This is a Rílin nezeletŭ, along with its recording. This is called Tímalípin ‘We Remember’. It is, like all nezeletŭ, about the sorrow experienced by those Ríli who were driven from their forest home by the Tosi invaders.
Here is a new Rílin poem (well, newish), plus its audio recording. Got my h4n Zoom back so hopefully it sounds a bit better now.
Mintaka
I’m writing some mini-stories about Orikrindians that I will probably post in the future. Topics may/will include:
– An Orikrindian girl who leaves her country at age 15 and moves to Quarios, some of her thoughts, motivations, and memories (telling her story in retrospect)
– Two Orikrindian brothers who are separated due to a war with a neighboring country
– A story of the devotees of the mountain goddess and fire god who go on a pilgrimage to a great mountain. Fewer will descend that those who went up
I’m also recording new poems in Rílin now, since I am finally back in touch with my h4n Zoom audio recorder, which is higher quality than my laptop mic, unsurprisingly.
Other topics in the works: more Ori grammar, the Orikrindian pantheon, and info on Orikrindian artisanal works.
This has been a semi-update with a bunch of teasers…but I’m really excited about what I’m working on so it’s ok. 😛
Mintaka
Last time I told you about more Ori verbs and how to conjugate them. Now I will move on to nouns. As I’ve mentioned before, Ori nouns come in four classes (like grammatical genders): animate, inanimate, celestial, and abstract. Ori has noun cases that suffix to nouns to show their grammatical role in the sentence. There are singular and plural, and different cases depending on the class of the noun. Below are the case endings for singular animate and inanimate nouns. The column that says -C stop contains suffixes for nouns that end in an oral or nasal stop (-t, -p, -c, -b, -d, -g, -m, -n). These nouns get a little epenthetic -i- inserted before the case suffix, as you can see below.
So what do these cases mean?
Nom = nominative: this marks the subject of a verb. Example: tu-porin-is merir ‘the shepherd is dancing’
Gen = genitive: nouns in the genitive case show possession or relation. Example: lye-bus tu-ema-re ‘the house of the woman; the woman’s house’
Dat = dative: nouns in the dative case are the indirect object of a verb. In English, this would be often marked with the preposition to or for. Example: maropye tu-porit tu-ema-te ‘give the sheep to the woman’
Acc = accusative: nouns in the accusative case are the direct object of a verb. Example: tepe-t cyepu cyan ‘I took the fruit’
Loc = locative: nouns in the locative case show that something is located in, at, or on a thing. Example: bu-le ummum ‘I am staying at home’
Instr = instrumental: the instrumental case is used to show that something was done by means of some noun–that this noun is the instrument. Example: restin-ir lye-holist ayalnda ‘they are opening the door with a key’
Voc = vocative: this case is used when you mean to call out to someone or something. Example: Oa, porin-ca! ‘Hey, shepherd!’
The cases for other classes (singulars and plurals) are below.
So let’s look at some examples of these cases in action–in actual phrases and sentences.
Hilucul-ya bellu ‘The sky is wide’
Caru-s roru-sye ‘A world of darkness’
Sesta-lu maro ‘Give [something] to life’
A hilacul-ca! ‘O, heaven!’
Yupye ti-yutar-pya! ‘Look at the cloud!’
Hustu-ce ‘by means of trust’
Hilacul-cya ‘in the sky’
Bu-s ti-hiluma-na ‘a house of the priestess’
I’ll have more examples of Ori sentences soon…
Mintaka
Last time we looked at some ways to conjugate verbs in Ori--specifically verbs ending in -i or in alveolar sounds (-t, -d, -n, -s, -l, -r). Some examples of these:
merir ‘he/she/it dances’ (animate, inanimate)
boltimbra ‘we keep’ (boltin- + -bra)
lalta ‘they laugh’ (celestial, abstract) (lar- + -lta)
As you can see from some of the above verbs, sometimes there is variation in stem or ending, as per phonotactic constraints.
Today I want to show the 2nd and 3rd conjugations, which will wrap up all of the regular verbal classes.
The first class, as we saw, includes verbs ending in -i and in alveolars. The second class includes verbs ending in -e, -a, and velar consonants (-c and -g).
cuhe- ‘cleave’
syeg- ‘steal’
ta- ‘speak’
plec- ‘fall’
Note differences in endings in bold.
