The Shshi are an intelligent lifeform – a species of extraterrestrial\u00a0that evolved from termites.\u00a0 They closely resemble the termites of Earth, although that are approximately a meter in length and they have evolved language.\u00a0 Since they are deaf and have no vocal mechanisms, they have evolved a system in which individuals emit and receive radio\u00a0 waves through their antennae, to be decoded into language in the brain.\u00a0 Any\u00a0 recording of such a language would result only in a series of waveforms on a spectrograph; therefore I’m calling it a “spectrographic” language, or sometimes\u00a0 a “bioelectric” language.\u00a0 Kaitrin Oliva, the linguistic anthropologist in my\u00a0 novel “The Termite Queen,” transcribes these wave patterns into pronounceable\u00a0 words so that they can be spoken by human beings.\u00a0 An automatic translation device converts these words into the EM patterns that the Shshi can receive and understand.\u00a0 In return, the device picks up the transmissions of the Shshi and converts them into\u00a0vocalized words.<\/p>\n
The Shshi have no written language at the time of my novel, but my personal blog, Ruminations of a Remembrancer<\/a>, includes a\u00a0page entitled “Shshi Writing<\/a>” which is an excerpt from a\u00a0 novel laid at a later time, where the Remembrancer Di’fa’kro’mi (think “Bard”) talks about how he invented writing.<\/p>\n The spectrographic\u00a0 waveforms mentioned above can be analyzed into individual patterns which can be\u00a0 assigned spoken syllables, forming lexemes.A lexeme can be composed of one or more morphemes, just as in\u00a0English. Small breaks of different\u00a0 lengths in the patterns indicate the ends of morphemes, lexemes, and groups of\u00a0 words that can be considered sentences.\u00a0 In order to give form to the language, Kaitrin Oliva marked the ends of\u00a0 lexemes with a vertical bar and separated the morphemes with apostrophes.\u00a0 A sentence ends with a double\u00a0bar.<\/p>\n The structure of\u00a0 this language is probably a lot more like English than it should be, but it’s\u00a0hard to escape the template in your brain. However, there are some significant\u00a0 differences.\u00a0 I gave these big bugs an unbelievably orderly instinct for syntax\u00a0so first we should discuss word\u00a0order.<\/span><\/p>\n Word Order<\/strong><\/p>\n The order is Subject + Verb + Direct object\/predicate nominative\/predicate adjective.\u00a0 These elements may not be separated by adverbs, adjectives, or other words (except negatives, honorifics like na<\/em>| [holy] or lo\u2019lo\u2019tar\u2019zei|<\/em>(Commander), numbers, and certain auxiliaries). Links <\/strong>(those strange arrow symbols)<\/p>\n Links and punctuation are waveforms that are barely distinguishable on the spectrograph but are very consistently, almost unconsciously, employed.\u00a0 Therefore, Kaitrin assigned them symbols in her written transcriptions but voiced them with certain syllables for her translation device.\u00a0 Word and syllable separators are not vocalized at all, since they are simple hiatuses.<\/p>\n Here is a list of the link symbols and\u00a0 their meanings:<\/p>\n Predicate link<\/strong>:\u00a0\u21c6 Use between a subject and its verb (except\u00a0 when the verb has a pronoun as a subject, when the subject combines with the\u00a0 verb.) Object Link<\/strong>: \u21bb Use between verb and its direct object OR predicate nominative. The Shshi don\u2019t distinguish objects and predicate nominatives.\u00a0 However, they DO recognize predicate adjectives and employ a special link for those. Predicate adjective link<\/strong>: \u21b3 Infinitive link<\/strong>: \u21c5 Infinitives without exception end in o and are preceded by the \u21c5 sign.\u00a0 An infinitive takes the object link where required. Conjunctions, relative pronouns, and prepositions partake of the character of links and so take no link sign following them, but subordinate clauses are treated just like other objects, etc. After I had already employed Wingdings for the above system in four different books and then discovered that they won’t work with ebooks, I worked out an alternative system using superscript syllables and added information to “The Termite Queen” indicating that Kaitrin used these syllables to vocalize the links.\u00a0 These syllables will be substituted for the link signs in\u00a0ebook versions.\u00a0\u00a0Here are the equivalents:<\/p>\n \u21c6 (predicate link) = yu<\/sup> Additional Information<\/strong><\/p>\n Plurals are constructed by prefixing sh-<\/em>. Text Sample<\/strong><\/p>\n Opening lines from the Shshi Creation Myth<\/strong><\/p>\n zo| da\u2019kwi| nof| vi| ta\u2019tai| wei| \u21bb loi\u2019zi| da\u2019pri\u2019saia| ma\u2019na\u2019ta| \u21c6 ta\u2019trot| \u21bb prai\u2019zi| ut| u| ta\u2019rufot| an| wei\u2019loi| na\u2019sha\u2019ma| u| ta\u2019lo\u2019tailot| \u21bb ma\u2019a| tu\u2019ai| ta\u2019shet| \u21b3 da\u2019ein\u2019fiv| || ei\u2019dal| ta\u2019nagot| \u21c5 arko| \u21bb shein| u| shfai\u2019eintot| \u21bb shprai\u2019mo\u2019zi| vi| ki| bei\u2019a| saia\u2019zei| \u21c6 bei\u2019u\u2019teio| weil| ||<\/em><\/p>\n Translation<\/strong><\/p>\n On the first day of time the Highest-Mother-Who-Has-No-Name filled all the sky and she hungered for the Nameless King and devoured him so that she was impregnated with his egg-maker. Then she began to press forth eggs and they hatched into stars, which most of you will never see.<\/p>\n A word-by-word breakdown of the first sentence<\/strong><\/p>\n zo|<\/em> during We’ve made a beginning!\u00a0 More is still to come!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Shshi are an intelligent lifeform – a species of extraterrestrial\u00a0that evolved from termites.\u00a0 They closely resemble the termites of Earth, although that are approximately a meter in length and they have evolved language.\u00a0 Since they are deaf and have no vocal mechanisms, they have evolved a system in which individuals emit and receive radio\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-38","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/remembrancer.conlang.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/remembrancer.conlang.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/remembrancer.conlang.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/remembrancer.conlang.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/remembrancer.conlang.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/remembrancer.conlang.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259,"href":"http:\/\/remembrancer.conlang.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions\/259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/remembrancer.conlang.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span>The same goes for infinitives; they are not separated from their objects.
