Outline of Elven Grammar (book)

AN OUTLINE OF ELVEN GRAMMAR
by Casimont Nalbiro

PREFACE
It may seem odd, or perhaps even impertinent, for an Elothean to attempt a grammar of Elven. Yet a language spanning islands and provinces, one with such a noble and eloquent literature demands such a work. And as the Elves themselves have historically been reluctant to undertake it, the task must fall to those of us who have the desire, the resources, and the energy for it.

With both humility and profound admiration for the Elven tongue, I submit this sketch of Elven grammar. The analysis is based on a thorough examination of the works of Elven authors, on many an interview with its scholars, and on years of study. As with any living language, especially one so widely spread, usages will be heard every day that are not covered here. The many dialects of Elven -- geographic, social, and historical -- deserve their own treatments, yet one must start somewhere, and it is my hope that this little work may be that first step.

I acknowledge with deep gratitude the support of the Ducal House of Zoluren, whose patronage has allowed me to bring this outline to completion.

1. PHONOLOGY

1 Letters that represent the same sounds in Elven and Common
	b, d, f, m, n, p, t, z.
2 Single letters and the sounds they represent
	Letter	Sounds like:
	a	a in "father".
	c	c in "cat" or k in "yak".
	e	e in "met", "den", "bell".
	g	g in get", "tag".
	h	h in "hat", "hoop", "hold".
	i	In a stressed syllable: ee in "meet" or ea in "bean"; in an unstressed syllable: i in "mitt" or "bin".
	j	j in "jab", -ge in "rage", or -dg- in "ledger".
	l	l in "lake" or "bell".
	o	In a stressed syllable: o in "code" or oa in "boat"; in an unstressed syllable: oa in "oar" or o in "cold".
	r	r in "red" or "tar"; never omitted or trilled.
	s	s in "save" or c in "rice". Never the z sound, as in "rise".
	u	In a stressed syllable: oo in "moon", "hoop" or "food"; in an unstressed syllable: oo in "hood" or "good".
	w	w in "wait" or "win". Occurs only at the start of a syllable.
	y	y in "yell" or "yak". Never the vowel sound in "my".
3 Letter combinations and the sounds they represent:
	Letters	Sounds like:
	ai	i in "hide" or "fine".
	au	ow in "how" or "town".
	ch	ch in "choose" or -tch in "catch".
	ei	a in "may", "pay", "shame" or "plate".
	oi	oy in "toy" or oi in "coin".
	ow	ow in "how" or "town".
	rr	The tip of the tongue strikes the ridge behind the upper front teeth, as in the very aristocratic pronunciation of "very" as "veddy".
	sh	sh in "shirt" or "rash".
4 Letters and letter combinations that do not occur in Elven
	k, q, th (as in Common "thin", "then" or "teeth".
5 Stress placement:
	Words of two syllables are stressed on the first syllable, words of three syllables on the next-to-last syllable, and words of more than three syllables, on the antepenultimate syllable (the third from the end). Examples:
		Scarnan celyeni tarul orani curtamasai, SCAR-nan cel-YE-ni TA-rul o-RA-ni cur-TA-ma-sai, Nazar yapratisai, ilg irecitisai, NA-zar ya-PRA-ti-sai, ilg i-re-CI-ti-sai, Resme eicima zamanen carata: RES-me ei-CI-ma za-MA-nen ca-RA-ta: Oyen samyani, oyen maldani, oyen halcani. O-yen sam-YA-ni, O-yen mal-DA-ni, O-yen hal-CA-ni. "Spearpoints sight twice-seven stars, Guiding the gaze, opening the gate, Divining the form of days to follow: Fields, farms, folk of future times".

2. MORPHOLOGY

  2.1 Parts of Speech                                                       
     Elven words are divided into nine groups: nouns, pronouns,             
     adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions and             
     particles.                                                             
                                                                            
  2.2 Verbs                                                                 
                                                                            
     2.2.1 Roots, Stems, and Inflections                                    
                                                                            
        A large part of the Elven vocabulary is composed of the             
        haziman, literally, "grown words", words formed by add-             
        ing prefixes or suffixes to make new words with related             
        meanings.                                                           
                                                                            
        Word formation starts with a root expressing a particu-             
        lar idea or meaning.  This root may not exist by itself             
        as a separate word: the root sagd-, for instance, never             
        appears by itself, but it is the basis of words such as             
        sagden "healthy" (adjective), sagdatu "to heal" (verb),             
        or sagdatun "healing" (gerund).                                     
                                                                            
