Sandic

Sandic tréi kémani
Spoken in:	The middle regions of Wytn called Youndétr
Timeline/Universe:	-
Total speakers:	Approx. 1.5 million (all dialects))
Genealogical classification:	Family: Weyr
Basic word order:	SVO
Morphological type:	-
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Created by:
bornforwater	2004-

Sandic (also known as Sandic Weyr, tréi kémani, or simply kémani) is one of several languages spoken by the people of the planet Ŵadin on the continent called Wytn. The name of the language means 'people's', or 'of men'. It is a language in the family called Weyr, and counts among its closest relatives Pantrelai (also called Pantrelan), and Jéi kémani (which is also called Baljek Weyr) and should not be confused with Sandic Weyr despite their similarities). It is split into several significant though mostly mutally-intelligible dialects, among them Southern Yaundi (Kafédi, 'of the nomads'), Northern Yaundi (Hijjagi, 'of the desert'), and Atipican (Étibikai, 'of the Atipicans').

As Northern Yaundi (hijjagi) is the best-documented as of now (18-Jul-11), this article will mainly provide information on that dialect.

In our world (read: in real life) this language is used as a personal conlang. Its vocabulary is mostly unique to itself, however there are numerous (and usually obvious) exceptions. The language has no purpose other than to be enjoyed by its 'writer'.

Grammar

Letters and such

Note: all pronunciations are based off of the sound of the highlighted parts of the given words as they appear in American English, except where otherwise stated.

Words are spelled as they were pronounced at one time, but over the growth and evolution of this language some sounds (such as the accusative plural ending -bin and the plural adjective marker -in) have changed from the way they are written. Thus the written form of some words varies slightly from how the word is actually said. These divergences will be discussed in their respective sections below.

Vowels

a â e é i î o u ú y

• a as in ball (IPA: /ɑː/ )
• â as in hall (IPA: /hɑː/ )
• e as in grief (IPA: /i/ )
• é as in lay (IPA: /e/ )
• i as in in (IPA: /ɪ/ )
• î as in eye (IPA: /aɪ/ )
• o as in over (IPA: /o/ )
• u as in you (IPA: /u/ )
• ú as in under (IPA: /ʌ/ )
• y as in yesterday (IPA: /j/ )

Consonants

b c d f g h j jj k l m n p r s t v w ŵ x z lē

• b as in ball (IPA: /b/ )
• c and s as in snake (IPA: /s/ )
• d as in dull (IPA: /d/ )
• f as in fast (IPA: /f/ )
• g as in girl but also sometimes as in click (IPA: /g/ but also sometimes /k/ )
• h as in how (IPA: /h/ )
• j as in shoe (IPA: /ʃ/ )
• jj as in just (IPA: /dʒ/ )
• k as in cow (IPA: /k/ )
• l as in late (IPA: /l/ )
• m as in man (IPA: /m/ )
• n as in number (IPA: /n/ )
• p as in purse (IPA: /p/ )
• r as pronounced in spanish, but also sometimes as in the word rare (IPA: /r/ but also sometimes /ɹ/ )
• t as in toggle (IPA: /t/ )
• v as in fast but also sometimes as in vest (IPA: /f/ but also sometimes /v/ )
• w as in vest (IPA: /v/ )
• ŵ as in water (IPA: /w/ )
• x as in kicks but also sometimes as in soft (IPA: /ks/ but also sometimes /s/ )
• z as in zoom but sometimes as in gifts (IPA: /z/ but also sometimes /ts/ )
• lē sort of like in German ach (IPA: /x/ )

Nouns

Nouns have no separate ending which distinguishes them from verbs (or vice-versa), which can make telling the two apart a skill which must be acquired through much practice (or learning the language natively).

There are two definite articles: Ba and Ta, of which Ba marks singular nouns and Ta marks plurals.

Nouns decline both by number and by case.

Declining by number:

• nahx (meaning 'cat') /nɑks/

becomes

• nahxan (meaning 'cats') /nɑks'ɑn/

Note that to create a plural one simply adds +(a)n to the noun. To give a further example of creating a plural noun, we'll use 'jéúmé', which means tree.

• jéúmé ('tree') /ʃe'ʌ'me/

becomes

• jéúmén ('trees') /ʃe'ʌ'men/ or /ʃe'men/

Declining by case:

• nahx ('cat') /nɑks/

becomes

• nahxab ('cat' in the accusative) /nɑks'ap/

• nahxan ('cats') /nɑks'ɑn/

becomes

• nahxabin ('cats' in the accusative) /nɑks'ɑ'pi/

Again, we'll use jéúmé as a second example:

• jéúmé ('tree') /ʃe'ʌ'me/

becomes

• jéúméb ('tree' in the accusative) /ʃemep/

• jéúmén ('trees') /ʃe'ʌ'men/ or /ʃe'men/

becomes

• jéúmébin ('trees' in the accusative) /ʃe'ʌ'me'pi/ or /ʃe'me'pi/

A note about the pronunciation of '-bin' and the pronunciation of accusative nouns

Though the accusative plural ending for nouns is spelled -bin, in modern speech this is most commonly reduced to '-pi'. The written form -bin persists, however.

Nouns with many central vowels tend to be shortened in speech. For example, /ʃe'ʌ'me/ can become /ʃe'me/. I'm not sure why this happens, but am aware of it happening when the language is spoken aloud. Just something to keep in mind.

Pronouns

Base pronouns

• I -- Felē
• You -- Péhâ
• He -- Ka
• She -- Aé
• It -- Ba
• We -- Aŵ
• You (pl/fml) -- Pélēa
• They -- Élsol

Pronoun verb markers

Every pronoun has an associated verb-marker which is derived from the full form of the given pronoun. These are used to conjugate verbs (see the verb section for more details).

