Valdirsk

u

i

Description
Valdirsk is a conlang with some West Scandinavian, Goidelic, Magyar and Croatian influences, but with a mainly innovative vocabulary and grammar. Its principal particularities consist in the consonant mutations to transform a noun into a verb, the Ablaut in nouns to mark dative, its prepositional casus, the three modi Ininitiatum, Initiatum and Finitum to mark if an action is yet to begin, in progress or finished, and an OVS (Object-Verb-Subject) word order.

Alphabet and Pronunciation
All letters are pronounced. There are three types of letters: vowels, inactive consonants and active consonants (for explanation see category Noun). Here follows the prounciation according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):

(*) The -ó in the mutation from -b to -nó or -g to -gjó erases any vowel placed after it. Example: balla ("a creation") => nólla ("to create") (and not "nóalla"!). Remember that ó is pronounced [ø] except after -b, -m, -n, -g (where it is [jœ]).

Nouns
Nouns are used to build verbs, by following the consonant mutations above. It is so that verbs reflect the action of which the corresponding noun is the object. Example:

Balla = a creation, nólla = to create (the act of creating);

Rokkur = a dusk, hrokkur = (concerning sun, moon, stars or fig.) to set, go down, fade

It seems clear that not all nouns have a directly corresponding verb (ex: "mouth"). Affixes are used to make verbs more accurate or to clarify the action when its corresponding noun is ambiguous. Example: (*) The preposition i- means "in", the preposition ur- means "out".

Each noun has a fix structure as follows:

Eventual preposition + Consonant(s) + Vowel(s) + eventual mark of the Genitive + rest of the word.

The mark of the genitive is -i.

Example:

H + o + vor = Hovor ("speech", "vocal communication"), Þ + o + vor = Þovor ("to speak"), h + o + i + vor = hoivor ("of the speech"), Þ + o + i + vor = Þoivor ("of the act of speaking").

In certain cases where a noun has no corresponding verb, or using an adjective, a verb can though be used to express "the fact of being ..." (where "..." is the noun/adjective). Example:

Storsk = "great", Շtorsk = "to be great", "the fact of being great"

Nominative
Well, you all know what's a nominative.

Genitive
Reflects that the noun possesses the adjoining object. Similar to "of" or " 's".

Genders
There are 2 genders: Material and Immaterial. To be material, a noun must be visually perceptible. Thus, "dog", "fire" or "moon" are material but "age", "year", "sound" or "harmony" are immaterial. A little trick to check is to ask oneself if it were realistic to say "I have seen ..." (with ... as the noun). * Vowel Harmony: If the preceding vowel is a back vowel, the plural form has an -e/-i, otherwise it has an -a.

Verbs
Here the tense (praesens, passatum, futurum) indicates the moment in which the action occurs, and the modus (ininitiatum, initiatum, finitum) if the action at that time was unbegun, in progress or finished.

Example with to be (vai, irregular):

Praesens Ininitiatum: va-sg-ak*, va-sk-ad, va-sk, va-sk-um, va-sk-ul, va-sk-an

Praesens Initiatum: va-k, va-d, va, va-um, va-ul, va-n

Praesens Finitum: va-ha-k, va-ha-d, va-ha, va-ha-um, va-ha-ul, va-ha-n

Passatus Ininitiatus: va-v-sg-ak, va-v-sk-ad, va-v-sk, va-v-sk-um, va-v-sk-ul, va-v-sk-an

* A -k can never be followed by another -k after a vowel, thus constructions as -kak, -kek, -kik etc. are impossible and the first -k has to be replaced by -g for sound harmony (-gak, -gek, -gik etc.)