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Dalcurian (+ Halcarnian dialect)|morph=Analytic|ms=Nominative-Accusative|wo=SVO/SOV|creator=Dayle Hill|date= 2003-ongoing}} | Dalcurian (+ Halcarnian dialect)|morph=Analytic|ms=Nominative-Accusative|wo=SVO/SOV|creator=Dayle Hill|date= 2003-ongoing}} | ||
:<span style="font-size: 16px">Dalq'örian</span> | :<span style="font-size: 16px"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Dalq'örian</span> | ||
:<span style="font-size: 16pt">Dal'qörian</span> | :<span style="font-size: 16pt"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">Dal'qörian</span> | ||
:<span style="font-size: 2em">Dal'qörian</span> | :<span style="font-size: 2em"><span style="font-family: Forte">Dal'qörian</span> | ||
:<span style="font-size: 15mm">Dal'qörian</span> | :<span style="font-size: 15mm"><span style="font-family: Bodoni MT">Dal'qörian</span> | ||
Revision as of 13:04, 26 December 2007
This site is incomplete but is being added to on a daily basis
Dal’qörian | |
---|---|
Pronounced: | ɗælkuɹi:jæn (Eng: Dalcurian) hear pronunciation |
Timeline and Universe: | Present |
Species: | Human |
Spoken: | Dal’qöria |
Total speakers: | over 3 million |
Writing system: | Latin alphabet, Dal’qörian old script |
Genealogy: | Þadöracian (Thaduracian) Dalcurian (+ Halcarnian dialect) |
Typology | |
Morphological type: | Analytic |
Morphosyntactic alignment: | Nominative-Accusative |
Basic word order: | SVO/SOV |
Credits | |
Creator: | Dayle Hill |
Created: | 2003-ongoing |
- Dalq'örian
- Dal'qörian
- Dal'qörian
- Dal'qörian
Vehimaquirämös-Introduction
Qiöra qoÞ. Aca re bán? Binä, te intevönæÞ dis déalecti Dal’qöria, velcamör ela. DérÞ, diö descöbræ däáträdn qörabárämösel te májä, niaságrämös, liläárämös qve tiÞöra,, ön salö ni ænÞal degérø te oragéanámn qve tiÞöra-lintöni di vosérämös qve tiÞöra qedérÞas.
Binä, öcra di épø, taÞ diö icaÞræ te besöcér séÞa intevönæÞ, iquirquas qnáÞr diö,, ön méla diö, máriÞ éanö qomenträmösel ödri qualtédrämösel, iquirquas é-mäl binöra,, ödri méla diö natindr éanö enörämösel, taÞ binä gä’ábravaqur,, ön diö qönér,, taÞ diö nöacr önestár,, nes efragörädnas maqur taÞ dérÞ: [email protected]
Hi, and welcome to the Dalcurian language website. Here, you’ll find detailed descriptions of its grammar, pronunciation, style, and a basic history of its origins right up to its present day usage.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to peruse this website, and if you would like to email me with any comments or questions, or if you notice any mistakes that you feel you could correct me on, then please feel free to do so at: [email protected]
Through my own experiences, I have purposely simplified the grammatical terminology in this article, and I have also included brief descriptions of grammatical words and expressions in each respective section. This is because I want newcomers to language study not to feel intimidated by heavy terminology and explanations. As I can remember when I first began to study German, I was very confused with 'intense grammatical explanations'. Of course, when studying or creating a language, one must have some understanding of grammar to begin with. However, for the above reasons I have, for the most part, written this article in simple English.
I should also state that most of the examples and references here are based in comparison to the English language.
Di déalecti qve Dal'qöria,, ön ænÞal degérø-The Dalcurian language and basic history
Dalcurian (Dalcurian spelling: Dal'qörian IPA ɗælkuɹi:jæn) is the language of Dalcuria (Dal'qöria), a small group of islands approx 300 miles south-westerly off the southwest coast of Ireland. Stylistically, it's full of Indo-European traits, with strong influences from English, German, Latin, plus Finnish and Cornish.
