The Campaign Builder's Guild

Sharuss is an extensively complex language, one born of the needs of a long-lived, tireless species and concentrated into something near its current form by the acts of Shadurn Tuk, the first Free Mage and great linguist. It has cases for nearly every possible concept, and is extremely fluid. It is also almost impossible to learn without years of complex study and immersion.

Basic Grammar

Nouns

Nouns, in Tandhus Sharuss and certain other dialects close enough to be considered the same language, are divided into 'clan', an extremely odd method that is reflected conjugation and derives from the attempts of Kata'ak, the first Leader of the wandering Duer people, to sort out clan differences in ownership. Certain nouns are also masculine or feminine - generally loanwords, or specific words pertaining to members of the entire Duer people.

There are no true obvious patterns in which is which except to a scholar of the Chronicles of the Travelling, as the clans - of which five are rare in the Tandhus Archipelago, as they later left the main body to settle elsewhere, and three are extinct - laid claim to the most wild variations of things.

Not only this, but depending on the tone (of four: ā    á    ÇŽ    Ã ) that the word is pronounced in, it may mean up to four different things. This creates extreme confusion for new learners of the language, as can be imagined. Examples from the Shanakeh, Shad'his, and Velde'ek clans (now houses) follow, along with masculine and feminine.

Examples:

Shanakeh: Rhanin (Flower/Grass/Reed/Stalk), Yedun (Fire/Flame/Warmth/Heat), Keh (Shanakeh verb ending, see below).

Shad'his: Med (Birth/Baby/a Pregnancy/Newborn rite), Kud (Earth/Rock/Polished Stone/Mud), Is (Shad'his verb ending, see below).

Velde'ek: Zuun (Water/Stream/River/Waterfall), Mej (Darkness/Nightfall/Shadow/Cold), Vel (Velde'ek verb ending, see below).

Masculine: Danak (Man/Male/Male Genitalia/Father). Connected to Donak are the subjective pronoun 'ak', the masculine verb ending, and 'Don', the masculine objective prounoun.

Feminine: Snan (Woman/Female/Female Genitalia/Mother). Connected to Snan are the feminine verb ending 'Nan' and 'San', the feminine objective pronoun.

The other clans' verb endings are as follows: Am (Ama'thuuk), Dakar (Dakrathuk), Da (Do'uk), Sa (Sa'uk), and Tor (Tor'uk). The three 'lost clans' are as follows: En (Ensuk), Hra (Hrodis) and Sde (Sden'his). Finally, the two surviving non-Tandhus clans are De (Dese'el) and Me (Medis).

Sharuss also has twenty-two full grammatical cases, including two unique ones detailed below.

 [table=Sharuss Grammatical Cases][tr][th]Case[/th][th]Usage[/th][th]Regular Suffixes (Singular/Plural)[/th][/tr]
[tr][th][/th][th]'Prepositional' Cases[/th][th][/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Adessive[/td][td]'on', 'near' or 'around'[/td][td]Az/Asa[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Inessive[/td][td]'in' or 'at'[/td][td]Uz/Usa[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Subessive[/td][td]'under' and 'below'[/td][td]Aj/Aj[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Superessive[/td][td]'above' and 'over'[/td][td]Huz/Huz[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Ablative[/td][td]'from'[/td][td]Un/Una[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Elative[/td][td]'out of'[/td][td]Ain/Ana[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Lative[/td][td]'into' or 'to'[/td][td]Nal/Nal[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Sublative[/td][td]'onto' or 'to below'[/td][td]Ez/Ez[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Terminative[/td][td]'as far as'[/td][td]Dan/Adan[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Perlative[/td][td]'through'[/td][td]Dam/Adam[/td][/tr]
[tr][th][/th][th]Morphosyntactic Cases[/th][th][/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Plural[/td][td]'s'[/td][td]Uh/Uh[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Definite[/td][td]'The'[/td][td]Ur/Urn[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Demonstrative 1[/td][td]'This (one)'[/td][td]Tu/Tu[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Demonstrative 2[/td][td]'That (one)', 'Him', 'Her' etc[/td][td]Tur/Tur[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Instrumental[/td][td]'Using/With an object'[/td][td]Rez/Rez[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Objective[/td][td]Object of a verb[/td][td]El/El[/td][/tr]
[tr][th][/th][th]Relative Cases[/th][th][/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Benefactive[/td][td]'For'[/td][td]Om/Om[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Causal[/td][td]'Because'[/td][td]En/Enz[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Possessive[/td][td]'Belonging to'[/td][td]Emn/Emn[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Semblative[/td][td]'Alike to'[/td][td]Man/Mayn[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Vocative[/td][td]Addressing someone[/td][td]Ay/Ay[/td][/tr][/tr]
[/table]

There are also three other unique cases. These indicate the following:

Sarcasm or irony: Surprisingly, Duer see a kind of bizarre logic in lying about something to indicate its true nature. This case is formed, regularly, using an 'Um' for both singular and plural (i.e. Rāzāā-huz-um, Above Gold).

