Archaen: A Bit of Magical Whimsy
From: | Edward Heil <edheil@...> |
Date: | Thursday, March 4, 1999, 15:27 |
In the roleplaying game Talislanta, the language wizards use is Archaen.
It's ancient and nobody does anything but cast spells in it anymore.
What would a language like that look like? Well, I designed the nominal
system with some interesting cases.....
(hope this cut & paste works... otherwise check out the original at:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/3714/archaen.html)
CASE
USAGE/SEMANTICS
Nominative
Subjects of sentences.
Accusative
Direct objects of sentences.
Dative
Indirect objects of sentences
(=Talislan "to" or "for")
Genitive
Mundane possession and other kinds
of association (=Talislan "of"),
except note Possessive and
Apparitive, special versions of the
genitive.
Possessive
Supernatural possession (=Talislan
"under the supernatural control of")
Apparitive
Appearance (=Talislan "in the shape
of")
Vocative
Calling people/things by name in
mundane circumstances. See also
Evocative, Invocative, and
Incantative, which are special
versions of the Vocative. They are
all used in direct address, not in
ordinary sentences.
Evocative
Speaking to one who is on another
plane of existence
Invocative
Speaking to a Power which is or
which you wish to be manifest
within yourself.
Incantative
Speaking to something which is or
which you wish to be under your
magical control.
Instrumental
Something used to accomplish the
action of the main verb. (=Talislan
"by means of.")
Occultative
Something which is influencing the
action of the main verb in a hidden
way. (=Talislan "under the secret
influence of")
Locative
Place where something is located
(=Talislan "at")
Ablative
Place from which something comes
(=Talislan "from")
Adlative
Destination to which something goes
(=Talislan "towards")
Abfiative
The original form of a
transformation (=Talislan "from" in
the sentence "he changed from a
prince into an exomorph")
Adfiative
The final form of a transformation
(=Talislan "to" in the above
sentence)
(The endings used for the cases and some other notes are available at
the url http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/3714/archaen.html ... The
language is intended to look more or less like Greek or Latin, but not
precisely to be either one. "Talislan" is the main language of
Talislanta and IMHO is identical to English.)
Any further ideas for "magical" cases or other grammatical constructions
welcomed!
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com