Veldanéas Lingwas (Veldan)

Veldan is spoken in Veldanores, a federated republic in an RPG world that I created. This republic-like confederacy of city-states, Veldanore, is populated mostly by Humans, plus some Half-elves, and a few Full Elves. Because I modelled my Elves somewhat after Tolkien's Elves, Veldan intentionally contains a number of Elvish borrowings in addition to the root stock of words taken from Latin and Greek (which I was studying at the time in school), plus some inspiration from Gaelic, and a small stock of words made up out of the thin air.

Veldan has multiple dialects: I have chosen as the reference dialect a literary form (roughly equivalent in its usage to the "General American" heard on radio and television in the United States) that would be understood throughout the Veldan Republic. The other dialects eventually to be described are Senatorial Veldan (which preserves many features of an older parent language, Old Veldan, plus adding features deliberately introduced to artificially distinguish the dialect from the "vulgar"), and City Veldan, the street dialect spoken in the capitol city and immediate environs (the Veldamaros).

Note: this is a work in progress. There are bound to be gaps and there will be updates and additions as time permits.

Lexicon

A Veldan-English and English-Veldan lexicon may be found here.

Grammar

Declension and Gender of Substantives

Gender in Veldan is actual gender for entities to which this can apply, including a neuter gender for animate entities that are neither masculine nor feminine, and a common gender that includes potentially all of the first three. A parallel concrete/abstract system is used for most inanimate entities. Substantives have a fairly rich case system.

-s and Zero Declensions

In most words whose stems end in vowels, the combination of the thematic vowel and choice of -s or zero declension determines the word's gender. This is complicated by a dual usage: the same endings are used both for words that refer to animate entities (and to anything else that has actual gender) and to inanimates (which necessarily lack it).

The animate-gender system is:

Common gender includes two categories: "at least two of masculine, feminine, and neuter" plus "animate, but gender presently unknown to the speaker." Neuter normally refers to an animate and/or living entity to which another of the genders is not believed to be assignable. It is regularly used for trees and other plants, etc., although another gender may be given by a speaker who perceives differently. For example, depending on how much you know about trees, and about specific trees being discussed, they can be any of the four animate genders.

The inanimate system is:

The category "abstract" includes entities that exist in the real world but are not directly perceptible to people (e.g., atoms). The category "concrete" includes only those entities that are thought to be in some fashion be directly perceptible, even if only by their immediate side effects (e.g., wind). This system is regularly used to form nouns from adjectives by simply choosing an appropriate thematic vowel and declension and making the accent non-oxytonic (e.g., vern-`, "grass-green," yields vernos, "the green"). The dialects vary in the choices of thematic vowel and declension for forming such nouns.

The case inventory is reduced from Old Veldan (but not as far as in the City dialect). The cases are:

The -s and zero declensions' endings are:

The Consonant Declension

In addition, there is a consonant declension whose use is limited to common, neuter, and inanimate nouns, plus a few demonstratives and semi-adverbial function words. The consonant declension is:

Note that several of the oblique cases with long vowels in the endings invariably attract the primary accent into the ending.

The Lost Consonant (LC) Declension

There is, finally, a class of nouns whose stems end in a long vowel but that are declined in the consonant declension. These words were in origin words ending in sonant nasals, liquids, and semivowels that have been reduced to long vowels. As is to be expected, these words are invariably of common, neuter, or an inanimate gender. (Some loanwords are also assigned to this declension.) The usual replacements for the lost consonants are:

Nouns in the LC declension become irregular in form because the vowel-accidence rules tend to cause some of the inflectional suffixes to disappear, via being absorbed by similar vowels at the ends of the nouns' stems. For example, consider cás (= "(a specific) time, event"):

Cás is irregular only in the accusative case. Other LC declension nouns are irregular in other cases.

