Vaior Grammar - Algia Vaiori

The unit of word construction is the syllable. So, any legal syllable may follow any other legal syllables. Legal syllables:

• V (generally surrounded by word boundries or consonants)
• SV where S is one of {i u} which are pronounced as /j/ (in English, a 'y') and /w/ respectively
• CV and CSV
• CVF and CSVF where F is one of {n m l r s rh}
• VF and SVF
• CVH and CSVH where H is one of {ch th f} only when followed by a voiceless stop ({t p c}), F or word final. So, athce is legal, *athge is not.
• VH and SVH, again only when followed by a voiceless stop, F or word-final.
• Between vowels {t p c n m l r s} may be geminate; this is typically the result of assimilation or compounding and is uncommon in base stems.
• At the end of a word any of the F consonants may be found written double (rrh is double rh). While these will be pronounced doubly long if the following word starts with a vowel or at the end of an utterance, the primary phonetic effect of a word-final geminate is to pull the accent to the end of the word.
• There is a strong aversion to the voiced stops occurring at the beginning of a syllable if not preceded by a nasal or liquid. So, {b d g} generally appear preceded by {l m n r}. Sometimes d and less frequently b may occur independently at the beginning or end of a primitive stem. g in this position is extremely rare.
• The special vowels í and ú have some particular remedies when they run up against certain vowels:
  • í + i > ihi
  • ú + u > uhu
  So, the future of LÚ is luhu. Places where these changes are likely to crop up are noted when necessary.
• At the end of a word:
  • i + i > í, shifting the accent to last syllable
  • u + u > ú, shifting the accent to last syllable
  • o + o > ó, shifting the accent to last syllable, only for the present indicative of derived -o stative-verbs/adjectives
• In speaking -nr- is often realized (but never spelled) as -ndr-, -lr- as -ldr- and -mr- as -mbr-.

Notes:

Rules of accent:

• if a word ends in a double consonant, then the accent is on the final syllable
• if the word ends in -ú, -í or -ó then the accent is on the final syllable
• in all other cases, the accent falls on the next to the last syllable

/'li:-e/ is written líe and /lje/ is lie. Be careful to correctly accent words like oríAuo, which is /o-ri:-'ja-wo/ and not /o-'ri:-ja-wo/ (*orÍauo). The accent marker indicates a change in pronunciation, not the movement of the actual word accent/stress. [It is entirely possible that this notation is a mistake, and I should have used a dieresis and spelled líe as *lië but I didn't because whenever I see ü I want to pronounce it as in German, and I'm not going to change it now.]

If for some reason accent markers aren't available, í and ú may be written as ii and uu respectively. So, liie for líe and uueriiu for úeríu.

Illegal vowel clusters are generally broken with an h though some morphemes may have other preferred ways of doing that. The vowel clusters ao, oa (oai, oau), oe, ea (eai, eau) and, more rarely, ae may all occur without an intervening h. Different speakers have different preferences, however, and many will not tolerate *ae, using ahe as expected. Note, though, that oa is never turned into *oha, though at morpheme boundries ohai and ohau may occur. In writing spell the form you would speak. This is the only spelling creativity Vaior allows.

Illegal consonant clusters are generally broken with a, though a few morphemes have unique remedies which will be noted as necessary (v. formation of the plural in a consonant stem).

Since ei is not technically a diphthong, a word ending in -ei accents the -ei.

Adjective/Stative Verb Stem modifications. There are a number of stative verb stems which can be used as adjectives but which violate the world-ending rules of Vaior. Various changes may take place when the stem is used as a modifier. Stems ending in two consonants will in general suffix an -a. Stems ending in -c will change that to -ch, those in -p become -f. Stems in -t may become either -th or -n. Stems ending in single voiced consonants are fairly rare, but -b becomes -f, -d becomes -n, or sometimes -a is added, and final -g disappears altogether, the only example of which is SIUG (siu) yellow. These stem changes will be noted in the vocabularies as necessary:

CULD (culda)

v.st. heavy

RAC (rach)

v.st. low

Note, though, that these altered forms only occur in the nominative singular. All other forms will involve the addition of a vowel which will allow the original form of the stem to be used. So, for a somewhat odd example: ilo nal rach there is the/a low stone, but tuaro va nalan racan I see the low stone.

As implied in the section above, Vaior uses stress rather than pitch accent. However, using the correct pitch contour of a sentence is important to sounding more fluent in the language.

Unemphatic statements follow a basic pitch curve starting neutral, rising slightly to an important word near the middle to end of the statement, then dropping back to the neutral pitch.

             ......
.........---/      \....

Tharo na nume eien orian.

A superordinate clause will follow the standard pitch curve, but will raise the pitch even further before the subordninate clause, which will start the standard curve over. Very often the accented syllable of last word of the superordinate clause will take the entire glide up to the new pitch, especially when that word is a pronoun:

      /         ....
...../   ....../    \....

orai na, ar lu paio tanna.

Questions which use the correlative question words (tha, thare, wh- words, in English) do not alter the standard pitch curve of a sentence.

Yes-no questions, introduced by han take the standard pitch curve, but han itself is pronounced with a high to netral glide, often quite pronounced if the speaker is agitated.

The primitive roots of the language are mono- and disyllabic words. They fall into two general classes, nominal and verbal roots. This last class includes a great many stative verbs which generate most adjectives.

There are a few basic derivational suffixes which it's appropriate to mention here. First, to turn a noun root into and adjective, suffix -o. So nal (rock) gives nalo, rocky, rocklike. To turn an adjective into a noun (-ness, the quality of X), suffix -is: CIR (red) becomes ciris redness. This suffix can also be added to nouns with the same significance, so nalis, rockiness.

There are many ways to make nouns from a verb root, but the two most common are -e which represents the act or activity of the verb (TUAR - see, tuare - sight, seeing) and -ia which is the result of the verb, or the thing most commonly the object of the verb (tuaria - a sight, sights).

Nouns and adjectives agree in number and case, which will account for the sometimes surprising distance a noun-adjective pair sometimes have between them in elevated speech.

Plural The plural is indicated by suffixing -r to vowel stems and -ir to consonant stems. The declension is attached after the plural marker is added.

Cases. Keeping in mind that illegal consonant clusters are broken with a, the declension for all nouns and adjectives is quite regular:

Case	Ending
Nominatve	-
Accusative	-n
Genitive	-i
Dative	-ste
Locative	-ss(e)
Ablative	-ll(e)
Benefactive	-nte
Instrumental	-ul, but -vul for vowel stems

Notes:

Consonant stems, such as nal rock take a nominative plural like nalir. When, however, a case marker is added, the -i- disappears and the case marker is added, using the euphonic -a- as necessary. So, the gen.pl is nalri, not *naliri; similarly, the locative plural is nalrasse.

The locative and ablative forms generally drop the final vowel if the following word begins in with a vowel, but may do so anyway when the next word starts with a consonant, too. Note that the accent stays put when the final -e drops since all these endings are double consonants. They get their full form at the end of an utterance.

Since ei is not technically a diphthong, a word like tuarei will sound /twa-'rej/, with the accent seeming to be final. Technically, it is tua-RE-i, but the e and i glide together very easily.

