Mis Hio

Mis Hio is a close relative to the language Hi; it is using a different way of combining words into sentences for better look and readability.

Phonology
The Latin transliteration of Mis Hio uses an alphabet of 16 letters: A K E H I L PL M N O P R S T U QU. All letters are generally pronounced the same way regardless of their placement. The letter "I" tends to form diphthongs if it follows another vowel; other vowels are pronounced separately from each other. "H" is never silent. "QU" is pronounced as "kw". The rest of the letters sound the way you would expect them to be (standard Latin pronunciation).

The vowels in Mis Hio may be spelled with a circumflex: â, ê, î, ô, û. The circumflex used to indicate long vowels; in modern speech, this has no effect on pronunciation.

Basic Grammar
Mis Hio has a very simple and regular grammar. It is guided by several basic principles that make it quite different from other languages.

Root tuples and root chains
The basic unit of a Mis Hio sentence is two root-words linked together. The link between the words expresses their relationship.

For example: As you can see, the words are linked by adding an ending to the second word. When two words are linked like this, several rules must be followed:

- When the second word ends with the same vowel as the (first) vowel of the link, this vowel is not repeated. Instead, a circumflex is added to the vowel, e.g.: ni kâ (ni ka-a) "here".

- If the link starts with a consonant, and the root ends in a vowel, -k- is inserted between the vowel and the link: Mi mikta "I will go", but Mi mirta "I will stay".

- A root combination can express one notion that in other languages is usually expressed with a separate word.

A Mis Hio phrase consists of several root tuples placed one after another. One important case is when the first root of the following two-root phrase is the same as the last root of the preceding one. In this case, this root is not repeated, and the two phrases are joined together in a root-chain.

For example,

Putting root chains together
Syntactic relationships between Mis Hio root-chains are created by repeating the same root-word in different chains. Such repetition indicates that these root-chains point at the same thing.

To illustrate this, let us take an English sentence: Yesterday my brother saw a black dog. When you translate this into Hi, the structure of your sentence will look like this: brother-saw saw-dog dog-black saw-yesterday brother-mine. You then merge several of the tuples into chains to avaid repetition ("saw saw", "dog dog") and get brother-saw-dog-black saw-yesterday brother-mine.

(Actually in Mis Hio this sentence sounds as Mon siksa honu slia nikti hon mita si toi suno to tirsa mon muo. There is a difference in structure because the words hon slia nikti "dog" and to suno to tirsa "yesterday" are not expressed by single words in Mis Hio.)

Here are several Mis Hio examples: (the repeating roots that link different root chains together are highlighted in the structure column)

It is very important to remember that, when you repeat a root in a different root chain, you have to put it in the form in which it belongs in the new chain. I.e. you repeat the root only, and never the ending!

For example, you may say Te loa te pluno lo roi "This is a very good toy" but it would be a grave mistake to say loa roi instead of lo roi here.

Putting the word lo "good" in its bare form you indicate that you are starting a new root chain. If you change it to loa, you imply that this describes the word that immediately precedes it, in this case, pluno, and the whole phrase makes no sense any more.

Sentence structure
The basic word order in Mis Hio is SVO -- subjects precede verbs and objects follow them. However, Mis Hio does not have any set sentence structure. In fact, a Mis Hio sentence is nothing more than a sequence of root chains. It is quite common to speak in very long "run-away" sentences that would gradually change the subject and seamlessly move from one thought to another.

To turn a sentence into an interrogative one, you only need to change the intonation, e.g. Mu â mou loa "I am happy" -- Tu â mou loa? "Are you happy?"

The variable order of root chains in a Mis Hio sentence can be used to emphasize different parts of it. E.g.: ''Mon tuo mon tatsa mû tat lai rur seo! ''"Your brother hit me with a stick!" can be changed to Tat mû tat lai rur seo mon tatsa mon tuo "I was beaten with a stick by your brother", or Mon tatsa lai rur seo tat mû mon tuo "Your brother used a stick to hit me", and so forth.

