Vreleksá

achemel · Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 556 Location: up for debate

I thought I'd put this one up because I put out a translation of the Jungle Book's "Trust in Me" lyrics on another thread... I can't remember which one, though, sorry. Confused

Anyway, this language is called Tadváradcel. <tadva:rakel

Let's start with letters and sounds.

a o e w i y u f sth s ss th gh rh n m d v b dv g c t r l h
<a o e ɯ i ɪ u f sθ s ʃ θ x r̥ n m d v b dv g k/q t r l h
á é í ó ú ý ẃ
<a: e: i: o: u: ɪ: ɯ:
à è ì ò ù ỳ ẁ
<ɔ ɛ ə ɤ ʌ ʌ: - it is possible also for /à ò/ to be pronounced extra short
ä ë ï ö ü ÿ ẅ
<æ: ɪ ə œ: ø ʏ ʊ- in some areas the rounding is unobserved, and the vowels are simply lengthened

[r] often is silent preceding [n d l], and [d] in most areas will delete before [k/q sθ t], though such occurrences are rare enough to hardly matter. These deletions occur only within a word, perhaps a compound word, and will not cross those boundaries. Word-finally /c/ often takes the pronunciation of [q], though really it's up to the speaker. /rh/ is a voiceless alveolar trill.

Names of the letters – heäf (east) hoèh (quick) thàel (grass) swa (child) iof (arrow) lýra (dream) un (back) fei (dark) sthö (path) ius (hand) crwss (breath) thmë (feeling) ghrirh (nation) srhwn (spirit) nysse (man) amäm (skill) wrd (old) sëv (eye) eslïeb (god) fidvyr (moment) glath (gray) clá (Gift) tyss (time) srasth (cough) lodhs (beginning) hirc (belly)
The acute accent is the snake mark “hárh,” the grave is the moon mark “chwgh,” and the umlaut (which can be transcribed as a circumflex if you prefer) is the river mark “ssärh.”

This language is spoken by a reclusive people, supposedly sounding like the wind in the grass and trees. Most other members of the race think that the Tadvárad are sinister and evil and refuse to associate them, and often are shocked to hear the language spoken by non-Tadvárad, or rather at all.

Grammar is pretty much like English, with maybe a hint of Spanish, so if you know either you’ve got a head start.
Basically, adjectives go before nouns. There is no gender for anything, except for the pronouns “he” and “she,” and that gender is just implied by definition of what “he” and “she” mean. Verbs come in three spices, and pronouns usually follow the verb rather than go before it.

So, pronouns:
You (sing.) – ä
You (pl.) – ä-h
We – esruc
He – ada
I – es
I (more formal) – wth
She – usu
They – sóen
It – còh – this is also the demonstrative pronoun “that,” not to be confused with the…preposition “that” (manth)? (I’m actually not sure what part of speech that would be.)

There is a genitive form for most of these as well:
Yours – änf – this accounts for both singular and plural
His – crád
Her(s) – col
My – ýss – this accounts for both formal and less so
Our – èrsl

There is no special word for “their” or “its” and “of them/it” is used instead. – dé sóen, dé còh

There are a couple words with a couple meanings, and often fall in with these pronouns (and normal nouns too).
To: bïe – this is used to mark the accusative; see below for another “to”

To: sdväec – this implies direction of movement, as in “toward” – “go to a friend’s house” would employ this “to” rather than “bïe” - fsath sdväec cfùrss dé semsruë.

For: bïe – does not apply to adjectives (e.g. “for good” - this in Tadváradcel would be "all-ever" - tháy esvá, and "for (a) good (thing)" would be "with a good thought" - gly amräth flygä)

In/at/on: mýs – this is a locative marker, and doesn’t differentiate between where something takes place and if something goes on in a particular part of that space – for example, ssírhyn mýs hyf mýs hsösth <write-SHAD LOC paper LOC box could mean “wrote on paper in a box” or “wrote on paper on a box” or even “wrote in paper on a box,” though that would mean more that the writer was encased in paper while writing on the surface of a box rather than writing with paper.

