Volapűük nulíik: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 18:14, 25 January 2019
Introduction
Real setting
Volapȕük nulíik was a project which came into existence as some kind of a game with morphology and phonetics, especially with Volapük but also Gaeilge and Inuktitut. I have tried to create other conlangs from other constructed languages (e.g. Esperanto), but since the morphology of Volapük involves some degree of complexity, it was easier for me to use elements within the language (particles, case suffixes, prepositions etc.) and combine them in a new way. There is no real purpose or design goal of this language that might become visible, as it does not look that well-built; for instance, there is no special syllable structure designed for euphonic reasons. There are, however, some elements that add a special tone to sound, such as initial sound mutation, which has become a feature of verbal and noun morphology.
Fictional setting
The language is located in the old country of Volapükȁän. The country has been inhabited for more than 5000 years. Written records of the language exist from about 1500 years BC. About 1000 years (1000 AD) ago new settlers arrived at the shores of the northern coast. Those settlers, Irishmen and Inuktituts, found their dwellings and as an ongoing process intermixed with the local population, leaving deep traces in the language. The traces are less visible in the vocabulary but are far moreso in the structure and morphological richness that makes the language a unique mixture of very distinct features. The language continues to be used as a language of official affairs, media, daily conversation, etc., and thus is fully functioning. Due to its special stress patterns, it is not a preferred mean of poets, yet they have developed a style of their own to suit the special requirements of its stress patterns.
Phonology
Orthography
Volapȕük nulíik is written in Latin script with four diacritics (¨ ̏ ´ `). Long vowels are written with two graphemes. Names of persons, places, countries, companies are written with a capital letter.
Consonants
Vowels
Prosody
Stress
Intonation
Phonotactics
Morphophonology
Morphology
The basic morphology of Volapȕük nulíik encompasses only three categories:
-Nouns
-Verbs
-Interjections
Adjectives
Adjectives are predominantly nouns - they have a fixed position within the noun phrase and may function as nouns on their own. However, they may also function as a verb in conjunction with the copula verb "binön":
Binán | klotéedat | šerlíik. |
Bin-á-n | klotéed-at | šer-líik. |
BE-pres.-3.sg.obj. | LADYDRESS-demons.near | EXPENSIVE-adj. |
Šerlikán | klotéedat. |
Šer-lik-á-n | klotéed-at |
[EXPENSIVE-adj.]verb.copula-pres.-3.sg.obj. | LADYDRESS-demons.near |
"This dress is expensive."
The first version is more common among speakers of a lower social status, whereas the second has a more official and literary style. The first version, however, may also be used by people of higher status, especially in situations when someone wants to emphasize that the dress really IS expensive. This is in contrast to languages like German or English, as Volapűük_nulíik expresses emphasis not on the intonational level but on the morphological.
Numerals
Numerals also belong, just like adjectives, predominantly to the category of nouns, but can be used as verbs as well:
Lödáps | niđom | žönlig | giló |
Löd-á-p-s | ni-đom | žön-lig | gil-ó |
RESIDE-pres.-m./f.pl. | IN-HOUSE-abs. | BEAUTIFUL-adj.abs. | THREE-loc. |
"They live in three beautiful houses."
Telđegänáms. |
Telđeg-an-á-m-s. |
[TWENTY]verb.copula-pers.n-pres.-m.pl. |
"We are twenty men."
