Conlang
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General information[]

 'Đesniu' (or Thesnian) is a language isolate which originates on the Thesnian Islands. The language developed for centuries in isolation until Goidelic tribes first landed near the port town of Baldawir ushering in a golden era of trade between the two ethnic groups which lasted centuries. There have been many Celtic influences on Thesnian vocabulary - however, many efforts were made during the First Celto-Thesnian War (Mora Cadwa Uđan, or First Great War, in Thesnian) to remove Celtic influences from the language.

Thesnian is a highly agglutinative language. Prepositions are few - instead there is a developed system of suffixes and prefixes which index prepositional meaning. The language is, like English, a SVO language.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Epiglottal Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p b t d k g
Fricative ɸ v θ  ð s ʃ ç x
Affricate y
Approximant
Trill
Flap or tap r
Lateral fric.
Lateral app. l
Lateral flap

Vowels[]

Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close i u
Near-close ɪ   ʏ
Close-mid e o
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open a

Alphabet[]

'Aa Bb Cc Dd Đđ (Đð) Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss 'Tt 'Þ'þ Uu Úú Vv Ww Yy

NB. 'Sc' dentoes /ʃ/; 'ng' denotes /ŋ/. 'Y' can come to represent either /j/ or /ɪ/ depending on the word. Example: yadaroh (last week) is pronounced /'jadaroç/, whereas, ysađysca (in the town, city) is pronounced /ɪs'aðɪ'ʃa/.

Grammar[]

Verbs[]

All infinitives end in -en. Verbs are conjugated depending on the person which means personal pronouns can be ommitted in the nominative case. In the present tense, you remove -en from the infinitive to give you the stem and then add the following endings:

1st person singular          -em          plural          -emye

2nd person singular          -ec          plural          -esce

3rd person singular           -eo          plural          -eos

To form the past tense (no differentiation between perfect, imperfect or pluperfect), one must simply add -dac to the end of a conjugated verb form [NB: irregular pronunciation in that final 'c' pronounced /x/]:


1st person singular          -emdac          plural          -emyedac

2nd person singular          -ecdac          plural          -escedac

3rd person singular           -eodac          plural          -eosdac

To form the future tense (the idea of intention, whether or not one completes the action), one must add the following endings to the end of verb stem:


1st person singular          -emú          plural          -emyú

2nd person singular          -ecú          plural          -escú

3rd person singular           -eyú          plural          -eosú

There are very few irregularities in terms of verb conjugation. The main one is "to be, to exist" - þion which is conjugated as follows:

present -     'þiom, 'þioc, 'þiot                   'þiomye, 'þiosce, 'þiotos

past -          'þiomac, 'þiowac, 'þiođac     'þiomyac, 'þioscac, 'þiotoscac

future -        'þiomú, 'þiocú, 'þiotú             'þiomyú, 'þioscú, 'þiotosú


Nouns[]

Nouns in Đesniu do not bear grammatical genders. Indefinite nouns have no article. Definite nouns are shown by adding prefix - pa-. There are two types of plural - a plural specifically assigned for 2 nouns (dual plural), and another for 3 or more of said noun (multiple plural). The dual plural is formed by adding -(a)rđu to the end of a noun ('a' included if pronunciation is difficult with only 'r', there are rules associated with facilitating pronunciation). The multiple plural is formed by adding -(a)r.

E.g., đanda - letter, a letter          pa-đanda - the letter          đandar - (some) letters (3 or more)          đandarđu - 2 letters (indefinite)          pa-đandarđu - the 2 letters

The indefinite forms of the noun are used a lot more frequently that the definite forms. The definite forms are only used for clarity. If, from context, a certain noun is easily identifiable, the indefinite form is used. For example, if you are discussing 'the earth' (era), you will not need to use the definite article as it is clear what you are referring to as there is only one 'earth' - 'the earth has seven continents' would be: Era ygeo riha morinar.


Adjectives[]

Adjectives tend to end in a in Thesnian and come before the noun. Generally, two or more verbs do not follow each other. Instead a longer noun is created with the main adjective coming before the newly formed noun. For example, blue sky = valada inna; clear blue sky = pescca 'valadinna; big dog = mora đedano; big, black dog = mora cirhđedano or cirha morđedano, depending on what is the more important attribute.

Nouns can easily be made adjectives by adding "đa" to the end. For example, winter - yihilda, wintry weather - yihildađa amscyro. Some words will add "yđa" to aid pronunciation, e.g., left (n., adv.) - pulug becomes pulugyđa as an adjective.


Adverbs[]

There is an 'adverbalisation' suffix - "-oh" - which can be added to nouns, verbs and adjectives to create adverbs, the passive and other constructions. They can also bear the meaning "by means of", "by", "through", or "for" and generally come directly after the verb it is describing.