From: sslý – this is an ablative marker, relating a starting point of an action; it shouldn’t be confused with instances where “of” would be used in English, see below

Of: dé – this shows possession (the boy’s dream – lýra dé fwlth) and also relation (the moon of fate!! – chwgh dé scléi – this actually could be translated rather poetically as “the fateful moon” but there is a more succinct way of saying that). In cases where English-speakers might use “of” (e.g. that wasn’t very good of you) a Tadváradcel user would say “from” – còh ssä hysryn amräth thmaïl sslý ä <that-DEM-PRON not be-SHAD good thing from you

If: no – this works with itself to present “if…then” situations, and can be used to trail off at the end of the phrase to leave the listener in speculation. “If she comes then…(it’ll be awkward)” – no huèssl usu no…

With: gly – this is indeed the preposition “with," and also applies to adverbs – adverbs can be formed either by preceding an adjective (perhaps “slow”) with the preposition, in effect nounalizing the adjective and giving the preposition the meaning of “in a manner of…”
Thus, “slowly” – gly sslód – means something like “in the manner of slowness.” This can be abbreviated by suffixing the /y/ of “with” to the end of the word – sslód-y. Usually in writing this is hyphenated, but it doesn’t have to be if you’re a lazy writer like me.

Verbs need to be the next subject because, besides pronunciation, they are the most complex part (though even that’s not especially complex…)
There are three kinds of verbs, kind of like in Spanish –verbs ending –is, -es, and –as. With the exception of one verb, “to be,” verb conjugation is regular. A sense of the now (present tense) drops the –is/-es/-as ending of the verb, and the other tenses work through replacement of the ending.

The tense name following are the Tadváradcel names with a possibly more clarifying term in parentheses.

Examples! Note, the capital letters in parentheses are my notation for the tenses...
-es
dhesses – to run – standing (infinitive) tense (STAND)
dhess – run(s), (does) run – floating (present) tense (FLOAT)
dhessreth – running, (is) running – flowing tense (FLOW)
dhessëth – will run; will (be) run(ning) – long (future) tense (LONG)
dhessyn – ran, (did) run – shadow (past) tense (SHAD)
hysryn dhessreth – was running – wake (past continuative) tense (WAKE)
dhessë – would run, might run, may run – contemplative tense (CONT)– this can also mean “could…” but more often than not that is expressed through the contemplative of “can” (lyrfïas) followed by an infinitive.

A similar pattern follows for –is verbs, but the vowels are a bit different.
-is
fsathis – to go
fsath – goes
fsathuth – going
fsathith – will go
fsathyn – went
hysryn fsathuth – was going
fsathü – will go

And finally, -as verbs. These are a little odd, because [a] is a low vowel and undergoes some raising to better match up with the –is/-es verb patterns.
-as
cidvas – to shut up/be quiet; to close down
cidv – shuts up; closes down
cidvath – shutting up; closing down
cidvöth – will shut up; will close down
cidvwn – did shut up/shut up; did close down/closed down
hysryn cidvath – was shutting up; was closing down
cidvÿ(a) – would shut up; would close down – the [a] in parentheses sometimes shows up as an easier transition to the next word, depending on what follows.

As a note, often transitive verbs are in the –is/-es class and intransitive verbs are in the –as class, but this doesn’t always apply. Of course, not all verbs have a transitive and intransitive form anyway. One example, though, could be “to solidify (trans.), to make solid” – uäclis – versus “to solidify (int.), to become solid” – uäclas. One could also say “to cause to be solid” for the transitive and “to become solid” for the intransitive, but this generally is reserved for individuals who like to use lots of words (like me).

The verb “to be” – hysraes – is the only irregular in the language, and shows up with another meaning and a normal conjugation; “to seem/appear,” as an –es verb.
The conjugations for hysrases go thus:
hysr – is/be
hysreth – being
hysaëth – will be
hysryn – was – this is the form used in the wake tense, meaning literally “(it) was (in the state of) do(ing)…”
hysryn hysreth – was being
hoiressë – will be

This verb is used also in the sense of living somewhere, but there is a more specific verb with the meaning of inhabiting a (solid) dwelling for an extended period of time, “hnwthis.” “Hysraes” finally can be used in the sense of having an existence – I live/I exist – hysr es. It could be what Dr. Frankenstein shouted when his monster twitched: “HYSR CÒH!!”

Imperatives (IMP) are the floating (present) tense form with what would be… the accusative? if there was one, attached at the end. The literal translation of this form would be “<commander> command <to> you/him/her/them…”
Example, “close down” would take cidvas in its present tense – cidv – and the pronoun of who is being told to close down shop attached:
(you) close it down! – cidvä! <close-FLOAT-you(sing.)-IMP
(her) promise! – iàscol! – This verb is –es class, and its present tense actually is /iàsc/ - the /c/ in “col” is absorbed in this case. The manner of this kind of command is used primarily in relating incidents, such as “I heard him tell her to promise!” and that internal quotation deal is put in the perspective of the speaker – only if YOU are the commander do you suffix /ä/. This is the most common usage anyway, so thinking about suffixing anything other than /ä/ isn't particularly important.