Nouns
The category of nouns encompasses all words that denote concrete and abstract objects, persons, animals, plants, feelings, and concepts. Noun is the basic category of words, since each adjective, verb, and so on is based on a nominal root and derived from it. Nouns inflect for case, number, and possession and may receive further conjunctive/modal particles
Each noun is built up according to a fixed scheme:
Prefix | Stem | Determiner | Case suffix | Number suffix | Possessiv suffix | Modal particles |
---|
Numbers
Nouns inflect for number, meaning they indicate whether a noun appears as a single entity (singular), as a pair/in two (dual), or in more than one entity (plural). Each number has a specific marker:
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Suffixes | -ø-/-b- | -t-/-d- | -s-/-z- (-š-/-ž-) |
Since the singular is a category that almost any object, person, animal, idea, or anything else can appear in, it is considered the 'default' category and remains unmarked. This is also true for most natural languages, where there is no explicit suffix denoting a single unit of something. However, there are languages, such as Welsh, which provide a singular suffix for nouns that normally denominate entities that exist in conglomeration, e.g. the trees of a forest coed, where a single tree is derived from the whole via the suffix -en, thus giving coeden 'a tree'. This system does not apply to Volapȕük nulíik. Every noun has the default numerical value 1, and thus is in the singular by default. The second suffix for the singular number is actually a suffix occasionally used, e.g. for poetic purposes or when a speaker wants to stress the singularity of a noun. The dual suffix has a correspondence with the number word for 'two' tel. It can appear in a voiced alternative, which evolved as a result of voiced surrounding consonants. This applies also to the plural marker s, which alternates with z. In personal endings there is also the alternation -š-/-ž- which evolved due to phonological changes.
Cases
Volapȕük nulíik has a complex set of cases. The complexity arises from a set of nine primary cases, which exist independently but can also be combined with a set of prefixes of local, temporal, or abstract function. This combination creates more than seventy different cases, which can not all be named and are not all actually regarded as cases of their own.
The basic cases and their suffixes are:
Case | Name | Suffix | Main function(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | serafáal | -ø | Subject of transitive & intransitive verbs |
Vocative | vokafáal | -ø/-ȍ | Form of a noun to call someone/something |
Genitive | faláak | -á(-) | Relational case, direct object in negative sentences |
Dative | faléek | -é(-) | Receiver of bitransitive verbs, [logical] subject of emotional verbs, locative: origin of movement |
Accusative | falíik | -í(-) | Direct object of transitiv verbs |
Locative | falóok | -ó(-) | Indicating position in a place, space etc. |
Translative | falȕük | -úu(-)/-ȕ(-) | Change of state |
Essive | falúuk | -ú(-) | Being in a changeable state |
Exlative | falwéek | -wé(-)/-wȁ(-) | Ending of a state |
The Northern dialect has retained a tenth case, which has collapsed in other dialects with the dative suffix -é(-), and thus adding its meaning to the dative case:
Case | Name | Suffix | Main function(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | serafáal | -ø | Subject of transitive & intransitive verbs |
Vocative | vokafáal | -ø/-ȍ | Form of a noun to call someone/something |
Genitive | faláak | -á(-) | Relational case, direct object in negative sentences |
Dative | faléek | -é(-) | Receiver of bitransitive verbs, [logical] subject of emotional verbs |
Accusative | falíik | -í(-) | Direct object of transitiv verbs |
Locative | falóok | -ó(-) | Indicating position in a place, space etc. |
Delative | falȁäk | -ȁ(-) | Origin of movement |
Translative | falȕük | -úu(-)/-ȕ(-) | Change of state |
Essive | falúuk | -ú(-) | Being in a changeable state |
Exlative | falwéek | -wé(-)/-wȁ(-) | Ending of a state |
The Vocative provides two optional endings: a) a zero-ending, differing from the nominative only in this feature that the beginning of the word appears in its lenited form:
Nominative | Historical vocative | Modern vocative | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
dóom | o đóom! | đóom! | house |
táal | o dáal! | dáal! | earth |
góod | o ghóod! | ghóod! | god / God |
píid | o bíid! | bíid | regret |
The particle -ö was traditionally used to express exclamations, e.g. seelȍ! "Quiet!" < seel "being quiet", moȍ! "Get out of here!" < mo "away". This usage has extended towards nouns and names of persons: Kal ("Charles") > Kalȍ!, Floor ("flower") > Floorȍ!, etc.
