Sajem Tan/The Pronoun Grid
The pronouns of Sajem Tan were created...insert creation story here. The purpose of this exercise is to help you get familiar with the pronouns of Sajem Tan and to put them into use. They come in four types; Animate, Inanimate, Vegetal and Neutral.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |
|---|---|---|---|
| inanimate | theh | vu | zo |
| vegetal | thu | vo | zeh |
| animate | seh | zhu | zlo |
| neutral | deh | do | du |
Animate refers to things that are alive and and are not plants
Vegetal refers to things that are living but are not animals
Inanimate refers to things that have a distinct physical existence but are not considered living
Other is a category which refers to things not covered in the other categories like abstractions and things that are of ambiguous category
It's interesting to note that since there are distinct first person, second person and third person pronouns for each category, things which do not traditionally speak are implied to be able to use Sajem Tan to communicate. It's funny. Play with it.
Level 1
[edit | edit source]The simplest exercise goes like this...
- Choose four nouns, one from each category.
- Choose one or more aspect markers for the verb zan- (to be). The gnomic (-um) is probably the most sensible...but what fun is that?
- Make a 4x3 OVS sentence grid using these words
- Translate into your mother tongue and have another member of the community check it for you!
- Post your exercise below so other folks can see (and laugh) at your accomplishment!
Here's Bear's (Thefnolm) grid
Nouns - Vithit (bird), Jidolk (flower), Thefam (stone), and Jafin (melodrama)
Verb aspect -um, which is gnomic. This signifies it is generally known that the subject is identified as the object. I play with some others as well.
- Vithit zanum seh - I am Bird!
- Vithit zanum zhu - you are Bird!
- Vithit zanum zlo - they are Bird!
- Jidolk zanfeh thu - I am become Flower
- Jidolk zanfeh vo - you are become Flower
- Jidolk zanfeh zeh - they are become Flower
- Thefam zaneht theh - I am(hab.) Stone (metaphorically boring or stiff)
- Thefam zaneht vu - you are Stone
- Thefam zaneht zo - they are Stone
- Jafin zansho deh - I am being melodramatic!
- Jafin zansho do - you are being melodramatic!
- Jafin zansho du - they are being melodramatic!
Level 2
[edit | edit source]Choose four more nouns and two intransitive verbs and construct the grid again with the structure VSS. Essentially, you will declare the subject twice; once as a pronoun and once explicitly.
Level 3 - The Great Chain of Insults
[edit | edit source]Once you've done a few exercises, try to write a creative insult using the subject duplication in level two. Message it to a friend in the Sajem Tan community, and if they recognize the subject duplication pattern, they should realize it's a game and pass the friendly chain onto others! We'll all surely hate each other by Tuesday!
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