Lancine Language

 

If you read JRR Tolkien's books, or watch the films, you will read or hear dialogue in foreign languages. These languages are completely invented by the author and are a part of the intricate detail and complexity of the Tolkienian universe which far exceeds the scope necessary to write the books. Middle Earth has an entire history, geology, sociology, biology and geography of which Tolkien's fiction is merely a slice. As you'll see if you read the sample chapters of The Obscruati Chronicles, I have given my own imaginary country, Lancombe Pond, an imaginary national language, Lancine or Dugoslan. I describe it as driving linguists mad because of its unique features and its nature as an isolate. There are some samples of Lancine in the story already, such as the greeting An tless which literally means "good day". Mameerda means "grandmother". Words in most languages related to the maternal tend to have the "m" sound in them; for example French: Maman, Welsh: Mam, Dutch: Moeder, Italian: Madre. I decided that Lancine should obey that convention. You will work out as you read the sample chapters that An means "good" and that tless means "day". You know which is which because later on you'll see the phrase: An Dael aes, ggelappa Dael aes; "God is good, God is all-knowing". Dael therefore means "God", and it is related to the name of Lancombe Pond's national anthem Daela Koslan, "Holy (or "sacred") Lancombe Pond". Daela is an adjective related to Dael, "God", the a at the end of the world functions like the suffix -"ful" in English with words like "faithful" and "colourful". The sentences have an object-subject-verb structure, like many Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew. You will therefore probably guess that aes means "is", the third person singular version of the verb "to be". I've not worked out all the gender inflections yet.
 
I have created a brief lexicon and I will add more words as I invent them:
Koslan- Lancombe Pond
Myud- city
Tless- day
Tān- field
Ū- Yew tree
Ob- son
Grad- country, nation
Aluha- road
Flok- war
Span- street
Ttakte- to defend
Kuttude- to die
Ozdje- group of men, army, Masonic lodge
Soddippe- broken, out of use
Raed- love
Raedan- to love
Val- you (singular formal)
Valoo- yours (singular formal)
Amycculan- to heal
Laawybyu- November
Puhssume- to act
Puhssumaete- actor
Puhssumaeta- actress
Panaela- political party
Disskam- Cambridge
Slin- film
Slinatisol- cinema

Slinu- films
Kronless- Saturday
Syzaedd- secret agent, spy
Valppana- December

Liby- baby
Canpaec Pritaelog- the UK (literally "Union of Britain")
Clinac- prison
Diss- bridge

Dōm- saint

Kkomyt- health

Lokktarpan- embassy

Kaelv- Duke (leader of Lancombe Pond)

Kaelvyr- duchy

Kuwee- book

Skykō- skeleton
 
If you want to know how these words are pronounced, here's a partial phonology of Lancine's commonly used Latin script. (Lancine has a classic script which I have not yet devised.) I will expand it as I develop the language. Any letters omitted are pronounced exactly as they are in English:
Vowels:
a- like "a" in "apple".
aa- a lengthened "a", not present in standard English, but is in some accents
ae- like "e" in "pen"
e- like "ay" in "hay" (never like in English)
ee- like "air" in "hair"
i- like "i" in "bin" (never like in "spaghetti")
o- like "o" in "operation" (never like in "solo")
ō- like "aw" in "Awful"
oo- a lengthened o not present in standard English, but is in some accents

u- like "u" in "fun" (never like in "revenue" or "MUFON") 
uu- like "urr" in "purr"

ū- like "oo" in "pool" (never like in "look")
uh- like ū but more guttural
y- like "y" in "pretty"
Consonants:
c- like "ch" in Scots or Scottish Gaelic "loch"
cc- like c but more guttural.
dd- like "th" in "that"
gg- a voiced version of c or cc. Sound is not in any form of English but can be found in other languages, such as French: peintre.
ll- an aspirated English "l". Sound is not in any form of English but can be found in other languages, such as Welsh: Llanelli.
pp- a sound made by placing the tongue forward by the lips and aspirating. Not known to exist in any real language.
ss- like "sh" in "shop"
tt- like "th" in "think"
tl- like "ttl" in "bottle"
zz- like "s" in "pleasure"
 
