Diankil Entirkasi · Conversational Lessons
Below is the first of an ongoing series of lessons in Avdenio. By studying a natural dialogue between speakers, you will become familiar with how the language can be used in daily scenarios. For a more succinct text on grammar and pronunciation, the full guide is recommended to new learners.
Dianel 1: Piter demoa Aie · Lesson 1: Peter meets Aya
Píter djávoa nan Áie an diánrie jiénėn.
'Peter walks up to Aya at her school.'
P: Rivéstė Áie! Te ra hésti?
'Hello Aya! How are you?'
A: Hàválo Píter. Ve ra hávi, máe te?
'Good day Peter. I'm doing well, how about you?'
P: Ve ra mésti hávi. Héan ra mídrė ten?
'I'm doing very well. Where is your friend?'
A. Djun? Je da an áem. Je ra káma, láe ver va démoa an o sélso.
'Jun? (S)he was at home. (S)he is coming now, and we will meet at the lake.'
P: Hav! Máe ver sjóla ástoa ákvė? Máe je va kéra tjéo?
'Good! Should we heat water? Will (s)he want tea?,
A: Dáem náe va fisiénti, téoskae je náe sa ráeva tjéo. Ver sjóla anféra giám.
'There isn't enough time, plus she doesn't usually like tea. We ought to go now.'
P: Háe, ve tórva kaván ven.
'Yeah, I'll grab my bag.'
1.1: Sùlméto - Pronunciation
Unlike English, Avdenio words are basically pronounced just as they are written. Because of this, a word can generally be sounded out correctly by pronouncing each letter individually. There are 19 consonant sounds represented by 16 letters and 3 letter combinations, or digraphs. Most consonants stand for about the same sounds as their English equivalents. These are /p, b, f, v, m, t, d, z, n, k, h/. Other letters and letter combinations are described below:
· /s/ is always hard and voiceless as in 'sort', never like the voiced 'z' sound in 'phase'.
· /r/ can be pronounced in many ways according to the speaker's natural accent. The default is a trilled or flicked 'r' as in Spanish or Japanese. However, other sounds are equally correct, such as the gutteral 'r' of German, French and Hebrew, the retroflex sound of Mandarin Chinese, or even the 'dark r' of American English. The only real advice on this sound is that speakers should pronounce it distinctly rather than drop or vocalize it, as in some dialects of English, Danish and Portuguese. This could obscure the meaning of many Avdenio words.
· /l/ can vary in pronunciation like /r/. Both the simple palatal sound of French or Arabic and the laryngeal 'l' of Russian or American English are allowed.
· /g/ is pronounced hard as in 'guest', never as the soft 'j' sound in 'gist'.
· /j/ is soft and voiced as in French 'je' or the 's' in English 'measure', never hard like English 'jam'.
· /sj/ is a digraph or letter pair which represents one sound. It conflates /s/ and /j/ into a single sound, the same as English 'sh' in 'shape'. /sj/ can also be written /c/, i.e. sjan <> can 'beauty'.
· /dj/ is a digraph for the voiced 'j-g' sound of English 'jam' and 'agent'. /dj/ can also be written /x/, i.e. djádė <> xádė 'family'.
· /tj/ is a digraph for the voiceless 'ch' sound of English 'chalk'. /tj/ can also be written /q/, i.e. tjin <> qin 'before'.
Avdenio has five vowel sounds represented by /a, e, i, o, u/. These are similar to the vowels of Spanish and Italian, each letter having a single value. There is also an optional letter /ė/, used to link word parts and ease pronunciation of some words. It can be pronounced in several ways, but this course suggests the same sound as undotted /e/, with which it is interchangeable in writing. Vowels are pronounced as follows:
· /a/ is the same as in English 'car' and 'father', never as in 'bare' or 'cave'.
· /e/ is closest to the vowels in 'ten' or 'they', never as in 'scene' or 'teeth'.
· /i/ is pronounced as in 'vino', 'kin', or as the 'ee' in 'seed', never as in 'line' or 'sigh'.
· /o/ is the same as in 'tote' or 'for', never as in 'cool' or 'odd'.
