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Šureni
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| front | back | ||||
| high | i | ɪ | ʊ | u | |
| closed | e | o | |||
| open | ɛ | ə | ɔ | ||
| low | |||||
| æ | a | ||||
i >əy : kini >kəyn , ikina >ɪkəyn
u >wə : Šura >šwər
e >ey : nelet >neylɛʔ
o >oʊ : kome >koʊmɛ
a >æ : mali >mæl
i >ɪ : ikeba >ɪkeyb
u >ʊ : Udan >ʊdæn
e >ɛ : Lenan >lɛnæn
o >ɔ : momah >mɔma
a >ə : atej >əteyj
Here’s part of one of the CT sample texts, as written and
Atéj súč áva, néjo atéj čralúga?I won’t represent actual pronunciation in my examples, as it is largely predictable from the standard spelling.əteyj swəč æv, neyjɔ əteyj črəlug?
Yaumálar súč níštig tarát an Jippirasútum, kór ŋók yára. (Gók niderága atéj nrurúnum, híŋ nižraráŋum.)Yomalr̥ swəč nəyštɪk terat ɛn Jipɪrasutm̥, koʊr ñoʊk yær. (Goʊk nɪdɛrag əteyj nrʊrunm̥, ȟiŋ nɪžrəraŋm̥.)
Níšti, atéj súč itikíluj adép téŋ igošápau si jéŋu, sóga gomarál súč jéŋui ŋúllar, ŋúllausu súč itíki.Nəyšt, əteyj swəč ɪtɪkilʊj ədeyp teyŋ ɪgošapo sɪ jeyŋʊ, soga gɔməral swəč jeyñʊ nwəlr̥, nwəlosʊ swəč ɪtəyk .
Double consonants are no longer lengthened.
labial lab-dent alveolar palatal velar glottal stops p t č k ʔ b d j g fricatives f s š ȟ v z ž nasals m n ñ ŋ liquids l y r
The dental series has moved back to the alveolar ridge, rather as in English. However, dental pronunciation is still common in northern Šura.
r is flapped [ɾ].
Syllable-initial h was strengthened to [x], which I’ve written
Though early-onset voicing is still characteristic of Šureni, the distinction between tž and č has been lost; both sound like [tʃ].
Beginning a syllable, ŋ is pronounced
Final -č >
Final -t or -d >
Final nasal + C loses the final consonant: Kurund >
Final unstressed -um > syllabic
Still, it was possible to oppose just the most recent changes. Clerics especially, but also some stage actors, cultivated these differences:
Here’s a comparison of part of the sample above in ordinary and clerical pronunciation:
Níšti, atéj súč itikíluj adép téŋ igošápau si jéŋu, sóga gomarál súč jéŋui ŋúllar, ŋúllausu súč itíki.This special pronunciation sounded more and more comic in the 3600s, and now survives only among character actors.
Nəyšt, əteyj swəč ɪtɪkilʊj ədeyp teyŋ ɪgošapo sɪ jeyŋʊ, soga gɔməral swəč jeyñu nwəlr̥, nwəlosʊ swəč ɪtəyk.
Nɪyštɪ, əteyj swʊts ɪtɪkilʊdz ədeyp teyŋ ɪgošapo sɪ jeygʊ, soga gɔməral swəts dzeygu nwʊlr̥, gwʊlosʊ swʊts ɪtɪykɪ.
However, the endings of participles are stressed. This produces variations something like Indo-European vowel grades:
inúja ɪnwəj knowledge yenúj yenuj causes to know nujútu nʊjut known
Prepositions, some particles, and auxiliaries are now written as part of the associated word. E.g. yav azezini ‘to the students’ would be written in CT as
yav a ze zi nibut is now written
ya va ze zi niThis also affects speech: the cliticized word is never stressed. (A few bolder publishers have reissued the classics with this spelling change, which is considered easier to read. But many prefer to read CT with the original spelling.)
I’ve said that the sound changes of SŠ are not reflected in writing, but this requires caveats. When a sound change causes loss or merger, people get uncertain about their spelling. So these errors are common, and are correlated with education:
By the middle 3600s, even in formal LŠ, the -u of particples was not written, nor the final -a/i in numbers, quantifiers, prepositions, and conjunctions.
I must note that just because CT was widely known doesn’t mean that it was mastered. Rather as people know about thou and -eth in early modern English but don’t know when to use them, Šureni generally don’t know how to properly use the ergative-absolutive verbs, or the dual, or the old aspect system.
By the late 3600s CT began to sound old-fashioned and even difficult, and respectable non-CT models could be followed instead.
In speech the passive participle has lost its final -u— this is one of the few sound changes that are reflected in writing. Thus jiŋuŋu ‘eaten’ > jiŋuŋ, nebubu ‘taught’ > nebub, stutu ‘cleaned’ > stut. (This doesn’t apply to participles used as substantives, e.g. nebubu ‘curriculum’.)
In addition, the auxiliary ši ‘be’ has cliticized to the verb, which devoices any final consonant in the participle. Thus:
Čelep nebup-šu.As these will be so common, I’ve glossed the passive participle as “pass” and the active participle as “act”. The choice of participle determines active vs. passive. Tense and person are shown by the auxiliary. A full conjugation:
book read.pass-be.3s
The book was taught.Aneb nebat-šu čelep.
cleric read.act-be.3s book
The cleric teaches the book.
Active Present Past written pronounced written pronounced I nebat-sič nɛbatsɪt nebat-si nɛbats you nebat-sač nɛbatsət nebat-ša nɛbatš he/she nebat nɛbat nebat-šu nɛbatsʊ we incl. nebat-sid nɛbatsɪd nebat-sris nɛbatsɪs we excl. nebat-siš nɛbatsɪš nebat-srim nɛbatsɪm they nebat-suš nɛbatsʊš nebat-srum nɛbatsʊm Passive Present Past written pronounced written pronounced I nebub-sič nɛbupsɪt nebub-si nɛbups you nebub-sač nɛbupsət nebub-ša nɛbupš he/she nebubu nɛbub nebub-šu nɛbupsʊ we incl. nebub-sid nɛbupsɪd nebub-sris nɛbupsɪs we excl. nebub-siš nɛbupsɪš nebub-srim nɛbupsɪm they nebub-suš nɛbupsʊš nebub-srum nɛbupsʊm
For usage notes see the Syntax section, but note that the “past” forms are normally completive, and the “present” forms are normally imperfect.
Often the only trace of the -ga ending is voicing of the final consonant of ši.
Active Present Past written pronounced written pronounced I nebat-si-ga nɛbatsɪk nebat-ši-ga nɛbatšɪk you nebat-sač-ga nɛbatsəg nebat-ša-ga nɛbatšəg he/she nebat-ga nɛbag nebat-šu-ga nɛbatšʊg we incl. nebat-sid-ga nɛbatsɪg nebat-sris-ga nɛbatsɪz we excl. nebat-siš-ga nɛbatsɪž nebat-srim-ga nɛbatsɪŋ they nebat-suš-ga nɛbatsʊž nebat-srum-ga nɛbatsʊŋ Passive Present Past written pronounced written pronounced I nebub-sič-ga nɛbupsɪj nebub-ši-ga nɛbupšɪg you nebub-sač-ga nɛbupsəj nebub-ša-ga nɛbupšəg he/she nebubu-suč-ga nɛbubsʊg nebub-šu-ga nɛbupšʊg we incl. nebub-sid-ga nɛbupsɪg nebub-sriz-ga nɛbupsɪz we excl. nebub-siš-ga nɛbupsɪž nebub-sriŋ-ga nɛbupsɪŋ they nebub-suš-ga nɛbupsʊž nebub-srum-ga nɛbupsʊŋ
In LŠ the two variants are active vs. passive: “I taught” vs. “I was taught.” This can be seen as a reinterpretation of the CT ergative vs. absolutive. The mixed forms (e.g. nabi ‘you taught me’ are not used in LŠ.
