Hieratic Varshani
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| Varshani | |
|---|---|
| Waršaŋ žuraq | |
| Native to | Varshan, |
| Region | Crona |
Native speakers | 800 million |
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
The Varshani language is the official and national language of Varshan.
Varshani is a highly analytic language that relies heavily on word order and periphrasic constructions to communicate meaning. ideophones, epithets
Grammar
Verbs
Varshani verbs inflect for three persons, seven tenses in the indicative mood, and an additional tense in the commissive mood. Past and future statements take different tenses depending on whether the action was done earlier that day/will be done later that day, was done yesterday/will be done to-morrow, or was done further than one day ago in the past/will be done further than one day ahead in the future. Varshani is especially notable for its commissive verbal mood, which is used to make threats. The commissive mood comprises a single, unified future tense, and inflects only for the first and third persons.
The first-person and third-person forms are identical in all tenses except the hodiernal past, the commissive future, and (in some dialects) the hesternal past.
| Tense | rangakto sacrifice | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
| Past (Historic) | yerangak | ye- | gzarangak | gza- | yerangak | ye- |
| Past (Hesternal) | zaurangak | zau- | čaurangak | čau- | dzaurangak | (d)zau- |
| Past (Hodiernal) | jarangak | ja- | čurangak | ču- | dzorangak | dzo- |
| Present | rangak | Ø | dzurangak | dzu- | rangak | Ø |
| Future (Hodiernal) | čarangak | ča- | dzarangak | dza- | čarangak | ča- |
| Future (Crastinal) | rerangak | re- | gerangak | ge- | rerangak | re- |
| Future | marangak | ma- | kurangak | ku- | marangak | ma- |
| Commissive (Threat) | širangak | ši- | - | - | šamarangak | šama- |
Varshani sentences commonly lack explicit subjects, relying on the personal inflection of the verb to indicate the subject of the action. The subject is always omitted in the commissive mood, for the second person in all tenses, and for the first person in the hodiernal past tense; but is also usually omitted when it is clear from context who the subject is, such as in answers to questions (Kizi dzolažgo quduk? Jalažgo quduk. "Who took the axe earlier?" "I took the axe earlier.") or in successive sentences with the same subject as a first sentence that states the subject explicitly.
Lexicon
Varshani has often been described as an imprecise and highly context-dependent polysemic language in which words (especially nouns) can have several different (but related) meanings depending on the context. For example, the word ayiq can mean "disease", "poison", "curse", "vomit", "pollution", "miasma", "stain", "impurity", "disgust", or "qualm" in everyday conversation. Poetic, figurative, and metaphorical meanings for common words abound, and this has often been an obstacle to Hesperian scholars trying to understand Arzali religious texts. In fact, some experts have theorized that the extreme ambiguity of Arzali texts is the main reason why Arzalism contains so many dissenting sects and currents. There are few true synonyms in the English understanding of the word,
A major semantic area where the Varshani lexicon is actually quite exacting is kinship terminology and words for the various social roles and levels of status one can hold in Varshani society.
- Waršaŋ - Varshani ethnic group
- Waršaŋulu - Varshan
- Waršaŋ - Varshani ethnic group
- žuraq - language, speech/sermon, conversation, discourse
- gožu - rule, reign, régime
- wacha - garment, clothing, public image
- žeža - caste
- qozak - military officer
- quduk - axe, mattock, cleaver, wedge, dignified execution, entrepreneurship
- Changu - Arzali afterlife
- dong - penis
- oguz - pot, cauldron, boiler, tank (armored vehicle), soup, social pressure, suppressed rage, burly man, armed force with great forward momentum
- okozi - slave plantation, township, business enterprise, secretary pool
- kongo - quickly, fast, speed
- haž - marriage, to marry, to absorb or annex, to keep a close eye on
- hiba - to give
- giru - to permit, allow; to loosen; to breathe, to release, to open
- godo - other
- guri - owner (of things other than slaves)
- ho - woman
- araz - bludgeon, club, baton, or similar beating instrument
- ʘing - salt, seasoning, flavour, appeal, distinction, additive
- wenze - wind, push, cause, initiate, current, motivation
- ǃyang - tight, taut, tense, attuned, alert, well-trained, quick to react
- qauruk - hot spring, bath, to bathe, to recuperate, hospital, authorized military leave following a campaign
- žau - warrior, soldier
- qulu - army
- hulu - debt
- ǃak - a rock or stone, mortar (both the grinding instrument and the weapon), ball (sports)
- barak - hero, celebrated military leader, inspiring figure, star athlete