VUAKEDH: AN ALTERNATE VARGR LANGUAGE Vuakedh is the language of Vargr from the Domain of Antares, and variants of it are spoken in the Antares Pact and the Julian Protectorate. Bhyarrvouf, Goughzar, and Rafe all speak pure Imperial Vuakedh, though 'Vouf occasionally sprinkles his language with idioms and phrases from more "barbarian" cultures and Rafe and 'Zar usually prefer Galanglic, which is easier on the human vocal system. Vuakedh, like most of the Irilitok tongues, is very different from the Gvegh dialects of the Spinward Extents; it has a multitude of unique phonemes that require much training to distinguish, and a hint of the tonality found in Bilandin (Old Vilani). Because of this, there are two immediately obvious differences between speech and conversation in Vuakedh and in Gvegh: one is that Vuakedh is an incredibly compact language, with almost no word having more than two syllables, and the other is that charisma is asserted through tone rather than word structure or timing. To a Gvegh Vargr, an Irilitok Vargr sounds more like a pseudobio robot with limited programming than a real sophont, and Irilitok jokes about the ten years it takes for a Gvegh speaker to finish a sentence are widespread. Vuakedh uses prefixes instead of separate word particles in many cases, only occasionally repeats itself for emphasis, and creates verb and adjective structures with tonality and emphasis. All of this leads to very short sentences with a wealth of compact meaning. It is the most efficient of all Vargr tongues, and perhaps the most compact language of any major race short of the Hiver touch-speech. VOCABULARY: Ghih = left, feminine Zouh = right, masculine kae = Oh (derived from a dog's yelp) kakh = accursed tsakha = literally "filth", in context, "dung", "garbage", or "rotten meat" (hence 'Vouf's common phrase, "Kae, kakh tsakha!" = "Oh, Goddamn Shit!" For an Irilitok Vargr, this is an uncommonly long curse.) ya- = Prefix to words, meaning "The" (as in "YaVek", The Prince) vek = Prince (one of the four character types in stories) dzough = Empire Builder (another of the four) ivik = Taker (and another) ongo = Paranoid (fourth vargr character type) irilitok = Vargr from the Antarean vicinity; the most "civilized" Vargr. (This is not a Vuakedh word; the preferred local term is "Kedhak.") kedh = home or place of origin vua = communication vuakedh = "the speech of home" gvurrdak = literally, "Vargr from Gvurrdon." Idiomatically, "barbarian." aeghz = Star kharr = Warrior (a generic term for a respected personage w/r/t bravery) vouf = Scholar (a generic term for a respected personage w/r/t wisdom) bogh = Nobleman (a generic term for a respected personage w/r/t dignity) takh = Powerful beyond reasonable need (colloquially used to describe nuclear weapons: "YaTakh" = "The Bomb") var = generic term when referring to any sophont rro = generic term for "Vargrkind" as separate from other races (see "var"; according to Antarean social custom, Rafe is "var" but 'Zar is "rro") vargr = Vargr. As in every other Vargr language, the word "vargr" stands alone in Vuakedh. While "var" comes FROM "vargr", the word itself has no root, and the "rgr" phoneme is used nowhere else in the language. si- = Greater (a term of elevation; can mean rank, competence, high birth, etc) also used to identify a duty obligation. ba- = Prefix indicating connection (Like the word "of" in passive voice) te- = prefix indicating past tense, modifying noun root ki- = prefix indicating future tense, modifying noun root su- = prefix meaning, literally, "gift of" or "by the hand of" also indicates a personal obligation if used to identify a person. dvok = pack; by extension, immediate family or