I have three words in my lexicon-spreadsheet-thing that are undefined: nev, tef, and zel. These would all probably be verbs, just looking at them. A lot of Nevashi verbs are CVC in their most basic form, and then add other bits to become other parts of speech.
Nev is the first element in "Nevash," the name of the island where the Nevashi people are from. The ash part means "land," but after all these years, I still don't know what the nev part means. No idea.
Tef is a possible verb form that might be behind the word tefya, "zero". I think it might have to do with absence or not-being. There are a lot of possibilities in running this through the different verb types: ma tef, "I am absent", or as a movement verb: ka tef, "I leave"... I will have to meditate on how that works.
I've tentatively defined zel as "to write poetry," backformed from zelea, "poem," but at some level, I know that's not exactly what that means. I'd like to find a way to make this work for writing poetry, composing music, and maybe for doing visual arts as well. And I wonder what it would mean as a verb of movement-- I have a word that means "to dance," but there's nothing wrong with having two ways to say that, I suppose.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
The 6th Annual State of the Language Address
Didn't I just write one of these? What happened to 2012?
Here we are in 2013. Remember all those things I said I'd do over the course of the last year? Yeah. That didn't happen. It was a good year for Nevashi anyway.
The Revised Revised Lexicon grew to 655 entries this year. Lexember gave a nice end of the year boost to the count. That raw number doesn't take into account any of the words that gained additional meanings or the new affixes you might use to derive new words from the old ones. Among those new affixes, my favorites are the two that you can use to make a given thing into a collective of those things: -rí (extracted from zirirí (swarm) and used in sirurí (guts)) and -na (used in omanena (crew)).
I haven't written a new grammar, and the old one is teetering on the brink of being obsolete. What I have done is start working on compositions and translations. This is letting me iron out some kinks. I don't think I'll use the "write a grammar and then try to use it" method of language building again. I'm happy with the way that Nevashi has turned out, but it is evolving further and faster through use than it did through trying to build a structure to hang a usable language on later. I hope to do more writing and translating this year.
I am slowly getting a better grip on the details of Nevashi culture. If I were to make any one resolution for Nevashi this year, it would be to write more about that. I still don't even know what Nevash means. I know that ash means "land." I have reserved line #656 in the Revised Revised Lexicon for nev.
Since the last "State of the Language", I started attending the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (known locally as UPJ). I still have to work and I still have kids, too. This doesn't leave a lot of time for working on languages. That hasn't stopped me, but it is a factor in how much gets done. Language construction does make a nice diversion when I need a break from studying.
So... That's that. I still owe y'all a video or some audio, at least. I did try to record a video at some point in the spring, but my daughter kept making me laugh, so I gave up on it. I would at least like to record some Nevashi so that people can hear what it sounds like. It's on the to-do list.
Im ceana wadi jeyaséd! Happy New Year!
Here we are in 2013. Remember all those things I said I'd do over the course of the last year? Yeah. That didn't happen. It was a good year for Nevashi anyway.
The Revised Revised Lexicon grew to 655 entries this year. Lexember gave a nice end of the year boost to the count. That raw number doesn't take into account any of the words that gained additional meanings or the new affixes you might use to derive new words from the old ones. Among those new affixes, my favorites are the two that you can use to make a given thing into a collective of those things: -rí (extracted from zirirí (swarm) and used in sirurí (guts)) and -na (used in omanena (crew)).
I haven't written a new grammar, and the old one is teetering on the brink of being obsolete. What I have done is start working on compositions and translations. This is letting me iron out some kinks. I don't think I'll use the "write a grammar and then try to use it" method of language building again. I'm happy with the way that Nevashi has turned out, but it is evolving further and faster through use than it did through trying to build a structure to hang a usable language on later. I hope to do more writing and translating this year.
I am slowly getting a better grip on the details of Nevashi culture. If I were to make any one resolution for Nevashi this year, it would be to write more about that. I still don't even know what Nevash means. I know that ash means "land." I have reserved line #656 in the Revised Revised Lexicon for nev.
Since the last "State of the Language", I started attending the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (known locally as UPJ). I still have to work and I still have kids, too. This doesn't leave a lot of time for working on languages. That hasn't stopped me, but it is a factor in how much gets done. Language construction does make a nice diversion when I need a break from studying.
