-----Original Message-----
From: Glen [mailto:GlenW@...]
Sent: Saturday, June 19, 2004 11:41 AM
To: languagelyst@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [languagelyst] D'ni Grammatical Sentence Structure

Shorah b'bihv.  I just joined the languagelyst and I look forward to
learning, exploring, using, and enjoying the D'ni language with all
of you. 

I have been a fan of the Myst franchise ever since I first played
Myst at the age of 12.  I am now 23.  I have bought every game in
the Myst series the day it hit store shelves, and ever since I first
learned of the D'ni (mainly through Uru, as Riven gave only passing
reference to it), I have soaked up everything I can find on the
D'ni.  Their history, culture, general information, etc.  During my
endeavour to learn everything I possibly could about the D'ni, I
soon learned that RAWA had also developed a language to go with the
civilization. 

To some who play the Myst games, the entire history/culture of the
D'ni does not interest them in the least, let alone an entirely new
language to wrap one's head around.  To those of you reading this,
that is obviously not the case, or you wouldn't be a member of the
D'ni Language Lyst to begin with.  But when I learned of the fact
that a language did indeed exist for the D'ni, and it was a fully
developed language, (save the small lexicon we have to work with), I
was estatic.

But for some strange reason, I never decided to try and learn the
language until recently.  About one week ago to be exact.  I quickly
learned the basics, the rules of the language, and so forth.  I
still have to look up alot of words when writing in D'ni, as it will
take time for me to remember what each word means. 

But I guess I should get to the problem I am experiencing.  It has
to do with the sentence structure and positioning rules.  I can't
quite seem to understand it as much as I would like, and would
greatly appreciate any and all help that could be given.  From what
I have read, it goes something like this:

[Subject][Prefix-Verb-Suffix][Object]
and
[Noun][adjective][Verb][Adverb]

Just for an example, here is something I don't quite understand.  Do
I have to put a suffix on each and every verb, defining who the
actor of that verb is?  Do Prepositions always go in front of the
word they are referring to?  Word order is one of my biggest hurdles.

"kehnehn voohee shuhteejoo"
"It could be rocksalt"

Why is it "It be could rocksalt"?

I understand that is the way it is suppose to be written, what I
would like to know is WHY.  The Why of things is what I am wanting
to comprehend and learn.  Ok.  I know this post has become extremely
long, and I am very sorry for such, but below I am going to write
what I worked on recently.  It doesn't exactly make sense, but I was
just practicing sentence structure.  The reason I am posting it is
because I would like any and all to read it and, please, if they
could, email me or post a reply letting me know where I did things
wrong, if I used a word wrong, or the wrong form of it, etc.  It
would be much appreciated.  Any criticism is good, as it will help
me learn immensely.  Once again, sorry for the long post, and thank
you in advance.  Here goes....


The discovery of the cave was moving.
A map of the cave was drawn by Aitrus.
He was a D'ni from the Guild of Surveyors.
The Guild created the Great Shaft to the surface.
We used the Great Machines once again.
It gave us hope to know they still worked.
And so began our great journey.
A journey that took us to new worlds.
To amazing ages the D'ni had written.
And this is a new start.

.rehlonehp t'rehgahlpo kodokroahl
.tehAitrus kodoshuhlehn ehrth bahtsahnah t'rehgahlpo
.kodoehn ehrth d'nee m'rehtehlokh ooktahntee
.rehtehl komahrnehn b'rehtahleeo rehtihwah gahro
.kotseemaheht fahm prehniv rehdoyhahtee gahro
.seht kotahgehn b'tahgahm koteegeet gahth
.gah lehnahot gahro kogloehn
.ehrth lehnah roo seht koshehntoehn b'dovahtee nee
.b'ogehltee prahchizahl rehd'nee kolsehleet
.gah ehrth d'nee meht kehnehn

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