Tesseraec

Tesseraec The modern pieces of the language resurrected from a slightly waterlogged dictionary Alphabet Most of the phonetics aren’t actually confirmed, but just what seemed to fit well. Consonants Letter IPA Phonetics Notes Bb /b/ as in bird Cc /ʃ/ as in shell (not cat or cell) Dd /ð/ as in this, not as in thick Gg /ʤ/ as in joke, not as in genre or grace Hh /h/ as in house, or silent Jj /j/ as in yet Kk /k/ as in crack Ll /l/ as in lamb Mm /m/ as in middle Nn /n/ or /ŋ/ as in night or song Pp /ɸ/ position to say /p/, but make /f/ there instead Rr /ɹ/ as in rock, silent after [Aa] before a consonant Ss /s/ as in soul Tt /t/ or /d/ as in tall, doll (/t/ at the start of words, /d/ other) Vv /v/ as in voltage Ww /ʍ/ or /w/ as in whale, Wales (/ʍ/ initial, /w/ other) Zz /z/ as in zip

Vowels All vowels start in complex form. A primitive sound is usually marked by two of the same consonant after the vowel or by a single-letter word; a glide is usually marked by two of the same consonant before, an [Aa] after, or by doubling the letter. Glides cannot be in the first syllable of a word. Letter Complex Sound Primitive Sound Glide Aa /æ/ as in cat /a/ as in British start /aʊ/ as in cow Ee /e/ as in they /ɛ/ as in bed /eɪ/ as in they Ii /i/ as in seed /ɪ/ as in sit /ɪ:/ as in sing Oo /ɔ/ as in sword /a/ as in father /oʊ/ as in coat Øø /ø/, similar to bird /əɹ/ as in sir /ə/ as in sofa Uu /u/ as in boot /ʊ/ as in put /ɪu:/ as in ew

Digraphs and Ligatures Letters IPA Phonetics Notes AE/ae /aɪ/ as in pie Æ/æ /æ/ used sometimes to indicate complex [Aa] AU/au /aʊ/ used sometimes to indicate [Aa] glide CC/cc /ʧ/ or /k/ as in church, crack CH/ch /ʧ/ as in church EY/ey /eɪ/ used to indicate [Ee] glide at the end of a word GG/gg /g/ as in fog NN/nn /n/ as in night OW/ow /oʊ/ as in coat PH/ph /f/ as in phone TH/th /θ/ as in thick UH/uh /ʌ/ as in cut UR/ur /əɹ/ as in sir VV/vv /ʋ/ say /v/ and /w/ at the same time ZH/zh /ʒ/ as in genre

Examples Word Meaning + Part of Speech IPA Phonetics azhnur if only (adv) /æʒ’nəɹ/ clovve to sleep (v) /ʃlɑ’ʋeɪ/ hiccøa achoo (interj) /hɪ,ʧɪu:’/

Grammar Syntax Simple syntax is normally Subject-Verb-Object form, but it can change. This is just traditional; it can be said in any order because Tesseraec nouns have cases. Adjectives also usually come right before their noun(s), and indirect adverbs always come at the start of sentences. Nouns and Pronouns There are three types of nouns (pronouns included): Direct Nouns, Relative Nouns, and Locative Nouns. A general noun is a noun that can be all three. A noun is made up of its root and affix(es). For example, mi (/mi/) is a general noun that means “me,” orel (/ɔ,ɹel’/) is a general noun that means “ear,” and auri (/aʊ’ɹi/) is a relative noun means “one that hears.” It is often used in the relative place of “ear.” They are both distinctively feminine nouns, which is why they follow a slightly different pattern of endings from mi (non-feminine). Direct Nouns morph: i→e Singular (Ex 1)¹ Plural (Ex 1) Singular (Ex f.) Plural (Ex f.)² Ergative miji (I) miis (we) orela (ear) orelis (ears) Accusative meum (me) meus (us) orelum (ear) orelus (ears) Intransitive/ Vocative miji (I) mijus (we) orela (ear) orelae (ears)

Relative Nouns no morph Singular (Ex 1) Plural (Ex 1) Singular (Ex f.) Plural (Ex f.) Genitive omiji (my/mine) omijis (ours) aurio (hearer’s) auriae (hearers’) Dative amijum (to me) amijus (to us) aurium (to ear) aurius (to ears) Instrumental mijicc (with me) miuns (using us) auricc (with ear) aurials (w/ ears) Ablative miun (about me) miuns (about us) aurial (than ear) aurials (so, ears)

Locative Nouns morph: i→u Singular (Ex 1) Plural (Ex 1) Singular (Ex f.) Plural (Ex f.) Positionitive miøl (place of me) mius (our place) orelal (ear place) orelius Temporal mivven (time of me) mivves (our time) orelven (ear time) orelvas Inessive imiøl (in me) imies (in us) iorelal (in ear) iorelvus

Nouns can have prefixes, but not suffixes. For example, om- is the prefix meaning “self,” so the relative noun root for “myself” is hommi /ɑ’mɪ:/. Note: All reflexive pronouns are relative, but their genitive forms can be used as direct objects, depending on context. Informally, the initial o is usually dropped. List of simple personal pronoun roots

¹Masculine ²Feminine ¹Inanimate/Epicene 1st person mi mi mi 2nd person toi toi iti, toi 3rd person hi si iti, si

Verbs Verbs are not gendered, but endings are changed by person, tense, and mood. A verb consists of its root, ending, and sometimes an adverbal enclitic in the form of a prefix.

