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Sylvanian (Sylvani)
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PostPosted: Mon 09 Jul 2012 7:41 pm 
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Location: Sylvara, Massachusetts
Hi again. I'm going to try to make a thread on Sylvanian here, but be warned, because it's my least worked on conlang that I haven't discarded yet. :P It's something of a Latin/Greek pidgin, I've decided. It may be spoken by rabbits, but honestly I'm not sure at all. I'm open to suggestions here.
There is no phonology or grammar/syntax yet. There aren't any k's or w's, kind of like in Latin, and the c's are always hard because...because. There isn't, horrors, any sample text either! So you're going to have to wait kind of a while for anything other than some vocabulary, which you probably would rather see anyway.
sylev, sylv- = forest
vania, -ia = country (sylv- + -vania = "Sylvania", where Sylvanian is spoken, also a Tikolmian girl's name)
lag = hare
cunicul = rabbit
virid = green
fel = cat
epi = above, beside
sub = under
alb = white
&c. I haven't come up with any verbs yet. Plurals probably aren't marked but there may be reduplication instead. I have no idea about articles, but we probably need some or the whole house of cards falls down. There used to be noun endings but they all got lost when I didn't bother to figure them out.
Since I haven't gotten very far with this particular project, I may just write it off as one of those languages that got mostly lost, like Pictish, say. I'm also running into the issue of rabbits not having speech, so we may have another cat language on our hands. But before I go, I'll make a feeble attempt to present you with the inevitable number system:
un = one
dvo = two
tri = three
cuatfor = four
cuinc = five
sec = six
sep = seven
oct = eight
nov = nine
dec = ten
These are just guesses; the actual numbers may be closer to Greek.
Myaw mikyo.

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Native: English
Fluent: français
Basic: Cymraeg
Really basic: Español, lingua latīna
Conlangs (current): tikolmil, llyffws, Arliks, dilir
(Website is at http://risteq.net/ if you ever want to visit. It's supposed to be in 4 languages.)


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Re: Sylvanian (Sylvani)
PostPosted: Mon 09 Jul 2012 8:26 pm 
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Tikolm wrote:
I have no idea about articles, but we probably need some or the whole house of cards falls down.

How do you mean? Classical Greek had articles, but Classical Latin got by without them.

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Re: Sylvanian (Sylvani)
PostPosted: Mon 09 Jul 2012 8:37 pm 
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Location: Sylvara, Massachusetts
linguoboy wrote:
Tikolm wrote:
I have no idea about articles, but we probably need some or the whole house of cards falls down.

How do you mean? Classical Greek had articles, but Classical Latin got by without them.

I realize that. Classical Latin also wasn't a pidgin, as I'm sure you know. A pidgin language would probably turn into mush without articles letting you know what went with what. I wouldn't know, though. I'll just have to see how things get by without articles and then we can talk.
Edit: I just remembered -- a pidgin conlang I'm familiar with uses very few articles. What you need them for, it seems, is superlatives (the most). If you have a word for "most", then you may be able to squeak by without any articles. If you don't, then you need to form the construction "the more" and for that you need "the".
So, at least for now, goodbye articles!

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Native: English
Fluent: français
Basic: Cymraeg
Really basic: Español, lingua latīna
Conlangs (current): tikolmil, llyffws, Arliks, dilir
(Website is at http://risteq.net/ if you ever want to visit. It's supposed to be in 4 languages.)


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Re: Sylvanian (Sylvani)
PostPosted: Tue 10 Jul 2012 12:41 am 
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Joined:Sat 18 Apr 2009 5:25 am
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Tikolm wrote:
I realize that. Classical Latin also wasn't a pidgin, as I'm sure you know. A pidgin language would probably turn into mush without articles letting you know what went with what. . . .


Actually, I think a pidgin is more likely to avoid articles in light of the tendency to strip out all but the essentials.


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Re: Sylvanian (Sylvani)
PostPosted: Tue 10 Jul 2012 3:05 am 
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Location: Sylvara, Massachusetts
Dan_ad_nauseam wrote:
Tikolm wrote:
...


Actually, I think a pidgin is more likely to avoid articles in light of the tendency to strip out all but the essentials.

If you'd read my edit, you wouldn't have felt the need to say that because you'd have realized that I already sort of came to that conclusion. Thanks anyway. :)

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Native: English
Fluent: français
Basic: Cymraeg
Really basic: Español, lingua latīna
Conlangs (current): tikolmil, llyffws, Arliks, dilir
(Website is at http://risteq.net/ if you ever want to visit. It's supposed to be in 4 languages.)


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Re: Sylvanian (Sylvani)
PostPosted: Tue 10 Jul 2012 10:12 pm 
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Location: Sylvara, Massachusetts
Takrielel, tlo rufot xōs zum ro uqed lyuko zo skūzeled ucuf-tekir. Tluqo zios ro cwum, sic, at zal meke xōt?

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Native: English
Fluent: français
Basic: Cymraeg
Really basic: Español, lingua latīna
Conlangs (current): tikolmil, llyffws, Arliks, dilir
(Website is at http://risteq.net/ if you ever want to visit. It's supposed to be in 4 languages.)


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Re: Sylvanian (Sylvani)
PostPosted: Sat 14 Jul 2012 11:01 pm 
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Joined:Mon 10 Aug 2009 8:09 pm
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Location: Sylvara, Massachusetts
I'm back, in the vain hope that someone will care.
Today's vocabulary lesson:
cad = fall
in = on, in, etc.
Example sentence: lag virid in fel alb cad. Gloss: [hare green on cat white fall] Translation: The green hare falls on the white cat.
I know there aren't any green hares, but you get the idea. :P Word order is SOV, as you can see.

_________________
Native: English
Fluent: français
Basic: Cymraeg
Really basic: Español, lingua latīna
Conlangs (current): tikolmil, llyffws, Arliks, dilir
(Website is at http://risteq.net/ if you ever want to visit. It's supposed to be in 4 languages.)


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