For the genitive, words ending in -u are written thus: lartúi /lar-'tu-i/ not *lartui /'lar-twi/. Words ending in -i in the genitive are written thus: -í. This pulls the accent to the end of the word, as noted in the rules of accent listed in the phonology section. If the word ends in -o, the genitive becomes -hi, aldovei ulmaithohi of an inhuman house.

In a number of idioms and set, stereotyped phrases the euphonic vowel for the accusative (-n), the ablative (-lle) and the benefactive (-nte) is not -a- but instead -e-. So, latiaren for thank you is really the acc.pl. of latia.

Personal pronouns are declined like nouns.

Notes:

The 3rd person forms are also used as weak demonstrative or emphatic definite article:

en nal this stone
nir rhonir the very men

Note the somewhat irregular adverbial forms.

Examples:

Piono va naien carmen landu. I never read such a book.
Tamir rhonir! So many men!
So au thaie maith? What sort of person is this?
Tharo na nume eien orian. He alone understands this language.
Ilo carmer tamir airu, pionu va tamran. As many books as there are now, so many shall I read.

These are mostly regular, but not entirely. Those which deviate from the regular pattern are italicized.

Notes:

The h- form, or middle, demonstratives refer to things near the person spoken to, or at a medium distance. The n- forms are for distant objects.

The "any, some" forms are simply the question forms prefixed with ai-.

The landu form of "never" is strongly prefered to laldu which is used mostly by the same sort of people who decide "often" is pronounced "off-ten" once they see how it's spelled.

The old negative form *la is almost never seen any longer. The longer forms lul and lula are less likely to be mistaken for na.

The location forms (viare, hare, etc.) may take the three case endings used to indicate motion, so viaren - hither (to here), viarelle - hence (from here). In general the simple form does duty for the locative, though you can say viaresse for emphasis. (See the syntax section for more detail on this use of the cases.)

The longer forms, annu and enne are originally slightly stronger forms of those demonstratives, used when it was necessary to distinguish them from the pronoun usage of na and en, which were originally the shorter form. These have subsequently developed into the independent forms nu and ne, leaving na/en to act as pronouns and the weak demonstratives/definite articles. Nu is more commonly used but since ne is easily confused with en, the longer form enne is more often used.

The additional demonstratives, erda/eren and olna/olen are typically used for emphasis. Talking about something beyond a wall does not require the use of olen unless the speaker wishes to emphasize the distance, which may well be metaphorical rather than spatial.

The declension of au is a touch irregular:

The au form of the nominative singular is preferred before words beginning with a vowel and a before words beginning with a consonant. The au form is also used when for the independent pronoun: so au rhon this is a man.

The aie- forms of the singular accusative, ablative and benefactive are equally common as the shorter forms; in some speakers they are the preferred form. In analogy with these forms, there are a few alternate forms of the demonstrative ie:

Speakers prone to using aien will also prefer eien to ien. Note that there is also an alternative nominative plural form here, eier.

Dialect Note: Some people (mostly urban) have started to take the base stem of ie to be eie-, and the base of au to be aie-. This innovation is increasingly popular. The forms above are most correct, but the eie-/aie- forms are now acceptable in even most formal settings.

Anaphora and Cataphora. Any correlative may be made anaphoric, that is, made to refer to something previously mentioned, by prefixing it with i-, or í- before vowels. So, ina tath (that/the woman, the one we're talking about), or more definitely, íannu tath. Note that í- + ie becomes simply íe. To refer specifically to something not yet mentioned, typically something about to be, prefix the correlative with alti-, or altí before vowels (again, altí- + ie is altíe):

Ach evarai na altivíal, "lu leru va aithu." And he said thus (this way), "I will not go away."

So, i- points back and alti- points forward. There is no need to use these if the context doesn't require such precision, but the alti- form is fairly common in reporting speech or narrating a sequence of events.

Numbers. Vaior numerals are a simple base-ten system. There are a few peculiarities in the teens, and in the formation of a few of the ordinals.

cardinal, ordinal
0 - sifar
1 - har, hatto (hatt- in compounds)
2 - tin, rhattinn (rhatt- in compunds)
3 - san, sanio
4 - al, alio
5 - ser, serio
6 - pam, pamio
7 - cen, cenio
8 - fur, furio
9 - rith, ri occasionally, in counting; rio
10 - auta, autio
11 - atarr, atario
12 - atinn, atinio
13 - aussann, aussanio
14 - atall, atalio
15 - auta-ser (accent like autAser); auta-serio
16 - auta-pam, auta-pamio, etc.,
20 - tinde, tindeio
21 - tinde har, tinde hatto
25 - tinde ser, tinde serio
30 - sande, sandeio
40 - alde, aldeio
50 - serde, serdeio
60 - pambe, pambeio
70 - cende, cendeio
80 - furde, furdeio
90 - rinde, rindeio
100 - main, mainio
200 - tin main
273 - tin main cende san
1000 - piul
2000 - tin piulir
10000 - auta piulir
100000 - main piulir
1000000 - aio
2000000 - tin aior

Notes:

First, 10-14 are irregular.

Cardinal numerals do not agree in number with the noun they modify, ordinals do. Both agree in case.

When giving a specific day of the month, give the month name in the genitive followed by the ordinal number day: Baramudai serio April fifth.

The days of the week are simply numbers with the suffix -din (from sun), with monday the start of the week: monday is hardin, tindin is tuesday, and sunday is cendin. Note that saturday is pandin not *pamdin.

"Weekday" and "weekend" don't have exact translations into Vaior, with dalvidin work day dalviardin workless day (anomalous derivation) doing basically the same job.

Time. Except for some of the day cycles, the vocabulary is about what you'd expect:

• níe - second
• arra - minute
• raide - hour
• pin - day
• ceninn - week (v. cen seven)
• sansin - "a third", really means a week. This is a shortened form of tindarinni sansin a third of the tindarinn.
• mahinn - month (v. mahe moon)
• dininn - year (v. din sun)
• piuldinn - millenium
• aionn - aeon (from Greek)

Ages are typically marked by compounding an ordinal stem with a time word, with the genitive of the thing being aged: serdininne vini the fifth year of the child, hattadininne nei carmei the first year of that book.

When stating an age of a person there are two idioms, both using RETH to have with the number of years:

Retho va dininniren sande tin I am 32 years, I have 32 years.
Retho va sande tin ol I am 32.

The ideas of "next" and "last" are indicated with simple prefixes meaning "coming" and "gone." The unit before and the unit after also have prefixes. Laid out with an example, as well as the words related to "day" which are a bit irregular:

For the non-day words, of course use the correct case to mark the nature of the time relationship.

Clock time. True to its suffix-adoring nature, Vaior times are formed by suffixes to the appropriate numbers. The hour suffix, -raiu, is clearly related from raide, but the one for minutes, -fu, is of obscure ancestry. Both of these suffixes refuse the euphonic -a-, which means that some of the number words are abbreviated to give legal Vaior words. Here is the list of the first 14 hours and minutes to show the irregularities (Vaior perfers a 24hr clock):

1. harraiu, harfu
2. tinraiu, tinfu
3. sanraiu; sanfu, samfu
4. alraiu, alfu
5. serraiu, serfu
6. pamraiu, pamfu
7. cenraiu, cenfu
8. furraiu, furfu
9. rithraiu, rifu/rithfu
10. autaraiu, autafu
11. atarraiu, atarfu
12. atinraiu, atinfu
13. aussanraiu, aussanfu
14. atalraiu, atalfu

The Tindarinn Cycle. This is the oldest of the linked day-cycle systems that have nothing whatsoever to do with lunar or yearly cycles. Originally a liturgical cycle, the ancient form fell out of use when the standard week of seven days was adopted. It was originally regarded as three linked day cycles, one of 3, one of 7 and one of 5 days. Once the seven day week was adopted from another calendar, the inner cycle of seven days dropped out, leaving a cycle of 15 days in each tindarinn.

