Conlang Relay 17/Laefèvëši
by Andrej Šuc
The text
Kínooitiivi šegíoavi
Olvóir aśóa hánt ôwlamotoo Seánteu. Iŋzèn-ŗàima Seánt mőgila ti hánt en-enákimatoo. Óiale vót A'jam swóntimetoo-vó Seánteu li póli Savémaŗoo gális.
Aśía Alätau č-ásew hánt sójdel unešèionta ñè þi-Seánteu medéaśouu. Jonéj-o pól-Alätau Séant éloloa ñ-inóavaifi Ćitaíselu. Séantiti hánteu lobíelua dö tásjavau li-te tílinoloa-nó. Hánt-ëŗài astémimi li ne-Savélua sèj áneli dzeóseroške. Tújej táamalua ovêrvaj. Seántiti okeltäluaze ñ-Ajolíndas axólalae li keltälai Samòjahatu seimýlovoa xás wárom latílisfa Seántasa. Seántiti hánteu harélua l-oñeoþília ijim-eŋséneu.
Smooth English Translation
The Violence of a Beast
A long time ago a man has fed a lion. Although the lion was fearsome the man was not afraid. It was because only he personally was able to restrain the lion and everyone knew that.
One day, however, the man suddenly decided to ride his lion. But that day the lion wanted to return into the wild. The lion threw the man off his back and the started attacking him. The man was frightened and he didn't know what is happening. Because of that the man tried to escape. The lion roared so strong that the mountains trembled and the roar drew a lot more lions out of the forest. The lion hunted the man down and ate his flesh.
Gloss
The gloss is listed in alphabetical order. Nouns adjectives and verbs are listed in their basic form that is nouns are in the nominative singular adjectives are in their masculine form in nominative singular verbs are in the infinitive. Stem is separated from suffix by a slash (/). Clitic forms and other suffixes are separated from the main gloss.
Vocabulary
| A' | art. | definite article used as an emphasiser in the text |
| Ajolínd | m. | mountain |
| Alät | m. | day |
| áneli | aux. | auxiliary verb “to be” in 3-p. used in dramatic present tense in indicative |
| ásew | aux. | was/has (auxiliary verb “to be” in 3-p. sg. compound past tense in indicative) |
| aśía | num. | one a an a certain that (genitive case masculine sg.) |
| aśóa | num. | one a an a certain that (nominative case masculine sg.) |
| astém/imi | adj. | afraid frightened fearful |
| axóla/laj | perf. | to tremble to shake |
| Ćíntais | m. | wild |
| dö | prep. | from (to throw) off (requires genitive case) |
| dzéos/laj | imperf. | to happen to be going on |
| él/vaj | perf. | to wish to want |
| enáki/laj | imperf. | to be afraid (of) (requires object in genitive) |
| eŋsén | m. | flesh meat |
| gá/lis | pron. | everyone everybody |
| hánt | m. | man |
| haré/laj | perf. | to hunt to hunt down |
| inóa/vij | perf. | to return |
| iŋzèn | conj. | although |
| jam | pron. | 3-p sg. masculine (he) |
| jonéj | conj. | but however |
| keltälai | f. | roar(ing) |
| Kínoo | f. | beast |
| li | adj. | other |
| li | conj. | and |
| lobíe/laj | perf. | to fling to throw |
| madéa/vaj | perf. | to ride to mount (a horse) |
| mőg/imi | adj. | fearsome ferocious |
| ñè | conj. | that |
| óiale | conj. | because for as seeing that |
| okeltä/laj | perf. | to roar to release a roar to let out a roar |
| olvóir | adv. | long (time) ago |
| oñeoþí/vij | perf. | to eat up to eat |
| ovêr/vaj | perf. | to escape |
| ôwlam/vaj | imperf. | to feed to nourish to supply with food |
| pó/li | dem. pron. | this (can correspond to “that” in English) |
| Samòjah | m. | forest |
| Savé/laj | imperf. | to know to be aware (of) |
| Séant | m. | lion |
| seimýl/vaj | perf. | to draw to induce to lead |
| sèj | pron. | what |
| sójdel | adv. | whimsically suddenly |
| swónt/vij | imperf. | to control to restrain to have power over |
| šegíoavi | f. | violent-ness |
| táam/laj | imperf. | to try |
| tásjav | m. | back |
| ti | pron. | 3-p. sg. masculine genitive case |
| tílin/vaj | imperf. | to attack |
| tújej | conj. | therefore thus so because of that |
| uneśéi/laj | perf. | to decide |
| vót | adv. | only |
| wárom | adv. | a lot of more many more many |
| xás | adv. | even (more) just still as yet yet |
Clitics
| -ëŗài | imperf. | was (verb “to be” in 3-p. sg. m. past tense in indicative mood) |
| -nó | perf. | te begin to start |
| -o | pron. | reflexive pronoun used with reflexive verbs |