\nPossessive pronouns like ki\u2019sho<\/em>| (my) and ki\u2019bei<\/em>| (your) would precede a subject noun but follow an object.
\nExamples:
\n<\/strong>My rock is cold:\u00a0 ki\u2019sho| ka\u2019zi|\u00a0<\/em>\u21c4fa\u2019she|<\/em>\u21b3 da\u2019chi| ||
\n<\/em>BUT: <\/em>The Worker stole my rock:\u00a0 om\u2019zei|\u21c4 <\/em>fa\u2019dutot|<\/em><\/em>\u21bbka\u2019zi| ki\u2019sho| ||<\/em><\/p>\n
\nExamples
\n<\/strong>\u00a0The citizens of Lo’ro’ra spoke with the Seer:\u00a0 lo’ro’ra’zei|\u00a0\u21c6 shfa’ganot| o| tei\\zei| ||
\n<\/em>[The subject is a noun.\u00a0 This also illustrates the fact that a pronoun always remains prefixed to the verb; thus shfa<\/em> is “they” and the sentence would read literally: The citizens of Lo’ro’ra they spoke with the Seer.]
\nThey spoke with the Seer: shfa’ganot| o| tei’zei| ||\u00a0<\/em> [When the pronoun is the subject, it is combined with the verb and the link sign is not used.]<\/p>\n
\nExamples\u00a0of Object Link
\n<\/strong>The Warriors [they] eat fungus: \u00a0shpai\u2019zei\u00a0\u21c6 shfa\u2019tailo|\u21bb wi| ||
\n<\/em>The Warrior is my good friend: \u00a0pai\u2019zei|\u21c6 \u00a0fash|\u21bb gru\u2019zei| da\u2019thel| ki\u2019sho| ||
\n(<\/em>Literally, Warrior is [\u201cto be\u201d is irregular] friend good my.)<\/p>\n
\nExample
\n<\/strong>The stone is strong: \u00a0ka\u2019zi|\u21c6 she| \u21b3 da\u2019lo| ||<\/em><\/p>\n
\nExample
\n<\/strong> I want to know your name:\u00a0 sho\u2019laio \u21c5preivo|\u21bb loi\u2019zi| ki\u2019bei| ||<\/p>\n
\nExample<\/strong>
\nI know that the Warrior is here:\u00a0 sho\u2019preivo|\u21bb tu| pai\u2019zei|\u21c6 fash| i\u2019jo| ||<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u21bb (object\/predicate nominative link) =\u00a0\u00a0hei
\n<\/sup>\u21b3(predicate\u00a0 adjective) =\u00a0yei<\/span><\/sup>
\n\u21c5 (infinitive link) = yi<\/sup><\/p>\n
\nThere are no articles.
\nAdjectives are normally placed before the word that is modified, but if this causes separation of subject, verb, and object, then the adjective can come afterward.
\nVerbs always have a pronoun prefixed, even when they are used with a subject (see more on page entitled “Shshi Verbs”).<\/p>\n
\nda\u2019kwi|<\/em> first
\nnof|<\/em> day of time
\nvi|<\/em> who
\nta\u2019tai|<\/em> has
\nwei|<\/em> not
\n\u21bb loi\u2019zi|<\/em> name
\nda\u2019pri\u2019saia|<\/em> highest
\nma\u2019na\u2019ta|<\/em> mother
\n\u21c6 ta\u2019trot|<\/em> [she] filled
\n\u21bb prai\u2019zi|<\/em> sky
\nut|<\/em> all<\/p>\n