Dermorian Language
| This page under development by Thara - Thara 15:57, 29 April 2008 (EDT) |
The Dermorian language (named Gádèrmará "Jah-there-mah-rah") is a complex language. It features an elaborate case system. The Dermorians themselves being nomads has resulted in the necessity for Dermorians to invent new words, causing Gadermara to become Agglutinative; although there is evidence that this was not the case early in its development as a language.
Writing System
Dermorian is perhaps somewhat unusual in that its writing system, while still alphabetical with 26 letters, features no upper or lowercase system. The writing system is strongly phonetic- possibly because the language had evolved so little since writing was developed.
Pronounciation
Dermorian is a weakly tonal language. The 3 tones are rising (high), falling (low), and middle. In this article, these tones are written in the latin alphabet by indicating the acute, grave and no accent respectively: á, à, a. They will always be written over the last vowel over which they affect as the tone changes occur over the course of a syllables.
Syllables are not inherently emphasized.
| Written | Pronounced |
|---|---|
| A | Father |
| B | Boat |
| C | Cheese |
| D | This |
| E | Enter |
| F | Feel |
| G | James |
| H | Henry (but more frequently just weakly aspirated) |
| I | See |
| J | Yawn |
| K | IPA: /x/ Huge (but a little bit stronger) |
| L | Lamb |
| M | Mother |
| N | No |
| O | York |
| P | Not used |
| Q | Never used |
| R | Real (English nasal style) |
| Rr | Perdón (trilled in Nordic or Spanish style, not rolled) |
| S | Sore |
| T | Thaw |
| U | Mooo |
| V | Very |
| W | Water |
| X | Ship |
| Y | Fur |
| Z | French Je (soft Dermorian "G") |
| Æ | Hat |
Dialects
The few historical tribes of Dermorians had interacted frequently enough that Dermorian failed to diverge to any large degree. An interesting phenomenon is the increasing disuse of significant amounts of the tonal system among young Dermorians, possibly because of a huge amount of modern interaction with non-Dermorians.
An increasing amount of the Dermorian cases are becoming disused. A Dermorian joke is: "How long does it take an Ylian to learn Gádèrmará?" "Fewer every day!" indicating how the language has suddenly become to simplified.
Grammar
Dermorian is generally Subject-Verb-Object (as in English), although there are various common grammatical constructs that cause this order to change. Adjectives precede their nouns.
Cases
Dermorian has the following cases:
- nominative
- dative
- ablative
- genitive
- locative
- instrumental
- temporal
- causal-final
Words may be singular, dual and plural.
Dermorian has no noun gender (even for personal pronouns) which is interesting as many other far less complex languages in Yliakum do. The lack of personal gender might be an indication of unusually large amounts of gender equality in Dermorian society - a feature common in naturalistic cultures.
Vocabulary
| This section is really not yet hashed out entirely Thara 15:57, 29 April 2008 (EDT) |
Noun Forms
| Type | Dermorian Nominative | Dative | Ablative | Genitive | Locative | Instrumental | Temporal | Causal-final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ~ | ~g, ~ìg | ~d, ~ùd | ~m, ~ìm | ~eàs | ~eàt | ? | ? |
Basic Words
Nouns
- Home: fantara
- Hello: terra
- Water: jensa
- Tree: jenera
- Food: denera
- Sword: férrhe
Verbs
- Go: ske
- See: Vre
- Eat: Tlexe
- Want: géspèrre
- Write: presja
- Fight: térnàre
(Need to add declension for verbs)
Pronouns
Dermorian pronouns for "things that don't talk but are alive" such as trees or animals. They are called the "Alive" pronoun below.
| English | Dermorian Nominative | Dative | Ablative | Genitive | Locative | Instrumental | Temporal | Causal-final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I (s.) We (dual) We (pl.) |
Do Lox Lot |
? | ? | Dom Lom Lom |
? | Dorat Loxat Lotat |
Never used | Never used |
| You (s.) You both You all |
Ri Rix Rit |
? | ? | Rim Rixim Ritim |
? | Rorrat Roxat Rotat |
Never used | Never used |
| Alive You (s.) Alive You both Alive You all |
Rri Rrix Rrit |
? | ? | Rrim Rrixim Rritim |
? | Rrorrat Rroxat Rrotat |
Never used | Never used |
| He/Her/Alive It (s.) They, Alive They (dual) They, Alive They (pl) |
Fala Falax Falat |
? | ? | Fam Falam Falam |
? | Farrat Faxat Fatat |
Never used | Never used |
When referring to "Alive" things that are more personally known, it is common to use the "Dermorian" pronoun. For example, if a Dermorian were to develop a spiritual bond with a plant, they may use "Ri" to address it as opposed to "Rri". Plural forms are not used as an indication of respect.
Example Sentences
- Do géspèrra dénerà - I want food/I'm hungry
- Do térnarà férrheàt - I fight with swords