Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: Sentences from "Introduction to Kerla"

From:H. S. Teoh <hsteoh@...>
Date:Saturday, October 4, 2003, 13:34
On Fri, Oct 03, 2003 at 01:33:40PM -0400, Estel Telcontar wrote:
> I decided to steal Rob Haden's sentences from his "Introduction to > Kerla"; here they are in Ikanirae Seru.
Alright, I might as well do this for Ebisedian also, as wella as the newly born Tama-i. :-)
> > I can speak Ikanirae Seru.
[snip] Ebisedian: eb0' ta'maa n3 3bis33'di d3 3t3m33'. I(masc) speaking(ptcpl) { of-people } words "I speak the words of the people." Tama-i: hir t3'masl0i tamah3'. indeed speak-I Tama-i "I do speak Tama-i."
> > Can you speak Ikanirae Seru?
[snip] Ebisedian: a'ne jum0' tww'ma n3 3bis33'di d3 3t3m33'? QUES you(dist) speak { of-people } words "Can you speak the words of the people?" Tama-i: (This one should look familiar! ;-) ha'nt3majm0i tamah3'? QUES-speak-you(dist) Tama-i "Can you speak Tama-i?" (You can see here how the Ebisedian evolved into the Tama-i: a'ne -> ha'n tww'ma -> t3'ma jum0' + i -> (j)m0i. )
> > He/she can't speak Ikanirae Seru.
[snip] Ebisedian: my'e jum0' ta'maa n3 3bis33'di d3 3t3m33'. not-so he(epi,dist) speaking(ptcpl) { of-people } words "It is not the case that he/she speaks the words of the people." Tama-i: mi't3majm0i tamah3'. not-speak-he(dist) Tama-i "He does not/is not speaking Tama-i."
> > The man is big.
[snip] Ebisedian: tha't33 pii'z3du. tallness(cvy) man(rcp). "The man is tall." Tama-i: Ta'tua hir pi'zdi. tall indeed man "Indeed a tall man".
> > The men are big.
[snip] Ebisedian: tha't33 3pii'z3du. tallness(cvy) man(rcp,plur) "The men are tall." Tama-i: Ta'tua hir3 h3pi'zdi. tall indeed men "Indeed, tall men." (Note: _hir3_ and _hir_ are in fact the same word; the final _3_ is latent and is elided in the previous sentence, but shows up here because of the _h3_ that follows.)
> > The big (thing) is a/the man.
[snip] Ebisedian: pii'z3di ni tha't33 d0n. man(loc) { tallness(cvy) }-SUBSTANTIVE "That which is tall is a man." Or, "The tall (thing) is the man." Tama-i: Ta't3d0i pi'zdi. tall(substantive) man "The tall (thing) is the man."
> > The big things are men.
[snip] Ebisedian: 3pii'z3di 3ni tha't33 3d0n. man(loc,plur) { tallness(cvy) }-SUBSTANTIVE(plur) "The tall (things) are men." Tama-i: h3Ta't3d0i h3pi'zdi. tall-ones(substantive) men "The tall (ones/things) are men."
> > I go to the city.
[snip] Ebisedian: lyy's eb3' moo'ju. go I(cvy) city(rcp) "I go/went to the city". Tama-i: li's3slei m3'ju. go-1PERS(cvy) city(rcp) "I go to the city".
> > I went to the city.
[snip] Ebisedian: is0'i lyy's eb3' moo'ju. in-past(loc) go I(cvy) city(rcp) "In the past, I went (lit., go) to the city." Tama-i: h0li's3slei m3'ju. go-PAST-1PERS(cvy) city(rcp) "I went to the city."
> > It was I who went to the city.
[snip] Ebisedian: iro eb3' lyy's moo'ju. EMPH I(cvy) go city(rcp) "It is I who goes to the city." Tama-i: hi'r3slei li's m3ju. indeed-I(cvy/subj) go city(rcp) "Indeed it was I who went to the city." (Note to Tama-i fans ;-) : here is another example of the strange behaviour of clitics in Tama-i. The cliticized 1st person pronoun has attached itself to the emphatic particle _hi'r(3)_ rather than to the verb. So the verb appears here in bare root form, seemingly having shed its inflection onto the emphatic particle. :-) Can you say "reverse trigger marking"? :-P :-P)
> > I am going to the city.
[snip] Ebisedian: same as "I go to the city." Tama-i: ditto.
> > I was going to the city.
[snip] Ebisedian: l3li's eb3 moo'ju. go(progr) I(cvy) city(cvy) "While I was going to the city when ..." (the progressive verb here indicates an interruption in the action) Tama-i: no difference from "I go to the city". Tama-i does not have an analogous construct for the Ebisedian progressive verb. (Etymologically, the Ebisedian progressives have turned into participles.)
> > The boy saw the man who went to the city.
[snip] Ebisedian: bii'l3nu fww't3 n0 lyy's moo'ju d3 pii'z3d0. boy(rcp) see { go city(rcp) }-(cvy) man(org) "The boy sees the went-to-the-city man." Tama-i: bi'lnui f3't m3julli's pi'zd0. boy(rcp/subj) see city-going(ptcpl) man(org) "The boy saw the city-bound man." (Note the noun-incorporation on the participle. :-) m3julli's = m3'ju (city-ORG) + lli's (go-PTCPL) Oh and BTW, _m3julli's_ is pronounced [m@\dzul="lis].)
