The Knarrian Language : Knarrian is very young by linguistic standards, so it still bears much resemblance to its parent language Elosian. There are three main regional dialects of Knarrian : Axur's, Ckel's, Skarnack's. There are also sub-dialects, the most notable being Magn's, a sub-dialect of Axur's. Axur's has long served as the standard language, and is dealt with in this essay. The history of the Knarrian language (called Knar's by its speakers) began in 900, when the Elosian empire embarked on a new wave of sea exploration, spurred on by new technological developments. Most of those who did the actual exploration were not Elosians, but it was all done under the sanction of the Emporer. The voyages expanded the map of the world in many directions, but only to Knarr did the Empire see fit to send colonists. Most of the permanent settlers were speakers of Elosian. The island was already inhabited, and the natives did not appreciate the influx of settlers. Outright war never broke out, but things were hardly ever stable. In 921, the Empire withdrew claims to the island, along with all Imperial officials and troops. Most of the settlers chose to remain and fend against the natives rather than crowd into boats and go back the the increasingly miserable life in the Empire. The settlers chose leaders and raised armies from amongst themselves, and the Elosian portion of Knarr continued to exist as a number of small states. It was probably during this time that the Elosian spoken by the people developed into the major dialects, but it still retained too many Elosian characteristics to be called Knarrian yet. It is also in this period that loanwords came into the language from the aboriginal peoples. Most of these are place names, like Knar, Skarnack, and Magn. Very few words for other things were borrowed, indicating that the two cultures existing in the isles eventually reached a state of mutual avoidance. Skarnack's borrowed more words that either Axur's or Ckel's, and even borrowed some common idioms. These never made their way into standard Knarrian, however. The aborigines continued to occupy the central lowlands (which are now underwater) while the Elosians lived in the higher areas which now form the separate islands. The fact that Knarr was sinking was realized quite early on, and it is still sinking. During the period from about 1000 to about 1340, the language was still called Elosian by its speakers, even though by the end of this period the system of changes had occurred. The five old cases had collapsed to three. The pronoun system was highly modified into the precursor of its modern form, and the multiple number was absorbed into the plural. By 1340, the shortening and ommission of case endings had begun to occur as well. In Axur's, the vowels i and u had been changed to y and w before vowels, and e had changed to ei at the end of words. The dipthongs eu, ou, au and the vowel o all became the new o, which was pronounced differently from any of its antecedents. The vowel a changed in pronunciation, with the result that the dipthongs ai and au also changed. The new dipthong ei had a sound similar to the old ai, and replaced it in certain words. In 1340, the crumbling Elosian Empire (even though Knarr had been given up as a territory for almost 400 years), "sold" Knarr to the up-and- coming Stoffonians in an attempt to keep them on good relations. This policy was ultimately futile for the Elosians. The Stoffonians ruled from 1340 until 1486. Legend has it that they were driven out my the Knarrians, but it seems that they simply decided to devote their armies to nearer conquests. Few came to Knarr except as either Government officials, or as semi-feudal barons among whom the real estate was divided. During this century and a half, the Stoffonians supressed the Knarrian vernacular, even punishing those who wrote in it. Stoffonian and Elosian were made official languages, and the fact that they did not actually speak Elosian occurred to the Knarrians at this time. The language was still not called Knarrian, as the country was stll not called Knarr. In the terms of the day, a person spoke either Axur's, Ckel's, or Skarnack's. It is difficult to tell which changes took place