So... That's that. I still owe y'all a video or some audio, at least. I did try to record a video at some point in the spring, but my daughter kept making me laugh, so I gave up on it. I would at least like to record some Nevashi so that people can hear what it sounds like. It's on the to-do list.
Im ceana wadi jeyaséd! Happy New Year!
Monday, December 31, 2012
31 Days of Lexember
Well, we have reached the end of Lexember and the end of 2012. I actually completed this month long challenge, albeit with some early and some belated entries. These were not the only words created in December. The total number of entries in the Revised Revised Lexicon grew to 655.
- Urad Hristi, Christmas
- nashín, meal
- gitcea, noon. git, middle, center.
- tath, root. pwentath, ginger
- cevek, deer
- umo, bear (the animal)
- bron, to be tired (with ca); to be bored (with sa
- sashín, candy
- hula, circle
- ka'encel, depressed. ka'encelva, depression.
- nanal, to study, in the sense of learning something academic, what you do to prepare for an exam.
- suthol, to study something to learn about it, research, "do a science"
- gwisa, ice. gwisha, frost
- vegaviozh, truck
- kis, to be named. kisa, name.
- yun, to be brave (with ma), to explore (with ka)
- col, milk
- lemyan, river
- drus, meat, flesh, muscle. siru, organ, organ meat. sirurí, guts, internal organs (collectively)
- hin, cloud
- badh, cow
- zopa, sheep
- zhwes, goat
- peya, chicken.
- thes, to dance (with ka)
- grayu, raven. gawa, crow
- hom (with sa), to think. homa, thought or idea. homsiru, brain.
- hlet, to lead (with fa), to persuade (with ca).In the "in charge" sense.
- byu, after (in a sequence of physical objects), following (adj)
- joa, to save or rescue (with sa). joava, rescue or salvation
- pie, to jump (with ka). ropie, to leap up (ka), to pounce upon (ta)
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Nevashi In Use
A little story I wrote in Teliya Nevashi:
Eci dev ecu ecufios in Grayu wa Gawa, gyet oesi mur ala ti dhil keshas ged. Fish mise zo inim osal i Gawa im uje ofu fi ec im iane, ofu vici nan. Ci talala wa ki roho’a pa ya lemyan i Grayu.
Raven and Crow sit on a rooftop, debating about which one is more clever. Crow fills a jar using stones in order to raise the water, in order to drink. Raven laughs and flies to the river.
While I am posting that, I might as well post this translation of Psalm 146: 3-4:
(ESV: Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.)
Seya imoroishi inim hletif, im jenve seke kwe seya vesi joa inim denet lia. Gyet ci gorem, lumi an ash rakesh; gyet dha ceba kova, ci gorem tash rohoma voi .
And translated back:
Do not trust leaders (captains), nothing more than a human that cannot rescue you. When he dies, he becomes earth (dirt) again; on that same day, his plan also dies.
I don't have a word for "princes" yet, but "leaders" or "captains" is more culturally appropriate. I do have the words for "when his breath (or spirit) departs," but I decided to go with the blunter, more direct approach.
The new grammar is getting test driven and tweaked as I go lately. I should break it down for you, but it is after midnight and I should have been in bed hours ago. Maybe soon. No promises.
Eci dev ecu ecufios in Grayu wa Gawa, gyet oesi mur ala ti dhil keshas ged. Fish mise zo inim osal i Gawa im uje ofu fi ec im iane, ofu vici nan. Ci talala wa ki roho’a pa ya lemyan i Grayu.
Raven and Crow sit on a rooftop, debating about which one is more clever. Crow fills a jar using stones in order to raise the water, in order to drink. Raven laughs and flies to the river.
While I am posting that, I might as well post this translation of Psalm 146: 3-4:
(ESV: Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.)
Seya imoroishi inim hletif, im jenve seke kwe seya vesi joa inim denet lia. Gyet ci gorem, lumi an ash rakesh; gyet dha ceba kova, ci gorem tash rohoma voi .
And translated back:
Do not trust leaders (captains), nothing more than a human that cannot rescue you. When he dies, he becomes earth (dirt) again; on that same day, his plan also dies.