Also note that a Mis Hio sentence does not necessarily need to have a verb-like part. A sentence simply states a number of relationships, expressed through linking root words. E g. one can say Ku meno loa "He is a good man" (literarily: "He is of good men"), a phrase that consists of two tuples, ku meno "he (is) of men" and men loa "man (is) good".

Linking Roots
Below is the list of all root links found in Mis Hio. * The link -sa indicates perfect tense: an action that has been completed at the reference point, and not the absolute time of action. When a story is narrated in the past, -a is usually used throughout, except for events that occured before the time frame of the story.

** Remember not to use -o for the object of an action; always use -u for that. E.g. one says Ta rû mia ru kâ ta potsa "Writing this letter was difficult", and never Ta ruo mia ru kâ... "Writing of this letter...".

Here are some examples of links that are used more rarely:

You will see more examples of link usage throughout this text.

Root polymorphism
1. As you saw in the previous section, one root-word can change its roles depending on which links connect it to other roots. In fact, most of Mis Hio words have different meanings in each of these roles: Noun (used with -o, –u or followed by Verb-a/Verb-*a), Adjective/Intransitive Verb (used with -*a or -*i, or followed by Verb-i/Verb-*i), Transitive Verb (followed by Noun-u), Modal Verb (followed by Verb-ti) or Adverb (used with -i). Many roots also have a special meaning when they are used with -o, etc. For example:

Since a root never appears alone but always linked to another, there is never any ambiguity in how it should be understood in each particular case.

Of course not all roots have the full range of meanings, but it's hard to find a root that does not have at least a few. Some of the meanings are highly idiomatic (e.g. the noun meaning of to: "to wait" is "time") and have to be learned by heart. Most of the time, however, the meaning of any word in this or that role is self-evident.

2. What is also common is having the same root word in different roles when it is used in different root-tuples in the same sentence. The "aggregated" meaning can sometimes be an abstract notion (adjective+noun), proposition, or a gerund (verb+noun). Here are some examples:

Morphology
As you have already seen in the examples, Mis Hio very often uses a root chain (or several root chains) for something that in other languages is commonly expressed with a single word.

When a root chain is used in this way, its meaning may be highly idiomatic, and it has to be learned by heart. E.g. su mina means "milk", and not "white water", although su is "water" and min is "white". One can also say su mina su hono -- "white water from animals".

Oftentimes there are several ways to say the same thing, varying in length and detail. E.g.

Such examples are abundant in the language. When confusion is likely, the longer version would be used whereas it is shortened when the exact meaning can be derived from context.

It is also very common to use the long version of a word the first time you use it and then switch to a shorter one in subsequent uses. E.g. you can refer to a pen as simply rur tâ or even rur "stick" if it is obvious from context what stick you refer to.

I would like to stress, however, that one cannot just make up a Mis Hio phrase describing an object and expect that it would match the way Mis Hio speakers say it. If the idiom is not a part of the MIs Hio vocabulary it may not be understood or it may be understood in a wrong way. The idioms need to be learned. Fortunately, the synthetic way in which they are formed facilitates the learning process a great deal.

Negative and Plural prefixes
Negation is expressed in Mis Hio by adding the prefix s- to the word. With nouns, s- is often translated as "no" or "not a". For example:

To indicate the plural form of a noun, one uses the prefix ''e-. ''However, it is not used consistently and is often dropped when the meaning is clear. In particular, the plural form is never used when the same root is mentioned repeatedly.

Indirect objects and prepositions
There are no indirect obejcts, prepositions or cases in Mis Hio! Phrases that would require an indirect object in other languages are expressed in Mis Hio by using a combination of verbs and adverbs.

Indeed, when we use a preposition in English, it is easy to reconstruct the implied verb. For example, by "This is for you" you usually mean "This is for you to take", but when I say "I am reading for my daughter" I mean "I am reading for my daughter to listen " and when I open a door for a lady, it's not for her to have or listen; I open it for her to go through.

