"Colorless Green" (was Re: Lahabic Syntax)

Estelachan@AOL.COM wrote:
>
> I'll certainly give you my translation of the Babel Text once it's complete
> and I've finished correcting my romanization to conform to the syllabic
> alphabet I've been making for it. Incidentally, what information do you want?
> just English Text, Conlang Text? Or English Text, Conlang Text, Morphemic
> Breakdown, Literal Retranslation? And should I, if I can get it written out
> and scanned in, give you an image file of the native writing?
Conlang text, morphemic breakdown, and literal retranslation would be
great.  English text is optional.  And an image of the native writing
would be superb.  In fact, you'd be the first conlang in which I'd have
the native writing.

You use a syllabry too?  Syllabries rule!  :-)

Do you have a website about your language and syllabry?

> Incidentally, if anyone would like to translate the (in?)famous sentence
> "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" into their conlang and give me the
> name of the language and it's author, including if you wish an email address
> and/or a link to your conlang's website, I'm collecting the phrase and
> putting a list on the web. Please translate it as a non-meaningful phrase if
> you do (don't try to make it mean something by saying green=immature,
> green=environmental, etc.), as the idea of having a meaningless sentence in a
> conlang appeals to me for no reason in particular.
Hee hee, I love the idea.  There was a web page
(http://hcs.harvard.edu/~igp/glass.html) that had translations of the
phrase "I can eat glass, it does not hurt me" in over a hundred
languages.  :-)

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Zazánva piziaziulán uafiaanísi uadiáskun fil ku uafmaisiásai.
Zazá -n     -va  pi-ziaziulá-n  uaf- iaaní-i  ua-diásku-n   fil ku
Sleep-3PlIrr-Hab G7-anger  -COM G6PL-idea -PL G6-color -COM not and
uaf- maisiása-i
G6pl-green   -PL
Pronunciation:
[za'zam)'vA piZaZu'lam Afj_0a:'ni'Si wA'dZas'kom) fel ku wAfmaI'Sa'saI]
m) = labiodental nasal
' = high tone (also, the first high tone in a word is pronounced with
greater volume)

Koine form (not yet fixed):
Zazánva piziaziulán ufiaanísi udiáskumai ku uvmaisiásai.
[z@'zam)'vA piZaZU'lan ufj_0a:'ni'Si U'dZas'ku'meI kw_0ovmeI'Sa'seI]
u- and uf-/uv- instead of ua- and uaf-
-mai as a "without" case (<-n fai < -n fil)

Abstract nouns in the commitative (generally "with"; the native name is
_pifdunláana_ "Friend-form") are used for adverbs.  A more-or-less
literal translation would be:
Green and without-color ideas sleep angrily ("with anger")

Somehow it seems even more senseless in translation than the English
original.

And for the "I can eat glass, it does not hurt me":
Taklanfataspásuv, guáliuv fil
Taklan-fatas-pás-u-v   guáli-u-v   fil
glass- chew- can-I-hab hurt -I-hab not
Pronunciation:
[taklam)fAtas'pA`sov 'gwa.ljov fel]
` = high-low tone
Their are two verbs for "to eat", láu and kaftí, but neither works in
this context.  Láu indicates that the eating is in a social context,
usually eating with others.  Thus, it would imply that you're part of a
group of glass-eaters, while kaftí is used for eating solely for the
purpose of sustaining life, thus using that would imply that eating
glass is somehow a necessity for health.

Glass itself, pitaklán (gender prefixes are lost in incorporation), has
an interesting origin.  It was originally pitakluklán.  This is derived
by a sort of assimilation (?) from pitaklukán, which is a derivative of
pitaklú (sand) plus -kán (child of, product of), thus, "something
produced from sand".

> even if you also
> mail it to the list (I don't know if this list likes that sort of thing) so
> I'll be sure not to miss it.
Yes, we have lots of translation exercises, ranging from simple
sentences to lengthy texts.

--
Dievas dave dantis; Dievas duos duonos
God gave teeth; God will give bread - Lithuanian proverb
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