Language: Sainik

Pronunciation

AIE = As In English

Vowels

a - sharp a, as in hack, not soft as in call
e - eh as in get, not silent at end of a word
i - long e or ih as in give
o - ah as in lock
u - oo
y - long e or long i

ah - soft, as in call
eh - soft, as in get
ih - ih as in fit
oh - long o
uh - uh as in slug

aa - ah
ee - long e
ii - long i
oo - ooh
uu - ooh

ae - long a or long i
ai - long a or long i
ao - long a + long o (ayo)
au - long o
ay - long a

ea - long e + ah (eeyah)
ei - long e or long i
eo - long e + long o (eeyo)
eu - tense uh
ey - long a

ia - long i + ah
ie - long i
io - long i + long o
iu - long e + oo
iy - long e

oa - long o + ah (owah)
oe - long o
oi - oi as in void
ou - oo or long o
oy - oi as in void

ua - oo + ah
ue - long u (you, not oo)
ui - ooh + ih, as in fluid
uo - oo + long o
uy - oi as in void

Consonants
Not used — ph, c, gh, tch, x, gh

b - AIE
d - AIE
f - AIE
g - always hard as in good, never as in village
h - AIE
j - always soft as in judge
k - AIE
l - AIE
m - AIE
n - AIE
p - AIE
q - when followed by 'u', AIE, when followed by another vowel, said as a k
r - AIE
s - always as in snake, never as in dogs
t - AIE
v - AIE
w - AIE
y - AIE
z - AIE

ch - AIE
hr - as a french r, hacked
jh - zsh
rr - as a spanish r, rolled
sh - AIE
ss - a long, drawn out hissing s
th - soft, as in thing, not hard as in then

Language Structure

Sister-language to Mulbrei

AIE — As In English

Punctuation

, signifies a pause in thought or speech, also used to continue while in quotation marks AIE
. signifies the end of a halted or completed thought/idea
! AIE
?AIE
" AIE
~ signifies a silent thought
- signifies a written message
' separates syllables in words with two unlikely consonants next to each other, IE gak'bit, and is said as two separate words, used because of a vowel that vanished from that spot - gak'bit was originally gakibit

Proper nouns and imported words are always capitalized, are are personal pronouns. Possessives are never capitalized, nor are any numbers aside from eleven and zero.

Usually, if one has more than one name (referring to first, middle, last, etc.) the more important one will be capitalized, leaving the others in lowercase. For example, my name is Jaemea (jay-mee-ah) Kaarl-Tashmu. Were I to sign a form in Sainik, I would write it -Jaemea kaarl-tashmu,- because I prefer my first name. If I like the -Tashmu part, I would write it -jaemea kaarl-Tashmu.- You can even do this with a syllable, if you'd like; -jaemea kaarl-tashMu.-

In the more rural areas, or those where speech is limited, quiet, and fast, things are usually slurred. With the above example, "Jaemea kaarl-tashmu" might be slurred to "Jaemaa k-tashm." However, spellings will remain true to their pronunciations at all possible times. As well, slurring is never done in writing, so the only time you will read slurring is in a dialogue written in Sainik, or in reading a document such as this that explains the language to you.

When speaking in a list without use of : , one uses 'and' or 'or' constantly. IE, "I went to buy fruit and vegetables and grain and meat," and "I don't know if I want the chicken or the fish or the corn or the soup." When using :, one simply lists. IE, "Here's what I want: grain, chicken, fish, meat," and one would pause after each item to ensure understanding.

Verbs have one, two, or rarely three syllables in the infinitives. They do not show agreement with gender nor number, only tense, and tenses are simplified. Verbs between Sainik and Mulbrei share the same build. That is, that which signifies tenses is a small one or two syllable word-bit, attached to the end of a verb.