• I -- e
• You -- pé
• He -- ka
• She -- é
• It -- ba
• We -- aŵ
• You (pl/fml) -- lēé
• They -- o

Pronoun accusative forms

• I -- fiab
• You -- piab
• He -- kiab
• She -- atiab
• It -- biab
• We -- ŵiab
• You (pl/fml) -- lēiab
• They -- otiab

Adjectives

Adjectives decline only by number and not by case. Adjectives have distinct markers which make them easy to distinguish in sentences. Adjectives which modify singular nouns end with -i and adjectives which modify plural nouns end in -in.

• A note about the pronunciation of '-in'

Similar to what happened to -bin over time, -in has also been reduced to the point where, when spoken, it is identical to -i (the marker for adjectives which modify singular nouns). The written distinction remains.

Numbers

Cardinal Numbers

• neot - zero / nothing
• tré - one
• jé - two
• ké - three
• ulēor - four
• pén - five
• xs - six
• har - seven
• geté - eight
• jek - nine
• soir - ten
• sosoir - (one) hundred
• zasoir - (one) thousand
• soir zasoiran - ten thousand
• sosoir zasoiran - (one) hundred thousand

Other Numbers

• soir mé tré - eleven
• soir mé jé - twelve
• soir mé ké - thirteen
• soir mé ulēor - fourteen
• soir mé pén - fifteen

• jésoir mé tré - twenty-one
• jésoir mé jé - twenty-two

• jé sosoiran ber soir mé tré - two hundred eleven
• xs zasoiran ber ké sosoiran ber jésoir mé tré - six thousand three hundred and twenty-one

Etc, etc.

Ordinal Numbers

Write the number word and then add -i (adjective marker thing).

• tréi - first
• soir zasoirani - ten thousandth
• ba xs zasoiran ber ké sosoiran ber jésoir mé tréi - the six thousand three hundred and twenty-first

Etc, etc.

Examples

This section aims to familiarize the viewer with the 'look and feel' of Sandic Weyr. Below are some examples of texts which have been translated into or have originated in Sandic Weyr.

The Lord's Prayer (Nothern Yaundi)

See here.

Ba top Babial (The tower of Babel, Northern Yaundi)

1. Ba ivi imprîa baxlēlét tré jaeactab mé tré jaeb faé ivi kémâ.

2. Mér ba kéman baxzeb dé lēra, baxcu lorab pa ba poc 'Jînar' me baxmect ŵak ta safpabin.

3. Mé baxmî dé tré kémâ dé jut kémâ- "baahl râ otaŵma main pelabin mé otaŵred hel otiahb."

4. Wî baxmî: "baahl râ otaŵmâ, faé aŵ, ba kéman, tufanab, mé topab- mé ba uwâ ba top frn aŵ, obgriaw ba lēyarab; mé baahl râ otaŵara ba erinin kéman, sian etaŵahl usmetúin ó ba imprîa."

5. Mé ba ijwrin kéman baxfézu dé lēyar, ân raug ba tufanab mé ba topab, frn ba kéman oxahl umain.

6. Ba ijwrin kéman baxmî: "Ynné-hî, ba kéman batara tré kéman mé balēlét tré jaeactab; mé ân ma jéd baxrep; mé ynné-hî etoma ivin dabin, frn ân ma biab oxsin."

7. "Baahl râ otaŵféd dé lēyar, mé otaŵma ŵak faé ba jaeact, ân bateneot lēlét gob- ân etoneot fe tré kémab ú jut kémab."

8. Ba ijwrin kéman baxma faé ta kéman, ân oxahl usmetúin ó ba imprîa; mé ta kéman oxsem ân ma ba tufanab.

9. Pa skra frn jéb baxoka, kémania otora faé lé top béenúb Babial, pa skra frn ba ijwrin kéman baxma faé ba jaeact ba ivi imprîâ, ân baneot lēlét gob- wî ba ijwrin kéman baxma faé ba kéman, ân batara usmetúi ó ba imprîâ.

Ba tob Babél (The tower of Babel, Atipican)

1.Ba ivi imbrrîa baslét trré jîctab mé trré jîb fî ivi kéma.

2.Basal mérr ba kéman bajeb dé ra, baju lorrab pa ba boc jînarr, mé ŵak basma ta safpabi.

3.Basmî dé trré kéma dé jut kéma: "rai bal an otaŵma main belabi, mé otaŵred hel otéb."

4. Mé basmî: "rai bal an otaŵma fî aŵ ba kéman tufanab mé tobab, mé ba uwa fën ba tob fën aŵ obakrréw ba hyarab; mé bal ra an otaŵara ba erinin kéman, sén taŵara usmetúin ó ba imbrrîa."

5.Ba jwrin kéman basfézu dé hyar, an rrauk ba tobab mé tufanab, atéb kamai basal ba kéman.

6.Mé ba jwrin kéman basmî: "inéhî, ba kéman batara trré kéman, mé fî ba nu bal trré jîct, mé an ma béb osrreb. Me inéhî élso toma ivin dabi, an ma otéb ojin."

7. Bal ra an otaŵféd dé hyarr, mé ŵak otaŵma fî ba jîct, an bateneot lét gob, fî an ba kéman bateneot fe trré kémab u jut kémab.

8. Basal, ba jwrrin kéman basma fî ba kéman, an basal usmetúi o ba imbrîa; mé ba kéman bajem an ma ba tufanab.

9. Skrra jéb basoka, kéman otorra fî ba tob béenúb babél, skrra ba jwrrin kéman basma fî ba jîct ba ivi imbrrîa, an basneot lét gob, mé skrra ba jwrrin kéman basma fî ba kéman, an basal usmetúi o ba imbrrîa.