Bac

Bac
by Matthew Butt

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soncnotu//
wer Ganp cayrer Penr/ whehr Dhayr dusnek bhis Theyr gayes//
gwapes wer Dnayr uby barrer Gnuyw/ whehr Rhayp elk Thuyt Bhaycc— Per/ Ther bar//
wehr Tuhte Bahcc/ rihc Snuc/ Char tholto thelto/ Gahppe bop//
attuyes wer Bner Gnop gary//
Ther/ wher Bhac Shernaro bacagiler Dharo bacasuc/ bnar Tehrh gudulelk Rahp//
tates Teres/ Cnarer Dnar ghusak bar Rnap dahsa/ tat Rap Bhawr/ wher Sak bar//
Gajer Gap/ dnas Rapter rhici Sens//
dnas Rapter rhici Sens//
lehtahp/ Pehr ograht Shernohre sep Wherrahte sop Phokkahte cadhic Lheyahre ged Thuhte Ghahjj//
Sens das Rapter shersica/ tat dals Cahr Suhc Gahj//
Rhap/ wher Bhac Shuc/ Peres bhuy— das Rapter Sens charr khalt//

Gentlemen.
You believe it’s your duty
to expel the seven great wrongs from this world.
You should therefore first rectify the way you deal with food,
if you are then to start sermonising:
Food is where it starts.
You preach that everyone should act behave moderately (lit, neither big nor small), and you worry about your paunch.
This one time you should learn the way the world works.
You may speak twisting the truth or putting forward lies, but food precedes morality.
This being the case, make sure you give a good portion to everyone who has been starving when you divide up the food.
For how is it that people keep on living?
How is it that people keep on living?
For millions, every day brings torture (twisting of arms), chains (on the legs),
Beatings (on the face), gaggings (of the mouth) and oppressive surveillance.
Living is something people keep on doing by the spirit which their humanity keeps hidden.
You cannot deny it, the truth is, in one:
People keep on living by animal behaviour.

Analysis:

Root letters are marked in upper case, others in lower
Brackets ({}) enclose phrases which should be taken as one unit. Sometimes two phrases should be taken together to give an English meaning

SOnCn-ot-u//
{WER GAnP} {CAyR-er PEnR}/ {WhEhR DhAyR} {DUSn-ek BhIS ThEyR GAY-es}//
GwAP-es {WER DnAyR UBY} {BArR-er GnUyW}/ {WhEhR RhAyP ELK} ThUyT BhAyCC—
PER/ {ThER BAR}//

{WEhR TUhT-e} BAhCC/ {RIhC SnUC}/ {ChAR ThOlT-o ThElT-o}/ {GAhPP-e BOP}//
ATT-uy-es {WER BnER} {GnOP GArY}//
ThER/ {WhER BhAC} {ShERNAR-o BACAGIL-er} {DhAR-o BACASUC}/ {BnAR TEhRh GUDULElK} RAhP//

{TAT-es TER-es}/ CnAR-er DnAR {ghu-SAK BAR RnAP DAhS-a}/ TAT RAP BhAwR/ {WhER SAK BAR}//
GAJer GAP/ {DnAS RAPTER RhIC-i} SEnS//

{DnAS RAPTER RhIC-i} SEnS//
LEHTAhP/ {PEhR ORGaht} {ShERNOhR-e SEP} {WhERRaht-e SOP}
{PhOKKaht-e CADh-ic} {LhEYAhR-e GED} ThUhTe GhAhJJ//
SEnS {DAS RAPTER ShErS-ic-a}/ TAT {DAlS CAhR} SUhC GAhJ//
RhAP/ {WhER BhAC} ShUC/ PER-es BhUY—
{DAS RAPTER} SEnS ChArR KhAlT//

Roots and derivatives:

Also refer to the table of derivational forms: those with unobscure meanings I haven’t glossed. If I have missed anything, get in touch.

