Silindion Relative Clauses

There is a distinct difference in Low Silindion
relative clauses and High Silindion relative clauses.

Low Silindion Relative structures are made up of two
parts:

1) Relative Pronoun
2) Relative Clause

The relative pronoun is:

  të   (animate)    = who   (singular/plural)
  ta   (inanimate)  = which
  tona  (inanimate) = which (plural)

The relative pronoun agrees in animacy with its
antecedent (basically, people and animals are animate,
things are inanimate, with the exception of the moon
and some other religious items)

The relative clause agrees in animacy with the
relative pronoun. In the case of an animate relative
pronoun, the verb of the relative clause is prefixed
with "yo-" (which undergoes several morphophonemic
changes). In the case of an inanime relative pronoun,
the relative clause begins with the word "yova", which
is invariable.

The relative pronoun takes its case depending on the
function it has in the relative clause.

Examples:

Animate:
 Erolionar vauro të yuhyuvi olohyamma
 "Erelion is an angel who dances with stars"
 erolion-ar  vauro të  yo-a-hyuv-i       olos-ya-mma
 erelion-COP angel who REL-aug-dance-PST star-pl-COM

Inanimate:
 hyuvunto ya i noriavi ta yova malyanto o i ostervi
 "They dance under the trees which move in the wind"

  hyuv-u-nto    ya    i   norë-ya-vi
  dance-PRS-3p under the tree-pl-LOC

  ta    yova malya-nto o  i   oster-vi
  which REL  dance-3p  in the wind-LOC

Finally, with a non-nominative case:

 Nissa phessina i lavanta tein yulavassë apa.
 "Let's eat the game that father caught"

 nissa phess-i-na i  lavat-na  tei-n
 let   eat-SBJ-1p the game-ACC. which-ACC

 yo-a-lavass-ë       apa
 REL-aug-catch-PST  father

----------------------------------------------------
In High Silindion, the same structures as above are
very common, but they alternate with less common
poetic/stylistic structures that come from an older
stage of the language.

This special H.S. form is:

  yo "who"
  yova "which"
 (these may take case suffixes)

Example: Esi ssirilë nan më yo nir lanko?
        "Do you see the man who approaches by horse?"

        Esi tir-i-lë   na-n    më
        QST see-PRS-2s man-ACC that

        yo   ni-r        lanka-u?
        REL  approach-3s horse-INST.

(corresponding L.S. sentence:
    tirilë nan më, të yohwilín nië limma lanko?

----------------------------------------------------
An even more poetic relative structure that High
Silindion (especially older High Silindion, almost
Middle High Silindion) can use is a relative suffix
attached to a conjugated verb. This suffix is <-ië>

Here's the first line of a prayer to Alarie, the
moon-goddess:

A Alárië anti yendán nénië
"Oh Alarie who gives us joy"
A   Alárië an-ti  yendá-n né-n-ië
VOC Alarie us-DAT joy-ACC give-3s-REL

-----------------------------------------------------

Finally, there are two pronouns for use in headless
relative clauses. This are:

 tistë "the person who, whoever, he who"
 tista "the thing which"

These are used when there is no real antecedent:

  Tistë yoyar iss, nayoi ein painampra
  "He who goes here, let him be vigilant"
  (Whoever goes here...)
  Tistë   yo-ya-r   iss, nayoi ei-i-n     painampra
  whoever REL-go-3s here, let  be-SBJ-3s  vigilant

(notice that this sentence used the High Silindion
<iss> for "here", as opposed to Low Silindion <mioss>
and  <nayoi>, as opposed to <nissa> for "let", this is
just a personal choice of mine)

And that's it for now.
~~Elliott





















		
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