For Kharulian scholars, the definitive foundational text on mathematics was “Comfort with Numbers”, attributed to the legendary thinker Shuspum Iju. In this work, Shuspum starts with some basic assumptions about… Read more »
A few weeks ago I looked at negation in Kharulian. This week, it’s yes/no questions! Shel tsamzo shezh chichiit igui? [ʃɛɫsh-elINAN.SG-this ˈtsam.zotsamz-ovillage-ACC ʃɛʒsh-ezhINAN.SG-in tʃiˈtʃiːtchi-chiit2s-be.born ˈi.ɡʷi]ig-uiQ–PFV Were you born in this… Read more »
I’m lingering on Kharulian for another week, because I finally worked out how Kharulian marks negation. Here’s a sentence to demonstrate: Vurílim alnelíaraa madzárar majezh. [βuˈɹ̠ʲi.lʲimVuríli-mVurili-DAT alʲ.ɲeˈlʲi.a.raːalnelíara-afall-ACC maˈdza.rarmadz-arar1p-travel maˈdʒɛʒ]maj-e-zh1p–NEG–EXP We’ve… Read more »
A nice two-word Kharulian sentence today: Cherikhiázlago marofken. [tʃe.ɹ̠ʲiˈçaz.ɫa.ɡoche-ri-khiázlag-o2s–REFL.POSS-apprentice-ACC ma.rɔɸʲˈcɛn]maro-fke-n1s>2s-accept-PROG I accept you as my apprentice. Gloss provided by Gloss My Gloss The root of the first word, khiázlak “apprentice”,… Read more »
When doing the Syntax Test Cases for a new language, I find an early stumbling block in sentence number 8, “The sun shines brightly”. This sentence is clearly designed to… Read more »
Even in the ancient world, Kharulian scholars would regularly take study trips to distant academies and libraries; later, this became so associated with Kharulian scholars that the word ázrak “traveller”… Read more »
Here’s a Kharulian sentence to celebrate finally being fully vaxxed: Shel faghióliamui niboghi tsaro anzaros. [ʃɛɫsh-elINAN.SG-this ɸaˈʝo.lʲa.mˠifaghioli-am-uispirit-leaf-GEN ɲiˈbo.ʝinibogh-ismall.cup-GEN ˈtsa-rotsa-rotwo-ACC an.zaˈrɔs]anza-ros3s.OBV>INAN.SG-need You need two doses of this medicine. Gloss provided by… Read more »
Just a quick tour of words for “cloud” this week. Muipidan has an archaic word uyk’udo [ˈʊj.kʼʊ.do] for “cloud”, but the usual classical word is ngek’üde [ˈᵑɡe.kʼʏ.də], literally “big wool”… Read more »
This week’s theme is reduplication. Muipidan uses partial reduplication to mark noun plurals (e.g. lilihmük’ide [ˈli.lɪˌm̥y.kʼɪ.də] “apples”, from lihmük’ide [ˈli.m̥ʏˌkʼi.də] “apple”), but nouns can also be fully reduplicated to indicate… Read more »
Last week was about counting things. What about if there’s nothing to count? The Nitherians had a good grasp on the nature of zero (sozmslo [soˈzm̩.ɬo], literally “they aren’t here”),… Read more »