In the Northern dialect this principle has remained to the very day and developed in a manner that adding the suffix showed the person addressed a form of respect. Addressing a "normal" person was gradually done by simply using the nominative form. However, about two hundred years ago, the people speaking the northern dialect started to adopt a fashion of using the lenited nominative form as a normal form of address. Therefore, the dialect incorporated both forms, having a "normal" vocative form and a "special" vocative form, showing extra respect to the person addressed.:
Vocative | Usage | Meaning intended |
---|---|---|
o Gal! | Most dialects | normal form of adressing someone |
Kal! | Northern dialect | normal form of adressing someone; other dialects: harsh adressing |
Kalȍ! | Northern dialect | respectful manner of adressing someone |
The further development spread the -ȍ-suffix to other dialects and within about 50 years the usage as a marker of respect evolved. Therefore, the language today has two forms of marking the vocative case: a) using the lenited nominative stem b) adding the suffix -ȍ to show more respect to the person addressed.
Prefixes
The category Prefix encompasses a wide range of lexical elements that have two things in common:
a) all of them were prepositions and became attached to the stem at some point in the history of the language.
b) they change the beginning of the noun they are attached to by a process called lenition. This process is explained in detail in the section morphophonological processes.
c) they do occur alone but are always combined with a specific case suffix. In some cases a single prefix may be combined with more than one case suffix and thus giving a specific, different meaning with each case suffix.
Local prefixes
These prefixes indicate spatial relations. In most natlangs and conlangs these relations are expressed via separate words. In Volapȕük nulíik this used to be done as well. However, about two thousand years ago, speakers started combining adverbs with prepositions, e.g. in domó 'at the house' > indomó. These new expressions were very quickly recognized and analyzed as complete words and only about 100 years after the first appearance of such constructions were they written with the initial syllabic structure CV-, including a change of the initial consonant: niddomó ( dd representing a dental fricative [ð]).
Most of these prefixes kept the phonetic structure they had as prepositions.
Since these prefixes inherit a local meaning they are combined with the locative case. They do this if they mean a place or a location where an action takes place. When they indicate the aim of a movement, they are combined - as e. g. in German or many Slavic languages with the accusative case. The third option is different depending on the style of language used. For indicating the origin of a movement, the Northern dialect employs the delative case (expressed by the suffix -ȁ-), the other dialects and the standard language use the dative case (-é-) instead.
This table givs an overview of the local prefixes and their meaning:
Suffix | Name | Meaning | Case combined (case in other languages) | Example | Translation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ni- | nivalóok | inside of | locative (inessive) | niđomó | in the house |
ni- | nivalíik | into sth. | accusative (illative) | niđomí | into the house |
ni- | nivaléek | out of sth. | dative/delative (elative) | niđomé / niđomȁ | out of the house |
fo- | fovalóok | in front of | locative (?) | fođomó | in front of the house |
fo- | fovalíik | into the front of | accusative (?) | fođomí | into the front of the house |
fo- | fovaléek | from the front of | dative/delative (?) | fođomé / fođomȁ | from the front of the house |
po- | povalóok | behind | locative (?) | pođomó | behind the house |
po- | povalíik | into the backside of | accusative (?) | pođomí | into the backside of the house |
