Morphemic Analysis of Vulcan Utterances Saul Epstein Sun, 26 Oct 1997 14:46:31 -0600 Morphemes are abstractions derived from the building blocks a language uses to construct words. Isolating a language's morphemes is a vital step in understanding its morphology -- the rules of word construction. These are utterances selected from the "primary" Zvelebil Construction and a document called "More on Vulcan," both available from Marketa's Vulcan Information Center (http://www,ludwig,ucl,ac,uk/st/StarTrek/Vulcan/Vulcan,html). I have organized the utterances loosely by structure and vocabulary, and made some minor modifications where I feel there were probably typos or ommissions in the originals. I have, of course, inevitably made some of these myself. I have also used the revised transcription system I recommended, since there don't seem to be any strenuous objections to it. The first two lines of each paragraph below are the morphemic analysis in Vulcan and a one-to-one morphemic translation into English. Where English lacks a corresponding morpheme, the following abbreviated labels have been used. ? interrogative (question) ! imperative (command) ACC accusative (object as recipient) ART artificial (as in: not occuring naturally or spontaneously) CONT continuous DAT dative (object as destination) DET determinate FUT future GEN genitive (object as possession) GER gerund HAB habitual INDET indeterminate INST instrumental (object as instrument or companion) INVIS invisible LOC locative (object as location) NEG negative PAST past PERF perfect PLUR plural POS positive PROG progressive TERM terminal VIS visible VOC vocative (object as audience) In addition, I used surrounding underscores (_) to indicate the emphasis given by non-standard word order (i,e., other than V-O-S) when I noticed it; and surrounding asterisks (*) to indicate the emphasis given by reduplication. Where the meaning of a morpheme is unknown or uncertain, I indicate this with square brackets ([]). The last line of each paragraph contains the utterance written without the explicit morpheme boundaries, and an English paraphrase translation. I'm working on a web page to donate that includes the original utterances and translations from the primary sources, as well as making the morpheme boundaries even more explicit and using ANSI characters to make things prettier. qa kaya qa kaya-ni ? being ? being-NEG qa kaya qa kayani To be, or not to be? qomi-he sbaa plak Terran-LOC red blood qomihe sbaa plak red blood in the human spok t'haila-at plak Spock friend-GEN blood spok t'haila'at plak Spock's partner's blood spok-'at krup-at-'-or-ram u-plak Spock-GEN blue-,7-+-,3-green that(INVIS)-blood spok'at krupat'oram uplak that blue-green blood of Spock k'rk-'at sbaa i-(pla)plak Kirk-GEN red this-*blood* k'rk'at sbaa iplaplak this precious, red blood of Kirk th'-at t'haila-e-at i-(pla)plak I-GEN friend-PLUR-GEN this-*blood* th'at t'haileat iplaplak this precious blood of my friends qa whl'q'n-at plak ? Vulcan-GEN blood qa whl'q'nat plak Is it Vulcan blood? aa krup-at-'-or-ram whl'q'n-at (plak)plak yes blue-,7-+-,3-green Vulcan-GEN *blood* aa krupat'oram whl'q'nat plakplak Yes, it is the precious blue-green Vulcan blood. spok-ong t'haila-at plak Spock-and friend-GEN blood spokong t'haila'at plak friend Spock's blood the'-at t'haila-e-at a-plak-hi (kro)kroy'-kaa we(EXC)-GEN friend-PLUR-GEN this(VIS)-blood-ACC *stop*-! the'at t'haile'at aplak'hi krokroy'kaa Stop _our_ friends' bleeding! k'rk-at (sb)sbaa plak-hi kroy'-kaa Kirk-GEN *red* blood-ACC stop-! k'rkat sb'sbaa plakhi kroy'kaa Stop Kirk's very red blood. (kro)kroy'-kaa *stop*-! krokroy'kaa Stop! th'-kro(dja)y' I-stop(FUT/DET) th'krodjay' I will stop. s'-ra (kro)kroy'-kaa thou-two *stop*-! s'ra krokroy'kaa Stop, you two! brax imroi fast walk brax imroi walk quickly brax (im)imroi-kaa fast *walk*-! brax imimroikaa _Walk_, quickly! (By