Etymologically, tindarinn is almost certainly derived from the word number 21, tinde har, the number of days in the original inner two cycles. Each day of the three day cycle, the sumbe (< sum - ambe ?*), has its own name: ich, niei and sum. The days of five day cycle, the aunge, are simply numbered, except for the fifth day, which is also called aunge. Here are the days of a single tindarinn cycle, with a few historical and cultural notes:

1. Har Ich - a bad day to start something new
2. Tin Niei
3. San Sum - regarded generally as a very auspcious day
4. Al Ich
5. Aunge Niei
6. Har Sum
7. Tin Ich
8. San Niei - used to be a fast day (no meat, no alcohol, no fish and no smoking); better restaurants will still observe this, more as a testament to culinary skill than to piety
9. Al Sum
10. Aunge Ich
11. Har Niei - a day balanced between auspicious and inauspicious influences
12. Tin Sum
13. San Ich
14. Al Niei - regarded generally as a very inauspcious day
15. Aunge Sum - but this day is an excellent day to start things

September 17th, 2001 is a Har Ich day.

In addition to the tindarinn, there are several other cycles in use, some with their own day names and some simply named by number, most mixing numbers and names for particular days, like the aunge. A complete catalog of such cycles covering the history and cultural significance of each cycle, as well as each cycle day, would take several volumes, and that would only include the cycles publicly available. A great many organizations may operate by private or even secret calendar systems. Most of these other cycles are typically used with either the full tindarinn, the sumbe or, occasionally, the aunge cycle.

• The Luhinumir cycle, "the Cycle of the Dark Ones" is a 13 day cycle named by number, abbreviated 1L-ri, 2L-ri, 3L-ri, i.t.s.. Used with full tindarinn. Often used by the clergy or certain nobility and, curiously, musicians.
• The mahaviar cycle, "moonless," is another three day cycle, which has to be jiggled from time to time to make sure that the most recent first day of the new moon is a 1m. day. The new moon is regarded as lasting three days, with 2m. the true new moon. Popular with (neo)Pagans. Generally used with full tindarinn but may replace that with mahaviar and aunge instead, confusing everyone, since the aunge is by some cut short to make sure 1.1m. is the first day of the new moon every month.
• The mahasansin cycle, "month third," is a nine day cycle, which is almost always paired with the mahaviar, for the full 27 day lunar month, now known as the anthamahinn, "the true month," which corresponds to a lunar month. Again, from time to time the mahasansin is jiggled to get 1m/s. on the first day of the new moon. The anthamahinn date (abbreviated aM.) is used by some.

Writing out a full date may get fairly complex. For example, September 24, 2001 is Setemrei 24io, 4.s. 2m. 8m/s. 4L-ri.

Adverbs. Derived adverbs are simply formed: lop off any vowels and add -íal. Some primitive adverbs will similarly end in -l, and there are also a number which end take a final -u, such as andu (very) and síu (a bit), though both síal and andíal may be found in some poetry. A few stems mostly related to time may take both -u and -íal, and will have slightly different meanings, for example, lailu - at night and lailíal - nightly, night after night.

In multi-syllabic adverbs which end in -u it is not uncommon for a final -l to be suffixed at the end of phrases or before a word starting with a vowel. Some words do this more frequently, though, and are marked with '(l)' at the end in the lists below.

• ailidu - sometimes; from time to time
• airu - now
• ais - still, yet
• ais lu - not yet
• aithlerru - further, and so further along, "more" in the sense of "five more people" or "keep reading more"
• aiul - forever
• alailu - tonight
• apinu - today
• cai - "just" in the sense of "X and nothing more;" frequently follows conjunctions, for example, arell cai just because
• ehiru - immediately
• haulu - often
• honu(l) - again (this is more common than tainu)
• im - already
• imiru - "just (now)" in the sense of "only a moment ago"
• lerlailu - last night
• lervinu - yesterday
• lu - not
• mial - most, mostly, primarily, exceptionally
• nevíal - finally (see also -ENV-)
• síulle - "for a little bit" of time only
• tavinu - tomorrow
• talailu - tomorrow night
• tainu - "again," somewhat literary word
• úeru - soon
• úeríu - in a bit

• assu(l) - too little, not X enough (this and the rest use the optional final -l at the end of phrases regularly and always before words starting with vowel)
• síu(l) - a bit
• numu(l) - only, merely, just
• ahíam - rather, somewhat
• achurru - nearly, almost; somewhat (see achur below)
• andu(l) - very, a lot
• andíu - somewhat, rather
• rhíu(l) - too, excessively

Prepositions. Prepositions involving movement generally govern the accusative to indicate motion toward, locative for location and the ablative for motion away from or out of. Everything else will typically take the genitive, but see the syntax section for more precise details.

Note that many of the adverbial forms of the prepositions (e.g. lerai va aith aldovei I went away from the house, compared to lerai va aithu I went away) are often somewhat irregular.

• achur - near/beside; achurru
• aith - away (from) + gen; aithu
• an - in, into; annu, annul - inward, though of course aníal is sometimes seen; rarely anvi or even amvi will be found instead of an, largely when the preposition is being emphasized
• auvi - before, in front of; auvu, auvíal
• cal - for; with respect to + dat.; callu. This "for" is used in the sense of "good for a cat," lam cal miaheste
• cervi - between, among; through + gen; tends to follow the noun it goes with; cerru
• ersin - far from + abl; ersinnu
• hom - around + gen; hommu This refers only to circular notions of "around," not the "approximately" meaning "around" often has in English.
• imhi - against + acc., anti-; tends to follow the noun it goes with; imhu
• irh - up; irhu
• les - above, on top of; lerru
• len - on (the surface of); lennu
• lor - without
• lorull - except, excluding, besides
• mus - under, beneath; murru
• nus - (together) with + gen; nurru - together; sometimes nurvi is found instead of nus
• ol - out (of); since (in time expressions); due to, because of + gen.; ollu, olíal
• perech - similar to, like, as (rare, except in perech ar, though often used with the meaning "in place of," "standing for")
• rul - regarding (takes instrumental typically)
• tul - like, similar to + gen; tullu
• sersi - over, across; sersu
• túis - down; túirru
• ur - after, behind; according to + gen; urru

When used in compounds the prepositions take abbreviated forms of the adverbs where those exist. Basically, chop of the final -u and one of the doubled consonants if there are any. So, nurru- becomes nur- in compounds; cerru becomes cer-, as in ceralia tetrachord (through four). However, aithu is just aith-, as auvu is just auv-.

If a derivational marker is attached directly to a preposition - a fairly rare practice - again the adverbial form is used, this time by simply removing the final -u. So, lerromo lofty, very far up.

