Fén Ghír

"An bhé chuc cún dhér dó gil me dí. Och tel lé gérul del ténan me dí, lú chí lú ba lú lé bhoc del lór me dí cór tol. En gar dí me gon."-Lúdhí Fén Ógil Níradh.

"We take from Iron it's rightful prize. And if we sail to the wide world's end, all know that we'll return from the depths a thousand times. Death cannot keep us."-Old Fén War Song.

Fén Ghír
Type
Isolating
Alignment
Direct
Head direction
Initial	Mixed		Final
Primary word order
Verb-object-subject
Tonal
No
Declensions
No
Conjugations
No
Genders
no

Introduction

This is my first attempt at a conlang, originally conceived as a part of a larger game that never took off. It is the only language from the game that reached anything nearing completion. Inspiration and influence were drawn both from my earliest impression of Irish while falling back on my stronger knowledge of English and French. The grammar was largely completed before I had much experience with linguistic theory or the conlanging community, thus while functional it may be somewhat backwards at times and occaisionally lacks for easy terms to descripe itself.

General information

The language is designed for a conworld and as such aims to be as unique as possible. However as both an early conlang and due to initial worries for aesthetic features as well as content it draws heavily on a few sources;

Irish Gaelic served as the largest inspiration, more obviously in regards to grammatical lenition, Head first and phonology in general. English and French are heavy influences as well due to my stronger knowledge of them.

Some aspects are new, largely aiming towards simplification while remaining unique; the isolating aspect, copula and relative clauses are unique to the language and derived from my desire to keep things as simple and categorical as possible.

Morphemes originally were derived by mixing French, Irish and English words beyond the point of recognition. This was later largely supplanted both with the use of randomized generators and compounds and other mutations derived from these morphemes.

Fén history

Derived from the Galav culture which spread far during the early iron age. The Fén came about as the Galav spread over what would come to be known as Nílíra or the Fén Highlands and eventually spread over the rest of the penisula. The Fén are the only remaining people of the Galav culture that retain complete cultural independance under a High King. They are in turn divided into six petty kingdoms and the northern island colonies, with four major cultural sub-groups and dialects. Culturally, they are adopting the style of their imperial neighbours and loan words along with it.

To do

"Té dégep me gír cur tol fabhen pon éloc léc cíp dó dégep ghír."

"Language is always expanding to meet the needs of an expanding language."

Current Issue: What purpose does accusative serve directly? Having been influenced heavily by Irish, Fén uses "cór", "del", "ce" and "dó" in the same way many languages use accusative. Currently in a lot of cases, it either emulates English or could be made into an adjective in many ways. The Accusative is redundant, it may be wise to elimate another case for the sake of shortening or make Fén into a VSO order.

Also, vocabularly. Always more vocabularly.

Phonology

The following is a rough approximation of Címén Ghír, or "Sacred Fayn" which is used taught and used as a neutral dialect amongst the educated classes;

Consonants

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Stop	p b	t d		k g
Fricative	f v	s		x	h
Affricate			ʒ	ɣ
Approximant	w
Trill		r
Lateral app.		l

Vowels

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Near-Close	ɪ	ʊ
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	ɛ
Open	a a:	ɑ ɑ:

Alphabet

Fén Alphabet

Letter	Consonants	Lenition	Exceptions
b	/b/	/w/	v at the end of the word and before i&e.
c	/k/	/x/	/s/ before i&e.
d	/d/	/ʒ/
f	/f/	(silent)
g	/g/	/ɣ/
l	/l/	-
m	/m/	/w/
n	/n/	-
p	/p/	/f/
r	/r/	-
t	/t/	/h/

Vowels

Vowel	Short	Long
A	a	a:
E	ɛ	e
I	ɪ	i
O	ɑ	o
U	ʊ	u

Irregularities

The dialect represented here is the formal version of Fén which is resistant to external sandhi and as the dialect from which the written language is derived, most changes are reflected in spelling. However in the case of root words and compounds, it may be seen that some fronted vowels vowels are shifted before sonorants; i (/ɪ/) becomes í (/i/), e (/ɛ/) becomes é (/e/). In these cases an accent is usually added ignoring etymological rules.

This rule is also followed in the case of a and á, which are pronounced as /ɑ/ and /ɑ:/ respectively when prior to a sonorant with "a" indistinguishable from "o". This is the only Sandhi which is not recorded as some dialects offer alternate pronunciations which keep "a" distinguishable from "o".

Phonotactics

Compounds in Fén are constructed with strict sandhi rules, which reflect the fundamental phonotactic laws of Fén;

When the initial word ends with a consonant and the second begins with one, the consonant is dropped from the initial word and the consonant in the latter is lenited, if possible.

When the initial word ends with a vowel and the second begins with a vowel, the vowel is dropped from the initial word.

When the initial word ends with a consonant and the second begins with a vowel, the consonant and vowel become a few consonant.

When the initial word ends with a vowel and the second begins with a consonant, the structure remains unchanged.

