S'pht

The language of the S'pht.

Some day this page will be easy to navigate, easy to read, and maybe it will even look good. But not now :P (It looks better now, thanks Aaron Davies)

• Grammar
  • H
  • The
  • What's with this apostrophe thing?
    • after first letter
    • to combine words
    • as possessive
  • and
  • nouns
    • plural
  • adjectives
    • negative
    • comparatives and superlatives
  • verbs
    • conjugation
  • counting
  • rhl
• Vocabulary
• A whole text in both languages

Grammar

H

"H" does something, but we don't know what yet. One thing we have determined: it's added to words that end in a vowel but are immediately followed by an apostrophe, because an apostrophe can't follow a vowel. Example: "K'liah'Narhl" - "Vengeance of K'lia".

The

"The" is not used in S'pht. Who needs articles in a language when you can read them on www.macnytt.com anyway. :P

What's with this apostrophe thing?

After first letter

Apostrophes are common in S'pht. For one thing, they appear after the first letter in verbs and nouns, but not adjectives. Some adjectives have been (or can be) created my removing the apostrophe in the original noun. (Or sometimes verb.)

To combine words

Another use of the apostrophe is to combine words, which is done in a number of cases. One is the S'pht equivalent of the word "of" (or more accurately described, japanese "no".) "Vengeance of K'lia" is in S'pht written: "K'liah'Narhl".

The C in "S'ct'lac'tr" is removed because the same consonant can't appear on both sides of an apostrophe. "S'ct'lac'tr" is made from three words: S'ct - enemy; L'ac - death; and C'tr - disease. Disease of death of enemy - virus that kills Pfhor.

Also, two of the same consonant can't appear together (except in some cases...Yrro.) If there is a space between the two consonants, the words will be combined with an apostrophe and the second consonant of the two will be removed.

As possessive

Yet another use of the apostrophe is to form the possessive. "Our disease" would be written as "disease of us" - "L'on'ctr".

Whatever happens, one should always try to keep names intact, and not remove any of their letters.

And

R'ar means "and" and is used with spaces (Yrro r'ar Pthia - "Yrro and Pthia"); however, if it is within a word combination as above, it's treated like a noun. (Yrro'rar'Pthia'sct means "the enemy of Yrro and Pthia".) If the R'ar seems superfluous, you can simply use an apostrophe combination. (Narhl'Lar - Freedom and Vengeance.)

Nouns

Nouns begin with a consonant and an apostrophe. They are often very short, and the first letter after the apostrophe is often a consonant too.

Plurals

To form plurals, add R' to the beginning of the word; if it already starts with R', change it into Rh'. This doesn't work with names of races. R'Wrkncacnter is bad S'pht. :P

Unfortunately I don't know the plural of W'rkncacnter , S'pht, or any other race. They may be invariant.

Adjectives

Adjectives begin with a consonant. Some have an apostrophe, but most of them don't.

Many adjectives were (as you may have read in the apostrophe section) originally created from nouns (and a few verbs) by removing the apostrophe; for example Ktra (brutal) is formed from K'trarhl (to fight).

Therefore, some nouns and verbs can be created by adding an apostrophe to the original, adjective form of the word. Adjectives are to be written after the noun they refer to, and combined.

Negatives

To form the negative of an adjective (like english pleasant -> unpleasant) add Tr' to the beginning of the word. K'tr (painful) -> Tr'ktr (painless).

Comparatives and Superlatives

To make the comparatives and superlatives forms of adjectives, use the S'pht numbers.

Verbs

Verbs begin with a consonant and an apostrophe, but are generally longer than nouns; also, the first letter after the apostrophe is often a vowel. Verbs can be created from nouns by adding -arhl. (That usually looks really ugly, so I think the S'pht quickly found another way of doing this, which I unfortunately haven't found yet. = )

Conjugation

To conjugate verbs, simply add a vowel to the end:

These are only used actively; when verbs would have been used passively they are instead changed into adjectives by removing the apostrophe. "We were killed" - L'on s'erki'ktrarhl (L'on - we; S'erk - to be; K'trarhl - to kill).

(Yes, this can also mean "We were to kill", but the meaning will have to be interpreted from context.)

Counting

For counting, S'pht uses two systems. For simply counting, like in a countdown, it uses <to be filled in later>.

To count objects, it uses the following endings:

0 - bhu

1 - rk

2 - tr

3 - lha

4 - nr

5 - ct

6 - kn

7 - shr

8 - mn

9 - pht

(It can be debated if the S'pht really counted in base 10, but until that has been decided...)

(If the ending will make the word linguistically sucky, switch "L" for "R" and vice versa?)

These are added to the noun, using the word combination rules (C'tr'k = one disease; C'tr - disease).

They are also used to make adjectives stronger: Ktra - brutal; Ktratr - more brutal; Ktralha - most brutal. The lack of an apostrophe shows the difference.

Rhl

"Rhl" - "in", is used as a single word, with spaces, unless inside a word combination: S'pht'rhl'racn'ktr - "The power (?pain) of the S'pht in war" (R'acn - power / pain; K'tr - war).

Vocabulary

A whole text in both languages