Bac		talk
	Bac Suc	(1) say that not, deny
	Bacc	talk continuously, hold forth
	bacagil	word-that-is, truth
	bacasuc	word-that-is-not, falsehood
bar		food
	Bar	eat
Ber		(1) listen
	Ber Gop	(1) learn (by listening)
bis		five
	bis lek	seven
	bop	belly, paunch
buy		one
	uby	first place

cad		moon
	cadh+poss	face
Car		(1) do, make it the case that
	cayr	thing to do, duty, calling
	Car Suc Gaj	(1) make invisible
Dar		(1) establish a position [frequently used phrasally]
	Dar {X Ter}	remove X
	Dar {X Guw}	make X good
das		person
dus		badness, bad thing
Gaj		(1)look
	Gaj Gap	consider
	Gajer Gap	so
	Gajj	(1) watch
gap		thought content
	Gap	(1) think, consider
	Gapp	(1) think about a lot, worry about
ged		mouth
gor		sun
	ogr	day
Gop		(1) know
	gwap	purpose
	gwapes	for this purpose; therefore
gay		earth
gudulelk		good-bad-distinction, morality
guw		goodness
	Guw	(1)be good
lehtap		‘million’ (actually 390 625, or 100 000 000 in base 5)
lek		two
	elk	second place
leyar		bandage
	Leyar	(0) binding happens
Per		(0) be the case that+subj
Pok		(1) hit
	Pokk	(0) blows rain down
Rap		(1) go into, start+indic,not do something at the moment+subj
	Rap Bhawr	be not having eaten, be starving
Rapter		go through, continue
ric		someone (rich: everyone)
	rici	who? what?
sak		division
	Sak	(1) divide
sep		arm
Sernar		(1) perform twisting motions
	Sernor	(0) great twisting happens
ses		breath, life
	Ses	(1) breathe, live
soc		man
	socn+poss	gentleman
sop		leg
Suc		(0) not ever be the case+subj (1) never do something+subj
tat		[no meaning], thing
	att	place, occasion, instance
Ter		(0) be the case at the moment that+subj (1) go out of, come out of, do something at the moment+subj (2) part company
	Terh X Rap	part company with X in going into, leave X behind, precede
tet		small thing
tot		small thing
Tut		(1) be above
	Tut Bacc	(1) be above and talk continuously, preach, sermonise
	Tut Gajj	(0) surveillance happens
wer		you
werr		chain
	Werr	(0) chains are applied

Affixes:

-a	indicates apposition: the following noun expands the meaning of the previous
-e	‘and’, usually used in pairs or more
-ek	‘two’, -ek bhis means ‘seven
-er	‘your’, forms possessive noun or imperative/reflexive verb
-es	‘this’ with nouns, ‘in this way’ with verbs
gu-	‘good’
-i	turns the word into a question; ric: someone, rici: who?
-ic	‘his/her/its’, forms possessive noun or imperative/reflexive verb
-o	‘or’, usually used in pairs or more
-ot	‘my’, forms possessive noun or imperative/reflexive verb
-u	used for addressing people or for emphasis
-uy	‘one’

Notes:

I’m afraid this section’s a bit long. bac is short on vocabulary and long on syntax. Please be patient, and do ask if you don’t understand anything!

definitions

noun	close to the classic definition. Adjectives and adverbs are often rendered by defining nouns. Pronouns and numerals are also considered nouns
verb	again, close to the classic definition. Verbs always begin with a capital letter. Prepositions are often rendered by verbs. A single clause can have many verbs
phrase	here refers to a unit based around a single verb
clause	here refers to a collection of one or more phrases which have a logical unity. Demarcated with a virgule (/). The primary phrase is the first of a clause
sentence	a string of one or more clauses which form a whole utterance. Demarcated with a double virgule (//).

stem mutation

Words in bac can mutate in three places: first consonant, final vowel, and final consonant. The consonants must be at word boundaries; if there isn’t such a consonant, the letter |t| is used. The schematic stem CVC is used to illustrate mutations and word formation. When ambiguity arises it can be made more specific: C1VC2

case

Nouns have two cases, two levels of definiteness, and three case forms.

