Os Afat is an archaic language spoken on the continent of Neronas.
Origin[]
According to the book Ke Hurh azh Afath ("Concerning the Origin of the Divine ones"), the goddess Avanÿa created the Afathi, "the equals of the gods". This race of mystics and high magicians later ascended to become the present-day Avatars. In the beginning the Afathi did not need a language as they were still a part of the divine existence but, as their beloved goddess was weakened due to the creation of the Dwarves , they started to carefully develop a system of syllables followed by a shift in the aether indicating what the sounds meant. When Avanÿa was banished by the elven gods, the Afathi started using a combination of syllables to form exact words and this later became the Os Afat.
Whether this is historically correct is for the reader to speculate as Ke Hurh azh Afath is the only written record of the early Afathi history.
Concerning Words and Phonology[]
As the "origin section" above explains, Os Afat is based on a limited number of afoshimo's (original syllables,105 to be exact). All words in Os Afat are compound words of these . The Afathi created a pictogram for each afoshimo, but as the knowledge of how to interpret them was decreasing, various transcription and transliteration systems were created, the most common is the Derolian versions as they are quite close in phonology.
(Concerning the spelling please see Derolian)
Sounds of afoshimo[]
Vowels[]
Each original syllable (afoshimo) have one of these five possible vowels:
A, O, U, I or E
These alone are actually the five first words in the Afathi-"alphabet": a (creation), o (I/ me), u (he/ she/ it), i (many) and e (destruction).
(Note: AOUIE is one of Avanÿa's titles: "U hajmurh o, ho hamimu huj, hadh azh adh, um e hag tha." - She who created me, all the tings that I see, all around, til the end of time.)
Consonants[]
Usually the vowel was either followed by, or preceded by a consonant. The original consonants are:
P, T, K, B, D, G, N, R, L and S
Hence the afoshimo's like "le (wing, roof)", "in (do, make)", and "ba (man)" were possible while combinations like "psi", "vin" or "met" were impossible as they contain more than one consonant.
Speaking[]
The attentive reader may have noticed that these few sounds is not enough to create the name Afathi as it lacks both f and th, not to mention the book title Ke Hurh azh Afath that seem to contain an awful lot of H's. You have just discovered the biggest problem when speaking Os Afath, the so called "Changing Whisper".
Chasona / Consonant changes[]
The Changing Whisper (Chasona) is a phenomenon that was first noted some time around 2000 years ago when the Isilarians began to transliterate the Elysian Scrolls in search for the key to immortality. In that aspect the scrolls were almost useless, but as an example of correct pronunciation of Os Afathi they were perfect.
The "whisper" (represented here as an X) sounds almost like an h, and when two "whispers" occur next to each other they are pronounced like an h. When it is placed next to a consonant, the consonant is changed into another, usually a softer version. Consonant changes are as follows:
X + X= h
p + X= f, b + X= v
t + X= th (θ), d + X= dh (ð)
k + X= ch (x/ɧ), g + X= zh (ʒ)
r + X= rh (ʐ), l + X= lh (ɫ)
n + X= m, s +X= sh (ʃ/ɕ/ʂ)
Chasona Rules[]
So when does Chasona occur? The Whisper is governed by three grammatical laws and by Ostenashi (see below).
- The First Law states that a consonant preceding a vowel of a different Afoshimo within a word must undergo Chasona.
E.g: Atol (temple) is transcribed athol, but naraat (jewel) is transcribed as marât as this word is formed with "na", "ra" and "at" and ra in this case is an afoshimo (meaning "heaven").
- The Second Law states that the Whisper appears between all words. Chasona appears
a. on the first consonant of the following word, e.g: eb Rai = eb Rhaj.
b. on the last consonant of the preceding word (if the following word doesn't begin with a consonant), e.g: Naas ui = Nâsh uj.
c. as an h on the following word (if no consonant is available for a or b), e.g: Anageli ag = Amazheli hazh.
- The Third Law states that all sentences must never begin with Chasona, but also that all sentences must (if possible) end with Chsona.
E.g: O olin (I built) is pronounced as O holhim, but O olin atoli is transcribed as O holim atholi since atoli ends with a vowel and it's almost impossible to pronounce an h after a vowel in the same word.
Ostenâshi[]
Two consonants next to each other are in Os Afat called Joste (consonant cluster), e.g: urkaek (mortality), thêklîn (kill) or fâlna (hand). However some combinations simply can not be produced, for example (using transliteration) kaekgain (descend). Other languages would render the cluster as either kk or gg using assimilation. In Os Afat using assimilation in such a way would be very confusing as all afoshimo's have different meaning, instead the Afathi created a system of consonant changes called Ostenâshi, with its help kaekgain becomes chaechkajn.
Here are all Ostenâshi's:
pb= fp, pd= ft, pg= fk
bp= vb, bt= vd, bk= vg, bs= bz
tb= thp, td= tht, tg=thk
dp= dhb, dt=dhd, dk=dhg, ds= dz
kb= chp, kd= cht, kg= chk
gp= zhb, gt= zhd, gk= zhg, gn= ngn, gs= gz
np=mp, nb= mb, nk= ngk, ng= ngg
sb= shp,sd= sht, sg= shk
Oshatnâshi / Diphthongs[]
...