Merging Sandhi

Initial Word	Latter Word	Final Word
CVC	CVC	CV(C)-LVC
V	V	(V)V
CVC	V	CV-CV
V	CVC	V-CVC

In the above table, C represents a consonant, V a verb and L represents a lenitioned consonant when possible. Finally, bracketed letters are dropped.

Typical syllabic structure of a Fén word then is;

(V)-(CV)-(CV)-CVC-(V)

Lenition in these occurs in non-initial [and occaisionally initial] consonants due to historic merging and thus cannot necessarily be predicted.

Exceptions occur rarely due to independant consonant vowels, where CVC-V-CVC structure can occur. This is rare however. Further exceptions may occur due to common endings such as én, on or an which serve more as suffixes and thus do not interfere with syllable structure.

Similarly, there are exceptions outside of these words, typically amongst words who merged prior Pyrittyl-Galavic split. These are sometimes visible due to a lack of internal lenition, though that may occur for other reasons.

Grammar

Pronouns

Pronoun	Fén
1st Sing.	di
2nd Sing.	re
3rd Sing.	lo
1st Pl. [excl.]	dí
1st Pl. [incl.]	rí
2nd Pl.	ré
3rd Pl.	ló

Determiners

Fén Determiners
Proximal Determiner	Distal Determiner	Alternative Determiner	Proximal Determiner (Pl)	Distal Determiner (Pl)	Alternative Determiner (Pl)	Interrogative Determiner	Relative Determiner	Interrogative Determiner (Pl)	Relative Determiner (Pl)
Ít	Ítá	Ítin	Ítibh	Ítábh	Ítina	At	Ét	Atibh	Étibh
This	That	This Other Thing	These	Those	These Other Things	What?	Which	What? (pl)	Those things which...
Ígel	Ígelá	Ígelin	Ígelibh	Ígelábh	Ígelina	Agel	Égal	Agelibh	Égalibh
This Person	That Person	This Other Person	These People	Those People	These Other People	Who?	Who	Who Are They?	Those Ones Who...
Bhoci	Bhocá	Bhocin	Bhocibh	Bhocábh	Bhocina	Abéc	Ébéci	Abécibh	Ébécibh
Now	Then	This Other Time	These Times	Those Times	These Other Times	When?	When	Which Time?	Those Times When...
Íc	Ícá	Ícin	Ícibh	Ícábh	Ícina	Acá	Écá	Acábh	Écábh
Here	There	This Other Place	These Places	Those Places	These other places	Where?	Where	Which Places?	Those Places Where...
Íloc	Ílocá	Ílocin	Ílocábh	Ílocibh	Ílocina	Aloc	Éloc	Alocibh	Élocibh
This Reason	That Reason	This Other Reason	These Reasons	Those Reasons	These Other Reasons	Why?	The Reason Which	Why?	Those Reasons Which...
Íd	Ídá	Ídin	Ídábh	Ídibh	Ídina	Ad	Éd	Adibh	Édibh
This Way	That Way	This Other Way	These Ways	Those Ways	These Other Ways	How?	How	Which Ways?	Those Methods Which...

In Fén, Determiners double as pronouns if the meaning is of them is made clear. relative pronouns precede relative clauses, as in English. ex. "I will give my word to whoever merits it."

The initial determiner or proximal determiner, fills the role of both "this" and sometimes "the" in English, once established in a conversation the proximal determiner sticks and is used in cases even where "that" would be used in English by the other speaker.

The distal determiner serves to emphasize a contrast, thus would be used in sentences with a proximal determiner or shortly afterwards in order to posit some sort of relationship between the two or simple emphasize them in contrast to each other.

The alternative determiner is used in order to switch the proximal or distal determiner. Where in English this doesn't receive any special emphasis, in Fén the first time the subject which the term "this" refers to in a conversation is changed, an "Alternative Determiner" is used, in order to show as much.

Ígelá and ígel see much less use than the simpler pronouns, such as "lo" but in written word, they might follow in the sentence after a relative pronoun, though lo in that case is also acceptable and more common. Ígel may be used in a sense similar to "on" in French or "one" in English.

Quantifying determiners

Fén Ghír	English
Tol Med (ba) [Noun]	Enough (of)
Tol (ba)[Noun]	All (of)
Ró Lú ba [Noun]	Too Much of
Lú (ba) [Noun]	Many/(Much of)
Ra (ba) [Noun]	Some (of)
Éna (ba)[Noun]	Few (of)
Ró Éna ba [Noun]	Too Few
Ne Én (ba) [Noun]	None

It should be noted that these do not cause a noun to pluralize.

On their own, these give an amount of something that one possesses, when a possessive ba is inserted then it's a quantity of the total and is used similarly to the difference in English between "A lot" and "A lot of".

There are two import cases that this can precede Cídér and Fabhan.

