Size Matters

When describing the size of something--or someone--in English, you say things like, "six feet tall," or "eight feet long." In Rijan, it's slightly different. Add the adjective ("tall" or "long," for example) before the number.

Par ravkada:


"Aelt hekt peti" (Tall six feet)
"Laang akht peti" (Long eight feet)


U'niai pali azom (Other words to use):


Enk  Inch
Enkai  Inches
Kentimeti  Centimeter; pl. Kentimetai
Meti  Meter
Kintur  Around (circumference)
Kelka  Ell or cubit; pl. Kelkai
Braeta*  Wide
Paktu  Thick


Example Sentences:

Zu rengazu evovu kintur aan enk.  or  Zu rengazu evovu kintur enk.
The ring is an inch around. (The ring's circumference is one inch.)

An'yr rengazu evovu braeta du kentimetai.
Another ring is two centimeters across.

Zu ruumazi nach za saatta evon paktai trei metai.
The walls of the palace are three meters thick.  (Someone's paranoid.)


*Braeta is a special case. It remains braeta regardless of the gender of the noun to which it is referring.

Amvraanu nach Ayn Rand

Okay, I'm pretty late with a post today, but I was busy. So I threw this together just now. I've been working on a Rijan translation of Ayn Rand's novella Anthem, which happens to be my all-time favorite work of literature, followed closely by Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels (albeit those are far too long for me to attempt to translate).

Rijan Numbers

Basic Numbers (One to Ten):


1. Aan (AHN)
2. Du (DOO)
3. Trei (TRAY)
4. Kwa (KVWHA)
5. Pent
6. Hekt
7. Sept
8. Akht
9. Nuun (NOON)
10. Dek

11 to 20:


11. Dek'aan (dek-AHN)
12. Dek'du (dek-DOO)
13. Dek'trei (dek-TRAY)
14. De'kwa (duh-KVWHA)
15. Dek'pent
16. De'hekt (duh-HEKT)
17. Dek'sept
18. Dek'akh (dek-AKH)
19. Dek'nuun
20. Du'le (DOO-luh)

21 and counting...:


21. Du'le'aan (DOO-luh-AHN)
22. Du'le'du
23. Du'le'trei
24. Du'le'kwa
25. Du'le'pent
26. Du'le'hekt
27. Du'le'sept
28. Du'le'akh
29. Du'le'nuun

30. Trei'le (TRAY-luh)
40. Kwa'le
50. Pent'le
60. Hekt'le
70. Sept'le
80. Akh'le
90. Nuun'le
100. Kent

101. Kent'aan
110. Kent'dek

200. Dukent (DOO-kent)
300. Treikent (TRAY-kent)
400. Kwakent (KVWHA-kent)
500. Penkenti (pen-KEN-tee)
600. Hektkent (HEKT-kent)
700. Sepkenti (sep-KEN-tee)
800. Akhkenti (akh-KEN-tee)
900. Nuunkent (NOON-kent)

1000. Tahkent (TAH-kent)

....You get the picture.

"Antigonish" nach Hughes Mearns

Dirpija uan zu zhaadu
Viziezi u rijan nin necht'evoviu kuudu.
Diure necht'evoviu kuudu okara;
Kerez, kerez nin zavovu avna,


Kuan vinezi kurtegu altyym di'fina uhn trei,
Zu rijan daldeveviu kuudu par myya'li.
Per kuan optyezi kintur zu hajm,
Kuudu necht'pudezi viziem a'mali!
Zavov avna, zavov avna, inde nelaan necht'vinev mais!
Zavov avna, zavov avna inde vitti, necht'krazhkav za pertaza...


Altyym di'fina viziezi uan zu zhaadu
U rijan nessur nin necht'evoviu kuudu.
Diure necht'evoviu kuudu okara;
Ach, komm kerez nin zavovu avna.




English Translation:

Yesterday, upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today;
I wish, I wish he'd go away.


When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me.
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back anymore!
Go away, go away and please don't slam the door...


Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today;
Oh, how I wish he'd go away.

Color Words

Rijan color words. Now, as anyone who's had experience with a foreign language will tell you, different cultures have their own ideas pertaining to what is its own distinct color and what is not. For example, there are two different shades of what we call "blue" in the basic color spectrum in Italian. Rijan boasts two shades of red, three shades of green, and two shades of blue. There is no separate "pink" color, however, as pink is considered a lighter shade of red.

