Speaking Haakish, Volumes, I & II

Volume I Index   Volume II Index
1. Alphabet and Phonology   1. Numbers and Numbering Information
2. Pronunciation   2. Miscellaneous
3. Accent   3. Syntax of the Simple Sentence
4. Nouns   4. Syntax of the Complex Sentence
5. Adjectives  
6. Adverbs  
7. Pronouns  
8. Prepositions  


1. ALPHABET AND PHONOLOGY

1a. The Dwarven runic alphabet contains the following letters (along with several "variants" created by two orthographic marks, the doubling mark and the W mark):

A (with variants AA and AW), B, D (with variant DW), E (with variants EE and EW), F, G (with variant GW), H, I (with variants II and IW), K (with variant KW), L, M, N, O (with variants OO and OW), P, R (with variant WR), S, T (with variant TW), U (with variants UU and UW), V

AE, CH, DH, KH, SH, TH

1b. Dwarven words should NOT have the following letters: C (except CH), J, Q, W (except in variants), X, Z.

1c. Sequences of unlike vowels: So standard Dwarven wouldn't have words with AI, AO, AU, EA, EI, EO, EU, IA, IE, IO, IU, OA, OE, OI, OU, UA, UE, UI, UO.

1d. Long consonantal clusters. Generally no more than two consonants will stand next to each other, but W and H don't count. So a word like "snaLTH" ["razor"] is fine since TH stands for a single consonant. There are some exceptions with clusters involving L and R (like "SKRadis" ["tailor"]). Longer clusters CAN stand when combining two base words. So "giMSTaan" ["gemstone"] is acceptable, coming from "gim" and "staan".

1e. In the standard writing of Dwarven, consonants are not doubled except as a result of compounding. There is, however, an old system of transliterating Dwarven into Common or Gamgweth which indicates a short vowel by doubling a single consonant that follows it. Long vowels were not written double as they are now. So the words that we now transliterate "mel" ["sphere"] and "meel" ["flour"] would have appeared in that system as "mell" and "mel" respectively. The newer system is more accurate and should always be followed, but acquaintance with the old system is necessary for any serious student of Haakish.

1f. The following combinations at the start of words are typically Dwarven: HL, HN, HR, HV, KV, SV, KN.


2. The sounds of Haakish vary from location to location, though the pronunciation considered the most authentic by the Dwarves themselves is that of Kwarlog. The vast majority of Haakish speakers actually deviate from it to one degree or another and the pronunciation of Hibarnhvidar is the most widespread. Except as indicated, the pronunciations given below are those one would hear in Kwarlog.

2a. There are 6 vowels in Haakish, with 5 of the vowels having a long variant and a labial variant, for a total of 16 separate and distinct vowel sounds. In transliteration the long variant is written double (so "AA" for long "A") and the labial variant with a following W (so "AW" for labial "A"). AE has no variants.

2b. The short vowels are pronounced roughly as follows:

2c. The long variants are pronounced as follows: 2c. The labial variants are pronounced as the short vowels with a noticeable rounding of the lips and W sound at the end. Speakers from Hibarnhvidar usually base the labial variant sounds on the long variant and as a result UU and UW are pronounced identically by them.

2d. The consonants sound very much like their counterparts in Common:


3. ACCENT

3a. Haakish words are primarily accented on the first syllable. If the word has 4 or more syllables, there is also a secondary stress falling on every other syllable toward the end of the word. So HIbarnhVIdar, THUmalmer, LEKnistawf, AWthamBArad, and so on.


4. NOUNS

4a. Where there are nouns and verbs from the same root, the noun is distinguished by a lack of the final vowel. So "fnis" is "sneeze (noun)," "fnisa" is "to sneeze (verb)." Generally, other nouns tend to end in consonants, but not necessarily, so "eka" ["widow"].

4b. Nouns denoting agents are formed from verb stems by dropping the final vowel and adding -is. So "grima" ["to bite"] can be transformed into "grimis" ["biter"], "frake" ["to destroy"] into "frakis" ["destroyer"].
NOTE: Not all nouns that end in -is are of this origin.