Sample text.
Here is a rough translation of my recent HPANWO Voice article George Blake Dies, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2020/12/george-blake-dies.html:
 
Syzaeddimssy-de tubrax Dùzzōdzz Blek kutturyas. Abduh Dùzzōdzz Baeyhār  Yplhongradon 1922-on, Anglagradab Flok Waeru II saemyordaekk a zomtōba yonyggum DRZ ujuhbyw. Aru ne kkoppimnu-yd ae Kurygrad flok-de uggu tuh 1950gy mont agubūyl a tussukde-yd ae Māksypy ontutum. Oly-yd 1961-on atugrinto a tuggyuhstuh. Aru clinac 1966-on teltymoron kay ytolebuh clinac waebio taalny. Alluh ae Rusgrad tabyadestyl, tae Canpaec Sovyaet, tywaa ulymantir ōsta lolodalyl. O ten clyba-yd clybtora. Van tinhe onucraen Pritaelggo am ssultidekail a clinac ubiddola kka-da llepin. Taeljy "syzaeddu Disskam", Kim Filby, Antuny Blunt, Gay Buudùzzes, Duzzon Keenkros a Donuld Muklen, ssamsy kuh-syzaedd taalny yc aes. Ok Tless Staefen Dōm 2020 kaerum taessu Rusly "RIA Novosty" ccog Blek kutturyas. Egupyn-tro y gol. Dybyr ton tyssy bont altan kutturyas. Paely Vladimyr Puhtin yc ontin, yc loduh "osaemekin oria ton kes a blinyggogtu y gol" te brony "ppaekte oltymarg pysu maeryobi a ssinte azzaty waeradic". Aru tin slin-de coryla Blek omdab ferubic daen Puhtin aes. Kul ōsta no Rusgrad amlim pelynasty antumryr. Kkaeltubaa Blek tael Flok Ybic wikbo timly syzaeddon ōl no canulam Sovyaet aeku. Ty Blek, vy ymsylto saert a piltroguy clinac, syzaeddon-blyj no yg tolyadro-aera kongure a okno tusaebrog.
 
Original text:
"The famous super spy George Blake has died. Born George Behar in the Netherlands in 1922, he moved to England after World War II and joined the intelligence agency SIS. However during his posting to Korea he witnessed the brutal war of the early 1950's and its horrors converted him to Marxism. His cover was blown in 1961 and he was imprisoned. However he broke out of jail in 1966 in one of the most notorious prison escapes in history. He then was trafficked to Russia, then the Soviet Union, where he was granted political asylum. He lived there for the rest of his life. He was never able to travel home to Britain because he would be arrested and returned to prison the moment he arrived. Along with the Cambridge spies; Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, John Cairncross and Donald Maclean, he is the most infamous double agent in history. On Boxing Day 2020 the Russian news outlet RIA Novosti announced that Blake had died. He had passed away from age-related conditions. President Vladmir Putin paid tribute to him, calling him "a brilliant professional of special vitality and courage" who made an "invaluable contribution to ensuring strategic parity and maintaining peace on the planet". However in this documentary Blake clearly is nervous about Putin. Blake's asylum in modern Russia was getting precarious at the time. Blake's deception during the Cold War led to the exposure of many western agents operating inside the Soviet bloc. Unlike Blake, who was treated with humanity and simply locked away in prison, these agents were tortured until they gave up their information and then shot."
 
Other features:
Lancine has no auxiliary verbs, unlike English and Welsh in which the verb "to be" is required to form almost all sentences; for example: "I am walking", "Rwy i'n cerdded". In Lancine it is always Plokae- "I walk". There is no indefinite article. Myud can mean "city" or "a city" and the context decides which. The definite article is a hyphenated suffix. Myud-de means "the city". There are only two genders, like in Welsh and French. Everything is either "he" or "she"; there is no word for "it" that you find in English, Dutch and other Germanic languages. The definite article changes according to gender. Puhssumaeta-da means "the actress". The suffix -da is the feminine equivalent of the masculine -de.
 
This article may be edited in the near future and/or there will be a follow-up one.