Questions about elcari

Questions or discussions about Almea or Verduria-- also the Incatena. Also good for postings in Almean languages.
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So Haleza Grise
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Questions about elcari

Post by So Haleza Grise »

I was shocked to realise the other day that the grammar of Elkarîl is over 15 years old! It still feels new somehow.

I remember reading that elcari have long relationships but not lifelong - the Count of Years also mentions that they only marry members of a different clan than themselves. So does that categorically rule out relationships with members of the same clan? Flings etc. (if that is the sort of thing that elcari go in for)?

Reviewing Elkarîl I definitely do feel like it is successful at evoking a distinct feel that is different to naturalistic human languages.It feels like something Khemthu-Nôr set out and carefully planned rather than something that could arise among humans organically, and to me that's a positive - elcari have a tidy, meticulous mindset and want to be precise. The shape-based anaphors are particularly a nice touch.

Is there anything you would do differently about Elkarîl now if you were starting from scratch? I know that we know more about elcari in different parts of Almea, I don't know if they fit into a plan for how Elkarîl looks or feels.

Something else I just noticed and I'm not sure if it's a mistake. The instructions on pluralisers say to "Insert -q if the noun ends in a vowel, but -m if it ends in -u." This makes me think that qaraju should in fact be qaraqaju, unless there is something that I am missing.
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Re: Questions about elcari

Post by zompist »

I'm pretty happy with Elkarîl. Though it needs to be Unicoded!

On a re-reading, I think the only thing I wish I'd spent more time on was subordination. It's just not very interesting.

(Also, since I'm in the middle of a lot of syntax-- well, I'd add more syntax. :) )

I'm more dissatisfied with the pretty dull history of the elcari for the last 5000 years. I addressed this a bit more in Arcel. Well, hopefully we'll learn more about really happened in all that time...

As for flings... I think they'd be unremarkable between marriages; also, not all elcari marry. They do tend to be faithful to their spouses, but if they're not raising children they don't consider it meritorious to prolong a marriage that isn't still good for both parties.

On qaraju, unless I'm mistaken that's the only example of a noun ending in vowel with the -aju suffix. I think I'd modify the rule for -aju rather than insert a -q-.

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Re: Questions about elcari

Post by Civil War Bugle »

Is there any prospect that linguists will discover more information on Elcari languages outside Erelae? Whether a complete grammar or any indication of family relationships or the like?

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Re: Questions about elcari

Post by So Haleza Grise »

What about lineages though? Is it taboo to date within your clan or can you get away with it?
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Re: Questions about elcari

Post by zompist »

The four lineages (xelyên) of eastern Ereláe are supposed to each live in their own part of a settlement. It's taboo to marry within the xelyên. It's eccentric but allowed to live outside your xelyên's area.

So, there are roughly three levels of relationship.

One is marriage, which at least potentially is for raising children; if not, it's a serious years-long commitment. It would be a serious breach of morals to marry within the xelyên. About the only way to do it would be to elope and move far away.

Another is a brief fling, where the participants don't live together. You could do this within the xelyên. Socially, everyone kind of pretends that these relationships don't exist.

In between, there's a long-lasting relationship without marriage (bîdtha), where you live together and are acknowledged as a couple. Since these almost never produce children, they're allowed within the xelyên, though in smaller communities it would still be rare (since people would grow up thinking of their entire xelyên as out of bounds).

(A lot of this is borrowed from ideas like moieties; it's quite common in human societies, though not our own.)

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