Multiplicative: The multiplicative case indicates a multiplication of something, or a simple 'one, two, three'. It is formed so: Noun (pluralised if appropriate) Number-Nek-Number to be multiplied by. For example, a popular 'joke' amongst Sharuss-speaking Duer is the 'hundred kings' - essentially mocking the little power the Duer King has over his own domain and all the house leaders. This is expressed so - DjÇ"kunveznekvezur - meaning literally, 'The ten times ten kings'. There is no official Duer word for any number over ten, necessitating the use of this case. One thousand has its own glyph, for example, but is formally said 'Veznekveznekvez'. The modern usage tends to be Veznevevez, however, and other contractions exist. Used with a number from one to ten, it instead is said either formally (Number-Nez-Ner, with Ner meaning 'one') or informally (Number-Nez). For example, you could say One Man - Dānāknerneznur, or simply Dānāknernez.

Numerative: The numerative case indicates a number in the 'First, second, third, fourth' sequence. It is written as so: Noun (pluralised if appropriate)-Number-Zek - for example, DjÇ"knerzek - First King.

Simple Verbs

Sharuss verbs are almost as complex as the nouns, although happily, tone generally does not affect them quite as much. Sharuss has an OSV (Object, Verb, Subject) word order, with the subject only being present if it is not a clan or pronoun (see below for examples).

The one of the most simple sentences in Sharuss is 'I eat', or 'Sandni (Sand-ni)'. As can be seen, in Sharuss, the pronoun is merely a suffix to the word 'Sandu', or 'Eat', and does not have its own distinctive 'word', if you will. Adding an object to this sentence is slightly more complex - Jānuhdel Sandni (Jān-uh-del Sand-ni). Jān, in this tone, translates as 'meat', uh pluralises the meat, and del marks the meats as the object of the verb. This is made even more complex by saying 'Dózurez jānundel sandni' - 'I ate the meat with the fork' - where dóz is a fork, ur makes it THE fork, and ez indicates the instrumental case.

The conjugation table runs like this, for the verb 'Budo' (to be), the most common regular verb:
Singular
First-Person: Budni
Second-Person: Budta
Second-Person Masculine (Optional): Budtak
Second-Person Feminine (Optional): Budtanan
Third-Person Feminine: Budnan
Third-Person Masculine: Budak
Plural
First-Person: Budjin
Second-Person: Budtaan
Third-Person: Budnin
Clan
Ama'thuuk: Budam
Dakrathuk: Budakar
Do'uk: Buda
Sa'uk: Busa
Tor'uk: Budor
Ensuk: Buden
Hrodis: Budhra
Sdenhis: Budsde
Dese'el: Butde
Medis: Budme
Shanakeh: Budkeh
Velde'ek: Budvel
Shad'his: Budis
Past Tense
Singular
First-Person: Budejni
Second-Person: Budejta
Second-Person Masculine (Optional): Budejtak
Second-Person Feminine (Optional): Budejtanan
Third-Person Feminine: Budejnan
Third-Person Masculine: Budejak
Plural
First-Person: Budejin
Second-Person: Budejtaan
Third-Person: Budejnin
Ama'thuuk: Budejam
Dakrathuk: Budejakar
Do'uk: Budejda
Sa'uk: Budejsa
Tor'uk: Budejdor
Ensuk: Budejden
Hrodis: Budejhra
Sdenhis: Budejsde
Dese'el: Budejde
Medis: Budejme
Shanakeh: Budejkeh
Velde'ek: Budejvel
Shad'his: Budejis

As can be seen, Sharuss verbs, even in this form (without moods), are hardly simple. There are a few general regularities, however - all verbs end in either 'i', 'a' or 'o' in their infinitive form, and no matter whether the verb is regular or irregular, 'u' or 'us' (sometimes extended to 'uss') always indicates an ongoing action in the singular and plural respectively. Indeed, the very word Sharuss, from the Old Sharuss verb 'Shara' (to speak, now 'Shari'), derives from this pattern.

