--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Remi Villatel <maxilys@T...> wrote:
> Tom Chappell wrote:
>
> > What are the scariest 5-word and 10-word sentences in your
ConLangs?
>
> > [snip]
>
> I thought there wasn't any really scaring sentence in Shaquelingua.
The
> Shaqueans are very peaceful people who don't threaten nor hurt
eachother
> intentionally. But I found one word which can scare a Shaquean:
>
> /bërjë/ [bE.xjE]
>
> It's the irrational 2SG pronoun that should be used only for
animals,
> artificial lifeforms and things that are not people.
Excellent! A gendered second-person pronoun!
> It's hard to
> translate without a context, so here comes the sentence:
>
> /be gäre luflijër töyö'çaki bërjë./
> [be: g3xe 4u.f4ijEx tOwO:'Caki bE.xjE]
>
> be gäre luflijër töyö'çaki bërjë
> QLT DOTA ignorance RTSP.FUT=1PE IRR:2SG
>
> = We will ignore you, you which isn't a person.
>
> What didn't go through the translation is that this "ignorance"
will be
> a future habit and "to ignore" actually means "to intentionally
refuse
> to acknowledge the presence".
Like "sending to Coventry".
> It's scary because it's a sentence of banishment from the Shaquean
> Collectivity. It's the last thing you want to hear and the last
words
> you hear --for an undetermined time, maybe forever-- if it's
addressed
> to you. /bërjë/ is like the last nail to your coffin. It states
that
> you're no longer a person according to the Shaquean Collectivity.
>
> Scary, isn't it?
Yep.
Thanks, Remi.
(BTW the Xerox Language Guesser thought your sentence was in
Albanian.)
Tom H.C. in MI