Adjectives and Agreement

Adjectives agree with the case, number, and (where possible) the thematic vowel and the declension (-s or zero) of what they modify. Where the modificand is athematic (consonant declension or lost-consonant declension), an appropriate thematic vowel and declension are selected for the adjective, to match actual gender, concreteness, or abstractness, as appropriate. These selections are typical (the nominative singulars are given), though there are dialectical variations:

Adverb Formation

Adverb formation is straightforward, by removing the case ending and thematic vowel from the adjective and then adding -(i)ter, or by optionally retaining the thematic vowel and adding -(a/i/o)m.

The 'i' is elided from -iter when the suffix is added to a root that ends in 'i' (separately from the thematic vowel). This ending can also be used to form adverbs of manner from nouns; e.g., calunos ("thief") becomes caluniter ("like a thief, in the manner of a thief").

The vowel in -am, etc., comes from a very reduced form of 'nom' ('thus', 'so', 'ergo') and has undergone changes in a variety of environments.

Personal Pronouns

Veldan personal pronouns are inflected like nouns with thematic vowels, except that gender marking is optional. The reference dialect includes a 4th person, which is used to denote a person more remote than or different from a 3rd-person referent (for example, in indirect discourse). It also includes a Generic/Impersonal (G/I) pronoun that is the equivalent of the English "one" (or colloquially the generic "you"). In the plural, this pronoun is roughly equivalent to the English generic usage of "people." The pronouns (in the nominative singular) are:

Note: the unmarked pronouns use the endings of the -s declension in the oblique cases, so (for example) the accusatives are mén, ménas, stén, etc., not *mém, *mémas, *stém, etc.

A bound morpheme "á-" prefixed to any personal pronoun creates a contrast form. (The simple t- of the third person results from a simplification of *tt-. The c- of the fourth person results from a simplification of an original *yt- or *palatalized t-. The contrast form appears to have been the original form, from which the "ordinary" form was simplified.)

Possessive adjectives are formed like other derived adjectives, by adding a thematic vowel and an ending (e.g., méos = "mine"), with the twist that this is also done with nominative plurals (e.g., méros = "ours"). The unmarked forms of the pronouns are regularly used as the bases, but the others may be used to emphasis a particular situation (e.g., tísos = "theirs," where "they" are indicated to be female).

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns (English "-self" pronouns) are formed by prefixing either of two morphemes, ón-/óm- or id-/it-, where the former suffers assimilation to a following m- and the latter regularly loses voicing ahead of a following voiceless consonant. The id-/it- prefix (e.g., ittés, = yourself) emphasizes the exact identification of the person. The ón-/óm- prefix (e.g., ómmé, = myself) emphasizes aloneness, singularity, or even aloofness. (The first-person plural formed in this way is a very explicitly exclusive "we," which at very best borders on rudeness.) The reflexive pronouns are formed in this fashion for all four persons and all of the genders.

Relative/Interrogative Pronouns

The same pronouns do double duty for relative and interrogative uses. When one of these pronouns found at the head of the main clause of a question, it has the interrogative sense; at the head of a subordinate clause it has relative sense. The pronouns are found both in 3rd and 4th persons, with the usages corresponding to those of the 3rd- and 4th-person personal pronouns. Both may be declined like adjectives. In their interrogative use, declension is mandatory. In their relative uses, declension is optional; the indeclinable form is simply the stem of the word with no endings added. Similar forms are found for pronouns of place, manner, etc.

Articles

The definite article is "i", variously indeclinable or declined as an adjective (by suffixing a thematic vowel and an ending), at the option of the speaker. The article precedes the phrase that it modifies. The indeclinable form, when before a word starting with i-, is pronounced (and often written) iy.

The indefinite article is lacking.

Demonstratives

Demonstratives, like the definite article, precede the phrases they modify. All demonstratives belong to the consonant declension. (This is anomalous at first look, but these are regarded as being more like adverbs than adjectives.)

These can also be used adverbially as prefixes on verbs of motion: ilvénein (= "to come (back) here"), ólein (= "to go (back) there").

