21. Dudec unui Leson: High and Colloquial Govoro
The linguistic form you've been learning up to now is the colloquial form of Govoro (CG). There is also a "High Govoro" (HG) used mainly in oratory (including sermons), literature, official newscasts , but also in addressing the Royal Family and Peers of the Realm, and any other person to whom the speaker owes particular deference, i.e. your boss while at work, your teacher while at school (past primary school) or an extreme elder. It is up to each higher ranking person whether you need to continue using High Govoro outside of the expected usage. Conversely, those to whom High Govoro is expected, may very often tell you to use the colloquial form. However, the Royal Family and Peers, according to rank, should ALWAYS be addressed in High Govoro while in public. Everyone should address every member of the RF in HG, even in private, but non-peers are expected to address members of the minor peerage in HG while in public, but very often can get away with using CG in private, even without a specific invitation. Typically the higher, and to a lesser extent, older a specific peerage is, the more likely you will address the Peer in HG without a specific invitation to use CG. Addressing peers is quite tricky, so it's best to use HG unless asked by the peer to use CG.
It should be noted that among certain religious sects which hold the "brotherhood of man" as a distinctive, High Govoro is eschewed (even the -ni form for mi x-ar) not used at all, even with the royal family. Some of the more conservative of these also have their own version of the Bible written in Colloquial Govoro.
There are three aspects of High Govoro in use: Personal verb endings, inflected forms of direct and indirect object pronouns, and extensive use of adverbials. Indirect object pronouns (me, te, le, ne, ve, ze) are very rarely heard outside high oratory (sermons, the Grand Duke's addresses to Parliament, and official speeches in Parliament). The text of Acts of Parliament, the Bible, and liturgical texts are always printed/declaimed in High Govoro using all three aspects ("full HG").
The personal verb endings are:
1s - -ni 1p - -nci
2s - -jki 2p - -jku
(3s - -r) 3p - -nku
The verb is pro-drop in High Govoro, i.e. the subject pronoun is dropped unless special emphasis or clarity is needed. In CG, as you have seen, the verb uses the 3rd person singular form for all persons, along with the appropriate subject pronouns.
The direct and indirect object inflected forms (DO: mo, to, lo, no, vo, zo; IO: me, te, le, ne, ve ,ze) are placed before the infected verb (indirect before direct) or on the end of the "completing" verb with two exceptions: Addressing the Royal Family and in the Bible and liturgical texts. In these contexts, object pronouns always go before the main verb.
One aspect of Govoro that lies somewhat "overlapping" the two forms, is adverbials. In short, an adverbial is an adverb form of a noun or verb (i.e., with an added/substituted -e on the end of the word): e.g. ce udano "on Mondays" is udane as an adverbial. Another form that varies from person to person is an adverbial of a verb participle. The use of these will be explored further in future lessons.
In general, the "higher" the language, the more likely adverbials are used when the sense allows, although some people use them in both CG and HG. Note that in time expressions, adverbials are very commonly used even in Colloquial Govoro.
Some forms used in High Govoro are also used in the colloquial language with no particular deference intended; mainly the first person singular forms of verbs and direct object forms of pronouns. Direct object pronoun inflected forms are mostly used by people whose native language is one of the Romance languages, but not the indirect ones. A prepositional phrase is always used for IOs in CG. The verbal suffix -ni is by far the most used form of HG in CG, almost to the extent that the only time the CG form is used is with foreign learners.
Seden - week
Udan - Monday
Dudan - Tuesday
Cedan - Wednesday
Padan - Thursday
Pidan - Friday
Xabat - Saturday
Levaden - Sunday
Sezon - Season
Vesan - Spring
Letan - Summer
Jesan - Fall
Ziman - Winter
Mi zukar vien xe anagari udan. I will visit you (on) next Monday. (HG: Vo zukani xe anagari udan)
Mi nu canezar xe levadeno. I don't work on Sundays. (HG: Nu canezar levadene).
En ziman, mi ulasar heme. In winter, I stay home. (HG: Zimane, ulasani heme)
It will be noted that a one-time action described as taking place ON a specific day or AT a specific time will always use a prepositional phrase, whereas actions described as taking place e.g. on MondayS or in the afternoon (meaning every or regularly in the afternoon) will use an adverbial.
In future lessons, the questions
will sometimes be in HG, while the answers will always be written in CG.
1.
Kutam ici potar zuka vien (zukavo)*, Herik? Xudane (Xe xuti udan) kaj xu-cedane
isto celi matine levani heme.
2. Kutam ti liter (litejki) tutu pevajinen? Lo liteni nur unufoje,
xe agari seden.
3. Ci ti esar pize ajanki? Anu, esani ajanki xutu foj kutam isedani
ise mui hus.
4. Kutam vi idanar senkoma ku nien? Idanani ebe xe anagari cedan.
5. Kuten ti delar xe padan en sa ser (or xe sa padani ser)? Jedani,
ke idani por luta sa pevaden.
6. Kuten ti deler xe sa agari levadan en sa ser? Xe sa levadani
ser, ulaseni atame heme, kutel delani xulevadane.
7. Ci vi nu ganeber zuken xe sa ajdeni matin? Anu, mui tadik mo zuker
kaj li denkomer xe mi ku mui kuz, Pawlo.
8. Kutu zukar tutu ikoroden xucedane? Mui velin deler tuten, oti li
kerar moga tutu boni covekien.
9. Ci sa patik de tutu joso nu utoter efoje? Anu, li utoter kaj sa
joso esanku jo juni por juxe canezada.
10. Kutu zogar zien isto sa celi den? Esanku en sa kenun ate sa ser
kaj tutam zui patin juxe iderer hemene.
11. Kutam tui velik esar zukevi?
Li esar sor panize zukevi, ale ebe ti lo potir (this is the usual form even in
HG because of the difficulty of pronouncing "potijki") zuka utam xe
sa dudani ose pidani ser.
12. Ci ti juxe idaner en sa padan ose pidan? Anu, idaneni en sa
dudan, kaj li nu eser heme.
*In order of least to most
colloquial this sentence can have the following variations:
Kutam
ici potar zuka vien? ("full"
CG)
Kutam
ici potar zuka-vo? (note:
in this form, the stress is on the "u" of "zukavo")
Kutam ici vo potar zuka? ("full"
HG)