[note]Tonal accents are used as wikipedia claims the mandarin tones are anglicised. Just a note![/note]

Sharuss also possesses several verbal moods, detailed below.

Amazement: This case is used to indicate amazement, a Sharuss replacement for 'even' and similar words. It is formed using the prefix 'Hul' - for example, 'Mujhunel hulbudta', 'even you are dead'

Hope or wish (Optative): This case is generally used in prayers, apologies, and curses. 'You will be dead!' (Mujhunel budosta!) becomes 'I hope you will be dead' with the addition of a 'za' (singular or plural) to the 'pronoun' ending, followed by the 'hoper' - Mujhunel budostazani! It is almost the same for noun subjects - Mujhunel budostazanan djÇ"kur! 'The king hopes you will be dead!', or 'The king wishes you dead!'

Presumptive: This is used to indicate a presumption or theory. For example: 'Had the armies fled then, the king would not have died' - a quotation from the 'DumenMÇ"uj' (Red Crossing), a historic fable of the Duer - adds 'ajh' or 'ajhu' (plural) to the beginning of the verb, as so: "Ajhunerejak shānvat, mujhunel ajnasbudejnan djÇ"kur." This is formulated as "Ajhu-nerro-ej-ak (nerro being 'to flee', and nerej 'fled') shānvat (army), mujhun-el (dead, object of the sentence) aj-nas-budo-ej-nan (budo being 'to be', nas negating) djÇ"kur (the king)."

Negative: This is formed by the term 'nas' being placed directly BEFORE the verb in question. The simplest negative sentences include 'Sharuss Nas'Sharni', or 'I do not speak Sharuss', and 'Tandhus Sharuss-Sharujan Nasbudni' or 'I am not a Tandhusi speaker'.

Potential: This indicates the opinion of the speaker that the verb in question is possible. It is a rough equivalent to the auxiliary 'could'. It is used by applying the 'nee' prefix to the verb - 'Neebudta' means, literally, 'You could be'.

Imperative: 'Yen' forms a command. For example: 'Yenmujta!' 'Kill!'

Interrogative: This mood indicates questions. It is formed by the 'Ra' prefix, and is primary - it comes before all other prefixes. The formal, polite Tandhusi question to ask any guest is 'ZÅ«Å«nel rajenta?' This literally translates as 'Do you desire water?', and comes from the verb 'Jeno' (to want).

Inferential: This mood indicates that the speaker is talking about something he has not necessarily witnessed, but that is a rumour or a message from afar. It is a very formal mood, and is generally only used when speaking to the Ancestors, in the works of Darova and other scholars, and when speaking to the king and other high nobles. It is formed using the 'Enil' prefix, for both plural and singular, and is exemplified in this line from the 'Song of Ishmael', a modern nationalist song - Harijomuna, enildenkeh mazakuh! Zehemn kūdel enilrabo, zehemn mĕbduhel enilmuja! This translates directly as 'From (the Hariij Empire) come foreigners (so it is said)! To steal our earth, to kill our children (so it is said)!' The verbs Deni and Muja mean 'to come' and 'to kill' respectively.

'Must': This mood is the equivalent of 'Must' and is formed by the 'Mah' prefix. For example, 'we must flee' - 'Mahnerrjin'.

Dubitative: This mood expresses doubt about the verb. It is formed using the 'Gal' prefix for singular and the 'Gail' prefix for plural. For example, "I doubt he comes from the Tandhus archipelago" translates as "Tandhusuna, galdenak."

Adjectives

Adjectives in Sharuss are always placed before the noun, unless they are numbers or numerative, (i.e. 'Three houses', 'Third house') they are placed afterward in the catch-all numerative case (see details above).

Status as a language

Sharuss is the official, religious and court language of T'Zatak'az Durin, the Duer Nation, and is used as a first language by about 63% of the population. Due to heavy immigration from the fall of the Hariij Empire, however, the importance of learning it has dropped drastically - along with the proportion of younger Duer speakers. With new markets opening almost daily, and Hariiji and Kheprerven becoming as prevalent as trade tongues as Sharuss, some more modern Duer Minor Houses are using it for prayers and proclamations and very little else, preferring to become fluent in daemonic. The complexity of the language, along with the lack of comprehension by many Duer immigrants, is leading it into a 'home-language' status in the more cosmopolitan cities of T'Zakat'az Durin.

The Prayer to the Ancestors

Inscribed on doors and windowframes in almost every Duer-built household, this prayer is essentially a short blessing upon the household. It is sometimes carved by a priest, but not necessarily.

