Ring A: 9/20: iljena	Pete Bleackley
[ Relay 14 | Ring A | Ring B | Ring C | Conlangs | Participants ] [ iljena | Smooth English | Grammar | Vocabulary ]

iljena nsaka fraga : inkena awnis wense! eljen ispeka: abarte ebret ftana etves ebret, eqpep abarte often tlata eljen. uburutu birt ekjew bruto ahawme ksata ensed uburutu baret hawem. hops ejten ebrot teluf hput. hiwm akawge ubret. epwer birt pawra ikepato. edned birt umbari abrito ijerm eparl. ekraj birt ukrej ajarme. esneg birt tlata alajne. uhiwem ipenj iteld tahle. hwima jorem ijerm. korojo.

Smooth Translation The second part : Magic speaks. Let us sing! The language of the Leyen: The spirit recieves the spirits light for your spirit, Qpp's spirit receives the light for all Leyen. The spirit does not give the plant's spirit to him if fire's spirit does not fight him. jtn's spirit works until night darkens. He give's the lake its spirit. The wind's spirit gives the wind which blows on our heads [see translator's note]. The tree's spirit gives shade and protects them from danger. Virtue's spirit gives them virtue. Love's spirit gives to all Leyen. He guides the weak and the children, and comforts them. He makes them love each other. Virtue endures. Translator's Note: The previous version decribed the wind as "blowing on our heads and clothing". However, Leyen don't wear clothing, as it would interfere with their vibrissae.

The most important feature of iljena grammar is that each word is both a noun and a verb. The consonants of the word comprise the nominal root, while the vowels and their arrangement with respect to the consonants give the verbal sense. An iljena sentence has no subject or object - everything is a participant in the action described, and each word describes the role that one participant plays in the action. Humans learning iljena (Literally "ljn speak", ljn (normally rendered "Leyen" in English) being the self-designation of the speakers) often find it difficult to chose appropriate vowels for the participant that they regard as the object, while ljn learning human languages have difficulty with the idea of separating objects from their actions. Word order is used to convey the flow of the action between the participants, and to bring together closely related participants. As "The Essential Guide to Alien Languages" puts it, "Morphologically, iljena is essentially a Semitic language turned up to 11. Syntactically, it is essentially a slightly exaggerated version of Mandarin."

If this all seems a bit abstract, an example sentence might help:

ewtag kvis mohn
student.have raven.perch hand.hold
The student's raven perches on his hand.

Noun roots

Verb patterns (the numbers 123 represent consonant positions)