The adverbial forms ending in -u may also be used as nouns, with generally obvious meanings. These are almost always used with genitive nouns in relationship to the preposition being so used: lerru lasi top of a tree, achurru palnali proximity of the traveller. Normally these noun forms are used when the noun they refer to is omitted. Cinai va lasan. Auchai lerrusse I climbed a tree. It was cold up there (in-the-above). Note, though, that you would never say, *auchai lerrusse lasi but instead use the preposition normally, auchai les lasasse.

In older documents one may find a number of the prepositions with a suffixed -ri. In this case the word may be used either as a preposition or as an adverb:

anri aldovomen into the great house
anri lerai na he went in

These phrases often take ta. Here are some common compound conjunctions and connecting phrases:

• achur (ta) eien, achur (ta) iei (at) about that time
• an (ta) eien, an (ta) iei at that time
• ur (ta) eien, ur (ta) iei after this, then, next
• auvi (ta) eien, auvi (ta) iei before that, before then
• imhi (ta) eien, imhi (ta) iei in contrast to this; in light of this
• lorull (ta) eien, lorull (ta) iei except for this

Pseudo-prepositions. This is a class of words which act sort of like prepositions, but aren't really. They are not used to form compounds, for example, and nearly all require a syntax which differs sharply from that of the prepositions proper: nearly all govern the genitive, and they all follow the word they go with.

And, in a final twist, a number of the pseudo-prepositions are simply the adverbial form of the standard ones. For example, vai lennu means "up to me."

• gen. aithersinnu - beyond, far beyond (spatial and temporal meaning only, rarely metaphorical)
• gen. callu - suited to, for, intended for
• gen. dúasiu - apart from, except for
• gen. irhu - "up;" somewhat more common than just irh
• gen. lennu - up to, in X's power
• gen. túirru - "down;" somewhat more common than just túis
• gen. ravíu - "in light of; considering"
• gen. urru - "according to;" this is about as frequent as ur + gen..

Verbs are built from verb stems. Though some verb stems have an intrinsically intransitive meaning, by far the majority have a transitive significance in their simplest form. Vaior is rich in verbal voice forms available: active, middle, passive, anti-passive, and inverse are all available.

Verb stems generally end in a consonant, but there are a substantial number which end in -ú, which introduces a few vowel cluster problems in the future tense, but nothing too shocking.

The tense system is fairly simple, though there are a few peculiarities in some of the formations of the past (OR - speak, talk):

As noted in the morphophonemics section, when ú runs into certain vowels it undergo some changes. Here is the conjugation for LÚ deny for comparison. Changes from the paradigm of OR are emphasized:

Finally, derived adjectives ending in -o are actually stative verbs. This blends with the present conjugation pulling the accent to the end of the word for the present indicative only. So laso + o > lasó. For all other pairings, such as with the infinitive, use -h- as normal: lasohol.

Notes:

The participle form is at its most basic an adjective. It can be nominalized, though, with the use of na or en:

na oroth vaste - the one/man/woman talking to me

The use of these is not required. They are most frequent in more formal contexts, but are by no means rare in any context. In contexts where evidence integrity is particularly relevent (law, arguments of fact, arguments about evidence itself, scientific contexts, including logic and mathematics) it would be marked not to use these. It would be construed as either deliberately obstructionist or perhaps a little otherworldly. Overuse of -ch and -cha is rude or comical depending on the situation, but using them in a sentence where the subject is a first or second person pronoun is potentially incredibly rude, and non-native speakers should not use it without extensive experience with Vaior. Avoid -ch / -cha in formal speech.

The evidence markers are generally not used in translations from other languages into Vaior, with the regular exception of -rirh and sometimes -ch/-cha.

Notes:

A form like lúíauo is pronounced like /lu:-wi:-'ja-wo/ (loo-wee-YAH-wo).

All of these voice forms may be further modified by the various derivational suffixes. Thus it is possible to have a causative of both an active and a passive stem: tuarnin- (cause to see) and tuaraunin- (cause to be seen). See the section on derivational suffixes for more details.

The voice marker suffixes which end in a vowel will sometimes result in illegal vowel clusters. The future passive of the indicative, for example: *tuarauu. In these cases use h to avoid illegal clusters: tuarauhu.

In some ways many of these particles act as adverbs. For example, they often follow the word or phrase to be emphasized. However, none of these show any derivation from other lexical items and rarely display the morphology associated with adverbs.

• han - makes sentence a question
  
• seri - yes (seríu - indeed)
• lúo - no, generally just lo, short for "(I) deny."
• úai - softens an abrupt statement or command
• thach - early in sentence, indicates a statement directly contradicting something just said; can be used alone: no way! (this pilfered from German doch!)
• rhai - conjecture, perhaps, maybe
• súai - conjecture, probably; I suppose
• accau - emphasis, surprise, really, even
• he - "at least, if nothing else, at any rate"
• hi - emphasis, "obviously, clearly." Using this is less rude than the -ch evidence marker.
• hirh - related to hi this has basically the same meaning as hi, but with a slight air of frustration at the statement being made
• e - vocative particle, precedes a person's name or a title.
• onhe -

Derivation. Vaior has a fairly complex set of derivational affixes. Not only does it have the full compliment of tools for turning nouns into adjectives, and for describing collections of objects (collectives), intrinsically large objects (augmentive), and so forth, but it also has a set of attitudinal markers, typically prefixes, which alter the meaning in subtle ways. For example, evaria is a "saying" but achrevaria is a saying such as bit of folk wisdom or a proverb. However, the implication of commonality achr- carries is tinged with a somewhat pejorative air. These attitudinal markers are quite frequent, and indeed the standard term for "proverb" is achrevaria but you should be aware of the additional implications these carry.

Many of these derivational suffixes will change the fundamental class of the word. For example, -radi-, "the study of," is basically a noun-producing affix. Something like -om-, the augmentive suffix, though, can sensibly be attached to many kinds of words, so has no effect on the word class. So, there are four basic kinds of suffixes:

• Substantive or noun-producing
• Verbal
• Adverbial
• Transparent doesn't change the class

In addition to these classes, any suffix may be listed as "final." This means it admits no further suffixing. For example, -ia is a final, substantive suffix.

The most imporant thing to keep in mind with these different kinds of suffixes is that they form nouns differently. With a verbal stem, you will almost always form the noun by suffixing -ia, but with a substantive stem you use -e. With a stem that is verbal either by nature or by suffix, the -e has a very specific meaning, namely "the act of doing the verb."

aldove + -om- > aldovome
TUAR + -om- > tuaromia means "a great sight" but...
tuarome is "a great seeing."

The transparent affixes don't change the class of the word it is attached to. So, a transparent affix attached to a verbal stem results in a verbal word.

Remember that a is used to break up illegal consonant clusters and that h breaks difficult vowel clusters.

The prefixes bind most tightly, and in general do not accumulate. Suffixes apply their meaning to the meaning of all preceding elements combined. The various verb voices also may be involved in a derivational process.