• If preceding Cídér it is a general statement on how likely something is, literally how much possibility it has. "Éna ba cídér" is "rarely".
• If preceding Fabhan it refers both how long until something occurs and how often something occurs; "(Lé bhé dén dir) Ne Én Fabhan (cur ít)" Means "(This will be done in) No Time" while "(Bhé dén dir) Ne Én ba Fabhen (cur ít)'" means "This was never done" or more literally "This is done none of the time".

Verb and noun phrases

Fén language branches leftwards on Verb/Noun Phrases. Adjectives, Adverbs and Possessive precede the Verb/Noun.

Verb phrase

Verb Branching Order

Temporal Auxiliary verbs	Adverbs	Mood Auxiliary verbs	Quantity Adverb	Verb

+Quantity in this case refers to the number of times an action is performed rather than the number of people performing it; "Hit twice" would be used rather than "Hit two times"

Verbs are modified by the adjectives preceding them and since grammatically an adjective can often be used as a noun and vica versa, the noun in a verb phrase has the first possible consonant aspirated and always precedes either a preposition or if it is a part of a list, a subcoupla.

Verbs are followed by the Subject [Accusative Noun]. In cases where the division is unclear [due to the verb doubling as a temporal adverb for example] is when the preposition "ag" is used to make the Accusative.

Noun phrase

Noun Phrase Branching

Preposition*	Adjective for Gen. Noun	Genative Noun	Genative Preposition	Adjective	Quantity	Noun	Determiner

Nouns work in a manner similar to verbs. A particular quality in nouns is that they are either preceded by a preposition, a relative determiner, a subcoupla or the end of the sentence.

Lenition

If a noun or verb is preceded by number, adjectives or an adverb, then lenition occurs in the first consonant.

Sight->'Cím'

Dark Sight (A Foreboding Vision)->'Pél chím.'

Very dark sight-> ''Bér pél chím"

Copula

A Sentence may begin with a Copula, this gives the context of whether the sentence is positive, negative or comparative.

Copula

Copula	English
An	It is that...
Ach	Is it that...
En	It is not that...
Ech	Is it not that...
In	If it is (...), then it is(...)
Ich	Is it that if (...), then (...)
On	If it is (...), then (...) is not.
Och	Is it that if it is (...), then (...) is not.

'An' is often dropped if the speaker feels that the sentences are clearly divided by his tone. Someone speaking fast, with an accent or with a complicated sentence and meaning, will use "An". Writers will use it to create a sense of formality, especially in accounts and reports. Sometimes it will be added in order to emphasize the division or contrast with the between to sentences. In English it might be directly translated as "Yet" or "Though", but it can also be used in a formal list prefacing important items, where "Therefore" or "Thus" could be used.

These serve as basic contrasts and correlatives, In and On are often used to imply causality between two sentences though technically only state the correlation of two clauses. Depending on the truth value of a the first sentence, it can either be a causal "thus" statement or a conditional "if" statment.

Subcopula

Subcopula are for individual causes of negatives or causal statements within verb or noun phrases that do not affect the truth value of the entire sentence.

Subcopula

Subcopula	English
Na	It is that...
Cha	Is it that...
Ne	It is not that...
Che	Is it not that...
Ni	If it is (...), then it is(...)
Chi	Is it that if (...), then (...)
No	If it is (...), then (...) is not.
Cho	Is it that if it is (...), then (...) is not.

Grammatical order

Fén syntax is relatively flexible in principle; each noun phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun. There is a strong sense of natural order in the language, which is as follows;

Using these terms, the Fén sentence order becomes;

Prepositional Clause/Order Order

Relative Determiner	Copula	Verb	Direct Object	Indirect Object	Subject	Locative [Clause]	Temporal [Clause]	Causal [Clause]	Perspective [Clause]

Verbal clauses

Verbs are given tenses in a fashion similar to English; Have, Is or Go precede the verb in various orders to give it a tense.

Auxilary Verbs, Time & Mood

Tense	Fén	English	Adverb Type
Present	[Verb]	[Verb]	Temporal
Present Progressive	Té [Verb]	[Be] [Verb]ing	Temporal
Simple Past	Bhé [Verb]	[Verb]ed	Temporal
Past Progressive	Bhé Té [Verb]	Was [Verb]ing	Temporal
Future Simple	Lé [Verb]	Will [Verb]	Temporal
Future Progressive	Lé Té [Verb]	Will be [Verbing]	Temporal
Conditional	Med	Would	Mood
Subjunctive	Tel	May	Mood
Obligatory	Cún	Must	Mood
Passive	Dén	Made to [Verb]	Voice

All adverbs not listed here are categorized as "Other". These adverbs make up the majority and do not describe the Mood, Voice or Time of an object.

It shoud also be noted in that Adverbal order is important particularly in terms of mood and voice adverbs;

Where adverbs precede the order of the mood adverb, that mood or voice adverb is affected rather than the verb itself.

Perfective verbs are expressed with time [cébh/cóbh]

Rather than exhaustively provide examples over the list,

"Rún re me di.'"
/run rɛ mɛ dɪ/
Rún	re	me	di
love	2s	sbj	1s
I love you.