Tuuro (TOO-roh)

Rokht

Lazar (LAH-zar)

Aleja (ah-LAY-ah)

Eraku (eh-RAH-koo)

Akulu (ah-KOO-loo)

Terak (tay-RAHK)

Kelesh (kel-ESH)

Saafa (SAH-fah)

Esaani (eh-SAH-nee)

Kef

Swaar (SVWHAHR)*

Tuma (TOO-mah)

Valku (FAL-koo)

*If you're still confused about how the w sound is made, go to my "Lord's Prayer" post and listen carefully to how I say the word viwodu (the last word in the introduction).

Propaganda Posters

As promised, here is what I was going to post yesterday, but then decided to move to today. Over the past couple of days, I've been working on translating some old propaganda posters from the Great War, World War II, and the Cold War. Some are in the Latin alphabet; others are in the Rijan script.

Original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CartelSovi%C3%A9ticoAFavorDeLaAlfabetizaci%C3%B3n2--throughrussianre00willuoft.jpg

Original: http://www.propagandaposters.us/WWI/poster8.html

Original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_careless_word...A_needless_loss_poster.jpg

Original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Japanese_Battle_of_the_Philippines_propaganda_leaflet_2.jpg

Original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We_Can_Do_It!.jpg

Original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U._S._Government_Printing_Office_-_Boston_Public_Library_-_Ten_years_ago_(by).jpg

Video: The Lord's Prayer

I originally had some propaganda posters that I was going to share with you, but then I remembered this video and decided that this would be better. I'll save the posters for another time. Actually hearing the language gives a better idea of how the sounds are formed, for those of you who are not that experienced with languages other than English and don't know how the d is pronounced in German, for example.

Forgive my very American accent; I'm not used to speaking other languages. That doesn't mean I don't do well with other languages; I do just fine. I just don't like to talk.

The transcript (copied from YouTube):

Gretti. Par'avlaz a linkwa nin orivazi. Za na'ez Rijan, inde za par'travozi par eki trei taani*. Avair'par'evozi vuryzha, kerez'avkazem zu laprezu nach zu Diev uan Rijan. Viiti, vireyazai a'myya fozaira, inde anziitu ziya myya avladu necht'evovu viwodu.

Nuz Patru, nin evov uan za Ezakkra
Vore naam evova zankta
Vinevu vore manaki
Vore kerda evova shazod'
Uan za Gi eki uan za Ezakkra.
A'nuz tratav ista di nuz di'lafa
Inde vireyav nuz malvaja eki vireyazar za malvaja nach u'niai.
Inde a'nuz necht'uudev uan azravet
Per zaivatov a'nuztra nach malvaja
Avair'vore evon zu manaki, zu paitru inde za aam
Per teld za temva.
Asai sa naa, inde asai vaata sa vel.

*This video was made a while ago. As all who have experimented with ConLangs know, the process of constructing a language is one full of mistakes, corrections, goofs, and memory lapses. Taan, or "year," was a memory lapse. Back when this video was made, I didn't have a word for "year," so I just made one up on the spot. And then I didn't write it down, so I forgot it. About a week later, I remembered that I didn't have a word for "year" in the dictionary I have saved to my computer, so I made up another one, yakhra. I've decided to keep both.

A few useful phrases

Now that we've gotten the sounds down (I hope), we can move on to actually learning the language. I've provided below a list of useful beginner's phrases (with pronunciations--as I know that many people find it easier to learn the sounds if they can use them in words and phrases).

Welcome!  Venkommek! (fen-KOM-mek)

Hello.  Gretti. (GREH-tee)

How are you?  Komm evov? (KOM  eh-VOHV)

Good morning. Haiva zolraija. (HIGH-vuh  zohl-RIGH-yah)

Good afternoon.  Haiva di. (HIGH-vuh  DEE)

Good evening.  Haiva aevenzang. (HIGH-vuh  IGH-fen-zahng)

Good night.  Haiva di'fina. (HIGH-vuh  dee-FIH-nah)

Long time, no see!  Krona laang, necht'par'viziezi! (KROH-nah  LAHNG,  NEKHT*-par-VIH-zee-EH-zee)

Please  Vitti (VIH-tee)

Thank you  Gratta (GRAH-tuh)

Excuse me/Sorry  Anziitu (ahn-ZEE-too)

Good-bye.  Kunaviizi. (koo-nuh-VEE-zee)

Bon voyage!  Haiva aadi! (HIGH-vah  AH-dee)

What's your name?  Vaare evova vore naam? (VAH-ray  eh-VOH-vah  VOR-uh  NAHM)

My name is...  Myya naam evova... (MEE-ah  NAHM  eh-VOH-vah)

