Giak Tutorial

[Exercises] [Answers]

Goals

To learn:

• basic pronunciation
• basic sentence structure
• pluralization

Pronunciation

No human throat can imitate the repulsive, guttural sounds of a Giak spewing curses in his native tongue. Even though the attempt is futile, it is worthwhile. Correct pronunciation reveals the true flavor of Giak. The rules that follow are a compromise between the Giak language and Human capabilities.

The first letter given in each rule is that found literally in the spelling of a Giak word. The example English words specify the sound symbolized by the letter. The letters following each rule surrounded by backwards slashes will be used to symbolize that particular sound when giving a pronunciation.

• a as in bat, sat, mad \a\
• aa as in bought, bother, cot \ä\
• ar as in bar, car, star \är\
• d as in dad, fed, kid \d\
• e as in bet, set, bed \e\
• ee as in beat, see, meat \ee\
• g as in bag, beg, dig \g\
• h as in head, hat, hairy \h\
• i as in bit, sit, tip \i\
• j as in jet, jump, jelly \j\ (actually the combination of the \d\ and \zh\ sounds)
• k as in keep, seek, back \k\
• l as in let, fell, leap \l\
• m as in met, plum, mom \m\
• n as in net, no, own \n\
• o (primarily stressed syllable) as in boat, bone, know \o\ (See Note below)
• o (secondarily stressed or unstressed syllable) as in bought, bother, cot (equivalent to 'aa') \ä\
• oo as in book, wood, pull \oo\
• or as in bore, for, store \or\
• r as in red, rare, bear \r\
• s as in set, sister, sad \s\
• sh as in sheep, shy, fish \sh\
• t as in bat, cat, flat \t\
• u as in but, cut, mud \u\
• z as in zone, crazy, zap \z\

Please note that there are no silent letters. Each letter is pronounced except when it is part of a diphthong (oo, aa and ee) or other two-letter combinations representing one sound (sh).

Note about pronunciation of \o\--This is not pronounced exactly as most English speakers pronounce the vowel in 'boat'. Giaks pronounce it more gutturally which sounds like a cross between the vowel in 'boat' and the vowel in 'cot'.

Syllables and Accentuation

Splitting a Giak word into syllables is relatively easy when compared with English. For each vowel sound in the word there is one syllable. Each time that your mouth opens and closes once when pronouncing a word is a syllable. When the pronunciation is given in the vocabulary lists, syllables will be separated by a '-'.

In spoken Giak, the emphasis is always given to the first syllable. Secondary emphasis is typically given to the last syllable in words with three or more syllables. Primary emphasis is symbolized by a \'\ preceding the stressed syllable. Secondary stress is given by a \,\ preceding the syllable.

For example, the pronunciation of the word 'dakagog' is given as \'dak-a-,gäg\.

Vocabulary

Verbs		Nouns
Akag \'a-kag\ (v) Defend Daka \'da-ka\ (v) Move Dakagog \'dak-a-,gäg\ (v) Run Dan \'dan\ (v) Stand Dandon \'dan-dän\ (v) Sit Dat \'dat\ (v) Rest Ekor \'e-kor\ (v) Fall Gaj \'gaj\ (v) Die	Jat \'jat\ (v) Sleep Nar \'när\ (v) Dig Narg \'närg\ (v) Is Odak \'o-dak\ (v) Guard Ogot \'o-gät\ (v) Retreat Shaag \'shäg\ (v) Charge Zaj \'zaj\ (v) Shoot Zek \'zek\ (v) Hide	Akamaz \'ak-am-,maz\ (n) Doomwolf Dik \'dik\ (n) Spy Duldug \'dul-dug\ (n) Archer Egud \'e-gud\ (n) Captain Gaz \'gaz\ (n) Enemy Gorak \'gor-ak\ (n) Animal Iggi \'ig-gi\ (n) Child Kikago \'ki-ka-,go\ (n) Merchant Konkor \'kon-kor\ (n) Hunter Kordak \'kor-dak\ (n) Sergeant Kuz \'kuz\ (n) Slave Lag \'lag\ (n) Baby Lug \'lug\ (n) Friend	Nenrak \'nen-rak\ (n) Thief Nozod \'no-zäd\ (n) Horse Odakar \'o-dak-,är\ (n) Guard Oknar \'ok-när\ (n) Officer, Leader Orgadak \'or-ga-,dak\ (n) Human Orgar \'or-gär\ (n) Army Rekenar \'re-ke-,när (n) Scout Shad \'shad\ (n) Soldier Sheg \'sheg\ (n) Dog Zegor \'ze-gor\ (n) Giak Zizi \'zi-zi\ (n) Female Zutaagon \'zut-ä-gän\ (n) Undead Zutgorak \'zut-gor-,ak\ (n) Monster
Pronouns		Plural Endings
Ok \'ok\ (pron) I Okak \'o-kak\ (n) Thou Dok \'dok\ (pron) He, she, it		-a \a\ -im \im\ -nim \nim\

Pluralization

There are three endings to make a noun or pronoun plural: -a, -im and -nim. -a and -im are used interchangeably. Which ending you choose to use depends on your personal tastes. -nim is used when a word ends with a vowel.

For example:

• Egud -> Eguda -or- Egudim
• Oknar -> Oknara -or- Oknarim
• Kikago -> Kikagonim

Singular pronouns are made plural with these same endings.

• Ok (I) -> Okim -or- Oka (We)
• Okak (Thou*) -> Okakim -or- Okaka (You)
• Dok (He, She, It) -> Doka -or- Dokim (They)

* This Tutorial will make use of the archaic pronoun 'thou' when referring to the second person singular. This is intended to avoid ambiguity. No attempt, however, will be made to use the archaic conjugations. The verb forms corresponding to the second person plural will be used instead.

Prounouns do not have a sense of gender. For example, dok covers male, female and neuter.

Basic Sentence Structure

Giak sentences follow the form familiar to all English speakers. In fact, the most simple sentence follows the form (subject / predicate). The subject is a noun or pronoun that is the person or thing that does the action of the sentence. The action of the sentence is represented by the predicate which is a verb. For example:

• I rest. (Ok dat.)
• The giak moves. (Zegor daka.)
• A doomwolf dies. (Akamaz gaj.)

Because of Giak's limited vocabulary, it is vital that the subject precedes the verb. This will become more apparent in the next lesson which includes direct objects.

Present Tense

Giak verbs are not conjugated. The same word is used for all cases. For example:

• I am. -> Ok narg.
• You are. -> Okakim narg.
• They are. -> Dokim narg.
• He is. -> Dok narg.
• She is. -> Dok narg.

There is only one present tense unlike most other languages. All variations of the present tense in other languages must be converted into this single present tense. Different tenses can be chosen when translating from Giak to another language. For example:

• Dok ekor. -> He falls. -or- He is falling.
• Konkor jat. -> The hunter sleeps. -or- The hunter is sleeping.

It generally doesn't matter which English present tense you choose when translating from Giak.

Articles

There are no articles (a, an, the, some) in Giak. When translating from English to Giak, simply drop the articles. For example:

• The child hides. -> Iggi zek.
• An enemy is charging. -> Gaz shaag.
• Some giaks run. -> Zegorim dakagog.

[Exercises]