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This is the ancient kandar tongue of the old days of the first empire, and the 'ancestral tongue' all modern kandar languages are derived from. It is no longer used in everyday speech, but still used in religious rituals, and for official treaties and the like. It is still taught to most educated kandar, and is now more often written than spoken. Present-day pronunciations tend to be influenced by the speaker's native language, most likely one of Old Kandar's descendants, such as Filgan and Vohrran.
Old Kandar did not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants, unlike some present-day kandar languages.
| Labial | Alveolar | Alv-Pal | Velar | Glottal | |
| Stop | p | t | k | ||
| Fricative | f | s | c | x | h |
| Affricates | pf | ts | tc | ||
| Nasals | m | n | g | ||
| Approximants | w | r, l |
Note that some of these do not match the usage of that letter in English; 'g' is the 'ng' sound as in 'sing', 'c' is a 'sh' sound as in 'fish', while 'tc' is the 'ch' sound in 'chips'. 'x' is the 'ch' in the Scottish 'loch'.
There are only 5 vowels
| High | Mid | Low | |
| Front | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Back | a |
All syllables are (C)V, with words of two to four syllables in length. Stress is unpredictable, just to make things interesting, either the first or the second syllable is stressed in most cases, some four-syllable words also lightly stress the third as well as the first. Stress is explicitly indicated with accents, such as sárenu, "lord" or tehamú (a goat-like animal). Most of the common roots are two syllables.
Old Kandar was an agglutinating language; different parts of speech are formed by adding suffixes to the word root to form different parts of speech.
These are the most common suffixes. Most of the suffixes are options; they can be omitted if it's clear from the context. There is no fixed order for the suffixes; usually whichever one comes first is the one the speaker wishes to emphasise.
| xu | first person |
| tse | second person |
| re | third person (he/she) |
| fu | third person (animal) |
| ga | third person (inanimate) |
| nu | plural |
| fa | past tense |
| pu | future tense |
| ru | continuous |
| ti | repetitive |
| tcu | negative |
| gu | imperative |
| ha | infinitive |
| so | completed |
Suffixes can be combined in may different ways, as the examples show
| ihó | Root meaning "Payment" |
| ihóxu | "I pay" |
| ihóxuru | "I am paying" |
| ihóxuruti | "I keep on paying" |
| ihóxufaso | "I have paid" |
| mópfe | Root meaning "Unity". |
| mópfexunu | "We unite" |
| mópferenupu | "They will unite" |
| tcifá | Root meaning "Theft" |
| tcifátse | "You steal" |
| tcifárefa | "He/she stole" |
| tcifáxutcufa | "I didn't steal" |
Nouns, like verbs get strings of suffixes as well. The -ba suffix is not often used; any noun without -sa, -ce or -pfa suffixes is probably the subject of the sentence.
| tco | two |
| ni | plural (more than two) |
| na | plural (many) |
| sa | object (accusative) |
| ce | indirect object (dative) |
| pfa | possessive (genitive) |
| ba | subject |
There is also a series of noun category suffixes
| ra | person |
| ku | tool |
| cu | result of |
| kixu | place |
Using the root tcifá we saw used as a verb, we get:
| tcifá | Root meaning "Theft" |
| tcifára | thief |
| tcifáku | crowbar |
| tcifácu | stolen goods |
| tcifákixu | scene of the crime |
Old Kandar didn't make much use of adjectives; it was more common to prefix a noun or verb with another root. The suffixes below appear when a adjective or adverb appears as a word in it's own right; For instance, náruli ("large"), based on the root náru ("largeness")
| li | like |
| wu | surfeit of |
| wi | without |
Since there is no verb 'to be', a sentence like 'the house is green' is expressed by using the root for 'green' as a verb. (all these examples use the continuous tense marker -ru).
| wesáru étsa | The house is green. |
| wesápuru étsa | The house will be green. |
| wesárefaru | It used to be green. |
Personal pronouns seldom appear as the subject of a sentence, since the (same) word appears as a suffix on the verb. The same suffixes that apply to nouns also apply to pronouns.
| xú | I (first person) |
| tsé | you (second person) |
| ré | he/she (third person) |
| gá | it (inanimate) |
| fú | it (animal) |
| xúsa | me |
| xúsani | us (two) |
| xúsana | us (three or more) |
| tsépfa | your |
| répfa | his/her |
Conjunctions, prepositions other suchlike wordsare also suffixes, fixed to whatever noun or verb they modify. Conjunctions always attached to the the second and subsequent noun or verb.
| pfo | and, plus |
| tce | but, however |
| ngote | if |
| pfaho | or |
Word order is completely free, since the meaning is in the suffixes. SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) or VSO (Verb-Subject-Object) are most common, but you can express a sentence as OVS (Object-Verb-Subject) if you really want to. Normally the word you want to emphasise goes at the front of the sentence. You do need to be careful with adjectives and adverbs when they appear; they may go either before or after the noun or object they modify, although you should avoid putting and adjective or adverb between two words when it's not clear from the context which of the two it applies to.