-ending if verb ends in consonant / - ending if verb ends in vowel = which tense (english example) ((french example))

-is / -s = present tense (I am) ((Je suis))
-ai / -v = past tense completed aka past perfect (I have done) ((J'ai))
-ais / -sai = future imperfect (I'm going to, I will) ((Je vais))
-ait / -tai = habitual, ongoing, repeated ((Je -ais)
-et / -t = possible, probable, but not certain (I might, I may, it could)

ril goes in front of the verb to negate it
jhaam goes after ril (verb) to indicate never (ne jamais)
jhaam goes after (verb) to indicate always (toujours)
sahn goes after ril (verb) to indicate no one (ne personne)
sahn goes after (verb) to indicate everyone (tout le monde)
jhur goes after ril (verb) to indicate it's not done anymore
jhur goes after (verb) to indicate it's still done
mraa goes before (verb) to ask politely or deferentially
gak'bit goes before verb to order

Pronouns

Personal subject

First person singular - I/je - the name of the speaker
Second person singular - you/tu - Tet
Third person singular - he/she/il/elle - Veq
First person plural - we/nous + you - Breb
First person plural - we/nous without you - Beb
Second person plural - you all/vous - Tret
Third person plural - they/ils/elles - Vreq
Third person plural and singular - one/on - Lok

Personal indirect

First person singular - me/moi - the name of speaker
Second person singular - you/toi - Tetua
Third person singular - him/her/lui/elle - Vequa
First person plural - us/nous + you - Brebua
First personal plural - us/nous without you - Bebua
Second person plural - you all/vous - Tretua
Third person plural - them/eux/elles - Vrequa
Third person plural and singular - one/on - Lokua

Possessives

First person singular - mine/my - speaker's name ends in vowel, add -ri, if ends in consonant, add -iri
Second person singular - yours/your - tetri
Third person singular - his/hers - veqri
First person plural - ours/our + you - brebri
First person plural - ours/our without you - bebri
Second person plural - your/yours - tretri
Third person plural - theirs/their - vreqri
Third person plural and singular - one's/its - lokri

classification query this that some no every
adjective which this that some no every
person who this that someone no one everyone
thing what this that something nothing everything
place where here there somewhere nowhere everywhere
time when now then sometime never always
way how thus somehow
reason why
classification query this (-l) that (-n) some (a-) no (ril-) every (sa-)
adjective renni rennil renn arenni rilrenni sarenni
person saan saal saann asaan rilsaan sasaan
thing inikaa inikaal inikaan ainik rilinik sainik
place uwae uwael uwaen auwae riluwae sauwae
time tonse tonsel tonsen atonse riltonse satonse
way jutu jutul jutun ajutu riljutu sajutu
reason harre harrel harren aharre rilharre saharre

Numbers are based on eleven, as that's universally how many facial appendages the speakers of this language have… though Mulbrei's system of nine claims the same thing. (Two eyes, one nose, one muzzle, two ears, one tongue, two jaws, two cheeks.) There is a one-through-eleven count, then after that, there is how-many elevens and how-many singles. Once you get to eleven elevens, there is how-many of those, plus how-many elevens, and how-many singles. Numbers are never written out into words; they have appropriate symbols. Technically, singles are spoken first, followed by elevens, and then eleven elevens. IE, 150 would be 7 ti 2 ati 1 sati, or said as "Seti ti dunti ati unti sati." The number eleven and the word/concept/number zero are always capitalized.

0 - Haal
1 - unti
2 - dunti
3 - traati
4 - qati
5 - santi
6 - ziti
7 - seti
8 - wheti
9 - nefti
10 - diti
11 - Rilhaal
singles - ti
elevens - ati
eleven elevens - sati

Modifiers

Adjectives come both before and after the noun, according to category. Number comes behind (nine birds = birds of nine), colour comes in front, possessives come in front, and the rest come behind. All adjectives and adverbs have the below endings. Adverbs also have the beginning j- if starting with a vowel or je- if starting with a consonant to signify that they aren't adjectives.

-ending if adj/adv ends in vowel / -ending if adj/adv ends in consonant = meaning in English

-rilla / ira = opposite (un-)
-reil / -iril = lack (-less)
-sol / -isol = surfeit (-ful)
-ch / -ich = possibility (-able)
-du / -idu = liking (-phile)
-do / -ido = disliking (-phobe)
-li / -eli = inhabitant (-er, -ian, -an, -ese)
-f / -ifi = weakening of meaning (-ish)
-raa / -eraa = strengthening of meaning (to the max)

