Hey, I seem to have trouble registering on the wiki. It says there's already somebody else called Halfling there. Did my registration get processed anomalously somehow or...?
Anyway, I was frustrated that the above sample does not seem to match vanilla DF dwarfish. Already existing dwarven expressions should not look out of place and grammatically incorrect in what should be the dwarven language, like they will if the language mandates suffixes and connectors in compound nouns. Instead I think they should make them look natural and correct in context. The words should also be recognizable as the words from DF, so that you could use the provided dwarven vocabulary to translate easily (such as kin melbil osor fak ulol sanreb avuz... oak tome kingdom drain own mine).
Therefore I thought I'd give it a try too. Here's my attempt:
I have no linguistic background, I'm not a native speaker of an Indo-European language; Indo-European languages are the minority of the languages I know. So my view on what might be necessary, easy to learn or usable may be a little different for a variety of reasons. At least Mandarin and Russian influenced. I also tried to include means to express respect or aggression easily."In the year 1050, the dwarven civilization of Kinmelbil, "The Oaken Tomes", exhausted the last of its mines. Driven by lust for gold and rumors of the priceless and all but mythical metal adamantine, a team of seven colonists was dispatched to build a new home for the dwarves of Kinmelbil in the Smooth Points of Pride. The first year of diaries from the ill-fated foreman of the mine was recovered, giving some hint as to the beginnings of the fortress that once stood there, if not its mysterious and presumably gruesome fate..."
Informal register (easier to learn if you're used to inflected language):
Id MMLZ, Kinmelbilosor fakír ulol sanreb avuzangar. Nethgönlimul kán tithleth oman toriteshkadèg kán tel lathondèg lïd enôrkel sterus dok emal, arnòm ashok olumír lotol om siz lïdan cenäthtovon, shedsut abanim oman irbom dok, tovonankinmelbil fidgamim kân Umaräkil Nikuz. Arnòm atölír utharid om alodthîkut lïd enentaremdèg erar, otadlin lïd usenudizír om tokmek lïr arôlsavot nirsten zustash geshud dok, ash tori shovethdèg kán toritnetdèg igrish taremgar itet.
Formal register (as close as it gets to DF dwarvish, most words are uninflected and unmarked for type) that I still believe is usable once you get used to it:
Id MMLZ, Kinmelbilosor fak ulol sanreb avuzgar. Nethgönlimul kán tithleth toriteshkad kán tel lathon enôrkel sterus dok emal, ashok olum lotolsiz cenäthtovon, shedsut aban irbom dok, tovonkinmelbil fidgam kân Umaräkil Nikuz. Atöl utharid om alodthîkut enentarem erar, otadlin usenudiz tokmek arôlsavot nirsten zustash geshud dok, ash tori shoveth kán toritnet igrish taremgar itet.
Year MMLZ, Kinmelbil-kingdom drain last own mine(s) of theirs (the formerly mentioned Kinmelbil). Because of lust-of-gold and rumors of no-price-like and most of all myth-like bluemetal driving (them), at that time a group of seven adventuredwarves dispersed, for constructing new homes, for dwarves of kinmelbil (to) live in Umaräkil Nikuz. First-year of day-book of ill-fate-ed chief was found, thereby (it) help-presenting a little understanding of that ancient fortress, but maybe not the mysterious and not uncertainly cruel fate of the former.
ID - isolating dwarvish. AKA KISS Dwarvish
/* The goal here is to produce a dwarven language that is as close as possible
* to the language of the dwarves of vanilla DF, that should therefore give more meaning to their words and so
* directly add to and improve the experience of vanilla DF (specifically, the goal is you don't have to think the DF vanilla names and phrases are grammatically incorrect anymore).
* This means it must be an otherwise isolating SVO language with complex compounds to begin with.
*/
1. Nouns
Nouns have two cases: singular, simple plural and long plural.
Singular and simple plural are similar in written form, and which is being used
must be inferred from context. Long plural is formed by adding -an (derived from shàmman, "many"),
and is considered colloquial.
urist - dagger
urist - daggers (formal)
uristan - daggers (informal)
Pronouns are used for the first and second persons and proximal and distal objects only.
Third person reference is made to the dwarf, creature or object by name instead in the third persons
and to the group (such as "the Mirth of Inks" or "gold bars") in the plural.
The commonly used pronouns are
ekur - I (boastful)
egar - I (humble)
(ekuran, egaran - informal, we)
nirrol (nir urol) - this one, here, I (neutral)
dural - you (respectful)
dvoral - thou (belittling)
(duralan, dvoralan - informal, you people)
nirsten - that one, there, the one over there, you (neutral)
gar - the previously mentioned
All pronouns may be omitted if they are obvious in the context.
