Dæfæa boali okual av kuliran! Dæfæa kriri wita oku av vílan; kum sædal okua evariw ip væ tavníran. Dæfæa paltih vem salv plial sant væ tíral. Dold sæt dol ví: Dæfæa adtrai ul bifial lí evariŧ da onaķmal: ula dol dold onaķm adtraiŧ onpelv Laki: dold pítak onaķa adtraiŧ onpelv Lwki. Dæfæa darlui ĉebal ot lonsal. Darluin okua fær- kunfílæmal? Lwkia lormiŧ av-hala laret, dir dæfæa perbi sípa’al wita vlím per lían dæfæa palti adtra ul sæva. Okua adtrain ul onaķal haonplíd av vílan? Dæfæa ul onaķal onplíd av sípa’an adtrai. Pe pem! Pe ot pe benílmal wita okuan. -Laki, rilan R.K. Dæfæa oblilih ul pítak kumpæal dol væ sæva: dæfæa sæti pir mudaf dol ul lía ĉífir dold sæva’al kí ul leag wita ul aniko leag. Okua warílin sædal væ færa ha’adtraiŧ turlal? ****************************************** I greet you with feasting (or celebration)! I write to you with joy; such as you will have in the future. I was able to come to understand much about the world. My telling (or description) of it: I am an animal who has two personas: one of my personas is called Laki: my little persona is called Lwki. I love singing and dancing. Do you enjoy having fun (or making friends or playing)? Lwki sleeps without cease, because I share peace with those for whom I can be a story (or message). Are you an indivdual without happiness? I am an individual filled with peace. Excellent! More and more blessings upon you. -Laki, smiling PS I forgot a small part of the story (or message): I relate the way of one who changed my story from one language to another language. You see that doing it is not difficult? ***************************************** Glossary adtra – v to be aniko – another, a different one. Can be used as a noun or an adjective. av – prep. with av-hala – (with + no) without beníl – 1) n blessing 2) v to bless bifi – n animal, beast, a living organism characterized by movement (as opposed to plants) boal – v to greet, to recognize another’s presence with a salutation ĉeb – v to sing, to chant. Specifically relates to sharing stories or lore through ballads. ĉíf – v to change, to make different da – adj. two (can also mean twin or double, but this is a secondary meaning) darlu – v to love, to enjoy, to like dæ – n I (first person singular pronoun) dir – because, because of dol – of, belonging or pertaining to dold – adj.(of + I) my (first person singular possessive) evar – v to have, to possess fær – v to do, to perform (secondarily, to make, to form) fær- kunfílæmal – v (to make + friends) to have fun, to have a good time. Literally, to build up a relationship with friends. ip - in, within kí - from kulir – 1) n a feast, or any type of celebration. Implies a joyful occasion. 2) v to feast or to celebrate krir – v to write, (literally, to record in written form) kum – adj in a similar way, like, similar to kumpæ – n a part, a piece of a whole, a component Laki – foreign word, n a name laret – v to stop, to cease leag – n 1) tongue 2) language lons – v to dance, to move rhythmically lorm – v to sleep lí – n who, one who Lwki –foreign word, n a name mudaf – n method, way oblil – v to forget, to leave out accidentally oku – n you (second person pronoun) onaķ – n persona, personality, entity, individual (This is a world-specific word: it implies any member of a sentient species, such as elf, human, dragon, etc. It can also be used to talk about personality in the way it is normally used in English.) ot – conj. and palt – v to be able to do something, often translated “can” pe – adj. more, modifier indicating an increase. (Pe pem is an idiom meaning excellent or perfect). pem – adj. good, right, moral, likeable pelv – v to call, to name, to address per – for perb – v to share, to give part while keeping part for oneself, to use jointly pir – by pítak – adj. small, tiny, diminutive pli – 1) n much, a large quantity 2) adj. many, several, more than one (the subjective connotation implies a large number) plíd – v to fill, to add until there is no remaining space rilan – v to smile, to grin R.K. – abbreviation (Ræsa Krir = After Writing) postscript, PS salv – v to know, to understand, to be aware of sant – 1) adj. approximately, around. Can be used as a suffix to indicate this meaning – rínsant means “about ten.” 2) on the subject of, concerning. Usually follows salv. sæd – n that. Also can be used to replace an atecedent clause or concept. E.g. Dætea kriri wita okute ul ĉeba’al. Dætea vurídi per okute evar vílal dol sæd. I am writing to you a song. I want for you to have joy of that. => I am writing you a song. I hope it makes you happy. sæt – v to tell, to share verbally, to relate sæva – n story, tale. Often implies a ballad, but not always. Can sometimes be translated “message” sípa – n peace, tranquility, well-being tavnír – n future, a time after the present tír – n world, earth. The planet or society in which the speaker is living, unless explicitly stated otherwise. turl – adj. hard, difficult ul – 1) adj. one, the smallest natural number 2) art. a/an væ – art. the, a particular one vem – v to come, to approach ví – n it (indefinite singular pronoun) víl – n joy, great happiness, euphoria vlím – n them (third person plural objective pronoun) waríl – v to see, to view, to look wita – art. to, usually implying an indirect object GRAMMAR Case Markers There are three case markers in Elvish. All are suffixes. Nominative – a Dative – al Accusative – an The dative and accusative cases mean in Elvish, specifically, the direct object of a verb and the object of a preposition, respectively. The nominative and dative are always mandatory, but in informal language, sometimes the accusative is dropped. Agreement Nouns are not inherently masculine or feminine. However, if the particular noun under discussion is identifiable with a gender, the suffixes te (masculine) or fæ (feminine) are added. Adjectives must agree with the noun they describe, and an –e is added for masculine adjectives; an –æ is added for feminine. To form a plural, -m is added to the end of a noun. Adjectives do not agree with plurals. Suffixes are added to nouns in the following order: base noun + gender marker + plural + case marker. E.g. Bifitema manfiŧ. Male animals eat. Adverbs Adverbs are always formed by adding the prefix ti- to the appropriate adjective. Verbs Verbs are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix. The are negated by adding the prefix ha-. CONJUGATIONS: The following indicate first, second, and third person, respectively. The plural and singular forms are identical. Present tense: i, in, iŧ Simple past: ih, iĉ, ir Imperfect: ip, im, it Future: ib, iw, if Conditional: iv, id, il The past participle is formed by adding the prefix on-. (To negate a past participle, add the ha- before the on-. Example: haonkrir means unwritten.) The gerund and present participle of any verb is the same as its infinitive. Syntax Although syntax is flexible due to the case markers, clauses must remain together. Due to extended contact with English, modern Elvish tends to use SVO unless there is a reason to emphasize something by rearranging it. Questions Questions are formed by raising the pitch of the end of the sentence, and are indicating in writing by a question mark. Note on the Alphabet: The alphabet for Elvish is not the Latin one used here. However, I have translated the words into regular characters as much as possible. This shouldn’t affect the ease of translation. If you have any questions, fire away. If there are inconsistencies or outright errors, they’re either because this is only my second conlang or because I’m really tired. So don’t always assume the fault is yours. Best wishes, Amy (skaryma)