work/social group sidvok = Great Pack badvok = Gift of (the/my/one's) pack fe = yes YaFe! = yes indeed! uur = no YaUur! = positively NO! feuur = perhaps uy = and; also a linkage in midword to indicate plurality zough = literally "rope"; figuratively, that which binds things together. aeng = a word or syllable to link other concepts; has several different uses. (for instance, the corsair band Kharaengzough means Warriors of the Binding) samshkarkh = Furious effort, literally "running straight up". knaerrvargh = a Vargr who is the object of fun in others' eyes; can be complimentary (the life of the party), descriptive (a court jester or comedian), or derogatory (a laughing stock). roukh = a fool, especially a puffed-up fool who magnifies his errors with his ego. From the Gvegh "Rukh," meaning "Prince." sudvok = miracle; literally "gift from the Great Pack." aeggra = a profusion or exaggerated multiplicity guezkhe = sufficient guezdhe = beyond sufficient; good or excellent thagk = rock kabra = valuable kirik = white kouf = blue threbh = green sued = red (from "suedzuk") khebreyth = literally, "crazed (rabid) animal", figuratively "criminal." bhasto = sick, afflicted (literally "mangy") kenegh = blind kenegh uy bhasto = doubly accursed ("blind and mangy") oum = the seat of thought, can mean "brain," "mind" or "soul" Ouma = The All-Mind, the closest thing Irilitok Vargr have to a God figure bhastoum = literally, "mentally ill"; figuratively, "crazy" or "thoughtless" byegh = honorable, dignified (hence kharrbyegh = "paladin") aekhae = void (literally zero, nothing) aekhfe = empty now! skhei = air/atmosphere aenrra = brother (from the Gvegh, interestingly enough; plural, "aenrruy") aerroghz = chaos (pure entropy) aerrghzoum = panic (mental chaos) fierrogh = literally, an Antarean life form resembling a six-foot slug; figuratively, a nasty or loathsome beast gough = creator zar = flexible person goughzar = innovator vres = to sit on one's haunches kegh = alert, watchful vreskegh = "sit down but be attentive"; in military parlance, "stand down." ghuek = sleep ghuekegh = literally "sleeping alertly"; idiomatically refers to "sleeping with one eye open", but technically refers to a computer set in "sleep" mode. gzourkegh = "I'm not alert"; essentially I'm about to fall asleep. gzoukighuek = "I'll need sleep soon"; zhabh = warm ghuekzhabh = "warm sleep"; technically, warm idle mode for a reactor. mikh = time rrobyegh = "honored vargr" I think "su-" could have an interesting figurative meaning as well: the notion of "being in someone's debt", which is how Vargr generally view low-charisma sophonts. To say, for instance, that one is "suvek" means that one is an underling of a/the Prince; Rafe would characterize himself as "sutedvok" ("in the debt of (my) former pack"), meaning that he feels a sense of shame for his catastrophic failure in Daibei, which resulted in the deaths of all his companions in a firefight with SolSec agents. If he felt like speaking in Varglic (analogy to Yinglish etc. :-), he might even specify himself as "suLynne".... One might say "su-Bhyarrvouf" (or, more formally, "su-BaHaThagk-Kabra") if one wanted to be specific; other than that, one would be expressing an opinion of one's superior by referring to him as "kharr", "vouf", or "bogh". Rafe would pick "kharr", but then again, I think Rafe and 'Zar have somewhat different opinions about 'Vouf. gzou (1st person, to be, singular: I am) gzoh (2nd person, to be, singular: You are) gzui (3rd person, to be, singular: He/She/It is) dzou (1st person, to be, plural: We are) dzoh (2nd person, to be, plural: You are) dzui (3rd person, to be, plural: They is) Vui dzoughuek? (Why are we sleeping?) ve = what