· /u/ is nearest to the vowels in 'rude', 'Yule', or the 'oo' of 'food', never as in 'butter' or 'unity'.
· /ė/ is an unstressed sound that never receives emphasis. It can be pronounced just like /e/, or as any lax central vowel, like those in 'did' and 'what'. Uses of /ė/ will be explained later.
Stress is shown with an acute accent over a vowel: /á, é, í, ó, ú/. This course places stress on the syllable before the last consonant of the word root. This helps show where the root of a word is, clarifying its meaning. In the case of compound words with more than one root, a grave accent (/à/) can mark all roots with secondary stress, while the final 'head-root' has the acute accent. Stress is an optional part of Avdenio, but it will be marked in the first few chapters of this course. This will give the reader a chance to learn about the root system.
Practice pronouncing the following Avdenio words. Approximate English pronunciation is given in parentheses.
· je (zheh) 'he/him/she/her/it'
· an (ahn) 'at'
· ėn (ehn) 'of'
· go (goh) 'to/for'
· súra (SOO-rah) 'to do'
· sélso (SELL-soh) 'lake'
· sjíra (SHEE-rah) 'to be'
· djávo (JAH-voh) 'step'
· tjés (chess) 'hand'
· kádė (KAH-deh) 'way, manner'
· hàválo (ha-VAH-loh) 'good-day'
There are frequent combinations of vowels like there are clusters of consonants; these are called diphthongs. Speakers can most correctly pronounce them by sounding out each vowel letter on its own. In quick, natural conversation diphthongs tend to flow together, with /i/ and /u/ sounding more like English 'y' and 'w' respectively. Here are a few words with common diphthongs. Practice their pronunciation:
· tjéo (CHEH-oh) 'tea'
· dáem (DAH-ehm or dime) 'time'
· fisiénti (fee-see-EHN-tee or fees-YEN-tee) 'enough'
· hóe (HOH-eh or hoy) 'hi'
· ián (ee-AHN or yahn) 'kind, sort, type'
· Avdénio (ahv-DEN-ee-oh or ahv-DEN-yoh) 'hybrid language'
· sáo (SAH-oh or like sow) 'so, thus'
· démoa (DEH-moh-ah) 'to meet'
· duéji (doo-EH-zhee or DWEH-zhee) 'correct'
· séutė (SEH-oo-teh or SEHW-teh) 'help'
· léiki (LEH-ee-kee or LAY-kee) 'easy'
1.2 Vàriánir - Kinds of Words
Avdenio words are built on a system of roots. These are the most basic elements of meaning, and unlike those of natural languages, they work together with few rules and no exceptions. This makes learning Avdenio much less work. Below are two of the four kinds of word roots:
· Nominal roots are the most common, and they always represent nouns and pronouns (beings, places, things, and abstract concepts) when they are used alone. They can have one or two core syllables, and always end in /e/, /o/, /u/, or any consonant. When roots end in hard sounds like /p, t, tj, k, b, d, dj, g/ or consonant clusters (e.g. /st, nd, kv/) a final /-ė/ can be added to make pronunciation easier for some speakers. However, /ė/ is never an inherent part of any root, and carries no meaning of its own. In the Avdenio lexicon nominals are marked by an asterisk in their bare root form (without articles or /ė/), e.g. /ákvė/ > *akv 'water'. Examples of nominal roots are: te 'you', nílo 'blue color', bátė 'brick', rién 'person'.
· Article roots are used to add function to nominal roots. They direct traffic in the sentence and show how words are relating to each other. The closest English equivalent is the preposition, words like 'to', 'with', 'when', and 'about'. Article roots can be as short as one letter, and can end in a vowel or consonant. They often take an initial /ė/, especially when consisting of one consonant or starting in a consonant cluster. In the lexicon they are marked with a central dot in their bare form, e.g. /ėn/ > •n 'of'. Two of the most important article roots are /a/ and /i/. All words in /a/ are verbs; words showing action and state. Words in /i/ are all adjectives and adverbs, which describe or qualify other words. Articles ending in any other letter are directors of nouns, and sometimes act as nouns on their own. Other examples of articles are: dan 'from', van 'when, at ~ time', ėr 'several, plural, ~(e)s'.
