U

T

S

R

O

N

M

L

I

G

E

D

This is the letter 'D'. Pronounced 'dih' as in 'dog' or 'skid', not 'drip'.

This letter represents the shoreline- a very important region in Eiani culture as it marks the joining of the water with the water-less. This symbol begins the word 'dadei', meaning 'land'.

The actual pictograph that is here simplified was that of a wave breaking onshore. The horizontal line at the bottom may either symbolize the beach or also water. This seems to only remove further definition (as seem by the speakers of Sennin) between land and water at the shoreline.

C

This is the letter 'C'. Pronounced 'kuh', as in 'catch', not 'cell'.

It is not entirely clear what significance the shape of the letter holds as it cannot yet be traced back to any one pictograph. Old words such as 'curu', to anger, 'cudu', to kill, and 'cun', no, lead me to believe that it represents a fierce bodily gesture of opposition.

B

This is the letter 'B'. Pronounced 'buh', as in 'baseball' or 'brain'.

This letter appears less frequently than other consonants due to it's unorthodox sound as an aquatic vocalization. It is the first letter in the word 'Bano', meaning 'still creature'. This, of course, is in reference to plant-life, though in days before serious biological study of their environment, many other immobile animals also fell into this category, just as several articulatory plants were not considered such.

You can see how it closely resembles a length of seaweed or other plant, sprouting at the side.

A

This is the letter 'A'. Pronounced 'ah', as in 'Bach', 'although', and 'call'.

This letter is the most dominant and commanding of the vowels, and rightly so: it is the first letter of Ai, meaning 'light'. Light is an important idea to the native speakers of Sennin, as it is the only blessing that their fiery guardian goddess could bestow upon them.

It is almost sheild-like in it's shape, protecting and embracing, but also dangerous if caught at an acute angle. Its current form evolved from an ancient form resembling an open box lying face-down, or a doorway, but the topmost line was later dropped to form an upright chevron symbol.

Intro.

Alright, so this is the official home of my conlang (constructed language) called Sennin.

(The direction translation of 'sennin' is made up of one root and one modifier: 'sen' meaning 'to speak' or 'speech', and '-nin' which means 'by way of/means of/manifestation of' or 'unified whole'. '-Nin' generally implies that the subject it is modifying is more than the sum of its parts. Also note the two consecutive n's, marking it as an irregular word.)

The intended speaking environment for this language is alien both environmentally and socially. As a result, idioms that speakers of western languages take for granted are absent and ignored in Sennin. For instance, the close relationship that both time and money have in Latin-based languages is not acknowledged to the speakers of my conlang. For them, the most important of concepts is the difference between water and land due to their being an aquatic race, and this mentality is seen in many aspects of Sennin.

And before I move on, a short note on pronunciation. Due to the fact that this language was intended to be verbalized through a medium far thicker than air, I realized that many sounds that we are used to voicing are impossible to be transmitted through water successfully. To compensate for that, I eliminated many letters like F, P, and J, and moved vowels to the forefront of word construction. But perhaps most importantly: speakers of Sennin do not differentiate between voiced and non-voiced sounds. For instance, 's' and 'z' would be considered the same letter. (Though to voice an 's' out of water would be seen as improper.)

Kay, so enough about all of this stuff. Let's get on with the actual language, shall we?