Elder Tongue
From The Lands Under the Sun
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:
Theme I | Theme II | Theme III | Theme IV | Universal | Vowels | ||||||
f | f | t | t | s | s | l | l | p | p | a | a |
v | v | d | d | z | z | r | r | b | b | e | e |
th | θ | n | n | sh | ʃ | y | j | m | m | i | i |
dh | ð | k | k | zh | ʒ | w | w | o | o | ||
h | h x | g | g | dj | dʒ | u | u | ||||
ng | ŋ | ch | tʃ |
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]
Singular | Plural |
efath truth | efathu truths |
djasu man/male | djasuhu men/males |
lara woman/female | larahu women/females |
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:
Subjective | Objective |
efath, efathu | a-efath, a-efathu |
geto, getohu | a-geto, a-getohu |
djasu, djasuhu | a-djasu, a-djasuhu |
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:
Subjective | Bound |
efath, efathu | efath-a, efathu-a |
geto | geto-a, getohu-a |
djasu | djasu-a, djasuhu-a |
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.
Singular | Plural | |
I | me I | meha we (excl)[2]mehu we (inc) |
II | pe you | pehu you (pl.) |
III a. | the it | thehu they |
III e. | ke it | kehu they |
III f. | ze he/it | zehu they |
III w. | le she/it | lehu they |
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.
Def. Art. (the) | That | Those | This | These |
tha | tho | thohu | thi | thihu |
ka | ko | kohu | ki | kihu |
za | zo | zohu | zi | zihu |
la | lo | lohu | li | lihu |
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.
Singular | Plural | |
I | -em | -emu |
II | -ep | -epu |
III a. | -eth | -ethu |
III e. | -ek | -eku |
III f. | -ez | -ezu |
III w. | -el | -elu |
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
Singular | Plural | |
I | ba-zazhem I set on fire | ba-zazhemu we set on fire |
II | ba-zazhep you set on fire | ba-zazhepu you set on fire (pl.) |
III a. | ba-zazheth it sets on fire | ba-zazhethu they set on fire |
III e. | ba-zazhek it sets on fire | ba-zazheku they set on fire |
III f. | ba-zazhez he/it sets on fire | ba-zazhezu they set on fire |
III w. | ba-zazhel she/it sets on fire | ba-zazhelu they set on fire |
b’dhifa to think
Singular | Plural | |
I | ba-dhifam I think | ba-dhifamu we think |
II | ba-dhifap you think | ba-dhifapu you think |
III a. | ba-dhifath it thinks | ba-dhifathu they think |
III e. | ba-dhifak it thinks | ba-dhifaku they think |
III f. | ba-dhifaz he/it thinks | ba-dhifazu they think |
III w. | ba-dhifal she/it thinks | ba-dhifalu they 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
Singular | Plural | |
I | aba-dhifam I am thinking | aba-dhifamu we are thinking |
II | aba-dhifap you are thinking | aba-dhifapu you are thinking |
III a. | aba-dhifath it is thinking | aba-dhifathu they are thinking |
III e. | aba-dhifak it is thinking | aba-dhifaku they are thinking |
III f. | aba-dhifaz he/it is thinking | aba-dhifazu they are thinking |
III w. | aba-dhifal she/it is thinking | aba-dhifalu they are thinking |
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
Singular | Plural | |
I | be-dhifam I will think | be-dhifamu we will think |
II | be-dhifap you will think | be-dhifapu you will think |
III a. | be-dhifath it will think | be-dhifathu they will think |
III e. | be-dhifak it will think | be-dhifaku they will think |
III f. | be-dhifaz he/it will think | be-dhifazu they will think |
III w. | be-dhifal she/it will think | be-dhifalu they will 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
Singular | Plural | |
I | ebe-dhifam I will be thinking | ebe-dhifamu we will be thinking |
II | ebe-dhifap you will be thinking | ebe-dhifapu you will be thinking |