in the Knarrian dialects during this period, but it is probable that this is the period during which the case endings for the simple gender became identical with the unisex. The adjective case ending for all genders became identical with the masculine, possibly on the example of Stoffonian. Many words from Stoffonian came into the dialects and either replaced their Elosian-derived counterparts or existed alongside them as synonyms. Axur's borrowed the most Stoffonianisms, and its subdialect Magn's borrowed the most of all, incorporating some fragments of Stoffonian into the pronouns and articles. As for the aborigines, the Stoffonians dealt with them by outright extermination. All were killed within the first decade of occupation. The lingustic division continued after the Stoffonians left. Each small state encouraged the uniqueness of its own dialect. The champion of Axur's, which would eventually come to triumph, was Knarknox. For Knarknox to have actually written everything attributed to him, he would have had to have been born around 1460 and lived until about 1650. It has been theorized that no less than five authors wrote under the name, and all of these were great. "His" career was so successful that the name Knarknox, the actual meaning of which is obscure, became Knar, the new name for the language, and eventually for the country. Knarknox invented new poetic forms that fit the language better, practically re-wrote Knarrian religion, and doubled the size of the alphabet by adding a separate character for each sound. He also encouraged cultural and political unity, to the extent that the spread of his writings helped bring the eventual conquest by Axur of Skarnack and Ckell. Galthrid ("Geoffrey") the Great proclaimed the United Kingdom of Knarr, and the name stuck. Even during the civil wars following the death of Galthrid, the new Knarrian nationalism and pride in the Knarrian language remained strong. In the years after these wars, Knarr developed one of the finest poetic traditions on the planet Ristkon. The popular 18th century epic-length "adventure" poems, especially "The Five Crystals of Knarknox" and "The Eight Quests of Elantan", are superb. In this century, the world outside Knarr has come to recognize these acheivements, and many foreign poets have learned to write Knarrian. It seems likely that even when Knarr has completely sank into the sea, the language will live on. sounds : trans. comments a as "a" in "father" ai approx. "eye" au approx. "ow" in "cow" e as in "bed" ei approx. "ey" in "they" i approx. "pizza" or "ee" in "feet", slightly like "i" in "hit" o as in "note" oi "oy" in "boy" u as "oo" in "too" b ch as in english "chat" ck a sort of smacking of the lips and toungue. sort of like kissing. may be pronounced as in english without loss of meaning. d f g j between "j" and the sound made by "s" in "treasure". h with friction in the back of the throat l m kn "k" indicates a slight smack before "n". may be prnounced as in english. used only at the begginning of a syllable. n p r s sh sk "s" followed immediately by "k" click t v w x sort of like "ch" followed by "s". this letter is rare. y z notes : 1. the vowels are of two types - weak (i,u) and strong (a,e,o). two consecutive strong vowels are always pronounced as separate syllables. when a strong vowel is followed by a weak vowel, they are pronounced as one sound (dipthong). The dipthongs that actually occur in spoken Standard Knarrian are included in the list above. dipthongs are pronounced for longer than the duration of a single vowel. 2. when a double consonant occurs, the first one of the pair is considered to be the end of one syllable and the second is start of the next syllable. otherwise, consecutive consonants are to be blended into one sound as much as possible. 3. the sound notated as "k" can best be approximated by humans as the sound produced by touching the teeth or the roof of the mouth with the tip of the toungue and then rapidly pulling the toungue back while sucking in air and saliva. it is not humanly possible to produce this sound in rapid succession with other sounds as quickly and smoothly as the Knarrians. For all practical purposes, it can simply be pronounced as "k" with no loss of meaning. 