cuhe-ni ‘I cleave’
cuhe-ti ‘you cleave’
cuhe-ri ‘he/she/it cleaves’ (an, inan)
cuhe-li ‘he/she/it cleaves’ (cel, abs)
cuhe-ce ‘we cleave’
cuhe-cya ‘you all cleave’
cuhe-cyo ‘they cleave’ (an, inan)
cuhe-cyon ‘they cleave’ (cel, abs)
ta-ni ‘I speak’
ta-ti ‘you speak’
ta-ri ‘he/she/it speaks’ (an, inan)
ta-li ‘he/she/it peaks’ (cel, abs)
ta-ce ‘we speak’
ta-cya ‘you all speak
ta-cyo ‘they speak’ (an, inan)
ta-cyon ‘they speak’ (cel, abs)
syeg-i ‘I steal’
syeg-it ‘you steal’
syeg-ir ‘he/she/it steals’ (an, inan)
syeg-il ‘he/she/it steals’ (cel, abs)
syeg-e ‘we steal’
syeg-ya ‘you all steal’
syeg-yo ‘they steal’ (an, inan)
syeg-yon ‘they steal’ (cel, abs)
plec-i ‘I fall’
plec-it ‘you fall’
plec-ir ‘he/she/it falls’ (an, inan)
plec-il ‘he/she/it falls’ (cel, abs)
plec-e ‘we fall’
plec-ya ‘you all fall’
plec-yo ‘they fall’ (an, inan)
plec-yon ‘they fall’ (cel, abs)
~
The 3rd, and final regular verb conjugation includes verbs ending in -o, -u, and labial consonants (-b, -p, and -m).
pellum- ‘count’
cyep- ‘take, grab’
lyab- ‘lick’
brelo- ‘nuzzle against’
ryesu- ‘sip’
Once again, note changes in stem or ending marked in bold.
ryesu-m ‘I sip
ryesu-tu ‘you sip
ryesu-ru ‘he/she/it sips’ (an, inan)
ryesu-lu ‘he/she/it sips’ (cel, abs)
ryesu-bru ‘we sip’
ryesu-ru ‘you all sip
ryesu-bu ‘they sip’ (an, inan)
ryesu-ltu ‘they sip’ (cel, abs)
(Verbs ending in -o, such as brelo- ‘nuzzle against’ conjugate exactly the same way as those verbs in -u.)
pellum-u ‘I count’
pellun-tu ‘you count’
pellur-ru ‘he/she/it counts’ (an, inan)
pellul-lu ‘he/she/it counts’ (cel, abs)
pellum-bru ‘we count’
pellum-ru ‘you all count’
pellum-bu ‘they count’ (an, inan)
pellul–tu ‘they count’ (cel, abs)
cyep-u ‘I take’
cyep-pu ‘you take’
cyep-ru ‘he/she/it takes’ (an, inan)
cyep-lu ‘he/she/it takes’ (cel, abs)
cyep-pru ‘we take’
cyep-ru ‘you all take’
cyeb-bu ‘they take’ (an, inan)
cyel-tu ‘they take’ (cel, abs)
lyab-u ‘I lick’
lyab-du ‘you lick’
lyab-ru ‘he/she/it licks’ (an, inan)
lyab-lu ‘he/she/it licks’ (cel, abs)
lyab-bru ‘we lick’
lyab-ru ‘you all lick’
lyab-bu ‘they lick’ (an, inan)
lyal-tu ‘they lick’ (cel, abs)
~*~*~*~*~*~
Ok, so that is it for present conjugation of regular verbs. You may wonder about other tenses. Ori is pretty light on the morphological tense. It uses some different particles that follow the verb to indicate various tenses and aspects, though.
cyan — past perfect
Ex.: Es lyab-u cyan
3sg.inan.acc lick-1sg pst.prf
‘I licked it’
Tun-pori-tyan cyep-pru cyan
def.art.an.pl sheep-acc.an.pl-1pl pst.prf
‘We took the sheep (pl)’
lyes — past imperfective/habitual
This particle also indicates past tense, but the aspect is different. Instead of perfect, like cyan, lyes indicates an incompleted action in the past or a habitual action in the past (that happened many times).
Ex.: Gotebinur-ipya ta-ri lyes
Gotevian-acc.abs.sg speak-3sg.an pst.hab
‘She used to speak Gotevian’
bil — modal
This modal particle indicates a speaker;s uncertainty that the statement is true.
Ex.: En cyep-ru bil.
3pl.inan.acc take-3sg.an mod
‘He might be taking them’ / ‘Maybe he is taking them’
The modal bil particle can also be combined with the other particles:
Ex.: En cyep-ru cyan bil.
3pl.inan.acc take-3sg.an pst.prf mod
‘He might have taken them’
Ok, that is a lot of info for one post, so I will continue later! Question if anyone cares–do you want to see more linguistic info on Ori, or should I break it up with some cultural info? Shall I stick to Ori for a while or visit some other places/people/languages?
Mintaka
Image here is the kind of flower I always envisaged as the national symbol of Orikrindia.
