SNERT: "Marking Territory," by Ma la Mha

Over the last couple of articles, we’ve discussed how the traditional uses of the circumflex over the vowels a, e, o, and u, and the tilde used in the construction gñh, have all been officially defined and described as embodying the “Traditional” style, as opposed to the “Common Style” (which is written without those marks). Some other marks, such as ø and å, were removed from the language by the 2007 Arestada that introduced the “Common Style”, and those changes have since been accepted by writers of the “Traditional Style”. But a couple of issues still persist, separating the two communities.

The first of these is the vowel î (the circumflex-adorned letter i). This vowel was described as being pronounced like a vowel familiar to a Slavic language speaker (but foreign to an English speaker). However, since most speakers of Talossan were not able to voice the Slavic vowel sound, the letter was not typically pronounced that way. For this reason, and the fact that the Committee had for many years been strongly considering eliminating at least some instances of î, the 2007 Arestada called for the respelling, on etymological grounds, of all words that used that letter. Most of the î’s became i (or hi, to preserve a preceding “hard c”, as in chint – meaning “hundred” – which had been cînt). While it might seem simple to re-recognise î as “a mark, typically without effect on pronunciation (but for certain speakers, indicative of a Slavic vowel pronunciation) that is seen in the Traditional Style on specific uses of i," it isn’t quite that easy. This is because other instances of î were respelled using different vowels in 2007; for example, tîmp (“time”) became temp, avînt (“before”) became avant, adîlt (“adult”) became adült, acîrd (“accord”) became acord, and pînta (“paint”) became peinta. Many “Traditional Stylists” accept the respellings, but until a consensus is clear to the Committee, the use of î is not officially described. Its uses in the prefix în and the suffix înd (equivalent to English’s “ing”, and which is irregularly pronounced as if spelled ant), are perhaps the most often-seen uses, and would be easiest to adopt as officially recognized elements of the “Traditional Style”.

In the “Common Style”, ë is an indicator of diæresis, just like ï is in both Talossan and English (so that naïve is pronounced in two syllables, and not as “nave” or “nive”). Traditional Stylists have not fully embraced this exclusive use for ë. Firstly, although this practice may be fading, many Traditional Stylists use ë in preference to e in words like për (meaning “for”). Second, and more importantly, the letter ë is used in the infinitive verb ending, which brings us to the final issue separating the two communities of “stylists”.

In the “Common Style”, ë is an indicator of diæresis, just like ï is in both Talossan and English (so that naïve is pronounced in two syllables, and not as “nave” or “nive”). Traditional Stylists have not fully embraced this exclusive use for ë. Firstly, although this practice may be fading, many Traditional Stylists use ë in preference to e in words like për (meaning “for”). Second, and more importantly, the letter ë is used in the infinitive verb ending, which brings us to the final issue separating the two communities of “stylists”. Before 2007, the infinitive form of all regular verbs ended in ar (but this was pronounced as if ending arh, to rhyme with “wash” as pronounced in American English), and the infinitive form of all irregular verbs ended in either arë or irë. In those endings, the ë was silent, and the word still was pronounced to rhyme with English “wash”. The 2007 Arestada changed the infinitive ending so that all forms end either with arh or – for the few irregular verbs that had ended in irë – with irh. For example, amar (“to love”) became amarh, estarë (“to be”) became estarh, and tirë (“to have”) became tirh. Since many writers of the Traditional Style continue to use the pre-2007 word endings for infinitive verbs, this distinction between the two styles perseveres. B