Giak Tutorial

[Exercises] [Answers]

Goals

To learn:

• how to use direct objects
• how to ask questions

Vocabulary

Verbs		Nouns
Aga \'a-ga\ (v) Want Azgad \'az-gad\ (v) Burn Dag \'dag\ (v) Build, Erect, Make Dajo \'da-jä\(v) Follow Darg \'därg\ (v) Attack Ek \'ek\ (v) Get, Fetch Gag \'gag\ (v) Drink Jeg \'jeg\ (v) Take Jez \'jez\ (v) Break Jok \'jok\ (v) Demand, Ask Kag \'kag\ (v) Carry Lazag \'la-zag\ (v) Cook	Nak \'nak\(v) Fight Okgan \'ok-gan\ (v) Lead Okja \'ok-ja\ (v) Obey Oza \'o-za\ (v) Use Raz \'raz\ (v) Eat Ruzzar \'ruz-zär\ (v) Destroy Shez \'shez\ (v) Cut Taag \'täg\ (v) Kill Tan \'tan\ (v) Listen, Hear Zaz \'zaz\ (v) Order Zee \'zee\ (v) See Zinoz \'zi-nä\(v) Smell	Adez \'a-dez\ (n) Blood Dikrak \'dik-rak\ (n) Bird Dorgar \'dor-gär\ (n) War Party Gajog \'ga-jäg\ (n) Drink Gazad \'ga-zad\ (n) Stronghold, Castle Gazjat \'gaz-jat\ (n) Barracks	Googa \'goo-ga\ (n) Food Heza \'hez-a\ (n) Hut, House Jogg \'jog\ (n) Wine Kon \'kon\ (n) Hunt Moggador \'mo-ga-,dor\ (n) Hammer Mok \'mok\ (n) Bridge
		Interrogatory (Questions)
		An \'an\ (n/conj) Who/Whom Dak \'dak\ (adv/conj) How Ega \'e-ga\ (adv/conj) Where Ka \'ka\ (adv/conj) Why On \'on\ (adv/conj) When	Teg \'teg\ (n/conj) What Ta \'ta\ (adv) (no translation) Gee \'gee\ (adv) Yes, Positive Naog \'na-ä\ (adv) No, Negative

Direct Objects

Direct objects in Giak function in much the same way as they do in English. A sentence with a direct object is of the form (subject / predicate / direct object). For example:

• I swing the sword.
• The giak is attacking me.
• A woman defends some children.

Note that there is no special objective case for pronouns. The second example above would be tranlated as:

• Zegor darg ok.

Pronouns are translated like this:

• Ok -> I -or- me
• Okak -> thou -or- thee
• Dok -> he -or- him -or- she -or- her -or- it

A subject closely related to direct objects is that of predicate nominatives. Since there is no objective case, they act just like a direct object.

• I am he. -> Ok narg dok.
• The woman is she. -> Zizi narg dok.

Questions

Questions are asked in the form (interrogatory word / subject / predicate / direct object). For example:

• Where are thou cooking the food? -> Ega okak lazag googa?
• How is the human cutting me? -> Dak orgadak shez ok?
• Why is she dying? -> On dok gaj?

The interrogatory words 'an' (who/whom) and 'teg' (what) are special cases. They function as the subject of a sentence or as its object rather than an interrogatory word at the beginning of the sentence.

• An zee mok?
• Lug taag teg?
• An azgad teg?

The word 'ta' is used for questions that have no interrogatory word such as:

• Is he eating? -> ¿ Ta dok raz ?
• Are you drinking blood? -> ¿ Ta okakim gag adez ?
• Do you smell wine? -> ¿ Ta okakim zinoz jogg ?

Although there is no direct translation for 'ta,' you can think of it as a helper verb such as 'do' and 'is.' Notice that the sentence following 'ta' follows the normal word order of (subject / predicate / [direct object]).

Questions in Written and Spoken Giak

There are two methods of distinguishing a question from a statement in Giak:

1. Written Giak -- A sentence must be followed by a question mark (?). It is also suggested that questions be preceded by an inverted question mark (¿). This clues the reader into the fact that the sentence is a question before he reads it.
   • ¿ Ka dokim gag gajogim ?
   • ¿ Ta dikrak darg dorgar ?
2. Spoken Giak -- The last syllable of the sentence is given added inflection by raising the pitch of the voice. This is typical of many European languages. This was perhaps one of the hardest parts of the language for Giaks to master. Their monotone voices were hard pressed to contort to a new pitch. It is believed by some that this was an ironic joke played on the hapless giaks by those minions of Naar that created the language. More than one giak has ended its life prematurely because its leader misinterpreted a question as a command.

Sentence Structure

So far we know how to use sentences with the following structure:

• ([interrogatory] / subject / predicate / [direct object])

The []'s denote an optional element so that the preceding statement implies that the interrogatory and direct object are optional to the sentence. Stripping those elements from the structure leaves us with the basic sentence consisting of (subject / predicate).

[Exercises]