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Vadi: Difference between revisions
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Vadi is an extinct language once spoken in Minhay. A small parchment fragment was discovered in April 2015 in a cave outside of Peħħat, a small township in Sakkeb Prefecture. Soon larger fragments and then the wonderfully preserved Kalapái Scriptum were discovered in an isolated hut, dated as late as the mid to late 1800's CE. The Kalapái Scriptum is a collection of letters between two farmers, Éro and Sorvin, who were embroiled in an ongoing feud regarding the property lines between their lands. The letters were written in Vadi intermixed with words from the unrelated [[Peshpeg]] and [[Minhast]] languages. A few letters were written entirely in the the extinct Minhast Knife Speaker dialect. Also found among the letters are legal papers drawn from the Prefect of Dog Speaker Country. The farmers' letters contained several texts clearly indicating code-switching between Vadi and the Knife Speaker dialect. The portions containing the intermixed Knife Speaker and Peshpeg words were used to decipher the Vadi texts. The Dog Speaker papers did not contribute directly to the decipherment of the language, but as an external source it provided a great deal of context of the nature of the feud between the litigants. This external contextual source clarified the translation of otherwise ambiguous passages. The Kalapái Scriptum is thus popularly referred to as the "Minhast Rosetta Stone". | Vadi is an extinct language once spoken in Minhay. A small parchment fragment was discovered in April 2015 in a cave outside of Peħħat, a small township in Sakkeb Prefecture. Soon larger fragments and then the wonderfully preserved Kalapái Scriptum were discovered in an isolated hut, dated as late as the mid to late 1800's CE. The Kalapái Scriptum is a collection of letters between two farmers, Éro and Sorvin, who were embroiled in an ongoing feud regarding the property lines between their lands. The letters were written in Vadi intermixed with words from the unrelated [[Peshpeg]] and [[Minhast]] languages. A few letters were written entirely in the the extinct Minhast Knife Speaker dialect. Also found among the letters are legal papers drawn from the Prefect of Dog Speaker Country. The farmers' letters contained several texts clearly indicating code-switching between Vadi and the Knife Speaker dialect. The portions containing the intermixed Knife Speaker and Peshpeg words were used to decipher the Vadi texts. The Dog Speaker papers did not contribute directly to the decipherment of the language, but as an external source it provided a great deal of context of the nature of the feud between the litigants. This external contextual source clarified the translation of otherwise ambiguous passages. The Kalapái Scriptum is thus popularly referred to as the "Minhast Rosetta Stone". | ||
Today, two linguists, Dr. J.F. Schumann of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and Dr. Iyyaħmi min Ruššur of the University of Aškuan at Nannampuyyi, are the two major contributors to our current knowledge of the Vadi language, although others, such as Dr. Napayshni Tashunka of the University of the Lakota Nation at Three Pipes, has also made significant contributions. | Today, two linguists, Dr. J.F. Schumann of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and Dr. Iyyaħmi min Ruššur of the University of Aškuan at Nannampuyyi, are the two major contributors to our current knowledge of the Vadi language, although others, such as [[Minhast/Dialectology#The_Tashunka_Model| Dr. Napayshni Tashunka]] of the University of the Lakota Nation at Three Pipes, has also made significant contributions. | ||
This article incorporates the findings of their work; where the two Vadists significantly diverge, the divergence will be noted and both viewpoints will be presented. | This article incorporates the findings of their work; where the two Vadists significantly diverge, the divergence will be noted and both viewpoints will be presented. | ||