The Dalcurian language was first developed as a religious tongue by a pagan king called Thadæus Thadurac (Dalcurian: þadæös þadörac) around 200 BC. The religion was a breakaway form of Paganism that was practiced throughout Europe around that time, and had thousands of followers, divided up into fellowships. Thadurac’s main fellowship resided on the Dalcurian islands (at that time known as þadöracia-Thaduracia after he named the islands), and at the time of his reign, numbered around 10,000. The main language was a form of early Latin, which was spreading throughout Europe as the Roman Empire became bigger. The writing system however, resembled a form of Hebrew and Aramaic (though it can’t be substantiated that it was derived at all from these), thought to have been created by middle-eastern nomads who resided on the island over 1000 years previously. It’s also not quite clear exactly how the first pagans came to be on the island, but the fact that the writing system was adopted by them points to at least some kind of coexistence between the pagans and the nomads.
Early Thaduracian pagan lifestyle was mainly pastoral: raising livestock and farming the lands with a recipricol economy. The Thaduracians had become prolific in the utilisation of hemp, and grew many acres, producing high quality cloths and clothes, paper, fuel, soaps and even medicines. They were exporting trade in their hemp products to Ireland and southern England, and had managed to open up a trade link to the Mediterranean, where their ware was bought by merchants of leaders and councillors in and around Greece.
Thadurac, who was an eccentric leader, had studied language in Greece as a young scholar of a prominent Greek philosopher called Adaikos in 210 BC. He had learned many things whilst there, including skills in economics and governing. When he came to power, he put these into practice and brought stability and order to the society, and radicalized the then worshipped religion with his own ideals and philosophies.
He created a form of language in order to individualize the fellowship; to intergrate one and all as a soceity, and promptly imposed it on his people to be used in worship and prayer, religious literacy (using a now adapted version of the scribal writing system) and rituals. It was a very basic language of around 500 base words, drawn from Latin and early Germanic influences (though the language of today bears little resemblance). It was highly inflected, even to the point of inflections which carried a modal force.
As the years of Thadurac’s reign went by, his religious language matured, and as it became more widely accepted, it became more advanced, forming small pockets of colloquial speech in many villages and towns. It spread out into the fellowships of Western Europe, becoming ever more present in every day speech. The European factions of the fellowship would ultimately form their own [dhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect dialects], which eventually crossed into the islands own dialect during the Pagan exodus of the 3rd and 4th centuries.
From the mid 3rd century, thousands of European pagans, not just Thaduracian pagans, migrated out of their homelands running from persecution, after the Roman Emperor Constans decreed that all pagan worship and sacrifice (even though Thaduracian Paganism didn’t practice sacrifice) should cease; warning those who still persisted in the practice of paganism with the threat of the death penalty. Many more found their way to Thaduracia, after Theodosus I officially declared Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.
By this time, the Thaduarcian tongue had long been accepted as the main language of the island (although it wasn’t official), and having knowledge of Thaduracian meant integration into society was relatively easy for this new influx of Europeans. This exodus inevitably produced a myriad of dialects across the island, and brought into the language many loan words from the Germanic languages. Regional village dialects formed, though not drastically, as the settlers from various European regions tended to stick together in the same village or town.
Not only did the language take on new traits, but also Thaduracian society became more highly developed. Many large towns rose up across the island, and its first city was officially named as Calmania (dal: Qal’mánia) in 467. The main port in the southwest region of Halcarnia (Hal'qánia) became increasingly busier, largely due to the island’s geographical position. Ships coming from Africa would often make port there where goods would be bought, sold and bartered for. The then leader, king Heldoch d’Calba II (dal: Heldø d’Qalba), established its first form of government with the aid of Roman defectors, which created a more centralized control over the towns, villages, and of course the economy.
