The Relay Museum

gwendontsivolk

iðuzhelt ye yir ginsonar. wiþir yir markshe. ushu wiþir yir elrushe yengashar
tolsashar yiuzar, ushu þanturnewtifœsher yir ginsmarkswo. sami modwo nazgu u
sloni yi de. shosh dahi gins yi'uzar gins kaþlikhim, gins filikhim ginsuzar
su'uzar. dahiufar ginsonholsher ennitezhmsher arra ennitdahir yir. torsir yir
beb dwallir yir nazbanol u rashurir yir wiþo folne modl. rashuri enil newtontþað
galgukokra yiungar. apidaur ginsonholwor vrima mœzaezhm kirrlol mœzadeduol?
shosh garwir yir megontshe modlshe.

A Riddle

See them dance. The have no leader. They have no music but their own voices, nor
have they studied any choreography. Each goes where he will. But their dance is
the most graceful, the most harmonious of all dances. There are no dancers more
lithe than they are. They turn and weave so that they seem to have a single
mind. This seems the least difficult work for them. Do any dancers make greater
beauty with less effort? But they take not a single step.

(Roots - see grammar section for suffixes)
beb
(conj) and
u
(conj) such that
ushu
(conj) neither/nor
su
(adj) all
sam-
(v) go
sivolk
(n) story
slon-
(v) desire
tors-
(v) turn
tols
(adj) personal
ap-
(v) make
arra
(conj) than
vrima
(n) beauty
hol
(n) person
dah-
(v) be
de
(pr) alternative 3p pronoun used when repeating yi would cause an ambiguity
between two referents.
dwall-
(v) weave
en
(n) thing
ennit
(adj) lithe
elru
(n) music
folne
(n) mind
fi
(n) harmony
mark
(n) chief
marks
(n) plan, counsel
mod
(numeral) one
meg-
(v) step
mœza
(adj) great
þantur-
(v) learn
það
(n) act, deed
shosh
(conj) but
rashur-
(v) seem
iðuzh-
(v) see
kaþ
(n) grace
kirrl
(n) effort
naz
(n) way
newt-
(v) work
garw-
(v) take
galgu
(adj) difficult
gins
(n,v) dance
gwend-
(v) hide
y+person ending
(see verbs) (pr) personal pronouns
yeng
(n) voice
wiþ-
(v) have

Syntax

VSO. Agglutinating. Adjectives follow the nouns they qualify, and agree with
them. Predicative adjectives compound with the verb. Roots compund in head last
order within words. However, grammatical affixes are suffixes (segunakar)

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns may be followed by segunakar of six ranks. Each rank has a particular
grammatical role. They are specified in the order they occur following the
root.

modsegunakar (1st rank) Deiexis
il
this
ban
that
wo
any
she
no

densegunakar (2nd rank) Proximity

Indicates how closely associated the think qualified by the proximity-marked
noun is with the thing specified by the proximity-marked noun.
ash
without

radsegunakar (3rd rank) Relative position

Not used in this text

karvsegunakar (4th rank) Sense of motion
gu
by (route)

sintsegunakar (5th rank) Abstract relationships
uz
of
ol
by (instrumental)
ung
for (benefactive)

bantsegunak (6th rank) number
(a)r
plural

Verbs

Verbs may be followed by the following segunakar

Person/infinitive/participles (obligatory)
a
1p
e
2p
i
3p
o
infinitive
on/ont
Present participle. For many verbs this has the sense of an agent noun. If the
sense normal for the verb is not the one required, the present participle
compounds with another nouns to form the required sense.

Reflexiveness

Not used in this passage

Continuous aspect

Not used in this passage

Perfect aspect

fœ

Tense

Only the unmarked present tense is found in this passage.

Voice
uf
passive

Mood
lt
imperative
dau
interrogative

Negation

she

Number
(a)r
Plural

Adjectives

Adjectives may be marked for five degrees of comparison with the following
segunakar
ikhim
superlative
ezhm
comparative
dedu
reductive (less)
kokra
minimative (least)

Positive is unmarked.

These segunakar preceed noun agreement or verb compounding.

Derivational affix
l
forms adjectives from nouns in the sense of "Characterised by".

Concultural note

gwendontsivolkar are frequently used by wizards to instruct enchanters (those
with active magical powers who have not yet attained the true knowledge of magic
that is the mark of a wizard) in the art of discerning hidden meanings.