Verdurian: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox language | |||
| name = Verdurian | |||
| creator = Mark Rosenfelder | |||
| created = 1995 | |||
| iso3 = none | |||
| glotto = none | |||
| ietf = [https://www.kreativekorp.com/clcr/ art-x-verduria] | |||
| familycolor = conlang | |||
| nativename = soa Sfahe | |||
}} | |||
'''Verdurian''' (''soa Sfahe'', "the Speech") is a [[constructed language]] created by Mark Rosenfelder, first published in 1995 and hosted on Zompist.com. It is spoken in the fictional nation of '''Verduria''' on the planet '''Almea'''. As the most-developed and best-known of Almea's languages, Verdurian is a member of the Cadhinorian branch of the Eastern language family, bearing typological similarities to Indo-European languages on Earth. Derived from the ancient language Cadhinor, it serves as the official language of Verduria, the most economically advanced state on Almea, and several neighboring countries. | '''Verdurian''' (''soa Sfahe'', "the Speech") is a [[constructed language]] created by Mark Rosenfelder, first published in 1995 and hosted on Zompist.com. It is spoken in the fictional nation of '''Verduria''' on the planet '''Almea'''. As the most-developed and best-known of Almea's languages, Verdurian is a member of the Cadhinorian branch of the Eastern language family, bearing typological similarities to Indo-European languages on Earth. Derived from the ancient language Cadhinor, it serves as the official language of Verduria, the most economically advanced state on Almea, and several neighboring countries. | ||
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==External history== | ==External history== | ||
Rosenfelder has been involved in constructed languages (conlangs) from an early age. His interest became more serious during his college years at Northwestern University, where he lived next to a Dungeons & Dragons dungeon master named Chris Vargas. During this time, Rosenfelder contributed to the game by creating a detailed map of the surrounding wilderness and supplying unique in-world terms and languages for the game. All the players in Vargas and Rosenfelder's Dungeons & Dragons group were given Verdurian names.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zompist.com/secreth.htm |title=The Secret History of Verduria |publisher=Zompist.com |access-date=2015-05-30}}</ref> | |||
The language borrows words and grammar from various [[Indo-European languages|languages of Europe]], but has been described as not resembling any one language. Many of the words were inspired directly by [[French language|French]] or [[Russian language|Russian]]. Others, such as "elir" for life, were [[A priori (languages)|a priori]] coinages by Rosenfelder. There are also words based on political humor, e.g. 'fanaticism' is [[w:Sun Myung Moon|''sunmünmún'']] and 'terror' is [[w:Yassir Arafat|''arhafát'']]. | The language borrows words and grammar from various [[Indo-European languages|languages of Europe]], but has been described as not resembling any one language. Many of the words were inspired directly by [[French language|French]] or [[Russian language|Russian]]. Others, such as "elir" for life, were [[A priori (languages)|a priori]] coinages by Rosenfelder. There are also words based on political humor, e.g. 'fanaticism' is [[w:Sun Myung Moon|''sunmünmún'']] and 'terror' is [[w:Yassir Arafat|''arhafát'']]. Some early vocabulary is shown below: | ||
* ''druk'' "friend" (cf. Russian ''друг'' [dɾuk]) | |||
* ''dormir'' "sleep" (cf. Spanish ''dormir'') | |||
* ''filio'' "son" (cf. Latin ''fīlius'') | |||
* ''amor'' "love" (cf. Spanish ''amor'') | |||
* ''dobre'' "good" (cf. Russian ''добро'' [dɔbɾə]) | |||
* ''brak'' "arm" (cf. Latin ''brachium'' [brakium]) | |||
Some words in Verdurian, such as ''filio'', were eventually replaced, but many remain, as shown in the Verdurian dictionary. Mark Rosenfelder also worked backwards to create plausible etymologies for similarities between Verdurian and natural languages. For example, the word ''dobre'' is retained in the language. Its etymology suggests it derived from the older ''domeres'', which meant "fine" or "handsome" in the past. This progression is linguistically plausible, involving the loss of an unstressed vowel (domeres > *domres), a nasal to stop change before r (domres > *dobres), and the final loss of *s, possibly transitioning through h (dobres > *dobre). | |||
Rosenfelder continued to develop the Verdurian language and other languages of his constructed world throughout his college years. By the end of his time at university, he had accumulated extensive documentation and artifacts related to Verdurian and the D&D world. After the group disbanded, Rosenfelder continued to expand on his creations for the next 36 years. | |||
==Fictional history== | ==Fictional history== | ||
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==Phonology and grammar== | ==Phonology and grammar== | ||
Verdurian's phonology<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zompist.com/phonology.htm |title=Grammar of Verdurian |publisher=Zompist.com |access-date=2015-05-30}}</ref> has eight vowels and twenty-one consonants. Among the most exotic of its sounds is the [[voiced uvular fricative]] (ʁ), which is transcribed as an R with a [[háček]] over it ([[Ř|Ř, ř]]).<ref>Ethnoslavica: Johannes Reinhart, Tilmann Reuther, Gerhard Neweklowsky, (C) 2006, p. 213.</ref> | Verdurian's phonology<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zompist.com/phonology.htm |title=Grammar of Verdurian |publisher=Zompist.com |access-date=2015-05-30}}</ref> has eight vowels and twenty-one consonants. It includes historical sound changes that add depth to its structure, such as the laxing of /i/, /u/, and /o/ before a word-final consonant, leading to phonemic distinctions. Among the most exotic of its sounds is the [[voiced uvular fricative]] (ʁ), which is transcribed as an R with a [[háček]] over it ([[Ř|Ř, ř]]).<ref>Ethnoslavica: Johannes Reinhart, Tilmann Reuther, Gerhard Neweklowsky, (C) 2006, p. 213.</ref> The language's phonology and romanization system are detailed, incorporating standard and quirky choices that reflect deeper historical patterns. For instance, the character î represents [ɪ], a high front lax vowel that has become significant in inflectional paradigms. | ||
Verdurian | Verdurian grammar is structured as an SVO, lightly-inflected, head-initial language, and accusative morphosyntactic alignment. It features two genders (masculine and feminine), four cases (nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive), two [[grammatical number|numbers]] (singular and plural) and four tenses (present, past, past anterior and future), in addition to conditional and imperative voices. Additionally, Verdurian has a second imperative form, known as the classical imperative, which is considered rude and used only in specific contexts. | ||
Noun declensions in Verdurian are complex, with different patterns for masculine and feminine nouns. The language also has a fully conjugated imperative form that agrees with its subject in number and person, which is unusual and akin to hortative expressions in English. | |||
== Alphabet and Fonts == | == Alphabet and Fonts == | ||