Gilkesh
From Langmaker
Contents |
Gilkesh
Universal Standard Gilkesh is the common language of the Gilkesh, a humanoid, all-female, starfaring race. Innumerable planetary and local dialects exist, as well as archaic and literary forms, but the form detailed here serves as a universal lingua franca.
Distinctive features of Gilkesh include a thoroughly developed system of verbal nouns (called abstractives); a fully inflected fourth-person verbal form for actions outside of the speaker’s direct experience; and separate forms for the collective plural and discrete plural.
Gilkesh language homepage: http://asher813.typepad.com/gilkesh_language/
Vocabulary as Quizlet flashcards: http://quizlet.com/set/6820/
"The Queen's Courtesan", a serial story of infidelity and intrigue set in the Gilkesh universe: http://asher813.typepad.com/fiction/
Parts of speech.
The primary parts of speech in the Gilkesh language are substantives, abstractives, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, correlatives, pronouns, and particles. Correlatives (the term is borrowed from Esperanto grammar) are a category comprising demonstrative, interrogative, and relative pronouns and adjectives. The class of particles incudes operators such as conjunctions, as well as sentence modifiers and other words that refine the meaning of a statement.
The usual category of “nouns” is here split into substantives and abstractives, which are grammatically distinct enough to be treated as separate parts of speech. The class of substantives generally consists of all concrete nouns (including a few nouns such as dair, name, which are not physically tangible but are treated as concrete).
The class of abstractives includes all intangibles, abstractions, verbal nouns, gerunds, and infinitival nouns. This class comprises four primary orders (numbered first through fourth) which will be explained in detail below.
Agent equivalence: substantive-verb relationship.
There is a fixed relationship (called agent equivalence) between the primary forms of the verb and the substantive. In essence, the substantive always represents the agent of the corresponding verb; or conversely, the verbal endings function as a the verb to be when attached to a substantive.
For example:
kish, lover kîsh-i, to love kîshmi Ardas, I love Ardis;
kesh, living being, person kêsh-mi, I live;
chel, ice chêl-ti, it freezes
and so on. It follows that the verb to be (copular verb), hei, can replace the verb ending. Thus,
kêshmi, I live = heimi kesh, I am a living thing; kîshmi, I love = heimi kish, I am a lover (one who loves); sukti, she teaches = heiti suk, she is a teacher
The abstractive.
To express ideas like “love”, “life”, and so on, we use abstractives. There are five primary orders. Abstractive forms beyond the fifth belong to advanced grammar and are outside the scope of this introduction.
The first abstractive represents the universal ideal associated with a given root. Its ending is the stem vowel for the appropriate case (absolutive, nominative, mediative, or objective) followed by –s. The first abstractive does not form plurals because, by definition, it represents a non-countable entity.
Examples of the first abstractive;
suki, to teach sukis, education;
keshis, life in the abstract Ê keshus push. Life is hard.
kishis, love Zidmi kishas. I believe in love.
ashtis, desire Râditim kayashum ashtes. People go astray with desire.
zundis, knowledge Sagti zundus. Knowledge is good.
Here sag = something good, sagi = to be good.
Ashtya sagas! Desire virtue!
The second abstractive usually represents an attribute, quality, or state. It is formed through internal changes to the vowel of the root verb. Unlike the first abstractive, it is countable, and often proper to some person or thing. Frequently its English translation is the same as the first abstractive, but it is used differently. Study the following examples;
keyish, love Walditid Ardis’wa keyishu. Ardis’ love was strong.
âshti, to desire eshet, desire Ai eshetu nil mi shalbe. There is desire in my heart. Heimi ghiz eshto. I am sick from (lit. because of) desire.
The case endings –o (for) and –au (because of) are used only with abstractives.
The second abstractive (and all the remaining orders) can form plurals.
Sagtin minye kayashun. Our lives are good.
