Ancient Telic

=Setting= Telic, known to its speakers as Sol Pestoros, "The Speech", is spoken by 55 million people around the globe and is the chief language of the Zefaistan Empire, including many over-sea colonies, Carallion, Carmanyelon, and Jashnia. As the language of the most power state in the extreme West hemisphere, it is also the lingua franca of the whole West, widely known by traders, scholars and diplomats as far as Intes, the Morteo-Ascancian Islands, and Ustiviy.

Telic is heavily dialectalized, regional dialects being found in each province. The standard language of the Zefaistan law, and the chief language of the continent, is the Mystene dialect, that of New Jashnia, the capital city; it is this form of the language which is the focus of the present work.

=Romanization=

Ancient Telic is traditionally written in the standard Telic script, but a Romanized version of the language is the topic of the following work.

Vowels
a- as in "bag"

e- as in "bet"

i- as the "ea" in "eat"

o- as in "low"

u- as the "oo" in "food"

Diphthongs

ae- as the "ay" in "May"

ai- as the "ye" in "goodbye"

ei- as the "ay" in "day"

ou- as the "u" in "mug"

Consonants
b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, t, v, y (as a consonant), and z are pronounced like their English equivalents.

h, j, q, w, and x are not used in the Romanized script.

c- is always pronounced as a hard k, never as a soft c (like in English cell)

g- is always pronounced hard (like in English good), never as a soft "j" (like in gem)

r- always slightly trill your r, as in a Spanish single r.

s- is always pronounced unvoiced (like in snake).

=Grammar=

Word Order
Telic word order differs slightly from that of English, but here are some straightforward rules:

-In simple statements, the verb always comes second, and only one element can precede it:

I am going to town- E ya pro sol dunon. (lit: I go in the town)

Today, I am going to town- Stadenor ya e pro sol dunon. (lit: Today go I in the town.)

-If there is a question word to introduce the question, the verb comes immediately after this:

When are you coming?- Pian yo tos àn? (lit: When come you?)

-In commands the verb root is placed at the beginning of the sentence:

Come today!- Ay stadenor!

Articles and the verb to be
Ancient Telic only had one article, sol, or "the" in English. The plural of this was sel. Ancient Telic had no article "a". One odd thing about AT was that it had no verb "to be". So when one wants to say "I am a hero", one would say E spador, or "I hero". So if you want to use the verb to be, "use" no verb at all.

The definite article (used on both genders): sol, plural sel

Nouns
Most nouns were either masculine or feminine, even if the object had no peticular masc. or fem. qualities. Obviously "father" and "mother", fior and mias, was masc. and fem. respectively, but "sun" and "moon", canor and sces, are not male or female but are just nouns with a "gender" case. To make the noun plural, change the ending to "-i" and "-e" respectively.

Common masculine noun endings -or, -os, -el, -o, -on, -is, -an The plural: -i

Common feminine noun endings -as, -a, -es, -il, -ar, -in The plural: -e

To change the noun gender to the opposite, you must change the word ending:

-or > -ar

-os > -as

-el > -il

-o > -a

-on > -in

-is > -es

Pronouns
I- E

You sg. inf. "Thou" - Tos

You sg. pol. "Thou" - Casi

He- Osor

She- Esas

One- Asco

We- Ci

You pl. inf- El

You pl. pol- Eli

They- m. Omes/ f. Ames

*The polite pl. you, Eli, was reserved for the emperor only and has gone out of fashion.

Object Pronouns

Me- Lo

You sg. inf- Len

You sg. for.- Vostor

Him- Il

Her- Il

Us- Nostor

You pl.- Tu

Them- Ca

Genitive Pronouns

My- Les

Your sg. inf & pol, "Thy" - Ti

His/Her/One's- Ese

Our- Gre

Your pl. inf & pol- En

Their- Al

Negatives
To form the negative in a sentence, place An at the beginning of the sentence.

She doesn't lie- An esas lege.

Other negatives:

I don't smile anymore- An e evecrai iuz.

She never sleeps- An esas ste reven.

