Re: Translation Exercise: Probable-Possible

In a message dated 10/2/04 10:21:26 PM Pacific Daylight Time, cowan@CCIL.ORG
writes:

<< Probable-Possible, my black hen,
 She lays eggs in the Relative When.
 She doesn't lay eggs in the Positive Now
 Because she's unable to postulate how. >>

Rihana-ye:

Guji*-duguji* seba-ye yawali kigitafa
Probable*-possible* my (adult male) black hen
Veka sida-fe hevijijo-i* helewa-me sidako*-mi
She eggs relative* when-in laying*
Veka sida-fe viha-i * zewa-me he sidako*-mi
She eggs positive* now-time-in not laying*
Ha-ke veka heleje vejejivajo-gi* he ji.
Thing-from she how postulate*-to not can.

I cannot claim on this one to have done the
translation solely from existing vocabulary
(words marked with asterisk are new coinages
as usual in my postings).  But at least all the
new coinages were for fairly technical words,
aside from"to lay"(eggs) which was
derived easily from an existing  word for "egg."
Incidentally, there is another word for egg
(tafadasa lit. sky-animal-child-stone).  I used
sida (lit. hard child) because it is shorter.

Other comments:
1) I put the verb sidako (lay) into the -mi participle form
because that is often used in Rihana-ye for
customary actions usually rendered by
simple present in English.

2) use of he ji for "not able" is an example of
the recent tendency to use verb suffixes\
(in this example -ji "able to" separately
from the verb root.

3) Zewa-me is the classically correct form for
"now-time" but often in recent texts it is replaced by
sewa "this time"

John Leland

Reply