        Often, though, the root of the word is also the form of             
        the noun.  For instance, consider the word azc, meaning             
        "end", as in saparan azc "journey's end".                           
                                                                            
        Stems are added to the root to change its function in a             
        sentence.  The stems are:                                           
          The adjective stems, -en or -is:                                  
             azc + -en makes the adjective azcen "final, last".             
          The adverb stem, -ur:                                             
             azc + -ur produces the adverb azcur "finally".                 
          The verb stems,                                                   
             -man/-aman (sometimes -min/-imin),  -tu/-atu, and              
                -jad/-ajad (rare):                                          
             azc + -aman produces the verb azcaman "to end, to              
                finish".                                                    
             azc + -atu produces azcatu "to be ending".                     
                                                                            
        Two of these verb stems, -man and -tu, generate differ-             
        ent kinds of verbs when added to roots.  Verbs produced             
        with -tu/-atu are called sozilaya, "river words"; verbs             
        made with -man/-aman are called sozalkas, "lake words".             
                                                                            
        The contrasting images suggested by the labels sozilaya             
        and sozalkas are the river, flowing and continuing, and             
        the lake, still and complete.  To capture the idea of a             
        continuing action, the -tu/-atu stem is used; but for a             
        completed action, the -man/-aman stem is used.  Compare             
        the following, from the root ari-:                                  
                                                                            
           From aritu:                                                      
              aritaro "I run", "I am running"                               
              ong aritaro "I ran", "I was running"                          
              oyun aritaro "I will run", "I will be running"                
           From ariman:                                                     
              arimaro "I have run"                                          
              ong arimaro "I had run"                                       
              oyun arimaro "I will have run"                                
                                                                            
        The -man and -tu stems have five different forms to let             
        the verb function as an adjective or a noun.  The words             
        produced are sometimes called past or present particip-             
        les or gerunds, but don't worry about the names if they             
        are unfamiliar; they simply mean that the verb has been             
        converted so it can serve different uses in a sentence.             
                                                                            
           azc + -aman: azcaman "to finish" (infinitive)                    
           azc + -ama: azcama "finished" (past participle)                  
              Functions as an adjective, "a finished product".              
              Example:                                                      
                 Arn necu azcama   hinscu amisa.                            
                 My  work finished never  is.                               
                 "My work is never done."                                   
                                                                            
           azc + -atu: azcatu "to be finishing" (infinitive)                
           azc + -ata: azcata "finishing" (present participle)              
              Functions as an adjective: "finishing touches".               
              Example:                                                      
                 Pas azcata    necu meinde   alorisa.                       
                 he  finishing work tomorrow does                           
                 "He will do the finishing work tomorrow."                  
                                                                            
           azc + -ato: azcato "ending" (gerund)                             
              Functions as a noun: "the ending of the story."               
              Example:                                                      
                 Ertecen azcato yalamaro.                                   
                 story's ending like-I                                      
                 "I like the story's ending."                               
                                                                            
     2.2.2 Tense and Time                                                   
                                                                            
        Perhaps because of the long lives that Elves enjoy, the             
        Elven language has no exact equivalent for the present,             
        past, or future tense of other tongues.  This peculiar-             
        ity does not mean that Elven can't express the relation             
        of events in time: the easiest way of rendering past or             
        future in Elven is to place ong "past" or oyun "future"             
        before the verb.  Examples of both uses may be found in             
        the famous Elven poem "The Wanderer's Song":                        
                                                                            
        A word-for-word translation shows that ong in the first             
        sentence establishes the time of the action as being in             
        the past.  In the same way, oyun in the second sentence             
        establishes the time as the future.                                 
                                                                            
           Umshan tonen hostani ei bahara      ong  surmasai                
           Trees  their leaves  in the Spring  past display                 
           Oroi    hin amaro taida subuman.                                 
           Though  not I-was there to-prove.                                
           Ciman  tonen glenani ei bahara      oyun   gurmasai              
           Birds  their nests   in the Spring  future build                 
           Oroi    hin amaro     taida liluman.                             
           Though  not I-will-be there to-stand-in-wonder.                  
                                                                            
