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| Syaqin aren: A Beginner's Guide |
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Syaqin aren, or 'the beautiful speech' (no nation is without its moments of arrogance), is the official language of Erinor. Whilst the Serevan language has also been granted official status, Erinor is a long way off giving either the language or the people an equal platform. As a consequence, it is Syaqin aren which you are the most likely to encounter during any diplomatic dealings with Erinor or even whilst holidaying there unless you enter the Autonomous Region of Sereva.
Therefore, to help you make the most of your dealings with Erinor, the Erinoran Courts of Foreign and Domestic Affairs, with the help of the Court of Education, have produced the following primer on the language. Whilst every effort will be made to accommodate foreign dignitaries and visitors, we nonetheless hope you find this a helpful resource. Vowels Syaqin aren has five vowels, each with long and short pronunciations. Whether or not a vowel is long or short will depend on whether it is part of a stressed syllable or not. The vowels are pronounced as follows: Long A - like the a in 'fat'. Short A - like the a in 'father'. Long E - like the ay in 'day'. Short E - like the e in 'debt'. Long I - like the ee in 'feet'. Short I - like the i in 'fit'. Long O - like the oa in 'coat'. Short O - like the o in 'cot'. Long U - like the oo in 'pool'. Short U - like the u in 'pull'. Consonants The consonants of Syaqin aren are largely pronounced the same as in English, with a few exceptions worth noting. C is always pronounced like the c in 'card' and never like the c in 'cellar'. Q does not need a U like it would in English. It is always pronounced like the combination CW (like in 'queen'), never CY (like in 'queue'). J is pronounced like the j in the French 'je', or the s in 'measure', never like the j in 'juice'. KH is pronounced like the ch in the Scottish 'loch' or the German 'Ich': an unvoiced guttural sound at the back of the throat. Y never behaves like a vowel, so in combinations like SY, TY and KHY the consonant before is palatalised, meaning that you sort of roll your tongue off the hard palate of your mouth as you say it, creating a Y sound right after the first consonant. You should not pronounce SY anything like 'suh-yuh'. NW is also pronounced altogether with no gap. This is called labialisation as you pronounce the initial consonant with a slight closing of the lips afterwards to add the W sound. The same is true of the Rs and Ls which occasionally appear in the combinations JR, HR and HL. There is no gap between these sounds. Rs are very slightly rolled, like in french. Stress pattern The penultimate syllable of a word is usually stressed. E.g. Revara (The Dream) is stressed [re-‘var-a] However, the following extra rules apply: Vowels which are not immediately followed by a consonant are considered to be short vowels and are not stressed, so the preceding syllable must be stressed instead. E.g. verbs such as rivaduin (he/she/it brought) are stressed as follows [ri-‘vad-u-in] not [ri-vad-‘u-in]. - The vowel e is almost never considered a short vowel. E.g. Erinea (the world) is stressed [e-ri-‘ne-a]. - E is however considered a short vowel when it forms part of a third person plural ending in a verb. E.g. otein (they see) is stressed [‘o-te-in] no [o-'te-in]. Sometimes a dieresis is placed above the E to indicate that it is a long vowel and should be stressed, as follows: Ë. (OOC - You'll see a lot of that in the vocabulary below because I used to use the dieresis all the time [it looked cooler], but it's darned awkward to reproduce on a message board) Counting in Syaqin aren is very easy. 0= nu 1= ura 2= asa 3= te 4= vis 5= fir 6= jran 7= syus 8= ima 9= edar 10= ura’yis 11= ura’yis’ir’ura 20= asa’yis 21= asa’yis’ir’ura 100= ura’yer 1,000= ura’yat 10,000= ura’yis’yat 1,000,000= ura’yun E.g. 9,876,543 = edar’yun, ima’yer ir syus’yis’ir’jran, fir’yer ir vis’yis’ir’te. 