This subjunctive is used also as the suggestion “let’s/shall we…” with an infinitive following (see the infinitive rule below). So, for example, one could say “let’s chat” using the imperative on “allow” and the verb “to talk/chat” – fyrisesruc bïe sveïlis.
This is the proper way to do it. In a more casual setting one could simply attach the pronoun to “chat” – sveïlesruc – and the meaning would be the same.
A third use for the imperative is to ask for permission, with the meaning of “please tell me to do this” or “cause me to do this.” Say, “let me keep it!” (perhaps referring to a strange moldy animal found on the doorstep) – horhses còh! Fyres bïe horhsis còh! However, if someone is holding you down and you don’t like it, you’d use instead “let me go!” as a command – fsesthä! (-as verb) – release-FLOAT-you-IMP

In quick speech the recipient of an action also can be attached to the posterior of a verb. For example, “he did it for me” could be said thus:
ghimäynes ada <do-SHAD-I he
Or it could be said properly as: ghimäyn ada bïe es/wth.
Note, /bïe/ serves as “for” and “to,” the latter in reference of direction toward a person when in conjunction with a verb (to me/him/her/them/us), and also to join a verb with another, as described below.

Some verbs are in a special class, in which a following verb needs to be not only in the infinitive, but preceded by “to” – bïe. Some of the members of this class are “to be able; to be permitted” – lyrfïas, “to allow; to let” – fyris, “to begin” – dhethas, “to must/have to” – bàherthis, and “to become” – hiëssas. In cases where an infinitive follows a non-verb (e.g. “my desire to sleep” or, “I want to sleep”) does not necessarily take “bïe” but it can go in there if you want:
Ýss myl (bïe) hnäanis – <my desire (so as)to sleep-STAND

Lyrfïöth es bïe fsathis uileh – I will be able to go tomorrow (or); I will be allowed to go tomorrow
<can-LONG I to go-STAND tomorrow

Ssä lyrfï ä bïe fyrises bïe fsathis uileh? – are you unable to let me go tomorrow?
<no can-FLOAT you to allow-STAND to go-STAND tomorrow
Here the negative “ssä” precedes the verb it negates. When preceding a vowel not /ä, a/ it becomes “ssäth,” which literally means “not.” This can be used in short casual phrases where a verb might not be present (e.g. “not my fault” – ssäth ýss ghwlss), and also functions as “rather” or “I mean…”

Ssägly fwýr…ssäth, märh gly fwýr brefth ssä dvÿflë ada – without an answer… or rather, even with an answer he probably wouldn’t understand.
<no-with answer rather even with answer UNCERTAIN no understand-CONT he

There is a case wherein the “not (ssäth)” form is used instead of “ssä,” no matter what follows, and that is the expression of the English “have/has done…” This, in Tadváradcel, is stated so:
Be-FLOAT (pronoun) that (action)-SHAD ((pronoun)) – the second use of the pronoun is optional, as it most likely will be stated with the previous verb. The literal translation is “(I) am that (I) did such-and-such.”
I have been to China – hysr es manth fsathyn (es) bïe Tssäina <be-FLOAT I that go-SHAD (I) to China
(That statement isn’t actually true about me, though…)
This is negated by placing “ssäth” before the entire sentence – ssäth hysr es manth fsathyn bïe Tssäina <not be-FLOAT I that go-SHAD to China
To put the sentence further into the past, “be” can be conjugated to the shadow tense – "I had been to China (with the implication that for some reason I had to leave and haven't been back since)" - hysryn es manth fsathyn bïe Tssäina <be-SHAD I that go-SHAD to China

As a final little note or two, there are two words for “and” – syl and ysth. The former is used specifically in lists of more than three things and falls between the first two items on that list. The other is used everywhere else, and in slang is the equivalent of, or rather used as frequently and in a similar manner as English “like.”
Like, he totally looked at me!! – ysth, sl dvosthwnesd!! (Here, both “he” and “I” are attached, in the order of obj.-subj. and “he” is contracted to just /d/.)
Ysth, in the manner of “like,” also jumps in as an exclamation or interjection rather like “agh!” or “omigawd!” or even a sound of admiration or surprise like the Japanese ヘー！

I hope you find this language interesting. I'll admit it's a bit underdeveloped, perhaps, but I made it back in 10th grade when I had less linguistic knowlege than I have now. Not to be making excuses or anything, haha. Feedback would be greatly appreciated! Surprised

achemel · Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 556 Location: up for debate

Update!

The alphabet for this language has been added to omniglot.com! Very Happy

You can see it here:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tadvaradcel.php
_________________
I have some small knowledge of:
English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, French
I would like to learn:
Italian, Norwegian, Gaelic
Main conlangs:
ddamachel, tadvaradcel, ra cel, lashel, hemnalg, nomah