Active written pronounced I nib nib you nab næb he/she nub nub we incl. nzib nɪzib we excl. naib nayb they naub nawb Passive written pronounced I nebi neyb/neyps you neba neyb/neypš he/she nebu neybʊ we incl. nebis neybɪs we excl. nebim naybɪm they nebum naybm̥
Note the similarity of the passive forms to the past forms of the participle paradigm. In SŠ the -s/š endings are applied by analogy to the 1s/2s to keep them separate.
Some speakers apply the 2s form
A common genteelism is to use the bare active participle: nebat! (Or nebat-suš when addressing multiple people.)
The imperative can be used with an explicit first or third person subject: min mef! ‘let me think’; anebur mef! ‘let the teacher think’
In addition these verbs have 3s forms only:
ši ‘be’ nirni ‘have’ degi ‘go’ vanki ‘camp’ Present I sič səyč nirin nɪrin dirig dɪrig vinik vɪnik you sač sæç naran nəran darag dərag vanak vənak he/she suč swəč nurun nʊrun durug dʊrug vunuk vʊnuk we incl. sid səyd nidin nɪdin didig dɪdig vidink vɪdin we excl. siš səyš naron nəron daril dəril varink vərin they suš swəš narun nəron darul dərul varunk vərun Past I ši šəy nirn nəyrn dig dəyg vink vəyn you ša šæ narn nærn dag dæg vank væn he/she šu šwə nurn nwərn dug dwəg vunk vwən we incl. sris srəys nzirn nɪzirn dzig dzəyg vzink vɪzin we excl. srim swəm nairn nayn daig dayg vaink vayn they srum swəm naurn nawn daug dawg vaunk vawn
nuji ‘know’ grami ‘grab’ sači ‘be right’ gohi ‘be wrong’ Present nuj nwəj grum gwəm suč swəč guh gwə Past nuruj nʊrwəj gurum gwərm̥ suruč sʊruč guruh gʊrwə
In speech the loss of final -a/i makes some forms (like
e.g. singular plural -[euo]C king ajjos əjoʊs ajjoso əjoʊsɔ -[ia]C sea čal čæl čal čæl -[aei] wheat mahi mæi mahiu mæʊ -[ou] god jeŋu jeyŋʊ jeŋum jeyŋm̥
This becomes more of a problem with the genitive -i, which is therefore avoided in favor of the preposition si. But many common expressions retain the ‘genitive’ form, with or without final -i: man(i) mafali ‘national senate’.
The inflected demonstrative –(u)r now has a definite meaning: mahir >
Mini ‘we’ has merged with min, so minum has developed by analogy. This is an old enough change that it’s accepted even in formal writing.
s pl poss I min minum smin you teŋ teŋe steŋ he/it so sono so she soŋ soŋ polite so(no) so
From about 2900, sono ‘they’ has been used as a polite form of ’you’. The highest-rank pronoun zal is highly marked as CT and avoided in republican Šura.
The possessive suffixes can be used in LŠ (e.g. čelepali ‘my book’, čelepala ‘your book’), but since final -a/i are lost, they can’t really be used in SŠ. Instead the new forms above are used, deriving from prepositional phrases with si. Thus čelepa smin ‘my book’, čelepa so ‘his book’. The same forms are used for the plural, so smin also means ‘our’.
Standalone so is pronounced
adjective noun place time this taj martaj čertaj nertaj that near čer mar čer ner that far rut marrut
Note the new distinction between avir ‘who’ and av ‘what’, replacing CT ava ‘who/what’.
which au who avir what av where aval when aunem how audeg why avar how much aumerg
‘Some’ is now usually written biv rather than biva. There has also been some regularization of the indefinite pronouns: bivat > bivvir, čegan > čegali. Ironically the last is found in the Baburkunim, so it’s a marker of very old or very new Tžuro.
adjective noun place time none let lettir čelet nelet one mo mot čemmo nemmo other gok gokkir gokali neŋgok some/any biv bivvir bivali nembiv many/much kuš kuššir kušali neŋkuš all/every an anat čegali neman
LŠ has innovated kušga ‘few’ and moga ‘not a few’, degar ‘that way’.
Even in the 3400s, Šureni scientists got used to using decimal in order to read and apply Eretaldan science and mathematics. This became crucial with the adoption of the Xurnese System in 3618. Scientific works use decimal only. (This applies to Mei as well.) This led to its widespread use in manufacturing, journalism, and government regulation. On the other hand years, pricing, bookkeeping, and most everday uses are duodecimal.
The decimal system is closely based on the duodecimal:
(Momah, dejmah ‘7, 9’ are pronounced
unit 10n 10n nth 1/n 1 mo pis pis ništ 2 ŋok pisŋok sič lešp drajut 3 dej pisdej ez lend nej 4 dal pisdal je dale jret 5 biŋ pisbiŋ jom 6 mah pismah bon 7 momah pismomah 8 dag pisdag 9 dejmah pisdejmah for 10 pis sič
The names of the powers of ten are simply the Xurnese System prefixes. The next two are ter 1012, zey 1015. In older sources Mei ezo ‘thousand’ and bonu ‘million’ are found, as well as pisluj ‘big 10’ for 100.
Two-digit numbers can be named with the CT formula Numbers precede nouns (ŋok čelepau ‘two books’), and this forms powers of 10 too: ŋok sič ‘200’. These can be followed by a two-digit number: ŋok sič pismah dej ‘263’.
For larger numbers you divide the number into triplets:
Green is used in this section to highlight the word class or morpheme I’m talking about.
It isn’t always clear in LŠ whether –(u)r is being used to mark definiteness, or (as in CT) as a demonstrative. Likewise, people reading CT often take the demonstrative as a definite; often this makes no difference, but sometimes it does.
Existentials now use the verb degi ‘go’: present dralu, past degu. These are not conjugated by person.
Verbs are negated with the final clitic -ga. (This causes a good deal of fusion; see the Morphology section.)
Hasat-sič čelepar. The present can be said to extend some time into the future.
Something can be explicitly assigned to the future with the prefix u-. Again, the bare verb implies completion, and the absence of ši makes the meaning progressive.
The suffix is not stressed, so this is pronounced An exception is kinship terms and body parts: you say Loni maral ‘Lon’s daughter’ or Loni ješe ‘Lon’s eyes’ rather than maral si Lon, ješe si Lon. Less educated speakers take this as a simple appositive, and thus say e.g. jeŋu tor ‘god’s hand’ rather than the proper jeŋui tor.
In addition, there are some correlative conjunctions, used in pairs:
The object of the preposition can be omitted; in that case append -deg ‘way’:
You can use degi ‘go’ in its place to indicate intention or a promise. (By contrast future u- simply places an event in time.)
