Monday, May 16, 2011

Visiting Nevash: Travel from the Mainland

I've been having mixed feelings about Teliya Nevashi recently. I am not in love with it right now, but I am not in loathe with it either. I think some sweeping changes to the phonology will do a lot to make me happier with it, and there are still few enough words that I could apply the changes manually.

On top of that, I've got a new conlang pecking at the windows of my brain like that obnoxious raven from the poem. I would like to develop a conlang that's specifically a 'personal auxiliary language' for actual, general use by me. That's probably going to be my major summer project.

In the meantime, I've decided to work on a phrasebook for tourists visiting Nevash. I thought I'd put it here in installments as I go, since it will probably take me a long time to complete. Here's a small installment, some useful phrases for the boat ride to Nevash from the mainland:

Where is the boat?
Ya omo, mi dev alos?

I am seasick. I am very ill. Please kill me.
Ca omosivek. Ca sisivek. Gorhemixi lat, so pe net.

Don't vomit on my boat!
Seya sinashish omot laz!


~~~
Only one new word here: so ("if")
I didn't have an expression for "please" that I could find, so I went with "if you choose". I am not sure what sort of verb "choose" is. I was thinking pa (for the 'recieve'/'have' aspect) or sa (for the 'think') aspect. I think that sa net might be closer to "I decide" and pa net is perhaps closer to "I select". Anyway, I have rendered please as so pe net, "if you choose."

'Seasick' is 'boatsick' (omosivek). Hanesivek, literally 'seasick', refers to the symptoms of drinking sea water. It is also used to mean "crazy" or "stupid". (Or both crazy and stupid. Or reckless.)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Shmalon

Vlaca nash xixirhuzh shmalonam.
I have eaten too many marshmallows.

Xirhuzh -- a large quantity of. Xirhos existed as a question word meaning 'how much/many', and looking at the other question words, I can only assume that 'xirh' means 'amount, quantity, number (count of items)'. Xixirhuzh, then, means a very large amount of something, or too much/many.

Xirhot -- a small quantity of. Xixirhot would mean a tiny amount, or too little of whatever it is.

Shmalo -- A word derived from the English, presumably because the Nevashi, upon first encountering this strange food, misheard the name as "my shmalo". The mistake dug itself in and refused to be turned out.

I had a dream and woke up with a new Nevashi word in my head. It was something that ended with the -séd suffix, and contained an entirely new root... but I don't even remember what the general topic might have been. Maybe it will come to me while I take a nap to sleep off the marshmallow binge.

Friday, May 6, 2011

A Word For Today

I don't think I can commit to a word a day, but I do have a word for the day, along with its relatives.

Ora, true (adj); to tell the truth (v. with sa); to act honestly (v. with ta)
Oram, a truth, something that is true (n.)
Orabwa, truth (n.)

I can imagine ora'el as an emphatic form of the adjective, but I'll have to let that roll around in my mind for a while before I can divine the specific connotations of it. It might mean "honest" or "correct"... But ora'el hasn't quite landed yet.

Google docs doesn't want to cooperate with this particular laptop, so it will have to wait until later to join the official document.