Aekhu grammar, lexicon

[robject]

I'm just frazzled enough to be thinking about a two-page grammatical sketch of Aekhu, a Vargr language prominent around Tuglikki sector.

We know how to generate random words using Aekhu rules. We don't know how to understand them or put them together.

Kenji aka 'Sayatmenace' always used to say that the way to come up with something alien-enough is to blend two known cultures; for example, picturing the Vilani as Sumerian-Aztecs or something like that.

So if you applied that to a Vargr language, what might you think of?

Pirate Ainu? (not that "pirate" is a language, but...)
Dravidian Canaanite?
Hungarian Algonkian?
Mayan Portuguese?
Basque Anatolian?
Berber Celtic?



My brain hurts.

 

[rancke]

Kenji aka 'Sayatmenace' always used to say that the way to come up with something alien-enough is to blend two known cultures; for example, picturing the Vilani as Sumerian-Aztecs or something like that.

So if you applied that to a Vargr language, what might you think of?

Pirate Ainu? (not that "pirate" is a language, but...)
Dravidian Canaanite?
Hungarian Algonkian?
Mayan Portuguese?
Basque Anatolian?
Berber Celtic?

I don't quite see the benefit of this for anyone who isn't familiar with both the selected languages. I suppose one could google for grammars in English (or Danish ), but I'm not sure how easy they would be to find on the Internet.

I'd be more interested in a set of tables that one could roll up grammatic rules on. I wouldn't know where to begin, though.


Hans

 

[robject]

That would be cool, Hans. I wonder if someone knows of a website that can do that, to some degree. I wouldn't be surprised if something like that is out there.

Mixing the grammar rules of two known languages is the poor man's way to get a fake grammar that is potentially consistent or reasonable. Mileage varies.

For example, I found very brief grammatical sketches for Hawaiian and Etruscan, and mashed them up into these very general rules:

1. Typical word order.

Tense/aspect word. Optional.
Verb root.
Adverb. Optional.
Passive verb indicator. Optional.
Subject noun phrase.
Object noun phrase.

Commands drop the "you" subject pronoun.
Yes/no questions are formed by placing an indicator word after the leading word in the sentence.

2. Noun phrases.

Demonstratives inflect for case, and precede the noun. Demonstratives make a noun definite, I think. They are "this", "that", and "who".

There are two different possessives: one for extensions of the self, and one for possessions, more or less. The possessive precedes the noun.
Adjectives follow the noun.

Verbs can be nominalized by placing a demonstrative in front of it.

Pronouns come in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and "it" forms, both singular and plural. They inflect between nominative and accusative case.

Cases are nominative, accusative, dative, locative, commitative, and directive.

3. Verb tenses.

Infinitive.
Nonpast.
Past.
Participle.

 

[robject]

Proto-example. "A corsair shot at the trader."

Past-tense (vok), to shoot (ksidu), a corsair (zaeng)-nominative (0), that (gan) trader (tira)-locative (-ol).

Vok ksidu zaeng gan tira-ol.

 

[77topaz]

Proto-example. "A corsair shot at the trader."

Past-tense (vok), to shoot (ksidu), a corsair (zaeng)-nominative (0), that (gan) trader (tira)-locative (-ol).

Vok ksidu zaeng gan tira-ol.

I see you're using VSO word order/sentence arrangement there, like the Vilani language has?

 

[robject]

Hey, you're right. It's coincidence - everything except the case system and demonstratives is from Hawaiian, which is typically VSO.

But, since I brought in cases for noun phrases, I suppose the placement of subject and object is irrelevant. As long as they are marked clearly, placement is freed up. That's the Etruscan bit, but really there appears to be nothing particularly Etruscan about it.

And my example is incorrect. I used the wrong case ending, and didn't inflect the demonstrative. It should be:

Vok ksidu Zaeng gan-ue tira-ue.

I think the sentence could also be written:

Zaeng vok ksidu gan-ue tira-ue.
Gan-ue tira-ue Zaeng vok ksidu.
Gan-ue tira-ue vok ksidu Zaeng.

I've started capitalizing the subject because I'm worried I'll lose it.

For the sake of us Eurpoean-descended life forms, maybe it's enough to allow the freer word order. Then I can write it more like English sentences, I.e. SVO.

I know it's not a real grammar, and I have no desire to turn it into a full one, but I want what I've got to be reasonably usable.

 

[robject]

The main reason I want a bit of grammar is so I can build names, and decipher them.