Mis Hio does away with such ambiguities. You explicitly say mu tiksa kau ti akti tu â kau: "This is for you" (literally "I brought this so you'd have it"), and mu hia tau hi tonti mer tona mer meta mer muo: "I am reading for my daughter" (literally "I read so that my daugher would listen") and so forth.

Similarly, the English preposition "from" may be translated by using different Mis Hio adverbs, usually linked to the main verb by -si. E.g. "take from" someone would usually be translated as har aksi: "take from posession", "come from" can be translated as ti naksi or ti niksi: "come from being somewhere / being in somewhere". English "with" can be expressed by either using the word lan "to join" or la "to use", and so forth.

While preposition use and case use is often illogical and differs from language to language, the Mis Hio system is quite straightforward. It may require some getting used to, but with little time you will find it to be very natural and easy to use.

The collection of adverbs worth special mention are the adverbs for spatial and temporal relations. The word ni means "the inside" as a noun or "being inside" as an adverb, allowing to you to say, for example, emu pluna nî lano seo reo "we play in the garden" (literally "we play inside, inside of the garden"). To means "time" as a noun, and "happening at a specific time" when used as an adverb. The words nir "outside", ple "on", "above", pler "under", so "in front", sor "behind", pli "start", plir "end" and a few others have the same pattern of use. Here are a few more examples:

Numerals
Below is the list of Mis Hio numerals from 1 to 16. When lookig at it, keep in mind that, for example, while quu means "two", quua means "double", and so forth. After studying this table you should be able to easily understand how numerals are constructed. When put into genitive, the same words indicate ordinal numbers. quuo also means "the other" and is often used in this sense.

Personal pronouns
Mis Hio has the following personal pronouns: Ku means "person" and can be used both in palce of "he" or "she". When you have to undescore that you are talking about a man or a woman, you would use men and met.

Te (literally "thing") can be used to translate "it" but it is not that frequently used. Instead, you would repeat the main root of the word you reference. For example: Mu tiksa sakti nau ruro tâ e mu tia takti lai ruru: "I found a pen and started writing with it". "It" in this case is translated as rur since it is the pen (rur tâ) we are talking about.

Translating interrogative and demonstrative pronouns
Sentences with interrogative pronouns are usually translated to Mis Hio using the question-root ho. Ho may be used as any part of speach; depending on its use ho can express all sorts of questions. For example and so forth. Note that "why" was translated as ho lia -ti (literally "what leads to...?") and "what for" as ho tia -si (literally "what comes out of...").

Changing ho into ka "this" or kar "that" turns interrogative pronouns into demonstrative ones: toi hoa: "when?" --> toi kâ: "now", toi kara: "then" and so forth. The words pan "all", pat "some", ne "none" and ner "any" can be used in the same fashion, e.g. toi pana "always", nî nera "anywhere" etc.

Similarly, when English uses a conjunction derived from an interrrogative pronoun, e.g. "why" or "where", it is usually translated into Mis Hio using the root ka. For example:

The verb "to be"
There are two verbs in Mis Hio that can be translated as "to be". One is ku: when used as a verb, this root means "to be someone". The other, te, means "to be somehting".

Both ku and te are intransitive in this meaning. When "to be" means "to be one of ...", Mis Hio usually employs the Genetive link -o, with or without te/ku, e.g. Ku meno plea "He is a tall man", or Ka tekta lano ruo tao lan tuo lan loa ploi pan loa plori! "This is going to be your best book!"

Here are some more examples illustrating their use:

Conjunctions
Mis Hio has only few conjunctions, the most frequently used of them being

Conjunctions are placed by themselves between root chains. E can also be used inside chains in some steady locutions, e.g. to suno e suto: "day and night" (instead of to suno e to suto).

Degrees of adjectives and adverbs
Degrees of adjectvies and adverbs are formed by using the roots plo (adverbial meaning: "more") and plor (adverbial meaning: "less"). To compare two qualities, decorate one with plo and the other with plor; e.g. Mu plea ploi tu plea plori -- "I am taller than you". To form the superlative degree, compare with pan "all"; e.g. Mu plea ploi pan plea plori -- "I am the tallest".

