Language of Luban

The language of Luban is a very complex language. Dalethian scientists never really got the hang of it. This is what they know about it:

There are only 3 vowels: a, o and i. They appear in a long or a short version, written short a, i, o and long á, í (sometimes written as e), ó. It is a language of syllables, and the syllables are either vowel-consonant or consonant-vowel. To join both types, there are special characters (joiners) in the written language:
  • Two different vowels are joined by a ‘h’.
  • Two vowels of the same kind are joined by a ‘w’.
  • Two consonants are joined by a ’ (apostrophe).
 There is never more than one joiner-character per word(part). The joiners are rather silent.
The languages stresses the one-but-last syllable, but if there is a joiner, the stress is on the syllable before the joiner.

There are special indicators in words. They are written between square brackets [like this]. This is only a remnant of the older written language, in which all words (different syllables) were written between square brackets. The syllables had a free position then.

There are three different kinds of words: nouns, verbs, and “others” The suffix of a word determines the kind of word (number, sex, position, state...) This way, it does not matter on which position a word is. Nevertheless, the second word in a sentence is stressed. Sentences can be joined with a dot (.). The end of a sentence is a column (:). The ^ indicates a question. The ^ can only be written on a vowel.

The weirdest thing about the spoken language are the gestures. Every sentence is stressed by certain gestures. Gestures can change the meaning of a word. When one only listens to Lubanian, one can get the impression the speaker is lying. This is not so. The words are there to distract the gyns, the true meaning of the words is in the gestures.

A glossary

abara = healing
afawat = the sleep of the gods
akiti = tree
alafír = gods
alamilók = holy book
alif = grasses of inferior quality (food for animals)
amisakat = good spirit
asita = hail
bakas = caravan, a tour, to travel
barógal = wizard
dahiník = evil spirit
danisat = lullaby (religios hymn)
dewa = village
gihadala = water
famah = hand
hatamilík = spell
íhadíras = politics
íkisa = potion
ítalag = stranger
katarog = load
kidín = man, human
kimin = science
maditír = excorsism
maheb = sunset
mir’qot = weeds
moze = nearly
nakarat = stone (or stone red)
nolim = sandstone (or beige)
olam = blue
opad = a stone, a brick
rahisa = magic
siwagat = king
sómagan = priest
sumaka = holy plant
tamat = killer
vahani = woman
zahan = root, life
zakar = town
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