implication, "Don't run." "Walk very fast!" would more likely be brabrax imimroikaa.) s'-ro qomi-ro brax imroi-kaa thou-three Terran-three fast walk-! s'ro qomiro brax imroikaa Walk quickly, you three _Terrans_. qomi-ru Terran-five qomiru five humans ti-qomi-e six-Terran-PLUR tiqomie six humans spok-ong k'rk-ong Spock-and Kirk-and spokong k'rkong Spock and Kirk spok-aj k'rk-aj Spock-or Kirk-or spokaj k'rkaj Spock or Kirk spok-ni-aj k'rk-ni-aj Spock-NEG-or Kirk-NEG-or spokniaj k'rkniaj neither Spock nor Kirk ni-spok k'rk-a NEG-Spock Kirk-[POS?] nispok k'rka not Spock but Kirk qa spok-aj qa k'rk-aj ? Spock-or ? Kirk-or qa spokaj qa k'rkaj (Either) Spock or Kirk? aa spok-ong k'rk-ong yes Spock-and Kirk-and aa spokong k'rkong Yes, Spock and Kirk. qomi-ong whl'q'n-ong Terran-and Vulcan-and qomiong whl'q'nong a human and a Vulcan s'-ro qomi-ro-ong whl'q'n-ong thou-three Terran-three-and Vulcan-and s'ro qomiro'ong whl'q'nong You three humans and a vulcan t'haila-ha croy-at-ha friend-DAT listen-GER-DAT t'hailaha croyatha to listen to a friend qa s'-at t'haila-ha prala-at-ha s'-kro(zo)y' ? thou-GEN friend-GEN talk-GER-DAT thou-stop(PAST/CONT) qa s'at t'hailaha prala'atha s'krozoy' Have you stopped to talk to your friend? th'-at t'haila-ha prala-at-ha th'-kro(zo)y' I-GEN friend-DAT speak-GER-DAT I-stop(PAST/CONT) th'at t'hailaha prala'atha th'krozoy' I stopped to talk to _my_ friend (which I am doing now). spok-ha smonii-at-ha th'-kro(dja)y' Spock-DAT wait-GER-DAT I-stop(fut/det) spokha smoniiatha th'krodjay' I will stop to wait for _Spock_. s'-ti th'-laktra thou-INST I-grieve s'ti th'laktra I grieve with _you_. s'-ti(mu)xoy thou-live(HAB) s'timuxoi You are a living thing. qa s'-ti(mu)xoi ? thou-live(HAB) qa s'timuxoi Are you a living thing? th'-spa(tsu)ra I-eat(PROG/CON) th'spatsura I am eating (and will be for some time yet). th'-spa(kse)ra I-eat(PROG/TERM) th'spaksera I am eating (but not for much longer). brax th'-spa(kse)ra fast I-eat(PROG/TERM) brax th'spaksera I'm about to stop eating quickly. qa the'-spa(kse)ra ? we-eat(PROG/TERM) qa the'spaksera Are we nearly finished eating? th'spa(pe)ra I-eat(PAST/PERF) th'spapera I ate. spara-kaa kreila-hi eat-! biscuit-ACC sparakaa kreila'hi Eat a biscuit. spok kreila-hi-ong plomik-hi-ong spa(tsu)ra Spock biscuit-ACC-and plomik-ACC-and eat(prog/cont) spok kreilahiong plomikhiong spatsura _Spock_ is eating biscuits and Plomik. th'-ra(dju)n I-kill(FUT/INDET) th'radjun I might kill (I may have to kill in the future) th'-r(i)an I-kill(NEG) th'rian I don't kill r(i)an-kaa kill(NEG)-! riankaa Do not Kill! t'haila-at sharien friend-GEN sword t'haila'at sharien friend's sword (sword of the friend) t'haila-e-at sharien friend-plur-GEN sword t'haileat sharien friends' sword (sword of the friends) k'rk-hi ran-kaa Kirk-ACC kill-! k'rkhi rankaa Kill _Kirk_. k'rk-aa ran-kaa Kirk-[VOC?] kill-! k'rkaa rankaa _Kirk_, kill. r(i)an-kaa k'rk-hi kill(neg)-! Kirk-ACC riankaa k'rkhi Do not kill Kirk. ran-kaa sharien-ti i-qomi-hi kill-! sword-INST this-Terran-ACC rankaa sharienti iqomihi Kill this Terran with a sword. i-qomi-hi ran-kaa this-Terran-ACC kill-! iqomihi rankaa Kill this _Terran_. sharien-ti ran-kaa sword-INST kill-! sharienti rankaa Kill with a _sword_. r(i)an-kaa i-qomi-hi, a-qomi-hi ran-kaa kill(NEG)-! this-Terran-ACC, that-Terran-ACC kill-! riankaa iqomihi, aqomihi rankaa Don't kill this human, kill _that_ human! hr-mnaa-te [?]-propose-[GER?] hr'mnaate proposal group hr-kac-te [?]-expunge-[GER?] hr'kacte expunging group kh'lioraa brax light fast kh'lioraa brax sudden light nioraa brax dark fast nioraa brax sudden darkness kaas'khiori th'-thaia shootingstar I-[self?] kaas'khiori th'thaia a shooting star myself d-whl-naar ART-[?]-[choice?] d'whlnaar Vulcan by choice -- from Saul Epstein liberty uit net www johnco cc ks us sepstein "Surak ow'phaaper the'shi the'stca'; the'sphaadjar the'shi suraketca'." -- K'dvarin Urswhlat