4c. Nouns denoting implements can be formed similarly with the suffix -il. So "skova" ["to push"] becomes "skovil" ["an implement to push," i.e. "a shovel"], "delva" ["to dig"] becomes "delvil" ["an implement to dig, spade"].
NOTE: Not all nouns that end in -il are of this origin.

4d. Abstracts in -ur. So "kachur" ["quantity," lit. "muchness"] from "kach" ["much"].

4e. Diminutives in -li and -ili. So "munar" ["mouth"] becomes "munarli" ["kiss," lit. "little mouth"]. This is added after changes are made for plurals. Another common form of the diminutive is to reduplicate the first consonant of the word (not counting h if followed immediately by another consonant) and the first vowel. So "lehlek" ["small chain"] from hlek and "sested" ["little town"] from sted. H in SH, CH etc. does not appear in the reduplication. "kakhal" ["pebble"] from khal.

4f. The suffix -red = group. So stedis = "towner, citizen" stedred = "citizenry"

4g. Nouns change form only to indicate singular and plural forms and for no other reason. Some nouns change an internal vowel to reflect the distinction [cf. man vs. men in Common], some add a suffix [cf. cat vs. cats] and some make no change at all [cf. deer vs. deer].

4h. The vowel of the next-to-last syllable of a simple word determines the class into which the word falls. If the word has only one syllable, it's vowel determines the class.

4i. All words that end in the suffixes -il and -is form their plurals by adding -ren and making no change to the vowel. See above, 4b and 4c.

4j. In a compound word the last word that makes up the compound determines the plural class. So "staanwrit" ["stonemason"] becomes "staanwritren" ["stonemasons"], not "steenwrit." "Okiskart" ["oxcart"] becomes "okiskert," not "ikiskart" or "okiskertren." In the first example, the last element is "writ," in the second it is "kart," and their appropriate plurals ("writren" and "kert") determine the plural for the whole compound. There are a few compound words which have lost the force of being compounds and are illogically made plural according to the standard rules, but these are relatively few.


5. ADJECTIVES

5a. Comparatives are formed with "mag," such as "mag har" ["higher," lit. "more high"]. Superlatives with "magast," so "magast har" ["highest," lit. "most high"].

5b. Adjectives can be formed from most nouns by suffixing -ik (after removing final vowels if necessary), so "gulth" ["gold'] can be made "gulthik" ["golden"]; but not all adjectives necessarily end in -ik and many are indistinguishable from nouns based on form. This process is reinforced by the fact that most nouns can be readily used as adjectives.

5c. Nouns ending in -il and -is (denoting tools and people/animals respectively) simply replace the final consonant with k to form adjectives. So "okis" ["cow"] can be transformed into "okik" ["bovine"].


6. ADVERBS

6a. Adverbs are formed from adjectives (and occasionally from nouns) by appending the suffix -gig (or -ig after words ending in -g or -k or some long consonantal clusters).

6b. Comparison of adverb is like that of adjectives (see 5a).


7. PRONOUNS 7a. The personal pronouns are as follows: 7b. There are two archaic forms which are found in older texts. They are: 3rd person plural feminine - tilren ["they (i.e., those females)/them"] 3rd person plural neuter - eel ["they (i.e., those things)/them"] "Tilren" and "eel" have generally dropped out of use, "enren," which was originally only the masculine 3rd person plural pronoun, is now used in all cases.

7c. The personal relative pronouns are "gwen" ["who/whom"] and "gwal" ["what, which"], the former having an animate or personified antecedent, the latter an inanimate one. There is no separate genitive form corresponding to Common "whose." Rather, one simply uses "ut gwen."

7d. The interrogative personal pronouns (and adjectives) are identical to the relative personal pronouns, so "Gwen?" ["Who?"], "Gwal?" ["What?"], "Ut Gwen?" ["Whose?"], etc.