The basic meaning of nuji is that we can deduce that it’s true:
The negative applies to the main verb, not the auxiliary. That is, this sentence
Grami emphasizes that a change has occurred, or an event has ended. It’s similar to the English perfect, or Mandarin 了 le. Since the LŠ past tense is usually completive, you may wonder what’s different. Compare:
Note that the 3rd person auxiliaries don’t give the subject, so a first or second person subject must be explicitly provided. An alternative is to use both auxiliaries: Hasat-šu gurum…
Grami is not used, as the English perfect can be, to indicate that something occurred before the time of the narrative. Rather, use the adverb nembiv ‘sometime’:
The copula is often omitted as well, producing subclauses like jo nidiram a nimeraf “that (are) smart and beautiful.” This has a slight distancing effect, and jo X sometimes has the sense “that is said to be X”.
In CT nonrestrictive clauses began with a jo or taj jo. In LŠ this is no longer a rule: the following sentence could be either restrictive or nonrestrictive (though it’s probably the former):
Using auxiliaries besides ši can change the meaning:
Deductions still use the nejo…zun construction.
Where the lexicon marks an ergative sense as (e), that is expressed using the active, while the absolutive sense uses the passive. E.g. Itrarak-ši čelepar ‘I dropped the book’, itrakuk čelepa ‘the book fell.’
As such this new comparative can replace “X ten”:
Men wandered the plateau for herding, trading, and raiding. Once they married, they divided time between their own fsavaand their wife’s. As only motherhood was certain, men’s heirs were their sister’s children rather than their own. In old age they settled back into their home fsava (where their sisters lived) as respected elders.
Once the Tžuro conquered Skouras— and the Skourenes had been converted to Jippirasti and to speaking Tžuro— this lifestyle disappeared. But it was the world described in the Baburkunim, and thus had cultural influence long past the time it was practiced.
In modern Šura, there are four terms than can be translated ‘family’:
The fsava was male-led, but in practice dominated by women, as they comprised the unchanging core of the settlement. Husbands came from outside and belonged to their own fsavau.
After the conquest of Skouras, what mattered was the extended family, equivalent to the Skourene bsepa, but called tajeiu (‘cousins’). The tajeiu was essential in an urban trading society, because it provided a far-flung network of people you could trust, as well as a social safety net.
The family names of Šureni apply to tajeiu, and remain matrilineal. In theory everyone with one family name belongs to the tajeiu, but in practice it doesn’t extend beyond great-grandmothers (in the city) or great-great-grandmothers (in the country). Beyond that people are tajja tajeiu, remote relatives. You are not supposed to marry within the tajeiu, but you can marry a tajja tajei.
The clerics who dominated Šura in the 3500s were abominably sexist and insisted that men governed the sigreja. Ironically, when people stopped living in sigrejau, this left women with more legal powers than men in the itena. They had authority over child-rearing, they could freely divorce and engage in business, they controlled their own money and property, and in case of divorce the legal presumption was that they got the house, on the age-old Jippirasti tenet that a woman’s gej (tent) was her sacred domain. Men had to fight for more legal equality in marriage.
The result of all this was a simplified system of kinship names:
As noted, the family name (valat si tajeiu) refers to the tajeiu and is that of the mother. These names arose from an array of disambiguators: locations, professions, personal qualities, nicknames.
The corollary is that a husband has a different family name. The convention is that he uses both. E.g. Akab Lonti marries Kačri Dakaši, so he is called Akab Lonti si Dakaši, and often just Akab si Dakaši.
It’s not uncommon to reuse names within a tajeiu, which creates ambiguities. The usual expedient is to use the words kodali (elder) and mor (younger), e.g. Akab Lonti kodali. If the elder dies, the adjective is not supposed to be used, though it may persist for years.
Titles follow the name, so if Akab becomes a judge he’s Akab Lonti adep.
The head of a hierarchy is entitled to a respectful adjective: nujat ‘wise’ for clerics, ižraŋai ‘honorable’ for nobles and kings, ništi ‘first’ for politicians and business people. So if Akab is chief justice, he’s called ništi Akab Lonti adep. If the title is not unique (cf. ‘king’, ‘convener’), he is addressed as ništi rather than adep.
Finally, the region may be added to a title. So about the maximal designation for a person is:
The second exchange is needed only outside one’s own household (i.e. you don’t use it with your spouse or children). Usually you ask about someone’s family, but this can be personalized, e.g. if you know the name of the person’s spouse. Again, the pragmatics are ignored: “everyone is content” even if you’re sick and miserable.
Until the mid-3500s, if you were speaking to— or were— someone important, you could be far more flowery. One way of doing this was to exchange appropriate quotes of scripture. In pop culture, people who didn’t know much scripture were reduced to using inappropriate quotations:
Within the household, or with very close friends, greetings were much simpler:
In the 3600s this sort of exchange was extended to the workplace and the street, though some insisted on making it more religious (e.g. Ipandau si Jippir, “blessings of Jippir”).
Students and workers developed even more informal greeting, and these spread widely:
One of the strongest is stuja, literally ‘unclean’, but it encompasses all the 36 forms of istuja ‘sin’, from blasphemy to perversion to cowardice to bodily excretions to eating unclean animals. Naturally calling someone an astuj ‘sinner, unclean person’ is a dire insult. The religious and the physical senses ramp each other up: the sense of bodily grossness is reinforced by the idea of immorality or perversion; the ethical condemnation is reinforced by the association with grime, snot, and excrement.
Perhaps more potent is gostu ‘expiator’. It was pious to expiate one’s sins against another; but the way to do it was to offer humiliating personal service to the one sinned-against. One could do things to a gostu that would normally themselves be stuja. In an odd way a sinner could be pitied or ignored; a gostu is officially recognized as a sinner who deserves (even needs) ill treatment. And though being a gostu is more shameful than merely being called one, the latter is much more of an insult, just as being a bastard is bad luck, but being called a bastard is serious.
One of the sources of istuja was karad, dead things like corpses and carrion. Naturally karadig is ‘hateful, vile’, but more vivid— it brings up an image of dead decaying flesh. Animals that chiefly eat carrion were karadjirag ‘carrion-eating’; this is one of the worst things you can call someone.
A general insult is papit ‘pagan’, or tejja ‘outside the tej.’ In CT these are more likely to be used literally, pointing to pagan practices abhorrent to Jippirasutum, like magic or mixed-sex nudity; they’re also used within each pita or division of Jippirasti about the scandalous things other pitau do. In LŠ they were more often used for general immorality. Goteŋu ‘godless’ is used much the same way.
Of course, bodily functions stll make vivid metaphors. Strong terms include yeŋoki ‘fuck’, musah ‘shit’, and huj ‘snot’. Note that the latter two, because of the association with istuja, are stronger.
The Tžuro have not been nomadic for centuries, but the Baburkunim makes nomadic life familiar and prestigious, so some potent terms derive from nomadism. Yeŋoki was originally used of mating horses. Tensu is a castrated horse, but is used much like ‘wimp’ or stronger terms. Yesig ‘like horse’s blood’ is used for anything gross. Kodali, the normal LŠ word for ‘old’, originally referred to a useless old horse. Soŋka meant a stout working horse, but is the slang term for ‘boss.’
At first the consequences are mild. Jali wanders round the station, talking to other delayed travelers. There are arguments, an increasingly worried search for food, and a running gag about the malfunctioning faucet in the men’s restroom. The train is delayed till the next day, and the passengers have to turn the station into a temporary hostel.
From there, as the delay stretches into days, things only get more complicated, and then surreal. The passengers get involved with eccentric locals; there’s an impassioned hunt for the stationmaster; two passengers fall in love and get married; more passengers arrive, including an elcar, an iliu, and most exotic of all, a very demanding Verdurian who speaks no Šureni. There is a rumor that the train has only one carriage, and the stationmaster holds a contest to see who will be allowed to depart. One passenger opens a shop to sell things to the others; another, taking a long-term view, opens a mortuary.