The third abstractive represents an occasion or instance. It sometimes takes on a substantive-like meaning; its exact meaning depends on the word. It is marked by reduplication of the strong consonant.
wârqi, to break warqaq, a break warqaqim, breakage
râqi, to see raqaq, sight, a sight
dâni, to judge dadan, judgment, ruling, decision
sûki, to teach sukuk, a lesson
The formation of the second and third abstractives is not completely regular, so these forms need to be memorized along with the main verb root. The abstractives together with the infinitive form the principal parts of the lexical root.
The fourth abstractive is basically an infinitive or gerund. It consists of the infinitive with case suffixes appended. The semivowel -y- serves as a linking letter. Ashmi nangiya aba. I want to drink water. Baihimi nangiya kasha. I enjoy drinking beer. In both of these examples, the main verb takes the abstractive (in its noun-like aspect) as a direct object; and the abstractive (in its verb-like aspect) takes a direct object of its own. Gilkesh does not distinguish between the infinitive construction ("to do") and the gerund construction ("doing").
Table of correlatives.
thu - this
dhu - that
chu - what?
jhu - which
aku - the same thing
egu - the other thing
qu - anything
qhu - something
q'u - everything
q'hu - all, the whole thing
nenu - nothing
thinu - this person dhinu - that person chinu - who? jhinu - which person akinu - the same person eginu - the other person qinu - anyone qhinu - someone q'inu - everyone [q'hinu] neninu - no one[Nominative forms shown. These forms inflect regularly for case and number.]
thiuwa - this person's, etc.
thaya - now dhaya - then chaya - when? jhaya - at which time akaya - at the same time egaya - at another time qaya - anytime qhaya - sometime q'aya - always q'haya - the whole time nenaya - never
tharh - here dharh - there charh - where? jharh - at which place akarh - at the same place egarh - elsewhere qarh - anywhere qharh - somewhere q'arh - everywhere q'harh - throughout nenarh - nowhere
then - hither, in this direction dhen - thither, that way chen - whither? jhen - in which direction aken - in the same direction egen - in a different direction qen - in any direction qhen - in some direction q'en - in every direction [q'hen] nenen - in no direction
ther - thus dher - so, in that manner cher - how? jher - as, in such a manner aker - likewise, in the same manner eger - otherwise, differently qer - in any manner qher - somehow q'er - in every manner [q'her] nener - in no manner
tho - because of this dho - therefore, because of that cho - why (because of what)? jho - for which reason ako - for the same reason ego - for a different reason qo - for any reason qho - for some reason q'o - for every reason [q'ho] neno - for no reason
thau - for this purpose dhau - for that purpose chau - why? wherefore? jhau - for which purpose akau - for the same purpose egau - for a different purpose qau - for any purpose qhau - for some purpose q'au - for every purpose [q'hau] nenau - for no purpose
tharo - this much dharo - that much charo - how much? jharo - which amount akaro - the same amount egaro - a different amount qaro - any amount qharo - some q'aro - every amount q'haro - all nenaro - none
tharon - this many dharon - that many charon - how many? jharon - as many akaron - the same number egaron - a different number qaron - any number qharon - some q'aron - all q'haron - all nenaron - none
Binary questions.
Binary (yes-or-no) questions are marked by the suffix –ha after the verb.
Gansid-ha marchara? Did you go to the store?
Affirmative and negative answers are han and nau respectively.
Han, ganmid marchara. Yes, I went to the store. Nau, neganmid marchara. No, I didn’t go to the store.
For a tag question, -haya indicates the expected answer.
Gansid-haya marchara? You went to the store, didn’t you? Negansid-haya marchara? You didn’t go to the store, did you?
When responding “yes” to a negative tag question, vola rather than han is used – equivalent to the Persian chera. When an affirmative answer is expected, the negative response is naya.
Negansid-haya marchara? You didn’t go to the store, did you? Vola, ganmid marchara. Oh yes, I did go to the store.