"Té rún ít me di."
/te run it mɛ dɪ/
té	rún	ít	me	di
prg	love	it	sbj	1s
Either "I'm loving it." or "It is the case that I love it"

"Med bhé rún re me di"
/mɛd ve run rɛ mɛ dɪ/
med	bhé	rún	re	me	di
cnd	pst	love	2s	subj	1s
"I wish I had loved you."

"Bhé té med rún re me di cébh bhocá."
/ve te mɛd run rɛ mɛ dɪ cev wɑka:/
bhé	té	med	rún	re	me	di	cébh	bhocá
pst	prg	cnd	love	2s	subj	1s	before	then
"I had wanted to love you until then."

"Cún lé dén rún di me lo!"
/kun le den run rɛ mɛ dɪ/
Cún-	-lé-	-dén-	-rún	re	me-	-di
Aux.Obl-	-Aux.Ftr-	-Love	you	SBJ.Aux-	-1S
"He shall be made to love me."

"En tel bhé dén rún di me re!"
/ɛn tɛl ve den run dɪ mɛ re/
En	tel-	-bhé-	-dén-	-rún	di	me-	-re
Neg	Aux.Subj-	-Aux.PST-	-Aux."Made"-	-Love	I	Aux.SBJ-	-you
"You couldn't have made me love [you!]."

"En tel bhé dhén ét rún lo me di me re!"
/ɛn tɛl ve ʒen et run lɑ mɛ dɪ mɛ re/
En	tel-	-bhé-	-dén	ét	rún	lo	me-	-di	me-	-re
neg	aux.subj	aux.pst	make	this.rel	love	3s	aux.subj	1s	aux.subj	2s
"You couldn't have made me love her." (Lit. You could not have made it so that I loved her)

Vocative noun phrase

The person who is being addressed usually precedes the rest of the sentence. This is particularly used when addressing to get their attention someone;

"Dóthan, bhoc íc."
/do'han, wɑk ic /
Dóthan.VOC	bhoc	íc
Joan	Come	Here
"Joan, come here."

It may also be worked into the sentence, preceding the subject, re [thou], ré [you] or dé [we]. This is used to clarify or single out a subject;

"Bhoc íc me Dóthan re?"
/Wɑk ic mɛ do'han rɛ/
Bhoc	íc	me-	-Dóthan-	-re
Come	Here	SBJ.Aux-	-Joan.VOC-	-2S
"Come here, Joan."

Nomative noun phrase

This is the subject or actor in a sentence. It usually comes around the end of a sentence, unless the location or time of the action is being framed.

Nomative nouns are marked with "me".

"Bhé chím lírod me Dim."
/ve xim lir'ɑd mɛ dɪm/
bhé-	-chím	lírod	me-	-Dim
PST.Aux-	-V\See	Here	SBJ.Aux-	-Jim.VOC
"Jim saw the ball."

It should be noted that in "to be" sentences [which use té as the principle verb] there is usually no agent or actor. This is covered in the "té" section.

Accusative noun phrase

Accusative nouns are the direct objects of the sentence, which follow the verbs immediately. They are identified largely by syntax as they follow the verb immediately. There is a vestigal "ag" but this is not used except in rare cases of ambiguity.

Indirect noun phrases

This refers to most cases of indirect objects which usually immediately follow Accusative nouns. In this category are both dative and instrumental. The difference between the two being order alone; Dative follows after Accusative, while Instrumental and Relative will follow after Dative or the relevant noun.

Framing noun phrases

These are similar to a dependant clauses in English, though necessarily not conditional; these frame the place, time and reason why an action happened as well as an original source. It should be noted that if a place is part of the action or only partial, then that place should be either a Accusative/Dative [I went to the field] or relative [I went to the person who was at the field].

• Instrumental phrase; Objects which are used as instruments in order to perform an action.
• Locative phrase; Objects which indicate where the action is taking place.
• Temporal phrase; Objects which indicate when the action is taking place. Closely related to Locative.
• Causal phrase; Objects which indicate for what reason an action is taking place.
• Perspective phrase; Object which is the source of the information.

The above four are markers for dependant clauses which frame the action and thus typically come after the noun. For poetic reasons or reasons of suspence, these may be shifted about just as in English.

Prepositional relations in Fén

Prespositions

Fén	English	Type
Me		Nomative
Ag		Accusative
Nér	Against	Accusative/Dative
Dó	From	Accusative/Dative
Del	To	Accusative/Dative
Debh	Towards	Accusative/Dative
Rel	Than	Accusative/Dative
Cun	Like	Accusative/Dative
Rú	By	Instrumental
Cór	Under	Accusative/Dative/Locative
Ce	Over	Accusative/Dative/Locative
Cu	In[to]	Accusative/Dative/Locative
Tonúr	Around	Accusative/Dative/Locative
Núr	Near	Accusative/Dative/Locative/Temporal
Nédén	Opposite	Locative
Cóbh	Before	Locative/Temporal
Cébh	After	Locative/Temporal
Cur	At/During	Locative/Temporal
Pon	For/Because of	Causal
Tén+++	According	Subjective

Prepositional Application

Ce, Cu & Cór

Words following Cór are the ones which are "under" the words preceding it while similarly, those following Ce are the ones over the subject. This is applied consistantly within Fén.