Tonel Manjin. Tonel Manjin. Mujhunel Budta, Naek, Jonom Sharta. Jtūntu destazajin, e uhturusa. Tonel manjin!

It translates as 'We praise you. We praise you. You are dead, but, you speak. Bless this house and those within. We praise you!' It is a very simple prayer, and relatively easy to carve in Sharussi runes, but that is its purpose - it is a simple prayer for simple Duer, and is known by all.

Verbs

Used so far:

Budo - To Be
Dakra - To Throw
Desa - To Bless
Deni - To Come
Jeno - To Want
Mani - To Praise
Mun(n)o - To Give
Muja - To Kill
Nerro - To Flee
Rabo - To Steal
Ranno - To Farm
Sanda - To Eat
Shari - To Speak
Yedi - To Burn

Quote from: WensleydaleNouns, in Tandhus Sharuss and certain other dialects close enough to be considered the same language, are divided into 'clan', an extremely odd method that is reflected conjugation and derives from the attempts of Kata'ak, the first Leader of the wandering Duer people, to sort out clan differences in ownership.

Sharuss also has twenty-one full grammatical cases, including three unique ones detailed below.[/quote]aj[/i] the word for "bottom"? Is huz the word for "top"? And so on...)

Oh, and how would express the idea of an indirect object?
I was looking at the list, and it seemed like, in a sentence like "He gave the sword to the king" the concept of "to the king" could be expressed by a few different cases-- or perhaps all of the above depending on connotations.
[ic=A dramatic moment]King: Give the sword to me (benefactive)
Traitor: I'll give the sword to you! (inessive)
Traitor stabs king! Audience gasps!
[/ic]

Quote from: WensleydaleAs can be seen, Sharuss verbs, even in this form, are hardly simple.

The complexity of the language, along with the lack of comprehension by many Duer immigrants, is leading it into a 'home-language' status in the more cosmopolitan cities of T'Zakat'az Durin.[/quote]
I wonder if, too, immigrants and urban-dwellers would resent speaking a language so rooted in an old "clan system," feeling themselves outside and beyond such things.

QuoteDoesn't this count as more of a verb mood?

And how would one express the idea of an indirect object?[/quote]Like, it seems plausible enough that at some point an influential leader would dictate "the order of things" and declare certain spheres that certain clans owned, but that declaration would presumably have to have been made in a spoken language, and obviously this structure couldn't have existed in the language. How did they inflect verbs before this? What caused people to change, and probably abruptly, and how was this structure preserved?[/quote]

Essentially, the Duer were freed from draconic yoke when the dragons went mad, and after seeing no signs of habitation for years of travelling, considered themselves to be the new Masters Of All! Etc. By this point there were twelve 'Great Clans', and they squabbled constantly over the aspects of the world they would rule. Kata'ak divided the world up between them. It was reflected in the beginning only in official documents and the Chronicles, according to the works of Shadurn Tuk, but when he established a united common Duer tongue for the remaining peoples, modern-day Sharuss, he included it. There were very few extra things to learn, and due to clan pride (presumably) and other factors the Duer learnt it and eventually adopted it over their older linguistic patterns.

Quote from: Wensleydalewhen he established a united common Duer tongue for the remaining peoples, modern-day Sharuss, he included it.

There were very few extra things to learn, and due to clan pride (presumably) and other factors the Duer learnt it and eventually adopted it over their older linguistic patterns. [/quote]
I'm confused about this, too :(

If it's an issue of "clan pride," why didn't each clan instead focus on a seperate dialect for that clan, to show their solidarity as a clan, rather than learning some unified language that seems to give each clan its own place?

Oh, yes, there was a complicated gender system in most dialects of Sharuss, but dialects they were, and some of them were not mutually understandable. Sharuss as we know it now was a formal lingua franca, which eventually (as in, say, France, with latin and french) became the first language of all the tribes. Kata'ak was considered the voice of 'god' or 'the gods' - the chronicles are not sure on that. The tribes were given their own pronouns to make them 'different', and to fit with the gender system. Some Duer refer to themselves using, say, 'Denisni' or 'Denis Ni', which translates as 'I come' but also tells the listener that the speaker is of the Shad'his tribe (now House).

As for 'Bring some money to the farmer for me'. Hmm. There is a difference. Assuming farmer is 'Rànnujan', bring is 'Hano' and money is 'Lūndūl', then 'Bring the farmer to some money' would probably be 'Niom lūndūlaz rànnujanurel hanta', whilst 'bring some money to the farmer' would rather be 'Niom rànnujanaz lūndūlel hanta'. In this case, you're literally taking it TO somewhere, so the Lative can apply.

