Conlang Relay 9 in Asha'ille

Asha'ille text

"Ne Fivash Sshalnír"
Jhor'fivash t'ghishóth kegharn alunyu sshaghov n'om e'kath eshír kajir chi.
Jhor'fivash t'lokeili alunyu ssaelorvkec don'om lorith.
Jhor'fivash t'kesaer koso t'fajhe moram.
Vep'alunyum sshalnírivniyaslejh'te ne jhor'naróth chi'sarn t'tuyaea, vea'che jha'mmavejh'te dovola'aea kea.
Vet'di ay sáyelev eró egik mlejh'teml palaiya n'i ket,
Ves'di ay layev emeirjhom vedá'mlejh'teml masedim kedá kes.

Asha'ille interlinear

    <orthographic text>
    <grammatical function>
    <form as in glossary>
    <English translation>


Jhor'fivash  t'ghishóth         kegharn
EQ:   N      CONJ V        >ADJ N      
jhor' fivash te   ghishóv -ith  kegharn
"winter is a hunting Kegharn"

    alunyu   sshaghov n'om        e'kath  eshír kajir chi.
    ADJ:  #a V        OBJ: PRO PL OBJ:    ADJ   ADJ   ADJ
    alun -yu sshaghov ne   no -im egikath eshír kajir chi
    "that steals those who are old, sickly, and young"

Jhor'fivash  t'lokeili
EQ:   N      CONJ N
jhor' fivash te   lokeili
"winter is a stone"

    alunyu   ssaelorvkec       don'om          lorith.
    ADJ:  #a V        POT PRON     OBJ: PRO PL V     >ADJ
    alun -yu ssaelorv -k- -ec  do- ne   no -im lorav -ith
    "living things cannot grow on it (the stone/winter)"

Jhor'fivash  t'kesaer    koso t'fajhe    moram.
EQ:   N      CONJ ADJ    N    CONJ ADJ   N     PL
jhor' fivash te   kesaer koso te   fajhe mora -im
"winter is a merciless (bird of prey's) beak and sharp claws (talons)"

Vep'alunyum       sshalnírivniyaslejh'te
ADV  ADJ:  #a  PL V           R0  Ra DO:  R1  HON
vep' alun -yu -im sshalníriv -ni -as -l- -ejh 'te
"for this reason, we all remember you (honorific),"

    ne jhor'naróth chi'sarn t'tuyaea,
    OBJ: EQ:   V     >ADJ N        CONJ N
    ne   jhor' narov -ith chi'sarn te   tuyaea
    "the bounding boy is spring"

    vea'che jha'mmavejh'te dovola'aea kea.
    ADV  OPT  V         R1  HON     ADV   N   /ADV
    vea' che' jha'mmav -ejh 'te do- vola' aea kea
    "so that you may dance on the earth"

Vet'di ay  sáyelev eró egik  mlejh'teml       palaiya n'i ket,
ADV  FUT   V       N   SUBJ: POS PRON HON POS N       OBJ: PRON /ADV
vet' di'ay sáyelev eró egik  ml- ejh  'te -ml palaiya ne   en'i ket,
"thus will the sun, your mother, watch over/look down at me"

Ves'di ay layev emeirjhom vedá'mlejh'teml masedim kedá kes.
ADV  FUT   V     N         PL ADV   POS PRON HON POS N      PL /ADV /ADV
ves' di'ay layev emeirjho -im vedá' ml- ejh  'te -ml mased -im kedá kes
"and flowers will grow from your footsteps"

LEGEND (see grammar guide for details)

#*     numbered suffix
#a     suffix for "all"; see grammar guide
>*     converts to * part of speech
/*     end of * phrase
ADJ    adjective
ADJ:   adjectival phrase
ADV    adverbializer
CONJ   conjuction
EQ:    equivalence
FUT    future tense
HON    honorific
N      noun
OBJ:   is the object or modifies the object
OPT    optative
POS    possessive
POT    potentive
PRO    pro-form
R#     personal ring, # rings from center
Ra     ring that includes everyone in the network
SUBJ:  is the subject of modifies the subject
V      verb