Thus if someone were in an unfortunate, horse related, accident and wanted to signal their location they would say,

"Té líren cór di!"
/te lirɛn kor dɪ/
té	líren	cór	di
Is	Horse	Under-	-1S
"I'm under a horse!"

Or alternatively, if asked why she wasn't helping to clear the wreckage, a quicker witted survivor might declare

"pon éloc té di ce líren"
/pɑn elɑk dɪ sɛ lirɛn/
pon-	-éloc	di	ce	líren
Because	the.reason.that	1S	over-	-horse
"Because there is a horse on top of me"

If soldier participating in the Trojan Wars had a dim witted friend looking around the camp for him, he might find context to utter such a phrase as,

"té di cu líren"
/te dɪ sɛ kʊ lirɛn/
té	di	cu-	-líren
Is	1S	in-	-horse
"I am in the horse."

In addition to this cór, cu and ce have more metaphorical uses as well.

Cór is often used to refer to qualities, particularly transient ones, which are related to an object.

Cu is used for a more existential link between objects, one not related to qualities but rather something inseparable to person proper. Often the phrases in which cu are used, rather than cór are ones which make use of a determiner and make a statement about being a particular thing rather than having a certain quality (or set there of).

Ce by contrast is may be used in to refer to a subject of an action or discussion, like how we would look at something or talk about something.

"Té balin rinob cór tílan ít"
/te balɪn rɪnob kor tilan it/
té	balin-	-rinob	cór-	-tílan-	-ít
Is	weak-	-writing	under-	-book-	-this
"This book is poorly written"

compared to,

"Té tílan ít ce balin rinob"
/te tilan it ce balɪn rɪnob/
té	tílan-	-ít	ce-	-balin-	-rinob
Is	book-	-this	over-	-bad-	-writing
"This book is about poor writing"

If one were to maintain the order and say, Té balin rinob ce tílan ít, it would be interpreted as "[There] is bad writing on this book" which would be a strange construction but it could be interpreted as meaning "The reviews of this book are poorly done" [though that would generally be pluralized to "rinoba" or "writings"].

Finally, cu can play two roles here, first is if "weak writing" is not followed by a determiner, in which case it retains the more general meaning of in;

"Té balin rinob cu tílan ít."
/te balɪn rɪnob ku tilan it/
té	balin-	-rinob	cu-	-tílan-	-ít
Is	weak-	-writing	in-	-book-	-this
"There is bad writing in this book."

Which conveys that part of the book, though not all of it, contains weak or poor writing. However under other circumstances, cu serves to mark two things as fundamentally inseparable. For this an absent minded Dóthan looking over some old notes and remarking what tripe it is, Dim if he were in the room, might declare to her;

"Té balin bhérinob ronéb ítá cu tílan ít."
/te balɪn verɪnob rɑneb ita: ku tilan it/
té	balin-	-bhe-	rinob	ronéb	-ít	cu-	-re-	-ba-	-rinoba
Is	weak-	Aux.PST.Adj-	-Write.Adj-	-tripe-	-this	in-	-2S-	-POSS-	-writings
"This badly written tripe is your [own] notes!"

One final point with these particular prepositions, which does carry over to others, is that there is an important difference between the accusative/dative and locative sense of these prepositions. Those that precided the subject, are accusative or dative and those that follow are locative.

"Bhé lé ce genem me Dacob."
/ve le sɛ gɛnɛm mɛ dakɑb/
bhé-	-lé	ce-	-genem	me-	-Dacob
Aux.PST-	-Go	Over-	-Bridge	SBJ.Aux-	-Jacob
"Jacob went over the bridge"

"Bhé lé me Dacob ce genem."
/ve le sɛ gɛnɛm mɛ dakɑb/
bhé-	-lé	me-	-Dacob	ce-	-genem
Aux.PST-	-Go	SBJ.Aux-	-Jacob	Over-	-Bridge
"While over the bridge, Jacob went."

Del, Do & Debh

These mostly relate to the English use of "To", "From" and "Towards" though there are some exceptions which will be covered as I remark on them.

Rel & Cun

Rel and Cun are comparatives, roughly analogous to "than" and "like". These prepositions follow after the thing they thing they compare.

An example of this might be gleamed from a conversation between Paruc & Donil meeting their friend after his first day of work as a stable hand;

"Cím lo cun balin lúdhí líren ba gér'"
/sim lɑ kʊn balɪn luʒi lirɛn ba ger/
cím	lo	cun	balin	lúdhí	líren	ba	gér
look	3S	like	weak	old	horse	POSS	spit
"He looks like an old horse's spit."