In 512AD, Dalæth Curan (Dalcurian: DalæÞ Qöran) became Thaduracia’s youngest king at only 22 years of age. Like his great predecessor Thadurac, he was a very astute scholar. He had studied language and history, was fluent in Latin and Old English, and had studied the Celtic languages (by this time, a strong Irish Celtic society had formed in the northern region). He was extremely ambitious, and one of the first things he sought to do was to re-open the Mediterranean trade link that had been lost 150 years previously. The Mediterranean was a trade link that Thaduracia had followed for over 800 years, and the bulk of its hemp trade came from there. Even when the Romans captured the Carthaginian trading colonies along its coast (roughly 210 BC-Dalcuria had a huge export trade in tin with Carthage) trade only dwindled slightly. However, with the onset of Christianity into the Roman Empire, trade was banned by the Romans at the beginning of the 4th century after Theodosius I established Nicene Christianity as the official and, except for Judaism, only legal religion in the Roman Empire. He declared that Thaduracian Paganism, which by now had been dwindling In Europe for some years, was merely a cult, denouncing the Christian religion. Even though Thaduracia wasn’t part of the Roman Empire, he conceived the notion that it could once again infiltrate Roman society. (The idea that the Thaduracians were merely a cult was of course ludicrous, since the population stood at around 300,000)
By the mid 5th century, the Roman Empire had ceased to function and was dissolving rapidly, although Christianity survived. At the same time, the Thaduracian religion on the island was falling out of favour, since the previous king, d’Calba declared that, "the free will of the Thaduracian people was not so free if they were bound to one religion". Though he never laid any laws or constitutions over this, the people heeded his philosophy-albeit slowly! With this in mind, Christianity was beginning to spread across the face of Thaduracian Paganism, and they were beginning to see their religion as being 'outdated'. This was something that Curan made no attempt to change when he succeeded the throne; he desperately wanted to make friends in this new Europe, and saw d’Calba’s philosophy as a way to shaking hands with the new leaders of the deceased Roman Empire. In 523, he decreed that Thaduracian Paganism was indeed an 'outdated' religion for his countrymen, and no longer the force by which people should live their lives, citing that Thaduracia was now the only place left still practicing the religion, and that the only way to evolve as a race into a world that was changing rapidly, was, "to follow the path of Europe". Although he never officially banned it, the majority of Thaduracians followed his reasoning, with only a small faction carrying on with their paganistic beliefs. The following year, he went across to Europe and successfully re-opened trading with the Mediterranean, and forged new relations in England, Italy and Germany. The hemp trade became a major force once again in Thaduracia’s economy, and would eventually stretch up as far as Scandinavia and Finland.
During Curan’s 50-year reign, he managed to turn Thaduracia into an even more prosperous and modern land. He divided the island up into 7 provinces, each with their own provincial councils; all answering to a central government. He created Thaduracia’s first university, and each province had its own school. He kept taxes low, so as to allow those who worked the farms and hemp fields a 'decent' income, falling inline with his philosophy that Thaduracia should be a classless soceity (though this didn't happen till many years later).
In 550, he declared Thaduracian as the official language, and introduced formal and political elements. Up until now, the scribal writing system was still in use, but as Thaduracian became more highly developed, it became harder to utilise. In a move that proved to be as eccentric as Thadurac himself, Curan sought to revolutionize Thaduracia by announcing an alphabet reform, with the intention of creating a modern, unique alphabet. However, this was met with much distain among the provincial councils, citing that if any reform of the alphabet should take place, then it should simply be latinized. Curan’s persuasion was that, looking back over Thaduracian history, the spirit of the island and its people had always thrived on its individuality as a nation, and although during his reign had made many moves that had ultimately ‘de-individualised’ certain aspects of Thaduracian life, this was something that would retain original Thaduracian values and character. It would take a further 3 years of political bartering among the provinces before an agreement, and legislation was passed in 553. Curan promptly gave this task to his finest language scholars in the university, one of which was his son Ciaren (Qæran), who would eventually form an alphabet from Greek and Latin characters. Unfortunately, this move didn’t work out as Curan had anticipated. This new reform only managed to filter into political, religious and middle society (middle society were those who ran business' and were employed by any agency under the control of the king, his respective councils and their divisions). The rural society refused to use the new system, even after it had been introduced into education, and it wasn’t until Curan threatened (reluctantly) to raise taxes on livestock, that they relented. Rather inevitably, this would lead to non-standardized forms of the new system arising in small colloquial pockets in many rural villages.
When Curan I died in 562, his oldest son Ciaren became his successor. It was only during the first years of his reign that the new writing system, officially named as the Dalcurian alphabet, would infiltrate its way into all classes of Thaduracian society. But Thaduracians far and wide eventually came to realise the legacy of Curan, and the freedom and individuality that he had tried so hard to empower his people with.
