Dalcurian Language Homepage

Overview

dal'qörian (pronounced: dal-koo-ree-yan) is a 3 year old conlang invented by myself (Rivendale). It's basic style is Indo-European, and although mainly arbitrarily invented, many words are drawn from English, German, Welsh, Cornish and Latin. To date, the language is fully functional, with a dictionary of around 10,000 references, words and phrases, idioms, (including a small colloquial element), fully grammatical, and the language also includes around 400 'dal'qörian' people's names. All the countries of the world have also been 'dal'qöranized, (as in anglisized).
The language actually sounds like a hybrid of Romance and eastern European languages. Here is a quick taster:

ela mantábel, am gravætas ön jerandel, nämambr eƒragörädn ön equahörädn.

éren Þöldr, máriÞ resæÞámn ön qevésenámn, néba qväombr,, ön, máriÞ ela, am perös qve beröjelperös, agöentr.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

They should be endowed with reason and conscience and act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Style

dal'qörian is a 'rhotic' language; the letter 'r' is pronounced after every vowel. It's pronounciation is very deliberate. In fact, by and large, dal'qörian is quite formal; it has no 'slang' form, although there is a small colloquial element to it.

Alphabet and pronunciation

letter	letter name	pronunciation
a	al	as in cat
b	bri	as in bat
c	ca	as in cat
d	da	as in day
e	era	as in end
f	ƒe	as in fall
g	géø	see special pronounciation
h	hal	as in hat
i	il	as in kill
j	öja	as in the French name Jean
l	lá	as in like
m	ma	as in man
n	na	as in not
o	ol	as in top
p	pä	as in pat
q	qöc	as in 'k' in kick
qu	q'qöa	as in quick
r	ræ	see special pronunciation
s	siri	as in sit
t	tø	as in take
v	vála	as in van
x	séca	as in wax
y	yenta	see special pronounciation

special vowels and characters

letter	letter name	pronunciation
ä	äli	as in 'ey' in they (see also special pronunciation)
á	áli	long as in bar
é	éga	long as in feel
ö	öli	long as in cool
ø	ø	as in German doch
æ	æ	as in the 'i' in find
Þ	eÞ	th as in bath but not in the

special pronunciations

g is pronounced hard at the beginning and middle of a word, like g in get but soft at the end of a word,like g in the German word swanzig.
r is an alveolar trill. Its place of articulation is alveolar which means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (or just behind the top teeth). It can be likened to the way in which a Scottish person with a strong accent would say great, straight, road, etc.
ä is pronounced like the ey in they. However, at the end of a word, or where it is separated by a high apostrophe, it is pronounced 'ey ya'.
y is always pronounced as the English upper case 'y'.
q on its own is only found at the beginning of a word, including words that are separated by a high apostrophe, as in dal’qörian or qatáj-cat, and is always pronounced like an English 'k'.
c only appears in the middle or end of a word such as qurvecsár-to annoy and dörac-through, and is sounded like an English hard 'c'.
x is used only to denote a negative word and attaches to the end of a verb. (see verbs and negatives)

As well as being a 'rhotic' lanuage, dal'qörian is also PHONETIC; its spoken exactly as it is written. Once you have learned to pronounce the letters, speaking and reading dal'qörian should be relatively easy. For example, dal'qörian is pronounced dal-koo-ree-yan. Here are a few more examples, in syllabic form, to give you a flavour of how words sound:

dal'qörian	meaning	phonetic pronunciation
strömi	hot	stroo-mi
binä	I/Iam	bin-Aya
stæcnáÞrädn	thankless	sty-kun-arth-rey-dun
ädiáda	yesterday	ey-dee-ar-da
yenø	immense	why-en-och
ødérämös	steadiness	och-dee-rey-mooss
qsendaréø	scenario	ku-send-a-ree-och
embáragadöraj	puppy	em-bar-ra-gad-oo-raj
siagentöj	aunty	see-a-gent-ooj

