Sandic

Sandic tréi kémani
Spoken in:	The middle regions of Wytn called Youndétr
Timeline/Universe:	Ŵadin (Conplanet), Wytn (Concontinent)
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 an a priori personal conlang. Its vocabulary is mostly unique to itself, however there are numerous (and usually obvious) exceptions. As the language is associated with a conworld, it is also a fictional language. The language has no purpose other than to be enjoyed by its 'writer'.

The name of the language means 'people's', or 'of men'.

In-World Sandic

Sandic is one of several languages spoken by the people of the planet Ŵadin, on the continent called Wytn.

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). These should not be confused with Sandic Weyr despite 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'), Atipican (Étibikai, 'of the Atipicans') and Tatun/Sanweyn (Tatuni/Sanuéni).

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

Letters and Sounds

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 the section on "exceptions", below.

Vowels

a â e é i î o u ú y ia

• a as in ball (IPA: /ɑː/ ) but also sometimes ( IPA: /xɑː/ )
• 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/ )
• ia as in elephant (IPA: /ɛ/

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/ )

Exceptions: A note on the pronunciation of some words

• 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.

• Singular accusative '-b' is changed in speech to '-p', but not always.

• Nouns with many central vowels tend to be shortened in speech. For example, /ʃe'ʌ'me/ can become /ʃe'me/.

Further exceptions

• In cases of consonant touches where the consonants are voiced/devoiced pairs (such as b and p, or t and d), the unvoiced consonant is elided in favor of the voiced.
  
  

"kap ba" -> /kɑ ba/

• In cases where the sequence xxs occurs (for example in the presumed past-tense of the word 'xsin', kaxxsin, 'he thought'), the letter sequence xxs is written as j, and pronounced thus: kajin /kaʃɪn/.

Grammar

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/

Pronouns

Subject pronouns (normally called "base" pronouns in Sandic) decline like any other noun in the language- by number and case.

However, Sandic is decidedly pro-drop when it comes to subject pronouns. They are rarely seen except when used as emphasis, or when used in childrens' and instructional texts. This pro-drop tendency does not extend to the object pronouns or the "faé/frn" forms however.

	Subject	Object	Frn/Faé	To ____
I (1ps)	Felē	iab	me	fian
You (2ps)	Péhâ	piab	pé	pian
He (3ps.m)	Ka	kiab	ka	kian
She (3ps.f)	Aé	atiab	ae	atian
It (3ps.n)	Ba	biab	ba	bian
We (1pl)	Aŵ	ŵiab	aŵ	ŵian
You (2pl AND 2pl.fml)	Pélēa	lēiab	lēé	lēian
They (3pl)	Élsol	otiab	op	otian

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

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.

Adverbs

Technically speaking, adverbs do not exist in Sandic. There is no particular case or genre of word associated with them, and though several things in the language function *as* adverbs, a single word cannot be determined to be an adverb or not just on its own. It is only the way that the word is used which determines whether or not, in that particular case, the word is an adverb.

Example sentence #1

ufen me = my hands

Biab ufen me exhaec.
It(acc.) hands my I-wrote.
I wrote it with my own hands.

In this case, "ufen me" is acting as an adverb.

Example sentence #2

natul = quick / sudden / rapid / all of a sudden

Kian natul exverc.
To-him sudden I-hit(past).
I hit him suddenly/quickly.

Here, "natul" is acting as an adverb.

Verbs

Sandic verbs are very regular, with some notable exceptions which will be discussed below.

	Present	Past	Future	Conditional	Suggestion
Felē	ejae	exjae	etejae	otejae	ejaeig
Péhâ	Péjae	Péxjae	Pétejae	opéjae	péjaeig
Ka	kajae	kaxjae	katejae	okajae	kajaeig
Aé	ajae	axjae	atejae	otajae	ajaeig
Ba	bajae	baxjae	batejae	obajae	bajaeig
Aŵ	aŵjae	aŵxjae	aŵtejae	otaŵjae	aŵjaeig
Pélēa	lēéjae	lēéxjae	lēétejae	olēéjae	lēéjaeig
Élsol	ojae	otejae	oxjae	otojae	ojaeig

These are the 'core' verb forms. Some additional 'forms' of verb conjugation exist:

Jae, to speak

jaeto (ŵhé) - to speak as though (a false comparison)

jaeco (ŵhé) - to speak as (a true comparison)

jaera - to truly speak, to speak with emphasis (speaker is certain)

jaenia - to possibly speak (the speaker is uncertain)

Core-form verb exceptions

Any verb which begins with a vowel (such as úraj, which means "to meet") will take a vowel-separating consonant between the pronoun marker and the verb itself. Thus, úraj is conjugated in the present tense in this manner:

Úraj, to meet

etúraj

pétúraj

katúraj

etc.

The separating consonant is also found in the progressive and other tenses for all verbs except ahl (see below).

Progressive

Jae, to speak

ahl kajaei - to be speaking

ahl katejaei* - to be going to be speaking

ahl kaxjaei* - to have been speaking

ahl kajaeigi* - to be possibly speaking

While all forms use the marker ka-, these forms are not restricted to ka- (third person singular) marked verbs. The marker does not vary between pronouns, but remains ka- for every one. See examples below for clarification.

• While these forms are technically correct, they are hardly ever used in normal speech. Older texts preserve them, but normally these are now rendered as ahl katejaei -> '__teahl kajaei', ahl kaxjaei -> '___xahl kajaei', ahl kaejaeigi -> '___ahlig kaejaei'.

The progressive *will* take the vowel-separating consonant "t" if the verb inside of the progressive form begins with a vowel.

• olo (to knit) -> katoloi (knitting/person who is knitting)

Example sentences

Kajaei kaahl.
He-speak-adj he-is.
He is speaking.


Kaxjaei aahl.
He-(past)speak-adj she-is.
She was speaking.


Aŵxahlig kajaein.
We-(past)are-cond he-speak-adj.
We would have been speaking.

On other verb exceptions

• The verb 'ahl', which expresses a state of being (impermanent), does not take the vowel-separating consonant 't'. Thus, its conjugations are "eahl, péahl, kaahl, aahl, baahl, awwahl, oahl, lëéahl".

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.

LoCoWriMo 2011 (Northern Yaundi)

See here.