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Vocabulary

Gramatical information can be found here. Click on the html link, as I am having difficulties making a pdf file out of the grammar. It has grammatical information as well as Talarian-English and English-Talarian lexicons.

Talarian (*)

Padraic Brown

Ring B

âsatamonayomtarasca camt’tâhaâçarmamta amonayati, isca âpratarta ffâhomt: cumtanisa, cacammaparataseseti çnewwarsa, mamalcxati matarcahe wiramta cammaparatamûmcetenseratom. woytay somtô ritascahe sat: wirasta nararma. cumtanisa, aharnati narawirascahe narapalaffâhatom, sewemaçatlowarktomhe, ffolyommôspa weraçasa warkam, anpalamanyel pancatarma wiramcahamffi, acarâmtar pancatarsahe.
ffrancâmti pancatanhal caramca anfalamestahe, tetamti anfalasta narawiramcahe, axalati anfalasta matarcahe, pancatanhapte xexatenti. camtar pancatarca, xexatenti anfalastahe. faffâ akam somashal raeç pûrelsa haxaltahayesççwayacam amtar, xortoma mesmahe anfalaç’ânxamyam ra. nûhay, nixamyatina anfalâsca.

A teacher of untruth taught this anti-sharma, saying: “One time a baby was born with a midwife and the mother sought to choose a man to care for the child, for surely she knew that a man would be strong. In that time, a man was proving his strength and working the soma ritual but his efforts were fruitless. For the woman’s clan was undecided about the man and quarelled.
The fighting brought evil spirits to the clan and one bit the strong man and slew the mother before fleeing. Happy were the people thereafter, after the spirit fled, and I said to them: ‘In fire we must slay and sacrifice the man if we wish that the evil spirits not return to us.’ Thereafter, no evil spirits ever came.” For in the Noble Way there is no fire sacrifice of living beings.

Expanded text

â-sata-monayomtaras-ca camt’-tâha-â-çarmam-ta a-monayati, is-ca â-pratar-ta ffâhomt: cumtani-sa, ca-camma-parata-sese-ti çnewwar-sa, mamalc-xa-ti matar-ca-he wiram-ta camma-parata-mûmcetenseratom. woytay somtô ritas-ca-he sat: wiras-ta narar-ma. cumtani-sa, a-harnati nara-wiras-ca-he nara-palaffâhatom, sewemaçatlo-warktom-he, ffolyommôs-pa weraça-sa warkam, an-pala-manyel pancatar-ma wiram-ca-hamffi, a-carâmtar pancatar-sa-he.

ffrancâmti pancatan-hal caram-ca an-falames-ta-he, tetamti an-falas-ta nara-wiram-ca-he, a-xalati an-falas-ta matar-ca-he, pancatan-hap-te xexatenti. camtar pancatar-ca, xexatenti an-falas-ta-he. faffâ akam somas-hal ra-eç pûrel-sa haxalta-hayesççwayacam amtar, xortoma mes-ma-he an-falaç’-ân-xamyam ra. nûhay, ni-xamyati-na an-falâs-ca.

[Each of the roots and affixes has an entry in the lexicon. Verb and noun endings are dealt with in the grammar's text.]

Interlinear

= â-sata-monayomtaras-ca camt’-tâha-â-çarmam-ta
a-monayati, is-ca â-pratar-ta ffâhomt:

\ un-truth-teacher peace-bringing-false-dharma
taught, same-(one)-the false-speech-this saying:

= cumtani-sa, ca-camma-parata-sese-ti çnewwar-sa,
mamalc-xa-ti matar-ca-he wiram-ta
camma-parata-mûmcetenseratom.

\ year-LOC-that, REDUPL-little-boy-drew.out
nurse.midwife-the, was.choosing mother-the-and
man-the little-baby-to-raise-SUPINE.

