Conlang Relay 15/Terkunan
by Henrik Theiling
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.
