Re: A poem by Ryokun

Found this while cleaning up old mail and thought it was simple. Not
easy, though :-)

On Tue, 29 Feb 2000, Patrick Dunn wrote:

> lass-a-ata umu Riukun
> word-+-thing by Ryokun

Ryocunei halsen

a sayali disesiyt
melie so lien lastin
runesiyt yatay so cynie
na chalay aliye?


ryocunei     halsen
ryocun-gen-s song-nom-s

This might be "Ryocun's song" just as easily as "a song by Ryocun".


a sayali     disesiyt
Q everything change-INC-FUT-3p

The question marker makes everything that follows a question - it's
ambiguous here, because the first verse might mean "aren't all things
going to change sometime?", but that's cleared up pretty soon when
the question marker is repeated where it belongs. This is a poetic
device to set a questioning mood; it's not really grammatically
correct.

The inceptive future is used for prophecies and expectations.


so  sayat so  lien    lastin
and here  and far.loc flower-nom-cp

I made a word for "near" for this, which to my surprise I didn't have
yet (I did have "far"), but decided on second thoughts to keep the
parallel with the next line.


runesiyt       so  yatay so  cynie
die-INC-FUT-3p and now   and in the future

_So yatay so cynie_ is in fact a perfectly reasonable Valdyan way to
way "both now and ever" (not that they say it in the context most of
us are used to, of course :-). _Yatay_ is "right now, this very
moment"; not a period in time, but a definite point. _Cynie_ is "in
the future, starting from the moment we're talking about". That
moment can in fact itself be in the past, the present or the future,
or completely indefinite.


a na  chalay     aliye
Q NEG see-PRS-2s at.all

_na ... aliye_ "not a bit, not at all" gives it a slightly plaintive
and surprised tone, almost "how can you not see it?"

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself) - http://valdyas.conlang.org (Valdyas)
          http://www.valdyas.org/irina/index.html (home)