During Curan II reign, he continued to shape the modern society that his father had created, and at the end of his reign in 588, the island was renamed Dalcuria (Dal’qöria) in recognition of Curan I legacy, although bizarrely, it would be some 100 years later before the language was officially termed Dal’qörian.
The Dalcurian of today is remarkably similar to its ancestor (unlike many languages which are almost completely different to their old origins), although it has undergone various spelling and pronunciation progressions. The biggest changes are, with then exception of the Halcarnian dialect, the loss of the noun and modal cases, and the most recent spelling reform in 1879, in which capitalisation was implemented at the beginning of sentences and the omission of the double full stop.
The ancient nomadic writing system was also studied, revived and modernized by an agency set up by the Government in the mid 90's. The history of both the ancient script and the Dalcurian alphabet was introduced into education at the beginnig of 2000, and there are now many courses outside of school where people can learn how to write with them. In fact, there are even some societies who produce their letters in Dal'qöristræÞ and the Dalcurian alphabet.
Dal'qöriádn-Standard Dalcurian
Standard Dalcurian is much more related in style and grammar to Indo-European and Germanic than Halcarnian, and is spoken by all Dalcurians in formal conditions. Normal word order is S-V-O, but this is governed by a prepositional rule; a prepositioned phrase will always immediately follow the subject (or a modal verb) eg: binä görøria-I'm going out, but, binä, máriÞ érenöra, görøria-I'm going out with them. (Dalcurian ears are very sensitive to this syntactic rule; forgetting this will make you easily recognisable as a non-Dalcurian). In fact, modern word order is quite rigid in comparison to the language spoken around Thaduracs time, through the gradual loss of a true objective case (click here for an explanation). Modal verbs are present, but there are no auxiliaries such as would, shall and will-these are denoted from verbal suffixes (like Latin). Case wise there are 3: subjective, objective (though not a true objective case) and possesive (or genitive). Technically, there is no dative case-this is rendered by use of the preposition to with the subjective pronoun (considered 'lazy' by dal'qörian grammatarians).
One major factor about the language is the absence of the present tense conjugations of the verb to be, and the simple, perfect and pluperfect tenses was/were, have/had been. The present indicative is ALWAYS indicated by the lack of any 'prefixual-inflection' to a verb, adverb or adjective. Adverbs and adjectives have a unique tense that puts them into the past, denoting the use of was/were/have/had been.
Hal'qánian-Eastern Dalcurian
The eastern dialect, or officially Hal'qánian, is for the most part, a spoken language. It is only written in a few of the Halcarnian villages, which reside on the valley slopes, in local publications such as announcements and some local newspapers. It is also used in personal letters and e-mails, though again, only within the Halcarnian borders. The Dalcurian alphabet also survived in the region, and is still used today; you can even see some restaraunt menu's written like this. (In fact, there is a soceity in Halcarnia dedicated to reviving the old script and alphabet, and the Halcarnian provincial council endorse weekly lessons).
Although considered only a dialect, there is only common standard on how to write it (you WILL see variants), but it's never used with tourists or, for the most part, Dalcurian's in general. The percentage of dialectal differences in the province stands at around 85% in Halcarnian favour.
There are no less than 12 noun cases (derived from Finnish), and word order can be varied due to the absence of the prepositional phrase rule as in standard Dalcurian. In fact, compared with standard Dalcurian, which is much more strict, Halcarnian word order is (written and spoken) a lot more unrestricted, although there is a trend to still follow a prepositional phrase rule (the inflected noun acting as this) in formal conditions. Pronouns are also different, again being derived loosley from Finnish. Consider these examples:
Standard:
Binä, máriÞ di parenöj qve binöra, te qaƒéj, göria. listen
Halcarnian:
Mina goria d'kaƒijle parenojne. OR Kaƒijle parenojne mina goria (for emphasis) listen
Note: the d' is a proclitic meaning the.
Both read: I am going to the shop with my father.