po- | povaléek | from the backside of | dative/delative (?) | pođomé / pođomȁ | from the backside of the house |
di- | divalóok | under | locative (?) | diđomó | under the house |
di- | divalíik | into the underside of | accusative (?) | diđomí | into the underside of the house |
di- | divaléek | from the underside of | dative/delative (?) | diđomé / diđomȁ | from the underside of the house |
lü- | lüvalóok | the direction of | locative (?) | lüđomó | in the direction of the house (place) |
lü- | lüvalíik | into the front of | accusative (?) | lüđomí | in the direction of the house (movement) |
lü- | lüvaléek | from the direction of | dative/delative (?) | lüđomé / lüđomȁ | from the direction of the house |
lo- | lovalóok | above | locative (?) | lođomó | above the house |
lo- | lovalíik | into the space above of | accusative (?) | lođomí | above the house (movement) |
lo- | lovaléek | from the space above of | dative/delative (?) | lođomé / lođomȁ | from the space above of the house |
su- | suvalóok | on | locative (?) | suđomó | on the house |
su- | suvalíik | onto | accusative (?) | suđomí | onto the house |
su- | suvaléek | from the upside of | dative/delative (?) | suđomé / suđomȁ | from the upside of the house |
be- | bevalóok | between | locative (?) | beđomót | between the two houses |
be- | bevalíik | in between | accusative (?) | beđomít | in between the two houses (movement) |
be- | bevaléek | from in between of | dative/delative (?) | beđomét / beđomȁt | from in between of the two houses |
da- | davalóok | through | locative (?) | dađomó | through the two houses (place) |
da- | davalíik | through sth. | accusative (?) | dađomí | through the house (aim) |
da- | davaléek | from through of | dative/delative (?) | dađomé / dađomȁ | from in through the house (origin) |
le- | levalóok | into the space at | locative (?) | lođomó | into the space at the house |
le- | levalíik | from the space at sth. | accusative (?) | lođomí | from the space at the house (movement) |
le- | levaléek | from at | dative/delative (?) | lođomé / lođomȁ | from at the house |
mu- | muvalóok | next to | locative (?) | muđomó | next to the house |
mu- | muvalíik | into the space next of | accusative (?) | muđomí | next to the house (movement) |
mu- | muvaléek | from the space next of | dative/delative (?) | muđomé / muđomȁ | from the space next of the house |
ta- | tavalóok | against [local] | locative (?) | tađomó | against the house |
ta- | tavalíik | against [movement] | accusative (?) | tađomí | against the house (movement) |
ta- | tavaléek | from the space against of | dative/delative (?) | tađomé / tađomȁ | from the space against of the house |
plö- | plövalóok | outside of [local] | locative (?) | plöđomó | outside of the house |
plö- | plövalíik | outside of [movement] | accusative (?) | plöđomí | into the space outside of the house |
plö- | plövaléek | from the space outside of | dative/delative (?) | plöđomé / plöđomȁ | from the space outside of the house |
nü- | nüvalóok | inside of [local] | locative (?) | nüđomó | inside of the house |
nü- | nüvalíik | inside of [movement] | accusative (?) | nüđomí | into the space inside of the house |
nü- | nüvaléek | from the space inside of | dative/delative (?) | nüđomé / nüđomȁ | from the space inside of the house |
de- | devaléek | from [loc.] | dative (ablative) | deđomé | from the house |
šü- | šüvalíik | until | accusative (terminative) | šüđomí | up to the house |
Temporal prefixes
The second large group of prefixes is the group of temporal prefixes, which indicate information on time. Due to their specific meaning they occur normally only in time-related words and expressions. They have in common that they combine only with the essive case suffix. As an example the noun déel "day" will be used, except for dü- which is only used with a specific point of time.
