a/the star's)

• Dative positive: etwiz (to a/the star)
• Dative negative: etwemá (not to the star)

• Locative positive: etwon (at the star)
• Locative negative: etwoyn (not at the star)

• Vocative positive: etwêt (O star!)
• Vocative negative: etwêtmá (O non-star!)

Regular plural paradigm

• Nominative positive: etwi (stars), etwis (the stars)
• Nominative negative: etwiya (not stars), etwismá (not the stars)

• Accusative positive: etwu (stars), etwus (the stars)
• Accusative negative: etwuy (not stars), etwusmá (not the stars)

• Genitive positive: etwanir (the stars')
• Genitive negative: etwadmá (not the stars')

• Dative positive: etwalir (to the stars)
• Dative negative: etwalmá (not to the stars)

• Locative positive: etwanon (among the stars)
• Locative negative: etwanoyn (not among the stars)

• Vocative positive: etwit (O stars!)
• Vocative negative: etwitmá (O non-stars!)

Pronouns

Eylastali pronouns serve either as placeholders for nouns or as focus markers. More on this distinction in the sentence structure section.

Singular pronouns:

English (nominative)	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative
I	nwa*	(h)om	men	omr	mov
thou you	sha	(h)eth	thay	the	thov
he it	ga	ta	tay	tar	tov
she it	e	te	teya	tiz	ton

Plural pronouns:

English (nominative)	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative
we	amen amel**	(h)imu (h)imlu	imir	imlir	ibnon
ye you	sfia	(h)ivu	ivir	ivlir	ivnon
they	kay	ihu	ihir	iclir	icnon

There is also the pronoun "a", which is the indefinite
passive pronoun, roughly equivalent to the "there" in "there are clouds outside." Verbs with it as subject always take the second person ending.

The initial h on the accusative pronouns only comes into play when the pronoun comes after a vowel. Ie:

• Nweri sarim eth. (I want to see you.)
  

vs.

• Ga nerya sarya heth. (He wants to see you.)
  

Nwa is rarely used as a pronoun in its own right, except as a focus marker or relative pronoun. Amel refers to we as in "someone else and I" ie it is exclusive; amen refers to we as in "you and I" ie it is inclusive.

Pronouns are negated by the suffix -má.

Adjectives

Adjectives are inflected to agree with the ending of the noun they modify, including negative endings.

Positive endings:

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Vocative
Masc.	-a	-o	-an	-ar	-ov	-(th)a
Fem.	-e	-o	-en	-er	-on	-(th)e
Plu.	-i	-u	-(n)ir	-(l)ir	-(n)on	-(th)i

Positive endings:

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Vocative
Masc.	-ay	-oy	-ayn	-admá	-oyv	-(th)ay
Fem.	-eya	-oy	-êdmá	-edmá	-oyn	-(th)eya
Plu.	-iya	-uy	-(n)idmá	-(l)idmá	-(n)oyn	-(th)iya

The consonants in parentheses only appear when the adjective root ends in a vowel.

A negative noun always takes a negative adjective, but a positive noun may take a negative adjective if that adjective is to be negated. Ie:

• "Efiya garismá" = the old not-men
  

vs.

• "Efiya garis" = the not-old men

Verbs and Meaningless Particles

Conjugation

Verbs are conjugated in two tenses according to the subject. Verbs have no infinitive form, but are referred to for convenience by their second-person singular form.

The regular present-tense pattern is as follows, using the verb "tari", to talk:

I talk	twari		we talk	amen taru
you talk	sha tari		you(pl) talk	sfia tari
he talks	ga tarya		they talk	kay taru
she talks	e tarya		there is talking	a tari

And past tense:

I talked	twaro		we talked	amen taru
you talked	sha taro		you(pl) talked	sfia taro
he talked	ga taryo		they talked	kay taru
she talked	e taryo		there was talking	a tari

The first person conjugation here is the most interesting. The pronoun "nwa" is subsumed into the verb and manifested as an infixed "w". When the two-consonant rule prohibits such infixion, it is simply not done; when a word begins in a vowel, either the "w" is infixed in the syllable carrying primary stress, or the word begins with "nw-". Ie:

• Atwari ta sca. = I represent him. (using verb atari = to represent)
• Nwari heth sca. = I see you. (using verb ari = to see)

Since verbs have no infinitive, they are always conjugated for subject, even when it seems redundant. However, while the pronoun may be repeated in such situations, it is not required. Thus:

• Ga nerya tirya egmo scaya. = He wants to rule the world., literally "he wants rules a world."
• Sha trefi layli laylo. = You try to sing a song., literally "you try sing a song."

Note that the pronoun "nwa", when appearing after a verb in such a situation, appears as the suffix "-m." It is required to be present. Thus,

• Trefo tarôm the scaya, cha swescoy. = I tried to talk to you but couldn't., literally "I tried talked I to you, but I couldn't."
• Swek cóclim vecu fuylu. = I can buy two spoons., literally "I can buy I two spoons."
• Èn sa ek sarim eth. = It is good to see you., literally "Good is, that see I you."

Suffixes can also be attached to verbs to signify future or distant past events. These do not count as separate tenses. The future suffix is -ví and the past suffix is -mó.