Note: One must be careful when translating from Halcarnian to standard: minä in standard means one/you as in you never know or one can never tell these days. A mistranslation of the example above would be one is going to the shop with a father (a father since Halcarnian does not use possessive structure when refering to their own kith and kin)
Orgéanámn qve Hal'qánian-Halcarnian origins
During King d’Qalba’s reign, 465-512, nomadic pagans from Finland began arriving on the island. At first they were merchants and fishermen-extremely good fishermen, but over the next few decades many hundreds more would come to join them in the port town of Halcarnia. These fins became prolific merchants in the area, which helped the economy thrive. It’s from this era that the Halcarnian dialect was born.
The Finns became a strong inhabitational force in Halcarnia, although the province was still under the control of Dalcurian policy (a policy that included all foreigners having to learn the national language). This didn’t seem to pose any real threat to the Dalcurians at that time, and a healthy relationship between Dalcurians and the newly termed Finno-dalcurians developed. Over the next few centuries, Halcarnia became a stronghold for Finnish tradesmen, and a small Finno-dalcurian dialect emerged; the language becoming inflected with many Finnish grammatical traits, though this was kept strictly to a colloquial level.
By the time the beginning of the 16th century arrived, Halcarnia was being run almost as a seperate entity from the rest of Dalcuria, by a majority Finno-Dalcurian council. At this time, it was led by Albert Hælgasson, a power hungry Finnish-Dalcurian who had become a dominant and manipulating provincial leader, and after falling foul of the Dalcurian Central Government over corruption claims, he rallied support from the Halcarnian population and led a revolt against them. This led to fighting which caused a huge division between Halcarnians and Dalcurians, which ultimately led to Hælgasson closing the Halcarnian borders. The Central Government responded by sending troops to force out the Halcarnian council, but were met by a determined defence force created by Hælgasson who had brought over a group of Scandinavian mercinaries. This left the Central Government no choice but to cut all ties with Halcarnia. Around this time, Halcarnia's port was the major trading artery and economic life suport to the rest of the island, and although not the only port on the island, this posed serious consequences for the rest of the island. However, due to its strong political ties with England, Dalcuria began to claw back its economical strength, and gradually began syphoning off Halcarnian trade back into its own borders. This alienanted Halcarnia even further, both politically and economically, and Halcarnians suffered for many many years with poverty.
It's throughout these years that the dialect took on many new Finnish traits, since Fins were still migrating to, and running the province, gradually stabalising the area into an organised soceity once again, although it never fully recovered. As the population grew, this dialect would eventually cover the face of the now minority standard Dalcurian spoken in the province, and became so prominent that it had to be introduced into education, in which a written standard was formulated. However, towards the end of the 18th century, a few years after the **Dalcurian/Halcarnian Unification Treaty in 1876, the use of standard Dalcurian was made law in all aspects of business, trade, education and literacy, demoting Finno-dalcurian (which by now had officially been named as Halcarnian) back to being a spoken dialect.
However, this dialect survived in colloquial speech, and in the suburban and woodland villages, continued to be the norm for its inhabitants, although over the last 100 years or so, much of the dialect has become somewhat 'Dalcuranized' once again.
Today, Halcarnian is still the majority dialect of the province, and although after many requests by the Halcarnian population, the Central Government refuses to give it status as an 'official language' (mainly due to the fact that Halcarnian shares over 90 percent Dalcurian vocabulary).
**This Treaty involved the Dalcurian Central Government offering to intergrate Halcarnia back into its territory, thus giving vital economical stability back to the Province. However, this was subject to the Halcarnian Provincial Council being dissolved and provincial power being placed back in control of the Central Government. This was flatley refused by the Provincial Council who obviously had too much to lose by relinquishing power. However, Halcarnia had become a soceity of class division and there were many peasants and lower class workers who felt that this was too good an opportunity to miss. This created unrest and extra animosity between the lower classes and the Provincial Council, which evolved into fighting and greater divisions between the classes. Eventually, at the threat of being overthrown, the Provincial Council saw no choice but to relent and enter into the treaty. (Unbeknown to the higher Halcarnian classes, this uprising was actually instigated by the Dalcurian Central Government under the promise of a more equal soceity; like that of Dalcuria). The Halcarnian borders were re-opened and the Province fell back into Central Government control (Halcarnia's council positions were 'revised' and many kept their jobs or were placed in other areas ).
