Elder Tongue

The language of the Elder Folk who inhabited the Hidden Lands before The History began. Their civilization is no more but their ancient language survives as a ritual language in many of the cultures of the Lands Under the Sun. Alphabet and Pronunciation Pronunciation is generally the same as in English. IPA values are given below: Thematics Consonants are organized into four themes (see, Gender, below), a set of universals, and five vowels. Nouns Gender The Language has four genders based on the four ancient elements: air, earth, fire, and water Air The Air, or Ethra Gender is identified by the presence of the thematic consonants of the First Theme (f,v,th,dh,h). It is used for abstract nouns and gasses. "ethra  air efath truth" Earth The Earth, or Kadam Gender is identified by the presence of the thematic consonants of the Second Theme (t, d, n, k, g, ng). It is used for ordinary neuter inanimate nouns. "kadam  earth geto thing" Fire The Fire, or Zazh Gender is identified by the presence of the thematic consonants of the Third Theme (s, z, sh, zh, dj, ch). It is used for masculine animates and for forms of energy. "zazh  fire djasu  man/male" Water The Water or Alir Gender is identified by the presence of the thematic consonants of the Fourth Theme (l, r, y, w). It is used for animate feminine nouns and liquids. "alir water lara  woman" Subjective Form (Absolute) The subjective form, also known as the absolute, is the basic, lexical form of the noun. There are no, standard patterns for nouns in any particular gender other than the thematic consonants used in them. The Language generally resists consonant clusters, but they are found. All the forms given in the section on gender, above, are in the Subjective Form. The subjective form is used for the subject of a sentence or for the predicate nominative. The plural The plural is formed by adding (h)u to the end of a word. If the word ends in a consonant, the h does not appear. Even when appearing between two vowels, it is not often pronounced, and often is manifested as a slight pause or lift between vowels. [1] Objective Form The objective form is used for the direct object of the main verb. It is formed by prefixing a- to the noun, whether singular or plural: Bound Form The bound form is for any noun used with a preposition. It is formed by suffixing -a to the noun. In the plural, the suffix follows the plural ending: Adjectives As with all words in the Language, adjectives are formed from the noun. Strictly speaking, there are no pure adjectives in the Language, and all adjectival constructions are in fact noun phrases. To form an adjectival phrase, two nouns are connected by the particle va (based on ava being). If one wanted to say “a blue house” one would take the word ganad house and the word ethia blue and connect them with the adjectival particle va. The definite article is placed after the modified noun: "ganad va-ethia blue house  (lit. ‘house being blue-one’)" If the noun in question is definite, the definite article is placed after the entire adjectival phrase: "ganad-va-ethia ka  The blue house" Note that the definite article agrees with the modified noun (here ka agrees with ganad, both earth gender not ethia, air gender). Personal Pronouns Personal pronouns cover three persons and two numbers. In the first person, there are three numbers, a plural exclusive (“we, but not you”) and a plural inclusive (“we, including you”). In the first and second person, all pronouns are of common/indeterminate gender. In the third person, there is a pronoun for each gender. Where those being described are of more than one gender, the earth gender plural is used. Demonstrative Pronouns/Adjectives Demonstrative pronouns and the Definite Article are based on the personal pronouns (which may in fact be a form of a demonstrative). The Definite Article and the Demonstratives are as follows. The definite article and the other demonstratives, like all adjectives, follow the noun they modify and take the same case modifiers as their nouns. "efath tha  the truth kadam ka the earth djasu zo that man larahu lihu these women 'i-larahu-a lihu-a  with these women' ''" Relative Pronouns Verbs The foundation of the Language is the noun. All verbs, therefore, are derived from the base noun form. In each tense, personal endings are added based on the personal pronouns. Because of the specificity of the personal endings, an explicit subject need not always be used. If the noun stem ends in a vowel, the e is elided. Infinitive The infinitive is formed by adding b’ to the unaugmented verbal noun stem. 'dhifa  thought     'b’dhifa  to think  '' Present Tenses Simple Present The simple present tense is formed by adding the prefix ba- to the base noun stem and adding the personal endings. The simple present is translated by the English simple present. b’zazh  to set on fire b’dhifa  to think Present Continuous The present continuous tense is formed by adding the prefix aba- to the base noun stem and adding the personal endings. The present continuous is translated by the English present continuous. b’dhifa  to think Future Tenses Simple Future The simple future tense is formed by adding the prefix be- to the base noun stem and adding the personal endings. The simple future is translated by the English simple future. b’dhifa  to think Future Continuous The future continuous tense is formed by adding the prefix ebe- to the base noun stem and adding the personal endings. The future continuous is translated by the English future continuous. b’dhifa  to think Past Tenses Simple Past The simple past tense is formed by adding the prefix bo- to the base noun stem and adding the personal endings. The simple past is translated by the English simple past. b’dhifa  to think Past Continuous The past continuous tense is formed by adding the prefix obo- to the base noun stem and adding the personal endings. The past continuous is translated by the English past continuous. b’dhifa  to think Past Perfect The future continuous tense is formed by adding the prefix ebe- to the base noun stem and adding the personal endings. The future continuous is translated by the English future continuous. b’dhifa  to think The verb b’ava ‘to be’ The verb b’ava is completely regular based on the noun stem ava  being. ba-avam, ba-avap, ba-avath, ba-avak, ba-avaz, ba-aval, ba-avamu, ba-avapu, ba-avathu, ba-avaku, ba-avazu, ba-avalu   Verbal Short Forms In conversation and in poetry, the personal endings can be dropped where the subject is explicit. "Djasu za ba-thavaz a-efath a-tha Djasu za ba-thava’ a-efath a-tha The man speaks the truth" Participles There are two kinds of participle, continuous (trad. “present”) and complete (trad. “past”). They are formed similar to verbs in that they are based on a prefix affixed to the noun stem. Continuous Participles The continuous participle is formed by adding the Complete Participles Non-indicative Moods Subjunctive Imperative Prepositions Spatial Temporal Vocabulary



[1] This leads many to think that the base form is in fact u with an intervocalic h inserted between two vowels, as opposed to *hu with a dropped h before a consonant. Were the base form *hu we would expect to see some aspiration in the preceding consonant: genot - *genothu home, homes. Instead, we see genot/genotu. [2] Some believe that meha may be a vestige of an earlier dual form “we two”.