        Many adverbs work like ong and oyun, specifying when an             
        event happened or will happen:                                      
           ong "a while ago", mundan ong "long ago"                         
           basim "soon", mabasim "very soon",                               
              masabasim "imminently"                                        
           song "then", masong "later"                                      
           yangija "now", yangi "recently", mayangi "right                  
              now", masayangi "this instant"                                
           zamanong "times past", zamanoyun "times to come"                 
                                                                            
        These together with adjectives like lonic "far (time)",             
        labur, "short (time)", and yangen "current or present",             
        serve Elven like the tenses of other tongues.                       
                                                                            
     2.2.3 Person and Number                                                
                                                                            
        The form of a verb is determined by the person and num-             
        ber of its subject.  The suffixes added for the various             
        persons and numbers are:                                            
           First Person   Singular: -aro   Plural: -aroi                    
           Second Person  Singular: -iro   Plural: -iroi
           Third Person   Singular: -isa   Plural: -isai                    
                                                                            
        Examples:                                                           
        (Note: the pronouns in parentheses are often omitted.)              
        With joantu "to go":                                                
           "I go"         (amar) joantaro                                   
           "thou goest"   (imir) joantiro                                   
           "he goes"      pas joantisa                                      
           "we go"        (aron) joantaroi                                  
           "you go"       (irin) joantiroi                                  
           "they go"      (ton) joantisai                                   
                                                                            
        With ezaman "to know":                                              
           "I know"       (amar) ezamaro                                    
           "thou knowest" (imir) ezamiro                                    
           "she knows"    rure ezamasa                                      
           "we know"      (aron) ezamaroi                                   
           "you know"     (irin) ezamiroi                                   
           "they know"    (ton) ezamasai                                    
                                                                            
        With aman "to be":                                                  
           "I am"         (amar) amaro                                      
           "thou art"     (imir) amiro                                      
           "it is"        ton amisa                                         
           "we are"       (aron) amaroi                                     
           "you are"      (irin) amiroi                                     
           "they are"     (ton)  amisai                                     
                                                                            
     2.2.4 Reflexives                                                       
                                                                            
        When the subject and object of a verb refer to the same             
        person or thing, as in "She fooled herself", "He shaved             
        himself", the verb is labeled "reflexive".  Elven shows             
        reflexives by adding a particle edo- immediately before             
        the verb.  Example, with the verb agirtu "hurt":                    
           Pas edo agirtisa  "he is hurting himself".                       
                                                                            
        The particle appears in an Elven saying about egotists:             
            Inor pasen sozeni   edo amisai.                                 
            all  his   of-words edo are.                                    
            "All of his verbs are reflexive."                               
                                                                            
                                                                            
  2.3 Adverbs                                                               
                                                                            
     Adverbs are formed by adding the stem -ur (or -jur follow-             
     ing vowels) to the root.                                               
     Examples:                                                              
        airi "difference" + -jur: airijur "differently".                    
        hal "good" + -ur: halur "well".                                     
        undo "darkness" + -jur: undojur "darkly".                           
                                                                            
                                                                            
  2.4 Nouns                                                                 
                                                                            
     Elven shows the function and number of nouns by adding the             
     appropriate suffixes.  The term case is traditionally used             
     to classify the various forms.  To show that a noun is the             
     subject of its clause, the nominative case suffix is added             
     to the base form: -an if the noun is plural.  To show that             
     a noun is modifying another noun, the genitive case suffix             
     is added: -en if the noun is singular, -eni if the noun is             
     plural.  To show any other function -- for example, direct             
     object, indirect object, or the object of a preposition --             
     the objective case suffix is added: -a in the singular and             
     -ani in the plural.                                                    
                                                                            
     Suffixes and Examples for Case and Number:                             
                 Nominative   Genitive     Objective                        
     Singular:   (none)       -en          -a                               
                 cosi         cosen        cosa                             
                 gau          gawen        gawa                             
                 hodei        hodeyen      hodeya                           
                 wins         winsen       winsa                            
     Plural:     -an          -eni         -ani                             
                 cosan        coseni       cosani                           
                 gawayan      gawayeni     gawayani                         
                 hodeyan      hodeyeni     hodeyani                         
                 winsan       winseni      winsani                          
                                                                            
                                                                            
  2.5 Pronouns                                                              
                                                                            
     2.5.1 Personal Pronouns                                                
                                                                            
        The personal pronouns have different forms depending on             
        their case, number, person, and gender.  The forms are:             
                                                                            
