Linguifex

Fén Ghír

Revision as of 17:27, 15 May 2013 by Fauxlosophe (talk | contribs)

"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
Fén Ghír Script.png
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.

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

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.Aux- -1S
"I love you."
"Té rún ít me di."
/te run it mɛ dɪ/
té- -rún ít me- -di
Aux.PRG- -Love it SBJ.Aux- -1S
"I'm loving it."/"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
Aux.CND- -Aux.PST- -Love you SBJ.Aux- -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
Aux.PST- Aux.PRG- -Aux.Cond- -Love you SBJ.Aux- -1S SBJ.Aux- -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.Past- -Make this.rel- -love 3S Aux.SBJ- -1S Aux.SBJ- -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

Comparatives; like this or unlike this. Will expand but it is mostly self-evident in my opinion.

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

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