Miapimoquitch text: Eye Juggler (long)

Hi everyone.

So this is where the rubber hits the road (as my dad would say). I've
been hinting around for a while now about the changes I've made to
Miapimoquitch. Well, I spent the day yesterday translating a text --
it's a version of the Great Basin story "Eye Juggler". There are as
many versions of this story as there are people who tell it, and this
one seems to be related to a Shoshoni version I read a while back. I'll
present the whole text first in English translation, then in
Miapimoquitch, then a morph-by-morph interlinear gloss with notes. The
interlinears will really work best if you have your display set to a
monowidth font since I've lined up the morphs with their glosses. The
phonetic transcription is X-SAMPA with the exception of the stress
marking; I can't bear the X-SAMPA convention of <"> for primary stress
and <%> for secondary stress, so these are <'> and <">,
respectively. The romanization is of my own devising and should be
transparent enough.


Eye Juggler (English)

Coyote saw Cottontail's children playing. They were taking out their
eyes and throwing them up into the air and catching them in their eye
sockets. Coyote wanted to play. He had shiny, black eyes. He took them
out and threw them into the air. They were hanging in a cedar tree. He
shook the tree but he couldn't make his eyes fall down. Cottontail's
children laughed and made fun of him. Coyote got angry and chased
them. He couldn't catch them, so he left. He had to make eyes out of
pine sap. That's why Coyote's eyes are yellow now.


Eye Juggler (Miapimoquitch)

     sepite i apeya ehammeka esepeken i atapune
     isea kaasuptekateka asewekenki
     yunanai weppeptekatekahu i aukai
     yunellakalaka i atumpa tankepte
     tihame epeya
     sewekenki ehena yuyuu
     isea kakasupte
     yunanai wekepeptehu i aukai
     piqqeka i asequtantea
     ipiki asequta
     yumuu inuu qani tukkupakasi awekenki
     huhutihuti esepeken i atapune
     yummepamepa
     tui ia epeya
     yuntalekaleka
     muu muka nelanela
     yutakahu
     pela iqana awekenki i aquya
     saa ukua esewekenki epeya


Eye Juggler (annotated interlinear with phonetic transcription)

General notes:

All content words are inflected alike in Miapimoquitch; there is thus
no *formal* distinction between nouns, verbs, adjectives,
prepositions, etc. Non third person clause arguments are expressed as
proclitics; the third person is phonologically null. Subordinate
clauses are not arguments, but are syntactically optional elements
which may be bound to clause arguments.

Phase is a category which combines (in)definiteness and
(im)perfectivity. Roughly, unbound phase is a combination of
indefinite reference and imperfective aspect, and bound phase is a
combination of definite reference and perfective aspect. Predicates
have a default bound phase reading. Unbound phase is marked by a
stem-initial heavy syllable (created by geminating the medial
consonant or lengthening the first vowel) and the suffix _-ka_.

Clause subordination in Miapiqmoquitch is sensitive to the identity of
the subject of the main clause and the subject of the subordinate
clause. When the subject of the subordinate clause is the same as the
subject of the main clause, the subordinate clause is marked with the
proclitic _e=_. When the subject of the subordinate clause is not the
same as the subject of the main clause, the subordinate clause is
marked with _a=_. Some subordinate clauses are not bound to arguments
of the main clause; these subordinate clauses are linked by the
particle _i_, which I have glossed as OBL 'oblique'.

Abbreviations used in glosses:

=       separates a clitic from its host
-       separates an affix from its stem
< >     encloses an infix
:       separates morphemes which are part of a portmanteau morph
.       separates words in a gloss
V       variable vowel
3poss   third person possessive
BE      locative/existential predicate
CAUS    causative
COLL    collective plural
DS      different subject
EYE     lexical suffix 'eye'
INCEPT  inceptive
OBL     oblique marker
NEG     negative
OPT     optative
RED:DIST        reduplicative suffix indicating distributive number
SS      same subject
TANGLED lexical suffix 'tangled, knotted; basket'
TR      transitive
U(N)    unbound phase


1.  [s1'piD1 ?i ?a'p1ja j1'hamm1Ga "1s1'p1G1~: ?i ?a'taBun1]
     sepite i apeya ehammeka esepeken i atapune

     se-    pite i   a=  peya   e=  hamme  -ka
     3poss- see  OBL DS= Coyote SS= play:U -UN

     e=  se-    <Vk>   pen   i   a=  tapune
     SS= 3poss- <COLL> child OBL DS= Cottontail

     Coyote saw Cottontail's children playing.

Experiencers are expressed as possessors in predicates of sensory
perception and cognition ("psych predicates"). Psych predicates are
syntactically intransitive as are other possessive expressions; the
possessor can appear as an adjoined oblique predicate, as is the case
with _peya_ 'Coyote' and _tapune_ 'Cottontail'.

