Fourth Linguifex Relay/Wiobian

ei! jån' kähne Jündemruoger
snirre ure nungnung Troh;
Sioner röbes ƕieme Puoger',
ind' enwülze Þafte quoh'.
ei! lind mause bückne mungel,
Wiote-Wuzes duoɟ niens Kliten',
ionem' ƕind Benußes zungel;
Kuobs mes pepen, Ƕeiges miten.

Glossed

ei jåne kähne Jündemruoger
O how soon-ACC life-ATTR-tapestry-NOM

snirre ure nungnung Troh
shatter/PRES-3PL like little-little pebble/PL

Sioner röbes ƕieme Puogere
crown-AUG-SG.NOM sit/PRES-3SG.IN INDEF-ACC throne-SG.ACC

inde enwülze Þafte quohe
suddenly completely_sweep/PRES-3PL wave-PL-NOM lose/PRES-3PL

ei lind mause bückne mungel
O 2PL.NOM hither stationed-PRED come/PRES-2PL

Wiote Wuzes duoɟ niens Klitene
heaven-GEN grace-DAT PERF CORELATIVE-PL-DAT accomodate_as_guest-VERBAL_NOUN-ACC

ionemen ƕind Benußes zungel
just-like 1PL.NOM judge-VERBAL_NOUN-DAT act-2PL

Kuobs mes pepen, Ƕeiges miten
poor-DAT this-DAT give_charitably-1PL-IMP neighbor-DAT give-1PL-IMP

Notes

In Wiobian, all nouns are capitalized. However, words beginning a sentence need not be capitalized.

Typology

The language is SVO (with more variation in poetry), and prepositions are preferred to postpositions. However, nominal modifiers precede the modified noun.

Nouns

In Classical Wiobian, nouns have a singular-plural distinction and are inflected in 5 cases:

• Nominative: subject
• Accusative: direct object, some adverbial expressions
• Dative: indirect object, some adverbial expressions, instrumental.
• Genitive: it's your bog-standard genitive case. Often "hyphenated" to the next word because of its ambiguity
• Predicative: predicate

Wiobian declension
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-Ø	[PLURAL STEM]-Ø
Accusative	-e	[PLURAL STEM]-n
Genitive	-Ø	[PLURAL STEM]-e
Dative	-s	[PLURAL STEM]-ns
Predicative	-e	[PLURAL STEM]-Ø

Wiobian uses the indefinite article ƕiem 'one' for indefinite singular nouns.

Adjectives

Adjectives may take the same case endings as nouns or, more commonly, take no ending. Adjectives in the predicative position, however, must have the predicative ending.

Verbs

Verbs have stem forms for present, past and verbal noun which are not always distinct. They are often additionally marked by auxiliary words to disambiguate the tense, since many forms are very similar.

Inflection

In Classical Wiobian, the verb is also inflected for person.

The superscript ^U denotes umlaut of stems of "athematic" verbs.

Imperative endings
	Singular	Plural
1	-	[PRESENT]-n
2	[PRESENT]-(t)	[PRESENT]-l

Present tense endings
	Singular	Plural
1	[PRESENT]U-n	[PRESENT]-m(e)
2	[PRESENT]-e	[PRESENT]-l
3.animate	[PRESENT]-n	[PRESENT]U-e
3.inanimate	[PRESENT]U-s

Past tense endings
	Singular	Plural
1	[PAST]-n	[PAST]-m(e)
2	[PAST]-e	[PAST]-l
3.animate	[PAST]-n	[PAST]U-e
3.inanimate	[PAST]-Ø

Syntactic constructions

Relative clauses

Relative clauses are internally headed: The head is the first constituent of the relative clause, and an anaphoric "co-relative pronoun" nie occurs after the relative clause that refers back to the head.

Perfect tense

The auxiliary construction for perfect tense is: duoɟ + SUBJECT in the DATIVE case + VERB in VERBAL NOUN form in the ACCUSATIVE + ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS in whatever case the verbal argument is supposed to take.

Translation

O how quickly the sculpture of life
Shatters into tiny little fragments!
The splendor of the king on his throne
Is completely swept away by sea-waves.
Ye who have come hither stationed here,
By Heaven's grace ye have been accommodated.
Just like us, ye act in order to be judged;
Therefore let us be generous to the pauper, and give to our neighbor.