> > The boy who threw that ball that he stole broke the window.
[snip] Ebisedian: (oh boy, did you *have* to do this? :-P) na karww't3 n3 chi'du gusyy'ng d3 jw3' d0 b33'l3na { throw { he(rcp) grab }-(cvy) sphere-(cvy) }-(org) boy(instr) Cww'ne r3ta'c3. break window(cvy) -> "The who-threw-the-grabbed-by-him-ball boy broke the window." This sounds silly, though. A more usual way of saying the same thing would be: b33'l3na na n3 chi'du gusyy'ng d3 jw3' da boy(instr) { { he(rcp) grab }-(cvy) ball(cvy) }-(instr) kara'taa Cww'ne r3ta'c3. throw(gerund) break window(cvy) -> "The boy broke the window by throwing the ball that he grabbed." Of course, the Ebisedi would probably break this up into several sentences, but I thought I'd give the entire thing a shot to see how robust Ebisedian grammar is. :-P I'll skip the Tama-i for now, as I haven't finalized how non-trivial relative clauses would be formed.
> > The boy who stole another boy's ball broke the window.
[snip] Ebisedian: na gusyy'ng n3 aro bii'l3nu d3 jw3' du b33'l3na { grab { other boy(rcp) }-(rcp) ball(cvy) }-(rcp) boy(instr) Cww'ne r3ta'c3. break window(cvy) -> "The grabbed-the-to-other-boy-ball boy broke the window." Tama-i: skipping for now...
> > I think that the girl is pretty.
Ebisedian: vi'ty ebu' d3 mil3d30' d3 d3m3'l. perceive I(rcp) { girl(org) }-(cvy) prettiness(cvy) "I perceive the prettiness of the girl." Tama-i: vi'tislui mlda' mm3'l. perceive-1PERS-RCP girl(adj) prettiness(cvy) "I perceive the girl-prettiness." (Pronunciation: ["witIsluj ml="da m="m@\l]. I apologize for the nasty Romanization; Tama-i seems to have a lot of syllabic consonants and I haven't decided how to properly present them yet.)
> > The girl is a duck.
[snip] Ebisedian: mil3dai' CaKi'k. girl(loc) roach(loc) "The girl is a roach." Pronunciation: [mil@\da"?i tS_ha"k_hik] (Sorry, there are no ducks in Ferochromon, so I have to resort to something less savory...) Tama-i: mildai' caki'k. girl(loc) roach(loc) Pronunciation: [mil"daj tsa"ki?].)
> > The girl becomes a duck.
[snip] Ebisedian: mil3d33' kww'k3 CaKu'k. girl(cvy) cause roach(rcp) "The girl was turned into a roach." OR: mil3d30' kww'k3 s0l3 CaKu'k. girl(org) cause self(org/cvy) roach(rcp) "The girl turned herself into a roach." Tama-i: k3'k mildei' caku'k. cause girl(cvy/subj) roach(rcp) "The girl was turned into a roach." OR: mild0i' k3'k3sl3 caku'k. girl(org) cause-REFLEX-ORG roach(rcp) "The girl turned herself into a roach."
> > The potion turns the girl into a duck.
[snip] Ebisedian: laha' kww'k3 mil3d33' CaKu'k. slime(instr) cause girl(cvy) roach(rcp) "The slime caused the girl to become a roach." Tama-i: k3'k l3h0' mild3 caku'k. cause slime(org) girl(cvy) roach(rcp) "The slime causes the girl to become a roach."
> > I want a cookie.
[snip] Ebisedian: 0so' cwgr3' ebu'. OPT food(cvy) I(rcp). "It ought to be that there's food for me." Tama-i: h0's3slui c3gr3'. demand-1PERS-RCP food(cvy). "I demand for myself food!"
> > I saw those three gray wolves that were in the forest.
[snip] Ebisedian: fww't3 ebu' d0 taa'rui d3n0 mw3' d0 3ch3'r3drore0. see I(rcp) { forest(loc) }-{ grey(cvy) }-(org) giant-ram-three(org) "I saw the three giant rams which were in the forest and were gray." Note: the "giant ram" here is the _cha'radri_, a very large quadruped herbivore with a facial plate and many horns. It is known for its tendency to charge and gore anything that moves too close to it (except others of its kind). Tama-i: lu f3't hicr3 ta'ria mua h3sa'rdra reh0i'. I(rcp) see in forest(adj) grey(adj) giant-ram(plur,adj) three(org/subj) "I saw the three grey forest giant rams." This sentence is particularly pathological. When describing sights, the subject is usually what is seen rather than the seer. Hence the pronoun appears in isolated form here, and the subjective case appears on the other noun phrase. Then we see Tama-i's obsession with turning every noun modifier into an adjective; so "forest" and "grey" appear as adjectives. Finally, we see Tama-i's bizarre handling of cardinal numbers by turning the noun into an adjective modifying the number(!). So the subject, "giant ram", itself has become an adjective, and the originative-subjective case ending actually appears on the *number*. (This is not quite so strange from the Ebisedian perspective, though: Tama-i has simply taken the Ebisedian cardinal number construction (<noun-prefix>-<number>) and split it into an adjective-number form.) T -- Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous? -- Hobbes