If one wishes to discuss the base meaning of one of these derivations, for example, -lande skill, you use the neutral stem as- to hold the suffix. Thus, aslande skill, asne female, assittal- to suddenly start. These forms aren't particularly common. However, taking one of these and then marking it with the generalizing suffix -ai- is used when discussing the suffixes in grammatical contexts. So, as-ne-haie the suffix -ne, and as-ilar-aie the suffix -ilar. A speaker will typically emphasize the suffix part of such a word, rather than the usual penulitmate accent.

A number of nouns end in a purely euphonic -e, such as mave door. In these cases the stem for any further changes is simply mav-. So, mavo would be doorlike not *maveho.

Lexical Derivation

Compounds. Due to the rich derivational morphology and syntax available, compounding of substantives is more restrained than in some languages. However, prepositions are quite often prefixed to verb stems, most frequently those having to do with motion, e.g., cerler- between-go, aithpaln- away-wander. The resulting verbs will govern objects in the appropriate cases for motion (accusative, locative or ablative) as though the preposition were governing the noun (or adverb) directly: anlerai na tath naren the woman entered (into) there.

Compounds have the base meaning of the word as the final element with the modifier the first element: chulnale black-stone (coal).

As usual, illegal consonant clusters are broken with a euphonic -a- except when the first element of the compound is a transitive, active verb, in which case -i- will be used: penthimile sleep-room; bedroom. This -i- is the most correct usage; it's slipping away in favor of always using -a-.

If a verb is the first element of the compound, it should take the appropriate voice markings if necessary: faunaumavo shut-door (this refers to obstructionist civil servants who are high-enough up to have doors to shut you out).

Form the base meaning of compound first with simple roots (or the correct verb form for the first element if appropriate) then apply the correct nominal, verbal or adjective suffixes. Compounds do not honor the basic type of the head of the compound. So, even though mil room is at its basic meaning a noun, when in compounds it must still be marked with a final -e when used as a noun, so penthimile. Derived words ending in -inn will not, however, take this -e. So, iasimhamrinn.

Just as you would not use nalatie just to refer to small stones, but instead pebbles, do not use compounds except to describe intrinsic relationships between the parts of the compounds: chulnale is not merely a black stone, but coal.

Compounds which describe a particular kind of thing or action (chulnale coal, a very particular type of rock) or which together describe something (faunaumavo a particular kind of person though that isn't in the compound itself, i.e. bahuvrihi compounds) are allowed in Vaior.

For the most part, other sorts of compounds (such as dvandva parent-teacher conference) are infrequent. The main exception are dvandvas which are sometimes used to cluster together related ideas. For example, nolgamundia generalizes sexual attraction, and súinlidia peace. These are fairly rare.

Some common compounding prefixes:

• sar-: makes any term affectionate; means heart. So, one might call a very close friend saraue heart-sibling.
• hoth-: e- (as in e-mail, e-commerce)

Base word order. The fundamental, basic word order in Vaior is Verb - Subject - Object(s). However, this should be considered a strong principal of word order, not a rule. Give the clear case endings, there is considerable flexibility in word order.

In general, modifiers follow the thing modified:

• N Adj
• N Adj Rel though sometimes Adj N Rel. If no Adj, N Rel
• Prep N Adj though sometimes N Prep Adj
• Spec NP (spec = correlatives, etc.)
• Adj/V Adv
• V S O generally with some exceptions mentioned below
• direct object generally comes before other noun phrases, including both indirect objects and other relationships

A word or phrase may be moved to the head of the sentence for emphasis, and to avoid binding ambiguity.

To move the time adverbial or prepositional phrase to the head of the sentence, move the phrase but put the conjunction ar before the sentence:

Alailu ar talu va viaren. I will come here tonight

This usage derives from an emphatic usage (i.e., "(it is) tonight (that) I will come") but is no longer emphatic in any way due to abbreviation. This form is never used in a dependent clause introduced by ar or one of its compounds.

Negation. Normally the negation lu not will follow the word to be emphasized. The most important exception to this is when negating an entire sentence, when, as mentioned earlier, lu will generally lead the sentence. Finding lu not at the head of the sentence emphasizes the negation of a particular word or phrase:

1. lu lairho va niren I don't know them
2. lairho va lu niren I don't know them
3. lairho va niren lu I don't know them
4. *lairho lu va niren I don't know them

Sentence (4) is a bit unusual since it separates the verb and the subject pronoun, which is normally avoided in Vaior. This strong verbal emphasis is the only time it's allowed.

Vaior negation words do not negate other negation words. That is, "I know nothing" can be lu paio va líen as well as the shorter paio va líen. You can even say lu paio va líen landu with the basic meaning "I never know anything." The change is in emphasis, so the simplest form, with a single negative, is most common in normal speech.

There are several ways to specify an object's attributes. In Indo-european languages this is generally accomplished with relative clauses and adjectives. Vaior is much the same but the use of adjectives is a little unusual.

Base Adjectives. Adjectives are simply stative verbs. When modifying a noun in a noun phrase the stem can simply be treated as a traditional I-E adjective which must agree in number and case with the object it describes, so nalir chulir - black stones. (In reality, this is just a sort of sharply abbreviated relative clause.) However, in an attributive statement (The stone is black) the adjective reverts to the verbal form. So, chulo nal, never *so nal chul. In this attributive statement there is a tendency for the noun to head the sentence, nal chulo, though this order is never used when the subject is a pronoun.

Derived Adjectives. Derived adjectives are treated just as base adjectives. Note that those which end in vowels will insert an -h- before conjugations, except that the o + o combination becomes -ó: ulpaió va rul ievul I'm ingorant about this; but ulpaiohu na he will be ingorant. Keep in mind the phonetic rules about the -oa- combination, though, for the past: ulpaioai is perfectly acceptable, as is ulpaiohai.

Comparatives and Superlatives. For simple nouns being compared, the ablative is used with the thing compared to: piono sa mielamíal valle you read better than I (do). When sentences or verbs are compared, olta introduces the thing compared to: oro na mielamíal, olta ercorho tanna he speaks better than he listens. The speaker may introduce a note of irritation or sarcasm by casting the olta clause in the subjunctive.

To state equality of quality, "as ADJ as X", use this: ADJ .. tamíal tul X-i. This phrase means basically "ADJ as-greatly like X." Note that the thing being equated to is in the genitive, since it follows tul: lamo ie carme tamíal tul asei this book is as good as that (one).

When comparing verb phrases or adverbs, the format is basically the same: ADV tul ar VERB. The only difference is that tamíal tul has been replaced with the phrase tul ar: rhithai ta Saival Auhal faríal tul ar aspovo then the North Wind blew as strongly as it could.

Nominative. The nominative is the subject of sentences. It is also used after the vocative particle e in direct address.

Accusative. The accusative is used as the direct object of many verbs. It is also used to specify or focus the meaning of a descriptive word, usually an adjective. This is often best thought of in translationese as "with respect to:" a rhon fin urtheren this man fast (with respect to) feet. One can also say fido a rhon urtheren. This construction is sometimes called the "accusative of respect."

If the accusative is the direct object of a verb, then the accusative is used as the object of any of the noun forms. In most European languages this is done in the genitive (in English, "of", "'s"). For example in "the killing of deer is illegal" the object of the nominalized verb is "of deer" which acts as the genitive in English. In Vaior, you would instead simply say lu ceivinnó ramche lautan killing a deer is not legal.

