[it must be cleaned] The Bohrok have remained shrouded in mystery since the earliest stages of Matoran history, their origin and purpose the subject of much superstition. The first Bohrok nests were discovered by Onu-Matoran mining beneath the city of Metru Nui in the period shortly after the Coming of Mata Nui . The nests were already quite ancient and were at first assumed to be the tombs of the original founders of the City of Legends (It would be another hundred thousand years before this
[and tumblr too] This post, we're taking a brief detour from other projects to talk about something slightly more mundane: Is there something in the Matoran Language that marks verbs as verbs and distinguishes them from non-verbs? I would like to propose that there is at least one verb-marker expressed as a suffix (or "derivative particle") -ya. What's the evidence? Admittedly, there is only one canon piece of evidence, since we have only one confirmed verb in Matoran: zya "to attack". This
As a final act in 2016, I've posted an epic entitled Mask Maker. It's a final take on the Bionicle G1 storyline that has been taking shape for a few years now. Here's the main topic and the review topic if you're interested in reading and/or commenting. It'll also be on my tumblr blog. See ya '16. Updates: CH 1 Labor CH 2 Deadline CH 3 Last CH 4 Embrace CH 5 All Wrong CH 6 Ages CH 7 Invert CH 8 No CH 9 Door CH 10 Goodbye CH 11 Mask Maker (Final)
A while back (almost a year, actually) I posted a series of Bionicle short-fiction snippets over on this blog. Each post was an entry into a larger story, which was intended as an expansion of the Bionicle G1 storyline related to the nature of the Red Star (specifically, what if the Red Star fell out of orbit? Who might survive, and what would they do?) I got through five posts (and a sixth was in the works) before burning out, as happens, and they never generated much interest, so I let it re
What do you know: looks like I’m still on a Matoran Language streak these days, despite another interstate relocation (back to my natural habitat in the dry-bare-sandy southwest US...it’s good to be home). This time though, I’m taking a break from those pretentious Lessons in order to play around with a tangent on nameless Kanohi masks, i.e. official (and some unofficial) Kanohi masks that never received official (or unofficial) Matoran names. With a universe as sprawling as that of Bionicle, y
[cross-post] Another year, another birthday, and today’s mine. Seems like a good occasion for gift-giving, so here’s one for you all. Several months ago, I posted a link on tumblr to an unfinished Matoran Language translation of the script of Bionicle: Mask of Light. At the time, it was only about 25% complete. Well, some time (and procrastination) has passed since then...and now it’s 100% complete. Link to the document There’s the link to the Google doc, with comments enabled. And just
LEARNING MATORAN - LESSON 6 - Well, it’s been a long time. Time makes for changes. Change is scary. But after a long hiatus, I’ve worked up the motivation to post another installment of this project. Recently, I have actually been surprised to see some interest in the continuation of this endeavor, and for that I am grateful. I’m afraid the changes to this conception of the Matoran Language have been significant--enough so that some of the previous lessons are now a bit outdated. This i
Oe a gauru ur a terenye.
Vemo Mata Nui na lhihke lhia,
K’a kaihe a karnye a terevua.
Oe lhe na veta ovemo.
We were separate, and without purpose
So the Great Spirit gave us the Three Virtues:
Unity, Duty, and Destiny.
And these gifts we embraced.
--from “The Legend of Mata Nui”
=l Intro to Nouns l=
At the most basic level, Matoran and English nouns are, well, nouns. They represent persons, places, things, ideas, etc. Grammatically, however, Matoran nouns exhibit some features
Ke ovahi o kii vahi, Mata Nui uamo. inihe ka usmo ia ngie, ke orna hu Matoran, lhe ii arta. In the time before time The Great Spirit descended Out of the Heavens carrying we, The ones called the Matoran To this paradise. --First lines of "The Legend of Mata Nui" =l Preface l= First, I must make a confession. For the past ten (or so) years, my primary hobby has been an obsession with constructing languages: "conlanging". In the words of J.R.R himself, it is the "secret vice". And, as migh
The Language of Okoto Chapter 2 [crosspost] (Note that the material in this post is basically a culled-down/revised version of this post.) Now that we’ve collected a dataset, the next step in the project to construct an Okotoan Language is to take a part of that dataset and attempt to break it down into smaller units. The best way to do this is to assign some reasonable meanings to a few of the terms available and then use a bit of comparative methodology and some etymological know-how
Since the release of the Bionicle 2015 media, various people have taken note of the system of symbols or glyphs that consistently appear throughout the island of Okoto. They show up in nearly every one of the story animations--on ruins, statues, the Temple of Time...even the Mask of Creation is covered in them. This has, unsurprisingly, generated questions about whether or not these symbols are purely decorative or if they in fact constitute a functioning writing system, along the lines of the G