Suffix | Name | Meaning | Case combined (case in other languages) | Example | Translation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
nö- | növalúuk | at / in / on [temporal] | essive (?) | nöđelú | on a day |
bü- | büvalúuk | before | essive (?) | büđelú | before the day |
po- | povalúuk | after [temp.] | essive (?) | pođelú | after the day |
de- | devalúuk | from [temp.] | essive (ablative) | deđelú | from the day on |
du- | duvalúuk | during | essive (?) | duđelú | during the day (as a period of 24 hours) |
šü- | šüvalúuk | to / until | essiv (?) | šüđelú | to the day |
dü- | düvalúuk | at ... o'clock | essive (?) | düdegú | at ten o'clock |
plö- | plövalúuk | outside of | essive (?) | plöwobú | outside of working hours |
tü- | tüvalúuk | within [temp.] | essive (?) | tüđelút | within two days |
si- | sivalúuk | since [point of time] | essive (?) | siđelatú | since this day |
fo- | fovalúuk | for [space of time] | essive (?) | fođelút | for two days |
tö-/te- | tövalúuk/tevalúuk | in ... time | essive (?) | töwekú/tewekú | in one week |
Modal prefixes
Another category are modal prefixes. This prefixes transfer a variety of meanings, e. g. the mean by which something is done or the medium via something has been transmitted. Therefore, their case suffixes vary and
Suffix | Name | Meaning | Case combined (case in other languages) | Example | Translation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
fa- | favalúuk | through sth. [abstract] | essive (mediative?) | fawüretodú, favlenú | through the internet, through a friend |
me- | mevalúuk | with sth. [instrument] | essive (instrumental) | menneefú | with a knife |
ko- | kovalúuk | with s.o. [comitative] | essive (comitative) | kovlenú | with a friend |
sä- | sävalúuk | as if / like | essive (comparative?) | sämmotú, sännaanú | as a mother [standard, northern dialect] |
sa- | savalúuk | as (same quality) | essive (comparative) | sammotú, savlenúba | as my friend (the same height, the same weight) |
ka- | kavaléek | than [comparison] | dative (comparative) | kavlenéba | than my friend |
ko- | kovaléek | because of [circumstance] | dative (circumstantial causative | kovlenúba | because of my friend being there (no direct causation) |
bi- | bivaléek | because of [causation] | dative (direct causative effect) | bizdoné | because of the stone (the stone fell and the vase broke) |
ma- | mavalúuk | according to [oral citation] | essive (quotative) | mawödúfes/mawödúfäs | according to her words (the words she said, according to her opinion) |
ba- | bavalúuk | according to [written text] | essive (quotative) | ballonú | according to the law (as it is written) |
ta- | tavulúuk | against (abstract) | essive (?) | binön tagrigú | to be against war |
pro- | provalúuk | for, in favour of | essive (?) | binön prollon nulikú | to be for / in favour of the new law |
The two cases used for quotation are used for different quotation purposes. Mavalúuk indicates an oral citation, something that is said and not recorded, something from the memory, a citation of an oppinion. Bavalúuk on the other hand quotes texts, written sources or natural laws, in general things that are fixed in stone, on paper and not an opinion. If there is an opinion written down on a paper, mavalúuk is used instead.
Negative preffixes
Negative prefixes encompass meanings of negativity and exclusion. They combine exclusively with the genitive suffix, which is also used in verbal structures to mark a direct object in a negative statement or question.
Suffix | Name | Meaning | Case combined (case in other languages) | Example | Translation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ne- | nevaláak | without | genitive (abessive) | nevlená | without a friend |
plä- | plävaláak | except for | genitive (privitative) | plävlenába | except for my friend |
da- | davaláak | of sth. | genitive (partitive) | davlená | a friend/no friend (usage cf. partitive in Basque and Finnish in neg. sentences) |
Negation is normally marked on the verb (by the prefix no-), however sometimes also a noun or a whole noun phrase needs to be negated, e.g. "I am not searching for peace, not for clarity, not for freedom, but for war, for misconception, for slavery." In this case, the negation can also be expressed on a noun or a noun phrase. The noun/noun phrase remains as it is in a positive statement, however the prefix "no-" is added [no lenition is applied] and at the end of the noun/the noun phrase the suffix -k is added, to mark the end of the negation. Since negation accourse very often of direct objects, the following case is genitive, but in general any other case could be used. As an example the phrase will be used:
"I am not searching for peace, not for clarity, not for freedom, but for war, for misconception, for slavery."
"Zukkában püdá, nokleeliká, nolibiká, sukkábintà krigí, pölsuemí, slafí."
Zukk-á-b-a-n | püd-á | no-kleel-i-k-á | no-lib-i-k-á | suk-k-á-b-i-n-tà | krig-í | pöl-suem-í | slaf-í. |
LOOK FORneg.-pres.-1.sg.-gen.-3.sg.obj. | PEACE-gen. | neg.-CLARITY-acc.-nominalizer-gen. | neg.-FREEDOM-acc.-nominalizer-gen. | LOOK FOR-pres.-1.sg.-acc.-3.sg.obj.-in contrast | WAR-acc. | ERROR-UNDERSTANDING-acc. | SLAVERY-acc. |
Determiners
Determiners are used to specify a noun. In Volapȕük nulíik they follow the noun immidiately but in contrast to derivational suffixes they do never take the stress of the word which reminds before or after the determiner.
