| Glossary/mini dictionary |
ac, conj. and
adobuyer, vb2. roar, holler, yell
adorar, vb1. worship, adore, admire
ag, conj. and
attroúpar, vb1. discover, find, write poetry
ce, indef. art. the, a, some, a certain
crear, vb1. fashion, create, make
cunny, comp.prep. with the
do, prep +obl., preverb. to, at, with, on
Dons, o-stem masc. Lord
doponer, vb2. put, give, place, enthrone, strike, etc.
e, conj. and
eo, pers.pron. I
fecker, vb2. make, do, appoint
for, prep +poss.acc. over
henny, comp.prep. in the
ilalla, adv. over yonder, over there
in, prep +obl. in; +dat. into
l', def. art. the
la, def. art. the
lâ, adv. there
le, def. art. the
logiu, n-stem fem. saying, proverb
lox, o-stem masc. place, location, focus
mèdeos, o-stem masc. middle, centre
meu, poss.pron./adj. my
mi, pron. me
munds, o-stem masc. world, earth
névea, a-stem fem. arch. saint, holy, blessed
noms, n-stem masc. name
obscouritats, t-stem fem. evil, darkness, cloud-cover
retirarsi, vb1 refl. retire, withdraw, leave
selenciu, n-stem fem. silence
surd, adj. deaf
toúta, a-stem fem. nation, race, people
y, def.art. the
yspíritus, u-stem fem. spirit
ystar, vb1 stand, be
Just in case you were curious:
1. /lodZiu lIspirIt l@ dUn/
2. /@stEtajjo @ni mED loskuritat/
3. /@dobujWr @ni uskuritat e fjEkimi surT @g rEtirasimi ens@ sElEnsiE~n/
4. /ilaja kreasi jo lE~ mund @ni sElEnsiE~n/
5. /atrupasi la @nis@~ mund l@ mew lox xUni t_hut_h/
6. /do~bonewsont i t_hyid do mi l@~ nomen lIspiritus nEvea for le
mund/
7. /axadurasonmi la~spirit nEv/ |
| Grammar notes |
Mutations: Words in Kerno often undergo mutation. By in large,
mutations won't affect understanding or ability to translate. The
most commonly found mutations are Nasalisation, which occurs in nouns
of the Oblique case and Spirant, which occurs in the Nominative and
Oblique plural. Nasal mutation is signalled by prefixation of a nasal
letter (n- or m-); Spirant is signalled by altering a consonant (p, t,
c, etc.) with "h", the sign of the Spirant mutation: ph, th, ch.
Sounds and letters: Don't worry about trying to pronounce the text.
Spelling is not a good indicator of Kerno sounds!
Articles: Kerno has definite and indefinite articles. Articles are
used somewhat differently than English. For example, the art. is used
with proper names and possessive adjectives/pronouns.
M F Indef.
NOM il y la y ce ces
DAT li lis li lis cei ces
OBL le y la y ce ces
Remember, "le" causes nasalisation; "y" casues Spirantisation.
Nouns: Kerno nouns decline for gender, number and case (kind of like
Latin). There are three commonly found cases: Nominative, Dative and
Oblique. Oblique is the workhorse case, as it takes various functions:
object of verb, motion towards, possession, locative, accompaniment,
etc.
-A -O -N
NOM toúta thúti munds mundi nomú nomen
DAT toúti túteb mundi mundeb nomeni nomenib
OBL toútte thúttes munde mundes nomen nomen
-U -T
NOM muccus mhucces luckets lucctes
DAT mucci mucceb luccti lucctib
OBL mucce mhucces luckettelucctes
Dative singular and nominative plural usually show i-mutation: tyt /
thyt, mynd / mhynd, mych / mhych.
Adjectives: Most adjectives are easy because they don't alter form for
gender, number or case.
Pronouns: The usual range of pronouns is found in Kerno. Here, you
only meet "eo", the 1st singular personal pronoun; and "meu" the 1st
singular possessive pronoun/adjective.
Preverbs and prepositions: These get lumped together because very
often a single word can be both. Prepositions are used with nouns and
delineate the usage of nouns in a phrase; while preverbs are used with
verbs and alter their meaning in usually idiomatic ways. Here, you
meet with "do-", "ado-" and "ad-" which are all preverbs. "Do-" is
very common and almost always idiomatic in sense; it's basic meaning
is 'to', 'for', 'at'. "Ado-" is a combination of "ad-" and "do-",
meaning 'to', 'for', 'towards'. "Ad-" means 'at', 'in', etc. Don't
bother trying to break down a compound verb into separate preverb and
root meanings.
Verbs: Kerno verbs come in three neat packages called conjugations
(like Spanish or French). There are many subtypes made up of
irregular, defective and other odd verbs. Here, you only meet with two
persons (1st and 3rd persons) in one tense, the perfect. "-i" is the
usual 1st perfect ending; "-ont" is the usual 3rd plural prefect
ending. There are several affixes that appear in the verbs here: -as-
is the 1st conjugation perfect stem; -eus- is an irregular 2nd
conjugation perfect stem. "-eor" is a kind of passive or impersonal
ending without regard to person or tense.
A typical a-stem verb in the perfect tense:
1 eo cantasi nu cantason
2 ty cantasi vus cantasach
3m ys cantasot ys chantasont (masc.)
3f sa gantasot sa chantasont (fem.)
As you can see, mutation infects the third person feminine and all
third person verbs. Fem. sing. verbs show Softening, all third person
verbs show Spirant.
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