        First Person    Singular     Plural                                 
        Nominative      amar (I)     aron (we, inclusive)                   
                                     haron (we, exclusive)                  
        Genitive        arn (my)     aronen (our, inclusive)                
                                     haronen (our, exclusive)               
        Objective       ar (me)      aro (us, inclusive)                    
                                       haro (us, exclusive)                 
        Second Person   Singular     Plural                                 
        Nominative      imir (thou)  irin (you)                             
        Genitive        irn (thy)    irinen (your)                          
        Objective       ir (thee)    iri (you)                              
                                                                            
        Third Person                Singular                                
                       Masculine    Feminine    Neuter                      
        Nominative     pas (he)     rure (she)  ton (it)                    
        Genitive       pasen (his)  run (her)   tonen (its)                 
        Objective      par (him)    rur (her)   ton (it)                    
                                                                            
        Third Person           Plural, all genders                          
        Nominative                  ton (they)                              
        Genitive                    tonen (their)                           
        Objective                   ton (them)                              
                                                                            
        The neuter forms are used when the pronoun refers to a              
        genderless thing, for example, "broadsword", or if the              
        gender is unknown, for example, "a leucro", or in a di-             
        alogue like this: "Someone admires you."  "Who is it?"              
                                                                            
        Two other terms need to be explained, the terms "inclu-             
        sive" and "exclusive" in the first-person plural.  Both             
        forms mean "we", "our", or "us", but the inclusive ones             
        include the person spoken to in the meaning of "we" and             
        the exclusive forms exclude the person spoken to.  Some             
        examples will help to clarify this:                                 
                                                                            
        Squint and Mifflie meet Hoople.  Squint says to Hoople,             
        "Zlatch gave us a bundle of skins."  If Squint uses the             
        inclusive aro, he is saying that Zlatch gave the bundle             
        to Squint, Mifflie, and Hoople.  But if Squint uses the             
        exclusive form (haro) he excludes Hoople and means that             
        Zlatch gave the skins to Squint and Mifflie.                        
                                                                            
        Again, Squint and Mifflie run into Hoople.  Squint says             
        to Hoople, "We're going to hunt goblins next week."  If             
        Squint uses the inclusive aron, he means that Hoople is             
        going too; if he uses the exclusive haron, he's telling             
        Hoople that he and Mifflie are going hunting.                       
                                                                            
     2.5.2 Relative Pronouns                                                
                                                                            
        The relative pronouns have a single form for all cases:             
           cim "who" or "whom"                                              
              (used when referring to sentient beings)                      
           ciming "whose"                                                   
           nime "that", "what", or "which"                                  
              (used when referring to non-sentient beings)                  
           niming "of that", "of what", "of which"                          
           hachan "when"                                                    
           taida "where"                                                    
           uchin "why"                                                      
           pele "how"                                                       
                                                                            
        Each can be used as an interrogative pronoun by prefix-             
        ing shon-:                                                          
           shoncim "who?", shonciming "whose?"                              
           shonime "what? which?", shoniming "of what?"                     
           shonhachan "when?", shontaida "where?"                           
           shonuchin "why?", shonpele "how?"                                
                                                                            
     2.5.3 Demonstrative Pronouns                                           
                                                                            
        shu "this", sha "that".                                             
                                                                            
                                                                            
  2.6 Adjectives                                                            
                                                                            
     Adjectives are formed by adding the suffixes -en or -is to             
     the root.  Examples:                                                   
        aul "beauty" + -is produces aulis "beautiful"                       
        bul "height" + -en produces bulen "tall"                            
        dost "gloom" + -en produces dosten "gloomy"                         
        hand "large size" + -is produces handis "big"                       
                                                                            
     2.6.1 Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs                             
                                                                            
        Adjectives and adverbs form the comparative or superla-             
        tive degree in the same way, by adding the prefixes ma-             
        or maba-.  Examples:                                                
                                                                            
        Adjective                                                           
        aulis    Comparative: maaulis  "more beautiful"                     
                 Superlative: mabaaulis  "most beautiful"                   
        bulen    Comparative: mabulen  "taller"                             
                 Superlative: mababulen  "tallest"                          
        handis   Comparative: mahandis "bigger"                             
                 Superlative: mabahandis "biggest"                          
                                                                            