The cases are direct and oblique. The case forms are CVC, CnVC and ChVC. They map out thus:

	direct	oblique
definite	CnVC	CVC
indefinite	CVC	ChVC

There could be ambiguity about whether a noun is direct indefinite or oblique definite. I hope the analysis clears this up.

number

There are three numbers of a noun: simple, collective, and dispersed. They are formed CVC, CVnC and CVhC respectively. the dispersed can often be translated using the word ‘all’, although its real use is to consider several objects as individuals rather than a group.

word order

Verbs in bac are, strictly speaking, intransitive. Because of this, rather than speaking of subject and object I tend to talk of topic and complement. The topic can be understood as the main player/s in a phrase; the topic’s state is described by the verb, and the verb is modified by the complement, which can often be interpreted as an adverb or adverbial phrase modifying that particular verb.

Word order in a simple phrase is fixed: Topic/s Verb Complement. The topic is in the direct case, the compliment in the oblique case.

bac tends to string simple phrases together. The initial phrase is the most important. Those that follow it can be seen as subordinate. To mark this, both their topic/s and their complement are oblique. In the analysis I have bracketed simple phrases together. however, sometimes the complement of a principle phrase can coincide with the topic of its subordinate phrase. Meaning should be obvious. Contact me if it isn’t!

A word or phrase can also be placed before the primary topic. In this case it is seen as an adverb or adverbial phrase modifying the whole sentence. Only one element can be fronted per sentence. However, this element can be a clause in itself. Its primary topic is also oblique.

So: the only nouns in the direct case are the primary topics of the main clause of the sentence.

Just as a verb’s meaning can be extended by adding a complement noun, a noun can also have its meaning extended by placing a noun after it in the oblique case. This can be used to give possessive or adjectival meaning. A noun can also be modified by a clause, but this is usually done with special constructions.

mood

Verbs have three moods, which I call indicative, subjunctive, and optative. These are formed by modifying the first consonant: CVC, ChVC and CnVC respectively. The sometimes have specific meanings in clauses (eg after Per, Rap, Suc, Ter and Gil). If they don’t, the subjunctive can be taken to mean ‘may, can’ and the optative ‘must, should’. They are often combined with each other or the indicative to give conditional clauses: You might X, you should Y: If you X then you should Y &c.

tense

there are two coexistent types of mutation which give rise to tense. They both affect the vowel. One affects the tense, the other the aspect:

	CVC simple aspect	CVnC continuous aspect	CVhC habitual/repetitive aspect
CVC untensed	narrative	present/narrative continuous	present/narrative habitual
CVyC future tense	future	future continuous	future habitual
CVwC past tense	past	past continuous	past habitual

verb scope

Verbs signify relationships. These can be between one, two, three, more, or even no topics. Some verbs can have very different meanings depending on how many topics they have. I have glossed the variety of meanings used in the text like this:

Gap (0) ‘it is conceivable’
Gap (1) think
Gap (2) agree

Sometimes a meaning is wanted but there aren’t enough topics. In this case the verb occurs in the form CVCh:

sot Gaph wher: I agree with you (but you don’t agree with me)

At other times a topic is not expressed but should be understood. I leave this to you to work out!

word derivation

bac has a rich system of word derivation from its stems, which, along with the polyvalency of its verbs and a tendency to create multiverb phrases, means it can say a lot with a very few roots (lucky for me!). Here are the main forms:

C1VC2	main meaning, noun or Verb
VC1C2	place where, thing in which, time when
C1C2V	typical topic, someone/something who
C1VlC2	typical property (often forms ‘adjectives’)
C1VrC2	typical faculty—manner of, means of, ability to &c
C1wVC2	(Verb) do something looking at the future, start doing something
C1yVC2	do something looking at the past, stop doing something
C1VC2h+[personal suffix]	forms a different meaning closely allied to the person
C1VC2n+[personal suffix]	forms an honorific form

I’ve glossed all the less obvious examples.