Root words of Mis Hio
Hi root words tends to come in pairs of roots with opposite meaning. Roots in the same pair differ in the ending consonant, with -n and -m interchanging with -t, and -r interchanging with (no consonant). For example, if pen means "to push" or "press", then pet naturally means "to pull"; ple means "high" and pler means "low", and so forth.

Roots ending with -s do not form such pairs.

Idioms of Mis Hio
While the repertoire of Mis Hio root words is quite limited, the ability to use each root as multiple parts of speech allows one to express a great deal with them. The rest of the vocabulary is covered by idioms, locutions and figures of speach. Mis Hio uses idioms extensively, and learning them is as important as learning the basic roots.

Some of the locutions are rather self-evident while others are more idiomatic and have to be memorized. Indeed, there is no convincing argument, for example, why he pleo means "pants" and he nô stands for "shoes", and not the other way around. It is simply because they say so in Mis Hio; the set of idioms are part of the language. It is important to understand that. On the other hand, the highly descriptive nature of Mis Hio idioms makes learning them a breeze, and mastering Mis Hio is much easier than any language in which words have to be memorized without such clues.

The attached list of Mis Hio idioms was made by translating to Mis Hio a superset of Basic English. While using this list it is important to keep in mind that word-to-word translation from English is often not the best way to express yourself in a new language (and oftentimes it simply does not work). It should also be noted that the translations were not done by a native Mis Hio speaker and are therefore subject to revision.

The North Wind and the Sun
The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak.

They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other.

Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him;

and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak.

And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

Ko pino plua e ten suno eku hiksa queti hi rokki ploi ku roa ku hoa hi toi tio men tia men miso quoa men â heu plura he quoa a niri rano.

Eku hia sani hi sikki kû pâ herti pa pliri men hera heu plura men miso si nî plao si rokki ploi ku quuo ku roa plori.

Ko pino plua ko mia kou mi roi sani rou ko kia roi oi ko mia roi ploi men pena roi ploi men miso pen heu plura pen hekti ranu meno.

''E ko tira niksi plao tir toi plira tir leu pakti. Ten suna pluri sun toi kara ten suno e men hera heu plura men miso her toi quoa.''

E ko quia hikti saksi ko pino plua hi rokki ploi ten roa ten suno ko roa plori.

The Babel Text
1. Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

Ku aksa toi kâ ku koro pana a hiu kea e elat hio lat kea.

2. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Eku mia hukti niksi pino pleo teno suno ku tia sakti lonu koro Shinaro e ku tia hukti nai kâ.

3. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

''E eku hia tonti ku keo ku hia ku quuo ku tona: Emu pakta epunu pô pina e mu lia plukti punu plu roi. E ku lâ punu pô pina la sani punu koro e la sû mira su koro su lana punu.''

4. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.

''Eku hia toi kara: Emu pakta lotti pa lanu huo e pa hû plea, ple huo kâ ple nia lono plea. E emu pakta kinu ploa mu kina pa slatti mu lata nakti koro pana.''

5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.

E Ku plâ panu Ku tia plerti ti sikti lanu huo e si hû plea emer paksa hû pa lotti mer meno.

6. And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

''E Ku plâ panu Ku hia: Si ekû kâ, ku lana kea e ku â hiu kea, e hu tea pli tea pli pao ku pâ pli kea. E ku kikta pakti teu pana ku hia pakki teu. ''

7. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.

Mu tikta plerti ti karti e mu hitta hiu ekuo hit sarti ku sara ku keo sar hiu ku hia ku quuo.

8. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

E Ku plâ panu Ku lata ekû lat naksi kara lat nakti koro pana e eku mira pakti lotti pa lanu huo.

9. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

''Ka lia kinti lanu huo kin hî Babelu kin hitsi hiu koro pana Ku hita nai kara Ku plâ panu. E Ku lata ekû lat naksi kara lat nakti koro pana.''

Contact
I would love to hear opinions and suggestions regarding Mis Hio. You can contact me at

Thanks,

Andrei Burago (adagio_burner)