Maidin mhaith.
Spent last night and a bit this morning working on conlanging as a way to distract myself from writing.
The topic that caught my interest and ended up generating quite a bit of vocabulary and vocab was asking questions. This was semi-introduced last time which even started with a question: ɸat æs, de?
In it we learned about dialect and some more complicated things like word order and the question particle. In English we often learn the six question words: who, what, where, when, why, how. There are more. A full list would look like: who, what, where, when, why, how, which, whose, whence, whither, whether.
Some of those are still familiar to us: Which song did you play? Whose album is this?
Some are not: Whence did he come? (Where did he come from?) Whither did he go? (Where did he go to?) Whether chose you? (Which of these two would you choose?)
They probably ring a bell in the way back of your brain, probably from reading some old or poetic piece. Hadysh retains all of them and adds two more. These particles are:
- dɔma (which)
- dæxɪmə (whose)
- dæx (who)
- dɪn (what)
- demʃ (where)
- didæʃ (whence)
- dɑneʃ (whither)
- dib (when)
- dʊçɸ (why)
- dʌg (whether)
- de (how)
- dati (do – ?) Implies a yes/no question
- dæf (?) Converts a statement into a generic question
As always I have examples and dialect stuff!
Do you have the time? – Single, Formal “you”
[miaçi mʌɹ̝̠̊ʌ, dati]
/miɛçi mʌɹʌ, dɛti/ – Rozenn
/miaçi məɹ̝̠̊ə, dati/ – Einar
This statement uses [dati] but does not imply simple yes/no. The speaker still wishes to know what time it is. It does imply that they want a quick answer. So the reply should be “Half past six” not “Six thirty seven.”
You can switch to requesting an “accurate” answer by making it a generic question with the [dæf] particle.
Where did my dog go to?
[hɹ̝̠̊enəga jamə ɸɔlm, dɑneʃ]
/ɹ̝̠̊enəga jamə ɸɔlm, dɑneʃ/ – Standard formation
/hɹɪnəkɛ jɛmə ɸɔlm, dɔnɪʃ/ – Rozenn
/ɹ̝̠̊enəga jamə fɔlm, dɑneʃ/ – Einar
We’ve been over this strange construction in the first conlang post. The past tense uses [h-] at the beginning of a verb, but the sound cluster [hɹ̝̠̊] is really just a breathy /ɹ̝̠̊/.
But the sound ɹ̝̠̊ doesn’t exist in the Sylian (Rozenn’s) dialect, so the past tense conjugation is more clear.
When were we planning on meeting up? – Inclusive “we”
[θahən kənɔx, dib] (Literally: When do we plan to meet?)
/θɛhən çənɔx, dib/ – Rozenn
/θahən kənɔç, dib/ – Einar
This is the first inclusion of the infinitive of a verb, this is actually a unique conjugation just like future, past, and habitual. The base form of the verb “to meet” is [nɔx]. The infinitive adds [k-].
The main verb “to plan” is not in the future tense, it starts with [θ] because it is made of the future tense of “to think” but here is present tense. The future of “to plan” is [θɪθahə]. Also strangely the conjugation should be [θahəa], but when a verb ends in a vowel and the conjugation starts with a vowel ([-a] for inclusive we) the vowel of the conjugation becomes [n].
Have you seen Rozenn’s sword? – Plural, Informal “you”
[hjɹæçʌlnaçɪn çeɹiənɪm ɪlpæθ, dæf]
/hjæçʌlnaçɪn çeɹiənɪm ɪlpæθ, dæf/ – Standard formation
/hjaçəlnaçen çeɹiənem elpaθ, daf/ – Einar
The verb “to see” is [ɹæçʌln], the past tense [h-] adds the [j] between the [h] and [ɹ], but the [ɹ] is usually just dropped.
Here we also have the genitive marker [-(n)ɪm] which also softens the word it attaches to, but [çeɹiə] (Rozenn’s name) ends with a vowel.
Does he know how to swim? – Single, Informal “he”
[bɑθæpəga e kəpæg de, dati]
/bɔθɛpəkɛ ɪ çəpɛk’d, dɛti/ – Rozenn
/bɑθapəga e kəpag de, dati/ – Einar
The only thing to note here is that “how to swim” becomes “to swim how” or [kəpæg de].
Whether you a glass of whiskey or a pint of beer? – Sing, Infrm “you”
[æs nʊdlpik ʌt pɔʃ zæ nedan ʌt ætwəɹ, dʌg]
/ɛs nʊdlpik ʌt pɔʃ zɛ nɪdɛn ʌt ɛtwə, dək/ – Rozenn
/as nədlpik ət pɔʃ za nedan ət atvəɹ, dəg/ – Einar
Like in English, there is no verb in this sentence. Oftentimes you can even remove the pronoun and just ask.
May I have a cup of tea, instead?
[tætl nʊdlpik ʌt hɪl vivɪft kəmi, dæf]
/tɛtl nʊdlpik ʌt hɪl fifɪft çəmi, dɛf/ – Rozenn
/tatl nədlpik ət hel viveft kəmi, daf/ – Einar
Here we have the introduction of modal verbs! Germanic languages use modals quite a bit and I have a fondness for them. There are at least seven in Hadysh (English has seven-ish as well, plus a dead one and a handful of demi-modals). Modals conjugate normally and the verb they are changing takes the infinitive form and moves to the end of the clause.
Anyone familiar with German will recognize this. Kannst du Deutsch (sprechen)? Können is the modal. Sprechen is the verb. “Can you speak German?”
Like when asking about time, the [dati]/[dæf] distinction is important. [dæf] implies that you want a cup of tea. [dati] is asking if you have permission to have a cup of tea.
Are you tired? – Plural, Informal “you”
[ɸat æs hwɑnel]
/ɸɛt ɛs ʍɔnɪl/ – Rozenn
/fat as hɁwɑnel/ – Einar
The Waldish and Nyrnish (Einar’s) dialects mutate [ʍ] to /h/ so to imply the particle correctly they divide the [h] and [w] with a glottal stop. In Sylian these are just slurred back to /ʍ/.
Yes
[ɸat ɪ] (Literally: It is)
/ɸɛti/ – Rozenn
/faɁi/ – Einar
Despite being a full sentence (similar to Irish), over time this has contracted down to a single word (similar to English).
No
[ɸat ɪ ʊl] or [ɸat ɪ’l] (Literally: It is not)
/ɸɛɁl/ – Rozenn
/fatl/ – Einar
Like above this is a full sentence, but has been contracted down to a single word.
Do you have a question? – Plural, Formal “you”
[minçɪn nedəwaðʌl, dati] or [minçɪn nedəwaðʌl, dæf]
/minçɪn nɪdəwaðʌl, dɛti/ or /minçɪn nɪdəwaðʌl, dɛf/ – Rozenn
/minçen nedəvaðəl, dati/ or /minçen nedəvaðəl, daf/ – Einar
Don’t forget the [dati]/[dæf] distinction.
Sláinte, everyone!