Demonstrative adverbs of place preserve the form of the old locative singular case. (preceded by a formant "-í-"). Similar constructions work for adverbs of motion using survivals of the old locative, ablative, and allative singular cases. The forms are:

Verb Conjugation

A basic rule for all Veldan verbs is that they have a thematic vowel between their stems and endings. Thematic vowels are always short vowels in the stem form (thus to include the active indicative form). Loanword verbs whose stems end in a consonant are usually assigned a thematic vowel of -a-, or sometimes -o- for verbs that denote motion or change or similar.

Person and Aspect

The finite forms of Veldan regular verbs end in a thematic vowel followed by a person/aspect/number ending, optionally followed by a marker for the middle or passive voice (the active voice is unmarked). G/I in the following denotes the Generic/Impersonal person.

The Point-of-Time Aspect denotes an event that happens once and is then is finished. (Its plural endings are derived from, e.g., -m-r.) With a future tense, this aspect views the event from before its occurence.

The Continuitive Aspect denotes a continuing action. The exact sense often has to be understood from the context.

The Perfective Aspect denotes an action that may have taken longer than a point-of-time, but that is finished. With a future tense, this aspect views the event from after its completion (the combination is often translatable into English as the Future Perfect tense).

Voices

The active voice is unmarked. The middle (reflexive) and passive voices are formed regularly by infixing -né- for the middle voice and -ný- for the passive voice between the thematic vowel and the person/aspect/number ending. Many intransitive verbs can be used in the middle voice, in a causative sense (e.g. planeném = "I make myself wander").

Tense

Veldan verbs mark tense by augmenting the beginning of the verb stem. The augment is inserted between the stem and any prefixed preposition or negative prefix--unless the prefix has come to be viewed as an integral part of the verb, in which case the combination is treated as a single stem (e.g., prosain (= "to be present," from pros- + a-, present tense aprosat, not *prosarat; past tense peprosat, not *prosrerat). An "Indefinite" tense, used both for unknown time and for non-redundant tense marking in subordinate clauses, is unmarked. The further away from the present, the greater the degree of augment.

In the table below, "C" is the initial consonant of the verb stem (verbs that start with a consonant cluster use only the very first consonant in the augment). It is an "introduced" consonant, normally "s" in future tenses and "r" in non-future tenses, for verbs whose stems begin with a vowel.

The Lebaina Tenses

The marked tenses may be combined in several ways that are called lebaina (combination) tenses. The meanings are straightforwardly understood. There are two subsets of lebaina tenses.

The Present a-/ar- marker (ar- before vowels) may be prefixed to any other tense to denote a category of time that includes the present and extends continuously from the past or into the future.

Arereimo praidí ce ildí.
I went yesterday and today.

Aríseim ildí ce seryim.
I go today and tomorrow.

A past-tense marker may be prefixed before a future-tense marker to indicate a time that includes the past and future but excludes the present.

Eríseim praidí ce seryim.
I went yesterday and will go tomorrow (but not today).

Note: A statement made that applies to all times (a categorical statement) is made with no tense marker at all on the verb of the main clause. Although this is unusual in the reference dialiect, some dialects prefix aei- ("always") to verbs in subordinate clauses in this usage (because tense is nonredundandly marked: an unmarked verb of the subordinate clause "inherits" the tense of the verb of the main clause).

Infinitives

The infinitive is formed by suffixing -(i)n to the thematic vowel of the indicative mood; e.g., planéin ("to wander"), ain ("to be"), edin ("to eat"). The subject of an infinitive is placed in the Prepositional case (this apparently having been a result of the loss of the old Instrumental case).

Verbal Nouns and Adjectives

Verbal nouns and adjectives are formed by replacing the indicative mood's personal ending with -nt. If declined in the consonant declension, the resulting word is a verbal noun and has inanimate/abstract gender. If further adorned with a thematic vowel and an -s or zero-declension ending, the resulting word is a verbal adjective. Note: as usual for adjectives, verbal adjectives are oxytones. The middle or passive formant may be inserted ahead of the -nt ending to form a middle or passive verbal noun or adjective.