He hardly plays- An osor iobe ildres.

Question Words
Don't get an confused with àn. Àn is placed at the end of the sentence to change the statement into a question. It is much like the English "does" or "is it" (if you know Chinese, it functions exactly like ma).

Esas beluen àn?- Is she beautiful?

Esas beluen- She is beautiful.

An esas beluen àn?- She isn't beautiful, right?

An esas beluen She isn't beautiful

This & That
To refer to or to point out a person or object, use one of the following words for this/these, that/those or that over there.

(refering at or very close to, the location of the speaker)

This- Sta

These - Ste

(refering to the location at the listener or something relatively far away)

That- San

Those- Sei

(refering to something very far away from the speaker)

That over there- Apel

Those over there- Apelo

note: when a demonsrative preceeds a noun, you do not put an article before the noun, ex. Sta cirya, "that book" not Sta sol cirya, "that the book" 

Adjectives
More or less Ancient Telic adjectives end in -o for the masc. form and -a for the f. and are always placed before the noun it modifies. Adjectives that end in any other consonant are gender-neutral and can be used to describe either gender. To change an adjective into adverb, eliminate the final vowel (if any) and add the suffix -ai to the adjective. Here are some important adjectives:

Dabre-good

Durno-bad (awful)

Beluen-beautiful

Escudo-ugly

Rapada-fast

Scerco-slow

Atino-sportive

Salo-hot

Frote-cold

Iono-big

Liger-short

Cervel-new/young

Argo-old

Grose-fat

Lipo-skinny

Aya-funny/entertaining

Nafto-boring

Rempo-hungry

Seipo-thirsty

Andro-strong/mighty

Indo-weak

Verbs
The verbal inflection of Telic is quite simple. There are only four tenses (present, past, future and near future), each marked by person and number.

Present

There are three verb tenses, those that end in -n, -r, or -c. These are appropriately named N, R and C verbs respectively, and are conjugated in their respected Present Tense form:

-N verbs

E- -ai

Tos & Casi- -ei

Osor & Esas- -e

Ci- -olo

El & Eli- -o

Omes & Ames- -uo

-R verbs

E- -o

Tos & Casi- -es

Osor & Esas- -e

Ci- -ono

El & Eli- -o

Omes & Ames- -uo

-C verbs

E- -ao

Tos & Casi- -eo

Osor & Esas- -e

Ci- -olo

El & Eli- -o

Omes & Ames- -ui


 * The verb root, the basis of most of the tenses, is formed by removing the endings -en, -an, -ir, -er, -ar, or -ec.

Past

The past tense is formed from the verb root + the last letter of the infinitive + present tense conjugation. But roots ending in certain consonants change when the past tense ending is inserted:

For R verbs: mr > mbr, nr > ndr, zr > dr

For N verbs: cn > sn, dn > zn, gn > zn

For C verbs: cc > sc, mc > nc, zc > sc, gc > sc

Future

The future tense is the most simple tense, it is formed by adding the present tense conjugation on the infinitive. The good news is that there are no irregularities in this verb case.

Near Future

The near future tense describes actions may happen soon. This tense is formed with an auxiliary verb ayer, which is irregular, + the unconjugated infinitive verb.

Ayer

E- ya

Tos & Casi- yo

Osor & Esas- yo

Ci- ayuno

El & Eli- ayo

Omes & Ames- ayuo

Prepositions
of/from - ''-i, placed at the end of the noun to mark the ablative case. From Charystos- Charystosi''

''when noun ends in "i" before the input of -i, -i becomes -ei. From the Carallion Plains- Sel Caralleon Plastiei''

to/at - ''ad, placed before the location. To the Windore Isles- Ad sel Galodor Vile.''

