Page:Abridged Grammar of the Blue Language.djvu/34

II^nd PART OF SPEECH

THE STAFFWORDS

2^nd Class of the Shortwords.

The Staffwords form a class of words of quite new creation.

These shortwords permit to express certain general notions of which they are, so to say, the « symbols ».

We may define them as the oral gestures of the language.

The staffwords are never joined to the words to which they relate; they have the two following forms:

I^st Form. — Shortwords of 2 or 3 letters finishing by u (no other vowel in the word). They are to the number of 45.

It is indispensable to know the nine following staffwords:

			Examples: $\scriptstyle {\overbrace {\quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad } }$
nu:	Symbol of	negation	I do not love	me nu lovi.
du:	Symbol of—	affimative interrogation	do I love?	me du lovi?
tnu:	Symbol of—	negative interrogation	do I not love?	me tnu lovi?
ku:	Symbol of—	affirmative subordination	that I love	ku mo lovi.
knu:	Symbol of—	negative subordination	that I do not love	knu me lovi.
su:	Symbol of—	affirmative reflective	I love myself	me su lovi.
snu:	Symbol of—	negative reflective	I do not love myself	me suu lovi.
tu,	signifying	precise designation; sense of: « it is he, she, they are they ».
stu,	signifying—	masculineness; supplies the English word » male ».

Indeed there is no other means of effectuating these translations^[1].

The other staffwords of this form serve to the « fabrication » of the words and supply the English prefixes. It is interesting, though not indispensable, to know them by heart.

	Examples [2]:
ru	signifying	repetition, reiteration; like the English prefix re.
pu	signifying—	idea of supremacy; English prefix: arch (archbishop).
bu	signifying—	idea of superiority; English prefix: super, idea of principal.
qu	signifying—	idea of inferiority; English prefix: under, vice (under-actor, vice-roy).
fku	signifying—	idea of contrary; supplies the prefixes anti, contre.
pru	signifying—	idea of preexistence; supplies the prefixes ante, pre.
plu	indicating	the plurality; supplies the prefix poly.
pru	indicating—	the putting one thing instead of another; supplies the prefix pro.
sku	indicating—	the likeness to; supplies the adjective termination ish (childish).
pnu	indicating—	the unlikeness; it has the contrary sense of sku.

---

1. These staffwords dispense with varying the tonality of the voice. Example: The presence of the word du indicates the positive interrogation of the phrase (See p. 50) as the English do.
2. Refer to the Vocabulary as to the 25 staffwords not mentioned. Among these the word vu supplies shortly all protocol forms.