Text
Ira etaltaxa.
Kataxa lafire.
venavax maunala, a etsilaxa ryanna malla.
Mare vei na ranaih luritta vei.
Vetasare minun amme leila vei, ða xase malla luritte xai vetexa. Xasel ne mane muilda, tya viseisaxa Manan.
Laya tulerax.
I, mirel enda ya matexa lisah, rissen naira.
English Translation
I am becoming insane.
I awake without a fright.
You approach me quickly, yet I sleep continuously the entire day.
Your wishes are to be able to guide in your dreams.
They probably do not realize their hidden feelings, though I know all of the images in my dreams.
Those images were darkened roads, and I could not see The Way. Sadness took over me.
Now, that inner fear that I made to touch, it may be a demon.
Grammar and Vocabulary
Dhanyelle is a constructed language in progress by Daniel Quigley. Work on Dhanyelle began back in 2004, though it has drastically changed in nearly every way since its inception. No official grammar has been published anywhere.
This is Dhanyelle’s debut appearance.
Dhanyelle may be described as follows:
- Artistic Language. The sounds, vocabulary, and grammar rules have been appointed in such a way as is pleasing to the author.
- Scientific Language. A chief reason for the author in becoming a language creator was to learn about language change over time. As a result, much of the background mechanics of the language are highly mathematical, via techniques found in Linear Algebra. Currently, the author is working on a mathematical application of language study, especially that of nonlinear language change over time, as a chaotic model.
- Dhanyelle also serves as a reason to write fantastic and science fiction stories.
The ingredients that compose Dhanyelle’s identity include the following:
- Sanskrit
- Finnish
- Latin
- Nostratic Theory
- Altaic Theory
Although these have been inspiration to the identity of Dhanyelle, it is an a priori language. Or, at least, as a prior an invented language may be.
PHONOLOGY
Dhanyelle has 5 vowels: a, e, i, o, u.
- a = /a/
- e = /e/
- i = /i/
- o = /o/
- u = /u/
Dhanyelle has 4 diphthongs: ai, ei, au, ou.
- ai = /ai̯/
- ei = /ei̯/
- au = /au̯/
- ou = /ou̯/
Consonants are as follows:
- t = /t/
- d = /d/
- θ = /θ/
- ð = /ð/
- n = /n/
- p = /p/
- b = /b/
- f = /f/
- v = /v/
- m = /m/
- k = /k/
- g = /g/
- x = /x/
- ɣ = /ɣ/
- ŋ = /ŋ/
- s = /s/
- l = /l/
- r = /r/
- y = /j/
- h = /h/
- w = /w/
Consonants may be palatalized, aspirated, or labialized.
MORPHOLOGY
Dhanyelle is an agglutinative language.
A word has a stem, which carries the semantic information, followed by a set of morphemes. In few occasions, a set of morphemes can appear before the lexeme.
There is no gender.
Number is either singular or plural.
Stems that end in -e make their plural by -e → -i.
- ive → ivi (bird → birds)
- isse → issi (icicle → icicles)
- maamme → maammi (butterfly → butterflies)
Stems that end in -a make their plural by -a → -e.
- maxa → maxe (bread → breads)
- yara → yare (sea → seas)
- tura → ture (arm → arms)
There are 7 noun cases. They are as follows:
- Nominitive (subject or predicate)
- no morphemic ending
- may end in -i, -e, -a, or any non-stop consonant
- rya (day), ive (bird), issi (icicles), Tyellen (Heaven)
- Accusative (direct object)
- -n
- Historically, the Accusative is derived from the definite article, -n, and the two are interchangeable in meaning.
- Dative (indirect object)
- -nna
- Considered to be a “lengthened form of the Dative”.
- ryanna (to/for day), ivenna (to/for bird)
- Genitive (possession)
- -i
- If the stem ends in -i, then lengthen the -i → -ī
- vei (your, 2nd person possessive), xai (my)
- Ablative (from …)
- -ya
- yaraya (from sea), ryaya (from day)
- Lative (towards …)
- -ssa
- yarassa (towards sea, sea-wards), Tyellenssa (towards Heaven)
- Locative (in, on, at, by, etc.)
- -tta
- luritta (in dreams), Tyellenda (in Heaven) (-ntt- → -nd-)
The Definite Article is the origin of the Accusative case. In all places, the definite article is -n, and may be used to form nominals.
- ive (bird) → iven (the bird)
- mana (path) → manan (the path, the Way)
The demonstratives are formed as follows:
- this = -s
- ives = this bird
- yaras = this sea
- sivis = these sands (literally, “this sands”)
- that = -l
- ryal = that day
- lural = that dream
- sivil = those sands (literally, “that sands”)
Pronouns are as follows:
- xa = 1st person singular
- xe = 1nd person plural
- va = 2nd person singular
- ve = 2nd person plural
- ra = 3rd person singular
- re = 3rd person plural
Verbs are as follows:
- Indicative
- present
- -a
- mata- = create
- kata- = wake
- past
- -i
- mati- = created
- kati- = woke
- future
- -u
- matu- = will create
- katu- = will wake
- present continuous*
- imperfect*
- future continuous*
- past perfect*
- future perfect*
- Subjuncitve is the same construct as the indicative, only an aditional -i is included
- matai- = create(subjunctive)
- Negation of a verb occurs when -s- is attached before the pronomial element.
- matasax = I do not create
*These tenses were poorly attested and only recent additions. Actually, they need not apply to the text in question.
Verbs contain information for the verb itself, a subject, and an object.
- tulerax = tul+e+ra+x = take control + past tense + 3rd person singular + 1st person objective, which yields: he/she/it took control of me.
- mirasara = mir+a+sa+ra = spill+present+negative+ 3rd person singular, which yields: he/she/is spill(s)
Verbs may appear in any place in the sentence, but usually follow that which does the verb, if it is not already in the verb construct (i.e., the pronomial subject of the verb construct as above).
The gerund is not a true verb form, but something similar may be formed with an aspiration of breath after the final vowel of the present tense form.
The past participle is formed by infixing -i- to the root vowel.
- maita from mata
- leita from leta
Pronomial forms for verbs are as follows:
- Subject
- -xa
- -xe
- -va
- -ve
- -ra
- -re
- Object
- –ɣ
- -ɣi
- -v
- -vi
- -r
- -ri
Adjectives and adverbs follow that which they modify, and are only declined for number.
GLOSSARY
Nouns
- amma feeling, emotion
- fire a fright, a scare, a start
- laya sadness
- lure dream
- mana road, path, way
- mara wish
- mire fear
- risse demon
- rya day
- xasa image
Adjectives
- enna inside, inner
- i now
- ira ill, unsound, sickly
- malla all, entire, full
- mauna fast
Adverbs
- -la forms adverb from adjective
- la- without
- minun probably
Verbs
- alt- become
- kat- wake
- lel- hide
- lis- touch
- mat- make, create
- muld- darken
- n- copula
- ran- show, guide
- sil- sleep
- tul- control, take control, take over
- ven- approach, come
- vet- realize, know, understand
- vis- see
Other
- a yet
- ða but
- et(a)- iterative prefix. To enact the verb continuously
- tya and
- ya that