Asha'ille glossary

aea [e@] "land", "earth", "grasslands", "here"
alun- [A'lun] modifies a previous word or phrase; see "Word Order" section of grammar guide
-as [As] conjugation that includes everyone in the speaker's personal network
che' [tSe] optative marker
chi [tSi] "small", "young"
chi'sarn [tSi'sAr\n] "boy"
di'ay [di'Ai] future tense
do- [do] prefixes adverbs of dependent clauses
-ec [Ek] conjugation for third personal singular, for something without gender
egik ['EgIkAT] begins a phrase modifying the subject
-ejh [EZ] conjugation for someone in the |ajhel|; see "Persons" section of grammar guide
emeirjho [E'mer\Zo] "flower"
en'i [En='i] ~"self", the center of the personal network
eró [E'r\o] "sun"
eshír [E'Sir\] "old", "wise"
fajhe ['fAZE] "sharp", "lithe"
fivash ['fIvAS] "winter"
ghishóv [xI'Sov] "to hunt"
-im [Im, m=] plural
-ith [IT] adjectivizer
jha'mmav [ZAm@_X'mAv] "to dance"
jhor' [Zor\] opening of an equivalence phrase; see also |te|
-k- [k] "unable"
kajir ['kAdZir\] "sickly"
kea [ke@] ends a phrase beginning with |vea'|
kedá [kE'dA] ends a phrase beginning with |vedá'|
kegharn [kE'xAr\n] a sentient predator species that often hunts Cresaeans
kesaer [kE'ser\] "sharp", "merciless", "dangerous"
kes [kEs] ends a phrase beginning with |ves'|
ket [kEt] ends a phrase beginning with |vet'|
koso ['koso] "beak", only of birds of prey
-l- [l] preceedes the object of the verb
layev [lA'jEv] "to grow"
lokeili [lo'keli] "stone"
lorav [lo'r\Av] "to live"
mased ['mAsEd] "step", "footstep"
ml-ml [ml...ml] possessive
mora ['mor\aA] "claw", of anything not Cresaean or Kegharn
narov [nA'r\ov] "to bound", playfully
ne [nE] marks the following word as the object
-ni [ni] conjugation for |en'i|
no [no] pronoun referring to last noun mentioned; normally does not refer to people, but can without de-humanizing the subject
palaiya [pA'lAijA] "mother"
sáyelev ['sAjElEv] "to look down on", "to watch over"
ssaelorv [s@_X'selor\v] "to survive"
sshaghov [S@_XSA'xov] "to steal"
sshalníriv [S@_XSAln'nir\Iv] "to remember", specifically recalling the memory of someone
sshalnír "the deliberate act of recalling a memory of someone"
te [tE] (1) "and" (2) closing of an equivalence phrase
'te [te] honorific, connoting politeness and respect
tuyaea [tu'je@] "spring"
vea' [ve@] "so that", "for that purpose"; see also |kea|
vedá' [vE'dA] "from"
vep' [vEp] "for that reason"
ves' [vEs] "simultaneously"; see also |kes|
vet' [vEt] "therefore"; see also |ket|
vola' ['volA] "where"
-yu [ju] numbered suffix that refers to the largest grammatical unit of the current sentence, prior to the "alunyu"

