Siųa

[Nortaneous]

Finnish: diphthongs, front rounded vowels, length contrast [although much more so there than in Finnish], hC, velar stops everywhere. And I'd add Japanese, but I don't know why.

[MONOBA]

Where can one hear some Ume Sámi? I've never heard it spoken actually.

[Shrdlu]

Here is a little text that I read quickly. I also changed my voice to see how it'd be to hear someone else speak siwa.

Oni ko katatsġovami rahkanta, heskvau daġe savvu seitototima deįo.
Tįadnamõ onta oįusta sikvubmaikka, nįůgůkkake kimi ảlka vevvi de, tatalįasamõ katta ủhtaketa, ykįake kimi lyra deiko. Unaųine lyra geilhimi ảlkita, ubogįikkahtimõ įu tonkamo gala* oda. Rikkiamõ on te sohhohi kemṡie diehhįa dẻ, kataġaispamõ ka hobmiska sahrutta ủki. Oni koasġamõ, ỷrhutįu atįita õutrỉhta kevta duo**.
[..].

red: Finnish
blue: Japanese/Korean
green:(Ume?)sami
*"gala" is a middle-ground because it sounds like "Japanese with /l/"
** In the last phrase the only thing that makes it sound (ume?)sami is the /y/ and /vt/, otherwise it sounds Japanese/Korean.

Devil help me, I've listen to this so much now that I can almost recite it fluently.

[MONOBA]

Ha! How nice to see how you feel it. It's definitively good that you guys see Finnish and Japanese, because they are both beautiful languages.

I'll take it as a compliment!

[MONOBA]

So in the meanwhile, here is a little bit of Siwa art.


Saigi homottotima ulma vęįa arrui tsảbekka uvnįa, piġo te kỉdaha gatta gagi te dỉvma suṡmamia.
A moose standing quietly at night by a lake under northern lights, a deciduous and evergreen tree with the moon and mountains in the far away.

[Herr Dunkel]

You've hit several dozen Sami alarm bells here.
How the hell did you make this?

[MONOBA]

Hehe. With a pen and paper!

[Herr Dunkel]

Not good enough :O
I could have guessed that - Mona Lisa was made with dust and eggs, while you're at it!

[cromulant]

beautiful emblem

[MONOBA]

Here is a huge update, with about 330 pages. It's nowhere close being finished but this still has a lot of stuff.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7216892/correction1.pdf

[MONOBA]

HERE IS THE GLOSSED VERSION.

HERE IS THE AUDIO (I changed my voice. Otherwise it just sounds like me talking nonsense).

Kendita on usaskuila Mentsa, etsta ka koni gaita hilįukkauts oġa ivtuila gu kemṡurekkes hilha-mialhadi. Koni kimodi ebi odla. Ihha gihlista avvi keletstaka kika ma, mankįa on kevvis rekkesibma egįotẻrhi, hokįias sõkko vỉskųen goskoimo-ho. Gįohi mỉhu Mentsaima gįykiska keskos aska tuvkųin õkkita kokvemo hobma lodnųen. Nikskume on bansi ṡovṡi nebbie-ho, ykįume on ġesti sindu heskva e ỉsu kikis kevta totõrita-hon. Otsuogga tįadnami vieldoika teuriri įảlpika roklomatta te nebmia sohteri kįuhhuni.


Menho had been awoken early and started walking as soon as the dim bluish morning sky began diluting the pitch black of the night. He had been walking for many hours. The winter sun hardly rose into the sky, hanging just over the treetops and blinding the walking man throughout his journey. Menho’s legs were tired from the heavy snowshoes weighing them down into the light, sinking snow. Today, he must check on all his traps and collect any catch that were unlucky enough to end up as his family’s future meal. He hopes to find a few fat hares in his snares and maybe a couple of beavers.

