****************** VOZGIAN RELAY TEXT ****************** Челoвяк весекта за вярoнтјö сўöјö сліђіће дöлжіћ. Кoкта ему напöнћітум еғу несеченће агусе страшену дяјећ, вярата еғу весекта еғу хöрніт бoндећ, спoле сілoнтјöнс душытуй еғу, авы граніца жадена перстумпена небoндећ. (in Vozgian romanisation:) Čeloväk vesekta za värontjö sŭöjö sliðiþe dölžiþ. Kokta emu napönþitum ehu nesečenþe aguse strašenu däjeþ, värata ehu vesekta ehu chörnit bondeþ, spole silontjöns dušaituj ehu, avai granica žadena perstumpena nebondeþ. ******************************* SOMETHING ABOUT VOZGIAN GRAMMAR ******************************* Vozgian is a North-Slavic language from Ill Bethisad that underwent considerable influence from the neighbouring Uralic languages. The language is highly synthetic: basically fusional, but with a strong tendency toward agglutination. Grammar is fairly complicated: Vozgian is infamous for its "noun declensions from hell", and frankly, verbal conjugation isn't any better. But that shouldn't bother you too much. I'll limit myself to the necessary. Here are some things you need to know for this text: * Word order is pretty rigidly SOV. * Modifiers are always placed after the noun. * Adjectives, possessive pronouns and the like agree in case, number and gender with the noun they modify. * Nouns are inflected for gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number, case, and definiteness. * There are no possessive pronouns of the third person. Instead, the genitive of a personal pronoun of the third person is used. There is, however, a reflexive possessive pronoun. * The text is obviously in Cyrillic. If you have a problem with it, there is transliteration program for Vozgian here. The average Vozgian noun can have over 70 different endings. In this text, you will encounter the following: NOUNS -Ø (zero ending): masc.sg.indef.nominative -а: fem.sg.indef.nominative -ата: fem.sg.def.nominative -е: neut.sg.indef.nominative/accusative -ітум: masc.sg.def.locative -oнтјö: fem.sg.def.instrumental -oнтјöнс: fem.sg.def.comitative -ытуй: fem.sg.def.genitive ADJECTIVES ETC. -а: fem.sg.nominative -ö: fem.sg.instrumental -у: neut.sg.nominative/accusative -ы: masc.sg.nominative VERBS -ены: perfect passive participle -т: supine (in combination with a form of "to be" used to build the future tense) -ћ: present tense, 3rd person singular -ће: infinitive Umlaut can occur as well in inflection, but nothing you can't handle. ******** GLOSSARY ******** Nouns are given in the nominative singular indefinite, adjectives in the masculine nominative singular indefinite, verbs in the infinitive. авы (conj.) so that, in order to агы (pron.int.) what kind of бoндећ (v.) 3rd person singular of the future tense of _быће_ быће (v.) to be весекта (adv.) always вяра (f.) faith, belief граніца (f.) border, frontier, limit дöлжіће (v.) must, ought to душа (f.) soul, spirit дяће (v.) to happen еғу (pron.pers.) genitive singular of _ет_ ему (pron.pers.) dative singular of _ет_ ет (pron.pers.) he жадены (adj.) no, not a single за (prep.; with the instrumental) behind кoкта (adv., conj.) when на- (prefix; with the locative) on не- (prefix) not, un- несеченће (n.) unhappiness, misfortune, disaster перстумпіће (v.) to cross, to trespass пoнћ (m.) path сіла (f.) power, force сліђіће (v.) to follow спoле (prep.; with the comitative) together with, along with страшены (adj.) terrible сўöй (pron.poss.) one's own хöрніће (v.) to protect, to save, to preserve челoвяк (m.) human being, person -се (suffix) turns an interrogative pronoun into an indefinite pronoun ("some-, any-")