4. "Stress" is more of a matter of pitch than of force. The more emphasis there is on a syllable, the higher its pitch. There are four levels of pitch, which do not correspond to any specific musical intervals but which are still distinguishable. Stress is not applicable to single words. Stress comes into play in differeniating different types of sentences, as will be seen later. Note: It is common practice to have an apostrophe in places where letters have disappeared within Elosian-derived nouns (not at the beginning or end of a word). This originally was not meant to effect the pronunciation, but educated Knarrians generally pronounce the syllable before the ' for a slightly longer period of time. Failure to do so brands the speaker as illiterate, or (worse) a foreiner. example: elockan't = elockaant Grammar: general notes : Nouns : Knarrian nouns are made up of a root followed by suffixes to indicate case, gender, and number. Noun roots always end with a consonant, which is usually one of the following: p,b,t,d,ck,gk,ch,l,m,or n. examples : tan- ("person", root form) halck- ("animal", root form) Gender: Knarrian genders are masculine, feminine, unisex, or simple. Masculine nouns are the nouns that refer to male people or creatures. Feminine nouns refer to female people or creatures. Unisex nouns are used for people or creatures of uncertain gender, Simple nouns refer to things which have no gender. Case: Knarrian has three cases : Nominative case is for the subject. Accusative case is for the object, either direct or indirect. Genitive case is used as an adjective, including possessives. Nouns fall into one of five classes. Class 1 - nouns referring to rational beings : masculine feminine unisex -------------------------------------- nom. | -ya -'u acc. | -wa -'i gen. | -'t -'t -'t Class 2 - nouns referring to animals (and sometimes children) : masculine feminine unisex/simple -------------------------------------- nom. | -a -'u acc. | -va -'i gen. | -'s -'s -'s Class 3 - referring to inanimate objects, abtract notions, etc : simple ------------- nom. | -'u acc. | -'i gen. | -'s Nouns with sub-syllabalic roots have these inflections: (all such nouns are of class 3) simple ----------- nom. | -u acc. | -i gen. | -os Class 4 - Some (but not all) proper names which were uncontractable in Elosian have come into Knarrian with these inflections: masculine feminine ---------------------- nom. | -id -iya acc. | -ud -uwa gen. | -ot -owa Class 5 - A number of nouns are from Stoffonian. Many have endings adopted from the Stoff. : mas.,uni.,sim. fem. ------------------------- nom. | -ei acc. | -ip -eip gen. | -il -ili Most of these nouns can also be inflected like the other classes nouns, and the choice can be made as to which system to use. example: knalip or knal'i "song" (simple, accusative) Ckimei or Ckimya (a proper fem. name) Number: Knarrian nouns are either singular or plural. Singular nouns have no inflection for number. Plural nouns are formed by adding a -ck examples: tanck = "men" nominative tanwack = "women" accusative tan'uck = "people" (ie, unisex) accusative Compound Nouns : Knarrian often makes use of compound nouns. When joining two nouns, the root of the first noun is joined to the second noun. ex. Elockan- + tan- = Elockantan- Noun Contraction: For certain uses, nouns are "contracted". In a masculine noun, contraction simply means the use of the root without any suffixes. (This is a moot point in Knarrian, since masculine nouns only have suffixes when used as adjectives, but it was more important in Elosian.) In a feminine noun, the last part of the root is cut off so that the last letter is the last vowel in the original root. If this vowel is e, it is changed to ei. Otherwise it is changed to "a". ex.: Aranya (personal name, root Aran-) contracts to Ara. Binalonya (root Binalon-) contracts to Binala Unisex and Simple nouns cannot be contracted. Only singular nouns can be contracted. Only words with roots at least 2 syllables long are contracted. For example, the name Andriya (root Andr-) cannot be contracted. Uses of contraction: Personal names are contracted when used in signatures, letterheads, simply stating a name, or when the name is