Vel /Language

NOTE: Major reformatting in progress. All words subject to change.

Introduction

Velsera is the name of the language of the people of greater Vel. It is largely agglutinative, constructing words from "morphemes" - prefixes, roots, combinations of roots, and suffixes. Words built in this way may be expanded upon further, which could introduce some inconsistencies and confusion in translation (just like a natural language, not a programming language).

Agglutination Hints

The original creators of Velsera intended there to be no letter blends. Adjacent consonants were to force a separation of syllables, and vowels were to be pronounced separately, with a subtle "h" (or perhaps "y") sound between them if necessary. This rule gradually fell out of favor for three reasons: the impeditive nature of unblended sounds, the natural tendency for language to mutate over time, and the introduction of several loanwords from the language of the Lakelanders (which has many blends).

Double letters are quite rare, except in the Vihani-inspired words. Nearly every double letter which would have been caused by an agglutination would be changed to a single letter. Ex: li + spos + sid + jad = lisposidjad (my nephew), with no double "s" between the 2nd & 3rd morphemes.

It is also quite common to omit one of the vowels where the agglutination process would have created consecutive vowels. Ex: "zeza" (bug) + "oje" (eye) would be "zezoje", not "zezaoje".

Pronunciation Hints

Consonants

The letters "b, d, f, h, j (see foreign influence), l, m, n, p, s, t, v & z" are pronounced much as they are in English.

"W" is by far the least common letter.

"C" and "G" are always 'hard', no matter which vowel follows them.

"K" is pronounced harder, as a noisy "kh" or German "ch".

"R" has some effect on neighboring vowels, but not to the extent as it does in English.

"TH" is usually soft, as in "both".

"X" has a slightly softer "k" component than in English, and is never pronounced "Z".

"W" and "Y" sound much as they do in English, but should not be used in vowel blends such as "ay" and "ow".

Vowels

"E" is almost always short and is never silent at the end of a word*.

"I" is always short*.

"O" tends to be long.

"U" tends to sound like "oo", especially at the end of a word, but never has a "y" component like a long "u" does.

"A" usually sounds like "ah", as in Spanish, but occasionally towards the schwa sound.

"AH" indicates a stressed "ah" sound, with some aspiration and a slight tendency towards "au".

"AI" is pronounced as long "i".

"UU" is pronounced "oo-wuh", somewhat like the "ua" in "dual".

"IA" is pronounced "ee-yuh".

"AA" and "II" are pronounced with their respective long vowel sound followed by the schwa sound.

Foreign Influence

Any word with a vowel blend or double vowel is most likely based on (or inspired by) a word from Vihanuul.

Near the Lakeland, "J" tends to be pronounced more as "zh" (as in French).

The Lakeland-inspired -l and -r blends are pronounced with a subtle schwa sound between the consonants, ex. "vl" sounds more like "vul" than "vla".

Some have suggested that modern speakers of Velsera have begun incorporating the tonal system of the lakelanders into Velsera. Those as-yet unknown rules would be considered as dialects, and a full examination would be beyond the scope of these pages.

Sections

Directions And Prepositions

Obsolete Pages

Directions > see Directions And Prepositions

Adjectives And Descriptions > see New Roots under Adjectives heading

Omniglot Text

(ed.note: One goal is to submit the languages developed for Raieh to the language site of omniglot.com . Below is the text preferred by Omniglot for translation. The translated text will be completed as the words become available.)

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Raieh Fractal Planet