= woytay somtô ritas-ca-he sat: wiras-ta
narar-ma. [stat]

\ knows-STATIVE truth-LOC she-the-and this:
(a)-man (is ~ would be) strong-however.

= cumtani-sa, a-harnati nara-wiras-ca-he
nara-palaffâhatom, 

\ year-LOC-that, ran strong-man-the-and
strength-proving-SUPINE,

= sewemaçatlo-warktom-he, ffolyommôs-pa weraça-sa
warkam, 

\ soma.ritual-working-and, unripe-however
man’s-POSS-the deeds (~ work, action),

= an-pala-manyel pancatar-ma wiram-ca-hamffi,
a-carâmtar pancatar-sa-he.

\ (at)-un-strong-spirit-LOC clan-however (was)
man-the-around, quarrelled clan-the-and.

= ffrancâmti pancatan-hal caram-ca
an-falames-ta-he,

\ brought clan-to fighting-this
non-angels-the-and,

= tetamti an-falas-ta nara-wiram-ca-he,

\ bit non-angel-the strong-man-the-and,

= a-xalati an-falas-ta matar-ca-he,
pancatan-hap-te xexatenti.

\ slew non-angel-the mother-the-and,
clan-away-from fled.

= camtar pancatar-ca, xexatenti an-falas-ta-he.

\ happy (was) clan-the, fled un-angels-the-and.

= faffâ akam somas-hal ra-eç pûrel-sa
haxalta-hayesççwayacam amtar, xortoma mes-ma-he
an-falaç’-ân-xamyam ra.

\ said I them-to QUOTE-EXCLAM fire-LOC-the
slay-(and)-sacrifice.by.fire (we must) him,  wish
we-if-and un-angel’s-non-return QUOTE

= nûhay, ni-xamyati-na an-falâs-ca.

\ now, up-come-not un-angels-the.

[This was done in such a way that you really don't have to make heavy use of the lexicon. I leave it up to you to make sense of it all and render the spirit of the thing in your own lang.]

Some notes on grammar

Talarian is a VSO language, postposing and fond of compounds, as this text demonstrates. There is really no distinction between substantives and verbs - except that they take different sets of endings and function differently. In other words, the same root form can be either a noun or a verb depending. There are no adjectives at all - the adjective role is assumed by either attributive nouns or by compounding. So "fast horse" might be either "horse of speed" or "quick-horse".

You'll see lot's of -ca, -ta and -sa attached to almost everything. And not a few -he as well. The former three are focus particles - they tell you which one is the focus of the conversation, which item is most important to think about. Usually, this is the grammatical subject, but sometimes it's not. -ca is the primary focus, and means "this is the speaker's true focus"; -ta is the secondary focus and means "this one is currently in second place - but watch out, it could very easily become the true focus"; while -sa is the tertiary focus and it's objects are all ephemeral to the discussion. The particle -he literally means "and" or "indeed", but can almost always be ignored.

I didn't note what actual forms the verbs are in the interlinear, because that information probably would be of little use to a non-Talarian.

If you're interested, Talarian verbs have one conjugation with three subdivisions: Punctual, Durative and Stative. A verb conjugated punctually gives the idea of momentary action; durative gives the idea of an action in process; stative gives the idea of, well, state. For the most part, Talarian verbs are assigned to one or more of these conjugations based on semantic considerations.

To complicate matters, punctual verbs don't have tense: they conjugate only for habitual and aorist aspects. Durative verbs have past and present (really non-past) tenses. Stative verbs conjugate for "result" - but don't worry about this. Other aspects can be made by affixing appropriate stem suffixes. Only -xa- is used in this text - it is a progressive aspect marker.

The paradigms show all the reduplication and ablaut that goes on. And also note that stative verbs take their own unique set of pronouns different from the ones used with Eventive (punctual and durative) verbs.

If this really doesn't make sense, there is a cheat-sheet in the syntax section - note that the Talarian and English verbal systems are pretty much identical. :)