If it is necessary to specify an instrument and an indefinite object, the instrument will come after the object or directly before or after the verb (generally before it if the subject is a pronoun, since separating the verb and subject pronoun is strongly avoided):

Tuaro va nalan autevul - I see a/the rock by eye.
Tuaro va nalul autevul - I see some rock by eye.
Autevul tuaro va nalul - By eye I see some rock. but...
Tuaro autevul rhon nalul - By eye a man sees some rock.

You may of course also say, tuaro va aithen nalan but in this case that it's a rock I'm seeing is still important, though I have unspecified which rock. In tuaro va nalul that I'm seeing is more important than the rock, though I'd still like to get the rock into the picture.

Motion without a Preposition. Although in indicating motion the accusative, locative and ablative are often used with prepositions, a word may stand in these cases ungoverned by a preposition when the meaning is clear:

Piono va aldovesse. I am reading (at) home.
Lerai na narelle He came from there..
Han talu sa viaren? Will you come (to) here?

Time. The accusative indicates the time at which something happened (lailan at/during the night) and the ablative indicates a duration, time within which (pinrall alalle for four days). The time since which something has happened is indicated with the preposition ol with the genitive for nouns: ol pinri ali since four days (ago). With adverbs, such as lervinu, there is no case marking: ol lervinu since yesterday. Time until something happens is indicated with an plus the accusative, an lailan until the evening. Again, no case marking for an adverb: an alailu until this evening. Time within which something happens is usually indicated with the ablative, but can be emphasized with ol with the ablative.

Approximate times are indicated with achur with the same case indications as above.

Prepositions. In prepositions of motion the accusative case indicates motion towards, the ablative motion from and the locative location:

Silhai na an aldovesse - He stood in the house.
Talo na ol aldovelle - He comes out of the house.
Leru sa an aldoven - You will go into the house.

Most other prepositions take the genitive, but a few take the instrumental, notably rul, regarding. Prepositions which take the genitive may sometimes take the instrumental when the speaker wishes to emphasize the prepositional relationship or the agency of the subject of the sentence, so lerai na aith aldovevul (she went away from the house) implies that the person leaving did so with intent or deliberation, but lerai na aith aldovei is simply a statement that she left.

Normally a preposition will precede the noun phrase it goes with. Rarely does a preposition follow, except in poetry, though imhi and cervi quite often follow even in prose and everyday speech. If, however, the noun phrase has two substantive elements (noun + adjective), then it's quite common for the preposition to go between: aldoven an achinan into an old house. In elevated language this can also happen with demonstratives: iess an suepiaresse in this shop.

Tense. In primary clauses the use of the tenses corrosponds to actual time. Note that you say I'm going tomorrow always as leru va tavinu, never *lero va tavinu. If refering to the future, use the future tense.

In subordinate clauses the tense used is relative to the tense of the primary clause, where the past is used for things before, the future for things after and the present for things happening at the same time as the event in the superordinate clause.

Aspect. There are several ways to modify the aspect of a verb. First, there are a large set of derivational affixes which operate on aspect, such as -ittal- begin, etc. Temporal adverbs may modify the aspect in subtle ways. Finally, there are several particles which modify aspect. There are several sets of these which differ in their syntax. First, let's look at those which must immediately precede the verb:

• ro - perfect
• ce - experiential

The only time these do not directly precede the verb is when the clause is connected with ta, in which case the order is aspect particle + ta + verb.

The perfect indicates that the action was completed and that this completed state is still the case at the time indicated by the verb tense. So, the present perfect (ro fauno va maven) simply indicates I have closed the door without reference to when that happened, merely that the door is still closed at the moment. Ro faunai va maven means I had closed the door and depending on context may well mean "but it isn't closed now."

Finally, the experiential states that at the time indicated by the tense of the verb you have had the experience of doing the verb. So, Han ce piono sa eien carmen? means Have you read this book? but the emphasis is not on the completion of the action (English uses the perfect for this experiential meaning, too). A better example is Han ce tuaro sa carmen vai?, Have you seen my book? with the implication that it's being looked for. This might best be translated into English by putting "ever" before the verb, so, "have you ever seen my book?" although this forces a past implication in English which is not present in the Vaior sentence.

Both ro and ce may go with participles and infinitives.

In addition to moderating the tone of commands, the sentence particle úai can be used with a prospective meaning, "about to," pentho na úai she is about to sleep; lerai va aithu úai I was about to go away.. The future prospective is generally only used to describe something a speaker is trying to do but cannot due to repeated interruptions, and indicates frustration: Ravu va eien vendian úai! I was about to answer this question!. Often úai will move to the head of the sentence when marking the prospective.

The prospective is only used in main or independent clauses. Use the simple future in subordinate clauses, or use a future participle.

Voice. The several voices Vaior offers are not terribly complex. The active and passive work as in most languages: tuaro va I see, tuarauo va I am seen. The agent of the passive, if expressed, is in the ablative case: tuarauai va salle I was seen by you.

In the middle, the original object becomes the subject, like in the passive. Unlike the passive, the original subject is not ever mentioned, and is in fact irrelevant: tuario va *I see/am seen.

The reflexive simply marks the subject as also being the object of the verb. This is often used to make a transitive verb intransitive. Take care to distinguish this from the middle. For example:

Parvo va carmen. I move a book.
Parvio carme. A book moves.
Parveio va. I move (myself).
Parvio va. I move (by what agency isn't stated).

The reflexive is also used with transitive verbs, sometimes with pleonastic objects: ertuareiai nir ereldun they looked-at-each-other at each other. In theory, ertuareiai nir is sufficient and probably best. This usage appears to have developed out of some reflexives which take additional complementary or focusing objects. For example, ihinneio na she washes (herself) is quite frequently followed by more specific objects: ihinneio na hauran she washes (herself) her face.

Although the middle is generally only applied to transitive verb stems, there are a few intransitives which sometimes appear in the middle, generally in impersonal idioms which have no stated subject.

Conjunctions. Vaior has the standard complement of conjunctions. It also has a number of enclitic conjunctions to which it is quite partial. Enclitics are quite frequently the second element in a clause, but easily move to follow whatever word they logically go with. In connected Vaior very few sentences are not connected in some way to the preceding one. Especially for words such as ta, uri and min, it is often best not to translate them into English at all.

Enclitics

• ach - and - this is used only to connect items in a list
• ach... ach... - both ... and ...
• ta - but, and (enlcitic)
• tei - but (quite strong, still enclitic)
• min - "for;" Often found with ta and me: min ta, min me, ta min me, etc.
• me - also (not quite a conjunction, but connects sentences)
• mei - a stronger version of me
• X ta ach Y - "both X and Y;"
• X ta me - "and also; but further"
• X tei me - "but also X"
• X ta Y tei me - "(not only) X but also Y"
• X ta Y ta mei - "(not only) X but Y, too"

• uri... ta... - both are enclitic and will follow the words to be emphasized. They are used to set up two contrasting situations. ta may be repeated if there are several follow-ups.

