The Language of Iša

In an attempt to give some more breadth to 'Nalija and Melin', the epic poem I'm writing, I've been working on an artistic conlang I call Old Išanian, so named after the city of Iša, where the epic takes place. Within the context of this world Old Išanian was the language spoken by the characters in the epic and the language in which the poem was first composed. Eventually it split into several dialects, one of them evolving into New Išanian, the language of the inhabitants of Iša some one thousand years after the events of the epic. This is the language which provides the basis for my 'translation' of this fictional work.

The first verse of 'Nalija and Melin' in Old Išanian:

litíknarjóli húl hætúkla ónepálla oitmápa mí juséper páhoitmaúper ǽlau
'Hear now!, O miserable souls, as I sing you of great desolation.'

The verse in the original language is composed of two halves, each a sequence of five iambs and one amphibrach (˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘), while the translation is in dactylic hexameter.


The following part will probably only be interesting to people who are curious about the language itself.

The IPA notation of the verse is:
/li'tiknar'joli 'hul hə'tukla 'one'pal:a oi̯t'mapa 'mi ju'seper 'paʔoi̯t'mau̯per 'ælau̯/


The language itself is agglutinative with a few fusional elements. The inflectional and derivational processes are best described by an analysis of the first verse.

li-tik-nar-j-ol-i =
li [derivational prefix noun-to-verb]
tik [nominal root 'ear']
nar [derivational suffix noun-to-imperfective-verb]
j [verbal optative marker]
ol [verbal plural ending]
i [verbal 2nd person ending]

The nominal root TIK 'ear' is verbalized with the derivational prefix LI- and suffix -NAR-, which produces the verbal stem LITIKNAR- '(to use one's ears)' = 'to listen'. The optative-imperative verbal stem is created by adding the agglutinative suffix -J-, producing LITIKNARJ- 'to be asked or obliged to listen'. Then, the 2nd person plural verbal ending -OLI (composed of -OL- 'plural marker' and -I '2nd person marker') is added, giving the final form LITIKNARJOLI 'Listen (ye)!'. The word order of the language is usually VSO and the verb tends to precede all other words in a clause, including adverbs and conjunctions.

hul =
hul [adverb 'now']

Root adverb. Self-explanatory.



hæ-tuk-l-a =
hæ [derivational prefix 'no']
tuk [adjectival root 'happy, joyful']
l [2nd declension nominal plural ending]
a [2nd declension nominal animated nominative-vocative ending]

The adjectival root TUK 'happy' is negated with the prefix HÆ-, giving the adjectival stem HÆTUK- 'unhappy'. The adjective must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies, so the agglutinative ending -LA 'animated plural nominative-vocative' (composed of -L- 'plural marker' and -A 'nominative-vocative animated ending') is added, producing HÆTUKLA 'unhappy, miserable'; the æ is unstressed and is realized as /ə/. Adjectives usually follow the word they modify; in this case the order is inverted to preserve the meter, producing a slightly marked word-order.

on-ep-al-l-a =
on [nominal root 'heart']
ep [derivational suffix noun-to-adjective]
al [derivational agentive suffix adjective-to-noun 'one who is thus']
l [2nd declension nominal plural ending]
a [2nd declension nominal animated nominative-vocative ending]

The nominal root ON- 'heart' is adjectivized with the derivational suffix -EP-, producing the adjectival stem ONEP- 'heartful, having a heart'. This stem is then again nominalized with the derivational suffix -AL-, which is used to denote someone in possesion of the quality expressed by the adjective; this produces the nominal stem ONEPAL- '(one who has a heart)' = 'soul'. The ending is again -LA, giving the final form ONEPALLA 'O souls'.

oit-map-Ø-a =
oit [adjectival root 'good']
map [imperfective verbal root 'to speak']
Ø [verbal singular ending]
a [verbal 1st person ending]

The imperfective verbal root MAP- 'to speak' is modified by prefixing the adjectival root OIT- 'good', producing the verbal stem OITMAP- '(to good-speak)' = 'to sing'. The ending -A '1st person singular' is added, producing OITMAPA 'I sing'.

mi =
mi [subordinating temporal conjunction 'when']

Temporal conjunction introducing a subordinate temporal clause. Note that it follows the verb of the clause.

jus-ep-Ø-er =
jus [nominal root 'sorrow']
ep [derivational suffix noun-to-adjective]
Ø [3rd declension nominal singular ending]
er [3rd declension nominal neuter accusative ending]

The nominal root JUS- 'sorrow, sadness' is adjectivized with the derivational suffix -EP-, thus giving the adjectival stem JUSEP- 'sorrowful, sad'. The ending -ER 'neuter accusative singular' is added, producing JUSEPER 'sorrowful, sad'.

pah-oit-ma-u-p-Ø-er =
pa(h) [derivational prefix verb-to-gerund]
oit [adjectival root 'good']
map [imperfective verbal root 'to speak']
-u- [derivational infix verb-to-gerund]
Ø [3rd declension nominal singular ending]
er [3rd declension nominal neuter accusative ending]

The verbal stem OITMAP- 'to good-speak' = 'to sing' (derived as before) is nominalized with the derivational prefix PAH- (PA- before consonants) and derivational infix -U- (which produces a diphthong in the underlying verbal root), thus producing the gerundial stem PAHOITMAUP- 'singing' = 'song'. The ending -ER 'neuter accusative singular' is added, producing PAHOITMAUPER 'song'; the H is between two vowels and is realized as a glottal stop /ʔ/.

æ-la-u =
æ [1st declension nominal plural prefix]
la [2nd person pronoun 'thou']
u [1st declension nominal dative ending]

The pronominal stem LA- 'thou' is prefixed with the archaic plural marker Æ-, producing  ÆLA- 'ye'. The ending -U 'dative' is added, giving ÆLAU 'to you'; the Æ is stressed and is pronounced /æ/.

The translation is thus:
litíknarjóli húl hætúkla ónepálla
listen now unhappy souls
oitmápa mí juséper páhoitmaúper ǽlau
I-sing-when sorrowful singing to-you.

Or rather:
Hear now!, O miserable souls, as I sing you of great desolation.