Meaningless Particles

The meaningless particles, while originally conceived as truly meaningless, have grown to actually mean something: they are the difference between a general action and a specific action, the difference between "I eat rabbits" (Shwumi féfaru) and "I am eating rabbits" (Shwumi féfaru sca). Every verb takes one of six such M.P.s, the distribution being largely arbitrary, although there are some general guidelines. The M.P.s are furthermore inflected for tense and mood, and have some special forms. M.P.s can exist without a verb to modify, in which case they imply the presence of a verb, one which would agree with the M.P.

• sa is mostly used for intransitive verbs lacking motion; used for location, temporary states of being, stationary activities, etc.
• ha is mostly used for intransitive verbs of motion.
• sca is used for transitive verbs. It tends to be used with verbs involving a clear object and subject, and involving dynamic physical motion.
• la is used to imply suddenness and surprise. It is the least common M.P.
• na is used often for transitive and intransitive verbs involving emotion or intimate personal states.
• fa is mostly indistinguishable from "sca", but it is used for verbs involving a change of state. You can usually guess which M.P. a verb takes but there's no discernable rule distinguishing sca and fa for all verbs involving them, so it must simply be memorized.

The M.P.s have the following forms for tense
mood
verity:

present positive	sa	ha	sca	na	la	fa
past positive	so	ko	sco	no	lo	fo
subjunctive	saya	haya	scaya	naya	laya	faya
present negative	soy	hoy	scoy	noy	loy	foy
past negative	si	ki	shi	mi	li	fi

The subjunctive is used when the veracity of a verb is in question; it is used when asking questions, in uncertain subordinate clauses, and for conditional statements.

The negative M.P.s are the only way to negate a verb; even in cases where a verb would not carry an M.P. in the positive, it must carry one in the negative.

The M.P.s also have certain special forms:

• asi, ahi, ash, ani, ali, afi; asaya; asoy: Used much like the present subjunctive in German journalism. When a verb carries an M.P. in one of these forms, it represents something according to someone else without casting too much doubt on the veracity of the verb. It is also used to head off the "if" part of if-then statements.
• isi, ihi, ish(i), ini, ili, ifi; isaya; isoy are sort of diminuative forms implying smallness or motion toward the speaker.

In these forms the tense distinction is lost.

ok I'm tired; going to bed

An unfinished text in Vrne Tartal

Urov swa Driov

Aharo cwi aványir adzelir
swa sewlir sadhalir kay egmov so,
cyat nwa voydhósa laylim ivlir te
ti ecyo aynon sunanon efró.
A sadhar so ek Uren tartebla,
ol èov tiryo Dria egmôs sco,
agáhte Uras agadríabla,
ga nelsho glarion ta tiryatôs.

Ga onlo Uras genwon Driathon,
e naryo norov opyês egmien,
swa onlu fehi engei ton so,
shta edzu asi kay mot áveken;
cha'y naru prôvilúlis evrulon,
swa genulnon athorin Driathen,
swa'y obnu Fortesmo, ga bliov sa,
cha'y gyaru Driar fi mot zahus men.

Niy aysho adzel Rahas Uzar ko
swa tasco "Urat lei nari sha,
ti trefi bladhi gyatsu athelon,
è semza ga, ta nelki, cetson sa?
Heth twari bladhim athriôs nwa fo
am adri engi adzelis selát;
te bladhu amel fo el roy swa cwar
swa shtendi vekti; nol anari sha."

Agáhte sfetyo Uras adzelar,
"Shtalá cyatari sha tor athron men?"
Swa tar côcharya Rahas, "Tiryaví
sca sha aványa Driacétsien!"
Cha tasco Uras, "asi tirim shwi,
shtalá nwa cetson si ef aprien?"
Niy cyuriécyo Rahas sadhazar,
rwa tasco "Charismá to malpien!

Sha karaví athoriz niyov ha,
swa ihu prôvilúlus tólki fa,
rwa harbi sfia ta swa metri ta,
ga semza cetson scaya tira sa;
cha adzelbúloy ceri sfia noy,
cay Urat ti achari adzel sha,
swa asi scoy ek tarim ivlir sco,
sha voydhi saya nume vanyêsmá."

Ga shwendo Rahas Uren swa niylá,
ga aysho Driar cetson genwon lo,
swa taryo sfeto "Driel driathon,
heth twas ga hagya Urel curo fo
amétra heth swa prôvilúla sa,
swa trefya gyatsu harba tiryatôs."
"Sa zweri mo!" tas Dria pelion,
shta peliécyo 'haryo ágano.

Ol evrulon tiz vwecyo Uras ko,
kay fefmu sheflis nubnon shtecanon
swa'y eliu ayni etwis tôvaltá;
ga hokto Uras saknon bednanon.
Rwa haryo haru, beldatúus vef,
scay garis pómdon evron calanon,
swa te byo Uras froyo shtahte lo,
cur desfr samu kay ol eyanon.

Sadhari naru samu kay amtá,
sarlúlis so, swa elitsus bu kay,
kay eliálu monyu capsius
cha evriul swa omris eliáy.
"Sarlúlit cay!" tas Uras pelion,
"Vwex nari sfia engi vodhi say'!"
Cha tar côcharya mona "Asi soy;
ca aydhu amel sta swa driôráy."

Niy thesis corvu Uzar swa niylá,
kay aniarlu tar el enlias:
ga Mawgras, Ublas, Bednas swa selát,
ga Shakas, Hèas, Genas, Eshentas;
cha Sarlas monya naryo nei si,
shtalá ektaryo Genas swa ga tas
"Ga trefya halya Eriádnôs sca,
te hagya ga niy engov, Saralas."