For example, the verb planéin forms planént ("(the act of) wandering") and planéntòs (one form of the verbal adjective "wandering").

Agents

Veldan agent forms are nouns constructed by simply adding a thematic vowel (regularly a long vowel) and noun suffix to the singular of a finite verb form. In addition, the thematic vowel of the verb is regularly made long.

For an ordinary agent form, the agent is derived from the indefinite/unmarked form of the verb, with four possible agents, one per person. For example, planét ("he/she/it wanders/wandered/will wander") becomes planétés ("wanderer"), and planéste ("you wander/wandered/will wander") becomes planéstés ("you, the wanderer"). Note that the -ste of the second person is always reduced to -st here before the themtic vowel is added.

Other agent forms have more-specific meanings. For instance, íplanémés = "I who will (soon) wander."

The continuitive-aspect endings can also be used to form agents, the -i- in the ending being changed to -î- before the added thematic vowel and the verb's thematic vowel regularly being shortened. These agents have a habituitive sense, like planetîés = "the one who is always wandering".

Older Agent Forms

An older and now less-productive way of making agent forms is by renominalizing the verb root such that the new word is a noun in the animate system. (If the thematic vowel of the verb is the same as the thematic vowel of the new noun, the second of the two is dropped. Note: dropping the thematic vowel ahead of a different vowel is unworkable because this can change the meaning of the root verb: consider the very common verbs derived in -s-.) Example: vasilewos (war-leader), from vasilewo- (lead or make war on/against someone); feminine vasilewois. The choice of thematic vowels, as in the preceding example, is made to maximize euphony (*vasilewoa is not found).

Mood

Mood is marked by altering the verb's thematic vowel.

The indicative mood is used to make simple statements and ask simple questions.

The subjunctive mood is used to express uncertain and/or contrary-to-fact conditions, and is used in hypothetical questions. It is also used, in alternation with the optative, to express vain wishes--for events the speaker considers impossible of realization. It is also used to make polite or indirect requests and commands. Note that the lengthened thematic vowel of the subjunctive regularly attracts the accent.

The optative mood is used to express wishes or hopes, and to express conditional situations, all of which the speaker presumes to be at least possible. Unlike the subjunctive and the indicative, it does not mark whether the matter is contrary-to-fact.

Imperatives

Direct imperatives are limited to a small set that refer to actions to be performed immediately (and normally are to be performed once). They are formed on the shortest form of a verb (the bare stem, including its thematic vowel).

Note: an old -e in the 2nd singular shows up in some verbs with a thematic vowel in (short) -e; e.g., eisglei < *eisgle-e.

Other imperatives are constructed by placing the main verb in the subjunctive mood (see above) and in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th person.

Note: in the case of an uncertain number of recipients of a command, the plural imperative is used, as this is seen as the more-general usage.

Stress Accent

Primary stress accent regularly occurs on the next-to-last syllable, or the one before it if the next-to-last syllable has a short vowel and terminates in no more than one single (non-geminate) consonant. But, there are exceptions to this rule.

In multiply-augmented verb forms, such as the remote past and future, the stress accent may recede to the first syllable of the augment, so long as no more than three more syllables follow in the word and no stressed prefix is present.

Some substantives' inflectional endings (e.g,. in the consonant declension) attract the primary accent to the final syllable, and a moderate number of native words are accented on their final syllables.

In some compounds, the accent tends to remain on some syllable of the last root in the compound, e.g., vasilèwos.

Where a long vowel is formed by the accidence of a stem vowel and the same vowel at the beginning of a case suffix, that long vowel regularly attracts the accent. For instance, vasilèwos in the (masculine) nominative plural is vasilèwoi. The feminine nominative singular, vasilèwois, forms the nominative plural vasilewoî. Similarly, the masculine and feminine dative singular forms are vasilewoìo and vasilewoîo, respectively (where the only differences are the grade of the vowel and whether it is part of a diphthong).