"Ra fabhen cím ígel cun ne lo cu íc cébh ghal ba góbhar.'"
/ra favɛn sim igɛl kʊn nɛ lɑ sev ɣal ba govar/
ra-	-fabhen	cím	ígel	cun	ne	lo	cébh	ghal-	-ba-	-góbhar
rarely-	-time	see	4S	like	not	him	after	day-	-POSS-	-work
"It's rare that one doesn't look like him after a day's work here."

"Bhen bér thé lo rel di"
/vɛn ber he lɑ rel dɪ/
bhen	bér	thé	lo	rel	di
more	good	is	3S	than	me
"Better him than me."

"En bhé bhen bér ghír me di (rel re)'"
/ɛn ve vɛn ber ɣir mɛ dɪ (rɛl rɛ)/
en	bhé	bhen	bér	ghír	di	rel	re
neg	past	more	good	say	1S	than	2S
"I could not have said it better (than you)"

Rú & Núr

Instrumental By vs. Nearby. An important distinction. Will be expanded.

Tonúr, Núr & Cu

Surrounding, Nearby and actually inside/amongst. Will be expanded, but is mostly self evident

Inside v. amongst for cu is marked by whether the thing is plural as it is difficult to be inside multiple things. Some ambiguity certainly, but not much more than you would get if someone said "He is inside them" or "He's in the lions".

Nédén & Nér

Fairly different but have an similar inherent contrast to them.

Nér is used in the sense of something which resists the action; You fight against someone or hit a book against a table. "Del is an alternative, at least dialectically; "Fight to him" or "Hit book to table" but it's a weaker contrast and can lead to ambiguity; "I raced north against you" using "del" rather than "nér" could also mean "I raced northwards to you".

Nédén is something facing another thing, especially from opposite a threshold. It's more complex in terms of when it is used, but is also rare.

Cóbh, Cébh & Cur

Relatively self-explanitory. May expand on the difference [of lack there of] between time/place but it seems pretty well congruent to English.

Cóbh may be used to mean before or until, which one it is depends entirely on whether the verb is progressive. A non-progressive verb simples means "I did it before", progressive means "I was doing it until...".

The difference for the others is less noticable, with cur it simply implies a process that began before and will end after. Cébh implies that one will have already been doing the thing at this point, "I will have a drink after you left" vs. "I will be drinking after you're old and grey" [usually used to imply "still" in this sense, but not necessarily].

Pon & Tén

Not overly complicated but give a reason and a point of view.

First to note is that pon is followed with éloc when the reason is a subclause [which is most of the time] an example would be, "I did this because of what you said before". It isn't when it is followed by a single word or noun-phrase, thus "I did this for you" or "You should have done it for that reason" would omit éloc

Tén is something that would be translated as "According to" or something along those lines, it makes the sentance subjective to a degree.

• 1S: Used to subjectify, "I think".
• 1P: Used to clarify or expound on rhetoric, "We say that..."
• 2S/P: Used to clarify "You're saying?", "You said" [ie. "You said X previously!"].
• 3S/P: Used to subjectify, "According to him..."
• 4S/P (Ígel/ibh): Used to generalize, "Its said that..."

Other prepositions

Ba

Ba is a possessive Marker, which until any other preposition in Fén is preceded the genative case that it creates and further is unique in that it may appear at any point in the syntax relative to other prepositions without altering the meaning of it

Bhé thal del re ba bélém me lo.
/ve hal dɛl rɛ ba belem mɛ lo/
Bhé-	-thal	del-	-re-	-ba-	-bélém	me-	-lo
PST.Aux-	-V\Walk	To-	-2S-	-POSS-	-House	SBJ.Aux-	-3S
"She went to your house."

Bhe (ne)

Bhe is like "Ba" remarkable in that it can occur anywhere in syntax. However, the word it marks, unlike Ba, follows it.

Bhé chím lo ébéci lé me lo me ún bhe ginebh.
/ve xim lɑ ebesi le mɛ un vɛ gɪnev/
Bhé-	-chím	lo-	-ébéci-	-lé-	me-	-lo	me-	-ún	bhe-	-ginebh
PST.Aux-	-V\See	3S-	-When.Rel-	-Go-	-SBJ.Aux-	-He	SBJ.Aux-	-Girl	With-	-Flowers
"The girl with flowers when he left.

A "ne" preceding the bhe marks it as a negative, and thus should be translated as "without".

"Bhé chím lo ba lé me ún bhe ne ban ghinebh."

/ve xim lɑ e'bes'i le mɛ un vɛ nɛ ban ɣɪn'ev/

Bhé-

-chím

lo-

-ébéci-

-lé-

me-

-lo

me-

-ún

bhe-

-ne-

-ban-

-ghinebh

PST.Aux-

-V\See

3S-

-When.Rel-

-Go-

-SBJ.Aux-

-He

SBJ.Aux-

-Girl

With-

-NEG-

-Red-

-N\Flowers

"The girl without red flowers saw when he left."