III a. | ebe-dhifath it will be thinking | ebe-dhifathu they will be thinking |
III e. | ebe-dhifak it will be thinking | ebe-dhifaku they will be thinking |
III f. | ebe-dhifaz he/it will be thinking | ebe-dhifazu they will be thinking |
III w. | ebe-dhifal she/it will be thinking | ebe-dhifalu they will be thinking |
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
Singular | Plural | |
I | bo-dhifam I thought | bo-dhifamu we thought |
II | bo-dhifap you thought | bo-dhifapu you thought |
III a. | bo-dhifath it thought | bo-dhifathu they thought |
III e. | bo-dhifak it thought | bo-dhifaku they thought |
III f. | bo-dhifaz he/it thought | bo-dhifazu they thought |
III w. | bo-dhifal she/it thought | bo-dhifalu they thought |
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
Singular | Plural | |
I | obo-dhifam I was thinking | obo-dhifamu we were thinking |
II | obo-dhifap you were thinking | obo-dhifapu you were thinking |
III a. | obo-dhifath it was thinking | obo-dhifathu they were thinking |
III e. | obo-dhifak it was thinking | obo-dhifaku they were thinking |
III f. | obo-dhifaz he/it was thinking | obo-dhifazu they were thinking |
III w. | obo-dhifal she/it was thinking | obo-dhifalu they were thinking |
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
Singular | Plural | |
I | bobo-dhifam I have thought | bobo-dhifamu we have thought |
II | bobo-dhifap you have thought | bobo-dhifapu you have thought |
III a. | bobo-dhifath it has thought | bobo-dhifathu they have thought |
III e. | bobo-dhifak it has thought | bobo-dhifaku they have thought |
III f. | bobo-dhifaz he/it has thought | bobo-dhifazu they have thought |
III w. | bobo-dhifal she/it has thought | bobo-dhifalu they have thought |
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
Locational | Directional To | Directional From | |||
ur | at | ul | to | um | from |
er | in | el | into | em | out of |
or | on | ol | onto | om | off of |
ir | by/alongside | il | to alongside | im | from alongside |
nur | under/beneath | nul | to under | num | from under |
mer | between | mel | to inbetween | mem | from between |
ar | agains | al | (to) against | am | from against |
war | behind | wal | to behind | wam | from behind |
lar | before/in front | lal | to the front | lam | from before |
merer | throughout | merel | through | merem | from among |
Temporal
o | by (instrument) |
i | with (accompaniment) |
la | before |
wa | after |
merel | through(out) |
he | of |
Vocabulary
Entry | Gender | Meaning | Notes |
kadam | e | earth | |
kadmawe(hu) | e | person (people) | -awe, suff. = “-ite”, “-ling”, “of” |
geto | e | thing | |
tung | e | way, path | |
alir | w | water | |
ethra | a | air | |
efath | a | truth | |
thava | a | word | b’thava = “to speak” |
zazh | f | fire | |
djasu | f | male/man | |
noten | e | day | |
dhifa | a | thought | |
dang | e | work | |
dum | e | place | |
kedoten | e | year | |
hav | a | number | |
avath | a | name | |
genot | e | home | |
kid | e | line | |
hadh | a | sound | |
ganad | e | house | |
akkadam | e | world | |
dhifa-gnad | e | school | lit, ‘though-house’ |
eth | a | sky | |
ethila | a | blue | lit. ‘sky-color’ |
dhufah | a | storm | |
kogod | e | business, dealings | |
tega | e | run, course | b’tega = “to run” |
kodang | e | making, creation | b’kodang = “to make” |
shadja | f | sun | |
thuva | a | language | |
dju | f | son | |
lir | w | daughter | |
azh | f | father | |
illa | w | mother | |
kag | e | stone | |
wal | l | blood |
References and Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Some believe that meha may be a vestige of an earlier dual form “we two”.