Other Useful Prepositions:

with- ceva

without- nas

at the place of /at- cel

against- nocer

in/to- pro

behind- dro

in front of- deva

between- dovis

for- ar

under- opes

on- sor

toward- ad

above- revos

near, alongside- co

like, as- esce

since- copros

Conjunctions
and- er

because- vester

but- los

however- losce

or- iy

since- ispe

so- aci

that- de

when- per

while- on

without- sas

=Numbers=

Cardinals
All Telic numbers decline as regular adjectives: nul fos 'no man', asco fas 'one woman', si elce 'three dwarves'. When counting, or speaking of the number itself, the masculine singular is used.

0- Nul

1- Asco

2- Re

3- Si

4- Star

5- Nast

6- Sues

7- Aftos

8- Te

9- Istos

10- Das

The numbers from 11 to 19 are regularly formed by taking the first three ( first two if only 2 letters long) letters of the word and attaching the suffix -an.

11- Ascan

12- Rean

13- Sian

14- Stran

15- Nasan

16- Suean

17- Aftan

18- Tean

19- Istan

Multiples of 10 (except 20) are formed by using the suffix -tes or -des, multiples of 100, -megro. To form mixed numbers like 21 or 36, add er, which means and.

''exs. 21, Fenterasco 'twenty-and-one'; 166, Megroersuestesersues 'Hundred-and-sixty-and-six'.''

20- Fent

30- Sites

40- Stardes

50- Nastes

60- Suestes

70- Aftes

80- Tedes

90- Istes

100- Megro

200- Re-megro

300- Si-megro

500- Nast-megro

1,000- Mil

1,000,000- Leah note: 'Leah' is the only irregularly pronounced word of Telic, it is pronounced leh and is borrowed from the language Verosonian.

1,000,000,000- Efteron

1,000,000,000,000- Cveron

Fractions and Ordinals
Ordinals are regular declension II adjectives; sol cetre fasidor 'the fourth girl', sol pere elos 'the first emperor'. The first four have special morphemes (pere, du, tre and cetre); the rest are formed from the cardinal number and adding -e (-re if the cardinal ends in a vowel): naste 'fifth', tere 'eighth', fentersuese 'twenty-sixth', leahe 'millionth', etc.

Beyond une 'whole', meride 'half', tris 'third' and barge 'quarter', the reciprocal of a number is a noun formed ny replacing the final -e of the ordinal with -eve: nasteve 'one-fifth', nasteve cirya-i 'one-fifth of the book'.

ex. Re sueseve fenterascore sol cirya-i marran 'Two sixths of the twenty-first book are (coloured) red.' 

To form the ordinal: add -e to the cardinal.

To form the reciprocal: add -eve to the cardinal.

=Dictionary=

Common Telic Names
Pure Male Telic Names

Id'an- God-like.

Arefar- Conquering.

Arfant- Earth spirit.

Ascarion- First born.

Ascanco- First born.

Anderan- Mighty.

Polodonor- Endless road.

Belgefar- Quarreling.

Belgandros- Mighty war.

Belgebran- War sword.

Cerdrotos- Little blessing.

Spadrotos- Little hero.

Budrotos- Small puzzle.

Salestos- Radiant.

Clerspador- Bright sword.

Vercor- Sleeping beast.

Vercant- Animal spirit.

Torot'id- God sign.

Fantanor- Ghost.

Gerfant- Powerful ghost.

Gerbran- Powerful sword.

Branric- Evil's bane.

Brandrotos- Small sword.

Cvalvaneon- Warrior of Vanion.

Corpianico- Sleeping baby.

Aniono- Small blessing.

Pure female Telic Names

Id'amora- Dancing goddess.

Aresia- Earth bounty.

Ascelure- First born.

Andosula- Mighty.

Belgea- War trump.

Cerdasea- Dasea's (name of goddess) blessing.

Salestil- Forever blazing.

Cleril- Summer.

Clersea- Clear path.

Toroceris- Blessed sign.

Lys Menas- Saint-Menas.

Lys Alana- Saint-Alana.

Casella- Last empress.

Silisia- Flowing river.

Borrowed Names
...

=Example text= 'La sone iunde esados esmo elefter ceva dicomata. Omes ir dai sinidor er dabrotor, er na metago da lasone fylgia adelfonisi.'

-''All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.'' (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)