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Ng'and'ana grammar

From:Elliott Belser <renyard@...>
Date:Wednesday, January 23, 2002, 14:29
Okay, people, time for the grammar.   Ng'and'ana has some features of
agglugunation (sic) and some features of inflection... however it is
mainly an agglugunative language.

VERBS

Ng'and'ana has three moods and four tenses:  Indicative, Subjunctive,
and Conditional each with a present, preiterite, imperfect and future
tense.  These tenses are marked as a suffix: moods are vowels and
tenses consonants (or the lack thereov).  As with all Ng'and'ana
suffixes they are prefixed with a sfir (') when added to a word.
They also have independent meanings by themselves!  Usually the 'by
themselves' are exclamations that replace the verb 'ben,' to be.
Frinstance  'E?' means 'is that so?' and 'A!' means 'it is (true)!'
This is why nouns must be capped with the letter Ham if it has a
vowel... otherwise everyone would confuse it with a verb!

Also, there is a (very recent) tense, the infinitive, 'as.  However
most people use ben'(verb) instead, using the ideal of 'to be.'

Indicative
        Present 'a    Ben'a, 'it is'
        Pretierite      'av, Ben'av, 'it was'
        Imperfect       'am, Ben'am, 'it (always) is'
        Future  'ar,  Ben'ar, 'it will be'
Subjunctive
        Present 'e,  Ben'e 'it may be'
        Preiterate 'ev, Ben'ev 'it may have been'
        Imperfect       'em, Ben'em 'it may always have been'
        Future  'er, Ben'er 'it may be' and the command tense (you
don't know if they'll do it in the future...)
Conditional
        Present 'i,  Ben'i 'if it is so, then...'
        Preiterite      'iv,  Ben'iv 'if it was so, then...'
        Imperfect  'im,  Ben'im 'if it is always so, then...'
        Future  'ir,  Ben'ir  'if it will be, then...'

ALSO!  Very important!  If a suffix has a vowel at the beginning, and
the last word also has that vowel, you replace the vowel.  Otherwise
you keep it... some people can confuse Vene 'to see' and Vena 'to go'
if you don't... Vena is never changed to Ven'e, but rather vene'a!
Vene subjunctive is ven'e.  Ven'e?

The actors are as follows.  Actors are always added onto a reflexive
verb as a prefix.

Singular:
1st person:  Em, posessive am.  Em'vene'a 'I see myself,' am'anda 'my
soul (myself)'
2nd person:  En, posessive an.  En'vene'a 'I see you,' an'anda 'yourself.'
3rd person:  El, posessive al.   El'vene'a 'I see him/her,'  al'anda
'his self (himself)'

Multiple:
Sho and Sha for 1st (Sho'vene'a, sh'anda)
Zho and Zha for 2nd (Zho'vene'a, zh'anda)
Gho and Gha for third (Gho'vene'a, gh'anda).

NOUNS

Nouns are root words, or 'ideals,' sometimes with genders added on.
I don't HAVE all my genders, suffice to say that 'male and female'
aren't distinctions made in Ng'and'ana.  Some genders are 'adi (a
person or profession, qaluf - to forge and adi is qaluf'adi, the
craftsman caste), animals ('irh, Sarq is 'celerity' and Sarq'irh are
"eon'an mice"), plants or 'ereb (Anthe' to bloom or flowers anth'ereb
a flowering plant) and esh' for materials (Aforementioned Sarq turns
to Mercury, "Sarq'esh").  Also they have 'ana for language and 'rhal
for place.  Hence Ng'and'ana.

The last root in a word is always the basic meaning.  Umbr'anga is
dark+woman, hence 'femme fatale.'  Anga'umbr is woman+dark, hence
'the occult and sinister part of femininity.'

Also, some useful things:
        Mi' is literally 'in.'  Mi'amerik'rhal, 'in America,'
Mi'ang'rhal, 'in England.'  But 'take a seat' is     "em ng'a
an'mi'pos" (I give your+in+seat).  On time is mi'taed (in+time) and
properly is mi'oaedj (In+properness), not oaedj'u.
        'u makes something a adjective or adverb.  Umbr is dark,
Umbr'u is darkly. You can also just aggluginate, adding Umbr' as a
prefix.
        ae on it's own means 'for' or 'so.'
        Lom is 'the' and Lom'u 'singular' or 'a/an.'  Lom'umbr could
also mean 'the darkness' but it generally is two words.
        Ei, in addition to being a dipthong, is the word for 'and.'
Marh ei lerh - more and less.  Eia is 'or.'
        'in', before the suffixes begin, is a diminutive.  A common
pet name is Sarq'in'irh, 'little mouse.'

And now something I'm sure you've all been waiting for, a translation
of the Lord of the Rings poem into Ng'and'ana!  With a literal
translation below each line.  This ought to be helpful in learning
the language anyway...

Desh zin'ah ae lom vivi'zov'adi fak'a lom ifar
(Three rings (little circles) for the spirit kings that are under the sky)
Du'desh'lom ae fak'rho'adi mi'al'lidh'djoar
(Two threes and one for the under-lords in their stony halls)
Trei ae lom sang'and'adi arh'u qont'ar thanoh
(Nine for the mortal souls fated (to) meet death)
Lom ae lom umbr'rho'adi mi'al'umbr'zov'pos
(One for the dark lord in his dark royal seat)
Mi'morhdo'rhal, rhal'a lom umbr'ir sang'am.
(In the land of Mordor, where the shadow-creatures live always.)
Lom zin'ah ae doud'gho'sov'er
(One ring, so all of them may be ruled)
Lom zin'ah ae gho'seq'er
(One ring, so they may be found)
Lom zin'ah ae gho'goniv'er ei mi'umbr vaen'er
(One ring, so they may be stolen and in darkness may be bound)
Mi'morhdo'rhal, rhal'a lom umbr'ir sang'am.
(In the land of Mordor, where the shadow creatures live always.)

Hope you like.  By the way a conlang is an am'ana, literally a 'my language!'