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Hallowspeak Update 21

Sorry for the delay on this one, but it’s actually for a good reason! The day that the update was meant to be written, we were having a super spicy discussion in the Hallowspeak Server, and I wanted to include it in the update! That’s right, we actually made progress!!! So let’s get right into it!

First, we’ll start with some Team news!! I’m sure you’ll remember our immense longing for one of our greatest members, DB, to return to the Project. Well I’m sure ya guessed it: he’s back!! While he’s still super busy with college stuff, he’s returned to the Project, which we are all absolutely ecstatic about!!! Welcome back DB, and holy shit we needed you.

For those who don’t know, DB was the very first member to join the Team, and has been extremely smart and valuable ever since! Without him, we often went whole weeks without any progress, but now his return has given us a huge boost of motivation!

Now for the Project news! Recall the issue of the “nada bis kalak” Godseeker line from last week’s update. The problem with this line is that the word order is really different than we’d expect. Usually, the object of the sentence comes first in Hallowspeak, since it has OVS word order. But here, the object “kalak” is coming at the end of the sentence! (We know it’s the object because it has the accusative case marker “-k”).

However, there was one key observation that blew this mystery open. Do you know what “nada” means? It means “come”. But wait… how does the word “come” take an object? How could something like “I come you” make any sense? The word “come” cannot take an object at all!! This type of verb, that can only take one argument, is called an intransitive verb. So now the issue has become: why the heck is there an object in this sentence???

Well, there are ways you can change the amount of arguments a verb can take (known as the verb’s valency) which are called valency changing operations, or voices. And the thing is, that strange sounding object of an intransitive verb thing, is actually a way that some languages do a valency increasing operation known as the causative. The causative is pretty self-explanatory: it adds an extra argument to the verb where the cause-er of the action goes. And this “nada bis kalak” sentence is a crystal clear example of this method of showing a causative!

This causative solution solves both of the issues we’ve had with this sentence. It solves the issue of why an intransitive verb takes an extra argument, but also the issue of why something that looks like an object is at the end of a sentence! That “kalak” is an extra piece of information being added to the sentence, not an actual object, so it just gets added on to the end!

But how about the meaning of the sentence? Does that make sense with this causative idea? Yep! Using the causative, the sentence translates as “Gods made me come”, which makes complete sense for Godseeker to say!!

However, there are also some other examples of something that looks like an object appearing in places it isn’t meant to be. Specifically, Quirrel, Moss Prophet, and Millibelle all say the word “kalakma” on its own in a voice line. This is pretty strange since if it’s just alone in its own utterance, then wouldn’t it be the default “kalama”? The “k” is only there for when a verb is being done to it!!!

Well, we now know that the causer of an action also takes that “k” bit, from “nada bis kalak”. This isn’t all that far fetched, since it’s actually quite rare for cases (things that show how a noun relates to the verb) to only fulfil a surface level role. Sure, an accusative like “k” might be defined as being for when the verb is being done to the noun, but it could also have the role of showing when the noun is causing the verb! Having extra meanings like this is actually more realistic for cases!

So that means, these separate “kalakma” lines are characters saying “by the gods”! What this means exactly is still up for interpretation. For some, it might look like an expression of surprise like “oh my god”. To me, it reminds me of the “inshallah” phrase in Arabic meaning “if god is willing”, which is said after making a promise. Whatever the meaning, the causative idea can explain these lines too!!

So, the causative idea makes linguistic sense, and also makes sense everywhere it’s used! I’m calling this one…. proven!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s update! Tune in next time!

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