Word Building[]
(Under revision)
Words are formed using the "syllables'" different meanings (thus all words that are not one "syllable" words are de facto compound words).
An example: The word for "temple" is athol created with at, meaning "god", and ol, meaning house. A temple is simply "the house of a god". We might use another example with this simple method: "Sanctify" is a bit harder, meaning "to make holy". A direct translation would be athuin: at (god)+ u (adjective-suffix) (=holy)+ in (do). However the Afathi has a different view as their word for "sanctify" is actually atholin (at ol in), "to make into the house of a god". For some reason they generally avoid using adjectives when creating verbs.
More abstract words may be created in the same way: Lhitêchimo is the common word for "battle". This time we do the reverse as we start by removing the final -o which is the noun suffix. We now have lhitêchin meaning "to fight" and once again we remove the ending -in. We now have another noun, lhithêk meaning "sword". Lhitêk consists of three afoshimo's: li (life), te (destruction) and ek (end). Often thêk (teek) replaces the word chaek meaning "death". Lhithêk is then translated as "life's death". Lhitêchimo is then translated, somewhat freely, as "thing that involves using life's death".
Morphology[]
Nouns[]
Generally, basic words have no specific ending.
Words originating from verbs or adjectives have the ending -o ("o-nouns"), e.g. oslîmo (song) from oslîn (to sing).
The plural is formed using the suffix -i, e.g. oslîmoi (songs or, poetic plurale tantum, celebration) from oslîmo (song).
Adjectives[]
Positive is formed with the suffix -u, e.g. ellîmu (beautiful) from ellîn (to shine softly).
Comparative is formed with -ule, e.g. isheshimule (bigger) from isheshimu (big).
Superlative is formed with -uad/-wad, e.g. elwad (whitest) from elu (white).
Cannot be formed using o-nouns.
Verbs[]
Dictionary[]
Pronouns[]
O/ ho = I
Se/ she = you (sing. Old English thou)
U/ hu = he, she, it
Oi/ hoj = we
Sei/ shej = you (pl.)
Ui/ huj = they
Ina = nothing, no one
Iui/ juj = some, a couple
Iu/ ju = someone, something, one (see Numbers)
Saiu/ shaju = that one
Saiui/ shajuj = those
Important verbs[]
Atapin/ athafin = worship
Gain/ zhajn = walk, travel
Kaekin/ chaechin = die
Kanain/ chanajn = be, exist
Kanarain/ chanarajn = carry, bear
Osin/ oshin = speak, talk
Tein/ thejn = destroy
Tekliin/ theklîn = kill
Prepositions[]
Do/ dho = with
Eb = from
In = in (archaic)
Ob = to, for the benefit of
Te/ the = without, with the exception of
Un = in
Ur = from (archaic)
Numbers[]
1= Iu/ ju (meaning"number of one thing)
2= Irai/ iraj ("number of heaven")
3= Iati/ jathi ("number of the gods")
4= Ikai/ikaj ("number of spirit")
5= Iesi/ jeshi ("number of harvest")
6=Itei/ itej ("number of destruction")
7= Ieli/ jelhi ("number of stars")
8= Ilii/ ilî ("number of life")
9= Ieni/jemi ("number of women")
10= Ibai/ ibaj ("number of men")
11= Iali/ jalhi ("number of water")
12= Iosi/ joshi ("number of speech")
13= Iisi/ îshi ("number of wishes")
14= Iisinaasu/ îshinâshu (thirteen and one)
15= Iisinaasirai/ îshinâshiraj (thirteen and two)
...
26= Iraisi/ irajshi (two thirteen)
27= Iraisinaasu/ irajshinâshu (two thirteen and one)...
Example Texts[]
The North Wind and the Sun[]
- The North Wind and the Sun by Aesop
- Bileurgâl mâs Rha ev Aishof
English: The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.
Os Afat: Adhis tha Vileurgâl mâs Rha theoshimur, mu vi hisheshimwadh azh u azh irai? Ista hibza zhata zhauga zhaimur zhaule humivu...
Ke hurh azh Afath[]
Excerpt from Ke hurh azh Afath:
"...Nâsh ui chaechkaimurh eb Rhai, Amazhelhi hazh u Vi rhaelhimu hu hathafimbai azh Athi holkateimurh. Uj chanaraimurh amatholhi dho marât lhîmu mâsh un fâlnai Hibgabî azh El chanaimurhui... "
IPA broad transcription: /...naːʃ uj xaexkajmuːʐ eb ʐaj, amaʒeɫɪ haʐ u vɪ ʐaeɫɪmu hu haθafɪmbaj aʒ aθɪ hoɫkatejmuʐ. uj xanarajmuʐ amaθoɫɪ ðo maraːt ɫiːmu maːʃ un faːlnaj hɪbgabiː aʒ el xanajmuʐuj.../
Translation:" ...And they descended from the Heavens, Angels of the same Power that the worshipers of the Gods had rejected. They bore crowns with radiant jewels and in their hands were the Staves of Starlight..."