| -ŗàima | imperf. | was (verb “to be” in 3-p. sg. m. past tense in generic mood) |
| -te | pron. | 3-p. sg. masculine accusative case |
| -vó | imperf. | can be able to |
| č- | particle | acts as an emphasiser (omitted when translating into English) |
| en- | adv. | not (used to negate a verb) |
| ijim- | pron. | his (inalienable possessive pronoun 3-p. sg. masculine) |
| l- | conj. | and |
| ñ- | conj. | that |
| ne- | adv. | not (used to negate a verb) |
| pól- | dem. pron. | this (can correspond to “that” in English) ' |
| þi- | pron. | reflexive possessive pronoun (corresponds to “my, his, her” etc. depends on the context) |
Grammatical Suffixes
| -as | n. | nominative case singular masculine |
| -asa | n. | genitive case plural masculine |
| -atu | n. | ellative case singular masculine |
| -au | n. | genitive case singular masculine |
| -elu | n. | illative case singular masculine |
| -eroške | v. | 3-p. sg. masculine dramatic present tense in indicative mood (compound tense formed with the auxiliary verb “áneli”) |
| -eu | n. | accusative case singular masculine |
| -fa | adj. | genitive case masculine |
| -ila | adj. | qualitative suffix emphasising the meaning nominative sg. masculine |
| -imetoo | v. | 3-p. sg. past tense in generic mood |
| -imi | adj. | qualitative suffix nominative singular masculine |
| -iti | n. | augmentative suffix sg. masculine |
| -ivi | adj. | relational suffix sg. (the genitive case can be used in English) |
| -lae | v. | 3-p. sg. masculine past tense in indicative mood |
| -lia | v. | 3-p. sg. masculine past tense in indicative mood |
| -lis | adj. pron. | relational and quantitative suffix nominative plural masculine |
| -lua | v. | 3-p. sg. masculine past tense in indicative mood |
| -maŗoo | v. | 3-p. pl. past tense in generic mood |
| -matoo | v. | 3-p. sg. past tense in generic mood |
| -motoo | v. | 3-p. sg. past tense in generic mood |
| -oloa | v. | 3-p. sg. masculine past tense in indicative mood |
| -onta | v. | compound past tense participle (indicative) singular masculine |
| -ovoa | v. | 3-p. sg. masculine past tense in indicative mood |
| -śouu | v. | 3-p. sg. masculine future-in-the-past tense in indicative mood |
| -vaifi | v. | 3-p. sg. masculine nonpast tense in conditional mood |
| -ze | v. | 4th degree of comparison out of 7 degrees verbal comparison **corrected** |
Grammatical Notes
The basic word order in a neutral sentence is SVO but it actually depends on what is stressed (focus). All possibilities of the word order can occur in the language. The stressed part comes at the end of a sentence. This is possible because the language has cases and the basic meaning of a sentence does not change if the word order is changed.
Nouns in Laefèvëši are declined for case gender and number. There are two declensions, masculine and feminine, each one expresses case and number through suffixes. Same applies for adjectives too.
Laefèvëši has a large number of clitic forms which include verbs pronouns adjectives and adverbs. Clitics are connected to another word (host) by using a hyphen (-) and a clitic can be either a proclitic or an enclitic. More than one clitic can be connected with the host. Clitic and the host word are pronounced as one word where the primary stress carries the host and clitic(s) carry the secondary stress. When none of the words carries a primary stress the stress falls on the first syllable.
Laefèvëši verbs are also conjugated for mood tense number person and gender. Personal pronouns are often omitted except when emphasised or to avoid ambiguity.
Where a verb is expressed in two parts Laefèvëši has two ways for conjugating. If one of the verbs is a modal or a phase verb (phase verbs are 'to start' 'to continue' 'to finish') Laefèvëši will conjugate the semantic head and the auxiliary verb will be expressed by using the enclitic form of the modal or phase verb. If the two verbs are full lexical verbs (e. g. “to try to remember”) Laefèvëši will conjugate the first verb and leave the semantic head in the infinitive form.
Note on verbs: Laefèvëši has a large verbal morphology and the described ways of expressing two parts verbs are not the only possibilities but are only the ways occurring in the text.
