Linguifex

Fén Ghír

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"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.

Introduction

This is my first attempt at a conlang, originally conceived as a part of a game that has finally taken off. It is the only language from the game that reached anything nearing completion. Inspiration and influence were drawn from Irish [Alphabet style and Head First Order], English [Lack of Genders, Conjugation Method] and some French [Particularly the G/W was taken from the Norman shift]. Also, the Copula, while originally inspired by Irish, mirror from Symbolic logic. However word roots and grammar are original.

This being my first conlang, made a few months meaning, represent phonetic sounds [should it seem inconsistent], remove ambiguities and generally make a more natural sounding language on my next go around. However for now, here's my first serious effort;

General Information

The language was initially inspired by Irish Gaelic and so much of the terminology reflects that still, though it may no longer necessarily be accurate. Copula in this case serve as a sort of verbal punctuation, appearing at the start of the sentance, they make it positive or negative, a statement or interrogative and can serve to tie it to a second clause. Aspiration is used to modify sounds of consonants, similar in some ways to "long" and "short" vowels, while some consonants might be pronounced differently depending on what vowel they come before [similar to "c" in English].

Initially it was designed as an isolating language which relied heavily on syntax to determine the nature of a word, it still does in many ways rely on the position of the word in the over all structure of the sentance. While work arounds have been added since to prevent ambiguities where they arise, most can still be dropped in order to shorten a sentance.

History

An early adopter of Iron forging, the Fén culture spread during the early iron age. Only to eventually be driven to the lands west of the mountains by the Empire of Toryl. Their pantheon is complex and legends often invovle the rise and fall of heroes, including gods, but fundamentally finds itself based around four elements; with Fire composing the Human soul and serving as the root of their demonym. These elements can be seen as the root for many objects, based off the beliefs of early philosophers on their composition and nature. Ancient Fén words ended on a vowel which marked them as adjectives/adverbs, nouns or verbs, however this was dropped in all but the Highlands [who use a consonant based alphabet]. Since then, they have been slowly shifting away from their previously tribal life style, developing three primary dialogue groups.

To Do

A lot.

Phonology

Consonants

The following is a rough approximation of Standard Midlands Dialect Fén;


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

Front Back
Close i: u:
Near-Close

ɪ

ʊ
Close-mid e: o:
Open-mid ɛ
Open a ɑ a:

Fén Alphabet

Slender/Broad sounds are similar to Irish Gaelic though where phonetics are written identically, a foreign speaker could make no differentiation and still be understood. Slender and Broad consonants are determined by the vowel which follows them, a consonant is slender if followed by i or e, Broad in all other cases, including the end of a word.

It should be noted that the bh and mh and a broad "g" while being noted as making a "w" sound when aspirated have a slight "b", "m" and "g" sound preceding them, as if the speaking had said "bW" or "mW" or "gW".

Generally the intended native accent of individual words in this language, one should imagine a heavily French influenced Irish.

Consonants Broad Slender Aspirated Br. Aspirated Sl.
B b b w v
C c s x x
D d dʲ dˠ dʒ
F f f (silent) (silent)
G gʷ g w ɣ
L l l l l
M m m w w
N n n n n
P p p f f
R r r r r
T t t h h
Vowel Short Long
A a a:
E ɛ e:
I i i:
O ɑ o:
U ʊ u:

Phonotactics

Smallest Syllables Possible, Diaphongs are avoided even in the construction of compound words.

In larger words, the consonant of root words will be; C-V-C.

In some cases shorter additions will consist of a two letter consonants either C-V or sometimes V-C depending on the etymology of the individual word. Single vowel consonants however, do not occur.

In the Highlands dialect, the consonants are either C-V or V.

Grammar

Grammatical Cases

In Fén syntax word order is very strictly determined by the order of words. Thus, while these grammatical cases are not strictly used in Fén they serve as a good way to illustrate word order. With a couple exceptions, the grammatical case is determined by the preposition preceding the noun phrase. Many prepositions may be somewhat ambiguous and so must be determined according to their relation to other objects in the sentance. Below lists the general purposes of the cases whichs should become more apparent with the preposition list, this is more for general illustrative purposes but for the most part serves to determine the order in which prepositions come in a sentance.