A few examples (with the primary accent marked with grave or circumflex accents):

àt
òwa
fèlya
càla [loanword]
calà [native word; natural oxytone]
càlunos
càlunoi [complex vowel in the final syllable does not move the accent]
carnàldu [accent held by the complex consonant]
adîcet [accent cannot recede onto augment because of long vowel]
adìscet [accent cannot recede onto augment because of complex consonant]
areìdat [accent cannot recede onto augment because of complex vowel]
èlelim
èlelima [elèlima is also found]
eleliaìma [accent cannot recede onto augment because of complex vowel]
àlelima
athèllama [accent cannot recede because of long consonant]
lègain
lòx
locû [inflectional ending attracts the primary accent]
luìmen
luimenû [inflectional ending attracts the primary accent]
nàrlèlima [double primary accent due to negative prefix]
nàrelèlima [double primary accent due to negative prefix]
Vèlda
veldanêos [long vowel attracts the primary accent]
Veldâvos [long vowel attracts the primary accent]
èdités
planêtés

Primary accent can be phonemic, particularly in contrasts between similar native and borrowed roots. For example, compare calà = "beautiful" (feminine or concrete, nominative, singular adjective) and càla = "light" (concrete noun).

Stress Accent in Personal Names

In the nominative case of personal names, primary stress is never on the last syllable. (There are no native monosyllabic full personal names. Short forms can be of one syllable, but the full form is often used in the nominative case instead.) This distinguishes from a partial vocative case (used with personal names) that is formed by shifting the stress accent to the last syllable. The higher vowels (e, i, y) also regularly are lengthened. Foreign names that violate this rule are handled either by shifting the primary accent toward the start of the word or by renominalizing (by adding a thematic vowel and case ending). Monosyllabic foreign names can be renominalized, or often the nominative and vocative forms are identical.

This partial case also can be used with words that stand in place of a personal name in direct address. For example, Atánùs! = "Hey, you!"

Pitch

Pitch is used for suprasegmentals only. Statements regularly end in a falling pitch, questions in a rising pitch. List inflection is also similar to that in English.

Derivation

Many productive derivational affixes are available. (As usual, suffixes are given with a leading dash, prefixes with a trailing dash, and infixes have both.) The more common ones include:

Nominalization

Veldan can form (abstract) nouns from verbs (rather like the English -ion ending) simply by making the verb stem be a noun in one of the -s declensions, necessarily in the inanimate system. This then requires some care, as some of the -s nouns are concrete. The following is the usual correspondence in the reference dialect:

Veldan does similarly for forming nouns denoting a wish or a desire, except that the verb stem as modified for the Optative Mood is used. As all Optative forms include suffixing -i- (possibly preceded by another vowel) to the thematic vowel, it suffices to add -as to the Optative stem. Examples: ei- (= go), Optative eiai-, thence eiaias (= the desire to go); gna- (= know, understand), Optative gnai-, thence gnaias (= the desire to know, to understand).

Compounding

Compounds are formed by removing the inflectional suffixes from all but the last word of the compound and then collapsing the result into one word. (Euphony is preserved if necessary by inserting -a- where needed.) Roots in a compound are placed in the same order as they would be in a multi-word construction. The ending (thematic vowel and/or declension) of the final element is then replaced if necessary to get the correct actual gender or inanimate status (abstract versus concrete), in the usual way for marking actual gender.

For example, compare carnu aldu (= "a red tree") with carnaldu (= "redtree", flame-leaf sumac). For another example, compare senes serkes (= "old blood") with Senserkes (= "Oldblood", a member of one of the patrician families).

For an example of -a- insertion, compare séngos druinnos (= "first mountain") with Séngadruinnos (= Séng-a-druinn-os = "Firstmountain", the name of a mountain peak).

For an example of ending replacement, consider sarcasi edités (= "eater of flesh", a concrete entity) with sarceditas (= sarc-edi-t-as = "carnivore", the abstract category).

