Tallefkul text

Fozx myul Germanis, trest xeloki Gyreisul bix nemirex. Trest los rey luxeisis. Trest vitrex sadis foyvoki Raonitsul. Trest billos xelex Gyreisul ya luxeisoki, cepx tinam xanf llokisxul. Ya luxeisoki, German rutx ya zheomul, trestaf, "Yeriley Rupfalul, lhsxuren sal voc va Llaintes cepx Xiesun." Trestaf xelex Gyreisul rey ya luxeisis, "Rafzarlin vall Llaintes cepx Xiesun. Rusveis Llaintes cepx Xiesun rey vires yulis. Trhn kal cepx finiul Raonitsul." Trest sal ya luxeisex xelul Gyreisul va goidex Raonitsul. Trest sxivray sad, raf, "Trhn yulex iemi Dietour wut ya hselut." Syer trest xelex Gyreisul Llaintes toln Bvalishek ibxa gurtrest tralloki Onianful.

Tallefkul glossary

billos enter
bix on
cepx with
finiex brother
foyvex crown
fozx in
goidex rule, reign
hselex trial
ibxa and
iemi your, thy (singular)
kal she
llokisx(ex) help
los come
luxeisex house
myul time
nemirex path
raf say
rey to
rutx before, in front of, head to head with
sad him, he
sal see
sxivray answer
syer then
tinam hope
toln from, away from
trallex heart
va as, in place of
vall you
vires my
vitrex leg
voc I, me
wut after
xelex kin
xanf for
ya the
yerilex work, task, job
yulex wife
zxemex challenger

Tallefkul grammar notes

For your convenience, I've used Latin letters rather than the normal Greek. You can see that, unless I've gotten something wrong, |h| is a vowel. It's /e_j/, I think. But that doesn't matter.

Basics of Tallefkul

Have you heard of the Treklang called Darmok? It's a language that refers to legends to get most ideas across. That's quite impractical. It's also how the High Speech of Tallefkul works, though to a slightly smaller extent.

All "legidioms" are stative (if I've gotten that word correct; bugger my vocab). Therefore, when a person uses one, he's equating something now to a legend.

Other than that, Tallefkul is a normal mixture of ergative Welsh and Latin.

Morphosyntax

I prefer that term to "grammar". Anywho, I mentioned Welsh. That's because of the verb system. There is only one verb that truly inflects; that is the copula, "renf". Here are its conjugations:

Past    rest
Near past    reyes
Present    rhn
Future    rush / rus
Negative    rafzin
Atemporal (habitual or eternal)    renf

The copula also gets mood infixes that appear near the end. A convenient -e- is put in to make some words pronounceable. I don't know all the proper names for these, and only two matter for this translation.

Indicative    (uninflected)
Commissive    -arl-
Negative    -sxur-
-svei- denotes a request.

The copula changes also for person and number. I haven't added one change that would really annoy you. It would effectively make the copula inflect for the patient's person and number, with the agent's person and number indicated by tone (which may as well not be marked, and isn't, here). There are three forms used in this story, the first singular, second singular, and third singular.

1s    (uninflected)
2s    change initial "r" to "l"
3s    add t- to the normal form

One more thing: aspects. I'm certain that I only had one that inflects. They attach to the beginning of the copula.

Inchoative    gur-

For nouns, it's rather easier. There are five cases, and I think I used them all, even the vocative case, which is rather archaic. (I am using the High Speech, after all.)

Agent    -ex, plural -ei
Patient    -oki, plural -oun
Genetive    -is, plural -if
Dative / possessive    -ul, plural -ut
Vocative    -ey, plural -os

Something that I forgot to mention. "Raf" is irregular and attaches "-af" to the end of the copula stem (before the person/number suffix if applicable). With a copula + "-af" combination, the "raf" verb does not appear in the rest of the sentence.

The "legidioms"

Dietour after the trials: pregnant
German before the challenger: surprised, affronted
Gyreis before his wife: death, the event, imminent
Kin of Gyreis: wanderer
Llaintes from Bvalishek: leavetaking, homecoming
Llaintes with Xiesun: aid, help
Onianf's heart: faithful, kind, simpático
Raonits's crown: broken
Raonits's rule: not to be trusted
Rupfal's work: injured, injury
The time of German: once upon a time
With Raonits's brother: in trouble

Smooth English translation

In German's time, Gyreis' kin was on a path. He came upon a house. Raonith's crown was his leg. He went into the house, hoping for Llaintes with Hiesun. The house, German before the challenger, said, "Rupfalu's work, do not see me for Llaintes with Hiesun." Gyreis' kin told the house, "You should not be Llaintes with Hiesun, for I am Gyreis before his wife. To my wife, be Llaintes with Hiesun. She is with Raonith's brother." The house saw Gyreis' kin as Raonith's rule. He answered, saying, "Your wife is Dietour after the trials." Therefore Gyreis' kin was Llaintes from Bvalishek and became Onianf's heart.

Smooth translation of Kélen

This is a story about strange people.*

Once upon a time, a wandering human was on a path. He met a house with himself. He had a broken leg, so the wanderer went into the house, hoping to get help. The house told the wanderer, "You injured man, don't rely on my help immediately." The house was surprised. [The wanderer] told the house, "You should not help me, for I am dying. You should help my wife. She instead needs your help." [The house] doubted the wanderer. He answered, saying, "Now your wife cares for a child." Therefore the wanderer returned to his home and became a good husband.

*This was to explain that no Keléńi would do these things. Sylvia recommended that I not include the line.