Dalcurian Language Homepage
Overview
First of all, through my own experiences, I have purposely used only basic grammar terminology in this article, and I have also included brief descriptions of grammatical words and expressions in each respective sections. This is because I want newcomers to conlanging not to feel intimidated by heavy terminology and explanations. As I can remember when I first began to create dal'qörian, I was very confused with 'intense, grammatical explanations'. Of course, when creating a language, one must have some understanding of grammar to begin with, however, for the above reasons I have 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.
dal'qörian (pronounced: dal-koo-ree-yan) is a 3 year old conlang invented by myself (Rivendale). It's basic style is Indo-European, and although mainly arbitrarily invented, many words are drawn from English, German, Welsh, Cornish and Latin. To date, the language is fully functional, with a dictionary of around 10,000 references, words and phrases, idioms, (including a small colloquial element), fully grammatical, and the language also includes around 400 'dal'qörian' people's names. All the countries of the world have also been 'dal'qöranized, (as in anglisized).
The language actually sounds like a hybrid of Romance and eastern European languages. Here is a quick taster:
ela mantábel, am gravætas ön jerandel, nämambr eƒragörädn ön equahörädn.
éren Þöldr, máriÞ resæÞámn ön qevésenámn, néba qväombr,, ön, máriÞ ela, am perös qve beröjelperös, agöentr.
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.
Style
dal'qörian is a 'rhotic' language; the letter 'r' is pronounced after every vowel. It's pronounciation is very deliberate. In fact, by and large, dal'qörian is quite formal; it has no 'slang' form, although there is a small colloquial element to it.
I created this language out of my interest in Elvish. I became fascinated with Lord of the Rings when the films were released. With that, I started studying the Quenyan alphabet and learned to write using the Tengwar system. I've also studied German for the last 3 years. Through learning German, I 're-educated' myself in English grammar and around the same time began to create dal'qörian.
Initially, I wanted dal'qörian to sound like Elvish, to be spoken with a 'flowing tongue' if you like. However, as it developed, I guess it took on its own flavour and sounds-which is fine by me; it gives it its own character then.
Alphabet and pronunciation
| letter | letter name | pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| a | al | as in cat |
| b | bri | as in bat |
| c | ca | as in cat |
| d | da | as in day |
| e | era | as in end |
| f | ƒe | as in fall |
| g | géø | see special pronounciation |
| h | hal | as in hat |
| i | il | as in kill |
| j | öja | as in the French name Jean |
| l | lá | as in like |
| m | ma | as in man |
| n | na | as in not |
| o | ol | as in top |
| p | pä | as in pat |
| q | qöc | as in 'k' in kick |
| qu | q'qöa | as in quick |
| r | ræ | see special pronunciation |
| s | siri | as in sit |
| t | tø | as in take |
| v | vála | as in van |
| x | séca | as in wax |
| y | yenta | see special pronounciation |
special vowels and characters
| letter | letter name | pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ä | äli | as in 'ey' in they (see also special pronunciation) |
| á | áli | long as in bar |
| é | éga | long as in feel |
| ö | öli | long as in cool |
| ø | ø | as in German doch |
| æ | æ | as in the 'i' in find |
| Þ | eÞ | th as in bath but not in the |
special pronunciations
g is pronounced hard at the beginning and middle of a word, like g in get 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'.
y is always pronounced as the English upper case 'y'.
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)
As well as being a 'rhotic' lanuage, dal'qörian 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 |