Heisi-haya Gilkeshni? You're Gilkesh, aren't you? Naya, Urthinimi. No, I'm not; I'm Human [lit. earthling].
Open questions.
In open questions (those using an interrogative like “who” or “what”), the interrogative comes at the position in the sentence where the answer is expected. (Again, this is similar to Farsi grammar.)
Single-word questions can be formed with the interrogative plus a copula:
Chiti? What is it? Chinisi? Who are you? Charhmim? Where are we?
Word order.
The Gilkesh sentence - or more accurately, clause - always begins with the verb or verbal phrase. A verbal phrase may include a simple or phrasal verb, auxiliary verbs, adverbs, and conjunctions.
The usual word order in sentences is: verb, subject, object; however, the order of subject and object may be changed for emphasis or variety. Objects include nouns in the mediative and objective cases, either of which may precede the other.
Restrictive modifiers.
Modifiers precede the entities they modify and do not inflect for number or case. It is necessary to specify whether the modifier is used attributively (to add extra description) or restrictively (to distinguish something from something else). The suffix –ye marks a restrictive modifier.
lo margh dar the big house lo margh-ye dar the big house (and not the small one)
Identifier suffix.
The suffix –yi indicates that a given noun is named or identified by another.
nin-yi Kathris Queen Kathris arj-yi Urth the planet Earth
Noun case.
There are four cases of nouns: the absolutive, nominative, mediative, and objective. These are formed regularly with suffixes. The case of a noun indicates its role in the sentence; the case of a noun may also depend on the valency of the main verb.
The nominative case marks the subject of a verb; its ending is –u in the sinuglar.
The objective case marks the receiver of the action of the verb; with transitive verbs, it represents the direct object. Its ending is –a in the singular.
Frimbiti keshu nenda. The woman eats bread. Shaditi keshu sapira. The woman reads the book.
The mediative case takes the ending –e. It indicates the conveyor of action to the object of the verb. It can function as an instrumental case:
Frimbiti keshu fasa jum dishle. The woman eats soup with a spoon.
In verbs of conveyance (words indicating giving, telling, etc.) the mediative case applies to the thing given, and the receiver takes the objective case. (This is in contrast to the usual Indo-European arrangement where the thing given is considered the object of the verb.) Thus:
Sudriti keshu sapire nil gela. The woman gives the book to the girl. Shaditi keshu sapire nil gela. The woman reads the book to the girl.
Note that in the change from a divalent to a trivalent sentence, the case of the object of shaditi changes from objective (sapira) to mediative (sapire).
The absolutive (or “caseless case”) is the lexical form of the noun. It is normally indicated by a null ending (no vowel) although –i may be added for euphony. It is used when a noun appears in a grammatical vacuum; that is, places like signs, lists, titles, and so on.
In sentences, the absolutive is used to indicate the predicate of a copula:
E thiu sapir. This is a book. E thi-frimbibu nand, ve e dhi-frimbibu sop. This food is bread, and that food is soup. E thi-daru marchar, ve e dhi-daru odol. This building (lit. house) is a shop, and that building is a school.
Plurals.
Plurals of all classes of words are formed regularly with the addition of –m and –n. The collective plural represents persons or things being considered as a group, and is formed with –m:
Gantidim gelum odola. The girls went to school (together).
For persons or things considered as separate entities, the discrete plural, formed with –n, is used:
Gantidin Ardus ve Dassiu nil werdaran. Ardis and Dassia went to their jobs. (They work in different places.) Sudritid suku sapiren gelan. The teacher gave books to the girls. (Each girl got her own book.)
The proper name Ardis in the above example has the form of a first absractive and declines accordingly.
Verbs.
