Re: TRANS: Fw: names of ants

On Mon, 1 May 2000 00:19:44 -0500, Carlos Thompson <chlewey@...>
wrote:

>Here it is an interesting translation exercise I'm authorized to cross post.
>-- Carlos Th
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Natalia Gruscha" <natalia.gruscha@...>
>> To: <conculture@...>
>>
>>
>> <<Nobody remembers the names of ants.>>
Jarrda: Thlos enròlra lôgak pagi.

thlos    en-reol-  ra  loag-ag-0   pag-i
remember no-person-ERG call-VN-ABS ant-GEN

(The word for "name" is derived from the verb "to call, to name" in
Jarrda.)

Tirelat: S'mu shuwan mè xath o pak.

sè  mu   shuwa-   n    mè  xath o  pak
AGE none remember-NARR PAT name of ant

Tirelat has a mandatory evidential suffix on verbs. The -n suffix is what I
call the "narrative" form, used to make a statement without asserting a
truth value (such as when telling a story). The word "pak" is, in fact,
borrowed from Jarrda, as are a good number of the other Tirelat words for
animals.

--
languages of Azir------> ----<http://www.io.com/~hmiller/languages.html>---
Thryomanes/Herman Miller  "If all Printers were determin'd not to print any
    h i l r i . o        thing till they were sure it would offend no body,
     m l e @ o c m       there would be very little printed." -Ben Franklin