A Babel Text

I raked together this from my notes on an eclectic language I was
working on in the late 1980s.  The grammar is clumsy and I think the
reduced lexicon should be used to frighten children with.  Still,
looking at it ten years later I find features in it that appeal to me
and it could yet be revived and reworked.

Ehad erd pas ehad ta kille i ehad ta kalima.
Agego o ga malo pas kanara i doru, nemo papa gai erdsaid Shinar.
Ga haso ya.
O kalimo prosmuttesaid, Malo, meme kulesai ekop, i garumo pirosaid.
Gasaid ekop i tarvoi ga sasekansaid.
Ga kalimo, malo, meme sakelo kaikastapeo prima i mesa i kep to kiansaid,
i kulesai kalima memesaid, mem eterio ga kaosa erd.
Teyi malo dun da espu kaikastapeo prima i mesa ga kereo Adam nasikelo.
Teyi kalimo, Espu, ri alaman ehad, i kille ehad gasaid, itte ya ga
niagego, i yahida ga ga napiks da agego ando zuya pas ga.  Malo,
meme malo dun i kulesai skiokko kille ga, ga eniensikuo da ensta
kalima o ta ketto.
Teyi terio ga pas ya, ga kaosa ga erd.
Ga basto da sakelo kaikastapeo prima. To yasaid kalimatte hatte Bavel, o
Teyi kulesai skiokko kille ga erd ya.
Teyi terio ga pas ya, ga kaosa ga erd.

Ehad erd   pas         ehad ta         kille i   ehad ta     kalima.
One  earth past.marker one  classifier lip   and one  class. speech

Without the classifier ehad means 'whole'.

Agego o  ga     malo pas  kanara      i     doru, nemo papa gai
Make  as plural go   from candle(sun) among tree  find flat valley

erdsaid Shinar.
land.locative Shinar

Ga  haso  ya.
pl. dwell demonstrative

O    kalimo prosmu  -tte -said, Malo, meme kulesai ekop, i   garumo
Each say    neighbour.3ps.loc   come  we   make    brick and heat

pirosaid
fire.loc

Gasaid ekop  i   tarvoi ga  sasekansaid.
pl.loc brick and tar    pl. stone.loc

The distinction between stone and cement was lost here.

Ga  kalimo, malo, meme sakelo kaikastapeo prima i   mesa  i   kep to
pl. say     come  1pl  build  town        big   and tower and top 3ps

kainsaid,  i   kulesai kalima memesaid, mem e  -terio ga kaosa
heaven.loc and make    name   1pl.loc    we NEG.throw pl face.across

erd.
earth

Te-yi        malo dun  da         espu kaikastapeo prima i   mesa
2s.honorific go   down infinitive see  town        big   and tower

Teyi is both a title and a term of address.

ga kereo Adam na        -sikelo
pl son   Adam perfective.build

There is no relative pronouns in this language which could make the next
bit hard to chew.

Teyi   kalimo, Espu, ri alaman ehad, i   kille ehad gasaid, i  -tte
2s.hon say     see   people    one   and lip   one  pl.loc  and.3s

ya            ga ni      agego, i   yahida ga ga   na  -pikso   da
demonstrative pl passive.make   and but    pl. pl. perf.imagine inf.

agego ando          zuya    pas ga.  Malo, meme malo dun  i
make  future.marker prevent from pl. come  2pl  go   down and

kulesai skiokko kille ga, ga  e   ni   ensikuo da   ensta
make    silly   lip   pl. pl. NEG.pass.be_able inf. understand

kalima o    ta         ketto.
word   each classifier other

I know ri means thing, and ri alaman means people, but I can't figure
out what alaman means.

Teyi   terio ga  pas  ya,    ga  kaosa       ga  erd.
2s.hon throw pl. from demon. pl. face.across pl. earth

Ga  basto da   sakelo kaikastapeo prima. To yasaid    kalimatte hatte Bavel, o
pl. stop  inf. build  town        big    3s demon.loc name.3s

hatte     Bavel, o       Teyi   kulesai skiokko ga  erd   ya.
be_called Babel  because 2s.hon make    silly   pl. earth demonstrative

Teyi terio ga pas ya, ga kaosa ga erd.

Awful isn't it!  Well, in my defense I should say I didn't know anything
about linguistics when I started this.

- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@griffler.co.nz
http://hobbit.griffler.co.nz/homepage.html

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