I don't have a word for "princes" yet, but "leaders" or "captains" is more culturally appropriate. I do have the words for "when his breath (or spirit) departs," but I decided to go with the blunter, more direct approach.
The new grammar is getting test driven and tweaked as I go lately. I should break it down for you, but it is after midnight and I should have been in bed hours ago. Maybe soon. No promises.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Big Ol' Name Post
My fifteenth word for Lexember was kis, to be named. I thought I would take a moment here to explain how kis works in practice.
Ma kis im Mia.
1st/non-past/be be-named DO-singular Mia.
I am named Mia. My name is Mia.
Mish kis il ambai cei im Sherry it lash.
3rd/singular*/be/causative be-named Subj-dual parent my DO-singular Sherry IO-singular me(dat.)**
My parents named me Sherry.
The name is the direct object. The subject of kis is the person who is named, or the person doing the naming when the causative is used. In the event that you are using the causative, talking about someone naming someone or something else, the recipient of the name is the indirect object.
Two grammar points here:
* Although it is mentioned in the grammar, it's worth noting here that the dual counts as singular for the purpose of conjugating verbs. I very nearly made a little error there myself, so I decided to mention it, even though it is unlikely anyone else will be writing any sentences in Nevashi. And if someone did, what are the chances that it would have a dual subject?
** I don't think that it has been previously mentioned anywhere, but it has become an established practice with me that pronouns still carry the case markings from the old grammar even when used with the indirect object marker. I can't say why. It just is.
So, how do you ask someone what their name is? I have a couple of ways to ask:
Kisa dei, mi an eyos? (lit., "Your name, it is what?")
Me kis eyos? (lit., "You are named what?")
The former would probably be the more usual way of doing it. The second, I am not so sure about. I think maybe it should be "Me kis im eyos?" -- that is, making "what" (eyos) the direct object of kis-- but that's not the way it used to be done, and I am not 100% sure I will make that change, no matter how logical it is.
For about 15 seconds, I considered a "How are you named?" option, but that wouldn't really make much sense, since the thing you are looking for is a "what"-- the thing that would be the object of the verb.
And that brings us to the current list of personal names in Nevashi. The list is short so far.
Feminine Names
Masculine Names
Unisex Names
Yeah, a lot of those feminine names end in an unstressed a. I know, I know. Sue me. So do some of the unisex names... so there! Actually, this is just general usage; sex-and-gender isn't really such a big deal on Nevash. The only definitely masculine or feminine names up there are the ones that end in -sha (f) or -we (m), which are sex-specific diminutives. Go ahead, name your son Tajiwe. Nobody will laugh. I promise.
Ma kis im Mia.
1st/non-past/be be-named DO-singular Mia.
I am named Mia. My name is Mia.
Mish kis il ambai cei im Sherry it lash.
3rd/singular*/be/causative be-named Subj-dual parent my DO-singular Sherry IO-singular me(dat.)**
My parents named me Sherry.
The name is the direct object. The subject of kis is the person who is named, or the person doing the naming when the causative is used. In the event that you are using the causative, talking about someone naming someone or something else, the recipient of the name is the indirect object.
Two grammar points here:
* Although it is mentioned in the grammar, it's worth noting here that the dual counts as singular for the purpose of conjugating verbs. I very nearly made a little error there myself, so I decided to mention it, even though it is unlikely anyone else will be writing any sentences in Nevashi. And if someone did, what are the chances that it would have a dual subject?
** I don't think that it has been previously mentioned anywhere, but it has become an established practice with me that pronouns still carry the case markings from the old grammar even when used with the indirect object marker. I can't say why. It just is.
So, how do you ask someone what their name is? I have a couple of ways to ask:
Kisa dei, mi an eyos? (lit., "Your name, it is what?")
Me kis eyos? (lit., "You are named what?")
The former would probably be the more usual way of doing it. The second, I am not so sure about. I think maybe it should be "Me kis im eyos?" -- that is, making "what" (eyos) the direct object of kis-- but that's not the way it used to be done, and I am not 100% sure I will make that change, no matter how logical it is.
For about 15 seconds, I considered a "How are you named?" option, but that wouldn't really make much sense, since the thing you are looking for is a "what"-- the thing that would be the object of the verb.