Nouns

As may be noted from the selection below, not all nouns have meanings in every tone.

Sharuss-English

Danak Noun, Masculine
Dānak: Man
Dán: Male
DÇŽnak: Male Genitalia
Dànak: Father

Djuk Noun, Feminine
Djūk: Queen
Djúk: Tribe/House Leader of nonspecific gender
DjÇ"k: King
Djùk: Badge of the highest authority - e.g. a crown, sceptre, etc.

Hark Noun, Feminine
Hārk: A Duer-Sword's blade.
Hárk: A warrior, particularly one who uses a sword
HÇŽrk: A regular sword
Hàrk: A knife or shortsword

Jan Noun, Dakrathuk, Irregular
Jān: Meat
Jánizn: Skin
JÇŽniz: Flesh
Jàn: -

Kan Noun, Medis
Kānut: 'Sensory range', closest translation would be 'vision' or 'sight'
Kán: Echolocation organs
KÇŽnet: The ability to echolocate
Kàn: -

Kurut Noun, Velde'ek
Kūrūt: Fist
Kúrut: Hand
KÅ­rut: Arm (in its entirity)
Kùrun: Finger, digit, includes thumb (which has no separate word in Sharuss, but is referred to as 'first finger')

Kud Noun, Shad'his
KÅ«d: Earth
Kúd: Rock
KÅ­d: Polished Stone
Kùd: Mud

Lundul Noun, Masculine
Lūndūl: Money
Lúndúl: Possession (objects)
LÅ­ndÅ­l: Possession (generally land etc)
Lùndùl: A chest, generally of money or valuables

Mebd Noun, Tor'uk
MÄ"bd: Childhood
Mébd: -
MÄ•bd: Child
Mèbd: Growth

Med Noun, Shad'his
MÄ"d: Birth
Méd: Baby
MÄ•d: Pregnancy
Mèd: Newborn rite

Mej Noun, Velde'ek
MÄ"j: Darkness
Méj: Shadow
MÄ•j: Nightfall
Mèj: Cold

Mujon Noun, Masculine
MÅ«jon: Corpse
Mújon: Death
MÅ­jon: Execution
Mùjon: Tomb

Muuj Noun, Ama'thuuk
MÅ«uj: Ford
Múuj: Bridge
MÅ­uj: Crossing
Mùuj: -

Raz Noun, Hrodis, Irregular
Rāzāā: Gold
Ráz: Trinkets
RÇŽz: Foreign Goods
Ràz: Fool

Rhanin Noun, Shanakeh
Rhānin: Flower
Rhánin: Grass
RhÇŽnin: Reed
Rhànin: Stalk

Snan Noun, Feminine
Snān: Woman
Snán: Female
SnÇŽn: Female Genitalia
Snàn: Mother

Yedun Noun, Shanakeh
YÄ"dun: Fire
Yédun: Flame
YÄ•dun: Warmth
Yèdun: Heat

Zuun Noun, Velde'ek
ZÅ«Å«n: Water
Zúún: Stream
ZÅ­Å­n: River
Zùùn: Waterfall

I'm sort of in awe of this work--you've put a lot of thought into this, I can see.

This language seems like it would be very challening to learn--in a way worse than trying to learn Mandarin if your native tongue is english. It seems to me that an underlying concept in this language is that there are no assumptions. On the other hand it seems that once you grasped the concept it is more a matter of memorizing the different intonations and so on to gain an understanding of context.

So for instance if you understand that 'hark' means a blade then the way you say 'blade' indicates what kind it is.

Furthermore if you understand that the context of a word determines what WORD you use--not how you use it alone--(for instance ownership is not the same thing as use, and is distinctly different)--then again it is a matter of memorizing the proper terms, not figuring out a multiplicity of different contexts in which the same word can be used for different things. (as in english say)

Am I understanding this properly?

QuoteI'm sort of in awe of this work--you've put a lot of thought into this, I can see.

Furthermore if you understand that the context of a word determines what WORD you use--not how you use it alone--(for instance ownership is not the same thing as use, and is distinctly different)--then again it is a matter of memorizing the proper terms, not figuring out a multiplicity of different contexts in which the same word can be used for different things. (as in english say)[/quote]

Essentially, yes. Some of the nouns have more widely-varying meanings than Hark - such as Djuk, which generally refers to things to do with rulership - but if you memorise the 'concept' that links them all together, learning one noun would probably become somewhat easier. The intonations make each word very specific.