2. Adjectives
Adjectives are not inflected. They come before the word they modify, except in poetic
word order.
romek urist - long dagger
Adjective gradation is accomplished by adding either tér (more) or tel (most). Adjectives
can be formed ad hoc by using nouns where an adjective would usually belong (formal)
or by adding adding -dèg (-like) to a noun or verb (informal).
tel romek urist - the longest dagger
lathon urist - the mythical dagger
lathondèg urist - the mythical dagger (informal)
3. Verbs
Verbs have two forms: infinitive and active. They do not require a pronoun.
Verbs have three persons: 1. singular, 3. singular and plural, as in English, but are not conjugated for
time. The endings -ír and -ím may be used to indicate person while the ending -sa is reciprocal.
to murder - usân
infinitive usân
active 1.p (I murder) usân
active 3.p (he murders) usânír
active plural (we/you/they murder) usâním
reciprocal singular (murdering oneself) usânsa
reciprocal plural (murdering each other) usânímsa
The verb "to be" is not used, instead it is assumed present when the verb slot is empty.
This may be emphasized in transliterated writing by adding a dash.
In formal language conjugation is omitted.
A passive register is expressed emphatically by using the formal subject arnòm in the sentence
instead of an identified subject (slur of Armok god). All verb subjects may be omitted to be inferred,
including the formal passive subject, and this is the standard in formal language.
4. Word-connecting particles
The distinct sentence connecting and honorific particles are detailed later.
no/not - tori
or - zom
and - shàm
both - kán
5. Compound words
There are three main types of compounds used by dwarves.
I. Constructive type ("pineapple" "stockpile") - indicates a new concept built from pre-existing words
II. Compound type ("knife-murdering") - where the first nouns modify the latter while not creating a new
concept
III. Possessive type ("knife of murdering") - where the latter words indicate possession of or modification
of the previous
In formal speech, these are not differentiated. In informal speech, a different preposition is used for each.
"lïd" is used for type I, "om" is used for type II, while type III is assumed when neither are present.
Consider KIN (oak) + MELBIL (tome)
Possible constructions:
formal informal informal plural
I type (oaktome) kinmelbil lïd kinmelbil lïdan kinmelbil (oaktomes)
II type (oaken-tome) kinmelbil om kinmelbil oman kinmelbil (oaken-tomes)
III type (oak of tome) kinmelbil kinmelbil kinmelbilan (oak of tomes)
Adjectives, verbs and nouns can all form compounds; the type of word (noun, verb, adjective) is determined
by the last word for type I and II constructions and by the first word for type III constructions.
Both II and III types can express possession. Capitalization comes properly at the start of such a
construction when the name of a person is included.
Bobrururist / om Uristbobrur
"Urist's mother" (mother of Urist/Urist-mother)
More complex compounds are formed by combining the above types. Generally a space is inserted at
the border of different compounds.
tithleth toriteshkadlimul formal/ tithlethan om toriteshkadlimul informal
"Rumors of priceless gold" (literally rumors-[of]-no-price-gold)
Adjectives may interrupt compounds:
tithleth toriteshkad limul formal/ tithlethan toriteshkaddèg limul informal
"Rumors of priceless gold" (literally rumors-of no-price-like gold)
6. Word order, temporal forms and sentence types.
There are three word ordering schemes.
1. Simple sentence
The basic word order gives information on time, emphasis, politeness, finiteness, subject, object,
verb and intent. The word order is
[emphasized word][honorific] [subject] [time] [verb] [object][sentence intent marker] [kûl + location]
with none of the fields obligatory.
Example:
Urist usân Kogan.
"Urist kills kogan."
1.1. Emphasis
The emphasized word is any of the subject, verb or object, which is displaced to the front of the sentence.
Kogan Urist usân.
"It is Kogan whom Urist kills."
Usân Urist Kogan.
"Killing is what Urist does to Kogan"
1.2. Honorifics
There are four honorifics which may be added to the emphasized word. If none is added,
the sentence is neutral.
"-srul" - offensive honorific (literally compares the object/action to that of a worm).
"-shòb" - lower honorific. A superior speaking about an inferior or their actions.
"-rîth" - upper honorific. An inferior speaking about a superior or their actions.
"-elon" - kingly honorific. Applied when speaking about a monarch or their family.