Fén and clauses

In Fén a great deal of focus are put upon various clauses in a sentence. There are three basic types which occur for different reasons;

Primary clauses

These are essentially a full sentence on their own but they may be linked with the above copula. They typically begin with a copula or a verb (in cases where the copula would be dropped) and conclude with the subject. These are essentially sentences on their own and follow typical word order;

Copula	Verb	Object	Indirect Object	Subject

I give you the ball.

becomes;

Bél lirod del re me di.

Dependent clauses

In Fén there are two types of dependent clauses which are quite distinct from eachother. One depends upon the initial copula, which often make the rest of the sentence dependant on them. These sorts of sentences involve two full clauses, where the second is dependent on the first;

"On bhé dhir re ba ghóbhar me re, tel lec ra ba délag me re.''

/ɑn ve ʒir rɛ ba ʒo'wɑr mɛ rɛ, tɛl lɛk ra ba de'lag mɛ rɛ/

on

bhé-

-dhír

re-

-ba-

-Góbhar

me-

-re

Tel-

-lec

ra-

-ba-

-délag

me-

re

If

PST.Aux-

-V\Do

You-

-POSS-

-Work

SBJ.Aux-

-2S

SBJV.Aux-

-Drink

Some-

-Of-

-Whiskey

-SBJ.Aux-

2S

If you finished your work, you can have some of the whiskey..

The other form of dependant clause in Fén is one which rather than describe a distinct action that the first is dependant on, rather describe the context in which the action takes place. These invovles reasons, adding perspective to a statement or giving the time/place a sentence takes place in. These Clauses begin preposition and end either the whole sentence or else with another clause marking another dependant clause:

"On bhé dhir tol ít me di pon re..
/ɑn ve ʒir tɑl it rɛ pɑn rɛ/
on	bhé-	-dhír	tol-	-ít	pon-	-re
If	PST.Aux-	-V\Do	All-	-This	For-	-You
I did all of this for you.

Lé lé lúran me di cur cédhina.
/le le lur'an mɛ dɪ kʊr se'ʒɪn'a/
lé-	-lé	lúran	me-	-di	cur-	-cédhina
	-FTR.Aux-	-Go	South	SBJ.Aux-	-I	During-	-Winter
"I'm going to go south during winter."

"Bhé bhé ghobhár bhe bhen dhénil rel íc me di ce tegír."
/ve ve ɣo'wa:r vɛ vɛn ʒen'ɪl rɛl ik mɛ dɪ sɛ tɛg'ir/
Bhé-	-bhé-	-ghobhár	bhe-	-bhen-	-dhénil	rel-	-íc	me-	-di	ce-	-tegír
PST.Aux-	-PST.Aux-	-V\Work	With-	-More-	-Weight	Than-	-Here	SBJ.Aux-	-1S	On-	-Farm
At the farm, we used to work harder than here."

In some cases there may be multiple dependant clauses;

"Lé chím re me di ce teghír cur cédhina bhoci."
/le xim rɛ mɛ dɪ sɛ te'ɣir kʊr se'ʒɪn'a wɑsɪ/
Bhé-	-bhé-	-ghobhár	bhe-	-bhen-	-dhénil	rel-	-íc	me-	-di	ce-	-tegír
PST.Aux-	-PST.Aux-	-V\Work	With-	-More-	-Weight	Than-	-Here	SBJ.Aux-	-1S	On-	-Farm
'"'I will see you this winter at the farm."

The order in these dependant clauses is usually: Locative-Temporal-Causal-Perspective.

Relative clauses

In Fén relative clauses are rather common and often mark another action within the sentence. These begin with a relative determiner, however there are no strict rules on there ending. Verbally this is usually distinguished by tone, while writers may use commas or expect their readers to understand based off of context. 'ci and 'cibh are gaining popularity as verb and written endings in some faster speaking dialects, but are not yet considered standard in Fén.

"Bhé ralat del elin ét bhé cuc di ba tenír".
/ve ra'lat dɛl ɛ'lɪn et ve kʊk dɪ ba tɛ'nir/
Bhé-	-ralat	del-	-elin-	-ét	bhé-	-cuc	di-	-ba-	-tenír
PST.Aux-	-Shout	To-	-Woman-	-Who.Rel	PST.Aux-	-Took	1S-	-POSS-	-Bread
"I shouted at the woman who took my bread."

These relative clauses can sometimes be worked into the shorter form of dependant clauses to express cause which is something rare in English, the result is something like this;

"Bhé lé lodénen me dí pon éloc léc gínemel cípa."
/ve le dɛl lɑ'den'ɛn mɛ di pɑn e'lɑk lek gin'ɛm'ɛl cip'a/
Bhé-	-lé	del	-lodénen	me-	-dí	pon-	-éloc	léc	gínemel-	-chíp-	-a
PST.Aux-	-Go	To-	-Store	SBJ.Aux-	-3P	For	Get	Fishing-	-N\Needs-	-P
"We went to the store to get fishing supplies."

