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Ahāmatya: Difference between revisions
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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
===Setting=== | |||
The people of Mana Etjelletyandalja are rather homogeneous in language, culture, and identity, though there exists a gradient of such things in a north-south direction, running along the length of the land. The central region of Mana Etjelletyandalja, called Mana Essa, or just Essa, is, historically, one of the more prominent regions of the island. '''Ahāmatya''' is the formal language, used in official capacities and as the literary language. The spoken languages of Mana Etjelletyandalja are collectively referred to as '''Vrjāmatya'''. | |||
'''Ahāmatya''' and '''Vrjāmatya''' are related, both having descended from a parent language, often referred to as '''Vasa Ururya Manān Etjelletyandaljān'''. This is a little misleading, however, in that '''Vasa Ururya Manān Etjelletyandaljān''' was actually a loose collection of highly related dialects, which over time enveloped Mana Etjelletyandalja, displacing the various native languages and dialects. There is little differentiation between '''Ahāmatya''' and '''Vasa Ururya Manān Etjelletyandaljān'''. Most speakers of '''Vrjāmatya''' do not readily distinguish the one from the other, and consider them to be a continuous entity. | |||
===Etymology=== | |||
The perfective participle '''ahāmatya''' is a compound consisting of '''aha-''' “together, bring together, an indication of a union of things thought as one” and '''amatya''' “made, built”. The former is a prefix that may be appended to verbs or nouns, and the latter is the perfective participle of the verb '''mat-''' “do, make, form”. Therefore, the meaning may be interpreted as “well prepared, refined, put together”. Since participle forms may act either as nominals or as modifiers, it is common to see '''ahāmatya''' stand alone, in which case it is thought of as a nominal, with the implication of “(that which is) well prepared, refined, put together”, where the items in parentheses are understood. | |||
The full form, '''Vasa Ahāmatya Manān Etjelletyandaljān''' is built from '''vasa''' “language, speech”, '''manān''' is the genitive form of '''mana''' "land". '''Etjelletyandaljān''' is a more difficult word to analyze. It is composed of '''etjellet-''' which is the perfective form of the transitive | |||
verb '''tjellet-''', itself derived from the noun '''tjelle''' “sky, heaven”. '''tjellet-''', then, has the meaning “to sky someone, to adore someone or something, to put someone or something on high”. '''etjelletya''', then, is the participle form “(that which is) adored, put on high”. The '''-nda-''' element is the augmentive, and the '''-lja-''' is a morpheme used to convert nouns into adjectives. '''Mana Etjelletyandalja''' is the full, poetic name for the land, meaning “the most adored or most favored land”. The final -n, with the lengthened vowel, is the genitive case marker. Besides being a poetic form, the notion of putting something or someone up on high, with connotations of putting them to the sky, works in a literal sense and refers to the magnificent mountains that dominate the skies and run the length of the land. These mountains are an important cultural and historical agent. Taken altogether, '''Vasa Ahāmatya Manān Etjelletyandaljān''' translates to “the refined language of the most revered land”. | |||
==Phonology== | ==Phonology== | ||