Last time I showed you some Ori verbs and how they are conjugated. I mentioned that there are essentially three ways to conjugate verbs (1st, 2nd, 3rd conjugations), and showed you some verbs from the 1st class of those verbs. I kind of lied, as it is not quite as simple as that sounds. Despite all verbs ending in -i and in all alveolars being grouped as one class, there is a little variation inside the conjugation, depending what the individual sound in the verb stem ends in. I go into a little more detail for the 1st conjugation below. Note some of the differences marked in bold where there are some variations in the stems and endings.
Verbs in –i
meri-m ‘I dance’
meri-t ‘you dance’
meri-r ‘he/she/it dances’ (animate, inanimate)
meri-l ‘he/she/it dances’ (celestial, abstract)
meri-bra ‘we dance’
meri-dra ‘you all dance’
meri-nda ‘they (an, inan) dance’
meri-lta ‘they (cel, abs) dance’
–
Verbs in -n
Note difference in some endings/stems.
boltin-im ‘I keep’
boltin-it ‘you keep’
boltin-ir ‘he/she/it keeps’ (an, inan)
boltinil ‘he/she/it keeps’ (celestial, abstract)
boltim-bra ‘we keep’
boltin-dra ‘you all keep’
boltin-da ‘they keep’ (an, inan)
bolti-lta ‘they keep’ (cel, abs)
Verbs in -l
Note changed suffix:
potil-im ‘I think’
potil-it ‘you think’
potil-ir ‘he/she/it thinks’ (an, inan)
potil-il ‘he/she/it thinks’ (cel, abs)
potil-bra ‘we think’
potil-dra ‘you all think’
potil-nda ‘they think’ (an, inan)
potil-ta ‘they think’ (cel, abs)
Verbs in -s
Note devoicing on plural endings with verbs ending with unvoiced consonants
cetis-im ‘I cut’
cetis-it ‘you cut’
cetis-ir ‘he/she/it cuts’ (an, inan)
cetis-il ‘he/she/it cuts’ (cel, abs)
cetis-pra ‘we cut’
cetis-tra ‘you all cut’
cetis-ta ‘they cut’ (an, inan)
cetis-ta ‘they cut’ (cel, abs)
Verbs in -d
Note some stem changes.
trellid-im ‘I walk’
trellid-it ‘you walk’
trellid-ir ‘he/she/it walks’ (an, inan)
trellid-il ‘he/she/it walks’ (cel, abs)
trellim-bra ‘we walk’
trellid-ra ‘you all walk’
trelli-nda ‘they walk’ (an, inan)
trelli-lta ‘they walk’ (cel, abs)
Verbs in -t
Note differences in stems and endings.
grasit-im ‘I scrape’
grasit-it ‘you scrape’
grasit-ir ‘he/she/it scrapes’ (an, inan)
grasit-il ‘he/she/it scrapes’ (cel, abs)
grasi-pra ‘we scrape’
grasi-tra ‘you all scrape’
grasi-nda ‘they scrape’ (an, inan)
grasi-lta ‘they scrape’ (cel, abs)
Verbs in -r
Note difference in some stem forms.
lar-im ‘I laugh’
lar-it ‘you laugh’
lar-ir ‘he/she/it laughs’ (an, inan)
lar-il ‘he/she/it laughs’ (cel, abs)
lar-bra ‘we laugh’
lar-dra ‘you all laugh’
lar-nda ‘they laugh’ (an, inan)
la-lta ‘they laugh’ (cel, abs)
~
Alright, that’s it for the regular 1st conjugation verbs. Many of the variations in these verbs are mirrored elsewhere and are probably results of semi-regular morphophonotactic rules…but I’ll need to figure out exactly what those appear to be later on.
Another Ori topic I wanted to talk about are definite articles. Ori has them. It doesn’t have any other articles (like indefinite artcles, e.g. English ‘a/an’, French ‘un(e), des’). These definite articles are roughly equivalent to English ‘the’, but the usage varies in Ori and may not always align with English usage (i.e. you might see an Ori article where you wouldn’t in English (or whatever other language), and vice versa). In Ori, the definite articles are proclitics. They are written with a hypen before the noun, and like other things in Ori, they have to agree with the noun class of the noun. See some examples below.
tu-syalanyas ‘the queen’ (animate, singular)
tun-hilunyan ‘the merchats’ (animate, plural)
ti-yutar ‘the cloud’ (celestial, singular)
tin-celunyas ‘the priests’ (celestial, plural)
lye-buni ‘[of] the house’ (inanimate, singular)
lyen-kapyan ‘the desks’ (inanimate, plural)
co-sestas ‘the life’ (abstract, singular)
con-gerumin ‘the deaths’ (abstract, plural)
As you can see, the plural forms of these articles are made by adding -n to the end. You can get a little preview of some of the case system for nouns too in the above examples….soon we’ll see the rest!
Mintaka
Aeniith: A Constructed World 