  Non-enclitics

• an ar - while, during
• ar - that
• ardu - when (used more often than thildu)
• arell, arelle - because
• arta - in order that/to
• arul - lest, that not (really, a very common substitute for ar lu)
• auvíar - before
• ei, eia - or
• han - whether, if (indirect questions, lu paio va, han talu na viaren I don't know if he will come here)
• ollar - although
• olta - however
• on... aron...(eita...) if... then...(otherwise, else...)
• perech ar - as though, as if
• tíar - that (used in indirect speech only); in informal language, simply ti is quite common
• taul - "therefore, so;" often used as an enclitic
• thildull(e) (ar), thildullar "since" (only in the temporal meaning)
• ur ar - after

The use of uri... ta... requires some comment. By itself, ta is the standard word for a contrasting conjunction, "but." However, it's used more widely where an English speaker would use "and." It is often used to join sentences in a narrative. Both uri and ta are enclitic, that is, they have no accent of their own. They never begin a sentence, but typically follow the first word in a clause. Note particularly that the strong aversion to separating a verb and its subject pronoun is ignored with both: evarai ta nir líen (but they said nothing). If you wish to emphasize the subject pronoun, then this is acceptable: nir ta evarai líen (but they said nothing). It is, however, quite common to simply follow the words you are contrasting with uri/ta regardless of where they fall in the sentence: tuarai va uri nan, lerai sa ta aithu I saw him, but you had gone away. Often uri/ta will come between a demonstrative and the noun it modifies:

eien uri carmen pionai sa, ennen ta carmen aune vai You read this book but my sister (read) that book.

When a word or phrase is broken out of the normal word order and moved to the head of the sentence for emphasis, it is quite common for that word or phrase to take ta without necessarily implying a strong contrast. So, eien ta lu paio va I don't understand this.

The adverb me also, too behaves similarly to ta. It is not accented. It follows the word it modifies, and often the word or phrase it modifies is moved to the head of the sentence for a slight emphasis: va me ce piono eien carmen I too have read this book, or, eien me carmen ce piono va I have read this book also. Of course, you may also simply say ce piono va me eien carmen I also have read this book..

The meaning of the combination ta me contrasts slightly with either ta or me. In English, the word "also" really has two uses: 1) to add something to a list, "he went; I also went" or 2) to add futher information, "he went; he also went to the store." By itself, me usually refers to the first usage, but can be used for the second. However, ta me always has the sense of adding additional information:

lu paio va; lu na me paio I don't know; she also doesn't know
lu paio va; lu ta me paituvo va I don't know; I also don't want to know

Ri. In poetic language only there is another construction used to set up contrasts. It involves the use of the demonstrative pronouns followed particle ri in successive clauses. Basically, replacing both uri and ta with ri whenever demonstratives - and en/na - are used will give you the structure. So, rephrasing the sentence from the discussion on uri/ta above:

eien ri carmen pionai sa, ennen ri carmen aune vai

Relative clauses. These are essentially extended adjectives, and take the indicative: tuarai va rhonan, thía piono carmen I saw the man who was reading a book. Note that in the sentence above the relative heads the clause, with the verb immediately following. This word order is by no means required, and tuarai va rhonan, piono thía carmen is quite acceptable, too.

In fact, it is quite common to find the relative pronoun being used in a somewhat anaphoric sense refering to a matter in a previous sentence:

A: Han tuaro sa annun rhonan? Do you see that man?
B: Lu lairho va thían. I don't know him.

This use is most common when commenting on something and a contrast is necessary or if further description is required. If in the dialog above if A had asked B instead, han lairho sa annun rhonan the correct response would be either a simple lo or lu lairho va nan. In the dialog above, B is essentially saying "you mean that man I don't know?"

The usage for the relative forms of the other correlatives are used the same: lu uto, thiren lerai na it isn't raining where he went may be found also as lu uto, lerai na thiren.

In this sentence both cúe and thíe are in the same case. Since no confusion can arise here, the relative may be dropped, giving this:

Tuaro va cúen na tuaro. I see everything he sees.

This same process works with the negative pronouns:

Lu tharai va líen, thíen evaro na. I understood nothing which he was saying.
Lu tharai va líen evaro na. I understood nothing he was saying.

If, however, the case changes between the object pronoun and the relative the fuller form should be used:

Lu tharai va líen, rul thíevul evaro na. I understood nothing he was talking about.

An English sentence like "I see everyone singing" has a slight ambiguity. I could mean "I see everyone who is singing, but no one else" or it could mean "I see that everyone is singing." In the first case in Vaior you should always use a relative clause:

Tuaro va cúan, thía intho. I see everyone (who is) singing

In the second situation you're observing everyone engaged in a particular activity, and the participle is most used here:

Tuaro va cúan inthothan. I see everyone singing

It is in report clauses that Vaior speakers are most tempted to use the evidence markers in a subordinate clause. This sort of thing is frowned on in modern usage, however. If the speaker wishes to distance himself from the reported statement, then the subjunctive may be used in the subordinate clause: corhai va, tíar pionairrh ennen carmen I heard that he had read that book..

Verbs of command, permission and prohibition will take report clauses in present and future tense. In the past, an order that wasn't followed will be cast in the subjunctive.

Thionu arseine tíar duerceio nir. The general will order that they stop (at the same time as the order).
Thiono arseine tíar duerceio nir. The general orders that they stop (now).
Thiono arseine tíar duerceiu nir. The general orders that they stop (soon).
Thionai arseine tíar duerceio nir. The general ordered that they stop (then). No idea of the command was followed.
Thionai arseine tíar duerceiorrh nir. The general ordered that they stop (then). The command was not followed.
Thionai arseine tíar duerceiurrh nir. The general ordered that they stop (soon). The command was not followed.
Thionai arseine ar duerceio nir. The general ordered that they stop (then). They did.

Some speakers, when talking about their own commands and prohibitions, will use will/desire clauses with the optative.

Statements of opinion and belief may take either the indicative or the subjunctive as the speaker sees fit. Negative statements of opinion very often take the subjunctive, however:

Durbo va tíar so na tethtuhe. I believe he is a twit
Lu durbo va tíar sorrh na tethtuhe I don't believe he's a twit.

Indirect questions are much like report clauses, and can use the indicative: lu paio va, tharen lerai na I don't know where she went. The subjunctive may be used to intensify the uncertainty of the question: lu paio va, tharen lerairrh na. Also, sottai va han anthorrh ie I wondered if this were true.

Will/desire clauses. There are two types of these clauses, one where the subject of the desire is the same as the subject of the action desired (I want to go) and one where the subjects of the two clauses are different (I want you to go). In the first case, simply use the infinitive, tuvo va lerol, or the derived verb, lertuvo va. In the second, use ar + indicative or optative. Using the optative is more emphatic, but adds a faint sense that the desire is likely to be unfulfilled: asaulo va, ar talúimm na alailu I hope that he will come tonight.

Note the several forms in -úal. This is a reduced form of a passive formation, -auíal.

These impersonal forms typically come at the head of the clause, or after the subject if expressed, but of course there is great flexibility:

ulsaufo tuaro enen it is impossible to see it
piníal olhauo neido it is necessary to meditate daily
ro darso na evarauo it is said that he has died
han cuadúal pentho viare? is it permitted to sleep here?

Binding Ambiguity and Anaphora. The use of embedded phrases (relative clauses, participles, etc.) can lead to certain ambiguities. For example, the word aldoven can logically go with either lero or daipoth in the sentence lero tath daipoth fidíal aldoven.. That is, the woman walking quickly is going home or the woman walking quickly home is going. In this case, the first meaning seems most logical, but grammatically, the statement in Vaior presents some possible confusion.