Verbs conjugate in the singular with the endings –mi, -si, ti, -vi for the first, second, third, and fourth persons respectively. In the operative mode (the most basic form), the main vowel takes the circumflex accent (except for heisi):
heimi, I am kârsi, you do kêshti, she lives shâdvi, she is said to read
The fourth-person construction is used when referring to any action that takes place outside the speaker’s direct experience. (In grammatical terms, it is distinguished from the third person by evidentiality.) It does not necessariy imply doubt on the part of the speaker, it simply indicates information learned from others or through inference.
Gânvi Ardus Urtha. They say Ardis is going to Earth. (Or, I understand Ardis is going to Earth, etc.)
Kîshvi Ardus Dassia. They say Ardis loves Dassia.
Sâgvi dhu-frimboru. That restaurant is supposed to be good.
Shênvi äl Merkure. It’s hot on Mercury. (So they tell me. I’ve never been there.)
The four simple tenses are past, present, future, and aorist; these are indicated with the suffixes –di, -e, -ji, and null (no suffix) respectively. In informal conversation, the past tense suffix -di may be shortened to -d where euphony permits. The aorist (or indefinite tense) represents continual or habitual action; or action whose time is not specified. (English speakers should note that this closely approximates the use of the so-called “simple present tense” in English.) The present tense in Gilkesh is reserved for events actually happening in the present (much like the English present progressive).
Gânmidi marchara. I went to the store. Cay-gânmi marchara, ferdimi qora. When(ever) I go to the store, I carry money.
Gânmie marchara. I’m going to the store (right now. Do you want me to get you something?)
By the principle of agent equivalence (see Section 2), the constructions gânmidi and heimidi gan are interchangeable; similary gânmi = gan heimi, etc.
There are four aspects which roughly parallel the four tenses. These are perfect, present, imperfect, and aorist; they are indicated with the prefixes e-, mi-, ya-, and null respectively. Aspect and tense markers can combine to form compound tenses:
eshâdmiji, I will have read yekârtidim, they were about to do
Because the aorist aspect indicates no specific time, the addition of the null prefix logically results in the simple tense.
yekârtid, she was about to do mekârtid, she was doing ekârtid, she had done kârtid, she did (no information is given about her state of action before or after the specified moment)
(The final vowel is dropped from the verb in these examples.)
Aspect markers can attach to nouns as well as verbs:
shâdi, to read, shad, reader, one who reads, mishad, one who is reading, eshad, one who has read; kêsri, to die, kesri, one who dies, a mortal (with euphonic i; distinguished from the infinitive kêsri by the absence of the circumflex) mekesri, one who is dying yekesrim, those who are about to die
By agent equivalence, compound tenses can be expressed using hei (to be) as an auxiliary verb:
eshadmid = heimid eshad, I had read mikesritid = heimid mikesri, she was dying yagansid = heisid yagan, you were going to go esukmijim = heimijim esuk, we will have taught
There are two passive voice forms in Gilkesh. The direct (patient-subject) passive, in which the patient becomes the subject, is formed with the prefix nu-:
Nufrimbitid nandu. The bread was eaten. Nushaditid sapiru. The book was read. Nusudritid sapiru gela. The book was given to the girl.
In the indirect (goal-subject) passive, or receptive voice, the goal becomes the subject; the prefix here is mu-:
Musudritid gelu sapira. The girl was given the book.
Note that the mu- prefix has the effect of reversing the arrow of action, so that the agent of the verb now becomes the direct object and takes the objective casse ending -a.
The subjunctive mood indicates an action whose truth value is unknown or unstated. In the subjunctive, -ai replaces the indicative -i in the verbal stem:
i-yêklai siadi, if I should be able to do it
The contrafactual mood indicates the supposition of an event known not to be true:
i-heimoi nin, if I were queen
Imperatives take -ya in the singular, -yam and -yan in plurals.
Heiya sagh! Be good!
The volitive for all persons and numbers is shortened from the subjunctive, by replacing -ai with -e: Ganse nil shonone. May you go in peace. Durme! Let me speak! (As in, "I declare my intention to speak." The stronger sense of "I insist that you allow me to speak!" would be conveyed by the imperative "Q'ilyam ama duriya!")