va = who vou = where vai = how vae = which vui = why vo = when vei = how much and add the 'kh' (an implied growl) for nasty/emphasis to any of them. => phrases not yet broken down into particles and words not yet defined: bhranda kghfe zhdaetso? = idiomatically, "How are things on your end?" pullup = literally, "bitch in first heat," idiomatically, well, YOU know. (one pullup, two puyallup) Elissa (translation) => Athugz we need words for "tooth" and "claw" also "human" and "aslan" and the "Great Pack" COUNTING: Counting is done with a set of ten digits that are represented by ten unique vowel phonemes. They are written here with the prefix "s", which is used when a number stands alone. sae = zero sou = one soh = two sui = three sai = four see = five seh = six suh = seven sah = eight sei = nine Digits can be mixed to represent large numbers without extra syllables, and an extra consonant may be used to indicate the presence of a decimal point or a grouping of numbers to represent ideas like "thousand" or "million" (though Vuakedh does this in groups of four digits at a time rather than three). What is critical is that every one of the ten basic digits has only one vowel sound, and that vowel sound is unique to it. Example: four billion,eight hundred ninety-six million,seven hundred and twenty-three thousand and fifteen = 4,896,723,015 = 48:9672:3015 = jainaggheikfebukorrhuimaetousee Note the order of consonants: increasing, s t m dh r k b kf gh n j. The lengthened consonants ggh and rrh indicate breaks for digit groupings. The plosive "p" is used to represent a decimal point, and the consonants for place value are the same as for numbers greater than one, but in the reverse order: t for tenths, m for hundredths, etc. NAMES: The tradition of naming in Antares is that the parent of the same sex gives the last syllable of his or her name to be the first syllable of their children's names, and then chooses the last syllable. All names are two syllables long. For example, Khombhyarr's children are Bhyarrbogh, Bhyarrvouf and Bhyarrkharr. Goughzar's father was Rrangough, and his siblings are Goughseud and Goughzaell. ("reyf" = self-stick post-it note paper) |-D >Here's a list of over 200 words/syllables that *should* be legal >Vuakedh. That assumes that every word in the database you just >sent me is legal Vuakedh. > >You see, in addition to the word generator I have which uses the >standard MT language tables, I have another word generator which >is much more general purpose. It takes a list of words (*ANY* >list of words) and produces more words that are constructed using >the same rules as the input list. Specifically, it looks at all >the legal vowel/consonant combinations in the input list, and then >constructs a triple frequency table. Once this is done, it randomly >generates words which do not violate the construction of the input >list. > >If I run it long enough, I can generate every possible unique >combination available from the original input. The only thing >it *can't* do is get creative and go beyond the original constraints. > >Does this help? > -------------------------------CUT HERE-------------------------------------- > >ae | kaeggra | rrdakhe | tsae | >aeggr | kaegh | rrough | tsaeggra | >aegh | kaekhaen | rroukha | tsah | >aek | kaenegh | rrvar | tsai | >aekh | kak | rrvargh | tsak | >aekhe | kakha | rrvarr | tsamshkabr | >aeneggr | kakhaekh | saegh | tsamshkae | >aenegh | kakharkh | saek | tsamshkaeghz| >aengo | kakhe | saekha | uurrdakh | >aerr | kar | saekhe | uurro | >aerrdak | kargh | saengo | uurrouf | >aerrdakh | kargr | saerrdak | uurrvargr | >aerrogh | kargra | saerrdakh | uurrvarkh | >aerroum | karkh | saerro | uurrvarr | >aerrvarrv | karkhagk | saerrogh | vargh | >bha | karkhe | sak | varghz | >bhae | karkhebh | sakh | vargra | >bhaerrvarghz| karr | sakhagk | varkh | >bhagk | karrdakh | sakhast | varkhar | >bhar | keneggr | sakhe | varkhe | >bhargh | keneghz | samshkabr | varkhebh | >bhargra | keng | samshkae | varkhebr | >bharkhast | kengo | samshkak | varro | >bhastok | kha | samshkakh | varrogh | >bhastouf | khae | samshkar | varroum | >boghz | khaeggra | samshkargr | varrvar | >byeggr | khaeghz | samshkarr | varrvarrd | >byeggra | khagk | souf | vekh | >byeghz | khargh | sough | vekhae | >dzou | khasto | soukhargr | vekhagk | >dzouf | khastok | soum | vekhast | >dzoughz | khastough | sudvou | vekhebr | >dzoukh | khastoukh | sudvouf | vok | >dzoum | khe | sudvough | vou | >feuurr | khebh | sudvoukh | vough | >feuurrdakh | khebha | suezdhe | voukh | >feuurrogh | khebra | suezdhebh | voukhe | >feuurrou | kiril | suezdhebr | voukhebh | >feuurrouf | knae | suezkh | voum | >gued | knaegh | suezkha | zou | >guezdhebh | knaeghz | tak | zouf | >guezdhebr | knaerr | takhagk | zoum | >guezkh | knaerrdakh | takhargr | >guezkha | knaerrvarkh | takharr | >guezkhaekh | kou | takhast | >guezkhagk | kough | takhe | >guezkhast | koukhast | takhebr | >guezkhebh | koum | tha | >guezkhebr | ong | thae | >gvur | ou | thasto | >gvurr | ouf | thastok | >gvurrdakh | ough | thastough | >gvurro | oughz | threbha | >gvurrouf | ro | threbhagk | >gvurrvarkh | rogh | threbhargr | >irik | roghz | threbharrv | >iril | rou | threyth | >kabrebh | rough | threythagk | >kabrebr | roum | threythrebr | >kabreythr | rrdak | threythreyth| I don't know if this'll help, but maybe it get you guys to do something productive and stop whining about who's the final authority on Irilitok Vargr speech. :^) I enhanced the grammar-analysis program I wrote to construct 'proper-sounding' words, so that as part of it's debug capability, it now writes the internal syllable frequency matrix it constructs to a dump file, where I can peruse it at my leisure. I ran the existing list of Vuakedh words through it, and got this as a result: Vuakedh Syllable Frequency (derived from existing samples): ae = 2 ghz = 4 kna = 1 rro = 3 th = 1 zhd = 1 aeg = 2 go = 1 kou = 1 rrv = 1 tha = 1 zou = 4 aek = 1 gou = 2 mik = 1 sae = 1 thr = 1 aen = 2 gue = 2 ong = 1 sah = 1 thu = 1 aer = 3 gvu = 1 ou = 1 sai = 1 tsa = 1 aet = 1 iri = 2 ouf = 2 sak = 1 tso = 1 ath = 1 ivi = 1 oug = 5 sam = 1 uur = 3 ba- = 1 kab = 1 ouk = 1 see = 1 uy = 1 bh = 3 kae = 1 oum = 4 seh = 1 var = 3 bha = 2 kak = 1 pul = 1 sei = 1 vek = 1 bhr = 1 kar = 1 reb = 1 si- = 1 vok = 1 bog = 1 ked = 2 res = 2 so = 1 vou = 1 bye = 1 keg = 3 rey = 2 soh = 1 vre = 2 dzo = 1 ken = 1 ro = 2 sou = 1 vua = 2 fe = 3 kgh = 1 rog = 2 sud = 1 vur = 1 feu = 1 kh = 5 rou = 1 sue = 1 yaf = 1 fie = 1 kha = 3 rr = 1 suh = 1 yau = 1 gh = 12 khe = 2 rra = 1 sui = 1 ya- = 1 ghf = 1 kir = 1 rrd = 1 tak = 1 zar = 2 ghu = 3 ki- = 1 rrg = 1 te- = 1 zha = 2 producing a total of 166 syllabic hits. To generate a full Vuakedh language template, I need 216 each of initial consonant, vowel, and final consonant. Either we artificially inflat some of the values in the above list, or you guys need to invent some more words! :^) ----------------------------------------------------------------- a ae ai au ya yae yai yau e ei ye yei i yi o ou oe oi yo you yoe yoi u ue ui yu yue yui y- b+ bh+ br+ bhr+ k+- kh+- g+- gh+- ghz- gz+- gr+ grr+ gk- h- hh- hhk- d+- dh+- dz+- dhr+ dhz+- f+- fh+ v+- vgh- vgk- t+- ts+- th+ thr+ m- n- ng- ngh- r+- rg- rkh- rgh- rz- rr+- rrg- rrkh- rrgh- rrz- s+- sh+- st+- sht+- shk+- skh+- z+- zgh- zdh- zh+ zhd+ [Note: Consonants marked + are initial only, - are final only, +- are both.]