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Re: Translation Exercise: Like a ...

From:Christian Thalmann <cinga@...>
Date:Wednesday, October 16, 2002, 18:05
--- In conlang@y..., bnathyuw <bnathyuw@Y...> wrote:

 > > 3) I prefer grandma-style bread.
 >
 > sot Rak toltn Bar lehkap golekhic
 >
 > i like (greater bigness) eat bread
 > (grandmother)-her/his
 >
 > |lehkap|, bread, isn't the object of |Bar|, eat; it's
 > an adverb (!)

Was it your language that didn't allow verbs to have objects?  So is
a noun following a verb automatically considered an "adverb"?  Cool
stuff.  =)



 > > 4) She sings loudly.
 >
 > easy :
 >
 > lical Lenbaw tolt
 > s/he-FEMALE sing bigness
 >
 > again, |tolt|, bigness, is an adverb
 > |lical| is a feminised form of the third person
 > pronoun, which is ungendered. its use is unusual, but
 > i've used it for precision

The precision is not really necessary here...  my translations don't
specify the gender, and the Obrenje sentence doesn't even mention the
number of the subject.  =P

In fact, Obrenje doesn't have any more specific personal pronouns.
To insist on a singular female subject, you'd say:

|Lonne cej fel naw jue.|
/"lOnn@ sej hEl naw ju:/
sing:3e  one:d  female  NAW  loud
"The female one sings in a loud way."

3e means third person with explicit subject (note how the original
sentence had the 3i form |lonna|, and no explicit subject).  The d
means definiteness.



 > > 5) She sings in a way that makes her ridiculous.
 >
 > licalas Lenbaw tnatas Lor lhical Selb
 > s/he-FEMALE-* sing 0-* laugh s/he-FEMALE blush

Serial verbs, cool.  Very creative implementation.



-- Christian Thalmann

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bnathyuw <bnathyuw@...>