Re: odd phrase/translation exercise
From: | Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> |
Date: | Friday, February 11, 2005, 17:33 |
Hi!
Mark J. Reed wrotes:
> "I didn't know that you were a philosopher".
In Qthyn|gai (which needed no new stems!):
Ksyndàtrùiru||kàusty ngyrqùqlùn||gyngùindy`n|auxky.
'I did not know you were a philosopher.'
Lit.:
'(Intuitively) I did not know that (perceivedly) you are a
thinker-about-the-general-concect-of-life.'
y` = y with acute.
Without tones:
/ks@.nda.tXuI).Xu.|\|\kaU).st@ N@.Xqu.qKu.n|\|\g@.NuI).nd@.n|\aU).xk@/
With tones:
/ks@_M.nda_F.tXuI)_L.Xu_H.|\|\kaU)_F.st@_H/
/N@_M.Xqu_F.qKu_L.n|\|\g@_H.NuI)_F.nd@_L.n|\aU)_H.xk@_M/
Phew... :-)
Morpheme breakdown:
Unfortunately, my tool does not yet show the semantical valence after
each suffixation. This process of derivation is quite strict, regular
and predictable: from the top-level valence specification in each
word, one can infer the valence of each step when rewinding added
suffixes, by checking the valence of the lexicon entry for the
morpheme appended last. However, since it's not shown here, this is
all quite superfluous und confusing information... :-)
Word 1: ksyndàtrùiru||kàusty
ks y nd àu(n,a) trùi ru ||kàu sty
evidence case class val stem degree affix stem
intuition PRD intelligence A*,P+ know not past 1
(n,a) is a hybrid phoneme that sometimes is /a/, sometimes /n/,
sometimes nothing and ofter changes its environment in strange
ways. Here, it becomes /a/ and then /au+a/ collapses to /a/.
PRD = predicative case
A*,P+ = agent incorporated, patient follows as a free word
Word 2: ngyrqùqlùn||gyngùind?n|auxky
ng y rq ù(n/a) ...
evidence case class val ...
perception PAT give-life P* ...
qlù(³/a) ||ky ngùi ndy` n|au xky
stem affix affix affix affix stem
life aorist think to-last person 2
\__(to_be)_a_philosopher___________/
(³/a) is another hybrid phoneme: a voiced pharyngeal fric. or /a/.
Here, it makes the following ||k voiced: n||g.
And the (n/a) simply disappears.
PAT = patientive case (marked in the valence infix at the head,
so this is morphologically identical to PRD)
P* = patient incorporated
The verb 'to last' marks durative aspect. And 'think' without this
suffix means: to be conscious, to witness, depending on aspect.
Without aspect specification, it's underspecified: to think/be
conscious/witness. The semantical valence is also important: 'think'
needs an agent, while 'witness' needs a patient. The semantical
agent comes from 'person' -- an ending attached to words that marks
the doer of an action.
'Life'+aorist is 'life as a timeless concept', i.e., not an actual
single life or duratively, but life in general.
**Henrik
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