Halcarnia, now stripped of provincial status, was ruled this way for another 100 years or so, until 1957, in which it was given back provincial status and placed under rule of a newly created Provincial Council.
For more on Halcarnian grammar click here.
Paliestrijel qve logöiel, máriÞ ecöndrämös-Sample texts with audio
The first text above is typical of the printing style and spelling of around the 16th century (see the example below). In formal texts, diacritics were'nt used, therefore words were spelled differently. The second text is it's modern counterpart. Both read:
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. (1st article of the Declaration of Human Rights).
The Lord's Prayer LISTEN TO 'THE LORDS PRAYER'
Below is a well kept example of a 16th century wedding announcement. This would have been to announce the intention of marriage by someone who worked in the royal council. It would have been displayed in notice boards in and around the royal courts and offices. It's main purpose was to bring forward anyone who had reason to be against the marriage. It translates as follows:
King Caduc VIII
Announcement of Marriage:
Here is found the proposal of marriage between Lathinian Gath & Amareta Cusel.
The event be on the day 14th January 1634. If there exists a person who has reason against the marriage,
then they must come forth before the above day and stand before the King's Council.
May God bless this marriage with virtue.
Liläárämös-Style
Dalcurian is a 'rhotic' language; the letter 'r' is pronounced after every vowel. It's pronounciation is very deliberate. In fact, by and large, Dalcurian is quite formal-largely due to the lack of idiomatic phrasal verbs. There is also no 'slang' form, although there is a small colloquial element to it.
Ödenædrädn æÞömára,, ön niaságrämös-Modern alphabet and pronunciation
letter | letter name | pronunciation (with IPA) |
---|---|---|
a | al | (æ) as in cat |
b | bri | (b) as in bat |
c | ca | (k) as in cat |
d | da | (ɗ) as in day |
e | era | (ɛ) as in end |
f | ƒe | (f) as in fall |
g | géø | (g) see special pronounciation |
h | hal | (h) as in hat |
i | il | (ɪ) as in kill |
j | öja | (ʒ) like the s in television |
l | lá | (l) as in like |
m | ma | (m) as in man |
n | na | (n) as in not |
o | ol | (ɒ) as in top |
p | pä | (p) as in pat |
q | qöc | (k) as in kick |
qu | q'qöa | as in quick |
r | ræ | (ɹ) see special pronunciation |
s | siri | (s) as in sit |
t | tø | (t) as in take |
v | vála | (v) as in van |
x | séca | (ks) as in wax |
y | yenta | (waɪ) as in the whole word why |
z | tsi | (ts) as in sets (like the German z) |
special vowels and characters
letter | letter name | pronunciation |
---|---|---|
ä | äli | (eɪ) as in 'ey' in they (see also special pronunciation) |
á | áli | (a:) long as in bar |
é | éga | (i:) long as in feel |
ö | öli | (u) long as in cool |
ø | ø | like the och in the German doch |
æ | æ | (aɪ) as in the 'i' in find |
Þ | eÞ | (ɵ) th as in bath but not in the |
ß | alv | (v) as in have; replaces v after a vowel but only formal literacy |
Spetsialárädn niaságrämösel-Special pronunciations
g is pronounced hard at the beginning and middle of a word, like g in get/forget 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 (ipa: eɪ-j-æ).
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)
z is only used in loan words, and pronounced the same as the ts in the word sets, much like the German 'z.
Mutation
eÞ is muted when a following word begins with d, and pronounced as a d (or a t depending on dialect) when preceeding words beginning with r, for example:
TiÞ disiri strömi It's very hot would be pronounced:
Ti-disiri strömi.
MáriÞ reÞæsámn-with reason, would be pronounced:
má-i-d reÞæsámn. (see below for r mutation)
The rhoticisity of the language also forces mutation of the r in many word combinations. A good example of this is the line: Érenöra Þöldr, máriÞ reÞæsámn ön qvésänámn, qväombr (from the 1st article of the declaration of human rights-see example above). Where there are 2 words that both end in the r sound, the first r is mutated, so Érenöra Þöldr becomes Érenö-a Þöldr. The following máriÞ looses its r as a result of the word reÞæsámn
As well as being a 'rhotic' lanuage, Dalcurian 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 |