'ir' means 'and'. For orrdinate numbers, i.e. first, second third etc. you merely have to add the ending –si E.g. 237th = asa’yer ir te’yis’ir’syus’si. Nouns are always capitalised and, as there are no articles in Syaqin aren any noun can mean a(some) [noun](s) or the [noun](s). Nouns change their endings depending on the case, or the manner in which they are being used. Nominative is the case used when a noun is the subject of a sentence and is the default form in which a noun is listed. Most nouns have only one gender, however, some can change gender depending on who they refer to. Most Erinoran names are made from nominative case nouns with their gender endings changed to that of the person they have been given to. Single endings:
Plural endings:
Syaqin aren has a complete set of pronouns. Here they are listed in the masculine nominative: Personal: Hypothetical - Udin I – Myono You - Lyero He (she/it) – Tyeno We – Myonar You – Lyerar They – Tyenar Adjective: Which- Cyuo This- Duo That- Hluo Some- Quo No- Khuo Every- Tyuo Person: Who- Cyero This- Dero That- Hlero Someone- Qero No one- Khero Everyone- Tyero Thing: What- Cyiso This- Diso That- Hliso Something- Qiso Nothing- Khiso Everything- Tyiso Place: Where- Cyano There – Dano Here – Hlano Somewhere- Qano Nowhere- Khano Everywhere- Tyano Time: When- Cyavico Now- Davico Then- Hlavico Sometime- Qavico Never- Khavico Always- Tyavico Way: How- Cyosco Thus- Dosco In that way- Hlosco Somehow- Qosco No way- Khosco In every way- Tyosco Reason: Why- Cyumikho For this reason- Dumikho For that reason- Hlumikho For some reason- Qumikho For no reason- Khumikho For every reason- Tyumikho (OOC - You'll notice a theme in the existing vocabulary. Please bear in mind that this language was originally created for a fantasy setting. I'll add new vocabulary as they are created for each situation.) Nouns listed in the singular nominative form. Where a noun ends with a '-', it is one where the gender can change according to need (although most nouns are flexible in this manner, if desired (e.g. Sityara, 'Angel', when used to denote a government minister, is changed to match the gender of that minister). Please note, a complete, searchable lexicon is available in the final part of this course. Account (tale) - Hremin Angel (native term for an angelic power) - Sityara Angel (borrowed) - Serafo Age (Era) – Khera Ash - Nyava Ball – Vullin Beauty - Ara Beginning – Avana Bird - Jino Book - Decsin Boy – Turco Builder – Cujer- Butterfly - Yamera Carrier - Jrunir- City - Cata Chapter – Jusin Child - Fëoldin Cloud - Khumo Court - Hrasyin Creation – Tacirin Creator- Tacin- Crystal - Sicara Darkness - Sacrin Day - Mado Defence - Ratyarin Defender - Ratyano Demon – Cadin Destruction- Drekhin Destroyer- Drekhar- Dragon - Syarkha Dream – Revara Dreamer – Revan- Evening – Rava Faith - Adarin Fish (decorative) - Ralya Form - Dursin Freedom - Syatya Friend - Röalwin End (finish) – Sempin Evil - Cuvin Girl – Sursa God – Elyin Gold - Varsa Government - Parlid Harvester - Cyerwar- Heaven - Syirana Hero – Durro Home - Macerin Hope - Erinëa House - Khasa Inspiration - Vica Journey - Jera Keeper - Syemaro King – Aruto Kingdom – Arutyarca Knowledge - Yanin Language – Syaqin Light - Sirëa Man – Tacyo Messenger - Tyanir- Month – Permin Moon - Lamin Morning – Tyavo Mother - Fanya Mountain – Khardo Muse - Vicar- Night - Cafa October – Permin ura’yis’si Person – Massin Place - Vallano Priest – Amlasso Progress - Tavala Prophecy – Syonuyanin Prophet – Syonuyanor- Queen - Edëa Reign - Recso Reward – Fisin Revolution - Khirecso Righteousness - Hyudin Robot – Rovado Sand – Fasyin Sculpt - Yukhar- Scythe - Khriana Slave - Onesyin Secret - Uhra Space – Inin Speaker – Syaqir- Spirit – Syona Steadfast one - Remir- Stone - Terakho Sun - Hin Sword - Anturin Temple - Mena Terror Bird - Arkhanda Thing - Jukhin Time – Terkho Tongue - Persin Tree – Arta Truth - Vrassa War – Marco Warrior - Marcoro Water – Qasso Wind – Hruhin Winter - Qenarin Wolf - Yeno Wood (fabric) - Artin (no plural) Woman – Sura Writer – Nwaun- Writing (written work/handwriting) - Nwauro Year - Henin As you may have guessed by now, Syaqin aren is a highly inflected language, meaning that it uses lots of different word endings to alter the meaning of any given word. This is as true with verbs as it was with nouns. Here is a list of verb endings for each tense: Present (e.g. I do):