Where are you from?  Kuusu evov nach? (KOO-soo  eh-VOHV  NAKH)

I am from...  Evoz nach... (eh-VOHZ  NAKH)

I (don't) understand.  (Necht')khazharuzoz. ([NEKHT]-khah-zhah**-roo-ZOZ)

Please say that again.  Zu avlav okara, vitti. (ZOO  ahv-LAHV  oh-KAH-rah  VIH-tee)

Please speak more slowly.  Avlav mais lenatu, vitti. (ahv-LAHV  MICE  leh-NAH-too  VIH-tee)

Please write it down.  Zu skriav, vitti. (ZOO  SKREE-ahv  VIH-tee)

Do you speak English?  Avlav Aingliski? (ahv-LAHV  ighn-GLIH-skee)

Yes  Dai (DAHi***)

No  Nei (NAY)

How do you say...?  Komm avlav...? (KOM  ahv-LAHV)

I don't know.  Necht'zavayaz. (NEKHT-za-VIGH-yahz)

Go away!  Zavov avna! (zah-VOHV  AV-nah)

Leave me alone!  A'mi konkessev kholu/a****! (ah-ME  kon-KESS-sev  KHOH-loo[ah])

Help!  Uudev! (OOH-dev)

Cheers!  Salyyta! (sah-LEE-tah)

I love you.  Amoz a'vore'li. (AH-mohz  ah-voh-ruh-LEE)

*Remember, the kh sound is a guttural, like the "phlegm" in Akhmed.

**The zh is like the French j.

***Dai is pronounced as "DAH" with a slight ai diphthong.

****Adjectives like kholu (alone) are gender-specific. -u is the masculine ending, and -a is the feminine.

Let's start with phonics.

The Sounds


A  almost always like the a in almost and always.


B  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

C  like the second c in conceive.


D  pronounced almost like a t, as in the Irish Gaelic ta, or like the d in German.


E at the end of words, it's a schwa sound, like the first e in believe. At the beginning of words, it's like the ei in weigh.


F  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

G  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

H at the end of words: more aspirated, like the h in Finnish when it comes before a consonant; at the beginning or in the middle of words: barely aspirated, like the h in the Spanish language.

I  halfway between the i in into and the i in king; when paired with a as ai, it's pronounced like the y in sky.


J  like the y in young.


K  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

L  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

M  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

N  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

O  halfway between the o in oh and the o in job.


P  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

R  rolled or trilled, as in Finnish or Spanish.

S  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

T  see d.


U  like the u in tube.


V  almost like an f.


W  here's the tricky one: the sound's kind of like vwha. Like in voila.

Y  a long e sound, like the e in meet.


Z  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

SH  exactly as it's pronounced in English.

ZH  like the j in French, or transliterated zh in Chinese.

KH  like the "phlegm" in Akhmed.


AE  like the igh in high.

Gretti. Komm evov?

Rijan evova a linkwa nin myya'li par'orivaz. Elekhezi travom uan istu blog avair'kerez tratam za zavaja nach ista linkwa kur teld zai rijani.

Translation:


Rijan is a language that I am [in the process of] creating. I decided to work on this blog because I wish to share [lit: give] the knowledge of this language with the world.


---~*~---

I've elected to use a similar format with this blog as is used with other language-learning resources. I'll begin with the phonics and simple phrases, then we'll work our way toward increasingly complex grammar and verb tenses. Oh, and we can't forget the script; Rijan uses its own alphabet.

About the Language


I first began toying with the concept of a constructed language when I was in fifth grade, in order to add more depth to a series of novels I was working on, which to this day remain unfinished. Since back then I didn't have much of a grasp of how a language actually functioned, very little actual progress was made on Rijan (pronounced REE-yahn) until about three years later, after I had a few foreign language lessons under my belt, and could do a bit more than just make up gibberish and hope it fit together.

Rijan began its journey as the official language of the people of Rijavvid, a fictional continent. Grammatically, it follows very much the same structure as Spanish or other Romance languages, and even contains quite a few loan words from Spanish and Latin. However, the phonics of it are taken from Finnish, German, and similar languages. (I liked borrowing insults from Finnish, like the word tollo, meaning buffoon, which I morphed into tuolu in Rijan.) But we'll get into the grammar a bit later; that's not how one naturally learns a language.

Along with regular lessons, I'll throw in some translations of quotes from books, movies, or famous people; or sometimes I might translate an entire poem. I'm also toying with the idea of a Pala nach za Di (Word of the Day).