I posted this on the S.M. stirling Yahoo! Group before, but thought you guys might like it to.
Notes on Kartahownian, as drawn from the work of S. M. Stirling.
In Mr. Stirling's book, the Sky People, which I have recently read
and enjoyed, there are severals mentions of Karahtownian, the language
of the city state and empire of Kartahown. As I read through the book
I proceeded to record each line of Kartahown I could find, (which is
unfortunately, not many)
and then proceeded to analyze them. Presented here are the vague
fruits of this effort, which I hope you will find interesting.
Phonology
A note: Phonemes are represented by being within slash (/) marks, to
make sure you don't confuse them with the rest of the text.
Kartahown phonology is the area where I have the least knowledge, as
I read through a book. Is there an audio recording? That might help.
However I am able to say a few things about Kartahownian. It appears
to have a (some?) clicks, which I think is represented by the
apostrophe /'/ (but that may also be a glottal stop - it's unclear),
and it may also have a trill as represented by /rr/. Its /r/s and /l/s are confusing due to the lack of any examples of /l/ except for in /tl/, which I think is a distinct sound. Perhaps Kartaownian doesn't make a distinction?
Kartahown's vowels are also unclear. It definitely has /a/, /i/, /u/,
and /o/, (probably pronounced like their short English version or
their Spanish version) but surprisingly lacks any indication of /e/.
This could be due to the limited number of examples available, but I'm
not sure. I am also not sure of how /oo/ and /ow/ are pronounced. Are
they the same as in English, or completely different?
Kartahownian's syllable structure is unclear, although it is likely to
be simple, as it has a Syllabic alphabet.
This is of course all conjecture and is likely to be completely wrong,
if Mr. Stirling were to pull out his notes and tell us what its meant
to be like. ; )
Grammar
Kartahownian appears to have a Subject-Object-Verb (like Latin or
other Romance languages) word order, and a complex series of prefixes
and affixes, which I'm not sure about. Other than that I really can't
add much more on Grammar. I have no idea if it differentiates based on
tense, rank, or gender, or anything, due to the paucity of examples.
It also appears to lack articles, and may adjectives are combine
within the words.
I'm going to go over each example, by itself and try my best to figure
out the language with them. Things in parenthesis are just guesses,
and Kartahownian is in slashes.
/imiKartahownai 'n dus jas?/
(Translation inferred) Can you speak Kartahownian?
/imiKartahownai/ is Kartahownian, or directly
"of-Kartahown-language". /'n/ is ("you") and /dus/ is ("can") or
something similar, its not clear. /Jas/ is some form of "to-speak".
TmiTaWok s'wee, tob.
Get it back to the building guys.
/TmiTaWok/ means "get it back to the building", although the various
roots are unclear. /s'wee/ is a variation of "to", perhaps indicating
"back" also. /Tob/ is "Guys".
/imiAmerican imiKartahownRis fiwas, fornas-hoon shoom'n./
The Americans greet the Kings of Kartahown with respect, and also the
people and gods within its walls.
Here is where I learned that Kartahownian uses SOV from the first
part which is fairly clear. /imi/ means "of" and /Ris/ is "king"
therefore the first two words are "of-American of-Kartahown-Kings"
when translated directly. /Fiwas/ is "greet", perhaps with a
honorific? /Fornas-hoon Shoom'n/ is trickier, as I'm not sure whether
gods and people are in the same order as they are in English, so I'm
unable to make a clear translation. /Shoom'n/ is "wall-verbalizer"
therefore within, which I will prove in the next sentence.
/Shoodak w'zaa hotl/
The barrier that guards the world.
Direct: "Wall-(that?) world guards"
/Shoo/ must be wall because of its use in a clearly similar context
above! /M'n/ is therefore a verbalizer, although the meaning of /dak/
is less clear. /W'zaa/ is probably world, although I would bet there
is some part I missed in it. /Hotl/ is guard.
/Tau'wan hubimi/
Kill the Witchfolk!
This one is simple. /Tau'wan/ is "witchfolk", although the use of
that translation instead of "sorcerers" or "wizards" leads me to
believe its a compound word, although thats pure conjecture. /Hubimi/
is "kill", although seeing /imi/ there gave me a fright, but here I
think its just part of the word.
Now to go over borrowings in English. /Nurr/ and /Churr/ both have
/rr/, which I think is a trill, like the Spanish rolled r. /Tharg/
has no obvious information to give, and /Sorkisun/ "nobleman" has
unfortunately no relation to any of the other words that we know which
relates to people. /Shuma/ means "look out", but I can glean nothing
else from it.