The basic order of a sentence is simple - subject, direct object, verb, indirect object. Various modifies are attached accordingly. For example, -I give Reit a dog- would be written as, -Jaemea buka hoyis fraa Reit,- which is -Jaemea dog gives to Reit.- Sub-ordinate clauses are to be avoided at all costs. IE, -The eleven people who are running speak to me- would be written as -Mairaali fraa Rilhaal vaelenis ay daes fraa Jaemea,- or -People of eleven run and speak to me.- Or, in more difficult cases, -The person whose dog I hate talked to me- - would be written as -Mairaa, Jaemea ryldaes veqri buka, daiv fraa Jaemea,- which is -Person, I hate his/her dog, talked to me.- Independent clauses can easily be embedded in one another through use of commas, but sub-ordinate clauses are a no-no. Questions are simply phrased with a drop in intonation at the beginning, and a rise in intonation at the end.

Pluralization is formed by adding an -i to words ending in a consonant and by adding -li to words that end in vowels. Or, alternately, one could add isol (-ful) as a separate word directly in front of the plural word, thus approximating 'many s', or more roughly translated, 'full of s.'

Roots

chaalir / shelrae - body parts; varies greatly
dae - speech, talk, communication, discuss
hoi - give, get rid of, offer, throw away
maerae - person, people, beings, creature, animal (not mineral or flora)
ril - not, no, negatives
vael - horizontal movement, run, walk, etc.

Vocabulary

aharre - some reason
-ai - past tense ending
ainik - something
-ais - future imperfect ending
-ait - ongoing tense ending
ajutu - somehow
arenni - some
asaan - someone
ati - elevens (numbers)
atonse - sometime
auwae - somewhere
ay - and
beb - we without you
bebri - ours without yours/our without your
bebua - indirect we without you
breb - we with you
brebri - ours and yours/our and your
brebua - indirect we with you
buka - dog
-ch - possibility (-able)
dai - to talk
diti - 10
-do - disliking (-phobe)
-du - liking (-phile)
dunti - 2
-f - weakening of meaning (-ish)
fraa - to, of, from, belonging to, at (à)
-ifi - weakening of meaning (-ish)
-eli - inhabitant (-er, -ian, -an, -ese)
-eraa - to the max
-et - possible tense ending
gak'bit (gakibit) - word used to order/command
haal - zero, nothingness, void
harre - why
harrel - this reason
harren - that reason
hoy - to give (as a gift)
-ich - possibility (-able)
-ido - disliking (-phobe)
-idu - liking (-phile)
inikaa - what
inikaal - this
inikaan - that
|-ira - opposite (un-)
-iri - added to speaker's name to create possessive
-iril - lacking (-less)
-is - present tense ending
-isol - full of (-ful)
jhaam - always / never
jhur - still done / not done anymore
jutu - how
jutul - thus
jutun - that way
-li - inhabitant (-er, -ian, -an, -ese)
lok - one
lokri - one's/its
lokua - indirect one
mairaa - a person
mraa - word used to be polite
nefti - 9
qati - 4
-raa - to the max
-reil - lacking (-less)
renn - that
renni - which
rennil - this
-ri - added to speaker's name to create possessive
ril - not, no
rilay - or
rilhaal - 11 (no nothingness)
rilharre - no reason
rilinik - nothing
riljutu - no way
-rilla - opposite (un-)
rilrenni - no (formalish)
rilsaan - no one
riltonse - never
riluwae - nowhere
ryldae - to hate, detest, be disgusted by, abhore
-s - present tense ending|
saal - this
saan - who
saann - that
saharre - every reason
sahn - no one / everyone
-sai - future imperfect ending
sainik - everything
sajutu - everyway
santi - 5
sarenni - every
sasaan - everyone
sati - eleven elevens (numbers)
satonse - everywhen
sauwae - everywhere
seti - 7
-sol - full of (-ful)
-t - possible tense ending
-tai - ongoing tense ending
tet - you
tetri - your/yours
tetua - indirect you
ti - singles (numbers)
tonse - when
tonsel - now
tonsen - then
traati - 3
tret - you all
tretri - your/yours (pl)
tretua - indirect you all
unti - 1
uwae - where
uwael - here
uwaen - there
-v - past tense ending
vaelen - to run, jog, canter, move quickly
veq - he/she/it
veqri - his/hers/its
vequa - indirect he/she/it
vreq - they
vreqri - theirs/their
vrequa - indirect one
ziti - 6

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