  • Vocative case; Refers to who is being addressed. Precedes the Sentance.
  • Nomative case; The subject of a sentance. Almost always preceded by "me".
  • Accusative Case; The direct object. Usually identified by syntax.
  • Dative case; The most direct cases of indirect object.
  • Instrumental case; Objects which are used as instruments in order to perform an action. Similar to Dative case, it marks an indirect object.
  • Locative case; Objects which indicate where the action is taking place.
  • Temporal case; Objects which indicate when the action is taking place. Closely related to Locative.
  • Causal case; Objects which indicate for what reason an action is taking place.
  • Subjective case; Object which is the source of the information.

The above four are "framing" cases. 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].

Using these cases the Fén sentance order becomes;

Relative Determiner Copula Verb Accusative Objects Instrumental Objects Dative Objects Determiner Locative Object Temporal Object Causal Object Subjective Object

Copula

A Sentence begins with a Copula, this gives the context of whether the sentance is positive, negative or comparative.

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 sentances. 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 sentances though technically only state the correlation of two clauses. Depending on the truth value of a the first sentance, 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 sentance.

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.


Fén and Clauses

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

Main Clauses

These are essentially a full sentance 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 sentances 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.

Give ball to you nomz-I.

Dependant Clauses

In Fén there are two types of Dependant clauses which are quite distinct from eachother. On depends upon the initial copula, which often make the rest of the sentance dependant on them. These sorts of sentances invovle two full clauses, where the second is dependant on the first;

If you've done all your work, you can have a little of the whiskey.

On bhé dir re ba tol góbhar me re, tel lec ra ba délag me re.

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, subjectifying a sentance or giving the time/place a sentance takes place in. These Clauses begin preposition and end either the whole sentance or else with another clause marking another dependant clause:

I did all of this for you.

On bhé dhir tol ítibh me di pon re.

This winter, I am going south.

Té lé lé lúran me di cur cédhina.

At the farm, we used to work harder than here.

Bhé bhé ghobhár bhe bhen dénil rel íc me di cur teghír.

In some cases there may be multiple dependant clauses;

I will see you this winter at the farm.

Lé chím re me di cur teghír cur cédhina bhoci.

The order in these cases is usually: Locative-Temporal-Causal-Subjectifying.

Relative Clauses

In Fén relative clauses are rather common and often mark another action within the sentance. 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.

I shouted at the woman who took my bread.

Bhé ralath del elin ét bhé cuc di ba tenir me ít.

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;

We went to the store to get fishing supplies.

Would said in Fén as;

Bhé lé ag lodénen me dí pon éloc léc gínemel cípa me dí.

Although, it could also be expressed with depedant coupla dividing it into two sentances;

On bhé cíp gínemel cípa me dí, bhé lé ag lodénen me dí.

This would translate as something closer to:

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;

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

Bhé lé del alon ét lodén gérul del ét gír del di me ít me ítin me di.

Subcoupla follow the relative determiner that starts the clause;

I curse the man who does not honour his friends.

Peloc alon ét ne bér ít ba bénan me ít me di.

Prepositional Relations in Fén

Fén English Case
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
Debh Until Locative/Temporal
Cur At/During Locative/Temporal
Pon For/Because of Causal
Tén+++ According Subjective

"Ag" will typically be dropped unless there is some worry about ambiguity [more common in written language] or a need for formality. "Me" can also be dropped if there is no accusative case in the sentance.

"Ce" is typically used as "about": "They are talking about that" becomes; Té ghír ce ítá me ló.

Debh implies doing something with the aim of one thing but not achieving it or at least where the success is in doubt. This gives it a slightly different application than the English word "Towards"

Cóbh and Cébh imply only position and time, rather than a goal:

"They came after me" becomes "Bhé boc debh di me ló"

The case created by prepositions with multiple possible cases can be determined by either syntax or subject following it:

  • Dative cases will follow an Accusative case, if there is no Accusative case before it, then the preposition marks the accusative case. If there is, then the preposition marks the dative case.
  • Accusative/Locative ambiguity is resolved by whether or not the case precedes the Nomative Noun.
  • Locative/Temporal is resolved by whether the action listed is a place or a time.

It is worth noting that the translations here are done with an English subject-object relation in mind rather than the word order one:

A is under B can translate to Té B cór A or Té A ce B. This translation assumes the former in order to avoid switching voices.

Because of the relatively strict word order and preposition use, there is no declension or suffixes to differenciate between adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs.

Other Prepostions

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

[Possessor] ba [Possessed].

He walked to your house.

Bhé thal del re ba bélém me lo.

Bhe (ne)

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

The girl with the flowers saw him go.

Bhé chím lo ba lé me ún bhe ginebh.

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

The girl without red flowers saw him go.

'Bhé chím lo ba lé me ún bhe ne ban ginebh.