7e. The intensive personal pronouns are formed by prefixing tos- to the personal pronouns. So "tosag" ["I myself, me myself"], "tosdar" ["you yourself, you yourself"], etc. The appropriate form can also follow a noun, for instance, "Kertigen tosen..." ["Kertigen himself..."].

7f. The reflexive pronouns (which refer back to the subject of the sentence) of all but the third person plural are formed by suffixing -tos to the personal pronouns: "agtos" ["myself"], "dartos" ["yourself"], etc. The reflexive pronoun of "enren" is the irregular "entros." [The archaic feminine "tiltros" is also found.]

7g. The definite article has a single form: "sa."

7h. The indefinite article has a single form: "nin."

7i. The demonstrative pronouns "hin" ["this"] and "dath" ["that"] are also used as adjectives. Similarly used is what one grammarian termed the "impatient demonstrative" "hindath" which can be translated either "this" or "that" depending on the context, but which implies that the listener knows (or more precisely, should know) to what the speaker refers.

7j. The indefinite pronouns "stundan" ["someone"] and "stundil" ["something"] contain the prefix "stund-" which appears also in the adjective "stundik" ["some"]. It is not, however, a productive prefix otherwise and, in fact, originally meant something like "occasion, occurrence."


8. PREPOSITIONS

8a. The most common prepositions in Haakish are:

8b. The prepositions bi, du and ga have the forms bin, dun and gan before words beginning with a vowel.

8c. The definite and indefinite articles are commonly omitted after a preposition. So "ga sa drift" and "ga drift" are both acceptable for "in the gallery," though nothing but context will tell one whether "ga drift" represents "ga sa drift" or "ga nin drift."

8d. All of the prepositions can also, where appropriate, be used as adverbs: "En vare nak," "He is near" and "En vare nak hol," "He is near the cave." Likewise in compound verbs: "Til attika atmaarg," "She will arrive tomorrow," from "at" ("to") and "tika" ("come"). Compare "Aal dweere nak dath stad," ("It stood near that place"), "Aal dweere nak," ("It stood nearby") and "Aal nakdweere, ("It stood nearby," literally, "It near-stood.").


1. NUMBERS AND NUMBERING INFORMATION

1a. The Numbers

Common Cardinal Ordinal Adverb Multiplicative
1 dan danrum dangig danka
2 twon twonrum twongig twonka
3 drin drinrum dringing drinka
4 kwart kwartrum kwartgig kwartka
5 gaal gaalrum gaalgig gaalka
6 shan shanrum shangig shanka
7 hlat hlatrum hlatgig hlatka
8 knof knofrum knofgig knofka
9 twel twelrum twelgig twelka
10 hvad hvadrum hvadgig hvadka
11 hvad cha dan hvad cha danrum hvad cha dangig hvad cha danka
12 hvad cha twon hvad cha twonrum hvad cha twongig hvad cha twonka
20 twovad twovadrum twovadgig twovadka
21 twovad cha dan twovad cha danrum twovad cha dangig twovad cha danka
30 drivad etc. etc. etc.
40 kwarvad
50 gavad
60 shavad
70 hlavad
80 knovad
90 twevad
100 (dan) huntaal
101 (dan) huntaal dan
110 (dan) huntaal hvad
111 (dan) huntaal hvad cha dan
200 twon huntaal
300 drin huntaal
1000 (dan) sundi
1111 (dan) sundi (dan) huntaal hvad cha dan
9999 twel sundi twel huntaal twevad cha twel

Note: In careful pronunciation (and occasionally in writing), "twovad" and twevad are sometimes further distinguished by saying (or writing) "twonvad" and "twelvad" to avoid any possible misunderstanding.

1b. Ordinals [first, second, third, etc.] are formed by adding -rum to the cardinal. So "dan" ["one"] becomes "danrum" ["first"].

1c. The adverbial forms of numerals [once, twice, thrice, four times, five times, etc.] are formed by adding the adverbial suffix -gig to the cardinal. So "dangig" ["once"]. The Common idiom "x times" is always represented adverbially in Haakish, never by something like "gaal hvilren," even for large numbers.

