Caryatic

(I'm having a little trouble posting; excuse me if you receive multiple
copies!)

     I've decided to finally get around to posting about my main
conlang, Caryatic. About this language I earlier posted:

>     Anyway, my idea for the world Caryatic fits into was that it had
the
> same language families as Earth, but not the same languages. Caryatic
> is, for example, an Indo-European language. I haven't delved much into
> the other langauges of the planet so far, but Caryatic does have
> loanwords from other, unidentified, Indo-European languages, as well
as
> Semitic and Egyptian.
... in case you're wondering I probably was indeed thinking of Caryatids
when I came up with the name, although there is no direct relation
(Perhaps the Caryates were the first in their world to use female
anthropomorphic pillars?)

 The following was the first "extended" text I wrote in Caryatic, with
one minor correction. The text is from a postcard sent in the late 20th
century A.D. (I hope no one has trouble with the high-ascii, though I'm
hardly the first person to use it around here! If it gives you a
problem, try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/conlang/
messagesearch?query=caryatic )
     Key to pronunciation- <b d g> are actually voiceless, and <p t k>
are aspirates. <v> represents a bilabial fricative, <f> a labiodental...
and all fricatives ( <v f s h> ) have voiced and
voiceless allophones. Vowels in hiatus (i.e. adjacent, but for whatever
reason not forming a diphthong) are separated by a non-phonemic [h] (or
more likely [h\]). <y> represents [j].


Yûdîs Masfîus Andrayâ Sîlir-ad

Ti taisam Caimânam Pirâda-an âsmi. Sas vaiks anâï "_Hell_" nâma-sânt
âdi-ga. Au sî pirâdâ a "upânâ" au kavânâ âdi-ga. Ti mama dimba-sa
garfu-ga. Tâd âh nâma "Kâriâtikâ" âdi-ga. Igu tua î-sa, tâssânt î
"Indaurupayâ" âdi, garfu-ga. Tû pid hâsi-ra? Tû tî dimba gankasi-ra?


TRANSLATION:

Justin Mansfield to Andrew Sihler

I am in the Cayman Islands. There is a village here by the name of
"Hell." But this island is not "infernal" but heavenly. I am writing to
you in my language. It's name is "Caryatic." I'm writing to you in it
because it is Indo-European. What do you think? Do you understand this
language?


 There we go. Now I must brace myself ;)

-Yûdîs Masfîus

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