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Ring A: 13/18: Thalassan
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Rob Haden
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San hausthasni, parthar kainatun kharjaqi vakas. Ak'arai aimasnisjas
phanthasni kharjas hantha sacava mihka tampusphar phausas manasqin.
Au pas vailava cavanqi tarsjuskava t'arun karpas. Ravi vicus!
Tarsjathu kint'umasniqin parthar sjat'a apa manas, au sjas pitusun
nikhamai pharjas. Maira tihva ravijai phaukha at'utun t'ahas. Pas
aujaman vit'ava kharjai ajas. Au cunthu ravi nai talthu! Sju kuskuva
thaljatun karpas parthar amunmapharsjan. Sami vasumpiqi pantumaphar
ravit'a thaljatun hupas. Pasampi kharjaisjas nisava parthar khusun
ajas. Au t'ajus haljatphar tarsjus vailava raviqi.
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One morning, a deliveryman was delivering news with a wagon. On the
way to the marketplace, he set his wagon down in the road to stop and
wait for a little while. But then he became bothered by a wailing
animal. A panther appeared! Upset and in danger, the deliveryman
stayed away from the panther, but tried to earn its trust. He acted
playfully and gave the panther a little food. Then, seeing an
opening, he headed for the wagon. But the damn panther was not
satisfied! It was starting to rain, so the deliveryman grabbed some
branches to keep it away from him. He also used the branches to best
protect himself from the panther. Finally, he returned to his wagon
and went home. But for the rest of the day, he was bothered by the
wailing panther.
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Thalassan is a highly agglutinating, nominative-accusative language.
As you can see, it has a large variety of case-endings and other
suffixes (absolutely no prefixes). Although its word-order is often
SOV, the case-endings are really what determine nouns' grammatical
roles. If a word needs to be emphasized, it is placed closer to the
beginning of the sentence than it otherwise would be. Nouns inflect
for case, number (singular and plural), and can have an enclitic
possessive suffix or linking conjunction (e.g. 'and'). While verbs do
inflect for tense/aspect, mood, voice, subject, and object, the first
two do not need to be considered in this text. As for the other
categories, the same subject ending is used for all verbs in the text
(third-person singular -s). A transitive verb can be changed into an
intransitive verb by adding the reflexive/medio-passive ending -u.
Finite verbs, deverbal nouns, and participles can all take an enclitic
object suffix (the only one he re is again the third-person singular,
-sjan: note that this *always* refers to something else, not back to
the subject). Also, it is important to note that Thalassan typically
contains only one finite verb per sentence. In connected sequences of
verbs, all but the last are marked in participial form. Simultaneity
is marked in verbs with a linking conjunction. Modifiers always
immediately precede their heads. Adjectives also function as adverbs
without changing form. However, adjectives do not agree with nouns in
case or number.
Phonology
Thalassan is a very phonologically regular language. However, due to
its rather restrictive phonotactics, some words undergo changes based
on what inflections they have attached to them. The assimilation
rules are as follows:
- A coda nasal assimilates to the articulation of a following stop. Example: kint'um-qi > kint'unqi.
- A non-ejective coda velar (/k/ or /kh/) becomes /h/. Example: tik-va > tihva.
- The vowel /i/ gains an off-glide /j/ when followed by another vowel (including another /i/). Example: ravi-ai > ravijai.
- The vowel /u/ gains an off-glide /v/ when followed by another vowel (including another /u/). Example: t'aru-ai > t'aruvai (not in text).
- There can be no more than two members in a consonant cluster. This includes /i/ and /u/ when in diphthongs.
- No consonant clusters can exist in word-initial or word-final position.
- A non-initial /a/ will be lost if phonotactics permit. Examples: cavan-un > caunun, but cavan-qi > cavanqi (*caunqi is illegal).
- Only dental and alveolar consonants can exist in word-final position.
- Stress is always word-initial (just in case you want to try pronouncing it! :p).
Nouns
| san, sam- |
one |
| hausat, haus(a)th- |
dawn, daybreak, morning |
| parthar, parthar- |
carrier |
| kharja, kharja- |
wagon |
| kainat, kainat- |
news |
| ak'ar, ak'ar- |
market(place) |
| phantha, phantha- |
road, path |
| hantha, hantha- |
front, face |
| mihka, mihka- |
small, short |
| tampus, tampus- |
time |
| cavan, caun-/cavan- |
animal |
| t'aru |
stick, pole |
| ravi |
panther |
| kint'un, kint'um- |
danger |
| pitus, pitus- |
trust |
| at'ut, at'ut- |
food |
| sju, sju(v)- |
rain |
| thalja, thalja- |
branch |
| khus, khus- |
house, home |
| t'aju, t'aiv-/t'aju- |
day |
| halja, halja- |
other (part) |
Adjectives:
| maira |
playful |
| phaukha |
a little (i.e. quantity) |
| vasu |
good |
Verbs
Listed as first-person singular present active indicative; i. = intransitive, t. = transitive.
| vakan |
t. to bring |
| ajan |
i. to go (see note below) |
| sacan |
t. to seat (something) |
| phausan |
i. to stop |
| manan |
i. to wait, to stay |
| vailan |
i. to wail, to whine, to cry |
| tarsjan |
t. to bother |
| karpan |
t. to grab, to seize |
| vican |
t. to show |
| nikhan |
t. to win |
| pharjan |
i. to try |
| tikan |
t. to do, to act, perform |
| t'ahan |
t. to give |
| aujan |
t. to open |
| vit'an |
t. to see |
| cunan |
t. to curse |
| talan |
t. to satisfy, to fulfill |
| kuvan |
t. to pour (out) |
| amunan |
t. to keep away |
| pantan |
t. to protect |
| hupan |
t. to use |
| nisan |
i. to return |
Conjunctions, Particles, and Pronouns
| au |
conj. |
but, however |
| pas |
part. |
then (also think 'later', 'afterwards' in a sequence) |
| sja |
pron. |
(s)he/it |
| apa |
post. |
away, off |
| nai |
part. |
no(t) |
Morphemes
| -sni |
locative |
| -t |
plural |
| -(u)n |
accusative |
| -qi |
instrumental |
| -s |
third-person singular subject |
| -ai |
dative |
| -ma |
gerund/deverbal noun |
| -sjas |
third-person singular possessive (enclitic) |
| -s |
genitive |
| -va |
active participle |
| -phar |
prolative (i.e. 'through', 'for'; for deverbal nouns, equivalent to 'in order to [verb]') |
| -qin |
and (enclitic) |
| -u |
verbal reflexive/medio-passive voice (i.e. '[verbs] oneself'/'is [verbed]') |
| -ska |
verbal ingressive/inchoative (i.e. 'start(s)/come(s) to [verb]') |
| -thu |
passive participle |
| -t'a |
ablative |
| -sjan |
third-person singular object (enclitic) |
| -i |
locative |
| -(V)mpi |
superlative (i.e. 'most X') |
