Dannistaanian

From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search

Dannistaanian or Dannistrian is the language used on the island nation of the Confederacy of Dannistaan. It has had a long history of use on the island and has evolved and been subject to many changes over the years.

History

Initially the people of the island of Dannistra did not have much in the way of an proper language. They communicated mostly through a unstructured free form language and crude drawings. When the British conquered in 1841, one of the first things they tried to impose was a standardised language, in this case English. This was rather difficult and after 5 years they abandoned the attempt to impose English on the islanders. However the Governors attempts had an unexpected impact. The islanders, taking inspiration from the verbal communication between their masters and started to mimic some aspects of it. Eventually, over many decades, this refined the series of free-form words and crude sketches in to a more intelligible language. The result was the first modern form of Dannistaanian or Dannistrian. However compared to some languages, Dannistrian is still rather free-form and often drifts between semantic meanings and word order.

Modern Form

Currently it is hard to categorise the Dannistrian language as it has elements of a Constructed Language and elements of a natural one. This is probably because of the strong British influence. It does not have much in the way of a fixed structure, such as in the ordering of nouns, verbs and adjectives as the Dannistrian people saw no need for a strict set of Grammer rules. However generally speaking adjectives are placed after nouns and verbs. This free form allowed alot of creativity in literature but can cause problems for those wishing to become fluent in the language. Puns, slang and abbreviation of phrases is fairly common and can add to the complexity of the language. It is also heavily reliant on load words and transliterations of foreign words, since the vocabulary is rather limited and many concepts, ideas and objects did not exist on the island before discovery, so no words exist for them.

Selected Phrases

Sulatations/Farewells

  • Hal'vo ho'mah'm - Hello/Greetings (Formal)
  • Ho'mah'm - Hello (Informal)
  • Hal'vo no'wehnt - Goodbye (Formal)
  • Jonn'ah t'ou - Goodbye(Informal)

Government Positions

  • Ti'volas As'embola - Tribal Assembly (Lower House of Parliament)
  • Ti'volas O'varnos - Tribal Overseers (Higher House of Parliament)
  • Ti'vol B'ani'r - Tribe Chief (Prime Minister)
  • B'ani'r-daah - Governor-General
  • Ti'vol'ron - Tribal Area (County/Province)
  • Ti'vol'ron-suu - District

Directions

  • Nordu - North
  • Bas'sou - South
  • Hal'vos - West (Also can mean "Left")
  • Riu'en - East
  • Ha'rutt - Center/Middle
  • Hal'vos - Left (Informal)
  • Lui'on - Left (Alternative and Formal)
  • Tiss'ol - Right

Politeness/Answers

  • Ui'nopee t'ou - Thank you (Formal)
  • Ui'nor - Thank you (Informal)
  • Ra'ston-daah - Sorry (Formal)
  • Ra'ston - Sorry (Informal)
  • Kinni'maso (im'h) - Excuse/Pardon (me)
  • Ni follon'ne - No problem
  • Ni follon'ne n'ov im'h - I'm fine (Lit: No problem(s) on me)
  • Follon'ne n'ov im'h f'ret - I'm unwell (Used in when ill, Lit: Problem(s) on me now)
  • Ni - No
  • Ha'soh - Yes (Formal)
  • Ha's - Yes (Informal)

Sizes

  • Daah - Big
  • H'jinor - Medium/Average
  • Suu - Small

Others/Liguistic Problems

  • K'listo Hal'vo n'ov t'ou! - Good luck!
  • Jor'n n'ov Ne'valu! - Go to hell!
  • Jor'n f'likaah f'ret! - Go away! (Lit: Go far now!)
  • Hal'vo ha'va n'ar! - God save us! (Lit: Hal'vo help us!)
  • Hal'vo hav'nar! - God save us! (More commonly used abbreviated version of first phrase)
  • S'iloms j'i Mo'dron! - Victory or Death!
  • (T'ou) San'nah...? - (You) Speak...?
  • Inglas'ee? - English?
  • Dannistra? - Dannistaanian?
  • Fren'nisca? - French?
  • Deu'mensca? - German?
  • Du'chena? - Dutch?
  • Hi'zono? - Spanish?
  • Ir'do? - Urdu?
  • Ch'zin'r? - Czech?
  • Norduno San'nah? - Russian?
  • Riu'en San'nah? - Arabic?
  • D'jongnaa - Chinese (In gerneral)
  • Mann'idas - Mandarin?
  • Cann'ista - Cantonese?
  • Ni'hista - Japanese?
  • (Qu'l t'ou) San'nah ag'on? - (Could you) Repeat that? (Lit:Could You Speak again?)
  • (Qu'l t'ou) San'nah loo'noh - (Could you) Speak faster?
  • (Qu'l t'ou) San'nah mah'ni - (Could you) Speak slower?
  • I'mh ni con'sahj - I don't understand