        Adverbs                                                             
        pozur    Comparative: mapozur  "more luckily"                       
                 Superlative: mabapozur  "most luckily"                     
        larjur   Comparative: malarjur "more nervously"                     
                 Superlative: mabalarjur "most nervously"                   

  2.7 Conjunctions                                                          
                                                                            
     we "and", emma "but", eger "if", sal "or".                             
                                                                            
  2.8 Prepositions (not all are listed here)                                
                                                                            
     aldis "to"        idi "out"                oc "by"                     
     arac "up" arac    igel "in front of"       ohe "on"                    
     darm "with"       ims "at"                 pel "down"                  
     ei "in"           ish "across"             uci "toward"                
     gal "among"       izinda "after, behind"   urbil "near"                
                                                                            
                                                                            
  2.9 Particles                                                             
                                                                            
     Some Elven roots may be used both as words and as parts of             
     other words.  These forms, called particles, are typically             
     prefixes that alter the meaning of the word they are added             
     to in predictable ways.  Examples of the common particles:             
                                                                            
     Particle            When added to   Produces                           
     san- "doer, actor"  gezur "lie"     sangezur "perjurer"                
     zaman- "time, era"  sari "life"     zamansari "lifetime"               
                         chaga "child"   zamanchaga "childhood"             
     luru- "place"       wede "book"     luruwede "library"                 
     molu- "group"       dogan "brother" moludogan "brotherhood             
     guru- "juncture"    yol "road"      guruyol "crossroad"                
     dre- "female"       sorgin "wizard" dresorgin "witch"                  
     ela- "female"       dul "widower"   eladul "widow"                     
     hid- "without"      guruc "tail"    hidguruc "tailless"                
     ini- "not, un-"     samda "luckily" inisamda "unluckily"               
                                                                            
                                                                            

3. SYNTAX

  3.1 Phrase Order                                                          
                                                                            
     Modifiers of nouns usually come before the nouns they mod-             
     ify, although this order is frequently varied in poetry or             
     for emphasis.  For example, irn el is the normal order for             
     "your hand", but el irn would signify "your hand, not your             
     arm" or some other contrast clear from the context.  Other             
     examples:                                                              
     bir gul          ar bash        ar gizilen gul                         
     a   flower       my head        my red     flower                      
                                                                            
     Except for hin "not", adverbs are placed immediately after             
     the verbs they modify.                                                 
                                                                            
  3.2 Clause Order                                                          
                                                                            
     The order of the parts of clauses is Subject Object Verb.              
     Examples:                                                              
     Bir otamac bir gul    amisa taida fausan ton islemisa.                 
     A   weed   a   flower is    where no one it  wants.                    
     "A weed is a flower where no one wants it."                            
                                                                            
     Cim ar burwa ebastisa, ar altan ebastisa.                              
     Who my honor steals,   my gold  steals.                                
     "Who steals my honor steals my gold."                                  
                                                                            
  3.3 Negation and Questions                                                
                                                                            
     The adverb hin "not" is placed immediately before the verb             
     being negated.                                                         
                                                                            
     Elven has the usual interrogative pronouns we translate as             
     "who", "what", "why", "when", "where", and "how".  Besides             
     questions formed with these words, Elven has the type that             
     is called a "yes-no" question because its answer is either             
     yes or no.  A yes-no question is formed by adding the par-             
     icle shon at various places in the sentence.  For an exam-             
     ple of how its placement affects meaning, consider:                    
        Haron pagtani meditaroi   gaur.                                     
        We    cougars are hunting today.                                    
        "We are hunting cougars today."                                     
                                                                            
     If shon begins the sentence the whole idea is  questioned:             
        Shon haron pagtani meditaroi gaur?                                  
        "Are we hunting cougars today?"                                     
                                                                            
     Otherwise, shon is placed immediately in front of the part             
     being questioned:                                                      
        Haron pagtani  meditaroi shon     gaur?                             
        we    cougars  hunt      question today                             
        "Are we hunting cougars today?" (not some other time)               
                                                                            
        Haron shon     pagtani meditaroi gaur?                              
        we    question cougars hunt      today                              
        "Are we hunting cougars today?" (not goblins, etc.)                 
                                                                            
        Haron pagtani shon     meditaroi gaur?                              
        we    cougars question hunt      today                              
        "Are we hunting cougars today?"                                     
           (as opposed to, say, feeding them.)                              

Here ends the Grammar of Elven.