an early conlang (was: Young Conlangers)
From: | Jonathan Knibb <jonathan_knibb@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, April 2, 2002, 17:47 |
All this talk of youth and littlest conlangers reminds me of my first
conlang, now long dead, composed over a dull summer when I was sixteen (i.e.
ten years ago). Just thought it would be amusing to recall a few lines
(Genesis 1:1 et seq.), so here goes...
Igebithyëbá thelë a nharë fassití Akhé. A antí nhare shethyëové, a masé; a
antí drafeth i lonethivedoyní. A geití i Akheizbara i leneyvedoyní. A redaná
Akhé, Ellë idoaní; a ellë idoantí.
Whaddya think? It never got as far as having a properly codified phonology
(I wouldn't even have been able to tell you what a phonology was back then
;) ), but I still think it has a sort of charm about it.
Interlinear for the first line, in case anyone's interested: (pipes mark
morpheme boundaries)
i|geb|ith|yë|bá:
igeb|i = to begin (from geb|i = to give)
-th = nominalising suffix (act of X-ing)
-yë = dative case
-bá = at (postposition)
thele = heaven
-ë = accusative inflection
a = and
nhare = earth
fass|i = to create
-tí = 3rd person past
Akhé = God (from akh = high)
Actually there are quite a lot of European cognates there, aren't there? I
never noticed that before!
The pronunciation is pretty much as you'd expect - don't ask what the
diaeresis means, I have no idea! The acute accent marks stress. The only
slightly interesting thing is <nh>, a voiceless alveolar nasal.
Just thought I'd share that with you :)
Jonathan.
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