In the final paragraph, the train arrives, and all the friendships and intrigues immediately stop: everyone is involved only with their newspapers until the train arrives in Jippirim.
Nejar’s style of comedy is reliant on the extended anecdote— nothing ever goes according to plan, inanimate objects are rebellious, people try to help and make a mess of it. Deeper meanings have been delved out (the train as God, or technology), a fact which enormously amused Nejar.
The sample is from the first chapter, when the delay was measured in hours.
Nejar writes in a fairly colloquial style; when he approaches CT (in other passages) it is for parodic effect.
I used Lon and her father Šaj in Almea: Industrial Age as specific examples of the impact of modernity in Šura (and Almea as a whole). This comparison is not itself taken from the comic, but shows off LŠ pretty well.
I can’t do justice to Yorani’s illustrations, but she is both very precise and very expressive. Her lines are deceptively simple: she doesn’t need that many because each one is in the right place. In this scene Lon goes very slowly from happy to annoyed to angry— the latter emotion punctuated, in the last panel, but her waving her cutting knife.
pisdag dej bon / mah sič pisŋok biŋ ez / dag sič pisbiŋ mah
You can leave out sič:
ten-eight three million / six hundred ten-two five thousand / eight hundred ten-five six
83,625,856
pisdag dej bon / mah pisŋok biŋ ez / dag pisbiŋ mah
You can also stop the sequence after each digit:
ten-eight three million / six ten-two five thousand / eight ten-five six
83,625,856
pisdag dej bon / mah pisŋok biŋ ez
Any digit can be fasak ‘zero’, but it’s only necessary if it’s the tens digit:
ten-eight three million / six ten-two five thousand
83,625,000
pisdag dej bon / mah pisŋok
ten-eight three million / six ten-two
83,620,000
pisdag dej bon / mah
ten-eight three million / six
83,600,000
pisdag dej bon / mah fasak biŋ ez
The decimal point is ner (literally ‘then’). The numbers after the decimal can be read in three ways: as a string of single digits, as doublets, or as triplets. E.g:
ten-eight three million / six zero five thousand
83,605,000
dej ner / mo dal mo biŋ dejmah ŋok
three then / one four one five nine two
3.141592
dej ner / pis dal / pis biŋ / pisdejmah ŋok
three then / ten four / ten five / ninety two
3.141592
dej ner / mo pisdal mo / biŋ pisdejmah ŋok
three then / one forty one / five ninety two
3.141592
Syntax
As with morphology, it’s always possible to use CT constructions directly, such as the conjugation paradigm. See the CT grammar for how these work.
Sentence order
The default sentence order in LŠ/SŠ is S Ažraŋ
To focus on the newspaper, use the passive instead:
trustee read.act-be.3s daily
The Trustee read a newspaper.
Annemi
In CT you had to omit the previous subject, but this can now be supplied with the preposition taj (literally ‘next to’):
daily read.pass-be.3s
A newspaper was read.
Annemi
The participle paradigm (which is exclusively used in LŠ) never used the topicalization rule of CT. It was nominative-accusative in CT and remains so in Šureni.
daily read.pass-be.3s next.to trustee
A newspaper was read by the Trustee.
Definiteness and demonstratives
CT had only one demonstrative, the –(u)r suffix. This has become a marker of definiteness. Cf.:
Aŋok smin kaštut-šu paran.
The rules are looser than English’s conventions on the. The essential idea is the same: it answers the question “which man” by asserting that it’s the man the speaker and hearer are talking about (or can deduce from the context— e.g. we know that there’s a human being in the scene). But:
editor of-1s kill.pass-be.3s man
My editor killed a man.
Aŋok smin kaštut-šu
editor of-1s kill.pass-be.3s man-def
My editor killed the man.
For demonstratives, a three-way distinction is made with separate words:
Taj and rut are prepositions, and these are short for taj min ‘by me’, rut min ‘far from me’. You can also say taj teŋ ‘by you’, taj so ‘by him’, etc. You can’t do this with čer.
paran taj ‘man next.to’ = this man
paran čer ‘man there’ = that man, not far
paran rut ‘man outside’ = that man yonder To be
Ši ‘to be’ is part of the participle paradigm; on its own it’s the copula. It’s optional in the 3s.
Aŋok smin
As an independent verb, ši is fully stressed, so sič ‘I am’ is
editor of-1s be.3s man
My editor is an idiot.
In CT degi implied a recent arrival, but this doesn’t apply to Šureni.
go-pres train next.to platform
There’s a train at the platform.
Tret Babur,
before Babur / go-past confusion
Before Babur, there was confusion.
NP order
General NP order:
number quantifier adjectives noun demonstrative possessor PP
Thus:
Adjectives generally precede the noun in LŠ, but may follow it in conventional expressions.
a girl
the girl
biv some girls
an all the girls
my girl
the teacher’s girl
dal four girls
nidiram a beautiful girl
nidiram a nimeraf a beautiful and smart girl
dal biv nidiram some of four beautiful girls
that girl
the girl from Pelihi Yes/no questions
The colloquial way to ask a question is with the tag gohu. This meant ‘that is wrong’ in CT and was used to answer ‘no’, but now it just marks a question, without presuming either a yes or no answer.
Aŋokur smin kašat paran
Even more colloquial is to use guh (past guruh), another form of the same word, which as an auxiliary expresses doubt. It leans toward the answer ‘no’.
editor-def 1s.gen kill.act man Q
Did my editor kill a man?
Aŋokur kašat
The tag ye is still used, with a presumption that the answer is probably yes:
editor-def kill.act wrong-3s.past man Q
The editor didn’t kill a man, did he?
Aŋokur kašat-šu paran
‘Yes’ is taj, ‘no’ is let. Or you can answer sač for ‘probably yes’, guh for ‘probably no.’
editor-def kill.act-be.3s man or
The editor killed a man, didn’t he?
Negatives
Aŋok smin kašat-šu-
A negated question works as usual:
editor of 1s kill.act-be.3s-not man
My editor didn’t kill a man.
Aŋokur kašat-šu-
Taj agrees with the negation (“that’s right, he didn’t”), let denies it (“wrong, he did kill”).
editor-def kill.actw-be.3s-not man Q
Didn’t the editor kill a man?
Tense and aspect
The past forms are normally completive, the present ones progressive. E.g.:
Hasat-si čelepar.
The past form without the ši clitic implies a progressive meaning:
read.act-be.past.1s book-def
I read the book (completely).
read.act-be.pres.1s book-def
I am (still) reading the book.
This is most commonly used, as above, to indicate what was in progress when something else happened. It can be used standalone, but as the participle alone does not indicate the subject, this may have to be supplied:
read.act book-def / sleep.act-be.past.1s
I was reading the book when I fell asleep.
Min
As the copula usually disappears in the 3s, 3s sentences can be ambiguous in this respect: Lon hasat čelepar could be “Lon read the book” or (with another verb) “Lon was reading the book when…”
1s read.act book-def yesterday
I was reading the book yesterday.
Manitir degat-suš jat Ornah.
This might mean that they’re on the way as we speak, or that they’re leaving soon.
icëlani-pl-def go.act-be.past.3p to Ornakh
The icëlani are going to Ornakh.
Uhasat-sič čelepar.
Also see Auxiliaries below, for more options.
fut-read.act-be.pres.1s book-def
I will read the book (completely).
Min
1s fut-sleep.act all day
I will be sleeping all day.
