VUAKEDH: AN ALTERNATE VARGR LANGUAGE

The principal Vargr Languages are Gvegh (used in the Zhodani Marches), Logaksu (in Lair), Aekhu (in Deneb), Gvegh-Aekhu (overlap in Gvurrdon), Urzaeng (Coreward Windhorn), Ovaghoun (Provence, Windhorn, and Meshan), Suedzuk (Vargr Enclaves), and Irilitok (in the Julian Protectorate.)

Vuakedh is the language of Vargr from the Domain of Antares, and variants of it are spoken in the Antares Pact and the Julian Protectorate. Bhyarrvouf, Goughzar, and Rafe all speak pure Imperial Vuakedh, though 'Vouf occasionally sprinkles his language with idioms and phrases from more "barbarian" cultures and Rafe and 'Zar usually prefer Galanglic, which is easier on the human vocal system.

Vuakedh, like most of the Irilitok tongues, is very different from the Gvegh dialects of the Spinward Extents; it has a multitude of unique phonemes that require much training to distinguish, and a hint of the tonality found in Bilandin (Old Vilani). Because of this, there are two immediately obvious differences between speech and conversation in Vuakedh and in Gvegh: one is that Vuakedh is an incredibly compact language, with almost no word having more than two syllables, and the other is that charisma is asserted through tone rather than word structure or timing. To a Gvegh Vargr, an Irilitok Vargr sounds more like a pseudobio robot with limited programming than a real sophont, and Irilitok jokes about the ten years it takes for a Gvegh speaker to finish a sentence are widespread. Vuakedh uses prefixes instead of separate word particles in many cases, only occasionally repeats itself for emphasis, and creates verb and adjective structures with tonality and emphasis. All of this leads to very short sentences with a wealth of compact meaning. It is the most efficient of all Vargr tongues, and perhaps the most compact language of any major race short of the Hiver touch-speech.

VOCABULARY: particles and composite words

There are also some phrases not yet broken down into particles and words not yet defined:

bhranda kghfe zhdaetso? = idiomatically, "How are things on your end?"
pullup = literally, "bitch in first heat," idiomatically, well, YOU know. (one pullup, two puyallup)

Elissa (translation) = Athugz

we need words for "tooth" and "claw"
also "human" and "aslan".

COUNTING:

Counting is done with a set of ten digits that are represented by ten unique vowel phonemes. They are written here with the prefix "s", which is used when a number stands alone.

sae	= zero
sou	= one
soh	= two
sui	= three
sai	= four
see	= five
seh	= six
suh	= seven
sah	= eight
sei	= nine

Digits can be mixed to represent large numbers without extra syllables, and an extra consonant may be used to indicate the presence of a decimal point or a grouping of numbers to represent ideas like "thousand" or "million" (though Vuakedh does this in groups of four digits at a time rather than three). What is critical is that every one of the ten basic digits has only one vowel sound, and that vowel sound is unique to it.

Example:

four billion,eight hundred ninety-six million,seven hundred and twenty-three thousand and fifteen
= 4,896,723,015
= 48:9672:3015
= jainaggheikfebukorrhuimaetousee

Note the order of consonants: increasing, s t m dh r k b kf gh n j. The lengthened consonants ggh and rrh indicate breaks for digit groupings. The plosive "p" is used to represent a decimal point, and the consonants for place value are the same as for numbers greater than one, but in the reverse order: t for tenths, m for hundredths, etc.

NAMES:

The tradition of naming in Antares is that the parent of the same sex gives the last syllable of his or her name to be the first syllable of their children's names, and then chooses the last syllable. All names are two syllables long. For example, Khombhyarr's children are Bhyarrbogh, Bhyarrvouf and Bhyarrkharr. Goughzar's father was Rrangough, and his siblings are Goughseud and Goughzaell.

("reyf" = self-stick post-it note paper) |-D

INTERROGATIVE COMPONENTS

Then we could have

've'	= what
'va'	= who
'vou'	= where
'vai'	= how
'vae'	= which
'vui'	= why
'vo'	= when
'vei'	= how much

Thus, we have 've' for 'what' and 'vekh' from 've-kakh' for 'what the hell' ?

Some basic grammar

Vui dzoughuek?	(Why are we sleeping?)
gzou	(1st person, to be, singular: I am)
gzoh	(2nd person, to be, singular: You are)
gzui	(3rd person, to be, singular: He/She/It is)
dzou	(1st person, to be, plural: We are)
dzoh	(2nd person, to be, plural: You are)
dzui	(3rd person, to be, plural: They is)

<< Aegseh khodeyf... >> 'Vouf mutters darkly at her retreating back,

seh = six
aeg = the particle for association (see also 'aeng'); alone it means a grouping or assembly. See also 'aeggra' = profusion.
khodaf = gunshot; 'khodeyf' is plural.

So, "aegseh khodeyf" = six-shot grouping. ;)

Alliara's siyebh aeggra sometimes,

yebh = pain, discomfort
siyebh aeggra = a profusion of agonies (a royal pain in the tail)

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