Re: Small translation challenge

Hi!

Larry Sulky writes:
> In your conlangs/auxlangs, how would you translate this:
>
> "The boy whose mother my daughter was later to befriend became ill."
Ok, let's try S11! :-)

S11 (Tesäfköm) has no words yet, but only a grammar.  That's a
problem, but I'll be giving glosses.  One thing that makes the
sentence even more complex is that there is no genitive/possessive
construction for alienable possession (only for inalienable
possession).  Instead, a relative clause must be used.  This
complicates 'my daughter' and '...boy whose mother...'.

There are two possible translations: a) where the sub-ordinate clause
'whose mother ...' is descriptive (which boy this is about is clear,
and the sub-clause given more information), b) where it is restrictive
(where the boy who this is about is specified).  Also,
evidentiality/mood is not specified in English, but mandatory in S11.

For meaning a), an internally headed relative clause (IHRC) is used.
Indentation and brackets show clause nesting:

   (
       boy=FACT=be.born
       (
           mother=PERC=be_friend-become-FUT
           (
              EXP=be_born
              I=bear
           )=REL
           daughter-FOC=be_friend
       )
       RES=bear
   )
   RES=HS=be_ill-become-PAST.


   =     marks clitic boundaries
   -     marks affixation boundaries

   ()    marks subclause structure
   []    shows coreference

   HS   = hearsay evidential
   FACT = fact evidential
   EXP  = experience evidential
   PERC = perception evidential

   RES  = resumptive particle after IHRC (refers to topic
          of subclause)

   REL  = relative particle after EHRC (refers to topic
          gap of subclause)

   FOC  = focus particle

   FUT  = future tense.  Due to it being relative, the
          future tense in the subclauses is future-in-past,
          expressing 'later'.

   PAST = past tense.  Also relative, so there's past-in-past
          tense (being born was before becoming ill... :-)),
          but that's left unmarked for inferation be listener
          above.

The topic/reference is marked by word order: it is always the first in
a clause, before the evidence/mood marker.

Tense is optional, so typically there's maximally one tense
particle per clause, if any.

Aspect may also be dropped if previously expressed, so 'become' is
dropped sometimes.

Lit. the above, using relative time in English, translates:
'The boy who is/was born from the mother to whom the daughter
I bear/bore will become friend with, became ill.'

The FOC particle is to stress 'whose mother my daughter befriends'
instead of 'whose mother later befriends my daughter'.  Maybe it's a
bit overly specified and not necessary, but I wanted to be close in
translation.

Finally, up to now, I had never thought about expressing 'my daughter'
in a relative clause before, so the above only works if the speaker is
a woman (a man can't give birth to children...).  Not completely sure
whether this is what is intended.

For b), an externally headed relative clause (EHRC) is used.
(Will not give that, since there are EHRCs above already).

Syntax overview:
   http://www.kunstsprachen.de/s11/s_03.html#03_01_01

**Henrik