Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Function Words

Yes, Vihal has function words like its sister, Tigerian. No, they're not used in the same way. Yes, they can be painful, but only for the beginner.

As in Tigerian, function words can be what in English would be various parts of speech. Here they are all treated the same, for the most part.

The basic format for using function words in Vihal goes like this:
li + [obj] + a + [fw] + li
The particle li indicates the beginning of a function word phrase (fwp). The particle a separates the object from the function word. Modifiers to the object are placed normally but before a.
Example: adal li sasil a viril li, "the man with a bow"
Notice how the fwp comes after the noun adil like normal modifiers.

For function words like "how" and "what," a different formula is used, like so:
li + [fw] + a + [verb-subject] + li
Note here that where I say subject, many would argue object.
Example: li kunil a si-vihal li? - "How is the song?"
If you rearrange the sentence as "The song is how?," it makes sense.

Note that fwp's can be nested.
Example: li tulma a si-adal li sasil a viril li? - "Where is the man with the bow?"
Note how there are only three instances of the particle li. When you'd normally have the word twice in a row, you don't need the second.

Here's the wordlist, arranged in alphabetical order by English and Vihal.

English	Vihal	Vihal	English
above	vildi	alnin	who
after	suva	dani	by
as	kira	darni	but (excepting)
at	dilma	dihal	like (for example)
because	karildin	dila	but (however)
before	imin	dilani	in
between	uril	dilma	at
but (excepting)	darni	din	to
but (however)	dila	duril	on
by	dani	haldie	so that
despite	savil	imin	before
for	kurin	karildin	because
from	silia	kira	as
how	kuni	kuni	how
how many	kunilan	kunilan	how many
if	nilui	kurin	for
in	dilani	lunil	like (similar to)
like (for example)	dihal	nil	of
like (similar to)	lunil	nilui	if
of	nil	run	under
on	duril	saldil	thus
so (adv)	sun	savil	despite
so that	haldie	silia	from
thus	saldil	sun	so (adv)
to	din	suva	after
under	run	tuil	what
what	tuil	tulma	where
where	tulma	uril	between
who	alnin	vildi	above
with	viril	viril	with