otherwise not playing a part in the action of a sentence. For uncontractable names, the singular nominative is used. examples: Ara (when not part of a sentence) Aranya (when used as the subject) Andriya (for both uses) Titles ("Mister", "Emporer") are contracted when used immediately before a name. examples: Elockantan- ("emporer") contractes when used like this: Elockantan Binalon (Emporer Binalon) Elockanta Andria (Empress Andria) Ckep- ("god") Ckep Sor (the god Zor) Ckei Zifya (the goddess Zifya) When translating Knarrian to English, any nouns which are not translated are contracted. Pronouns: First Person all genders ---------- nom. | yal acc. | yad gen. | yat second person : masculine | feminine | unisex -----------|----------|------- nom. | ri | ra | ru acc. | rid | ruwa | ru gen. | rot | raf | rop Third Person Pronouns when representing persons: masculine | feminine | unisex -----------|----------|-------- nom. | ni | na | nu acc. | nid | nuwa | nu gen. | not | naf | nop Third Person Pronouns when representing other nouns: masculine | feminine | unisex | simple -----------|----------|--------|------ nom. | iz | iva | yu | ib acc. | uz | uva | wi | ub gen. | as | afa | au | ap Plural pronouns can be formed by the usual rules. Articles: Indefinate articles sing. | plur. --------|------- Masculine | mat | mick Feminine | ma | mack Unisex | mau | mock Simple | map | maick Definate articles sing. | plur. --------|-------- Masculine | let | lick Feminine | le | leck Unisex | lo | lock Simple | lep | leick Special Nouns: The noun an- is the Knarrian interrogative noun. Various forms of this noun in questions, and it is translated variously as what, which, who, etc. Example: An't tan ("what man?", "which man?") An'tck tan'ck ("what men", "which men?") An's ("what?") The noun il- is the demonstrative noun. Roughly equivalent to the English "that". Example: Il't tan ("that man") Il'tck tan'tck ("those men") Il's luwa an't ("that is what") The noun or-, is the qualitative word. Roughly equivalent to the English "how". Example: Or's ("how?") Il's luwa or's ("that is how") The noun ck- is used only as a modifier and in compounds. It changes the meaning of the word it modifies or is compounded with to the opposite if the original meaning. The adjective form is ckos. Examples: Andria ckluwa yat ("Andria is not mine") Lep wad ckos velaswein. ("The dog didn't sleep") Un- is means "any", and is used often in compound. Example: Untan- (any person) Verbs: Verbs fall into one of two classes : Class 1 verbs : Class 1 verbs are made up of a root with suffixes added to show aspect, tense, and voice. These roots always end in a consonant, which is usually one of the following : f,v,s,z,sh, but in a few cases is something else. examples: poz- "go" bels- "live" l- "be" Certain verbs can be turned into noun roots by adding -an to the verb root. Coversely, certain nouns can be turned into verbs by the addition of s or z to the noun root. Aspect: There are two aspects: pefect indicates that the action is or was complete at the time to which the statement refers. imperfect indicates that the action is or was taking place at the time to which the statement refers. Tense: Tense can be present, past, or future The endings for regular verbs : perfect imperfect ------------------ present | -ya -wa past | -yei -wei future | -yo -wo examples: pozya "go" (present perfect) belswei "live" (past imperfect) Verbs with sub-syllaballic roots have these endings: perfect imperfect ------------------ present | -iya -uwa past | -iyei -uwei future | -iyo -uwo example: liya "be" (present perfect, from "l-") Class 2 verbs: A number of verbs from the Stoff. have these endings: perfect imperfect ------------------ present | -el past | -ck -ei future | -it -et example: jefasck "laugh" (past perfect) Each of these forms has more than one possible English translation. For example, the phrase "Andria pozwa" can be translated to mean "Andria goes" or "Andria is going". Translation of Knarrian into English should be done with knowledge of how the verbs should be handled in order to sound the most natural in English. Voice: Verbs can either be active or relfexive. Active voice is used when the subject is actually peforming the action