TRANSLATION: Grandfather and the dragon

I tried sending this on thursday last week, but it never seemed to=20
reach the list, so here's the second attempt :)

> Message-ID:<Pine.LNX.3.96.990331084849.25872A-100000@...>
> Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 08:55:52 +0100 (GMT-1)
> From: Irina Rempt <ira@...>
> Subject: A new translation exercise (was: lexicons)
ka=ECrfa=EC a gva=ECr

ka=ECrfa=ECdudjal:; i:ru djinra e=ECcavy
i: xvua=ECc ry=FA's; rael:ia
a=F2 i: xvu 'ryc; syel:ia
a=F2 i: xvu ly=E8's; ju:ar:in: vaeren a ka=ECrfa=EC ct'a=EBlan:
i:el 'syardris djin xvu ksy's; k'a:on; ta'aon; brenon; a tiron
i:ruel ksy'seles tca'ra ge=E0lar:ei=F0 ga=ECnrui=F0 e=ECcai=F0es

"Grandfather and the dragon

When my great-great-grandfather was a young man, he travelled out
  into the world.
First he went west; there was only sand there.
Then he went north; there was only snow there.
Then he went east; there the mountains were too high and
  great-great-grandfather couldn't climb them.
At last he decided to travel south, on foot, on horseback, by cart and=20
  by boat.
In the south he saw the largest city in all the world."


Orthographic and phon(etic|ologic) notes:

Vowels with accents form a diphthong with the preceding vowel. If the=20
accent is a grave, the unmarked vowel is the dominant one, the opposite=20
is the case if the accent is an acute. Umlauts are used only to disambi-
guate homonymous morphemes. Colon marks the preceding sound for length,
semi-colon is a short pause like our comma, apostrophe marks breathiness/
devoicing if placed before a sound and aspiration if placed after.

/g/ is always hard, the /r/ is an alveolar trill, /u/ is nicked from
Norwegian, everybody seems to mix them up with the French <u> in <lune>,
which is in fact closer to the /y/ than the /u/, both are rounded, the /y=
/
more so. /c/ is a post-alveolar fricative (or retroflex s, take yer pick)=
,=20
/j/ is voiced /c/, the /a/ is more backed than mid, the /x/ is an un-
voiced, velar approximant and thus not -quite- like in Scottish <Loch>,
the /o/ is what the rest of the world knows as /u/.


The Interminable Interlinear, for those who like such things:

 Cryptic abbreviations:
    4           the number four
    3s.+        third singular animate
        LOC.g   marks located thing
        LOC     marks location, more or less exactly
        PAST    past tense :)
        PL      plural
        EXP     experiencer, see [*]
        INSTR   instrumental (not comitative!)
        BEN     bene-/malefactive, dative, catch-all oblique, see [*]
=09
ka=ECrfa=EC       a    gva=ECr
ka=ECr - fa=EC    a    gva=ECr
4    - parent and  "dragon"

"Grandfather and the dragon"


ka=ECrfa=ECdudjal:;                  i:ru
ka=ECr - fa=EC    -du       =3Ddjal:   i:   -ru
4    - parent -young    =3Dtime_of 3s.+ -LOC.g

djinra       e=ECcavy
djin   -ra   e=ECca  -vy
travel -PAST world -LOC.moving.fixed

"When my great-great-grandfather was a young man, he travelled out
into the world."


i:   xvua=ECc          ry=FA's; rael:ia
i:   xvu      -a=ECc   ry=FA's  rael: =3Dia
3s.+ approach -first west   sand  =3Dland.of

"First he went west; there was only sand there."


a=F2       i:   xvu      'ryc; syel:ia
a=F2       i:   xvu      'ryc  syel: =3Dia
and.then 3s.+ approach north snow  =3Dland.of

"Then he went north; there was only snow there."


a=F2       i:   xvu      ly=E8's; ju:ar:in:
a=F2       i:   xvu      ly=E8's  ju:  -ar:e   -in:
and.then 3s.+ approach east   high -most   -too_much

vaeren         a    ka=ECrfa=EC
vaer     -en   a    ka=ECr - fa=EC
mountain -PL   and  4    - parent

ct'a=EBlan:
-=EB-   ct'a =3Dlan:
-not- pass =3Dcapable.of

"Then he went east; there the mountains were too high and
great-great-grandfather couldn't climb them."


i:el      'syardris     djin   xvu      ksy's; k'a:on;     ta'aon;
i:   -el  'syard' -ris  djin   xvu      ksy's  k'a: -on    ta'a -on
3s.+ -EXP decide  -last travel approach south  foot -INSTR ride -INSTR=20

brenon;     a    tiron
bren -on    a    tir  -on
car  -INSTR and  ship -INSTR

"At last he decided to travel south, on foot, on horseback, by cart and b=
y
boat."


i:ruel           ksy'seles       tca'ra
i:   -ru    -el  ksy's -el  -es  tca' -ra
3s.+ -LOC.g -EXP south -EXP -LOC see  -PAST

ge=E0lar:ei=F0         ga=ECnrui=F0          e=ECcai=F0es
ge=E0l -ar:e   -i=F0   ga=ECn -ru    -i=F0   e=ECca  -i=F0   -es
big  -most   -BEN  city -LOC.g -BEN  world -BEN  -LOC

"In the south he saw the largest city in all the world."


[*] The experiencer (EXP) marks the subject, if an agent and animate=20
of verbs of the experiencer paradigm. Experiencer-verbs (daft name but
I haven't bothered looking for a better one yet) functions as conjunction=
s,
some experiencer-verbs are: think, consider, feel, hate, love...

When the experiencer-verb only governs a phrase and not a new sentence,
that phrase is marked with the benefactive (BEN).=20

Example:
sa:el a:r         u:  te=EC  i:a=FE
I-EXP thinks.that you love he/she-PAT   (PAT patient)

u:el    te=EC  i:i=F0
you-EXP love he/she-BEN

Valid permutations:
'S' subordinated sentence/benefactive
'V' experiencer-verb
'E' experiencer

E V S
V E S
S V E



tal.