Adverbs
Adverbs are now regularly formed using the clitic -deg, e.g. pažih-deg ‘slowly’.
Possession
The conjugated verb nirni ‘have’ is used for possession:
Nirin margluj. Ava naran?
Possession is also expressed with the preposition si, thus ŋadim si asarn ‘the cook’s lover’. There are special forms for the pronouns: ŋadim smin ‘my lover’. This can be stated using the copula:
have-1s computer / what have-2s
I have a computer. What have you got?
Ŋadim suč si asarn.
The CT genitive is still common in formal expressions: mani čeg ‘the state of the nation’. This construction is avoided in speech because the final -i has been lost: Lon and Loni are pronounced alike (as
lover be.pres.3s of cook
The lover is the cook’s.
Ditransitives
Verbs like braji ‘give’ have two objects. One or both can be given:
Anaŋk baraj-šu
Either can be passivized:
conner give.act-be.past.3s victim-def fake coin
The con man gave the victim a false coin.
Ŋaraš-si
buy.act-be.past.1s record
I bought a record.
Ŋaraš-sač
buy.act-be.pres.2s Q
Did you buy me (something)?
Valati ‘name’ works this way too, as in CT.
victim-def give.pass-be.past.3s fake coin
The victim was given a false coin.
record buy.pass-be.past.1s
A record was bought.
Šureniur valarat-suž
In CT kini and mali both meant ‘speak’, but the former had a person as a direct object and the latter an utterance. In LŠ both work are ditransitives, but kini has specialized to ‘complain’.
Šureni-pl-def name.act-be.pres.3p god of-3 Jippir
The Šureni call their god Jippir.
Valatut-sič
name.pass-be.pres.1s Balar
My name is Balar.
Conjunctions
The list of conjunctions is similar to that of CT:
As in English, the omitted subject of a conjoined clause is the same as in the first conjoint. E.g.:
am and (before a consonant, a)
ye or
hiŋ but
hiŋit however, although
marga but not, certainly not
zun therefore
kor because
ret then, next
gotot despite
taj besides, in addition
yan moreover, even more so
yanye yet, even so, but still
sog except, unless
jo relativizer Ažraŋ maral ŋamaš so, ret serav.
The listener will understand that the trustee spoke and then left. In CT the second sentence would be conjugated and ergative (ret sevu) and would be taken as meaning the wife left.
trustee speak-act wife of-3 / then leave-act
The trustee spoke to his wife, then left.
mo… ŋokye either… or (exclusive or)
mar… gotot though… yet
marga… yan not… but
marga… marga neither… nor
mar… yanye not only… but also
nertaj… zun now that… then
jo… ret if… then
nemmo… zun once… then
nejo… zun given… then Marga fsarak-sid, marga pajud.
The sample also shows that the clitic ši can be omitted if the subjects are the same.
neither lose-act-be.1pi / neither conquer-pass
We will not fail, neither will we be conquered.
Prepositions
The main prepositions:
Tot is used with languages, and mel can be omitted: tot šureni ‘in Šureni’, tot vredurai ‘in Verdurian’, tot Tžuro ‘in Tžuro’.
bagat behind, in back of
duk on top of
durav across
gotot against, despite
in compared to; like, as
jat in, inside; to, toward
jir at (a time)
kor because of
min under, below
pit after (in time), since
rut out of, outside; from (a place)
saraj up to, until, just reaching
si of (before a vowel, s)
taj next to, near, alongside, with (accompanying); by (an agent)
tarat in front of
teŋ above, over
tot using, with (instrumental)
tret before (in time), until
yav for, because of, in order to Derag jat daldeg.
walk-act in garden
He walked into the garden.
Derag jatdeg.
walk-act in-way
He walked in.
Interrogatives
Most interogatives, as in CT, appear at the end. However, ava ‘who’ and avir ‘who’ as the subject appear in subject position:
who fut-caus-wake.pres convener-def
Who will wake the Convener?
Savviri yav-suš
elcar-pl want-be.3p what
What do the elcari want?
Conjugated auxiliaries
A handful of verbs are still conjugated, used as auxiliaries. We’ve already met ši ‘be’, which forms the unmarked past and present.
Valat
Vanki ‘sojourn’ indicates that something was done repeatedly, habitually, or insistently.
find-act go-1s son of-2
I promise I’ll find your son.
Jejeraš
There are also auxiliaries which conjugate in the third person only, with an evidential sense:
search-act sojourn-1s all bar-pl-def
I repeatedly searched all the bars.
Don’t get hung up on the literal meanings— Šureni are excitable and prone to overstate things. E.g. nuji may merely mean that the speaker wishes that the thing was true— or worse yet, that he knows that you want it to be true.
verb basic meaning meaning as an auxiliary negated auxiliary
nuji know deductive or assumptive it must not be
grami grab change in state it hasn’t happened
sači be right certainty, emphasis it didn’t happen
gohi be wrong uncertainty it’s likely Akašt jadderag
There is always an implied reason (e.g. “the door was not disturbed and there is no other entrance”), but it can be quite loose, e.g. “this is the way things always work”:
killer enter-act know-3s.past using window-def
The murderer must have entered by the window.
Lidahur derag
Note that this is the another way of talking about the future. Despite the implied certainty of ‘know’, it always implies less reliability than the simple future (uderag).
train-def go-act know-3s before five
The train will arrive by five.
Akašt jadderag
is also a deduction, this time that the murderer didn’t use the window. If you really want to deny the deduction (“it’s not the case that we can deduce that”), you add the auxiliary guh ‘be wrong’ (jadderag nuruj guh).
killer enter-act know-3s.past-not using window-def
The murderer can’t have entered by the window.
Hasat-šu čelepar si Nejar.
The first sentence is unmarked and merely informative; it might be used to say what you did today. The second sentence is used when there is some obvious present relevance: it may imply “…so you don't have to tell me about it” or “…so I can finally write that review.”
1s read.act-be.3s book-def of Nejar
I read Nejar’s book..
Min
1s read.act grab-3s.past book-def of Nejar
I have read Nejar’s book.
Lidahur
Here grami indicates that the arrival of the train is unexpected or was in doubt.
train-def go-act at five
The train arrived at five.
Lidahur
train-def go-act grab-3s.past at five
The train did arrive at five.
Kevriu
The negative denies the change of state, usually as a way of emphasizing that something is not yet done, contrary to our expectations or wishes:
Kebreni-pl sometime walk-act-be.3s.past in Iliažë
The Kebreni have walked on Iliažë.
Lidahur
Sači is used to emphasize that something really happened:
train-def go-act grab-3s.past-not at five
The train didn’t arrive at five (as we thought it would).
Lon kororaš suruč adim so.
The negative is equally certain that something didn’t happen:
Lon throw-act true-3s.past lover of.3s
For real, Lon dumped her boyfriend.
Lon kororaš suruč-ga adim so.
Gohi literally means ‘be wrong’, but as an auxiliary it merely expresses strong doubt.
Lon throw-act true-3s.past-not lover of.3s
For sure, Lon hasn’t dumped her boyfriend.
Lon
The negative reduces but doesn't remove the doubt— i.e. the event is more likely than not:
Lon experience-act wrong-3s.past rectification
Lon surely didn’t have therapy.
Lon biraš guruh-ga iyesača.
Lon experience-act wrong-3s.past-not rectification
Lon probably had therapy.
Double-participle auxiliaries
Some verbs, though used with other verbs, do not retain conjugated forms in LŠ. They thus follow the participle paradigm, producing sentences with two participles.
