Happy New Year (to some)

Well, I'm back. I was on this list 3 years ago, but I got off because I got
busy in school and couldn't handle the volume on the list. But I've gotten
back on, now that I have even less time, but spread out over each day. That
and I miss being tapped into a conversation facilitator with other
conlangers on it. So hello (again) everyone.

According to the Gregorian calendar (which I follow because it's what
everyone else here follows), today is the first day of a new year. So, even
though the Fincaiyans don't celebrate until May 1st, I'll still note the
Fincaiyan new year blessing:

solei ei lunei ra ti ro ensel teirei dan ni lonteta ru
May the sun and the moon guide you in the next year

Now for all my minor little technical notes that only this list would care
about.

As is probably evidenced, Fincaiyan is particle-based. "ra" is subject, "ro"
(direct) object, "ru" the verb. "ni" is a bit odd. It denotes the indirect
object or adpositional phrase, but can't be used on it's own. It must be
used with an adposition of some kind (in this case, "dan").

The Fincaiyans ascribe a certain level of religious context to the sun and
moon, but do not revere them as Gods. They are monotheistic (but almost
never speak of "God" except in veiled references and riddles and metaphors),
but do consider the sun and the moon agents of their deity. They do the
important task of guiding (along with other things).

"ti" is formal, much like English "thee" (in fact, the similarity of the two
words should be evident)

I actually can't decide whether it should be "ensel terei" or "teirei
ensel". I recently decided to make the language more head-last (hence, why
the verb is at the end of the sentence), but I am not sure if "ensel" (next,
coming) is actually an adpositional thing here, or an adjective modifying
"terei" (year)

"ensel" is the opposite of "enter". "ensel" refers to a period that is just
beginning, "enter" to a period of time that has just ended (or is just
ending). English equivilents for "ensel" would possibly be things like
"upcoming" or "ensuing", though neither really has the meaning I'm going
for.

"dan" is an adpositional that only refers to the "interior" of a block of
time. It's sort of a "within" thing. It would not be used in the sentence
"get this done within two days", but it would be used in "I bathed once a
day within three months" (For three months,  I bathed once a day). That is,
deadlines and other uses such as that do not use it, but it is used for
actions that occur regularly or constantly across a period of time.

"lontei" means "to guide" (I don't have any semantic nuances on this).
Fincaiyan verbs are conjugated by dropping the final -i and then appending
the various pseudo-verb endings to change tense, mood, and so on.

"ta" is one of the few pseudo-verbs that isn't actually a pseudo-verb
(unlike "nei", which is the negative verb "to not"). It instead denotes a
wish. I'm fairly certain this would be called the subjuctive. (I don't know
what the Fincaiyans call it). However, it is not used as the subjunctive
class usually is. It would probably be better translated into English as
"may xxx happen". It is a statement of a wish (usually for another). It
would be used (twice, actually) in the phrase "may I starve (not eat), so my
friends may eat" ("jama ra manjeneta ru, deimuren ra monjeta ru", forgiving
the lack of a conclusion marker). It is not expressly common, except mostly
in blessings or curses.

I think that's all note-wise I have to say, though.

Anyways, it's good to be back to the list.

-Keith B

(P.S. If this happens to be sent in HTML, please send me a private e-mail
denoting such. I've had problems getting Unicode to work (so I can send
Japanese e-mails) while still keeping it plaintext. And most people I send
e-mail to have no clue that there's a difference. So if it's the case, let
me know and I'll fiddle with it some.)

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