Nominal and article roots can interact in two ways. First, articles can be had as endings, suffixed to the nouns they modify. Second, they can be placed in front of nouns in the form of prepositions. For example, the nominal root /sjan/ on its own means 'beauty'. The article /i/ can make the root an adjective, forming either /i sjan/ or /sjáni/ to mean 'beautiful'. The root noun /ékė/ means 'the act of going' or 'movement'. When the verbal article /a/ is added, either as /a ékė/ or /éka/, it means 'to go, goes' or 'to move, moves'. Notice that when /a/ is used as an ending, the /ė/ is dropped since it is no longer needed to aid pronunciation.
Let's explore some other examples of root combinations with nouns, verbs and adjectives:
· /kam/ 'coming, approach' + verbal /a/ = káma / a kam 'to come, comes', e.g. Náoko káma dan áem 'Naoko comes from home', jer a kam giám 'they come now'.
· /kam/ + adjectival /i/ = kámi / i kam 'coming, approaching', e.g o riénėr kámi ra déan 'the approaching people are there', álo i kam 'a coming day'.
· /ásto/ 'heat' + /a/ = ástoa / a ásto 'to heat, heats, is hot', e.g. je ástoa tjéo ven '(s)he heats your tea', sje a ásto 'this is hot/gives heat'.
· /ásto/ + /i/ = ástoi / i ásto 'hot, heated', e.g. náe ákvė ástoi 'no hot water', gáedė i ásto 'a hot room'.
Because articles can be both prepositions and endings, Advenio can be adapted by the speaker in a way that is more like their native language. Adjectives can also come before or after the words they modify, according to individual preferences, word flow or emphasis. For example a speaker of Mandarin or Cantonese might be prone to use more prepositional articles, since those languages have few suffixes and inflexions. In contrast speakers of Hindi or Russian might use more suffixes after the tendency of their native speech. The examples in these lessons are written according to the speech tendencies of the author, a native speaker of English, and so they are only some examples of correct Avdenio. There are very many ways to use this flexible language.
There are other kinds of roots, but they will be covered in a later section. Let's examine some basic combinations of nominal and article roots.
1.3 Dáemir Niénoi Sùrvárėn - Basic Tenses of Verbs
All verbs take the article /a/ or one ending in /-a/, making words of action and state easy to find in a sentence. There are many endings which indicate time and temporal flow, though this chapter will begin with the most fundamental articles.
· Indicative /a/ is the most broad verb article. It is used with actions that actually happen, without specifying when or for how long. Unlike English, the time of an act or state doesn't need to be said if it's clear through context or other cues. /a/ can be used on its own as the verb 'to be/is/are'. Example: Éleu ráeva sje 'everyone likes this', o húkė a kum 'the dog eats', je a mídrė ven '(s)he is my friend'.
· Present /ra, -ėra/ is used with verbs that are happening at the time of discussion. It means something like the English '-ing' ending in 'I'm thinking'. When used without a verb, /ra/ means 'is/are'. Example: Ve ra hávi 'I am well', Djun kásra 'Jun is speaking', he ra áola? 'what smells?'
· Past /da, -ėda/ refers to actions and states that begin before the time of discussion. It is the same as the English '-ed' ending in 'I painted'. /da/ can stand alone to mean 'was/were'. Example: Je da an áem '(s)he was at home', te mírda héu? 'who did you see?', o fil da asjépa 'the cat slipped'.
· Future /va, -ėva/ is used with verbs that happen after the time of discussion. While English has no such ending, the modal verb in 'will do/go' has the same meaning. /va/ on its own means 'will be'. Example: Píter kámva sjéan 'Peter will come here', je va léiki 'it will be easy', ve va kéra der 'I will want those'.