Alphabet.
http://asher813.typepad.com/gilkesh_language/2007/10/gilkesh-alphabe.html
Numeration.
Numbers played an important role in the development of agriculture, accounting, and astronomy in early Gilkesh civilization. Although most archaeological records have been lost, the surviving information attests to a well-developed system of mathematics dating even from prehistoric times.
Hexadecimal numbers first evolved as a shorthand form of octal notation. It should be noted that conversion between octal and hexadecimal is not generally trivial for large numbers (since sixteen is not a power of eight) and requires conversion to binary as an intermediate step; however, for numbers of one or two digits it is not terribly complicated. Probably the notation passed through a transitional, mixed-base phase. In any event, the hexadecimal system retained all the advantages of octal and allowed for large numbers to be expressed more concisely.
The names of the numbers in the Gilkesh hexadecimal system are:
decimal hex GK name
0 0 run
1 1 dil
2 2 min
3 3 esh
4 4 lem
5 5 shum
6 6 seth
7 7 sab
8 8 astu
9 9 astil
10 A asmin
11 B astesh
12 C aslem
13 D astum
14 E assith
15 F astab
16 10 mist
32 20 minon
48 30 eshon
64 40 lemon
80 50 shumon
96 60 sethon
256 100 rab
512 200 min rab
4096 1000 rob
65536 10000 ribub
The use of large numbers is of great antiquity, and both exponential and mantissa numeration were introduced early. Large quantities may be denoted either with common numbers, as above, or with exponential numeration. The suffix -oi marks the exponent and may be roughly translated as, "times sixteen to the power of". Thus, rab=minoi, rob=eshoi, ribub=lemoi.
[exponent marker] -oi
16^2 10^2 minoi
16^3 10^3 eshoi
2*16^4 2*10^4 min lemoi
Additionally, the word 'diyul' serves as a mantissa marker (or hexadecimal equivalent of a "decimal point"). It can combine with the exponent marker to produce a form of "scientific notation".
[mantissa marker]---- diyul
3 + 4/16 3.4 esh diyul lem
5 + 7/256 5.07 shum diyul run sab
32976 8.D*10^5 astu diyul astum shumoi
The first sixteen prime numbers are:
min, esh, shum, sab, astesh, astum, mistil, mistesh, mist-sab, mist-astum, mist-astab, minon-shum, minon-astil, minon-astesh, minon-astab, eshon-shum.
The first sixteen Fibonacci numbers are:
dil, dil, min, esh, shum, astu, astum, mist-shum, minon-min, eshon-sab, shumon-astil, astilon, astithon-astil, rab sabon-astil, min rab sethon-min, esh rab astumon-astesh
The first eight factorials are:
dil, min, seth, mist-astu, sabon-astu, min rab astumon, rob esh rab asteshon, astil rob astum rab aston
Pi to eight hexadecimal mantissa places (rounded):
esh diyul min lem esh astab seth astin astu astil
E to eight places:
min diyul astesh sab astith dil shum dil seth esh
Phi to eight places:
dil diyul astil astith esh sab sab astil astesh astil
In hexadecimal rounding, mantissa digits less than 8 (astu) are truncated.
For the written forms of the numbers, go to the following link:
http://asher813.typepad.com/gilkesh_language/2007/10/gilkesh-numeral.html
The written forms evolved from patterns of one, two, and three dots, with a horizontal bar originally representing a quantity of four. In the standard script, the character that looks roughly like a seven (or the Japanese syllable 'fu') represents a 4 (lem), the character that looks like a Z is 8 (astu), and the backwards sigma is a twelve (astem). Adding one dot, two dots, or the angle-shaped character for 3 (esh) on the top produces the remaining characters with the appropriate numerical values.
Numerical values in the entry were generated with the aid of Mathematica.
