Most glyphs can function as a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb. This excludes: people, numbers, grammatical particles, and quantifiers (such as “some,” “many,” “most,” etc.). Take the following glyph “desire” for example:
The basic glyph order is right to left, with the primary glyph on the left and its modifiers on the right.
Strings of glyphs can get fairly long so be careful. Read from the rightmost end to the leftmost end.
There are three exceptions to this rule: Compact Verb Structures, numbers, and the genitive marking glyph Ù (but more on these later)
The basic word order is Subject Verb Object, similar to English.
An Equivalency statement is a statement that links the predicate to the subject. This is equivalent to the English “to be.” An example in English is “I am a person,” or “He is a dog” or “Eating is consuming food.” An equivalency statement in The Ancient Language depends on if the predicate is a noun, adjective or a verb.
To form a noun equivalency statement place the subject in front of the glyphs ē ė ĕ, and place the predicate at the end.
Forming a verb equivalency statement is very similar to forming a noun equivalency statement. The only difference is that the predicate must be a verb and that ĕ is replaced with the present tense ē. So the subject and predicate will enclose ē ė ē.
Forming an adjective equivalency statement is similar to forming a noun equivalency statement. The only difference is that ė is replaced by /.
Verbs can utilize one of two auxiliaries: “Can” and “Should”. Similar to tenses, these auxiliaries are marked on ē
The “can” auxiliary is used to express potentiality; this includes expressions such as “to be able” and “if/then” statements. The glyphs to express these are the past potential ě, the present potential Ĝ, and the future potential ĝ.
Using the potential auxiliary to express “to be able to” is easy; Simply replace ē with one of the potentiality marking glyphs above.
Using the potential auxiliary to express “if/then” statements has four requirements.
1: The future potential ĝ must be used in the “if” clause.
2: The “if” clause and the “then” clause must be separated by œ .
3: A subject must precede the verb in both clauses.
4: The “then” clause must be in the future tense
The “should” auxiliary is used to express an expected outcome. The glyphs used to express this are the expected past ı, the expected present IJ, and the expected future ij.
The adverb of the verb has the same structure discussed in Glyph Order. That is, they are found to the right of the verbal glyph and are read right to left. There are four types of verbal adverbs: Manner, time, place, and recipient.
A manner adverb tells how the verb is performed. This includes negating the verb
It is important to note that . will always fall at the far right end of a verb string.
A time adverb tells when or for how long the verb is performed.
A recipient adverbs tells at whom a verb was done. This is not a direct object, but rather an indirect object. Examples of this would be “give something to someone ” or “tell something to someone .”
A place adverb tells where a verb happens.
Remember to keep in mind basic glyph order when interpreting. Directional glyphs such as “in” ´ can have various interpretations depending on its position relative to the verb and place glyphs, as well as to the tense particles.
It is important to note that a verb can have one, some, or even all types of verbal adverbs modifying it. The common order in which adverbs are listed (from left to right) is: Manner -> recipient -> place -> time -> negative marker. Note that this is the order in which these concepts can be found in The Ancient Language, and NOT in English. Be sure to re-order them for a natural translation.
There are a handful of glyphs for creating a list. And their uses depend on if you are listing nouns, phrases, and modifiers.
To list nouns use “and” Ć, “or” Ė, or “but” >.
To list phrases use the conjunctions “and” Ñ, “or” Ĵ, or “but” Ò. Note that the second clause must still have a subject.
To list modifiers use Á
A compact verb structure is when a verb takes a direct object without ĕ. The direct object will fall to the right of the verbal glyph.
Be careful not to confuse the direct object in a compact verb construction for an adverbial glyph.
It is important to note neither interpretations of the line above are incorrect grammatically. The one marked by the red X just doesn’t count as a compact verb. When dealing with a compact verb, there are certain glyphs (such as k above) that will be difficult to determine if they are functioning as a manner adverb or as a direct object. This can only be decided through context.
The uses for this construction are limited. Currently they can only be found in relative clauses and Relative Noun Structures.
A relative noun structure is a noun that has a compact verb functioning as its modifier. The compact verb plays the role of a relative clause. A simple idea of what this means all together is a noun “that does something.” Real world English examples would be “The city that never sleeps” and “The boy who cried wolf.”
Relative clause is a clause that is dependent on another. The relative clause is the second of two. English examples of this structure are “I want to eat” and “I went to the store to buy food.” In these examples the relative clauses are “to eat” and “to buy food.” The Ancient Language has two types of relative clauses: Personal and Impersonal.
A personal relative clause is when the relative clause (the second clause in the sentence) refers back to the subject. That is, the subject in the first clause is the one who is also acting as the subject in the second clause.
To form a personal relative clause separate the verb of the two clauses with ē.
If the first clause has a direct object, then this clause will use a compact verb structure.
An impersonal relative clause is when the second clause and the first clause have two separate subjects. The way to form an impersonal relative clause is by separating the first and the second clauses with ò.
The genitive marker is the glyph Ù. It functions as a marker to show possession or origin. It falls between the subject glyph and the origin/possessor glyph.