· Habitual /sa, -ėsa/ refers to actions that are done often and states that are natural or intrinsic. This is the meaning carried by the phrase 'fish swim', as opposed to 'fish are swimming'. As its meaning implies, /sa/ does not specify when an act is done in any specific instance. Example: Je náe sa ráeva tjéo '(s)he doesn't (generally) like tea', sjéi kírvė flósa 'this insect flies', bárien sa ámboi 'mother is (naturally) happy'.
Note that when using tense markers /ra, da, va, sa/ as prepositions, it is recommended that the verbs they precede be suffixed with the article /a/. This averts confusion between the verb and its object, if any.
Exercise 1A
Find the closest translations for the phrases containing these roots - /daniáv/ 'thanks', /mir/ 'seeing, sight', /tor/ 'taking':
1. Ve sa daniáva A. I (generally) see
2. Ve mírva B. I took
3. Ve ra tóra C. I (habitually) thank
4. Ve sa míra D. I am thanking
5. Ve tóra E. I am taking
6. Ve daniávra F. I saw
7. Ve tórda G. I will see
8. Ve da míra H. I take
9. Ve a daniáv I. I thank
1.4 Póes, Ėrsóstis to Ékė Idàenvárėn - Possession, Plurality and Motion of Nouns
Nouns can take an array of articles to describe things about them; their number, origin, movement, ownership, etc. As described above, these articles can be applied both as endings and prepositions. Here are a few common articles governed by nouns:
· Genetive /ėn, -n/ marks nouns that possess, subordinate to or associate with other nouns. This article is most similar to English 'of, belonging to' or the possessive '-s' with apostrophe. The possessor can follow or precede the object of possession. Example: Márion áem 'Mario's house', génior ėn Iájie 'languages of Asia', méon o gáedėn 'door of the room'.
· Plural /ėr, -r/ marks nouns that are two or more in number. It is like the '-s' ending in English 'cats', or the '-en' in 'children, oxen'. Nouns without this article are not necessarily singular, though they can be marked as such with /eo/. This is usually left to context, however. Example: Riénėr 'people', ėr trun 'challenges', tséor 'cars'.
· Locative /an/ marks a noun as the place of a state or act, much as English 'at, in, on' and similar prepositions. Example: Je da an áem '(s)he was at home', Sandípė ábra an Dàesni Ameríkė 'Sandeep lives in South America', káo sa an álko 'the nose is on the face'.
· Lative /nan, -ėnan/ shows a noun as the destination of movement; similar English prepositions are 'to, toward, at'. /nan/ can refer to nouns moving to a place, or it can mark the recipient of an exchange. Example: Éka nan diánrie 'to go to school', kédia jez vénan 'give it to me', léval nan kóusj 'a little to the left'.
· Ablative /dan, -ėdan/ marks a noun as the origin of movement, like English 'from'. It can be used with a place of origin, or it can mark the deliverer of an exchange. Example: Te kámda dan héan 'where did you come from?', o risáel dan imániov ven 'the letter from my brother', kéntė sáondan 'light from the sun'.
Exercise 1B
Practice translating the following phrases. The word in parenthesis should take the article or preposition. The first four have two possible answers:
1. to a car (tséo) >
2. dogs (húkė) >
3. from home (áem) >
4. Sam's / of Sam >
5. an o diánrie (the school) >
6. nan Áie (Aya) >
7. ėn tjéo (tea) >
8. álkor (a face) >
1.4 Hàlfamiál ėn Virdèsvár - Introduction to Pronouns
A very important group of words in the noun class are the pronouns; words like English 'we, it, you, me, they, who' etc. They stand for other nouns, like those which have already been brought up in the discourse. The roots of pronouns end in /-e/, and are by default non-plural and neutral in animacy and gender. Here are a few pronouns which you have already seen:
· 1st Person /ve/ 'I, me' represents the speaker, or someone the speaker is quoting.
· 2nd Person /te/ 'you' represents the person spoken to; the listener of the speech.
· 3rd Person /je/ 'he, him, she, her, it' refers to a third party other than the speaker or those spoken to.
· Interrogative /he/ 'what, who' refers to unknown referents. This is the base of many question-words, including the so called 'wh-' words in English.