[ don't forget] I wanted to do one final Matoran Language translation for the year, and what better text to translate than "Auld Lang Syne"? In fact, the theme of the song feels doubly appropriate for the Bionicle fandom this year, with the final closure of the original line and the exciting rise of the new generation of sets and story. With that in mind, I decided to translate the titular Scots refrain Auld Lang Syne "Days of Long Ago" using the familiar Matoran phrase Ivaha Vahai "In the
Nuparu and the Dakhi-Na Vahki / The Six Commandments of the Law [ also there] The Onu-Matoran engineer-inventor Nuparu is well-known as the creator of the last generation of law-enforcement automatons to be implemented in the city of Metru Nui prior to the Great Cataclysm. This was the culmination of a series of attempts to control crime-rates and unrest spanning the period after the tragic events of the Matoran Civil War. While it is true that Nuparu was primarily responsible for the
Naming the Toa Mata [ over there] Assumption #1: The names of the Toa Mata were constructed at the very beginning of the Matoran Universe and have preserved their forms throughout history; hence, they provide a window on the form of the Matoran Language in its earliest stages. Assumption #2: The names of the Toa Mata should be subjected to only the most limited of sound changes (if any), in contrast to other Bionicle names/terms, which are more likely to have been systematically altere
[There has been some recent interest in my very old, very outdated Matoran Dictionary as of late; due, I think, to the discussions in this very interesting topic. Well, interest breeds motivation, and I've worked up the motivation to work out some significant revisions to the Dictionary, bringing it up-to-date with my most recent conceptions of Matoran etymology, as discussed at length in the "Meaningless Names" series. So enjoy this "Second Edition", if you will.] [update 8/6: It is fi
[boo] rakha-su-hakha |idm.| trick or treat [From rakha "to trick; lit. 'make smthg. system-abnormal'", su "or (conj.)", and hakha "to treat; lit. 'make smthg. system-normal"] ====================== The origin of this phrase can be found in the development of a relatively recent Matoran holiday, originally celebrated in Metru Nui and later transplanted into the Matoran-Agori culture of Spherus Magna. The holiday began as a memorial marking one of the greatest losses of life that occurred du
July 4th? Independence Day? This seemed appropriate: "The Star-Spangled Banner" (first verse) O say can you see / by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed / at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars / through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, / were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, / the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night / that our flag was still there; O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
I've posted a few examples of texts in the Matoran language on this blog so far, and if you lurk elsewhere on the internet, you may have seen quite a few more. Most of these translations make use of a particular model of Matoran grammar, one that has undergone many alterations over the years. At this point, I thought it might be useful/interesting to share that grammar in its current state. So here's a basic overview—a cheatsheet, if you will. Have fun with it. ===========================
[should've posted a reference-list like this a long time ago. Better late than never!] A Matoran Dictionary 2nd Edition LIST OF VOLUMES =||= Volume I :: A-D Volume II :: E-J Volume III :: K Volume IV :: L-M Volume V :: N-P Volume VI :: R-S Volume VII :: T-U Volume VIII :: V-Z =||=
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0mhtDAJjqs (starts at ~0:47) "Battle Chant of the Toa (Prayer to Mata Nui)" O’I HIKI HOIHA OU IHIKI HAHKO ... HAHKO! O’I HIKI HAUIHA OU IHIKI HAHI ====================== Literal Translation: 1. Protect us from deception; 2. You will save us from deception. 3. Make us safe from deception; 4. You are a protector against deception. ====================== Note: I've been a bit fast-and-loose with constructing vocabulary here-
TOAVAKAMAJAI - THE PROPHECY I'akua, taka-kui rayaku. Amaja lhikai-na rokha: Toa Mata Nui haya. Ivaha, nga roraga-rhui. Still, all hope was not lost. Legends tell of six mighty heroes, the Toa, Who would arrive to save Mata Nui. Time would reveal that these were not simply myths... -- Toa imahra voya, kouya, Ceura, aku-rhui. Mata Nui'ai Matoroi Ikraaka hau takaya. For the Toa would appear on the shores of the island, it w
This post, I'm gonna to talk about some ideas related to other potential affixes, one in particular that I think can be quite straightforwardly derived using some comparative evidence centered around the following word: inika "energies of a star" Note that the translation we are given for this word is unique in that it is apparently a compound of two semantic units: "energy" and "star". That's different from the single-word definitions we usually get, and it also provides us with an example
[tumblr it up] If you've ever browsed through the entries of the Matoran Dictionary or been brave enough to delve into those old Learning Matoran lessons, you may have run into a concept that goes under the (pretty obtuse) name of "splitting+displacement" or (even worse) "variable placement". It's usually applied to things called "particles" or "affixes", and usually very little explanation is provided for what it is and where it comes from. Sorry. In this post, I’ll attempt to add some fles