2.  [?i's1a 'ka:sup\"t1Ga"t1Ga "?as1'w1G1N"gi:]
     isea kaasuptekateka asewekenki

     n-  sea    kaasu    -pte -ka -teka     a=  se-   <Vk>   wenki
     TR- out.of remove:U -EYE -UN -RED:DIST DS= 3poss <COLL> eye

     They were taking out their eyes

3.  [ju'nanai 'w1pp1p\"t1Ga"t1Gahu ?i '?auGai]
     yunanai weppeptekatekahu i aukai

     yu=  n-  anai    weppe   -pte -ka -teka     -hu        i   a=  ukai
     and= TR- upwards throw:U -EYE -UN -RED:DIST -away.from OBL DS= sky

     and throwing them up into the air

This clause provides a good example of the structures possible in
complex predicates. The first element of a complex predicate hosts the
proclitic string (here represented by _yu=_ 'and') and is inflected
for transitivity. The final element of a complex predicate shows phase
and number marking and bears lexical and directional suffixes.

4.  [ju'n1llaGa"laGa ?i ?a'tumba: 'taNg1p\"t1:]
     yunellakalaka i atumpa tankepte

     yu=  n-  ella    -ka -laka     i   a=  tumpa  tanke -pte
     and= TR- catch:U -UN -RED:DIST OBL DS= inside hole  -EYE

     and catching them in their eye sockets.

Distributive number in this clause and the preceding two refers to the
number of 'taking out', 'throwing', and 'catching' events rather than
the number of participants or the number of eyes.

5.  [ti'ham1 j1'p1ja]
     tihame epeya

     ti=  hame e=  peya
     OPT= play SS= Coyote

     Coyote wanted to play.

This sentence shows the optative mood proclitic _ti=_.

6.  [s1'w1G1Ngi: ?1'h1na ju'ju:]
     sewekenki ehena yuyuu

     se-    <Vk>   wenki e=  hena  yu=  yuu
     3poss- <COLL> eye   SS= shiny and= black

     He had shiny, black eyes.

7.  [?i'kaGa"sup\t1:]
     isea kakasupte

     n-  sea    <Vk>   kasu   -pte
     TR- out.of <COLL> remove -EYE

     He took them out

8.  [ju'nanai 'w1G1"p1p\t1hu ?i '?auGai]
     yunanai wekepeptehu i aukai

     yu=  n-  anai    <Vk>   wepe  -pte -hu        i   a=  ukai
     and= TR- upwards <COLL> throw -EYE -away.from OBL DS= sky

     and threw them into the air.

9.  ['piNN1Ga ?i ?as1Nutand1a]
     piqqeka i asequtantea

     piqqe  -ka i   a=  sequta -ntea
     hang:U -UN OBL DS= cedar  -tangled

     They were hanging in a cedar tree.

10. [?i'piGi ?a's1NuDa]
     ipiki asequta

     n-  piki  a=  sequta
     TR- shake DS= cedar

     He shook the tree

11. [ju'mu: ji'nu: 'Nani 'tukkuBa"kasi ?a'w1G1N"gi:]
     yumuu inuu qani tukkupakasi awekenki

     yu=  muu n-  nuu  qani <Vkk>    tupa -ka -si      a=  <Vk>   kenki
     and= NEG TR- down CAUS <COLL:U> fall -UN -towards DS= <COLL> eye

     but he couldn't make his eyes fall down.

When the first element of a complex predicate is negation,
transitivity is marked on the following element. This is also true for
modals of possibility (clause 16) and necessity (clause 18).

12. ['huhuDi"huDi "?1s1'p1G1~: ?i ?a'taBun1]
     huhutihuti esepeken i atapune

     huhuti -huti     e=  se-    <Vk>   pen   i   a=  tapune
     laugh  -RED:DIST SS= 3poss- <COLL> child OBL DS= Cottontail

     Cottontail's children laughed

13. [jum'm1Ba"m1Ba]
     yummepamepa

     yu=  n-  mepa -mepa
     and= TR- mock -RED:DIST

     and made fun of him.

14. ['tui '?ia j1'p1ja]
     tui ia epeya

     tui    ia    e=  peya
     INCEPT angry SS= Coyote

     Coyote got angry

15. [jun'da41Ga"l1Ga]
     yuntalekaleka

     yu=  n-  taleka -leka
     and= TR- chase  -RED:DIST

     and chased them.

16. ['mu: 'muGa 'n14a"n14a]
     muu muka nelanela

     muu muka n-  ela   -nela
     NEG can  TR- catch -RED:DIST

     He couldn't catch them,

17. [ju'taGahu]
     yutakahu

     yu=  taka -hu
     and= move -away.from

     so he left.

18. ['p14a ji'Nana ?a'w1G1N"gi: ?i ?a'Nuja]
     pela iqana awekenki i aquya

     pela       n-  qana a=  <Vk>   wenki i   a=  quya
     be.obliged TR- make DS= <COLL> eye   OBL DS= pine.sap

     He had to make eyes out of pine sap.

19. ['sa: '?uGua "j1s1'w1G1N"gi: 1'p1ja]
     saa ukua esewekenki epeya

     saa  <Vk>   ua     e=  se-    <Vk>   wenki e=  peya
     thus <COLL> yellow SS= 3poss- <COLL> eye   SS= Coyote

     That's why Coyote's eyes are yellow now.



--
Dirk Elzinga
Dirk_Elzinga@byu.edu

If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so
simple we couldn't.
- Lyall Watson

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