[MONOBA]

Here is a little text that I also recorded:

https://soundcloud.com/strakur/eltso/s-KUJpG

Enehrõ baski on sitkike e hokatendi veybma atavka, neska ka tyry
‘Da nỉdni gasi?’
‘Osviri komo kỏggaika nokkiuttaika Eidli te Seidli gatta, sġa katta kai tatįoima unokkotuis Eltso, ṡyddįeįau ne kỏggaita-hõ, usoti netta tena sipi tįoagįi gaiskka diehhįa. Kõkõ unokki gausus Kemeltsogi’ dakkųa atri.
‘Nỉmųaska ůvnů ahtati Tẻrhi?’ aiskųa kori.
‘Vivtate aska tẻrmatta sġaitat’ noati atri, ‘titkumau ko’.
‘Nỉmųaska vikkaikats tẻrmatta?’ kỉlaiskųa kori.
‘Huhte on aska tontavvi nenita muat, neṡastu ne. Nedda ko tẻrhi, iįobmontįui on ylyma usi piaksu sõkkogi, nytsġontįoi on ỉhhįu baska’, neiddil mituta atri. ‘Nedde netta Tẻrhi, tįolgovlotet, isoddiṡi de kỉltena tįoagįi gaiskka diehhįa’, kỉlmituta atri.
Okviddįi on, siddotu koakka manųa, můgįivli ka. Sitkuistari kimodi, igįairridnari oakibma. Kimra heri sinduki-hi.

One day, Father and son went down to the lake to fish at night. The son asked
‘What is the moon?
‘The moon is actually made up of two twins called Eidli and Seidli. They used to be only one, Eltso, but the sun made him into twins of himself who can only come together once every thirty days. That’s why call the full moon Kemeltsogi.’ answered the father.
‘Why did the sun do that to him?’ asked the boy.
‘Because Eltso was stealing his light’ said his father, ‘So he had to curse him’.
‘Why was Eltso stealing his light?’, asked the boy back.
‘Because he wanted to be as bright as the sun, but he couldn’t. The sun knew that without the night, men could not sleep and the days would never pass’ wisely explained the father. ‘But the sun knew that Eltso looked up to him, so he allowed him to come back together once every thirty days’, he added.
The boy felt like he understood enough of the world and was silent. They fished for a little while and slowly rowed back home. They would eat their catch in the morning.

[Torco]

Love the siwa art! reminds me of mapuche motifs.

[Herr Dunkel]

Where can one hear some Ume Sámi? I've never heard it spoken actually.

MONOBA, man, I'm so sorry I didn't see this before!
I only heard this head/shoulders/knees/toes and this joik (and other stuffs by Hélène Kugelberg) in Ume Sámi so far, since it seems to be so impossibly rare to find (there was this one sound clip I found by which I compared it to your conlang, but I can't find it any more and all this "10 people omg" stuff, I doubt I'll find it anyway)

[MONOBA]

UPDATE!


The bulk of the grammar section of Siwa is complete (but still being corrected). It's a hefty 436 page long right now, still lacking the section on syntax, miscellaneous, introduction and stories.

I'm also finally (!) creating a lexicon. I'm slowly going through the whole book and writing every single Siwa word. I already have 2/3 of the original lexicon (which I've never shared). I'm not sure as to how many words though because of the formatting I use.


So there you are. Unhealthily many hours of labor.


A Descriptive Grammar of Siwa
Siwa-English Lexicon

[Herr Dunkel]

I like, very much.

[R.Rusanov]

This is like some long lost Turanic* language, with the art and sounds fitting just right. A lost brother to Finnish, Japanese, and Turkic perhaps?

*using the broadest definition of Turanic, as in this chart:
http://files.blogter.hu/user_files/1138 ... an-b-7.jpg

[MONOBA]

Yes! The whole "idea" behind Siwa was to take a language from one Sprachbund and denaturalize it. Siwa is an Alopian language, whose proto-language definitively was spoken in Europe at some point, probably west of the Urals.

It's a bit like bizarro Finnish meets Georgian and they migrate to Algonquian land.

[Herr Dunkel]

Yeah, I remeber...
Haven't you, at some point somewhere mentioned a connection with the Sámi? Or were they just inspiration?

[MONOBA]

I'd say the two most important inspirations have been Sámi and Georgian. However, it's not clear whether Proto-Alopian had anything to do with uralic languages. In my opinion (but I'd have to look at the situation at the time), PA was part of the same economy as proto-uralic cultures. There are a few words which seem common to both Alopian and Uralic languages:


Proto-Alopian vs. Proto-Uralic

'skis'
*sox/soh- vs. *suksi

'needle'
*aiš- vs. *äjmä

*el- 'to grow' vs. *elä- 'to live'

*ma-ni 'to go/come here' vs. meni- 'to go'

*wask-/*mask 'ore' vs. vask- 'copper ?'