This is just a small sample, comprisong largely of the words used in translating the Babel Text, plus a few examples of compound words from roots.
| áse | begin, commence, start |
| cásecetsi | sister |
| cásegoxi | woman |
| cáselího | daughter |
| cásesútca | girl |
| cásetéxa | mother |
| cásetúlira | wife |
| cepáli | bent |
| céro | language |
| cetsí | sibling |
| cí | abdomen |
| círité | armour |
| conó | fish |
| cótce | aircraft |
| cótcekiwu | airport |
| cú | result, consequence |
| cúna | voluntary association re: a common interest) |
| cúpo | brick, block |
| éhi | culture (the customs and beliefs of a people) |
| éhohóra | supreme spiritual leader |
| emé | south |
| epá | bend |
| étse | animal |
| étsu | member (of group/organisation) |
| étu | understand, comprehend |
| étura | student |
| étutcu | confuse, contra-understand |
| fálo | find, discover (the location of) |
| fára | call, summon |
| féna | friend |
| fénatcu | enemy |
| filú | bake (cook or harden by means of dry heat) |
| fú | it (animal) |
| gá | it (inanimate) |
| goxí | person, (kandar, zughru) being |
| hálilu | world |
| háwetsi | knowledge |
| híla | god, deity |
| hóhe | make |
| hóso | tower |
| íhewuni | psionics |
| íhewuníra | psionic individual |
| ihó | pay, payment |
| íletahe | power-waggon |
| ítce | insect |
| ixó | north |
| kátcu | individual (one considered separately from one's species) |
| kége | public, populace, the people (as in People's Republic)p / nation |
| kéhi | see |
| kóle | grey {American: gray} |
| kúwa | eye |
| lákena | law (a rule enforced by a government) |
| lákenara | judge |
| lákenohóra | supreme master of law |
| leré | tar |
| lí | family |
| licú | nose |
| lího | son/daughter |
| líhura | head of family |
| máro | represent (act as a substitute for) |
| márora | ambassador |
| matcí | field |
| maxá | bridge |
| mewú | plan, design |
| milú | build (join materials to create), construct |
| milúcu | building, structure |
| mópfe | unity, unite |
| móre | fist |
| nále | purple |
| náru | big, arge |
| nárulí | clan (extended family) |
| nárumatci | plain |
| ngítca | black |
| nípfu | race (group of people with similar characteristics) |
| nítso | use, utilise |
| ohó | master, lord |
| oné | river |
| onétesé | riverboat |
| óra | mammal |
| óre | east |
| óru | reach, extend as far as |
| pahó | face |
| péma | reason, explanation, justification, rationale |
| pfalú | red |
| pfarú | negative |
| pfaté | reside, dwell, live |
| pfawúko | scatter |
| pfóreku | weapon |
| pfúru | team, crew, squad |
| potú | sea, ocean |
| potútese | ship |
| potútesékiwu | harbour |
| potúteséra | sailor |
| rána | baby, infant |
| ré | he/she (third person) |
| réni | they |
| résa | him/her |
| résani | them |
| rité | protect, defend |
| sáco | food |
| sánu | group appointed to do a task |
| sárenu | chief, leader |
| sétco | community (individuals sharing space / culture) |
| sétcohóra | community leader |
| sipó | name |
| soró | ear |
| sóti | tree |
| sótikiwu | forest |
| sótira | woodcutter |
| sótse | teach |
| sótsekiwu | school |
| sótsera | teacher |
| sútca | child |
| tahé | vehicle |
| tahéra | driver |
| taká | rock, stone |
| tcépfu | rocket |
| tcewú | enough, sufficient |
| tcifá | theft |
| tcifára | thief |
| tesé | boat |
| tetcó | war |
| tetcóhura | supreme military leader |
| tetcóra | soldier |
| tetcósanu | army |
| této | blue |
| téxa | parent |
| tigí | method, manner, way (of doing), technique |
| tigímure | unarmed combat |
| tónu | cease, stop doing, quit |
| tosí | railway |
| tosíkiwu | railway station |
| tsáxu | whole, entire, complete |
| tsé | you |
| tsésa | you (second person) |
| tsetó | yellow |
| tsípfe | down |
| tsíra | come, arrive (at indicated place) |
| tsóra | west |
| tsutsó | people (a people), folk, the members of an ethnic group / nationne's species) |
| tsutsóhura | supreme leader of the people |
| túli | marraige |
| tutsá | chest (upper front of torso) |
| tuwé | white |
| ukó | gather, collect (bring or come together) |
| úku | speak, talk |
| uná | sky |
| uté | have |
| wasú | beer |
| wasúra | bartender |
| waxó | head |
| waxórite | helmet |
| wesá | green |
| wihí | machine |
| wihícu | mass-produced goods |
| wihíra | mechanic |
| wóre | wound |
| wóretcu | first aid |
| woró | brown |
| wuní | mind |
| wunípara | mind-bender |
| wutcí | orange (having a hue between red and yellow) |
| xépa | city |
| xéru | mortar, cement |
| xí | arm (shoulder to hand) |
| xíkucetsi | brother |
| xíkugoxi | man |
| xíkulího | son |
| xíkusútca | boy |
| xíkutéxa | father |
| xíkutúlira | husband |
| xinú | fighting |
| xinúkiwu | battlefield |
| xinúku | weapon of war |
| xinúra | warrior |
| xú | I |
| xúni | we (more than two) |
| xúsa | me (first person) |
| xúsani | us (more than two) |
| xúsarite | self-defense |
| xúsatco | us (two) |
| xútco | we (two) |
The Babel Text is Genesis 11:1-9, the story of the breaking of the Tower of Babel. It's used as a standard text for translation and comparison of model languages
This passage was chosen because:
Note: I have highlighted the roots in bold.