Word Order

Word order in a clause is normally Verb-Subject-Object(s), with the subject regularly omitted if it is a personal pronoun and not a contrast form. The exception is clauses that begin with an interrogative or relative pronoun, where the pronoun is pulled to the very beginning of the clause. The usual order for objects is to place them in decreasing order of emphasis. Subordinate clauses and questions are introduced by a variety of particles, but do not regularly change word order. In clauses that mark contrast forms by bringing a word ahead of the verb and in certain kinds of poetry these rules are relaxed--in the latter, word order becomes completely mutable according to the dictates of the meter.

Adjectives precede the words they modify. Adverbs, however, follow the words they modify, with the exception of the negatives, e.g., ú(n).

Simple Statements

Simple statements use the regular VSO word order:

Arediti ia nimba felya carnÿn chótÿn.
PRES-eat-3RD-SG the-NOM-SG white-NOM-SG cat-NOM-SG red-ACC-SG fish-ACC-SG
The white cat is eating a red fish.

Statements in Contrast Word-order

Contrast word order, which emphasizes a particular item, is constructed by moving the item to be emphasized to the front of the clause, after a particle íd:

Íd ia nimba felya arediti carnÿn chótÿn.
EMPH the-NOM-SG white-NOM-SG cat-NOM-SG PRES-eat-3RD-SG-CONT red-ACC-SG fish-ACC-SG
It is the white cat that is eating a red fish.

Or:

Íd carnÿn chótÿn arediti ia nimba felya.
EMPH red-ACC-SG fish-ACC-SG PRES-eat-3RD-SG-CONT the-NOM-SG white-NOM-SG cat-NOM-SG
It is a red fish that the white cat is eating.

If the particle is placed before the verb, with no word-order changes, the verb is emphasized:

Íd arediti ia nimba felya carnÿn chótÿn.
EMPH PRES-eat-3RD-SG-CONT the-NOM-SG white-NOM-SG cat-NOM-SG red-ACC-SG fish-ACC-SG
The white cat is eating a red fish [as opposed to doing something else with the fish].

Questions

Simple questions are introduced with fé(i/n) when addressed to one person and with fér when addressed to more than one person. The singular form is fei before a following consonant and &feacute;n before a following vowel.

Fén arediti ia nimba felya carnÿn chótÿn?
QUESTION PRES-eat-3RD-SG-CONT the-NOM-SG white-NOM-SG cat-NOM-SG red-ACC-SG fish-ACC-SG
Is the white cat is eating a red fish?

Questions with Contrast Word-order

Questions may also use contrast word-order:

Fén íd carnÿn chótÿn arediti ia nimba felya?
QUESTION EMPH red-ACC-SG fish-ACC-SG PRES-eat-3RD-SG-CONT the-NOM-SG white-NOM-SG cat-NOM-SG
Is it a red fish that the grey cat is eating?

Questions Using Interrogatives

Questions that start with an interrogative pronoun may omit fé(n/r), though this is a less-formal register than if the particle is included:

Cades erat?
Who-COMMON-NOM-SG IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG
Who was that?

A more-formal usage:

Fé cades erat?
SAY Who-COMMON-NOM-SG IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG
Pray tell, who was that?

If the question is asked about a 4th party already mentioned in indirect discourse, the above question takes this form instead:

Cuides erach?
Who(4th)-COMMON-NOM-SG IMMED-PAST-be-4TH-SG
Who was that?

The case of the interrogative depends on its relationship to the main verb:

Cades eraget?
Who-COMMON-NOM-SG IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG
Who did it?

Caden eraget?
What-CONCRETE-ACC-SG IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG he-NOM-SG
What did he/she/it do?

Cadeio eraget?
Who-COMMON-NOM-SG IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG
For whom did he/she/it do it?

A preposition may precede the interrogative:

Yn cadessu eraget?
Who-COMMON-NOM-SG IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG
With what did he/she/it do it?

Interrogatives of place, manner, and time are used similarly:

Caloc eraget?
Where IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG
Where did he/she/it do it?

Cascaù eraget?
When IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG
When did he/she/it do it?

Cástu eraget?
How IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG
How did he/she/it do it?