In these situations there are two remedies. One is to simply move complex, wordy or ambiguously bound expressions (linguists call the wordy ones "heavy") that goes with the head verb (lero, here) out in front of it: aldoven lero tath daipoth fidíal or even tath daipoth fidíal lero aldoven. This is an elegant solution, and by far the most common approach to the problem, even if it does break the most common word order, Verb-Subect-Object.

Another possibility is to use something like "clefting." Use an anaphoric pronoun referencing the head of the ambiguity-causing phrase to signify the resumption of the main clause: lero tath daipoth fidíal na aldoven. This pronoun must agree in case and number. So, cathai va carmeran thíeran piono va naste could be I gave the books which I read to him or I gave him the books which I read. The second interpretation can be assured by phrasing it thus: cathai va carmeran thíeran piono va iran naste. Of course, naste could also be moved to the head of the sentence.

Finally, the anaphoric pronoun may be used with the anaphoric verb, AS, to completely disambiguate what is going on:

lero na tath daipoth fidíal aso na aldoven.

This is a little more common than the pronoun alone, especially in spoken Vaior. Avoid it in writing.

The derivation system of Vaior is fairly complex, and many of the suffixes themselves entail a certain amount of syntax or cause case changes which are not necessarily obvious. Further, as mentioned in the section on derivational morphology, a great many of the derivational markers come loaded with additional significance beyond the merely lexical, and the use of a marker such as -autu- is a potential source of embarrassing social blunders.

Also, many of the modal suffixes (want, hope, etc) get tricky once your hopes and wants involve other people as the subject of a clause. Thus, there is both a suffix and a separate verb stem for "want." It is important to choose the correct form.

This section has a description of all the relevent case and syntax alterations which crop up when using the derivational affixes.

Some comments on adverbs. The flexibility of Vaior's derivation system also brings with it some subtle binding difficulties. For example, take a sentence like pionninai va naste lamíal I caused him to read well. The tricky problem here is determining what exactly lamíal is modifying, pion- or -nin, that is, "I caused him to read well" or "I well caused him to read." This problem also crops up for basic adverbs, and potentially with lu.

In the simplest cases, if you put the adverb at the head of the sentence it modifies the last affix in the word, that is, then entire word's meaning. So, lamíal pionninai va naste means "I well caused him to read."

If the adverb is placed elsewhere in the statement, generally after the subject, possibly at the end of the rest of the sentence, the modifier goes with the base stem. So, notice the distinctions:

1. paituvo va eien andul I want to understand this very much
2. andu paituvo va eien I very much want to understand this

If you have multiple affixes involved, there are no options for modifying the meaning of those internal affixes. Only the base stem and the final affix can be modified in this way. If it is really necessary to modify an internal affix it will be necessary to break out the word via paraphrasis, a process which will be described next.

Periphrasis. Once you start to involve negation and other adverbial modifiers in the meaning of a complex statement, the use of the derivational affixes can get quite muddled up. In fact, some things are impossible to say using only normal syntax and the affixes. For example, "I caused him not to go." cannot be stated simply:

1. lerninai va nan I caused him to go
2. lu lerninai va nan I didn't cause him to go.
3. lerninai va nan lu I didn't cause him to go.
4. lerninai va lu nan I didn't cause him to go.
5. lerninai lu va nan I didn't cause him to go.

Thus, it is necessary to break apart the affixed word and resort to more complex syntax. For the causative, it turns out there is a special independent verb form available, NIEN. For most affixes, though, you have to craft the forms with AS, the carrier verb stem.

Most periphrastic forms are cast as result clauses. Thus:

1. nienai va ar lu lero na I caused that he not go, I caused him not to go.
2. asittalu va ar lu tharo (va) I will begin that (I) not understand, I will begin to not understand.
3. tuvo nu rhon ar lu leru vin aithu That man wants that the child will not go away. or...
4. lu tuvo nu rhon ar leru vin aithu That man does not want that the child will go away.

A punctuation note: normally you'd use a comma before a conjunction like ar, but in these periphrastic phrases the relationship is quite tight, so the tendency is to not use the comma, though of course it is not a mistake to use it.

When the subject of the main verb matches that of the modifying verbs, you use infinitive complements rather than result clauses. For example:

1. lertuvo va I want to go.
2. lu lertuvo va I don't want to go.
3. tuvo va lerol lu or tuvo va lu lerol I want to not go

Note, though, that while a statement like tuvo va lerol is grammatically correct, it's a bit odd to avoid the affix form of TUV when there's no need.

The Causative. With intransitive verbs, especially the stative variety, using the causative is fairly straightforward, nal chulo The stone is black becomes, chulninai va eien nalan I blackened this stone. Note that the object in this case is in the accusative.

It is clear from this example that there is a comfortable ambiguity between the words "friend" and "friendship." The sentence makes sense either way, and indeed it isn't clear that the meaning "friendship" is intended until we reach the very end of the sentence and counter en rather than na. So, a once somewhat poetic tendency to refer not to a friend, but to define one's friend as friendship itself, weakened the originally abstract meaning of the -ia form of some of these words.

To compensate for this loss, pleonastic forms in -isia are used: astisia, merisia, etc. (however, AUHIS does not receive such treatment). These will be noted in the dictionary as necessary.

When addressing someone by name or title use the vocative particle e before the name, title or, most often, the honorific.

Honorifics and Titles. These may precede or follow a person's name, but most commonly follow.

• nath - the catch-all honorific, always used with colleagues, acquaintances, people you're doing business with and strangers you've just met. Often used even by friends. This is also appropriate to use when trying to get someone's attention.
• nathamm - a more honorific form of the previous, used when you wish to express respect at a particular moment. Using it all the time is sycophantic: use it once then use just nath subsequently.
• ceirh - incredibly rude, directed at someone you've just written off as useless or boring. If a speaker uses it with his own name, he's being either humble or is trying to apologize for something. May even be found with va in this latter use, though this is rather over-wrought or humorous in any but the most private setting.
• -aihi - suffixed to any honorific, moderates or softens the tone of an address.
• ahi - used with close friends or romantic involvements, but may be suffixed to nath to express profound respect. Lovers may use nathahi when feeling dramatic, too.
• anhai - used with someone being cared for, usually children but couples may use it when one of the parners is feeling unwell or if someone is feeling cutesy. For a doctor or nurse to use this with an adult would be patronizing.

Formality and Register. It is very important to distinguish formality and register in Vaior. It is perfectly common for friends to use an elevated mode of speach among themselves without this necessarily being formal or distancing.

durbíal

"in my opinion," but durbialle vai can be used, too

durbialle aithai

in someone's opinion - replace aithai with the appropriate noun or pronoun in the genitive to specify whose opinion

durbo va tíar seri, durbo va ti seri,

I think so. Similarly, durbo va tíar lu is I don't think so. Often simply durbo va and lu durbo va are sufficient.

erdul íe, e.í.

"That is," i.e.

ir ta silhothir, i.t.s.

"and the rest," etc.

níal X-ste

"so much for X". This is a bit informal, taul, níal enneste Well, so much for that.