Conlang Relay 15/Old Albic

Old Albic

by Jörg Rhiemeier

The Text

Talal sugunthul

Salétha raiganthal! Na bá san ratharam, na bá laras silendil, na bá gribinthid lurusul danal raiganthalal. Haiesi meneth hanath amath vantesi. Mar há seraigan am raigan mithinith, am raigan sallaranath raigenimil cvenimil. Na hai raigirim phlisirim amal hai. Chvalasa a vaivasa meneth am thajá bá sam mantham sin. Thajá dang san caras lindith sin. Mai dési reigiri deni vernes machar brasteri pichiri? Mar na dési sam trad.

Interlinear

Talal	sugunthul
story	hide-VN-LOC

Salétha	raiganthal!
see-SBJ-3PL:P-2SG:A	dance-VN-LOC

Na	bá	san	ratharam,
not	ESTAR-PRS-3SG:P	3PL-DAT	chief-OBJ

na	bá	laras	silendil,
not	ESTAR-PRS-3SG:P	music	3PL-voice-PL-PRT

na	bá	gribinthid	lurusul	danal	raiganthalal.
not	ESTAR-PRS-3SG:P	learn-VN-ABL	plan-LOC	any-LOC	dance-VN-LOC-LOC

Haiesi	meneth	hanath	amath	vantesi.
go-PRS-3PL:A	way-PERL	some-PERL	REL-PERL	desire-PRS-3PL:A

Mar	há	seraigan	im	raigan	mithinith,
but	SER-PRS-3SG:P	3PL-dance	the:I:OBJ	dance	graceful-SUP

am	raigan	sallaranath	raigenimil	cvenimil.
the:I:OBJ	dance	harmonic-SUP	dance-PL-LOC	all-LOC

Na	hai	raigirim	phlisirim	amal	hai.
not	SER-PRS-3PL:P	dance-er-PL	lithe-COMP	REL-LOC	SER-PRS-3PL:P

Chvalesi	a	vaivesi
turn-PRS-3PL:A	and	weave-PRS-3PL:A

meneth	am	thajá	bá	sam	mantham	sin.
way-PERL	CPL	seem-PRS-3SG:P	ESTAR-PRS-3SG:P	one	mind-OBJ	3PL-DAT

Thajá	dang	san	caras	lindith	sin.
seem-PRS-3SG:P	thing	this	work	easy-SUP	3PL-DAT

Mai	dési	reigiri	deni	vernes	machar
INT	make-PRS-3SG:P-3PL:A	dance-er-PL-AGT	any-PL-AGT	beauty	great-COMP

brasteri	pichiri?
effort-INS	little-COMP-INS

Mar	na	dési	sam	trad.
but	not	make-PRS-3SG:P-3PL:A	one	step

Smooth English

Story of Hiding

May you see them dancing! There is no chief to them, there is no music of their voices, there has been no learning of any plan for their dance. They go some way which they desire. But the dance is the most graceful, the most harmonic of all dances. They turn and they weave along such a way that there seems to be one mind to them. This work seems the easiest to them. Do any dancers make more beauty with less effort? But they do not make one step.

Vocabulary

a (objective stem am)

relative pronoun.

am

inanimate definite article.

b-

to be (momentarily).

brastar

effort.

d-

to make.

dan

any.

caras

work.

cvenim

all.

grib-

to learn.

h-

to be (permanently).

hai-

to go.

laras

music.

lenda

voice.

mach

great.

mai

interrogative particle.

mantha

mind.

mar

but.

mithin

graceful.

phlis

lithe.

pich

little.

raig-

to dance.

raigan

dance.

rathara

chief.

sal-

to see.

sallaran

harmonic.

sam

one.

san

this.

sug-

to hide.

talal

story.

thaj-

to seem.

trad

step.

vant-

to desire.

vernes

beauty.

Grammar

Phonology

The vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/ cause umlaut of the preceding vowel:

• /a/ lowers (/i/ > /e/, /y/ > /ø/, /u/ > /o/)
• /i/ fronts (/a/ > /e/, /o/ > /ø/, /u/ > /y/)
• /u/ rounds (/a/ > /o/, /e/ > /ø/, /i/ > /y/)

Two subsequent vowels of the same quality contract into a long vowel (marked with acute accent).

Some suffixes undergo vowel harmony with the preceding vowel. Such harmony vowels are transcribed as ° below.

Morphology

Nouns

Animate nouns have an agentive stem (AS), and an objective stem (OS) obtained by adding -m to the AS. The AS is listed in the vocabulary section. Inanimate nouns have only an OS (listed) and no AS. Cases occuring in the text:

partitive

AS-l

dative

AS-n

objective

OS-0

instrumental

OS-i

locative

OS-°l

ablative

OS-°d

perlative

OS-°th

Nouns modifying other nouns undergo suffixaufnahme.

Adjectives

comparative

-°r

superlative

-°th.

Adjectives agree with their head nouns in gender, number and case.

Verbs

present tense

-a-

subjunctive mood (also used as imperative)

-i-

2nd person singular agent

-tha

3rd person singular agent

-sa

3rd person plural agent

-si

3rd person singular patient

-a

3rd person plural patient

-i

verbal noun

-°nth

There is one instance of a periphrastic perfect formed with b- 'to be (momentarily)' and the ablative case of the verbal noun.

Syntax

VSO, modifiers follow their heads.

See also Old Albic