Suffix | Etymology | Meaning | Example | Person | Translation | Place | Translation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-ek | ek < *et | that | dóomek "that house" | pösóodek | that one / that man | tóopek | that place / the place there |
-al | al < *al, alik | every | dóomal "every house" | pösóodal | every person / everyone | tóopal | every place, everywhere |
-Cal | Cal < *val, valik | all | dóommal "all houses" (coll. dóommals) | pösóoddal | all people, everyone | tóoppal | all the places |
-an | an < *anik | some | dóoman "some house(s)" (coll. dóomans) | pösóoddan | some persons / people | tóopan | some places |
-on | on < *no | no | dóomon "no house" | pösóodon | no one / nobody | tóopon | no place, nowhere |
-em | em < *seimik | any | dóomem "any house" | pösóodem | any person, anyone | tóopem | any place, anywhere |
-om | om < *somik | such | dóomom "such a house" | pösóodom | such a person | tóopom | such a place |
-ot | ot < *ot | same | dóomot "the same house" | pösóodot | the same person | tóopot | the same place |
Posession
The category of possession is build up the same way as the personal suffixes for verbs. So, the category features three numbers (singular, dual and plural) and three persons: speaker, person addressed and a third person. The third person itself divides itself into the main categories animated and inanimated, dividing the first category into three other subcategories, masculine, feminine and a neutral person. This neutral person is either used to indicate a person of unknown gender / sex or is used to refer to person who do not identify themselves as masculine or feminine. From a etymological perspective this suffix arose from a mixture of the masculine /-m/ and feminine suffix /-f/ giving a preform *-mf which later developped into *-mp and finally losing the nasal part giving -p as a fully productive personal suffix which can be combined with various other persons.
Singular | Dual | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Person | |||||
2. Person | informal inclusive | ||||
formal inclusive | |||||
informal exclusive | |||||
formal exclusive |
Modal particles
These particles do not only appear in nouns but are also used in verbal construction. They encompass different types of lexical particles, e.g. conjunctions, particles of degree and so on. This means the particles in this category have different functions but have one common place to be put into in each noun or noun phrase. Therefore, they are grouped under this term.
suffix | meaning | example | translation |
---|---|---|---|
-te | only | kaf balíte | [I take] only one coffee |
-ti | almost | šitsilíti | [he hit] almost the girl |
-mu | extreme | fit grandíikmu | an extrem big fish |
-(g)ee | and | Petéer Páulee | Peter and Paul |
-(g)ee ... -(g)ee | both and | Petéeree Páulee | both Peter and Paul |
-(g)uu | or | Petéer Páuluu | Peter or Paul |
-(g)uu ... -(g)uu | Petéeruu Páuluu | either Peter or Paul | |
-ba | maybe, perheps | ? | ? |
-la | possibly | ? | ? |
-le | completely, the whole; not at all | ? | ? |
-no | yet / not yet | ? | ? |
-(g)ii | too, also | Petéerii | Peter, too |
Verbs
Syntax
Constituent order
Noun phrase
Verb phrase
Sentence phrase
Dependent clauses
Example texts
Examples of translations:
"If I had a flower for every time I think of you, I could walk forever in my garden." - Claudia A. Grandi
Translation:
"Florretáabaafì tikábilbalbì, nesimlikánöv gáadba."
