Tjarvejani scratchpad

[Shemtov]

This is the divine language of my Tolkien-inspired world Marylhi, Spoken by the High, and among the Low, only by the Njepatra, who are basically the Elves, and by Men, in religious and Njepatran contexts. Everybody else speaks a descendant.


Phonology:
/p pʲ t tʲ c k/ <p pj t tj cj c>
/m mʲ n nʲ/ <m mj n nj>
/ v vʲ s ʃ ɬ (ɬʲ) ç (çʷ) x h/ <v vj s sj lh lhj hj wj ch h>
/r (rʲ)/ <r rj>
/l (lʲ)/ <l lj>
/j ʍ / <j w>


/i u ɯ o e a/ <i u y o e a>

The consonants shown in parenthesis only occur in lenited words. Lenition in this language means some form of palatalazation. Most lenited phones are also regular phonemes. To tell what corresponds to what, simply look at the romanazation; the lenited forms are usually the regular's graph followed by <j>, but <hj> is also the lenited form of /x/ <ch> in addition to /h/.




Nouns:
Nouns occur in singular and plural.


Cases:
Nouns take case based on their declensions. There are 2 declensions: Consonant-final and Vowel-Final
The following cases exist:
Nominative
Accusative
Dative
Genetive
Instrumental
Locative

Consonant-final example: "Vjal" "Sage"
Nominative: Vjal
Nominative plural:Vjali
Accusative: Vjalym
Accusative plural: Vjalimj
Dative: Vjalav
Dative Plural: Vjalipj
Genitive: Vjalan
Genitive plural: Vjalenj
Instrumental: Vjalta
Instrumental plural: Vjalcji
Locative: Vjalor
Locative plural: Vjaletj


Vowel-final example: "Tiu" "Tyrant"
Nominative: Tiu
Nominative plural: Tiuj
Accusative: Tium
Accusative plural: Tiumje
Dative: Tiuv
Dative Plural: Tiuvj
Genitive: Tiun
Genetive plural: Tiunj
Instrumental: Tiut
Instrumental plural: Tiut
Locative: Tiur
Locative plural: Tiur


Notes on possessives:

Alienable possessions are formed by first putting the posed object in the proper case and then the possessor in the genitive.
Pasjcomji-j Tiu-n
Shadowling-PLR tyrant-GEN
"The tyrant's shadowlings"

Inalienable possessions are formed similarly but with the possessed's first consonant lenited if possible

Tar means langauge
So:
Tjar Vejan
"Vej's Language"

Vej is the G-d of the world and the language considers all his possessions inalienable.

Verbs:
Tjarvejani verbs 4 tense-aspects, 3 moods, and 2 voices.

This post will only deal with indicative active verbs.

The tense-aspects are Simple Past, Non-past, Past imperfect and Perfect. The Perfect only marks tense, not tense; the time must be clarified by an object of time.


The indicative active inflects for person but not for number; In addition to the regular 3 persons there's a special one for Vej, which I will call Vp.
Verbs inflect regularly in the active; that is there is one conjugation.
All verb stems end in consonants, but cannot end in /l/.

Example verb: Vjat- "To study; to say wise things"
Simple past:
1p: Vjata
2p Vjatit
3p Vjatu
Vp Vjatev

Non-past:
1p: Vjato
2p Vjataj
3p Vjatav
Vp Vjatov

Past Imperfect:
1p: Vjatma
2p Vjatmit
3p Vjatmu
Vp Vjatmev

Perfect:
1p: Vjate
2p Vjatet
3p Vjatuv
Vp Vjatve



A Sentence:
Pjativejani patuv mjuririmj melcasor o hapu Pasjcomjimje
Pjativejani pat-uv mjurir-imj melcas-or o hap-u Pasjcomji-mje
Pjativejani corrupt-PRFT.IND.ACT mortal-ACC.PLR ancient.times-LOC and father-PST.ACT.IND Shadowling--ACC.PLR

"Pjativejani had [finished] corrupting mortals in ancient days and [then] fathered Shadowlings.


The Subjunctive Moods:
There 2 subjunctive moods: The positive Subjunctive and the Negative Subjunctive. They both carry loads of meanings that are determined by particles: The former can function as any irrealis mood, while the latter means the negative like "don't do x" or "if he doesn't"
The subjunctive moods only have aspect (imperfect and simple) and the time must be clarified by an object of time, or a indicative noun in the same utterance.