*mēš/mēs- 'beehive' vs. mesi 'honey'

[MONOBA]

Here is a recording and a text, the beginning of a description of the Siwa people's land. You can listen to the first part HERE.

Suikildi tsamnitasia oalmo Siuragi, keuhka įihta. Ikirruni iesġadi gįekesġuoma igįa en kįalkibma-ůt. Osoavku onta motta ṡines kolta unokkųi Sipsi okua Siustagi, siarįupůmamo kolta ṡines unokkųi Aingo osoavkotu katta tabba. Ůmġuolkiįo kikarỷhhi aṡṡi 435 (keįu guoma mųitra tsiṡi) maidġomnihta Hokliṡes sarakka. Aidlepůmamo ṡines da gagulka-ne netva Neųihisko, ųaraiko ṡineska benkahteri 135 (giabmi mųitra tsitta) maidġuoma kõuįa Kįuomṡin te Kįevvi ġųe, selo sytrotima. Sorhi oa kůalma biekkula Kękiekįalkima, daiko męrarõ sidva kokket. Inda etta Sipsuṡesima rỷhhima, unokkųi Rỉhri te Kelṡin, eura dedna.Suṡtaṡen oa Aingoka siehteri 200 (eṡi guoma) maidġuoma kõuįa, rủ sisella kįalka siųikodi.
Tommitęgįita on sievvi gįekesġuoma estodna igįa ogmo Kękiesiustagi sahra Tatimragi (suikildiri kõ temme aṡṡi), osoavke įu muṡid kůanamo-uli. Kękiekįalkaska bůinderi on ųara dednumotsi Sarsirit, Onnįu te Okna taga, miullil komo ehmi Tatimstatsita kekkotta-nen. Ůnnů keutseįeibma Suṡkękiekįala sahra kįala Aslastagi, tagįil kõ miegįari salakka, kommil rakma osatari, ųara taga Sipsuṡeska 215-260 (eṡi guoma tsỉhnet-eṡi guoma nietsġadi) maidġuoma kõuįa.

The Siwa live in a large belt of forest from east to west. They arrived to this territory within the last two thousand years. The ancestors of the eastern Siwa settled around the three lakes called Sipsi. Most settled around the southwestern point of the lake, called Aingo. The 130km long shores of the narrow Hokla upper lake are sparsely populated. At the other end of the lake, Neųihisko is another important community, with Kįuomṡin and the sacred river Kįevvi about 40 kilometers northeast from the lake. The northernmost settlement of the eastern Siwa is isolated Sorhi, whose dialect is difficult to understand. The two eastern lakes of Sipsi, called Rỉhri and Kelṡin, are home to a few Siwa villages. About 65 km south of Aingo is lake Suṡtaṡen the southern edge of the Siwa territory.
Within the first thousand years, the ancestors of Eastern Siwa or Tatimragi (they live by lakes ‘temmu’) expanded further west and established various villages.
West of the eastern Siwa territory are the three villages of Sarsirit, Onnįu and Okna, whose dialect differs slightly from eastern Siwa dialects. Together they form the mid-eastern territory or the Aslaragi territority (they herd caribou ‘salama’). They rely more heavily on caribou herding and lie about 65-80km west of lakes Sipsi.


Let me know what you think!

[Herr Dunkel]

Sounds awfully nice, I'll have to say.
Dunno for how long you've practiced it, but you sound native (as much as my non-native ears can hear)

From the text, what intrigued me were the "maidġ(u)om-" units of length; at about 3.35 of them to a kilometre, you seem to have made a system of units as well

[MONOBA]

Thank you! You're correct, the word maidġuoma (marked form of maidġiabmi) comes from maidi (roughly the length of a forearm, 30-33cm) and -giabmi 'hundredfold'. I rounded the distances roughly, as they were not carefully calculated.

[MONOBA]

The text grows!

[Herr Dunkel]

I'll say it looks more distinct than before, less specifically Sámi or Estonian, but still very much Uralic-ish