Denominal adverbalisation - normally with nouns relating to time, tools, transport, machines, etc. Examples: hiscar (centuries) becomes hiscaroh (for centuries), auto (car) - autoh (by car), 

Vocabulary[]

=== 


No. English Thesnian
1Iis
2you (singular)di
3he
4weiyar
5you (plural)đet
6theywar
7thisþinta
8thatþanta
9herear
10theremađ
11whoces
12whatcau
13wherecanđe
14whenica
15howtecau
16notmil
17allascca
18manymulta
19some
20fewbega
21otheryae
22oneyih
23twotoh
24threedeh
25fourpah
26fiveveh
27bigmora
28longfalla
29wideduna
30thickđarđuna
31heavybilca
32smallbiha
33shortmiha
34narrowmilđuna
35thinmarđuna
36womanmahilda
37man (adult male)uruha
38man (human being)
39childbihalo
40wifemahildata
41husbanduruhata
42motheryisa
43fathertasca
44animalpaulo
45fishbedeo
46birdfotura
47dogđedano
48lousepascpaþa
49snakeþrioca
50wormbicrioca
51treedanada
52foresthandarđo
53stickbiþau
54fruitmeleno
55seedmascwa
56leafþaþua
57rootđarbasco
58barkriúho
59flowerglauda
60grassđespia
61ropeyanlo
62skinpita
63meatfrascio
64bloodteo
65bonemalapla
66fat
67eggofena
68hornwanđeo
69tailmabaruo
70featherriđda
71hairsceuar (pl.)
72headgarþ
73earþug
74eyebilt
75nosemesct
76mouthyagrir
77toothyúl
78tongueđunga
79fingernailtagyađum
80footmefong
81legmef
82kneemefnuyt
83handgilong
84wingriđ
85bellytartu
86gutstartumnar
87neckheleþ
88backmađina
89breastverset
90heartaucwaþ
91livervelved
92drinkyúlben
93eatþaren
94biteþepen
95suckþiscen
96spitđacsen
97vomitbiluen
98blowweyen
99breatheiđen
100laughharen
101seemien
102hearyoren
103knowiđen
104thinkđefen
105smellbifen
106fearþascuen
107sleepbescen
108liveeren
109diekapauen
110killmasccaupen
111fightgalien
112huntvescen
113hitaraten
114cutgultien
115splitfacaren
116stabblehen
117scratchbúcen
118digđewen
119swimscescen
120fly
121walkhedeten
122comescen
123lie
124sitþeyen
125standsteþen
126turnyelben
127falluhþen
128givepen
129holdlalen
130squeezescisen
131rubyryren
132washloscen
133wipeiypen
134pullwalen
135pushmywalen
136throwđecscen
137tieyisen
138sewpascyisen
139countihđohen
140sayđen
141singwilyen
142playwanen
143floatgalieden
144flowliferen
145freezegyrogen
146swellueplen
147sunmahaþa
148moonulúþa
149starhaþa
150waterwisca
151rainvihio
152riverlifa
153lakeloha
154seameharo
155saltscgwalđo
156stonesyvasco
157sandnataro
158dustbuliđo
159earthera
160cloudinnaelngnar (pl.)
161fogelngnar (pl.)
162skyinna
163windtirna
164snowavarahar (pl.)
165icesulo
166smokemiyaso
167firebelbia
168ash
169burnn. cyđena, v. cyđenen
170roadpuharo
171mountainsclieva
172redyarh
173greenlasc
174yellowyúr
175whitewaln
176blackcirh
177nightyueha
178dayscia
179yeartyna
180warmorba
181coldlyhiha
182fullibala
183newnova
184oldoga
185goodwaya
186badpalaha
187rottenmivyrygđa
188dirtyyþuda
189straightbunđa
190roundaumđa
191sharpbleha
192dulldinya
193smoothyrha
194wetđesnia
195drymilđesnia
196correctwahaþaca
197nearara
198farmađa
199righttelef
200leftpulug
201at
202in
203with-meh
204andag
205ifvu
206because
207name

=

Suffixes []

-ob - in, on, to (NB: -obob is colloquially used in modern Thesnian to refer to "inside", used mainly for clarity as there is sometimes confusion between meanings of "on, on top of" and "in, inside of")

-ys - possessive, of (NB: 'y' is ommitted with some specific words, e.g. calla - girl, callas - the girl's, of the girl)

-oh - adverbalisation, causative (i.e. making an adjective or verbal form an adverb or showing 'by means of' when used with a noun, pronounced /oç/)

-ut - until, by (time) (NB: "u" replaces any final vowel)

Example text[]

 General introduction of this page translated into Thesnian:


Đesniu þiot isoldaþđunga donsciedaþoh Đesniui ilyenarob. Pa-đunga tinscweleodac hiscaroh isolaob túrlinggalut Gudalici scribarys uđani bordbalave Baldawirys, bo hycmaenye solþatsca scydivatys pa-eđnetscribarđuwac bo durenye hiscar. Þiođac multa Geldecsa envlensar Đesniui viaharob, scu multa bađewudor yeodaþeo Morai Cadwareng Uđan, mur hiđaulen Geldecsa envlensar đungayesc.

===Đesniu  þiot arđoh-aglutaniva đunga. Ramviahar þiotos bega - aldu þiot tinscweleodaþa sistema aruwirorys ag maswirorys bo indesccenye sawinyú ramviaharys. Đunga þiot SVOa đunga mey Engelsciu.===

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