Ašap
The same construction is used for sentential arguments. This is similar to CT, but the auxiliary now stays where auxiliaries always do, right after the verb.
convener speak-act want-act ambassador-def
The Convener wishes to speak to the ambassador.
Mafallir
If you want a pronominal subject, or the past tense, you use the ši clitics on the auxiliary.
senator drink-act seem-act-be-3s.past poison-def
It appears that the Senator drank the poison.
Tarak jišat-
An adjective can be used in place of the auxiliary participle; it can even take ši clitics.
drink-act seem-act-be.1s glass of-2
I appear to have drunk your glass.
Mafallir
senator drink-act impossible-be-3s.past poison-def
It’s impossible for the Senator to have drunk the poison.
Relative clauses
It’s still possible to subordinate an entire sentence using jo:
Jejeraš-sič paranur
In CT the jo clause attached to the sentence as a whole. Now it normally attaches to the NP:
seek-act-be.1s man-def sub kill-act-be-3s.past father of-1
I seek the man who killed my father.
Paran
In LŠ it’s common to omit ši clitics in the subclause: the subclause in the first example would normally be expressed
man-def sub kill-act-be-3s.past father of-1 have-3s six finger-pl
The man who killed my father has six fingers.
Maral-ši ŋamaš
There are two ways to make it clear that a clause is nonrestrictive. First, jo can be replaced with taj:
talk-act-be.1s woman sub hate-act 1s
I’m talking to a woman who hates me. OR …a woman, who hates me.
Maral-ši ŋamaš,
Second, the clause can be either fronted or backed.
Nefat ŋamaš ŋorak-suč min,
talk-act-be.1s woman also hate-act 1s
I’m talking to a woman, who hates me.
sub hate-act 1s / crazy woman beat-act-be.1s 1s
A crazy woman, who hates me, attacked me.
Place and time
Place and time expressions are essentially the same as in CT. They are largely pronouns or prepositional phrases and can appear either fronted or backed.
Jir nensov, kerab-sid lidahur.
In CT a place clause should use nejo ‘when’ and a time clause čeŋo ‘where’. These are still proper, but they can both be replaced with jo:
during evening / wait-act-be.1pi train-def
In the evening, we wait for the train.
Ava varank yav jat Meros?
who reside-act want-act in Sevisor
Who wants to live in Sevisor?
The last sentence, as we saw in the last section, could also be interpreted The lion, that wants, walks. In this case that doesn’t make much sense, but if there is confusion, use čeŋo instead.
sub Academy fut-fall / can-rest-act-be.1pi
When the Academy falls, we cannot relax.
Koriŋur derag
lion-def go-act sub want-act
The lion walks where it wants.
Conditionals
The CT jo…ret construction can still be used, but ret alone suffices:
Hasat-ša čelepar,
As in CT, there is no irrealis, nor the sort of tense changes that English uses.
read-act-be-past.1s book-def / then be-2s rich
If you had read the book, you would be rich.
Pačirag-šič,
live-act-be-1s / then editor of-1s do.act-not
If I am alive, my editor is not.
Teŋ hasat suruč čelepar,
In the last example, note that the consequence is still stated as if the event did occur. It’s only the use of guruh that makes it clear that it (most likely) did not.
2s read-act right-past.3s book-def / then fut-be-2s rich
(Because) you read the book, you will be rich.
Teŋ hasat guruh čelepar,
2s read-act wrong-past.1s book-def / then fut-be-2s rich
You probably didn’t read the book, or you’d be rich.
when be.2s socialist / therefore enjoy.act-be.2s meeting-pl
If you are a socialist, you love meetings.
Passives
As noted above, an active sentence becomes passive by changing from the active to the passive participle.
Dahnandiu
As there is no ergative in LŠ, there is no antipassive.
Dhekhnami-pl attack.act-be-3p nation-def
The Dhekhnami attacked the country.
Manur
nation-def attack.pass (near Dhekhnami-pl)
The country was attacked (by the Dhekhnami).
Causatives
Causative ye- applied to an intransitive verb X creates a transitive verb ‘make X’:
Nellir neral.
With transitives, it creates a ditransitive. The causee is stated before the object.
airplane fly.act
The airplane is flying.
Amajam
pilot caus-fly.act airplane-def
The pilot flew the airplane.
Ašvar ŋokjeraš tašitir.
An alternative is to use the preposition kor:
writer review-act man paper-pl-def
The writer is reviewing the manuscript.
Aŋok
editor caus-review-act man writer-def paper-pl-def
The editor is making the writer review the manuscript.
Ašvar ŋokjeraš tašitir
The prepositional phrase can be fronted, which makes the assertion stronger. Note that the definiteness marker
moves to the causee, an indicator that the semantic subject is the causer.
writer review-act man paper-pl-def because editor-def
The writer is reviewing the manuscript because of the editor.
because editor-def writer-def review-act man paper-pl-def
The editor is making the writer review the manuscript.
Comparatives
The CT comparatives with in ‘like’, ten ‘above’, min ‘under’ are still used, especially in formal writing:
Nak ašap isor (suč)
However, an adective inflected with -luj is now interpreted as a comparative, not just an intensifier. Alone, in fact, it is superlative: your kodaliluj child is your oldest, a šajiluj movie is the best. Note that -luj is not stressed, so it’s pronounced
new convener smart be.3s above last-def
The new Convener is smarter than the last one.
Nak ašap
You can compare events or situations with ten/min as well:
new convener smart-er be.3s last-def
The new Convener is smarter than the last one.
Savvirir yegeraj suč šalama
elcar-pl make-act be.3p ship-pl above Čeiyu-pl-def
The elcari make ships better than the Čeiyu.
Semantic fields
Kinship
The CT grammar describes the ancient Tžuro kinship system, practiced when the Tžuro were nomads living in the Lenani plateau. The key element was the fsava or clan, whose heart was a set of women, grandmothers and mothers and daughters, who lived together with their young children.
The trend of the last two millennia has been to move social, economic, and legal power down the list. Today the basic social unit is the itena, but as late as the 3500s people lived in multi-generation households where the elders had overarching authority— following the dictates of the Baburkunim.
The fsavau still exist; in form they are simply groupings of tajeiu. In the cities this is simply informational, but it has some meaning in rural regions: there is some friendship and solidarity within a fsava, and occasionally ancient feuds between fsavau.
asev grandfather; also, head of a sigreja
ŋasev grandmother
maran mother
ŋesu father
sovei aunt (or great aunt)
nujat uncle (or great uncle)
met sister
joh brother
tajei cousin (anyone else your age in the extended family)
sadat son
maral daughter
mori niece (any other young female)
meti nephew (any other young male) Names and titles
The personal name (valat si jejit) often derives from CT, though immigration has led to a large number of Xurnese, Mei, Cuolese, or more exotic names.
ništi Akab Lonti kodali si Dakaši adep si Jippirim
first Akab Lonti old of Dakaši judge of Jippirm
Akab Lonti of Dakaši, chief justice of Jippirim
Greetings
In early modern times, the typical greeting sequence looked like this:
A: Kor Jipppir degi.
Compare the first two lines to the greetings in the CT grammar: these are an extremely brief recapitulation of ancient hospitality ceremonies, in pure CT. Other pious expressions can be substituted (e.g. Jeŋuli suč zal ‘Our God is great’), but there is no need to refer to present circumstances; e.g. you can use the “I have arrived” line even after waking up in your own home.
because Jippir walk.1s
Thanks to Jippir I have arrived.