on the object and when the subject "is" the object (including when the object is a modifier). Active verbs do not have a suffix for voice. examples: Binalon pozwei Ckaltan (Binalon went to Ckaltan) Aranya luwa gaman's (Ara is beatiful) Reflexive voice is used when the subject is performing an action on he/she/itself, or when there is no object. Reflexive verbs end in "n". examples: Binalon vilaswein (Binalon slept) Estei jefaswein (Estei laughed) Prepositions: Knarrian prepositions, especially when used to mean "to" or "at", are often ommitted. Sometimes, however, they are needed to distinguish between direct and indirect objects, etc. om "to","at","in" ckom "from","of" The prepositions can also be treated as roots for nouns, but only make sense in certain forms. Om can be the root of a noun meaning "in". Ckom can be the root for a noun meaning "out". examples: Yat pozwa om'i ("I went in") Yat pozwa ckom'i ("I went out") Vocabulary: roots are shown here. inflect as needed. Words from Elosian (nouns class 1-4, verbs class 1) ailos- (v.) to live (see also belz-) andren- (n.) gold aran- (n.) hardness atricksan- (n.) leadership, political power atricks- (v.) to rule, to lead belz- (v.) to live (ie, to dwell, to reside) binl- (n.) the sea birl- (v.) to want, desire, etc. ck- (n.) negative, opposite, etc. (used only in compounds) Ckep- (n.) god cker- (n.) other, different (used often in compounds) ckrizan- (n.) 1. never, at no time, etc. (used as adjective) 2. timelessness, immortality e- (n.) greatness er- (n.) self, same, (used in compounds) gaman- (n.) beauty halck- (n.) animal, creature, beast har- (n.) proper, correct, etc.. jel- (n.) love ladan- (n.) honour, valour, respectedness lom- (n.) youth nom- (n.) child (in the sense of being young, see also "on-") on- (n.) child (in the sense of being descended from, see also "nom-") par- (n.) the first one, primary, etc. poz- (v.) to live renog- (n.) the extreme, the most, etc. rizan- (n.) time spiman- (n.) religion, spirituality, etc. spiz-(v.) to praise, worship, etc. tan- (n.) person (usually adult) tof- (n.) place, land, country, ect. tuz- (v.) to know urs- (v.) to owe vilas- (v.) to sleep zim- (v.) place, position, status Words from Stoffonian (nouns class 5, verbs class 2) als- (n.) hand amnis- (v.) to fly bis- (v.) to know bai- (n.) largeness ckar- (n.) a type of animal, resembling a bear ckes- (v.) to love romantically or spiritually (contrast with "tikes") ckus- (v.) to end, stop din- (n.) any article of clothing dos- (v.) to stand erck- (n.) 1. a cliff 2. any structure that resembles a cliff far- (n.) darkness fris- (v.) to move gantis- (v.) to flow har 1. hello (greeting) 2. yes! (strong approval or agreement) hares- (v.) to burst, to explode heml- (n.) lake hinz- (v.) 1. to get, aquire, etc. 2. to highly impress, awe, etc. ibiz- (v.) to freeze ijr- (n.) sword jefas- (v.) to laugh jis- (v.) to say jothis- (v.) to make war lan- (n.) mountain los- (v.) to appear, seem mioln- (n.) brightness mesh (n.) shield moick (n.) 1. a child 2. any person (used as a term of address among friends) nir- (n.) hardness nirver- (n.) granite knal- (n.) song knam- (adj.) evil knatas- (v.) to give palris- (v.) to want, desire, etc. reidin- (n.) nakedness, lack of clothing rik- (n.) body, usually living human body staf- (n.) stoffonian stei- (n.) woman (fem. only) tis- (v.) to think tif- (n.) foot tikes- (v.) to love physically (contrast with "kes") ultes- (v.) to feel ver- (n.) stone, rock wad- (n.) a type of animal resembling a dog wos- (v.) to lose weltis- (v.) to swear, affirm yelis- (v.) to work zef- (n.) readiness Summary of Dialect Differences: 1. notable dialects and sub-dialects : Axur's { Axur's proper { Magn's Skarnack's { Skarnack's { Oxac's Ckel's { Ckel's 2. Pronunciation differences: vowels: Spelling Axur's Magn's Skarnack's Oxac's Ckel's a a (father) a (cat) a (father) a (cat)------------) e e (bed)--------------------------------------------------) i i (pizza) i (hit) i (pizza)------------------------) o o (rope) o (hot)-------------) aw (law) o (hot) u oo (food)-----------) u (cure)-------------) oo (food) long vowels: yes no no no yes consonants: ( * = smack, < = puff of breath) ck,k,c * k * t< * kn *n n *n n *n x chs ks *s t