Elalu
Elalu is the previously unknown language of the Siluan people. Humans had found the language's circular symbols etched upon stones in remote and inhospitable locations, but they could not be deciphered. After decades of documenting examples and concocting theories of their meanings, researchers in Hesetenes stumbled upon a collection of ancient Shi writings which indicated the Siluans as the source of the symbols, and provided a reasonably complete translation.
Phonology
Elalu makes use of 17 letters (12 consonants and 5 vowels). Below are the Elalu glyphs, a single character or digraph equivalent, the corresponding IPA symbol, and an approximate pronunciation.
The vowels are diacritical marks placed around the preceding consonant. A lack of a diacritical indicates the subsequent vowel is "e". In the case that there is no preceding consonant, an empty circle is used as a carrier.
Consonants
Symbol | Ltr | IPA | Pronunciation |
h | h | [h] | as h in hat |
k | k | [k] | as k in kick |
l | l | [l] | as l in line |
m | m | [m] | as m in mat |
n | n | [n] | as n in never |
p | p | [p] | as p in pig |
s | s | [s] | as s in see |
t | t | [t] | as t in top |
g | g | [g] | as g in go |
x | sh | [ʃ] | as sh in worship |
c | ch | [tʃ] | as ch in chin |
E | ' | [ʔ] | (glottal stop) |
Vowels
Symbol | Ltr | IPA | Pronunciation |
e | e | [ɛ] | somewhere between e in bet and ey in bey |
a | a | [ɑ] | as a in ball |
i | i | [i] | as ee in see |
o | o | [o] | as o in no |
u | u | [u] | as oo in too |
A glottal stop (') is inserted when any vowel follows itself.
Two adjacent vowels in a word are pronounced separately. If there are two adjacent occurances of a vowel in a word the vowel is pronounced twice, for example "oo" is pronounced something like "ohoh".
There may be many variations of the individual glyphs based on line length
and orientation, but these aspects are not semantically important. All of
the following are understood as being the same character:
⦰ ⌽ ⊖ ⦵ ⊘ ⦶ ⦸ ⊝
Word Order
Sentences must have a subject (S), and a verb (V) and may have one or more objects (O). The verb may appear anyplace within the sentence, but the subject (agent) must always be the first noun in the sentence.
Subject (S)
The subject is the thing in the sentence that is doing something. The subject is generally either a noun or a pronoun at least in simple sentences. The subject is always in the nominative case which is the base form of a noun or pronoun. This is also the form of the word that you find in the vocabulary.
Verb (V)
The verb denotes what is being done in the sentence. Verbs appear in the dictionary in the infinitive form but this form is generally not used in sentences. Verbs are instead inflected based on what the subject is, what the tense is or other things like mood and aspect.
Object (O)
The object of the sentence is the thing that the subject is doing something to. This is often a noun or a pronoun. There may be sentences that do not have an object. The object generally appears in the accusative case. Check the section on noun cases for further information about this.
Nouns
Nouns end in "a", "e", or "u", and are made plural by replacing the final vowel with an "i". Nouns also always have at least one consonant.
Example:
hoka → hoki
nomu → nomi
kone → koni
The case of a noun is marked by a suffix consisting of a glottal stop followed by one or more vowels, ending with an "e".
'e - the marked noun is associated with the subject (genitive)
'ue - the subject/object is transfered to, is the beneficiary of, is
destroyed by, or is absorbed by the marked noun (dative/allative)
'ae - subject/object is in the location of the marked noun (locative)
'ie - subject/object uses the marked noun (instrumental)
'oe - the marked noun is both subject and object (reflexive)
Cases with an implied directionality can be "reversed" with the INVERT marker, "na", which precedes the marked noun.
'na … 'ue - the subject/object was transfered from, originates or eminates from the marked noun (ablative)
Example: nahelu'ue (to the store) → na nahelu'ue (from the store)
In the absence of case markers, the first noun in a sentence is the subect and any subsequent nouns are direct objects. All sentences will have a subject noun.
Pronouns
There are three pronouns, each of which can be made plural by replacing the final vowel with an "i".
ka - I/me (first person singular)
naka - you/he/him/she/her/it (second and third person singular)
maka - "one" (a hypothetical being or object, also used to indicate
the subject of the previous sentence)
ki - we/us (first person plural)
naki - you (group)/they/them (second and third person singular)
maki - "they/them" (a hypothetical group, also used to indicate the
subject of the previous sentence)
Verbs
Verbs start with a vowel, end with ", and have at least one consonant.
Tense is indicated by a prefix as follows:
o' - past
e' - present
i' - future
Further modification of the tense is provided by use of the INVERT
marker, "na", or the CONDITIONAL marker, "ma" which
precede the verb.
o'okan maka (one ate) → na o'okan maka (one didn't eat)
o'okan maka (one ate) → ma o'okan maka (one may have eaten)
i'okan maka (one will eat) → na i'okan maka (one won't eat)
i'okan maka (one will eat) → ma i'okan maka (one may eat)
If both the INVERT and CONDITIONAL markers are used, they are contracted
into a single marker, "nama"
o'okan maka (one ate) → nama o'okan maka (one may not have eaten)
i'okan maka (one will eat) → nama i'okan maka (one may not eat)
"Now the whole world had one language and a common
speech."
o'ilalo ihu elule'e kaa elalu'ie
oILr i% eRlE KA eLRIE
Elalu to English Glossary
elalu (n) - language
elule (n) - land
ihu (det) - all
ilalo (v) - speak
ka (pron) - I, me
kaa (det) - some
ki (pron) - we, us
maka (pron) - one
maki (pron) - they, them
naka (pron) - you, he, him, she, her, it
naki (pron) - you (plural)
okan (v) - eat
peko (v) - find
English to Elalu Glossary
I (pron) - ka
all
(det) - ihu
eat
(v) - okan
find
(v) - peko
he (pron) - naka
her (pron) - naka
him (pron) - naka
it
(pron) - naka
land
(n) - elule
language
(n) - elalu
me
(pron) - ka
one
(pron) - maka
she (pron) - naka
some
(det) - kaa
speak (v) - ilalo
them
(pron) - maki
they (pron) - maki
us
(pron) - ki
we (pron) - ki
you (plural)
(pron) - naki
you (pron) - naka