Asha'ille grammar notes

CULTURE
Any speaker of Asha'ille is called an Asha'illen. The language was originally spoken by the Cresaeans, a sentient feline-like species. The Cresaeans are evolutionarily related to another sentient predator species, the Kegharn, who historically have hunted the Cresaeans. The Kegharn speak a sister langauge of Asha'ille, called Gharchove.
PERSONS
Note Understanding the Asha'illen model of the personal network is essential to understanding Asha'ille.
Asha'ille has two separate categories of pronouns and their related conjugations. The Cresaeans use one set for empaths like themselves (and non-empathic individuals that they want to "elevate" to their status), and a second one for everything else.
For the non-empaths, Asha'ille uses the familiar (to Indo-Europeans) first/second/third-person system:
    PERSON   SINGULAR   PLURAL
    1st      -i         -aym
    2nd      -et        -etim
    3rd      -ar, -a,   -arim, -ahim,
             -aer, -ec  -aerim, -ecim
In addition to the first/second/third-person system, Asha'ille bases its empathic-pronouns model on the idea of a network of personal contacts. Pronouns and personal conjugations measure how far from the center of this network a person is. Generally, the speaker is the center of the network and everyone else is relative to him.
    RING      DESCRIPTION       CONJUGATION
    en'i      center; the self  -ni
    ajhel     beloveds          -ejh
    scadhel   closest friends   -adhe
    chishél   good friends      -ishe
    geithe    acquaintances     -eith
    nimordh   everyone else     -ordh
There is also a sixth basic ring, the |aerdhil|, which is used for when the person's closeness doesn't matter or the person is unspecified or hypothetical. Its conjugation is
|-aerdhi|.
For a more detailed post of the Asha'illen persons system, see: http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0303D&L=conlang&P=R23203
WORD ORDER
Asha'ille is a VSO language. Adjectives of exactly one word come before the word they modify, otherwise they come after and are usually marked for which word they modify. Note that the "adjective" category includes adverbs -- an adverbializer is simply prefixed to the adjective. Subject and object(s) are separated by |ne|. The |ne| is required before all objects, even if the subject is only implicitly given.
For those who understand regular expressions, here is the structure of an Asha'illen sentence:
adverb? verb (adjective? subject)? (ne adjective? object){0,2} (phrases)*
As shown above, any number of modifiying phrases may be included after the core sentence structure. They must be marked for which word they modify.
    WORD     MODIFIES...
    eg       the verb
    ik       the subject
    ath      the object
    ung      the indirect object
Asha'ille doesn't often distinguish between direct and indirect objects. If only one or the other is used in a sentence, context determines its relation to the verb.
Otherwise, both are listed as "ne ne ". If the direct object is a thing and the indirect is a person, the latter is often expressed on the verb.
Note that if you want to use any but |eg|, all the words before it in the list must also be in the sentence. That is, to describe the object of the sentence, you must either have phrases describing the verb and subject, or combine the terms into one: |egikath|, usually shortened to |e'kath| when only the object has a modifying phrase. |egikathung| is similarly shorted to |e'thung|.
To modify any other word in a sentence, its distance from the phrase is used as the marker.
    WORD     MODIFIES...
    alun#    the word # words before
    alunyu   the phrase before, but within the same sentence
    alunun   the entire sentence before
TENSE AND ASPECT
Unmarked verbs are assumed to have the same tense as the most recent tensed verb. If no tensing information is given, present tense is assumed. Future tense is shown by either |di'ay| before the verb or the "incomplete suffix" |-d-| between the verb and any conjugations.
INCOMPLETE SUFFIXES
Asha'ille has a set of "incomplete suffixes" that cannot end a word but instead must be followed by at least one other suffix to form a grammatical word. The tense suffixes are two such examples. Others include: |-j-| and |-k-|, "able" and "unable", respectively; |-t-| "forced to happen against subject's will"; and |-l-| preceeding the object of the verb.
NOUNS
Nouns are only marked for number: singular or plural. A plain noun is singular, while one with |-im| suffixed is plural. Adjectives do not agree with nouns in number.
Asha'illen nouns have no grammatical gender.
EQUIVALENCE
Asha'ille does not use a verb for copulas. Instead, an idiomatic expression shows when two things are to be "equated". The structure of the construction is |Jhor'A t'B|, "A is B" or "A = B". Serial nouns in the subject position of a sentence have an implicit equivalence relation.

Smooth English translation

"Winter Remembering"
Winter is a hunting Kegharn, who steals those who are old, sickly, and young.
Winter is a stone, upon which nothing living can survive.
Winter is a merciless beak and sharp talons.
For this reason, we all remember you, the bounding boy who is spring, so you may dance upon the earth.
Thus will the sun, your mother, look down at me,
And flowers will grow from your footsteps.

Smooth English translation of mërčchi

Winter is the wolf that snatches the old, the sick, and the youngest.
Winter is the rock upon which no living things can grow.
Winter is a bird's cruel beak and sharp talons.
For which reason we pray to you, the boy bounding along who is Spring, that you may dance over the earth,
So that the Sun, who is your mother, watches/looks down upon me,
And flowers will spring up from your footsteps.