Vocative Case

When addressing someone with a sentance, their name always precedes the sentance and is followed by a comma:

Let me tell you a story, Jim.

Ghim, tel ghír déter del re me di.

This is also used for imperative sentances;

Jim, Move.

Ghim, lé.

Determiners

Current Determiner Contrasting Determiner New Determiner Current Determiner (Pl) Contrasting Determiner (Pl) New Determiner (Pl) Inquistive Determiner Relative Determiner Inquistive 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 "Current" Determiner, fills the role of both "This" and sometimes "The" in English, once established in a conversation the "current" determiner sticks and is used in cases even where "That" would be used in English by the other speaker.

The Contrasting Determiner serves to emphasize a contrast, thus would be used in sentances with a current 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 Final Determiner is used in order to switch the current. 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, a "New Determiner" is used, in order to show as much. The contrasting determiner doesn't not have any indicator and may change several times over the course of a single sentence.

Ígelá and Ígel see much less use than the simpler pronouns, such as "lo" but in written word, they might follow in the sentance 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".

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.

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
Past Perfect Simple Bhé Bhé [Verb] Had [Verb]ed Temporal
Past Perfect Progressive Bhé Bhé Té [Verb] Had Been [Verb]ing Temporal
Present Perfect Simple Té Bhé [Verb] Has [Verb]ed Temporal
Persent Perfect Progressive Té Bhé Té [Verb] Has Been [Verb]ing Temporal
Future Simple Lé [Verb] Will [Verb] Temporal
Future Perfect Simple Té Lé [Verb] Is Going To [Verb] Temporal
Future Progressive I Lé Té [Verb] Will be [Verbing] Temporal
Future Simple II Lé Bhé [Verb] Will Have [Verb]ed Temporal
Futured Progressive II Lé Bhé Té [Verb] Will Have Been [Verbing] Temporal
Conditional Med Would Mood
Subjunctive Tel May Mood
Obligatory Cún Must Mood
Passive Dén Is [Verbed]ed 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.

Verb and Noun Phrases

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

Verb Phrase

Temporal Adverbs Other Adverbs Mood Adverbs Quantity+ 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 Accusative case. 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

Preposition* Adjective for Gen. Noun Genative Noun Genative Preposition Adjective Quantity/Quantifying Determiner 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 sentance.

Lentition

If a noun or verb is preceded by adjectives or an adverb, then lenition should occur in the first consonant able to do so. In the case of words where the first consonant able for lentition is already weakened, then the lentition is removed and the sound becomes more pronounced.

Neither prepositions like "ba" and "bhe" nor the nouns preceding them causes the noun to aspirate.

Neither do subcopula.

Sight->Cím

Dark Sight (A Foreboding Vision)->Pél Chím.

Strike->Ralat

A Hard Hit (Heavy Strike)-> Gerel Ralath


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

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 "An té ít" if they want to be emphatic.

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

Cór

These are more or less for qualitative or transitive facts.

I am happy.

Té lér cór di.

There is happiness on me.

Cu

This case is used strictly for existential cases where the two cannot be separated; one is not an incidental quality but the essence of the Object himself.

I am the one you were talking about.

Té ét bhé gír ce ít me re cu di.

Ce

Ce is essentially the opposite of Cór and used in both a rare passive sense of Cór for general adjectives as well as describing one as describing one's memories something. Unlike Cór, Ce is often used perceptive verbs, in particular Looking "onto" something would be a close English equivalent.

I remember the sight of the store well.

Té lodénen ba cím ce di.

Vocabularly

Pronouns

English Fén
I di
you re
he lo
we [excl.] dí
we [incl.] rí
you [pl.] ré
they ló

Phrasebook

“Hello”

  • Bér cór re.

“How are you?”

  • Ach té ét cór re

“I am well.”

  • Té bér cór di

“What is your name?”

  • Ach té fémoc me ét cór re

"It is" ______

  • Té ______ me ít.

"A pleasure to meet you."

  • Nel bér me én chím ít cór di

"Please..."

  • Och dir bér me re cór di...

"Thank you"

  • Tel thé bér cór re

"You’re welcome"

  • Tel thé lú bér cór re

"Good bye."

  • Gar re me Úlana

"I don’t speak Fayn well"

  • En tel bér ghír fén ghír cór di

"Do you speak (the English) language"

  • Ach lúcím (Anigal) ghír cór re?

"Is there a speaker of (English) with us?"

  • Ach té (Anigal) gír fhén bhe dí?

Additional Pages

Vocabulary

Dialects

Featured Language

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