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Re: My 500th post! The Babel Text in Old Albic

From:Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...>
Date:Monday, October 25, 2004, 20:21
Hallo!

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 21:59:19 +0200,
Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> wrote:

> Hi! > > Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> writes: > > This is my 500th post to CONLANG, and on this occasion I'd like to > > present you the Babel text in Old Albic. > > Congratulations! :-)
Thank you!
> >... > > 1. Mar ahara cvanthas Aramaras > > 1. but AOR-be-3SG:P whole-LOC world-LOC-LOC > > Why suffixaufnahme in 'Aramaras'?
In Old Albic, _cvanth_ is a noun which has a locative argument: `the whole *OF* the world'. The locative in Old Albic also has partitive meaning, and is also used to mark inalienable possession.
> > sam tañemas a sam cvararemas. > > one-OBJ language-PL-LOC and one-OBJ speech-PL-LOC > > Hmm, I don't seem to understand the structure of the sentence. Why > LOC with 'language' and 'speech'?
Numerals are treated as nouns with the counted entity in the plural locative case.
> Ah, maybe 'to have' = 'be with' = 'be' + LOC? (Like Finnish? > 'Ja kaikessa maassa oli yksi kieli ja yksi puheenparsi') > Is that right?
Old Albic indeed doesn't have a verb `to have', but uses `to be' with the possessor in the dative case: Hará mana chvanam. be-PRES-3SG:P 1SG-DAT dog-OBJ `To me is a dog.' = `I have a dog.'
> >... > > apheni phalas ndoras Senararas > > AOR-find-3PL:A plain-OBJ land-LOC Senar-LOC-LOC > >... > > Hmm, at this point, I'm really lost with 'Seneraras'. > Should be an apposition to 'ndoras'.
There are indeed two possibilities. Apposition, which would be _ndoras Senaras_, or the possessive construction (`in the land *of* Senar') I have used in the text.
> Please explain, it's interesting! :-)
At your service, and thank you for your interest! Greetings, Jörg.