It may surprise you that the third person pronoun /je/ seems to translate to so many words in English. Like all the pronouns, this root doesn't have an inherent male or female meaning. Also, it could be used for an inanimate object or an animate life form. There are words based on /je/ that do make these specifications though. Below are four pronouns that English speakers might find helpful:
· Feminine /jién/ or /jéien/ 'she, her' is derived from /je/ and the article /ien/, connoting female gender.
· Masculine /jióv/ or /jéiov/ 'he, him' comes from /je/ coupled with male article /iov/.
· Inanimate /jez/ 'it, them' refers only to inanimate objects or abstractions - things, places, acts, and ideas. It combines /je/ and /ėz/, the article which marks inanimate words.
· Animate /jeu/ 'he, him, she, her, they' refers only to living beings; anything including micro-organisms, plants, animals, and humans. This joins /je/ with the animate article /u/. This ending isn't normally needed for /jién/ and /jióv/ because animacy is implied in gender.
As to when gender and animacy should be mentioned, this is totally up to the speaker. It is not required by the rules of grammar like it is in many natural languages. The examples in these lessons will tend not to mention either if they are clear through context already. For this reason, you will see /je/ used for both male and female referents, and while in this chapter it is translated as '(s)he' or 'him/her' when referring to people, in later chapters either 'he' or 'she' will be given for /je/ to suit the context. One instance where /jién, jióv, jez/ might all be used in a sentence is when there are many third person pronouns of mixed gender and animacy involved. The phrase 'he takes it from her' might be written jióv tóra jez dan jién instead of je tóra je dan je. The latter is correct, but it is much more vague.
Just like other nouns, the pronouns /ve, te, je, he/ etc. can take the plural article /ėr/. This gives us the following common forms:
· /ver/ 'we, us' refers to the speaker and those associated with or represented by him/her.
· /ter/ 'you (all)' refers to multiple listeners, as in the original meaning of 'thou'.
· /jer/ 'they, them' refers to third party nouns in the plural.
· /her/ 'what (things/beings), who' refers to more than one unknown noun.
Additionally the possessive article /ėn/ can be added to all these pronouns, creating words like 'my, your, his, hers' etc. Possessives, like adjectives, can come before or after the nouns they claim. Therefore 'my ball' can be written either as /ven bal/ or /bal ven/. Here are a few possessive pronouns, along with their plural forms in /r/:
· /ven/ 'my, mine'
· /vérėn/ 'our, ours'
· /ten/ 'your, yours'
· /térėn/ 'your, yours (plural)'
· /jen/ 'his, hers, its'
· /jérėn/ 'their, theirs'
· /hen/ 'whose, of what thing/being'
· /hérėn/ 'whose, of what things/beings'
Exercise 1C
Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with the pronouns that you've learned:
1. I see home > _____ míra áem
2. Jer ra héan? > Where are _____?
3. Your parents > _____ báerėr
4. Jez da kénti > _____ was bright
5. That is ours > Dez a _____
6. He ra sul? > _____ is making noise?
7. (S)he (animate) lives near > _____ nèrába
8. Máe ter ékva? > Will _____ go?
9. He meets her > _____ démoa _____
10. Héu kámda nan diánrie jérėn > _____ came to _____ school
1.5 Avdén Sùrvárėn - Combining Verbs
It is possible to use sequences of verbs in order to modify their action. Examples of this include phrases like 'want to do, think of going, must see, should be'; English modal verbs are included in this group.
While not a grammatical rule, it is helpful for one or all verbs in the phrase to have their /a/ article as an ending rather than a preposition. This reduces confusion between the last verb and any object after it. You have already seen a few examples of combined verbs in this lesson's dialogue, which use /sjóla/ 'should':
· Máe ver sjóla ástoa ákvė? > Should we heat water?
· Ver sjóla anféra giám > We should leave now
Other verbs commonly used like this include /kéra/ 'to want to ~', /déva/ 'to need to ~, must ~', /ráeva/ 'to like to ~' /pénza/ 'to think about ~ing'.
