Conlang Relay 15/Khangaþyagon

This is the original text for Conlang Relay 15, written in Khangaþyagon by Pete Bleackley.

gwendontsivolk

iðuzhelt ye yir ginsonar. wiþir yir markshe. ushu wiþir yir elrushe yengashar tolsashar yiuzar, ushu þanturnewtifœsher yir ginsmarkswo. sami modwo nazgu u sloni yi de. shosh dahi gins yi'uzar gins kaþlikhim, gins filikhim ginsuzar su'uzar. dahiufar ginsonholsher ennitezhmsher arra ennitdahir yir. torsir yir beb dwallir yir nazbanol u rashurir yir wiþo folne modl. rashuri enil newtontþað galgukokra yiungar. apidaur ginsonholwor vrima mœzaezhm kirrlol mœzadeduol? shosh garwir yir megontshe modlshe.

In Bukhstav Runes

A Riddle

See them dance. The have no leader. They have no music but their own voices, nor have they studied any choreography. Each goes where he will. But their dance is the most graceful, the most harmonious of all dances. There are no dancers more lithe than they are. They turn and weave so that they seem to have a single mind. This seems the least difficult work for them. Do any dancers make greater beauty with less effort? But they take not a single step.

Vocabulary

(Roots - see grammar section for suffixes)

beb

(conj) and

u

(conj) such that

ushu

(conj) neither/nor

su

(adj) all

sam-

(v) go

sivolk

(n) story

slon-

(v) desire

tors-

(v) turn

tols

(adj) personal

ap-

(v) make

arra

(conj) than

vrima

(n) beauty

hol

(n) person

dah-

(v) be

de

(pr) alternative 3p pronoun used when repeating yi would cause an ambiguity between two referents.

dwall-

(v) weave

en

(n) thing

ennit

(adj) lithe

elru

(n) music

folne

(n) mind

fi

(n) harmony

mark

(n) chief

marks

(n) plan, counsel

mod

(numeral) one

meg-

(v) step

mœza

(adj) great

þantur-

(v) learn

það

(n) act, deed

shosh

(conj) but

rashur-

(v) seem

iðuzh-

(v) see

kaþ

(n) grace

kirrl

(n) effort

naz

(n) way

newt-

(v) work

garw-

(v) take

galgu

(adj) difficult

gins

(n,v) dance

gwend-

(v) hide

y+person ending

(see verbs) (pr) personal pronouns

yeng

(n) voice

wiþ-

(v) have

Grammar

Syntax

VSO. Agglutinating. Adjectives follow the nouns they qualify, and agree with them. Predicative adjectives compound with the verb. Roots compund in head last order within words. However, grammatical affixes are suffixes (segunakar)

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns may be followed by segunakar of six ranks. Each rank has a particular grammatical role. They are specified in the order they occur following the root.

modsegunakar (1st rank) Deiexis

il

this

ban

that

wo

any

she

no

densegunakar (2nd rank) Proximity

Indicates how closely associated the think qualified by the proximity-marked noun is with the thing specified by the proximity-marked noun.

ash

without

radsegunakar (3rd rank) Relative position

Not used in this text

karvsegunakar (4th rank) Sense of motion

gu

by (route)

sintsegunakar (5th rank) Abstract relationships

uz

of

ol

by (instrumental)

ung

for (benefactive)

bantsegunak (6th rank) number

(a)r

plural

Verbs

Verbs may be followed by the following segunakar

Person/infinitive/participles (obligatory)

a

1p

e

2p

i

3p

o

infinitive

on/ont

Present participle. For many verbs this has the sense of an agent noun. If the sense normal for the verb is not the one required, the present participle compounds with another nouns to form the required sense.

Reflexiveness

Not used in this passage

Continuous aspect

Not used in this passage

Perfect aspect

fœ

Tense

Only the unmarked present tense is found in this passage.

Voice

uf

passive

Mood

lt

imperative

dau

interrogative

Negation

she

Number

(a)r

Plural

Adjectives

Adjectives may be marked for five degrees of comparison with the following segunakar

ikhim

superlative

ezhm

comparative

dedu

reductive (less)

kokra

minimative (least)

Positive is unmarked.

These segunakar preceed noun agreement or verb compounding.

Derivational affix

l

forms adjectives from nouns in the sense of "Characterised by".

Concultural note

gwendontsivolkar are frequently used by wizards to instruct enchanters (those with active magical powers who have not yet attained the true knowledge of magic that is the mark of a wizard) in the art of discerning hidden meanings.