1d. The multiplicative adjectives [simple/single, twofold/double, threefold/triple, etc.) are formed by adding the suffix -ka to the cardinal, so "danka" ["simple/single"], "twonka" ["twofold/double"], etc. Theoretically any number can have a multiplicative form, though in practice only the multiplicatives up to 10 are commonly found as adjectives.

1e. The higher multiplicatives must be learned, since they are used as nouns in the common construction "sa/nin ut " to mean "the/a of ." So "Ag kewpe nin twonka ut glif" ["I bought a pair of gloves," literally, "I bought a double of gloves"]. But even higher numbers are frequently seen in this use when the objects are considered a unit: "Sa ordhis giba shot nin sundika ut flinren at enmark sverfilisren" ["The general will soon give to his archers a thousand arrows." Literally, "a thousandfold (group) of arrows."]. Of course, "Sa ordhis giba shot sundi flinren at enmark sverfilisren" would be perfectly good Haakish as well.

1f. The distributives [by ones/singly, by twos/in groups of two, by threes/in groups of three] are formed with the preposition "kath," which has otherwise dropped out of usage. "Enren taka kath huntaal" ["They came by the hundreds"]. "Sa galdenisren viika kath dan" ["The mercenaries are fighting individually" or "one by one"]. In poetry the use of the distributives occasionally creeps into the territory of the multiplicative, and one sees "Ag atbaare berdh kath twon" ["I bring a pair of axes," literally, "axes by twos"], where one might have expected "Ag atbaare nin twonka ut berdh" or, even more simply, "Ag atbaare twon berdh." See above, 1e.


2. MISCELLANEOUS

3. SYNTAX OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

3a. The word order of a simple declarative sentence is determined by the following order of precedence:

  1. The subject and any modifiers.
  2. The verb, preceded by the negative ewn.
  3. The direct object and any modifiers.
  4. The indirect object (with or without the preposition at) and any modifiers. Also, a prepositional phrase with "hind" ["on behalf of, for"] will stand here after the indirect object if there is one.
  5. Modifiers of the verb or the sentence as a whole, except the negative ewn.
NOTE: In short, nominal sentences, those of the type "X is/are Y" the verb is often omitted. So "Til Debru" ["She is a Dwarf"] or "Aal ga smedstad" ["It is in the forge"].

3b. The word order of a question:

  1. The interrogative particle gwor, which has no meaning aside from indicating that the sentence is a question.
  2. The subject and any modifiers.
  3. The verb, preceded by the negative ewn.
  4. The direct object and any modifiers.
  5. The indirect object and any modifiers.
  6. Modifiers of the verb or the sentence as a whole, except the negative ewn.
3c. The word order of an imperative sentence:
  1. The verb, preceded by the negative ewn.
  2. The direct object and any modifiers.
  3. The indirect object and any modifiers.
  4. Modifiers of the verb or of the sentence as a whole. The negative ewn may be repeated here for strong prohibitions.

4. SYNTAX OF THE COMPLEX SENTENCE

4a. It is possible to join any two simple sentences together with a coordinating conjunction. The most common of these are "cha" ["and"], "awk" ["but"] and "ataw" ["or"]. No adjustments need to be made to the sentences.

4b. Common tends to insert conjunctions only between the last two elements of a series. The usual practice in Haakish is to include a conjunction between all elements. En thaga nin berdh cha nin hamar cha nin sisil cha nin snar stedh. ["He took an ax and a hammer and a saw and a small anvil." as opposed to "He took an ax, a hammer, a saw and a small anvil."] This is true also of coordinating sentences. En thaga enmark berdh cha en vende ganat kaal cha en kargsnapa nin iik. ["He took his ax and he went into the forest and he cut down an oak" as opposed to "He took his ax, went into the forest and cut down an oak."] Notice the repetition of the subject of the verb where Common would also omit it if the subject is repeated from the previous verb.

4c. There are a large number of subordinating conjunctions [some of which also function as prepositions].

Rakash Language -- Other Languages