Conlang Relay 15/Terkunan

by Henrik Theiling

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Text

Un Ful

Oserve tu kul balat, es unik. Tot mun deve vis le. Oserve tu le! No sulmentu les bal, ma a nos les kant i nsingre musik. Popre ornali no kupren le, ma ku kul stil de balat les popre trove urtime virtat oskur. Kandu les bal, les deven sopril.

Depost un kurt moment, les tuk nos cor i kumis present a nos sisasiun onest a soprepas spirt oman. Esku nos pos peven tant nevel de kul balator?

Popre ornali pos fik atensiun a movasiun de pede sulmentu i ngrul proposit vir de balat.

Smooth English

A Tale

Observe this dance! -- it is unique. Everybody must see it. Look at it! They not only dance, but sing to us and teach us music. Ordinary people don't understand it, but with that style of dance people find the ultimate hidden truth. When they dance, they become superior.

After a short while, they touch our heart and begin to show us the honest feeling to surpass the human soul. Can we reach the level of that dancer?

Ordinary people can just pay attention to the movement of the feet and ignore the purpose of the dance.

Etymologies

All Latin nominal forms are given in accusative case, from which Terkunan nominals usually derive. This final -M dropped early, but to make the words look more like Latin, it was kept in the orthographic presentation here.

Verbs are given in the infinitive, although the Terkunan form might have been derived from a different form.

NOTE: Only the Terkunan words and their Latin roots were sent to the next translator.

a

prep. AD to

atensiun

n. ATTENTIONEM attension

bal

v. BALLARE to dance

balat

n. BALL(ARE) + ATUM dance

balator

n. BALL(ARE) + ATOR dancer

cor

n. COREM heart

de

prep. DE of

depost

prep. DE POSTUM after

deve

v. DEBERE must, to have to

deven

v. DEVENIRE to become

es

v. EST to be

esku

adv. EST ECCUM QUIA {YN question particle}

fik

v. FACERE to do; to make, to create

i

conj. ET and

nsingre

v. INSIGNARE to teach; to inform

kandu

adv. QUANDO when

kant

v. CANTARE to sing

ku

prep. CUM with

kul

det. ECCUM ILLE this; that

kumis

v. COMMITTERE to begin

kupren

v. COMPREHENDERE to understand

kurt

adj. CURTUM short

le, l', 'l

det. ILLE the

le

pron. ILLE he, she, it, him, her, his, its

les

pron. ILLOS they, them, their

ma

conj. MAGIS but

movasiun

n. MOV(ERE) + ATIONEM movement

mun

n. MUNDUM world

musik

n. MUSICAM music

ngrul

v. IGNORARE ignore

nevel

n. NIVELLUM level

no

adv. NON not

nos

pron. NOS we, us, our

oman

adj. HUMANUM human

onest

adj. HONESTUM honest; real

ornali

adj. ORDINARIUM ordinary; simple

oserve

v. OBSERVARE to observe

oskur

adj. OBSCURUM hidden

pede

n. PEDEM foot

peven

v. PERVENIRE to reach

popre

n. POPULUM people

pos

v. POTESSE can, to be able to

present

v. PRAESENTARE to present

proposit

n. PROPOSITUM purpose, aim, goal

sisasiun

n. SENSATIONEM sensation, feeling

soprepas

v. SUPERPASSARE to surpass

sopril

adj. SUPERIOREM superior

spirt

n. SPIRITUM spirit, soul

stil

n. STYLUM style

sulmentu

adv. SOLAMENTE only, exclusively

tuk

v. TOCCARE > prov. tocar to touch

tant

adj. TANTUM such

tot

adj. TOTUM all

trove

v. TROPARE > prov. trovar to find

tu

pron. TU thou, thee, thy, thine

un

det. UNUM a, one

unik

adj. UNICUM unique

urtime

adj. ULTIMUM last, ultimate

virtat

n. VERITATEM truth

vir

adj. VERO true

vis

v. VIDERE to see

Abbreviations

n.

noun

v.

verb

adj.

adjective

adv.

adverb

conj.

conjunction

prep.

preposition

det.

determiner

prov.

Provencial

pron.

pronoun

Grammar

Terkunan is quite a typical Western Romance language, the most different feature being isolating morphology.

The standard word order is SVO, but in some sentences, the verb may be fronted for focus changes and in imperatives (the subject is usually not dropped in imperatives).

A 3rd person pronoun subject may be dropped, frequently with the verb 'es'.

Oblique objects are typically before the direct object, but there is no strict rule and they may well also follow.

Terkunan has optional definite and indefinite articles, which are often inserted to separate two noun phrases instead of to stress definiteness. The indefinite article is also the number word 'one'.

Number is not marked on nouns, but only on pronouns, articles, and number words. A typical noun phrase without article is, therefore, underspecified wrt. number.

Adverbs are usually fronted, but may also be in final position.

Adjectives usually follow nouns.

There are no compound verb forms in the text, so I'll drop anything about verbs.