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THE ORDER OF THE STARS

Stars have always been, but I numbered them into four orders.
The first is the "Seeking", because their light wanders across the dome of heaven.
The second is the "Set", because they protect worlds.
The third is the "Pulling", because they enlighten and devour.
The fourth is the "Hot", because through their death they burst from stars into whorls of dust-sprays.
My home was a star, but it died.  So I left for another one.

^RENG^GAMNUHM-A

Gamnuhm tii nga'u-iltao, akh az azu-dabloung umsh wa'taur ribu rengm.
Sudkhada-a "Ooloi-dakõz" uz, nga'gaur tzmu charzad uzoi-neded ta'^eleni^maró.
Suddu-a "Sudkabak-ad" uz, nga'gaur umzoi-hail sha'ilmalm.
Sudthara-a "Ooloi-dapelb" uz, nga'gaur umzoi-dacharzad i umzoi-vuhlor.
Sudribu-a "Sudwu.ho" uz, nga'gaur ya'met-a tzmu-a umzoi-flotz nga'gamnuhm ^foilaei^sharei^kemalt.
Tzii wajhwa - gamnuh uzú, akh uzu-met.  Yeli azu-kihsht wa'twan

Grammatical Brief:

1. Rokbeigalmki is an agglutinative language.  In general, prefixes and suffixes are attached to roots and to each other in order to form new words and word-forms.

2. The basic word-order of Rokbeigalmki is Subject-Verb-Object, but due to the redundant nature of the case-prefixes, other orders are possible for emphasis or poetic effect.

3. Adjectives can come before or after the noun they modify, but if they come afterwards they must agree with the noun in terms of gender, number, and definiteness.

4. Rokbeigalmki makes use of "construct compounding" like Semitic languages.  Instead of having to say WAJU-A TZA'UTH-A (house-the of'child-the) "the house of the child" you just put the the two nouns together: ^WAJU^UTH-A (^house^child-the).  The circumflexes are orthographic marks indicating the beginning of each word in the compound.  In spoken Rokbeigalmki, the final vowel of each word in the compound is lengthened slightly.

5. The basic roots of most words in Rokbeigalmki are what i call "verb-nouns" - by themselves, they signify a noun, for instance GHALUB "ascent" ; in order to turn the noun into a verb, you conjugate them by adding on a "subject-tense complex" which is a prefix made up of (usually) a subject pronoun (for instance IZ "she") and a vowel that signifies the tense of the verb (for instance A "present immediate").  Putting it all together you get IZA-GHALUB "she is ascending".  Tense vowels can also be prefixed to some other words.  Every subject pronoun (ending in Z) has a non-subject equivalent (ending in SH) that is used with case-prefixes.  Non-subject pronouns used alone are understood to be direct-object (accusative) case.  Subject pronouns used alone (meaning independent of a verb) aren't necessarily the subject of the sentence; they could fulfill any role.  Their subject-form independence is just a technique for emphasizing the topic of the sentence.  Subject-tense complexes can also be used alone, with the final tense vowel marked with an accent.  In such a case, the understood verb is one of TEZAT "be" TZAT "exist" NETZ "be at" MWE "go" (or a similar verb of motion) or WAZ "do" depending on context.

6. Rokbeigalmki 'prepositions' are detachable case-prefixes.  In their basic attached form, they are monosyllables ending in A, with an apostrophe attaching them to whatever word they're part of.  However, when you double-up on case-prefixes, they detach from the host word, and the second prefix assumes its long form, which ends in AUR.  For instance, NGA' (from) plus TA' (inside) yield NGA'TAUR (from inside, [coming] out of).

7. Adjectives are formed by adding the prefix SUD.  However, there is also a word-form called the "adjective-verb" which describes a noun with a *time-limited* or *time-sensitive* action description, marked by the prefix OOL and a tense vowel.  For instance, EILOS-A SUD|AOLE-A means "the creative god" while EILOS-A OOLU-AOLE (notice the lack of any kind of agreement) means "the god who created".

