Conlang Relay 18/Loknith
Loknith Text:
Ka niiklu stitt, wavv nekhwis vú uk na fissimigu. Íllin chæthiskiv, witt glu dorrikish vel báviv vo loy, jelchu é banu shech. Sheblin ghákk fu tégha shaalchu úv stivv, é váv sespin glu temyish, é váv fúskivyigu, é ka niiklu loy kuwa vú jarka róubina é óbliskiv. Herrilit paakti rellis glu græfta vi forlika. Hitt vi nal glu kiish rispa vikna: hitt glu éikyish vi hitt gill árkipit glu chommish herrilit.
Vocabulary:
árkip clothing, garment
bani to start, to begin
báviv embrace, hug
chæth tree, wood
chommich to clean, cleanse
dorrikta to sleep
é and, with
éki to smile
fissimin to come to life
forlika attractive
fu part of, made of (partitive)
fúskivi to break up, disintegrate
ghákk big, large
gill with (instrumental)
glu past tense of lom, “to be”
græfta mocking, disdainful
herrila face, countenance
hitt he/she/it
ílla dog, hound
jarka roof, top of a building
jellich to wake up, get up
ka I
kiish present participle of kina, “to know”
kuwa female
loy person
na still, yet, another, again
nal not
nekhwis statue, figure/figurine
niiklu past perfective of nokla, “to see”
óbl snow
paakti similar to, like
rellis peach
rispa manners, etiquette
róubina broad, wide
sespin for a long time
shalich to arrive, get (somewhere)
shebla cloud
shech to vocalize, bellow, bark
stitt that/this (demonstrative)
stivv there, that place
temmi to churn, be turbulent
tégha smoke
uk corner, point, vertex
úv to, at
váv they
vel in
vi but
vikna normal, regular
vo of
vú on
wavv how
witt what, who, that (relative pronoun)
Grammar:
Word order is generally SVO, although verbal modifiers tend to come before the verb. Adjectives and prepositional phrases modifying nouns come after the noun.
Adjectives may be formed from nouns with the suffix –(i)skiv, which means something like “pertaining to”.
The past perfective is formed by inflecting the verb itself, whereas the past imperfective is formed periphrastically with “glu” and the present participle of the verb.
Verbs in –ta form their present participle by replacing –ta with –ish, verbs in –min form their past perfective by replacing –min with –migu, and verbs in –(i)ch form the past perfective by replacing –(i)ch with –chu, and the present participle by replacing –ch with –sh. Verbs ending in –i form their past perfective by replacing –i with –u, and the present participle by replacing -i with –yish. All of these changes may be accompanied by a slight spelling change in the stem (to preserve vowel length). Irregular forms are listed in the vocabulary.
Nouns pluralize by adding the suffix –in, which deletes a final –a. Personal pronouns have suffixed forms used as verbal objects and possessors. We see here only –(i)t, which is the suffixed form of “hitt”. A final –a becomes –i- before a suffied pronoun.
