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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
2. MORPHOLOGY
3. SYNTAX
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.