Landscape – Langs and Conlangs

August 14, 2011August 8, 2011

jÄxÄ«sse

By itself, jÄxÄ«sse tends to mean horizon. But it is a little more subtle than that. It means something like the natural boundary line between two domains. So, anÄlhÄri jÄxÄ«sse is a reference to the land/sea boundary. It appears in the sentence with the modifier jÄ«lke, which I will discuss tomorrow.

temme Ä“ jaÃ¾Ä“Î»i ien jakÄ Änen ansÄorÄ«ki ien jaxÅ«na Änen anrÅ«Ä“li Ä« xiÄ“n jÄ“ jÄxÄ«sse jÄ«lke Ä« jÄo ja la sÅ«jatÄ Ä“ jÄo sÅ«jÅl ien jiÄ“xa Änen jasÄ“si Ä« jÅrrisi Ä“ jatatÄ“n ien Ã±i jÄ«lkena cÄ“ jaÃ¾Ärre Årra Ä“ jawÄÃ±Ã±erÄÃ±i jÄ«Ã¾i nÄ Ä«;

He said to him the ideas: the doings of consonants; the pattern of vowels, …

August 1, 2011July 29, 2011

japÄÅ‹Å‹ien

This word is either a synonym or an antonym of yesterday’s word. It, too, refers to a region or portion of land (hence a synonym), but the defining characteristic is social or cultural (as opposed to geological, hence a contrasting antonym).

As an example, the Central Valley of California is probably both jalmÄ“sa and japÄÅ‹Å‹ien, being geologically and geographically the same throughout (mostly). But while the State of California could be called japÄÅ‹Å‹ien, it is not jalmÄ“sa, as it does not have the same climate, terrain, or geology throughout.

temle ien tÅ wÄ sema jataÃ±Ä“n to jakÄe ja Ã±i sÅ« japÄÅ‹Å‹ien tÅ jÄo Årra Ã±i sÄen rÅ« Äke;
He said to me: He did not like the doings in the homeland, so he went from there.

July 31, 2011July 29, 2011

jalmÄ“sa

This is a region or portion of land, as defined by something natural – like terrain or so.

kexien tema jekÄ«Ã¾a ien la Ã¾Å jatarÅ«ni jawÄ“hi tÅ tema jatÄ“la ien la Ã¾Å jalmÄ“sa sÅ« sÅssirja pa anhÄri wÄ ewaÃ¾ Ã±i sÄen rÄjanÅ;
Of course, he knew these were mirages because he knew this part of SÅssirja has no water, yet he followed.

July 30, 2011July 29, 2011

anjÄ“lti

This is another word for ground or land, specifically wild and uncultivated land.

sÅ« anjÄ“lti anwÄ«wi ÄÃ± alxien te jÄ“ta jatÄ“spe to jampÄenten to manahan sakÄ“wÄ«ke;
In the middle of bare wilderness, this was unexpectedly a relic of civilization, of someone’s labor.

July 29, 2011July 21, 2011

anÄxkÄ«Ã±i

This is the word for ground, as in what’s beneath your feet (mostly).

te anÄxkÄ«Ã±i anjÅ«ti nÄ«kan jakÄ«Ã¾Ä«Ã±i jakepÅli jÄ“ sÅta Ã±e anwÅ«lÄ«Ã±i;
There was baked ground with scattered little rocks instead of sand.

July 28, 2011July 21, 2011

anwÅ«lÄ«Ã±i

This is the word for ‘sand’.

anniÃ¾en tema jÄ“wÄri anhÄri nÄ«kan antÄoni nÄ«kan anwÅ«lÄ«Ã±i anlÅi Ä“ rÅ«jÄÃ± ew sÅ«jÄ«r mo sarÅÃ±a;
Soon he saw the waters of the lakes with waves with the golden sands around it but not at back.

June 11, 2011June 9, 2011

anhÄri

We’re still on sentence 18 of the LCC4 relay text:

Ã±amma jatÄÅ‹Å‹i Änen antÄnre il aÃ¾ Ã±i sanÄrme rÄ jatÄna anhÄri tÄ;

“She quickly made many holes and then ” Ã±i sanÄrme rÄ jatÄna anhÄri tÄ; or “his body went to the river … under”. anhÄri is “water” and coming as it does after the word for river, it refers to the river’s water. anhÄri nearly always occurs as a collective noun, as befits a liquid. The singular form jahÄra means “a drop of water”.

February 14, 2011February 11, 2011

jamÄxxanweÂ

The sixth sentence of the 2nd Inverse Relay text:

il Ã±i liÄ“Ã¾ rÄ anmÄxxÄnwi nÄ«kan jarÄ“lÄn jÄ“spe il Ã±i anÄlhÄri ansÄ“lni;

anmÄxxÄnwi is an alternate, collective form of jamÄxxanweÂ which is a large, flat plain. Since collectives are used to denote expanses of something, it is just as accurate to use a collective form to mean “plain” as it is to use the singular. So Ã±i liÄ“Ã¾ rÄ anmÄxxÄnwi “We go to a (wide) plain”. More of the sentence tomorrow.

February 7, 2011February 6, 2011

jalÄeÃ¾a

The third sentence of the 2nd Inverse Relay text:

la jalÄeÃ¾a jarÅllÅl ewaÃ¾ Ã±i liÄ“Ã¾ rÄ jalÄe Älme;

jalÄeÃ¾a is a mountain pass, a good place to cross a range of mountains.

January 18, 2011January 7, 2011

jaÃ¾Ä«Ã±a

We’re still on sentence 4 of the LCC2 Relay Text:

telme jakÄ“Ã±a mo makÄ«Ã¾a matÄ“nnÄ ien tÅ wÄ terle jasÅra xiÄ“n jÄ“ jaÃ¾Ä«Ã±a tÅkÄ“Ã±;

jaÃ¾Ä«Ã±a means “path” and in this story refers to the path the narrator was taking before s/he tripped over that talking rock. xiÄ“n jÄ“ does not occur only in titles, and it still means “concerning” or “about”. tÅ wÄ terle jasÅra xiÄ“n jÄ“ jaÃ¾Ä«Ã±a tÅkÄ“Ã± is therefore “why didn’t you tell me about the path” i.e. why didn’t you warn me about where I was going so I wouldn’t have tripped over you.

telme jakÄ“Ã±a mo makÄ«Ã¾a matÄ“nnÄ ien tÅ wÄ terle jasÅra xiÄ“n jÄ“ jaÃ¾Ä«Ã±a tÅkÄ“Ã±;
I asked the talking rock, “Why didnâ€™t you tell me about the path?”

Tomorrow, sentence 5!