Although, it could also be expressed with dependant clause using a conditional copula;

"On bhé chíp gínemel chípa me dí, bhé lé del lodénen me dí."

/ɑn ve xip gin'ɛm'ɛl xip'a mɛ di, ve le dɛl lɑ'den'ɛn mɛ di/

On

bhé-

-chíp

gínemel-

-chíp-

me-

-dí

bhé-

-lé

del-

-lódénen

me-

-di

If

PST.Aux-

-V\Need

Fishing-

-N\Supply

SBJ.Aux-

-1P

PST.Aux-

-Go

To-

-Store

SBJ.Aux-

-1P

"As we needed fishing supplies, we went to the store."

It is also important to note that perhaps more often than in English, these relatively clauses may build on top of eachother;

"Bhé lé del alon ét bhé lodén gérul del alon ét bhé ghír del di cur bhéghal. me di."

/ve le dɛl a'lɑn et lɑ'den ge'rʊl dɛl a'lɑn et gir dɛl dɪ kʊr we'ɣal mɛ dɪ/

Bhé-

-lé

del-

-alon-

-ét

bhé-

-lodén

gérul

del-

-alon-

-ét

bhé-

-ghír

del-

-di

cur-

-bhégal

me-

-di

PST.Aux-

-Go

To-

-Man-

-Who.Rel

PST.Aux-

-Sold

Boat

To-

-Man-

-Who.Rel

PST.Aux-

-V\Speaking

To-

-Me

During-

-Yesterday

SBJ.Aux-

-1S

"I went to the man who sold the boat to the guy who talked to me yesterday."

Subcoupla follow the relative determiner that starts the clause;

"Tel thé peloc cór alon égal ne bél bér cór ígel ba bénana."

/Tɛl he pɛl'ɑk kor alɑn e'gɑl nɛ bel ber kor i'gɛl ba ben'an'a/

Tel-

-thé

peloc

cór-

-alon-

-égal

ne-

-bél

bér

cór-

-ígel-

ba-

-bénan-

-a

SBJV.Aux-

-V\Be

Curse-

Over-

-Man-

-Who.Rel

Neg-

-Gives

Good

Over--

-3S.Det-

-POSS-

-Friend-

-P

"Let him be cursed who does not do good for his friends"'."

Other features

Pluralization

• a is added to a verb to pluralize it if it ends in a consonant, if it ends with a vowel, bh (to pronounced as a "v" rather than a "w") is used. If an uncountable quantifier is used before it (Many, Few, Some), it is not pluralized. Noun-Adjective/Verb-Adverb.

Snake->Neren

Snakes->Nerena

Mountain->Nila

Mountains->Nilabh

Diminutive

• -íg can be added to the end of a word to emphasize smallness or cuteness.
• bé- may be used as as a slightly more respectful form amongst friends, essentially meaning "my good..."

"Michael"->"Mikey"

"Mical"->"Micalíg"/"Micíg".

Notable features

Yes/No

The Fén language does not have a term for yes or no but rather will reply with an shortened affirmative or negative, most simply, "Té ít"or a fitting determiner depending on the situation.

"En té ít'"-Negative. "An té ít" -Double Negative [Similar to French "si"]

Té

There is no active noun clauses with the verb Té. Instead an accusative object is either confirmed as existing, compared to another object or positioned around on.

This makes sentences take a rather passive appearance compared to English particularly when it comes to describing qualities, which Fén divide into 3 categories;

Vocabulary

Phrasebook

English	Fén	IPA
Hello	Bér cór re.	/ber kor rɛ /
How are you?	Ach té ét cór re	/ax te et kor rɛ/
I am well.	Té bér cór di	/te ber kor dɪ/
What is your name?	Té fémoc at cór re	/te femɑk at kor rɛ/
It is ______	Té ______ me ít.	/te ______ mɛ it/
A pleasure to meet you.	Níl bér me én chím ít cór di	/nil ber mɛ en xim it kor dɪ
Please...	Och dir bér me re cór di...	/ɑx dɪr ber mɛ re kor dɪ/
Thank you	Tel thé bér cór re	/tɛl he ber kor rɛ/
You’re welcome	Tel thé lú bér cór re	/tel hɛ lu ber kor rɛ/
Good bye	Gar re me Úlana	/gar rɛ mɛ ulana/
I don’t speak Fayn well	En tel bér fén ghír me di	/ɛn tɛl ber fen ɣir mɛ dɪ/
Do you speak (the English) language"	Ach tel ghír (Sasana) me re?"	/ax tɛl ɣir (sasana) mɛ rɛ/
"Can one of you speak (English)?"	Ach tel ghír (Sasana) me én bhe ré?"	/ax tɛl ɣir (sasana) mɛ en vɛ rɛ/

Additional Pages

• Vocabulary

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