3.6  Some peculiar conceptions

3.6.1  (Ir)reversibility

The doublet darót/dirót means ’degree of reversibility/irreversibility of an action’ (cf. Jap. shimau), in full conjugation:

• dirógnet ’completely irreversible, permanent state’, dirógne ’irreversible for a long time’, dirókwe ’irreversible for a short time’, dirókwet ’irreversible for the shortest time’
• darókwet ’reversible only for the shortest time’, darókwe ’reversible only for a short time’, darógne ’reversible for a long time’, darógnet ’completely reversible’

So for example one would say:

• Dirót-mo blídu-mére ’[I] got ill (for now, and don’t know how long it will take to recover)’
• Dirókwe-mo blídu-mére ’[I] got ill (but should get better soon)’
• Dirógnet-mo blídu-nójo ’[I] have a lifelong dicease’
• Dirókwet-mo blettepáu-mére ’It is going to hurt just a little bit’

Also cf. diroχdilón ’irreversible sleep state’, i.e. ’deep sleep state’.

3.6.2  Order

The word kras means ’degree of order’, with karás ’ordered, symmetrical state’, but kirás means something like ’anti-ordered, anti-symmetrical state, opposition’, where elements are repeated in reverse; and mulkrás ’disordered, chaotic state’ (a formal word, colloquially jerίjre, see sound-symbolism: http://sindanoorie.net/glp/phonosymb.php).

Hence karaskí ’pattern’, kiraspá ’duality, doublet state’. Kairás, kairázmai can be used to describe a particular pattern with repeated and inversely repeated elements, or the ’universe’ in general (in the latter case also kairázmen with augmentative -men), which is thought to consist out of elements in repetition/collaboration on the one hand, and elements of adversity/opposition on the other (cf. Greek κόσμος).

3.6.3  Prefix war-

The prefix war-/wal-/wan- indicates something which is subordinate, a smaller or weaker version, or has not yet achieved its full proportions. It is combined with the diminutive endings -win, -lin for short words:

• plézne ’branch, bough’ → warplézne ’twig’
• póida ’river’ → warpóida ’tributary’
• pérax ’king’ → walpérax ’heir apparent’
• pállin ’child’ → warpállin ’stepchild’
• dilón ’state of sleep’ → wardilón ’state of dozing, being half-asleep’
• dwórga ’work’ → waldwórga ’preparation’
• pal ’water’ → warpálwin ’high water, small flood in spring’
• kas ’fire’ → warkázwin ’smoulder’

This prefix is probably a blend of the sound-symbolic roots √w-l ’be soft, pliant and weak’ and √w-r ’false, fake, lie’ (see sound-symbolism: http://sindanoorie.net/glp/phonosymb.php).

3.6.4  Animal sounds

English has various verbs describing the sounds of animals, like ’bark’, ’twitter’, ’bleat’, ’meow’ or ’buzz’. Japanese, on the other hand, uses naku for any of them (for human beings, it means ’to cry’). Talmit is a compromise in between the two, and distinguishes:

• prau ’human voice, articulate speech’, cognate to K. roume ’speech, language’ (√praw)
• báe ’gentle animal voice’ (i.e. twittering, bleating, meowing), probably based on the sound of a sheep, cf. T. béta and K. vimata ’sheep’ (√be)
• hau, háwe ’harsh animal voice’ (i.e. barking, roaring, growling), probably based on the sound of a dog, cf. T. háwas and K. savas ’dog’ (√khaw)

3.6.5  Paths and language

In many languages, direct objects of verbs of motion are paths, as English ’to walk a road’. In Talmit, however, they are always destinations:

• pelestámi-nu gánun ’go into a city’, lit. ’go a city’

One can also explicitly use the postposition tarúma ’into’. The expression gépre-nu gánun, lit. ’go a way’ actually means ’finish going a way, go all way until the end’. Otherwise, the image schema of a road is the one of a surface: gépre-nópparus gánun ’go on a way’.

Curiously, the image schema for speaking a language is also the one of the surface of a path, while the destination (usually with explicit tarúma) is proficiency:

• Kjúmna-nópparus taplendé ’speak some Kymna’, lit. ’speak on Kymna’
• Kjúmna-tarúma taplendé ’to command Kymna, to be fluent in Kymna’, lit. ’to speak into Kymna’