Grammar

Adjectives

Many adjectives in English have recognizable endings such as: able/ible, al, ful, ic, ive,less, ous. However, there are many adjectives that do not have specific endings, for example, colours. The past participle of verbs can also be used as adjectives. For example, in the sentence, "He was abandoned as a child", abandoned is the past participle of the verb abandon, but in the sentence, "He was an abandoned child", abandoned becomes an adjective because it describes an attribute of the noun child.

dal’qörian has no specific endings for adjectives except:

• When the past participle of a verb is used as an adjective (looses the prefix gä’ and adds the suffix ädn)
  
• When an adjective has a relative verb (formed by adding the suffix ädn to an infinitive):

infinitive	past participle	adjective
námbr-to abandon	gä’námbr-abandoned	námbrädn-abandoned
qurivecsár-to anger	gä’qurivecsár-angered	qurivecsárädn-angry
tsöcr-to touch	gä’tsöcr-touched	tsöcrädn-touched

example text:

• mæ gä’námbr di arangájel qve mæöra. He abandoned his children.
  
• mæ ni námbrädn arangáj. He is an abandoned child.
• Jödran gä’tsöcr di gæatéj qve diöra. Jordan touched your guitar.
  
• binä, gerödn taÞ Þonábrämös, disiri tsöcrädn. I'm very touched by that gesture.
  
• diö gä’ábravecsár binöra. You have angered me.
  
• binä qurivecsárädn. I'm angry.

Comparison of adjectives

In English, many adjectives are compared by adding the suffixes er and est with the definite article the:

absolute	comparative	superlative
fast	faster	the fastest
late	later	the latest

Another way of comparing adjectives is with more and the most:

absolute	comparative	superlative
achievable	more achievable	the most achievable
advanced	more advanced	the most advanced

In dal'qörian, both of these constructions are rendered with the prefix te with words beginning with a consonant, and tev with those beginning with a vowel:

absolute	comparative	superlative
araciev-late	tev'araciev-later	di tev'araciev-the latest
bracödrädn-achievable	te'bracödrädn-more achievable	di te'bracödrädn-the most achievable

Comparative sentence patterns

There are three types of comparative sentence: positive, comparative and superlative.
Positive sentences are those such as:

• The pie is not as nice as it was yesterday.

• One picture is as nice as the next.

• It’s as good as it gets!

In dal'qörian, these are formed with the word säsa which goes before the adjective:

• séÞa epnij säsa stæ’quraläla ädiáda. The pie is not as nice as yesterday. (In comparative sentences, adverbs of time do not begin the sentence. See Adverbs)

• sia gä’létr di vaÞriámn,, ön sia säsa gé’älig söcasendras. She told the truth and was as honest as possible.

Using the intensifier esti with säsa also renders the equivalent of just as...as, which is slightly more emphatic:

• binä säsa esti sæadörädn diöra. I’m just as surprised as you.

Comparative sentences are those such as:

• I’m more intelligent than you.

• The train is faster than the car.

• It was less noticeable than yesterday.

These are simply formed with the comparative form of the adjective and nas-than:

• binä tev’ilalägra nas diöra. I'm more intelligent than you.

• Sahán ni tev’éagöra evédrátsi nas Sösan. Shane is a better driver than Susan.

• tiÞ gé’natinträdn stæmériÞ nas ädiáda. It was less noticeable than yesterday.

Sentences such as: "You are getting taller and taller. The wind is blowing stronger and stronger etc, (where the adjectice is compared with itself), are formed with the adverb brát-still (brát is also used as the conjunction but) and the comparative:

• diö vädenária brát te’viténa. You are getting taller and taller. (lit: You are becoming still taller).

• di ateméj löbria brát te’herecöl. The wind is blowing stronger and stronger. (lit: The wind is blowing still stronger).

Superlative sentences are those such as:

• I’m the best guitar player.

• This is the happiest I’ve seen her.

• ...and worst of all, she said I wasn’t attractive!

The first two examples are formed as in English:

Adjectives with prepositions

Dynamic adjectives

Page still under construction