Arerial: An Overview

For now, this is a simple naming language. Most of the words are placeholders until I
can get around to building a workable lexicon. New features and complexity will be added
through a process of attempted translations, which will reveal shortcomings and limitations in
Arerial, The Golden-Lion Tongue.
~~
Arerial, also called Areri, is a language spoken by a conculture of the same name.
They are a nomadic desert people, with a fluid lateral caste system. The priestly, warrior, and
artisan castes all fill equally important niches in Areri society, and each has it own code of
conduct, collectively called Arerval, Areri law, or Areri way.
~~
The Areri are ruled by a priest-chieftain called the aiarer, or the Golden-Lion King,
a title which is derived from the banner which flies from the chieftain's tent. The ruler elected
from, and by, the two Great Clans, the eran, and the Noran. These two clans are
traditionally allied through marriage, with the eldest marriagable daughter from one pledged
to the youngest marriagable son of the other. All sons and daughters of such unions are
eligible to ascend the throne, and lead the Areri people.
The candidates are reviewed by a council of elders representing all of the families
under both clans' banners, with advisors from the common clans.
~~
The Areri hold directness and blunt honesty in high regard, and as such tend to
speak very directly and on one specific topic at a time. There is a tendency among them to
view flowery speech and complex wording with distrust, as this seems to them an attempt at
obfuscation. The exceptions are in poetry and their many liturgical writings, most of which
seem to focus on their prime deity Axitaiva, a solar deity, whom they believe kindled the fire of
life in the first of their people.
Axitaiva, whose cult is called aul Axival or aul Taival, is the highest of a triad of deities,
and the only on of the three that is beneficent. The other members of the Triad, Laxanmau
and Sakurpa, Mother Void and Father Ocean, are considered apathetic at best, and
outright cruel for the most part. Mother Void presides over such things as hunger, decay, and
carrion birds, and represents the entropic force, as understood by the Areri. Father Ocean is
the god of the seas, secrets, and and storms. Father Ocean embodies the unpredictability of
nature. Both are offered frequent sacrifices, bloody, violent affairs meant to appease these
deities with base amusement.
Axitaiva is honored with elaborate ceremonies involving great bonfires and displays of
martial prowess, expressed through ritualized knife-fighting called Naschore. The
Naschoore ritual is performed between two combatants, who fight until one of the two
sustains a non-lethal wound. Both the victor and the defeated decorate their bodies with
tattoos comemorating their participation in the ritual, then a feast is held in honor of Axitaiva
and the worshipers themselves, who carry Axitaiva's flame within themselves.

Phonology
Consonants
Bilabial
Nasal

[m]
m

Plosive

[p] [b]
pb

Fricative

LabioDental

Dental

Alveolar

PostAlveolar

Velar
Uvular

Glottal

[n]
n
[t]
t
[v]
v

[] []

[k]
k

[s]
s

[]

Approximant
Trill

[r]
r

Lateral
Approximant

[l]
l

[x]
x

[h]
h

[
Affricate
s

t
]
[d]
d
t

Vowels
Fron
t
Close
Close
Mid
Open

Near
Front

[i]
i

Bac
k

[u]
u
[e]
e

[o]
o
[]
a

Syllables
Syllables follow the (C)V(C) pattern. The nucleus can be any of the five vowels, with
the onset being any consonant. The coda is almost always a fricative, though nasal
consonants and [l] are used for grammatical particles, and the trill [r] is also common.

Verb Conjugation
Arerial verbs are (for now) all regular. Verb roots all bear the ending -ra, and drop it
during conjugation. Due to a cultural obsession with directness and simplicity, indirect objects
are rarely used, and are treated as a unit with the direct object of a verb, or alternately,
addressed in a separate sentence.
Subject
Pos.

1st
Person

Object

Neg.

Uncertain

Pos.

Neg.

Uncertain

Present

Past

Present

Past

Present

Past

Present

Past

Present

Past

Present

Past

Sing.

-a

t-a

ni-a

nit-a

la-a

lat-a

-u

t-u

ni-u

nit-u

la-u

lat-u

Plu.

-ain

t-ain

niain

nitain

laain

lat-a

-un

t-u

ni-un

nitun

la-un

latun

Sing.

-at

t-at

ni-at nit-at la-at lat-at

-u

latu

ni-u

nitu

la-u

latu

latt-uin
ain
uin

niuin

nituin

lauin

latuin

t-a

ni-a

nita

la-a

lata

latt-ain
anin
ain

niain

nitain

laain

latain

2nd
Person

niain

nitain

laain

Plu.

-atin t-ain

Sing.

tninitlalatanan anan anan anan anan anan

Plu.

-anin

3rd
Person

tanin

nianin

nitanin

laanin

-a

For example, the verb alra, to speak. The root is al, and can be conjugated and
number of ways.
Did you speak? would be Latalat au?. You is the 2nd person singular pronoun, as
well as the subject of the sentence. Did denotes uncertainty of a past action, so the root
al takes the 2nd person singular suffix for the subject of the sentence, and the uncertain
past prefix.
Another example: I have eaten. is Ia taa.. The verb, aara, has the root aa,
which takes the 1st person singluar suffix for the subject, and the positive past prefix.
Sentence Structure
Sentences follow the subject-object-verb pattern, and the subject-object(indirect object)
pattern for sentences with an indirect object.
All nouns are paired with an article, either the definite article il or the indefinite el.
When the noun is the direct or indirect object, the article follows the noun.
Example: Il naha alat el taanan. The snake ate a bird.
Il naha, the snake is the subject, and el alat, a bird is the direct object, so the
el follows alat. The verb aara takes the 3rd person singular suffix for the subject, as the
snake is performing the action, as well as the positive past-tense prefix.

There is a third aritcle, aul, called the superlative article, used when the noun it
precedes is considered to be very important. A deity, for instance, is aul Taiva. The indirect
form is ul.
This work will be expanded in the future.