Florretáabaafì | tikábilbalbì | nesimlikánöv | gáadba. |
Flor-ret-áa-b-aa-fì | tik-á-b-i-l-bal-bì | ne-sim-lik-á-n-öv | gáad-ba. |
FLOWER-receive-pres.gen.-1.sg.-always-if | THINK-pres.-1.sg.-acc.-2.sg.-one.time-because | [neg.-BORDER-adj.]verb.copula-pres.-3.sg.obj.-cond. | GARDEN-1.sg.gen. |
Literally: "If I always get a flower because I think of you one time, my garden would be endless."
"He who hesitates is lost."
"Tsogáapaabì flotáapaa nivlumedó."
Tsogáapaabì | flotáapaa | nivlumedó. |
Tsog-áa-p-aa-bì | flot-áa-p-aa | ni-vlumed-ó. |
HESITATE-pres.gen.-3.sg.f./m.-always-because | FLOAT-pres.gen.-3.sg.f./m.-always | IN-RIVER-loc. |
Literally: "Since he/she always hesitates he/she always floats in a river."
"I love pizza."
"Pitsakkiddofáab."
Pitsakkiddofáab. |
Pitsak-kid-dof-áa-b. |
Pitsak-Cid-Cof-áa-b. |
PIZZA-eat.v-enjoy.v-pres.gen.-1.sg. |
Literally: "I enjoy eating pizza."
"My heart is empty, I feel it."
Translations:
Senäláb vagälikánda láadba. literally: "I feel that my heart is empty." [Very modern styled and more common among younger people]
Vagälikán láadba. Senäláneb. literally: "My heart is empty. It feels to me." [traditional]
Nesenällabán láadba, senäláneb. literally: "My heart is without emotions. It feels to me." [very traditional and stylistically on a high level.]
"Sunlight takes about eight minutes and twenty seconds to reach Earth."
Translation:
"Bináans minúut šölza sekúun telđegee kontagáanadla solalíit talá suzürfatí."
Bin-áa-n-s | minúut | šöl-za | sekúun | telđeg-ee | kontag-áa-n-ad-la | sola-líit | tal-á | su-zürfat-í |
BE-pres.gen.-3.sg.obj.-pl. | MINUTE | EIGHT-about | SECOND | TWENTY-and | TOUCH-pres.gen.-3.sg.obj.-fin.-subj. | SUN-LIGHT | EARTH-gen. | on-SURFACE-acc. |
Greetings
Daily greetings
"Gudikáperös / Gudikápelös Múun." -> Good day. [literally: May the God of time be good to you.]
"Slippudólös / Slippudórös dunneetú." -> Good night. [literally: May you sleep good during the night.]
"Gudikónös déella." -> Good morning. [literally: May your day be good.]
Thankfulness
Showing one's thankfulness is an important value in the society of Volapükáan. Therefore, there is not only one translation for "thank you" but several, depending on the person to thank, the person(s) who receive the thank and finally the circumstances.
1. Circumstances
There are three main verbs which translate as "to thank":
danön - to thank [generally]
danilön - to thank a little [a small favour done]
ledanön - to thank [a big favour done / saving someone's life].
2. Basic structure
The verb "danön" and its derivations all follow the following pattern:
subject - person who says 'thank you'
accusative - thing / action that is thanked for
dative - person who receives the 'thank you'.
3. Persons
The subject is generally a first person, thus a first person suffix will be used. However, since Volapüük nulíik diferentiates very explicitly between singular, dual, plural, exclusive and inclusive forms, there are in total 19 different suffixes which can be placed in this positon.
Birthday wish
Full wish:
"Vipábanel Motedadät läbliká."
Vip-á-b-a-n-e-l | Moted-a-dät | läb-lik-á |
WISH-pres.-1.sg.-gen.-3.sg.obj.-dat.-2.sg.inf. | BIRTH-gen.-DATEabs. | HAPPINESS-adj.-gen. |
Of course, in spoken language the word is very often omitted and thus only "Motedadät läbliká" is used as a with for one's birthday. If a full wish wants to be said, it is important to remember, which person(s) receive the wish. The literal translation motedadéel refers only to the day of birth, so the day when a baby is born. After that a human being (or pet) can only have "motedadȁät".