TO THE NIGHT CITY: Teach Yourself Teonaht, Lesson One

A Quick Reminder of Pronunciation

Pronounce the following letters as you would in most European languages with these exceptions:

a, as in "saw"
e, as in "set"; as in "say" if final or ending a syllable
y, as in "cheat"
i, as in "sit"
o, as in "grow"
õ, as in "loot"
u before a vowel or between vowels as in palatal "y"
u (û) as in "bud"
c, as in "church"
ht, as in "thin"
hd, as in "then"
hs, as in "shin"

Doubled consonants indicate that the rules for stress have been violated: emphasis is on the vowel following the doubled consonant. Normally, stress is unmarked if it falls on the first syllable of a two-syllable word, the first syllable of a three syllable word, or the second syllable of four-syllable word. To the story:

The Teonaht article has four types or cases:

le, nominative agentive
li, nominative participatory
il, accusative/dative
ilid, genitive

The article is definite if it precedes the noun; indefinite if it follows it:

Zef-li uinnyht. (ZEF-luh yih-NEETH). "A man alone", i.e, "a solitary man." (Adjectives most often follow the noun.)

COMMENT: We've got a lone man on the prowl. Actually, he's just a traveller, and a foreigner to the Night City as you'll see. We put the word for him (zef) in the indefinite because he has appeared on the scene for the first time for us. That goes for all the other things mentioned below that make up his strange new world. The indefinite can often have no article whatsoever, in which case zef by itself represents the species "man," male human adult, or all men. The word zef in Teonaht does not stand, by the way, for "humanity," but is a gendered term. For a human being, a wight, a sentient creature, we've got the word imral, "soul," as in our archaic English expression: five thousand souls all told in the city. Meanwhile: in a narrative, we give this word an indefinite marker, like a little tail hanging after its name, to indicate that the man is one among many, but hasn't yet acquired definition:

Tsollai-li bomkkebõ (tsoo-LIE-luh bohm-KAY-boo)
"A sun with-sinking," i.e., "a setting sun."

(Here, the adjective is what I call a "progressive," expressing action in motion (there are no participles in Teonaht so it's inaccurate to refer to it as a present participle. The verb here conjoins with a preposition meaning "with".)

vyrrykwa-li fymyvdel. (veer-EE-kwuh luh FEE-meev-del)
"An iron horse steamy," i.e., "a steam-driven train."

Tilma-li hsoppendo (TIL-muh luh sho-PEN-doh)
"A bridge under hanging, i.e hung," i.e. "a suspension bridge."

(Here, the adjective is what I call a "passive," made from the verb conjoined with a preposition meaning "under".)

Syst-li arhhsyna. (seest-luh ar-SHEE-nuh)
"A harbor shining," i.e. "a shining harbor"

Idttesa-li senvyn nahry (ih-TAY-suh-li SEN-veen NAH-hree)
"A City's walls high," i.e., "high city-walls."

(Here, the construction is literally "high walls of a city.")

Dirrelzo-li meomrivar (dih-REL-zoh may-OHM-rih-var)
"A border's guard," i.e., "a customs officer."

(Same construction. Different form of the genitive: di- instead of id. All a matter of taste in Teonaht.)

IS THERE A STORY HERE? YOU BET THERE IS:

Le zef tanttely mante. (lay ZEF tahn-TIL-ee MAHN-tay)
"The man from out comes," i.e, "the man disembarks."

COMMENT: Now zef is definite. The postposition has become a preposition: le zef. This is a man we are referring back to. The change from -li to le means that he's an agent now. He's taken that first step.

li non-agentive or participatory
le agentive

The difference between the "agentive" and the "participatory" is simple: le zef refers to a man who performs a voluntary action, who is in charge of his verb and verbal object. Li zef refers to a man who "participates" in a sensation, a state of mind or being, or an involuntary event--as in the next example:

Il ilvaz li zef ke. (il IL-vahz luh ZEF KAY)
"the night sky the man sees."

(Here you have the accusative article il for ilvaz, which is what the man sees; but in seeing the man doesn't take charge. The light enters his pupils, hits his retina, goes to his brain, and while he may actively contemplate the beauty and strangeness of the Teonaht sky at night, his seeing is participatory. So is his hearing:

Ilid nijjyjak galleyly li zef ouan.
(IL-id nih-ZHEE-zhahk gah-LAY-lee luh ZEF OH-yahn)
"Of the gulls music the man hears,"
i.e., "the man hears the gulls' music."

(Notice the use of the genitive article ilid.)

BUT: when he listens to the words of the customs officer, he's an agent again:

Ilid meomrivar nihhdaro le zef oua.
(IL-id may-OHM-rih-var nih-DHAR-oh lay zef OH-yah)
"Of the guard questions the man listens (to),"
i.e., "the man listens to the customs officer's questions."

COMMENT: nijjyjak and nihhdaro are our first plurals. A common way to make a plural of a Teonaht word is to prefix the particle ni- in front of a two-syllable word that is normally stressed, turning it into a three-syllable abnormally stressed word. The Teonaht love that. Jyjak, "gull." Nijjyjak, "gulls." It's so musical. Dharo, "question," is one of the letters of the alphabet.

Li Dhare "The Interrogation" Meomrivar: "Syl aittear?" (seel eye-TAY-ar?) Officer: "Your name?" Zef: "Joseph Atticus Johnson."

(The customs officer is trained not to smirk, but the initials JAJ, boldly emblazoned on Mr. Johnson's walking stick, means "piss" in Teonaht.)

Meomrivar: "Hmeo Jonson, syl heale?"(seel HAY-uh-lay)
Officer: "Your countryhood, Mr. Johnson?" i.e., "nationality."

(Note that -le is a common nominalization meaning "-hood" or "-ness.")

JAJ: "Boston, Amerika."

Meomrivar: Hmeo Jonson, syl breco?(seel BRECH-oh?)
Officer: "Your purpose, Mr. Johnson?"

JAJ: "Venmanrivar y." (ven-MAHN-rih-var ee)
"[A] well-comer I," i.e., "I'm a visitor."

COMMENT: Teonaht is "zero copula" in the present tense, which means that it often drops the copula, or "be" verb.

Meomrivar: "Preb rora syl lomadrem. Amna rora li mermmindo."
(preb ROR-uh seel LOH-mahd-rem. AM-nuh ROR-uh lih meyr-MIN-doh)
"Up to sunrise your staying. After sunrise the melting."

JAJ: "Aibba kwa hdar tobre?"(EYE-buh KWAH THAR TOH-bray)
"That is what?"

COMMENT: hdar is the interrogative particle, which you'll learn more about in the next lesson. Kwa is the nominative form of the interrogative pronoun, "which" or "what." Tobre is a word meaning "thing" in T., so interrogatives are formed basically by saying "what thing/reason/way/location" to express "what," "why," "how," and "where" respectively. The customs officer replies:

Meomrivar: "Ar niffergrim tewymmaro."
(ar nih-FEHR-grim teh-wee-MAH-roh)
"To foreigners a danger."

What will this zef fergrimihs (foreign man) do? Will he turn back? Would you? Find out in the next installment...
S. Caves