Re: A new translation exercise (was: lexicons)
| From: | Padraic Brown <pbrown@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, April 2, 1999, 18:32 |
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On Thu, 1 Apr 1999, Irina Rempt wrote:
> On Wed, 31 Mar 1999, Padraic Brown wrote:
>
> > ce cestyn mbenne... This woman...
> > where ce cestyn contains four pronouns.
>
> Please take this apart for me! It reminds me of _ayali_ "everything"
> which is the pronoun _li_ "it" with two instances of the prefix _a-_
> "every". _Ali_ "they (inanimate)" can also mean "everything", but
> _ayali_ has only that meaning and is more emphatic, "EVERYthing".
That's easy enough! The first part is the 'ce' that hangs out by its
self: 'ce' is the indef. pron. par excellence in Kernu, and means "a,
some, any, this, that or the other". The 'c' of cestyn is another 'ce'
that's been tacked onto 'ista', which, when alone (or in combination with
a def. art.) is a definite pronoun; but when in combination with 'ce' or
'yn' becomes indefinitised. 'yn' is the old indef. pron. of Kernu; but
has become so indefinite (and also confused in meaning and pronunciation)
with 'ne' that it has taken on more and more of a negative connotation.
Thus 'm mben' means "no one" anymore, when rightly ought to mean "some
woman". The 'm' here is what's left of 'yn', for 'yn' is never enunciated
fully, and before a bilabial becomes an "m".
Thus ce + ce + ista + yn. The mb of 'mbenne' is caused by the old
accusative ending of the pronoun, centuries ago when it was 'unam'.
Of course, to confuse matters entirely, the whole thing can be turned on
its head by the addition of a well placed definite article. 'cela cestyn
mbenne' means "this particular woman"; where 'la' is the def. art.
Padraic.