The story, namely, "A Constellation of Moments" can be found on A03, under the username enby_lydia.
Given that I am technologically incompetent and can't work out how to add images to an A03 story, here I shall store the following:
- My adapted vers...
Below is an image of my adapted alphabet and grammar guide. Following that will be an explanation of each element.
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Figure 1: A model word
- The base, or the underlying structure, is shown in red.
- The structure lines, which attach the letters to the base, are shown in yellow.
- The addresses are shown in green.
- The letters are shown in purple.
- The formality indicators are shown in blue.
- Not shown: verb tenses would appear at the ends of the addresses, replacing these two formality indicators.
- Not shown: multiple words are joined by linkage lines.
- Words are read from right to left, with a preference for downward motion but, where a structure line leads upward back to the base, this takes priority.
Figure 2: The Alphabet
- The alphabet of letters is shown in relation to the international phonemic alphabet (blue). This is because it is a phonetic alphabet - written directly how the word is pronounced.
- The alphabet that is provided in the official guide is shown in light purple. Letters that I have added are shown in dark pink.
- I left out one phoneme on the principle that it is unnecessary and I don't like it. You can imagine my surprise when trying to translate the word 'cruel'. What irony.
- Some letters are continuous to the structure line and some are detached. This has no effect except that in words where a continuous letter ends it; in this case, the letter and its associated structure line must attach back to the base.
Figure 3: The Address Table
- These are fairly self-explanatory as long as a firm grip on grammar is had. If not, look to Old English (no, not Shakespeare, that's early modern. I mean Saxon-style English.). That is what I was inspired by.
- Please note that, while the left and right are reflections of each other - and thus abbreviated versions may show only one side (typically the left) - due to the second person's inward preference (see, for example, left nom 2nd), and the animate's outward preference (see, for example, left nom pers), the singular and plural are NOT reflections of each other.
- There is no gender or case system. Distinguishing between subjects is limited to 'I'/'we' (the first person, or 1ST), 'you'/'you' (the second person, or 2ND), 'it'/'they' (the inanimate, or OBJ) and 'they'/'they' (the animate, or PERS), both of those being in singular or plural forms.
Figure 4: The Formality Indicators
- These appear in most words on the ends of bases and addresses.
- These appear in verbs on the ends of bases.
- Fairly self-explanatory. Hollow circle: informal. Small solid circle: formal.
Figure 5: The Verb Tenses
- These appear in verbs only on the ends of addresses.
- In words that in pronunciation end with a schwa, this can be replaced by an 'a:', as seen in the multiple given translations of "Mara", where the word would technically be read as "Maaraa", which is patently ridiculous.
- Verbs referred to in the conditional tense (would, should) take the future tense ending.
- Adjectives take the same addresses as nouns.
- Adverbs take the same addresses as verbs, excluding the tense indicators. The 'ly' ending is then excluded from pronunciation.
- Any change in pronunciation to the root of a word that would happen in English is, in fact, omitted from the First Ones notation. Take, for example the sentence "I ran quickly to the shed." This would be plainly written in First Ones as "run quick to shed", and with addresses considered, "(I, nominative)run(past tense) quick(adverb) to (dative)shed".
- Notice that in the previous example, the word "to" has no addresses. This is because prepositions, connectives, etc, as well as infinitive verbs, do not take addresses.