And that brings us to the current list of personal names in Nevashi. The list is short so far.
Feminine Names
- Taji, Tajisha - Marigold
- Delya - Victory
- Sema - Beautiful
- Omanet - Sailor
- Yuna - Brave
- Umosha - Bear
Masculine Names
- Delyafan, Delyafano - Victor
- Edhél - Strong
- Oman - Sailor
- Yun - Brave
- Semu - Beautiful
- Umo, Umowe - Bear
Unisex Names
- Imevi - Hopeful
- Imevazha - Worthy of Being Wished For
- Edhélva - Strength
- Shaoshan - Owl
- Kyun - Explorer (from ki yun, "he/she explores", possibly under the influence of kyu-, "away/down")
- Cevek - Deer
Yeah, a lot of those feminine names end in an unstressed a. I know, I know. Sue me. So do some of the unisex names... so there! Actually, this is just general usage; sex-and-gender isn't really such a big deal on Nevash. The only definitely masculine or feminine names up there are the ones that end in -sha (f) or -we (m), which are sex-specific diminutives. Go ahead, name your son Tajiwe. Nobody will laugh. I promise.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
The First 9 Days of Lexember.
It is 9 days into Lexember. Here's a list of the new words so far:
- Urad Hristi, Christmas
- nashín, meal
- gitcea, noon. Also, git, middle, center.
- tath, root. Also, pwentath, ginger
- cevek, deer
- umo, bear (the animal)
- bron, to be tired (with ca); to be bored (with sa)
- sashín, candy
- hula, circle
Monday, November 26, 2012
Chairs, Rebels, and Closing on 600.
Nevashi finally has a word for "chair," deviya, so I will no longer be able to joke that it has a word for "non-dualism" but not one for "chair". This new word is dev (to be located/stand/sit) + iya. It is modeled on meriya, bed, which is from mer, to sleep. Neither of these words fits especially well with the general meaning of -iya, which normally turns a verb into a noun that is the usual object of that verb: nash (eat) + iya = nashiya (food). I think this must be some sort of furniture-related exception. I had thought that perhaps it should be "devvi," since -vi indicates a tool or instrument, but that doesn't really seem to fit with the idea of furniture in my mind either. I like these words the way they are, so that's what they will be.
Another recent word I am especially fond of is fafari, rebellious or mutinous. I would say that it is derived from faru, to be opposed to, but that's not actually how it happened. "Faru" was reverse engineered from "fafari". File that under "Confessions of a Conlanger."
There are fewer than 10 words left until Nevashi hits the 600 word mark. It's at 592 right now. There's a flurry of new words coming soon that will put me well into the 600's.
After some conversation with Peter Bleackley (@PeteBleackley) on Twitter, a new word-building event was born: Lexember (link is to his blog post about it). That's a word a day for the 31 days of December. I am working on my list. I think I may do three words a day: one for Nevashi, one for ea-luna, and one for my embryonic personal auxiliary language, which I am currently calling "Maus"-- from "Mia Auxlang" and my crazy, enduring love of rodents. I'll be tweeting new words and posting them here as well. I hope to see plenty of #Lexember tweets, or posts elsewhere, with lots of interesting words to look at.
Another recent word I am especially fond of is fafari, rebellious or mutinous. I would say that it is derived from faru, to be opposed to, but that's not actually how it happened. "Faru" was reverse engineered from "fafari". File that under "Confessions of a Conlanger."
There are fewer than 10 words left until Nevashi hits the 600 word mark. It's at 592 right now. There's a flurry of new words coming soon that will put me well into the 600's.
After some conversation with Peter Bleackley (@PeteBleackley) on Twitter, a new word-building event was born: Lexember (link is to his blog post about it). That's a word a day for the 31 days of December. I am working on my list. I think I may do three words a day: one for Nevashi, one for ea-luna, and one for my embryonic personal auxiliary language, which I am currently calling "Maus"-- from "Mia Auxlang" and my crazy, enduring love of rodents. I'll be tweeting new words and posting them here as well. I hope to see plenty of #Lexember tweets, or posts elsewhere, with lots of interesting words to look at.
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