8. In simple equative "this is that" sentences, Rokbeigalmki is zero-copula.  Instead of a conjugated form of the verb TEZAT "be" which would necessitate choosing between the present-immediate tense and the present-routine tense, a subject pronoun is just placed at the end of the sentence: "I am human" is MALD AZ.  This is also used with adjectives: "I am dangerous" would be SUDDAMET AZ.

9. 'Verbs of transformation' work in Rokbeigalmki the opposite of how they work in English.  In English, we say "the man turned into a rock" with the origin-state (the man) unmarked, and the end-state (a rock) marked as a destination that must be entered (into).  In Rokbeigalmki, however, in the sentence NGA'O-MALD-A OZU-ADETZ PYET the origin-state is marked as a departure point (NGA'O-MALD 'from the man') and the end-state (PYET 'a rock') is unmarked.

10. In Rokbeigalmki, objects in nature are frequently personified for poetic effect.  When this is done, the noun (for instance SEMOZ 'sun') is treated as a proper name.  Thefore, it doesn't take the definite article -A, and must be marked for accentuation.  So for instance, instead of saying SEMOZ-A UZA-JALAG 'the sun is setting' you can say SÉMOZ ZA-JALAG
'Sun is setting.'

Vocabulary List:

note: "|" marks a point of compounding without an orthographic mark.  "'"
and "-" indicate the orthographic mark used.
(n) noun; (v) verb; (cp) case-prefix; (p) pronoun; (tv) tense/time vowel

-A = [definite article]
-AD = [passive suffix]
AKH = but
AZ(|) = (p) first-person singular subject
BLOUNG = (n) amount
CHARZAD = (n) light, shining, brightness, glow; (v) shine, glow, give off
light
DA| = [causative prefix]
DA|BLOUNG = (n) number, counting; (v) number, count, take attendance;
"make amount"
DA|CHARZAD = (n) enlightenment; (v) enlighten, light up [something else];
"make lit"
DA|KÕZ = (n) search; (v) search, seek, look for; "make found"
DA|PELB = (n) bringing closer; (v) bring closer
DU = 2
|EI = [plural suffix for inside construct compounds]
ELENI = (n) dome
FLOTZ = (n) explosion, bursting; (v) explode, burst
FOILA = (n) all the petals of a flower considered as a unit
GA' = (cp) that, which, who; introduces a subclause
GAMNUH = (n) star
HAIL = (n) protection; (v) guard, protect
I = and
ILMAL = (n) world (from ILU "all, every" and AMAL "earth, land")
ILTAO = always (from ILU "all, every" and TOUT "time")
KABAK = (n) foundation, setting; (v) found, set down, set in place
KEMALT = (n) thin soft dust
KHADA = 1
KIHSHT = (n) departure [from a group, not from inside a structure]; (v)
leave, depart, exit [from a group, not from inside a structure]
KÕZ = (n) discovery; (v) find
|M = [plural suffix]
MARO = (n) sky
MET = (n) death; (v) die
NEDED = (n) wandering, walkabout, trip with no set destination; (v)
wander
NGA' = (cp) from, since
NGA'GAUR = (cp+cp) because, since; "from which"
(|)OI- = (tv) present routine
OOL| = [adjective-verb prefix]
PELB = (n) closeness, proximity; (v) to approach
RENG = (n) arrangement, order, categorization; (v) arrange, order,
categorize
RIBU = 4
SHA' = (cp) marks a direct object
SHAR = (n) foam, spray; (v) become foamy, spray out
SUD| = [adjective prefix]
TA' = (cp) in, inside
THARA = 3
TII = there is/are, such-and-such exist(s)
TWAN = another, an additional and similar one
TZII = my/mine (first-person singular)
TZMU = their/theirs (third-person plural neuter)
(|)U- = (tv) past
UMSH = (p) third-person plural neuter non-subject
UMZ(|) = (p) third-person plural neuter subject
UZ(|) = (p) third-person singular neuter subject
VUHLOR = (n) devouring, food eaten messily and brutally; (v) devour, eat
like a predator
WA' = (cp) to
WAJHWA = (n) home
WU.HO = (n) heat; (v) be hot, give off heat
YA' = (cp) by, by means of, with; marks instruments of the action as well
as the actors of passive verbs
YELI = so, and so, therefore, well, uh, eh