Conjugations (Using Vjat- "To study; to say wise things")
Imperfect Positive subjunctive:
Past Imperfect:
1p: Vjatatma
2p Vjatatmit
3p Vjatatmu
Vp Vjatatmev


Simple Positive subjunctive:
1p: Vjatata
2p Vjatatit
3p Vjatatu
Vp Vjatatev

The positive subjunctive works by redupicating the last rhyme of the verb. Thus the Simple Positive subjunctive of " hap" "to father" would be:
1p: Hapapa
2p Hapapit
3p Hapapu
Vp: Hapapev


Imperfect Negative Subjunctive (using Vjat)
1p: Vjatna
2p Vjatnit
3p Vjatnu
Vp Vjatnev


Simple Negative subjunctive:
1p: Vjatan
2p Vjatitan
3p Vjatun
Vp Vjatevan


Example sentence:
Hje sjatacaca tiunim, se joj nje mjornu
Hje sjatac-ac-a tiuni-m, se joj nje mjor-nu
if destroy-POSSUBJ-1p Tiuni-ACC COND peace NEG die-NEGSUB.3p
"If I would destroy the Fortress of Tiuni, Peace would never die"

This sentence also shows that by negating an alraedy neg. subjunctive, the negativity is intensified. This is why it means "Never die" rather then "not die"

[Shemtov]

The Passive mood is formed by taking the active form, and adding the (lenited) first consonant of the stem followed by an <y> to the beginning:
hjyhapu "He was fathered"

Reflexives:
Reflexives are formed by adding the suffix <hju> to the verb. Some verbs, mostly those of mental states (to make oneself happy, for example) use the passive form, but most verbs use the active.


Stem "Catjysj" to hit:
Catjysjahju
"I hit myself"


Stem "pat" to corrupt:
Pjypatahju
"I corrupted myself"

[Shemtov]

The copula is the word "Hjuwa" in the non-past and Chumja in the past.

The personal nominative pronouns:
1p: Ni
2p: Ut
3p: Cho

Plural is formed by adding /j/ ro the 1p and 3p, and /i/ to the 2p, though for the 2p, plurality marking is optional.


Negation:
The Negation of nouns is formed by the proclitic <ne>
The proclictic for adjectives and verbs is nje, and verbs are lenited.


Example sentences:

Cho nje chumja pasjcomji, cho hjuwa mjor
3p NEG COP.PST shadowling 3p COP dead
"He was not a shadowling and he is dead."

Pasjcomjij nje njicarav Tjarvejanit; -
Pasjcomji-j nje njicar-av Tjarvejani-t;
Shadowling-PLR NEG speak-NONPST.3p -Tjarvejani-INSTR
"Shadowlings don't speak Tjarvejani"

Another example sentence:
Mjoto mjorimj; nje tjytasjicnu"
Mjot-o mjor-imj; nje tjy-tasjic-nu"
mourn-1p dead-PLR.ACC NEG PASS-forget-NEGSUBJ.3p
"We mourn for the dead, they surely shall not be forgotten"

[Shemtov]

Adjectives:
Adjectives are inflected for case, but not for number. They all end in vowels and take the same endings as singular vowel-final nouns, except for adjectives ending in /i/, which always take the plural endings in the accusative, Dative, and Genitive cases.There are also a small class of adjectives, all ending in /e/ or /i/ that do distinguish between singular in plural in the above mentioned cases. The most important members of this class are "Lhote" "big", "Vacjori" "red" and "Canje" "evil".

Cardinal Numerals:
1. Inj
2. Hyen
3. Hyal
4. Cjarav
5.Chamj
6. Hyech
7. Hyep
8. Utj
9. Tjech
10. Ihyar
11. Inmal
12. Hyenmal
13. Hyalmal
14. Cjarmal
15 Chamal
16. Hyechmal
17. Hyepmal
18. Utmal
19. Tjechmal
20. Hyarij
21.Injahyarij
22. Hyenahyarij
23. Hyalahyarij
30. Hyalar
31. Injahyalar
40. Cjaravar
50. Chamjar
60. Hyechar
100. Camaj

[Shemtov]

Use of the cases:
The Locative case is used only for being in or on the place exactly. That is its use when used without particles. With the particle "Lha" it means to move into or onto the place, the particle "Mji" means to move from being in or on that place.
Those particles are used with the Dative and Accusative cases respectively to mean movement to and from the environs of the specified place.
To mean "In the environs of" the Genetive case is used with the Particle "Hanj"
Examples:
Chu tiunir
Chu tiuni-r
3p Tiuni-LOC
"He is in Tiuni fortress"

Vjenu lha tiunir
Vjen-u lha tiuni-r
walk-3p toward Tiuni-LOC
"He walks to Tiuni fortress"

Vjenu hanj Tiunin
Vjen-u hanj Tiuni-n
walk-3p around Tiuni-GEN
"He is near Tiuni"