What do you guys think? Is this accurate? Has anyone done this before?
Notes on Kartahownian, as drawn from the work of S. M. Stirling.
In Mr. Stirling's book, the Sky People, which I have recently read
and enjoyed, there are severals mentions of Karahtownian, the language
of the city state and empire of Kartahown. As I read through the book
I proceeded to record each line of Kartahown I could find, (which is
unfortunately, not many)
and then proceeded to analyze them. Presented here are the vague
fruits of this effort, which I hope you will find interesting.
Phonology
A note: Phonemes are represented by being within slash (/) marks, to
make sure you don't confuse them with the rest of the text.
Kartahown phonology is the area where I have the least knowledge, as
I read through a book. Is there an audio recording? That might help.
However I am able to say a few things about Kartahownian. It appears
to have a (some?) clicks, which I think is represented by the
apostrophe /'/ (but that may also be a glottal stop - it's unclear),
and it may also have a trill as represented by /rr/. Its /r/s and /l/s are confusing due to the lack of any examples of /l/ except for in /tl/, which I think is a distinct sound. Perhaps Kartaownian doesn't make a distinction?
Kartahown's vowels are also unclear. It definitely has /a/, /i/, /u/,
and /o/, (probably pronounced like their short English version or
their Spanish version) but surprisingly lacks any indication of /e/.
This could be due to the limited number of examples available, but I'm
not sure. I am also not sure of how /oo/ and /ow/ are pronounced. Are
they the same as in English, or completely different?
Kartahownian's syllable structure is unclear, although it is likely to
be simple, as it has a Syllabic alphabet.
This is of course all conjecture and is likely to be completely wrong,
if Mr. Stirling were to pull out his notes and tell us what its meant
to be like. ; )
Grammar
Kartahownian appears to have a Subject-Object-Verb (like Latin or
other Romance languages) word order, and a complex series of prefixes
and affixes, which I'm not sure about. Other than that I really can't
add much more on Grammar. I have no idea if it differentiates based on
tense, rank, or gender, or anything, due to the paucity of examples.
It also appears to lack articles, and may adjectives are combine
within the words.
I'm going to go over each example, by itself and try my best to figure
out the language with them. Things in parenthesis are just guesses,
and Kartahownian is in slashes.
/imiKartahownai 'n dus jas?/
(Translation inferred) Can you speak Kartahownian?
/imiKartahownai/ is Kartahownian, or directly
"of-Kartahown-language". /'n/ is ("you") and /dus/ is ("can") or
something similar, its not clear. /Jas/ is some form of "to-speak".
TmiTaWok s'wee, tob.
Get it back to the building guys.
/TmiTaWok/ means "get it back to the building", although the various
roots are unclear. /s'wee/ is a variation of "to", perhaps indicating
"back" also. /Tob/ is "Guys".
/imiAmerican imiKartahownRis fiwas, fornas-hoon shoom'n./
The Americans greet the Kings of Kartahown with respect, and also the
people and gods within its walls.
Here is where I learned that Kartahownian uses SOV from the first
part which is fairly clear. /imi/ means "of" and /Ris/ is "king"
therefore the first two words are "of-American of-Kartahown-Kings"
when translated directly. /Fiwas/ is "greet", perhaps with a
honorific? /Fornas-hoon Shoom'n/ is trickier, as I'm not sure whether
gods and people are in the same order as they are in English, so I'm
unable to make a clear translation. /Shoom'n/ is "wall-verbalizer"
therefore within, which I will prove in the next sentence.
/Shoodak w'zaa hotl/
The barrier that guards the world.
Direct: "Wall-(that?) world guards"
/Shoo/ must be wall because of its use in a clearly similar context
above! /M'n/ is therefore a verbalizer, although the meaning of /dak/
is less clear. /W'zaa/ is probably world, although I would bet there
is some part I missed in it. /Hotl/ is guard.
/Tau'wan hubimi/
Kill the Witchfolk!
This one is simple. /Tau'wan/ is "witchfolk", although the use of
that translation instead of "sorcerers" or "wizards" leads me to
believe its a compound word, although thats pure conjecture. /Hubimi/
is "kill", although seeing /imi/ there gave me a fright, but here I
think its just part of the word.
Now to go over borrowings in English. /Nurr/ and /Churr/ both have
/rr/, which I think is a trill, like the Spanish rolled r. /Tharg/
has no obvious information to give, and /Sorkisun/ "nobleman" has
unfortunately no relation to any of the other words that we know which
relates to people. /Shuma/ means "look out", but I can glean nothing
else from it.
What do you guys think? Is this accurate? Has anyone done this before?
