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Lexicon

at to, at
ce and, but (conjunction)
cit what
dal- to tell
dam-a- house
dermun skin
do- give
dos evil, bad
dvenal-a- beautiful
dhismun fate, judgment
dhoss-a- window
e vocative particle
e- eat
emne- all
en in
errajai therefore
es out of
(e)s- be
esa 3.m.sg.gen
esmo 3.m.sg.dat
go- go
gheddhe- ask
heran-o- gut, entrail
im 3.m.sg.acc.
jen-o- woman
jon-u- joy
jijnokha- know
jliuv- tear apart
junat-a- past participle of jijnokha-
kam relative.acc
kasa relative.gen
kat indeclinable relative conjunction
kha future particle
laya- play
manenn-a- remainder
na on
ne negative particle
pavd-a- child
sa- fall
san- sing
sia demonstrative 3.m.sg.gen
siv-a- dear
so demonstrative f.s.nom
sun
sv-a- third person reflexive possessive adjective
svor- watch, mind
unart-a- negative adjective of 'fitting, appropriate, conforming to established ritual or law'
unsi 1.p.dat.
vaihan-a- clan, village, settlement + person ending
vi- see
vida- attack
vor- hide, conceal
vorj-(a)- do, work
yaha- throw
yat indeclinable relative conjunction
yom 3.f.sg.acc

Vayaun

Andrew Smith

Ring A

Kha dälme pävda esa kasa in jijnōkhasme

Vīdh ē siva vaihana. Unartan dhīsmun jijnōkhamer in kan na ünsī emnemos saeth. Dos pävdas ce dvenalō jenō ēsint. Sō jenō pävdam en damā egōt svörrum. Jönum at pävdai dötun sunn esmō elayat ca esmō esant. Ce pävda yōm evīdat svan dermunn ejliuvd, svōs heranōr ēth. Ce manēnnam ēr dhossā eyahat. Cid vorjaimes? Ne jijnōkhamen yat kad vorjasmes. Ērrajai vormes, ce kha junates gheddhennīn sia ne gheddhent.

I will tell of the child of which I know

See, dear villager. We know that unfitting judgement falls on us. There were an evil child and a beautiful woman. That woman went to mind the child in the house. To give joy to the child she played with it and sang to it. But the child attacked her, tore her skin apart, ate her guts, and threw the rest out the window. What should we do? We don't know what we should do. Therefore we hide, and those who know don't ask questions about it.

Some notes on grammar

Vayaun is a Indo-European language which is still cutting its teeth. I have removed the accents for vowel length and umlaut as it would be a pain to cut and past them. I may provide them for the final website version.

Sandhi

-e lowers to -a before a vowel.
-m is normally reduced to an indeterminate nasal except before a vowel or clause final, usually written -n.
-n doubles before a short vowel. This rule does not effect the indeterminate nasal derived from -m.
-s becomes -r before a vowel or a voiced consonant.
-s becomes -n before y
-t becomes -d before a voiced consonant.

Grammar

Describing Vayaun grammar is like describing a language in pain.

Nouns

The declension for the masculine a-stem noun is:

Nominative -as

Vocative -a

Accusative -am

Genitive -as

Dative -ai

Note that a rule of Sandhi swallows the -s in the nominative and genitive cases before a voiced consonant or y. Before a vowel the dative ending changes from -ai to -a. The case of the noun is understood by context.

The feminine ending is -o. The ending of feminine adjectives changes from -a-(s) to -o.

The plural ending for masculine and feminine nominative/accusative nouns is -s, becoming -r due to sandhi. For a-stem nouns the stem vowel changes to -e-. It does not change for o-stem (feminine) nouns. The dative plural ends in -mos.

The ending -mun is neuter. The neuter nominative/accusative adjective ends in -m.

There is one example of a u-stem noun.

Verbs

-dh singular imperative ending.
-tum infinitive ending. After a verb ending in -r this ending becomes -rum.
-me 1.sg.present
-mes 1.p.present
-(i)nt 3.p.present; note esint is past tense.
e- past tense augment
-t 3.s; becomes -d after a voiced consonant
-(e)s- subjunctive. The -s- disappears before -t and the ending becomes -th. The stem vowel appears in saeth.
The verb eth eat.past.3.s is irregular. It is indicative not subjunctive.
-ai- optative.
-(i)nni- present participle
-t-a- past participle