Present Progressive (e.g. I am doing):
Perfect Past (e.g. I did):
Imperfect Past (e.g. I was doing):
Perfect Future (e.g. I will do):
Imperfect Future (e.g. I will be doing):
The following additional endings also exist: Infinitive (to do)– stem-ëu Imperative (do!)– stem-adëu Present participle (doing)– stem-adi Prefixes can be added to verb to make further changes to tense and mood. They are as follows: Negative (not to do/do/doing etc.)– khi-stem-ending Subjunctives (suggest future [or past with pluperfect] but use present tense): (would)- da-stem-ending (should)- de-stem-ending Conditional (could)- du-stem-ending Pluperfect forms (had/have/will have done/been doing etc.) - ro-stem-ending Passive forms (is/was/will be done to etc)- su-stem ending All these prefixes are applied in the order listed above e.g. I don’t kill: khimorcu I shouldn’t kill: khidemorcu I shouldn’t have killed: khideromorcadu (for the purpose of the pluperfect the tense has to be changed here) I shouldn’t have been killed: khiderosumorcadu Auxilliary verbs can also be used, such as may in English 'You may go'. In Syaqin aren the auxilliary verb goes immediately before the verb it supports, e.g. I may go - myevu valu (lit. I may I go). Deriving nouns from verbs: To get the noun which would mean 'the doing of the verb' simply take the verb’s stem and add a noun ending. E.g. syaqeu – to speak -> Syaqin – the speaking (language/speech) To get the concept of the doer the derivation is less regular. It is achieved, usually by taking the verb stem and adding a vowel + r and a noun ending (ending depends on gender of doer). E.g. Syaqiro/a/in – the speaker; revareu – to dream – Revara – the dream – Revano/a/in. Note that in the case of Revara/Revana since the root of Revara already is a vowel + r the r is changed to n and no additional ending is then required save the noun ending. Compounding Nouns and verbs: Nouns and Verbs can be compounded together, or with each other. The form is to take the stem of the first part and an ‘-u’ before joining to the second part. E.g. Syona (Spirit) + Yaneu (to know) = Syonuyaneu (to prophesy) If more parts are combined then each stem before the end adds either a ‘-u’ or an ‘-e’, alternating, until the end’. E.g. Syerin (Poison) + Cafa (Night) + Lila (Flower) = Syerucafelila (Belladonna) Please note, a complete, searchable lexicon is available in the final part of this course. The following verbs are all listed in stem form. To abandon – jecs- To allow – myev- To awake – catav- To avenge – haml- To be – s- To be able – fevos- To beg – fuper- To begin – av- To bring – riv- To build – cuj- To carry – jrun- To come – hras- To create – tacir- To darken - sacr- To defend - ratyar- To destroy – drekh- To dream – revar- To eat – map- To end – ruc- To enjoy – maj- To find – qid- To fight – khur- To flourish – resuv- To flow – qef- To free - syaty- To go – val- To govern - parl- To greet - vus- To harvest – cyerw- To have – v- To hover – asav- To inspire - vic- To journey - jer- To keep - syem- To kick – cat- To kill – morc- To know (general)- yan To know (spiritual, or prophetic)- syonuyan To live – viol- To lose – khan- To love – arl- To name – hyat- To progress (to go on) – taval- To protect – nam- To read – fer- To revere – fasal- To rise – uvir- To rule – recs- To sculpt - yukh- To send a message - tyan- To speak – syaq- To see – ot- To separate – sakh- To stay (be steadfast) rem- To take – danakh- To trade - sirkh- To wage war - marc- To write – nwaur- Adjectives use adjectival endings to agree with the noun they modify. Singular:
