8. Interslavic

Text

Ja jesm zaměšany. Kògda ja spjų, ja tvorjų najbolje ćudesne věći, kake mogų sobě vòobražati. A kògda ja načinajų sniti, mně izdavaje sę, že mogų izpòlniti vse svoje želanja.

Sejčas na žalosť jesm blųdil i ne dosęgnųl konca svojej drågi, ibo ja běh na råvnině, gde vsjako označenje města jest nepraviľno.

Nu, ale v sej hvilji jest deń, zatom bdžų i hodžų po istinnom světě. Kako ja htěl byh usnųti nanovo, imajųći nadějų, že uspějų zakončiti svojų drågų!

English Translation

I am confused. When I sleep, I create the most miraculous things I can imagine. And when I start dreaming, it seems to me that I can fulfil all my wishes.
Unfortunately, now I have erred and not made it to the end of my path, as I found myself on a plain where every place marker was wrong.
Well, but right now it’s daytime, so I am awake and walk through the real word. How much I’d like to fall alseep again, hoping I’ll manage to complete my path!

Grammar and Vocabulary

Interslavic (Medžuslovjanski) is an auxlang, intended to serve as a communication tool between Slavs of different nationalities. It is, however, not what you would expect from a typical auxlang: it’s not about being simple, easy to learn, culturally neutral and all that, it’s merely about being understandable to speakers of any Slavic language without any prior study. Grammar follows typically Slavic patterns, words and word roots are selected from vocabulary that occurs in as many Slavic languages as possible.

The phonology is rather inclusive, but that doesn’t really matter here. The diacritics in the text convey etymological information. They are meant to give a closer approximation to the best pronunciation and to make it easier for speakers to link the written characters in question to specific sounds or letters in their own languages. Most of them can safely be neglected or omitted.

As for grammar, here are some basics:

  • There are three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. There are six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and locative (the latter actually being more like a prepositional). There’s singular and there’s plural. There are several noun declension types, but I’ll save you the paradigms and just give you the endings instead (see below). Interslavic has no articles.
  • Adjectives, possessive pronouns and the like match the noun in gender, number and case.
  • Verbs are inflected for person, number and tense/mood. Each verb has two stems: a present-tense stem (in this text used for the present tense and the present active participle) and an infinitive stem (used among others for the infinitive and the perfect tense). The infinitive stem is obtained by cutting off the infinitive ending -ti. The present-tense stem is identical to the infinitive stem or derived from it regularly, mostly by adding -j-. When it differs, it is given separately in the glossary.
  • The perfect tense is formed by using the so-called L-participle in combination with the present tense of the verb byti “to be”.
  • The conditional is formed by combining the L-participle with the conditional of byti.
  •   Interslavic has only one irregular verb: byti “to be”. Forms you will encounter are: jesm (1 sg., present), jest (3 sg., present), běh (1 sg., imperfect), byh (1 sg., conditional).

A few notes on syntax:

  • Word order is free, but the most basic and most neutral word order is SVO. Determiners usually come before the noun they modify, although that is not a hard rule. In fact, rules are rarely hard in Interslavic.
  • Pro-drop is allowed, but not obligatory.
  • Verbal aspect is very important in Interslavic. Most verbs exist in two forms: imperfective (continuous, incomplete, present, iterative, habitual, etc.) and perfective (completed, non-progressive, semelfactive, etc.). The difference is lexical and therefore marked in the glossary (as “vi.” and “vp.”). When a perfective verb is used in the present tense, it has the meaning of a future tense.
  • In a subordinate clause, the tense refers to the “moment” of the verb in the main clause — unlike in English, Slavs say: “He said (yesterday) that he wants coffee (also yesterday)”.
  • The object of a negation is in the genitive.

In this text, you will encounter the following endings:

Nouns:

-a: m./n. gen.sg.; n. nom./acc.pl

-e: n. nom./acc.sg.

: m./f. loc.sg.

-i: f. gen.sg.; f. loc.sg.; f. nom./acc.pl

: f. acc.sg.

 

Adjectives etc.:

-e: m./n./f. nom./acc.pl.

-ej: f. gen./loc.sg.

-i: m. nom.sg.

-o: n. nom./acc.sg.

-om: m./n. loc.sg.

: f. acc.sg.

 

Verbs:

-e: 3 sg., present tense

-h: 1 sg., imperfect tense/conditional

-l: L-participle, m.sg.

-ti: infinitive

: 1 sg., present tense

-ųći: present active participle

 

If anything is unclear, you can always ask me of check here: http://steen.free.fr/interslavic.

 

GLOSSARY

a (conj.) and, but

ale (conj.) but

bděti / bdi- (vi.) be awake

blųditi (vi.) roam, wander, err

byti (vi.) be

ćudesny (adj.) miraculous

deń (m.) day

dosęgnųti (vp.) achieve, attain, reach

dråga (f.) road, way

gde (adv.) where

hoditi (vi.) go, walk (without a concrete direction)

htěti / hoć- (vi.) want

hvilja (f.) moment, instant, while

i (conj.) and

ibo (conj.) because, since

iměti / imaj- (vi.) have, possess; must, have to

istinny (adj.) real, true

izdavati sę (vi.) seem, appear

izpòlniti (vp.) carry out, complete, execute, fulfill

ja (pron.pers.) I

kaki (adj.) which, what kind of

kako (adv.) how

konec (m.) end

kògda (adv.) when

město (n.) place, location

mně: dative of ja

mogti (vi.) can, may, be able

na (prep.) (+ acc.) onto, unto; (+ loc.) at, on, upon

na žalosť (adv.) unfortunately, sadly

načinati (vi.) begin

naděja (f.) hope

najbolje (adv.) most

nanovo (adv.) again, over, anew, over again

ne (adv.) not

nepraviľny (adj.) incorrect, wrong

nu (intj.) well

označenje (n.) implication, marking

po (prep.) (+ loc.) after, along, in the manner of, across

råvnina (f.) plain

sej (pron.dem.) this

sejčas (adv.) now

(pron.refl.) oneself, myself, yourself etc.

sniti (vi.) dream

sobě (pron.refl.) oneself, myself, yourself etc. (dative)

spati / spi- (vi.) sleep

svět (m.) world, Earth

svoj (pron.poss.) one’s own, my own, your own etc.

tvoriti (vi.) create, form

usnųti (vp.) fall asleep

uspěti (vp.) manage, succeed

v (prep.) (+ loc.) in, within

věć (f.) thing, matter

vòobražati (vi.) imagine

vse (pron.def.) all

vsjaki (adj.) each, every, all kinds of

zakončiti (vp.) end, finish, complete, conclude

zalosť (f.) pity

zaměšany (adj.) confused, mixed-up

zatom (adv.) so, therefore, that’s why

že (conj.) that

želanje (n.) desire, wish