· kéra súra > want to do
· ráeva kása > like to say
· pénza éka > think about going
· déva míra > need to see
Aside from placing two verbs next to each other, another way to combine them is to compound them into one word. This means removing the /-a/ from the first verb and attaching it to the front of the second verb, which still takes an /-a/. The above examples are rephrased as:
· kèrsúra > want to do
· ràevkása > like to say
· pènzéka > think about going
· dèvmíra > need to see
Some verb compounds may warrant an /ė/ between the two roots, especially in the case of doubled hard consonants or clusters of three or more sounds. Some speakers may find these too hard to pronounce or understand.
· pènzėsúra > think about doing (instead of /pènzsúra/)
· livàndėmíra > stand up to see (instead of /livàndmíra/)
Verb combinations can be used with articles such as the tenses /ra, da, va, sa/. Since articles and combined verbs can be formed both by preposition and affixing, such a phrase can be written in many different orders. The speaker's natural habit may dictate the word order. For example, the phrase '(s)he wanted to take' is translated below. The second is most similar to the English phrasing, but all six are correct.
· je da ráeva tóra
· je ráevda tóra
· je da ràevtóra
· je ràevtórda
· je da ráev a tor
· je da ráev tóra
Exercise 1D
Translate the following phrases in the way most natural to you. Some of the answers should contain a tense article like /ra, da, va, sa/.
1. I will want to go > _____________________________________________________________
2. She is thinking of seeing > ______________________________________________________
3. You can come home > _________________________________________________________
4. Jane (Djéin) didn't like to say > __________________________________________________
5. Hua (Huáe) generally likes to take > ______________________________________________
Vàrmáes - Vocabulary
In every chapter you will be introduced to a certain number of new words. This course advises using flash cards and verbal practice to familiarize yourself with this vocabulary. You will need it to understand future lessons. Here are a core group of words that should be studied:
1. a - Art. indicative verb; do, does, is, am, are, to be
2. áem - N. home
3. ákvė - N. water
4. an - Art. at, in, on
5. anféra / a anfér - V. to leave
6. ástoa / a ásto- V. heat
7. da - Art. past tense; did, was, were
8. dan - Art. from
9. dáem - N. time
10. démoa / a démo - V. to meet
11. diánrie - N. school
12. djávoa / a djávo- V. to step, to walk
13. éka / a ékė - V. to go, to move
14. ėn / -(ė)n - Art. possessive; of, -'s
15. ėr / -(ė)r - Art. plural noun; -s
16. ėz / -(ė)n - Art. inanimate marker; object, thing, it
17. fisiénti / i fisiéntė - Adj. enough, sufficient
18. giam - N. now, the present
19. hávi / i hav- Adj. good
20. hàválo / álo hávi - Excl. good day; hello
21. he - Pro. what, who
22. héan - Pro. where
23. hésti - Adv. how
24. héu - Pro. who, what living being
25. hez - Pro. what, what thing
26. je - Pro. it, they, them, she, her, he, him
27. jer - Pro. they, them
28. jez - Pro. it, them
29. jién / jéien - Pro. she, her
30. jióv / jéiov - Pro. he, him
31. káma / a kam - V. to come
32. kaván - N. bag
33. kéra / a ker- V. to want
34. láe - Conj. and, and then, next
35. máe - Conj. question marker; is it so that ~ ?
36. mídrė - N. friend
37. náe - Conj. negative marker; no, not, isn't, doesn't
38. nan - Art. to, towards, at
39. o - Art. definite marker; the
40. ra - Art. present tense; is, am, are, being, do, does, doing
41. ráeva / a ráev- V. to like
42. rivéstė - N. greeting; hello
43. sjíra / a sjir - V. to be, to exist
44. sélso - N. lake
45. sjóla / a sjol- V. should do, ought to be
46. te - Pro. you
47. ter - Pro. you (plural)
48. téoskae - Conj. also, in addition
49. tóra / a tor - V. to take, to grab, to get
50. tjéo - N. tea
51. tséo - N. car, vehicle
52. u - Art. animate marker; being, creature, life form, person
53. va - Art. future tense; will be, going to do
54. ve - Pro. I, me
55. ver - Pro. we, us