Plural:
Adjectives can be further modified as follows: Comparative (-er) - tyu- before both adjective and any noun the comparative is set against. E.g. Tyulyeras tyuarëa su. – I am more beautiful than you. Superlative (-est) - va-stem-ending E.g. Durro vatunëo. – The greatest hero. To create the opposite (like English un-) add the negative prefix - khi- E.g. Anturin khiëvesen suin. – The sword was ungood (bad, was not good). Since the opposite adjective will often already exist this is mainly used for emphasis. Adverbs (which modify verbs rather than nouns) are created by the use of a prefix before the related adjective - ji-stem-ending (or j-stem-ending if the adjective being modified begins with a vowel). E.g. Jitunëo khuraduin. – He fought mightily. Edëa jiqendëa cuvëa saluin. – The queen was terribly evil. Note the adverb always comes immediately before its verb or adjective. Modifiers added to adjectives and adverbs: The idea of “very” is given by the prefix le- The idea of “too” is given by the prefix lu- Finally, nouns and adjectives are sometimes able to change category. E.g. vars- -gold adj. -> Varsa – gold n. To make a noun out of an adjective it only requires the right gender ending. Nouns can in turn be turned into adjectives for use in description, or naming. E.g. Khardo arutëo – the king mountain (from Aruto – the king) Please note, a complete, searchable lexicon is available in the final part of this course. The following adjectives are all listed in stem form. Beautiful – ar- Black – nwikh- Brown – urw- Cold – vorn- Evil – cuv- Dark – sacr- Domestic - macer- Empty – nakh- Faithful - adar- Foreign - evend- Formless – durskh- Free – savired- Gold – vars- Good – eves- Important – elyar- Many – mar- Mighty – tun- New - pul- Old - vany- Righteous - hyud- Steadfast – rem- Strange – anq- Strong – verr- Terrible – qend- True - vrass- Warm - arun- White – cir- Prepositions: In, to and from are all inflected into the noun. Other prepositions, however, have single words which can then be related to a noun with the prepositional case. On- ta Into- vun Beside- jo Opposite- seva Under- khyir Over- khyur With- anu Conjunctions: And- ir Or- ur And/or- uir Miscellaneous words, phrases and idioms: Yes- Atyë No – Khinë (putting either of these at the very end of a sentence produces a yes/no question where u are expecting either a positive or negative answer, question words also go to the end of the sentence). So – fë Ago – purisë That/Which (as in a 'that' clause) - erius Sentence Structure: Basic structure is SOV (subject object verb): Verbs go to the end of the clause. Accusative follow Nominatives. Prepositions precede Nouns. Adjectives follow their Nouns. Adverbs precede their verbs. Greetings: Lejarunem vusein! Short for Lyerim lejarunem vusein! Meaning ‘We greet you (all) very warmly!’ This format can be used for all combinations of speaker and listener, by changing the necessary endings. E.g. Lejarunea vusu! ‘I greet you (fem.) very warmly!’ Equally common is to simply say ‘I greet you’, Lyero vusu! altering the endings as needed. Very informally Alyero or even Alye can be used. These originate from the shout "A! Lyero!" (literally "Oy! You!") which was commonly made to get the attention of river bargemen on the Qassar Syiranad. It is rarely ammended for gender, unless someone is trying to make a point. Khardar Lyeral Khumardo Khavico myevadeu susacrein. Literally ‘May (or let) your mountains (the mountains of you) never be darkened by clouds’. This is commonly a follow on greeting and is considered a polite thing to say, although it is also often said with warmth between friends. Introducing Yourself: This is easy. The form is simply to say 'My name is ....', e.g. Hyata Myonad Sireas suin - My name is Sirea. (Note that the name has changed