Jippir bless.3s>1p
Jippir blesses us.
A: Sigreja steŋ audeg?
household of-2 how
How goes your house?
all 1p happy-be.1pi
All of us are content.
E ŋajjosli, kuhmerg nidiram sač! Jippir mul am asti.
Here the joke is that Jippir mul am asti is the formula spoken after any quotation from the Baburkunim, and it’s the only scriptural line the speaker knows.
oh queen-1s / that.much beautiful be.2s / Jippir spoke-3s and listen-1s.past
My Queen, how ravishing you look. Jippir spoke and I listened.
A: Ipandau, e johhirli.
The same exchange could be used when leaving.
blessing-pl / oh friend-1
Blessings, my friend.
health and happiness
Health and happiness.
A: Raži, nemur audeg?
Note that the first sentence is not an actual inquiry and isn’t answered. However, it could be repeated to continue the conversation, and this time gets an answer, which may be blandly positive (e.g. Šajideg ‘well’) if the other person doesn’t care to give details.
Raži, day-def how
Raži, how are things?
hello there / Areg
Hi there, Areg.
Profanity
In modern English the most potent words refer to bodily functions. In Šureni, as in medieval Europe, they are religious. This remains true even for those who no longer accept Jippirasti.
Sample texts
Waiting for the Train
This is an extract from Ikeba Lidah (Waiting for the Train), by Raži Nejar, published in 3554.
For a literary character, Jali’s problem is quite simple: he’s finished a trip to Jintej and wants to take the train home to Jippirim. But the train is delayed for some reason.
Dralu igeča si ikeba, hiŋit kušga suš nuladig.
Vanki in place of ši makes these actions repeated. Note the easy mixing of active and passive.
go.3s.pres art of waiting / though few people be.3p proficient
There is an art to waiting, though few are proficient.
Jir ništi dahi, yana ništi jira, žonsajig suč-ga.
in first minute-pl / moreover first hour / important be-3s-not
In the first minutes, even the first hour, it doesn’t matter.
Poporaš vank, derag, bogodud.
boil-act sojourn.2s / walk-act grind-pass
You fume, you pace, you are bored.
Anat serak degar; ava niderap?
“You can’t pace” would be Nipoporaš sač-ga, but the verb prefix migrates to the auxiliary when there are conjoined participles.
everyone do-act thus / who can-judge-act
Everyone does the same; who can judge?
Jo ikeba tajaraj saraj neme, jiraš-sač igečar ye fasakur so.
sub waiting extend-act touching day-pl / see-act-be.2s art-def / or absence-def of-3
It’s when the wait stretches into days that you see the art, or lack of it.
Poporaš a derag nisač-ga jat an ŋok jirau gohu? Ufsakuk-sač.
boil-act and pace-act can-be.2s-not during all two hour-pl Q / fut-lose-pass-be.2s
You can’t fume and pace for two whole hours, can you? You would exhaust yourself.
Nikiran-sač saččeggirir ye amanda steŋ, hiŋ nijinčirag aumerg?
At the rhetorical high point, Nejar switches to the CT way of asking questions.
can-complain can-be.2s authority-pl-def or companion-def-pl of-2 / but can-last.2s how.much
You can complain to the authorities or to your fellow victims, but how long can that last?
Jotrorat-sač jat iaumefa jo ničigug.
must-adopt-be-2s in plan sub can-stand-pass
You must settle into a regime that is sustainable.
Balarlujur suč-ga gošajat ye ifadra, kor ibaŋar čirag.
ideal-def be.3s-not patience or acceptance / because harm-def continue-act
The ideal is not patience or acceptance, for the injury is ongoing.
Suč in iminpopoša si girda: jiri sač ŋašati, hiŋ jat minluj ibraja.
be.3s like simmering of pot / still be.2s aflame / but at low-er setting
It’s like simmering a pot. You remain outraged, but at the lowest setting.
Bivaraj sač sak jiri, stujamaral sač-ga moto jo suš-ga stuja, jo suš gusuč navata.
try-act be.2s pleasant still / blaming be.2s-not person-pl sub be.3p-not sinful / sub be.3p perhaps victim-pl
You try to remain pleasant, without blaming those who are not responsible, who are perhaps themselves victims.
Yan šuč-ga mo idega inidega?
moreover be.3s-not one happening opportunity
Besides, is not any experience also an opportunity?
Biv moto si čertaj suš gusuč ansaraj, yana kalan. Maral ye nensarav avar-ga?
some person-pl of here be-3p maybe interesting even attractive / talk-act or flirt-act why-not
Some of the people here look interesting— even attractive. Why not talk or flirt?
Ikeba čeg si rutali— lettir ništig nempit suč jo sajud čertaj.
waiting space of boundary / nothing important be.3s tomorrow sub do.passive here
Waiting is a liminal space— nothing done here will mean anything tomorrow.
Taj saraj sač-ga, ret bogodud sač tejjadeg, a mar suč-ga deg si pata.
anyway / do-act be.2s-not / then grind-pass be.2s godlessly / and that-thing be.3s-not way of living
Besides, if you do nothing you’ll be bored shitless, and that is no way to live.
Lon and Šaj
Lon and Šaj are comics characters, from Nirššu jat sarak (A flower in the snow), a comic by Ŋatreč Yorani, which began in 3667 and ran for more than forty years, following Lon as she aged in real time. The story is known for its huge cast and bittersweet tone, softened here and there by some magic realism. As one reviewer put it, “It’s like receiving a letter every month from an old friend, a sad lovely girl who never gets on as well as you’d like her to.”
Šaj saraj gokja išanka in ŋesu so; Lon jat andeg nak ijora.
Though these are comparisons of time periods, they’re also comparisons of living people, so the present tense is used. As most of the sentences are 3s, the copula is mostly omitted.
Šaj do-act same work like father of-3s / Lon in wholly new realm
Šaj did the same work as his father; Lon is in a completely new field.
Lon yeniran namigur tajjadeg ten Šaj.
In many of these comparisons, like this one, the verb is omitted from the second part as it’s identical to the first.
Lon receive-act money-def far-way above Šaj
Lon makes far more money than Šaj ever did.
Tajluj amanda si Šaj jat tajeiur; Lon jat šivinali.
Near-est companion-pl of Šaj in family-def / of Lon in university
Šaj was closest to his relatives in the extended family; Lon to her university friends.
Šaj vanak jat gokja im jo tajeiu so vanak suš jir patai gede; Lon govanak šu jat Murap si Belšay.
See Kinship for the specific meaning of tajeiu. Iyesača ‘rectification’, developed by Akeb Nakali, is the Almean equivalent of psychiatry.
Šaj live-act in same city sub family of-3s live-act be.3p.past during year-gen hundred-pl / Lon move-act be.past.3s to Murap of Belšai
Šaj lived in the same city his family had lived in for hundreds of years; Lon moved to Murap, in Belšai.
Šaj maral modeg mel si Tžuro; Lon jir an nem mele si Meros a Lenan.
Šaj speak-act only speech of Tžuro / Lon during every day language-pl of Sevisor and Lenan
Šaj speaks only Šureni; Lon uses Mei and Lenani in everyday life.
Šaj pit dajdeg nebubur si Babur. Lon pit Nak Isačar jir pata a nertaj drajutei.
Šaj follow-act mild-way teaching-pl-def of Babur / Lon follow-act new truth-def during year-pl and now half-believer
Šaj was a mild but firm believer in Jippirasti; Lon followed the New Truth for awhile and is now agnostic.