Cámenu eraget?
Why IMMED-PAST-be-3RD-SG
Why did he/she/it do it?

Coordinate Clauses

Several coordinating conjunctions are available. Ce corresponds to English "and." Placing it before all items emphasizes the inclusion (as in English "both...and..."). Aut expresses "either-or" (but not both), and may introduce both clauses or only the second. Wel expresses inclusive alternation, what is lately written as "and/or." Fâ(n) corresponds to English "but." For example:

Ata ís chótÿs ce i sómi mathir.
Be-3RD-PL the-NOM-SG fish-NOM-SG and the-NOM-SG ham-NOM-SG good-NOM-PL
The fish and the ham are good. (Note that this is an elliptical construction: mathis has been deleted from the first phrase. In this situation, the non-redundantly stated item is normally inflected according to the gender of what it modifies in the phrase in which it is still present.)

Ata ce ís chótÿs ce i sómi mathir.
Be-3RD-PL the-NOM-SG fish-NOM-SG and the-NOM-SG ham-NOM-SG good-NOM-PL
Both the fish and the ham are good.

At aut ís chótÿs aut i sómi mathi.
Be-3RD-SG or-EXCL the-NOM-SG fish-NOM-SG or-EXCL the-NOM-SG ham-NOM-SG good-NOM-SG
Either the fish or the ham is good [but not both].

Ata ís chótÿs wel i sómi mathir.
Be-3RD-PL the-NOM-SG fish-NOM-SG or-INCL the-NOM-SG ham-NOM-SG good-NOM-PL
The fish and/or the ham are good.

At ís chótÿs mathÿs fân at i sómi ausmathi.
Be-3RD-PL the-NOM-SG fish-NOM-SG good-NOM-SG but is-3RD-PL the-NOM-SG ham-NOM-SG AGNOSTIC-NEG-good-NOM-SG
The fish is good but the ham is so-so [= "half-good"].

Subordination with the Infinitive

Simple subordinate constructions can be made with infinitives (note that the word order inside the infinitive phrase is still VSO):

Athellama abein tássu ilívo.
PRES-want-1ST-PL away-go-INF he-PREPOS-SG hence.
We want him to go away from here.

Negation of the infinitive in this construction uses the prohibitive:

Athellama má edin tássu óla chótÿn.
PRES-want-1ST-PL PROHIB eat-INF he-PREPOS-SG that-ACC-SG fish-ACC-SG
We want him not to eat that fish.

    bs   -> ps

    ds   -> ts
    Cds  -> Css

    gs   -> cs

    sths -> ss

    Cts  -> Css

    thd  -> dd
    thm  -> mm
    ths  -> ts

    h-  -> s- or (more rarely) ch-

    jh  -> cy or ty
    j   -> dy
    sh  -> sy or ss
    zh  -> zy or zz

(All consonant values above per the standard orthography.)

Names

This is a very incomplete inventory of some common Veldan names.

Personal Names

The stress accent of personal names in the nominative case is never on the last syllable. Personal names (only) have an informal vocative case, formed by shifting the stress accent to the last syllable.

Tarios is the eponymic distant anscestor of the Tariennei family, but the name is still in common usage otherwise in unrelated families. Curiously, the Tarriennei no longer give this name to their children.

A male name, Syethros, has become archaic and is not in current usage in the area in which the literary dialect has native speakers. An alternate form of the name, Syethro, is considered comical and used for the butt of jokes.

A female name, Elvia, has likewise become both out of currency and considered comical.

Surnames

Surnames act like adjectives, except that they follow the personal names, and may in turn be followed by a locative and/or occupational expression:

Evanda Tarienna vs. Elmos Tariennos

Cati Tarienni et Marnasu  [Cati Tarienni from Marna]

Marros Tariennos i cantâtós  [...the singer]

They are very often formed with an -(e)nn- infix from a distant ancestor's given name. (It is common for the vowel of this infix to replace the thematic vowel of the ancestors name, but the usage varies.) The -(e)nn- appears to be related to both the -n- and -né- derivational suffixes.