case as it is the object of the sentence - a foreign name could be accepted as not changing case, although an Erinoran would make it do so, e.g. Hyata Lyerod Maiculos suin - Your name is Maiculo (Michael)). Less formally one can use 'I am named', e.g. Sireas suhyatu. Where a role or title must be given, 'I am' is acceptable, e.g. Sityaras Jukhirs Evedem su - I am the Angel of Foreign Affairs. Days of the Week: Sunday - Mado Hid - Day of the Sun Monday - Mado Lamid - Day of the Moon Tuesday - Mado Jerad - Day of Jera/The Journey Wednesday - Mado Tyanirod - Day of Tyaniro/The Messenger Thursday - Mado Vicarad - Day of Vicara/The Muse Friday - Mado Ratyanod - Day of Ratyano/The Defender Saturday - Mado Syatyad- Day of Syatya/Freedom Continents Western Continent - Khardunaja - ‘Mountain expanse’ South-Western Continent - Khravrin - from the Resentinian ‘Khrabryy Rodina’ North-Eastern Continent - Veltema - from the Sedunnic ‘Beilltemm’ South-Eastern Continent - Cawunaja - ‘Dry expanse’ Southern Continent - Teraqassunaja - ‘Ice expanse’ Government Terminology: The leader of the Republic is known as the First - Ura’si, with a gendered ending, e.g. Ura’sia Yamera-Hyudo. The deputy leader of the Republic is known as the Second - Asa’si, with a gendered ending, as above. The cabinet is known as the Angels of Erinor, Sityarim Erinead. (Note the change in gender to reflect the group). Each Angel governs a Court: Hrasyin. This is what might be referred to in English as a Ministry. E.g. Hrasyin Jukhirs Macerem, the Court of Domestic Affairs. Parliament (Mena Parlid - Temple of Government): Khasa Marcoral Arutyarcad (House of the Warriors of the Kingdom) - Upper House Khasa Massirs (House of the People) - Lower House Political parties: Roalwim Tavalad (Friends of Progress) Syemarar Arutyarcad (Keepers of the Kingdom) Massa e Sereva (‘People of Sereva’ in Serevan) Erinoran names always mean something. They are derived from the roots of nouns and can be modified fit to any gender, although some names are more common in one gender than another and vice-versa. For the majority of Erinorans their names take the form [Given Name] [Mother’s Name]-[Father’s Name], e.g. the current Ura’sia has the given name Yena (from Yeno, wolf), whilst her parental name is derived from her mother’s name, Yamera (butterfly), and her father’s name Hyudo (from Hyudin, righteousness). For those descended from the aristocracy a different format of name is common. Here the name consists of a noun adapted to the gender of the person and an adjective applied to that noun, in gender agreement. E.g. the last king of Erinor was named Durro (hero) adareo (faithful). The first part of this name serves like a family name and all boys in the royal line of that dynasty were named Durro (and thus it remains a common boy's name), but the adjective can change from person to person. In the case of the Durro dynasty it rarely did, hence, the last king being Durro adareo XIII. Often the sons after the firstborn were just given numbered names, like Durro adareo XIII’s brother, Durro asa’si (second). In the event of the first born dying, the heir would either take their predecessor’s adjective or choose another of their own. Occasionally names fall outside of these patterns. Erinor’s most famous king chose the name Syarkho (from Syarkha, dragon) Qenarid (meaning, ‘of winter’) because of his successful involvement in a military campaign in the frigid south of the continent before he returned to claim the throne. Others, mostly nobles, have emulated this style in naming their children ever since, although it is not common. Another slightly more common deviation is naming children after numbers. Tesa, a girl’s name comes from Te’si, ‘third’, whilst Feoldo asa’si means second son. A complete, searchable and sortable lexicon can be viewed here.
(This post was last modified: 06-19-2017, 05:43 PM by Seraph.)
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