Šaj saraj šigumur ret miral tajeiu ye aneb; Lon ayesač.
Šaj experience-act trouble-pl-def / then talk-act family or cleric / Lon psychiatrist
If Šaj had problems, he consulted his family or a cleric; Lon would pursue iyesača.
Šaj hasat lenaur tot Šureni; Lon varam pitžalasa si jahai rut an mantaf.
Note the subordinate clause consisting solely of adjectives.
Šaj read-act story-pl-def tot Šureni / Lon watch-act shows of TV from all continent
Šaj read Šureni novels; Lon watches TV shows from the whole continent.
Šaj šu bačut modeg nemmo; Lon nembiv bivaraj kuš nusana rut andraga Komer.
Šaj be.past.3s drunk only once / Lon someday try-act many drug-pl from entire Almea
Šaj was only drunk once; Lon has tried numerous drugs from all over Almea.
Modeg mo ŋatžek jišat taj Šaj; Lon raudgaraj tžekdeg jat zurali si Lenantih a diram ajoŋo so tret tasan.
Only one f-naked see-pass next.to Šaj; Lon sunbathe-act naked-way on beach of Lenan-lake and sex-act boyfriend-pl of-3s before marriage
The only woman Šaj saw naked was his wife; Lon sun-bathes nude on the shores of Lake Lenan and slept with her boyfriends before marriage.
Šaj jenač šu savvir; Loni soŋka mot.
Šaj meet-act be.3s.past elcar / Lon-gen boss one-person
Šaj never met an elcar; Lon’s boss is one.
Šaj bagattir jir karakluj gotot Dahnand; Lon meraf jo Tappimosa jodiraš taj mar.
Šaj reservist during war against Dhekhnam / Lon think sub DU must-ally next.to that.one
Šaj was a reservist in the war against Dhekhnam; Lon thinks the DU should ally with it.
Yav Šaj zrunoi man si ašanka suč jo balarja hiŋ inirač, a Vredura iyenda si tappa; Lon jišmeraf ŋokur mana zalsu a nibaŋag.
to Šaj Xurnese state of workers be-3s sub flawed but inspiring / and Verduria model of democracy / Lon consider-act two-def nation-pl fascist and dangerous
Šaj grew up thinking of Xurno as a flawed but inspiring workers’ state, and Verduria as a model of democracy; Lon thinks of both as dangerous fascist powers.
Šaj pit jo mejjašapa a moŋkčipi stuja; Lon nurun ŋokur.
Šaj believe-act sub tattoo-pl and earring-pl unclean / Lon have-3s two-def
Šaj believes that tattoos and earrings are immoral; Lon has both.
Loni maral duravi, mar galan Šaj.
Lon-gen daughter trans / this thing confuse-act Šaj
Lon’s daughter is trans, which befuddles Šaj.
Šaji ŋesu kaštut šu kor kulher, jo nertaj dugdevuv taj ačaska a gobaŋug taj yavgenkede.
Šaj-gen father die-pass be.past.3s because tuberculosis / sub now prevent-pass next.to injection-pl and treat-pass next.antibiotic-pl
Šaj’s father died of tuberculosis, which is now largely prevented by injections and treated by antibiotics.
Šaj fadar iyejora si Fananak taj Tappimosa; yav Lon mar gožaraŋluj isajar si Tappimosa neman.
Šaj support-act takeover of Fananak next.to DU / to Lon that.thing shameful-est action-def of DU always
Šaj supported the DU’s takeover of Fananak; Lon thinks it was the most shameful thing the DU ever did.
Šaj hasat torašdeg mel si Babur; Lon jišmeraf mar gotoraš, a legdiraj šureni mel toraš jatnemi.
Šaj read-act easy-way speech of Babur / Lon consider-act that.one difficult and prefer-act Šureni speech easy and today-gen
Šaj can easily read Classical Tžuro; Lon finds it difficult and prefers an easygoing written Šureni based on how the language is presently spoken.
Šaj sarak modeg šureni ijiŋa; Lon sarak taj nelami a siyaboi.
Šaj like-act only Šureni food / Lon like-act also Nanese and Siadese
Šaj only really likes Šureni food; Lon is fond of Nanese and Siadese cuisine.
Yav Šaj lujluj niješap naŋka suč bonda karakluj; yav Lon igonulada si šejkomer kor amatuti jejoko ye perun žanak ye lonnujai trotutum ye bivvir jo nak a kalajluj.
for Šaj big-est can-paint catastrophe be.3s huge war / for Lon destruction of ecosphere-def because fusion rocket-pl or Perunic magic or chemistry-gen weapon-pl or something sub new and bad-est
To Šaj, the biggest imaginable catastrophe was a major war; to Lon, the destruction of the ecosphere due to nuclear war, garlotá, chemical weapons, or something new and even worse.
Dinner with Šaj
This is a transcript from an issue of Nirššu jat sarak. Lon has come over to her father’s house to cook dinner for the two of them. I’ve put Lon’s dialog in black, Šaj’s in Lon: Yenad-sič ŋalsu. Šun taj halau.
start-act-be.1s dinner / beef next.to green-pl
Lon: I’m going to start dinner. Beef with vegetables.
which green-pl / dislike-act-be.1s bean-pl
Šaj: What vegetables? I don’t like beans.
Dralu let narmiti.
go-pres none bean-pl.
Lon: There’s no beans.
or tree-ish-pl that.near / broccoli-pl
Šaj: Or those tree things… broccoli.
Dralu pagača kerak a lokoš.
go-pres root.vegetable-pl millet and onion
Lon: It’s carrots, millet, and onions.
put-not garlic in-way
Šaj: Don’t put garlic in it.
Ŋene, suč sanbarajdeg audeg jo mane neman saran-šu.
dad / be.3s exactly recipe sub mom always cook-act be.3s-past
Lon: Dad, it’s exactly the recipe Mom used to make.
know-act-be.1s / must-say-be.1s.past always / put-not garlic in-way
Šaj: I know. I had to tell her every time, don’t put garlic in it.
Neman gohu?
always Q
Lon: Every time?
love-act garlic-def / can-cook-act-3s.past some-thing for 3sf sub want-act
Šaj: She loved garlic. She could cook some for herself if she liked.
Saran gajali jaraŋ si hačis yav soŋ ye?
cook-act side plate of garlic for 3sf or
Lon: She made a side dish of garlic for herself?
yes
Šaj: Yep.
Mar… mar mo jatjašap.
that.thing / that.thing one idea
Lon: That’s…. that’s an idea.
Jarah where / think-act see-act-1s.past 3sm
Šaj: Where’s Jarah? I thought I’d see him.
Soŋ, ŋene.
3sf dad
Lon: Her, Dad.
yes true-3s 3sf
Šaj: Oh yeah, her.
Yav-sič derag-suč jat kinali s idirša.
want-act-be.1s go-act-be.3s to discussion of support
Lon: I want you to go to that support group.
why / because Jarah girlish Q / Ajjos uncle of-2s be.3s.past girlish
Šaj: Why, because Jarah is girlish? Your uncle Ajjos [King] was girlish.
Lon: Marga maralig, yan maral.
not girlish / indeed girl
Lon: Not girlish, a girl.
name.act-be.1px.past queen
Šaj: We called him Ŋajjos [Queen].
Ŋene! Asev šu yan kiyas, marga duravi!
dad / uncle be.3s.past indeed gay / neither trans
Lon: Dad! Uncle was gay, not trans!
Lexicon
This document describes the Šureni language, the language of Šura and one of the three working languages of the Democratic Union (DU).