Uristsrul, usân Kogan
"Urist, that worm, kills Kogan"
Usânsrul, Urist Kogan
"Despicable murder is what Urist does to Kogan"
Uristelon usân Kogan
"Urist King slays Kogan"
1.3. Time and location
Any indicator of time here determines the temporal form of the sentence. Location determines the place
of occurrence.
Very common expressions of time are
ashok - then, geth - in the past and zalud - in the future. More precise times may be substituted.
Urist geth usân Kogan.
"Urist killed Kogan (in the past)"
Urist ashok usân Kogan.
"Urist then killed kogan (in context)"
Zaludalod Urist usân Kogan.
"Tomorrow Urist will kill Kogan"
Urist geth usân Kogan kûl Kinmelbil.
"Urist killed Kogan in Kinmelbil"
1.4. Intent
The intent of the sentence. These are separate particles that give the sentence its emphasis.
Not all are listed here and they may vary locally and by dialect. They may also be combined.
Some common ones are
lal (cf. kulal) - pondering question
veth - inquisitive question (that it is expected one will answer promptly)
itet - uncertainty ("maybe")
kal - amused
gò - expressing awe
lur - aggressive
ìlthor - threatening
Dural geth usân Koganlal?
"I wonder - could you be the one who killed Kogan?"
Dural geth usân Koganlal itet.
"Maybe it was you who killed Kogan"
Dvoral geth usân Koganveth?
"Answer me, you - did you kill Kogan?"
Uristelon geth usân Kogangò?
"How did king Urist manage to slay Kogan? (I am amazed at the feat)"
Dvoralslur geth usân Koganlur.
"Thou vile creature murdered Kogan (expressing hostility)"
Dvoralshòb geth usân Koganìlthor. Akir - råsh.
"Underling, you murdered Kogan (prepare to receive your punishment). The reward is death."
1.5. Parallel non-subordinate clauses
These may be connected with
but - absh
no/not - tori
but not - ash tori
or - zom
and - shàm
and not - shàm tori
both (previous) and (the latter) - kán
Omitting anything that may be inferred from context is typical.
Zaludalod Urist usân Kogan shàm tori aval Bomrek kal.
Tomorrow Urist will kill Kogan and not love Bomrek either.
Zaludalod Urist usân Kogan kán Bomrek.
Tomorrow Urist will kill Kogan and Bomrek both.
2. Subordinate sentence
Subordinate and subjunctive clauses use an abbreviated sentence formula
[sentence connector] [subject] [verb] [time] [object] [sentence connector]
The sentence connectors may be joined to the main clause at the beginning or end.
Note that here time is expressed right after the verb. Commonly used sentence connectors are
dok - makes the previous or following sentence an infinitive clause
emal - because
ed - before
ashok - at the same time (as)
äkil - and afterwards
shedsut - so that
otadlin - thereby
Example.
Usân Kogan dok
"(The act of) killing Kogan"
In a complete sentence:
Usân Kogan dokelon Urist geth thol guz
"King Urist thought killing Kogan was easy"
or more accurately "As for killing Kogan, king Urist thought it was easy at the time"
Word-for-word:
Murder-Kogan-Thing-kingly Urist past think simple
Kogan usân geth Bobrururist emal Urist geth usân Kogan.
"Kogan killed Urist's mother, so Urist killed Kogan"
Kogan usân geth Bobrururist ed usânrîth Urist geth Kogangò.
"Kogan killed Urist's mother, then Urist nobly killed Kogan (what a great story!)"
Kogan usân geth Bobrururist ed Uristelon usân geth Kogangòlal, äkil usân dok - emdush.
"I wonder if it went this way: Kogan killed Urist's mother, then Urist king killed Kogan,
and afterwards killing was illegal (how wonderful if it did)."
When multiple subordinate clauses form a nested construction (they did this... so that... so that...),
if a connector is repeated, it may be omitted.
3. Poetic sentence
Various forms of the sentence structure are used in poetry. These may be completely contrary
to the simple indicative word order. It is generally up to the poet to freely choose a
word order that fits the poem. When it is repeated from stanza to stanza, the intention becomes clear
from context.
Kogan usânír Uristelon, nalish (Urist the king killed Kogan, hurray)
måmgoz usânír Uristelon, nalish (Urist the king killed the dragon, hurray)
dokan usânír Uristelon, nalish (Urist the king killed tyrants, hurray)
geth Uristelon guz êsik (and a simple soldier killed Urist)
Feel free to use/suggest/improve/reuse in part/ignore, it was such as a strange mood and probably not close to comparable effort to the above.
