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 accommodate [are guests],
Just like us, ye act in order to be judged;
Therefore let us be generous to the pauper, and give to our neighbor.