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Re: Deciphering Conlangs

From:René Uittenbogaard <ruittenb@...>
Date:Friday, July 6, 2007, 23:39
John, thanks for the challenge :)
It was fun to do, but I'm still missing bits of the puzzle.

First, some unusual abbreviations I'm using:

Q = question particle
GENERAL = an article such as in French "J'aime _les_ oranges," to
   indicate something in general (is there a good word for this?)

==========
Text that has already been translated to English (below):

topam kif.
PRES.eat  I
I eat.

tapam kof kapapaf.
PAST.eat he apple.SG
He ate an apple.

tipam kuf kapapas.
FUT.eat you apple.PL
You will eat some apples.

talum kif kapapaf; tapam kos kepapaf y.
PAST.touch  I apple.SG; PAST.eat they DEF.apple Q
Did they eat the apple I touched?

talum kif kapapas; topam kos kepapas.
PAST.touch I apples.PL; PRES.eat they DEF.apple.PL
They always eat the apples that I touch.

torem kuf kapapes; o talum kof kepapes o gi tapam kof kapapes.
PRES.like you orange.PL; [but] PAST.touch she DEF.orange.PL but not
PAST.eat she orange.PL
She touched the oranges that you like, but she didn't eat them.

gi torem kif e kysepapel e kypapas.
not PRES.like I [and] GENERAL.juice-orange and apple.PL
I don't like orange juice and apples.

torem kif kyypas.
PRES.like I GENERAL.fruit.PL
I like some fruits.

==========

Text to be deciphered:

torem kuf kysepapel y?
PRES.like you GENERAL.juice-orange Q?
Do you like orange juice?

o gi torem kif e kyysepal e kysepapal,
[but] not PRES.like I [and] GENERAL.juice.fruit(?) and GENERAL.juice-apple,
I don't like some fruit juices (?) and apple juice,

o torem kif kysepapel.
but PRES.like I GENERAL.juice-orange
but I like orange juice.

torem kof GENERAL.kyypapes. e tilum kif kapapaf e tipam kepapaf.
PRES.like (s)he oranges(?). [and] FUT.touch I apple.SG and FUT.eat DEF.apple.
(s)he likes oranges(?). I will touch the apple and will eat the apple.

==========
unsolved mysteries:

- does ky- mean what I think it does (the "general" article mentioned above)?
- what does kyy- mean?
- if I touch "kapapas" (apples) and she touches "kapapes" (oranges), how come
  I like "kypapas" (apples), but does she like "kyypapes" (oranges?)?
- where are the morpheme boundaries between the apple, the juice and
the article?
- what does "kyysepal" mean?


René