Indicative Subjunctive Interrogative Pluperfect -(e)nt, (ø)nt, (u)nt -(e)ntis, (ø)nta, (u)nta (e)ntud, (ø)ntud, (u)ntu Imperfect -(c)int, ønt, aunt (c)intis, ønta, aunta (c)intu, øntu, auntu Recent past -(e)d, (o)d, (u)d -(et)is, otis/a, (ut)a -(d)eu, ou, ua Present -(d)e, øu, au -(d)e, øu, au -(th)e, øu, au Present continuous -(d)it, aut, utt -(d)it, aut, (w)ett -(th)it, øt, ut Future -(e)nn, u, a -(ei)nn, u, a -(ei)kk, kku, kkal

Adjectives and Adverbs Each “adroot” can be attached to a verb or adjective as an enclitic prefix (acting as an adverb) or added to an adjective suffix (adjective form). These formed adjectives always need a noun to describe them. Most common Adjective Suffixes Suffix -al/ack -ekt/ecc -ur(dv) –(u)per/om -(e)gre -(ø)ccae Meaning adjective partly/split opposite extra maybe strongly Example tual (2) tuekt (½) tuurdv (-2) tuper (few) tuegre (~2) — Example maddack (bad/evil) maddecc (creepy) maddur (good) madduper (demonic) — maddøccae (savage)

There are other suffixes, they are just not as used. Prepositions There are no words for “of,” “in,” “for,” or “at,” since these are included in nouns’ grammatical case. There are no postpositions. “Non” (not/no/never) can be used as a prefix to say the opposite. Here are some common prepositions and the case to use for the noun they are describing: Word Meaning Case(s) a to, toward Positionitive/Dative an beyond Positionitive konlic through, between Intstrumental/Positionitive mulka plus, with Dative wey like, similar to Dative nonna away from Positionitive nonmulka without Dative nonwey unlike Dative

If a noun modified by a preposition does not use the case described here, its meaning changes. For example “a orelal aumiji” means “toward my ear,” but “a iorelal aumiji” means “into my ear.” Example sentences “Miji wake”→”I walk.” “Wakent maddack cupiøl eccau”→”I have walked where the evil store is now.” “Se tuij øffe heum, øffeinn tuium”→”If you punch him, I’ll punch you.” “Wakintis”→”I would run.” “Tuijus øffou itium?”→“Did y’all punch it?” “Miji spedwakint a iccupiøl”→“I was running into the store.” Conjunctions Conjunctions can connect any two words of the same part of speech or clauses. For example, “Wake et spedwake poa methe?” (literally “I should walk and I should speed walk or should I not”) means “Should I walk and run or not?” Interjections Normally two words in a contraction, except for these: “O”→ wow, whoa, awesome “Te”→ yes, correct, OK “Non”→ no, not happening, not true “Ben”→ good, yay, congratulations Examples of contraction interjections “N’voimerget”→ contraction of “non” (not/never/no) and “novoimerge” (please/I need) used to beg, similar to “help” or literal “no, please!” /n:vɔɪˈmer.gət/ “Madda’kelv”→ contraction of “maddack” (bad/evil) and “eld” (flame) used as an expression of anger, similar to “ugh” or “dang it!” /maˈðə.kɛlvˌ/ Text Excerpts and Vocabulary With the dictionary a ripped page was found with this written on it: Tual Secti Peri stubud. Grakei eccud sius! Siis bombud “N’voimerget!” Sett imoi nonpropud. Citihomes eccud vitlal. “Nonal homes propa? Mijus nesse imeum!” Ograkei terrøl eccud homes eccau. Elda propud sius. Aulis bumbud sumal terrøl. Sett peri hida, et hiji aktud. Eccud unal homum eccau. Ohiji verti eccud: marta grakeum. Morti pevatud ante hijum. Hiji pre That is all we have. The rest of the page is ripped off. The thought to be translation is this: “The boy stared in amazement. The dragon was there with them! They yelled ’Help!’ But no help came. The villagers were angry. ‘No people will come? We need help!’ “In the dragon’s land the people were now. Fire came in them. Screams sounded around the land. “But the boy should hide, and he did. He was the only person now. His duty was to slay the dragon. Death stood before him. “He…” Simple Vocab Word Part of Speech Deduced Translation a preposition to, toward aktent aktcint verb to do or act an preposition beyond aurio aurium auricc noun one that hears; ear benal ben- adroot good, well citial citi- adroot of the city/state/nation cupiod ocupiod cupiøl noun shop, store, market stand drollal drol- adroot dull, boring drollent drollint verb to make another tired eccent eccint verb to be elda eldo eldalv noun fire grakei ograkei grakøl noun dragon, great serpent hiji ohiji hiøl noun male 3p pronoun (he, him, ...) homine homineum homine noun person, human iti itio itijicc noun inanimate pronoun (it, you, _) itni itnium itnijicc noun a burning/living flame