Vocab 2.4, 2.5, & 2.6...

Thanks to the long weekend, I was able to catch up & here are Vocab
exercises 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6:

> #2.4: 8 Nov 2002
> Topic:  how to disambiguate (if at all) 3rd person referents
> 1. life
> She owed her her life.
hmm. "owe someone one's life" is an idiom I'm not sure I want. How
about:
She granted her her life.
temme jalá ho anseráe;
        temme is the relational SE in the past tense with a 3rd person
singular source & 3rd person singular goal. The two 3rd persons are
not the same referent. If they were, the sentence would use a
reflexive (temeñ) and would be semantically funny. SE says that its
object (in this sentence jalá 'life') has a source and a goal. ho
anseráe is an instrumental phrase; anseráe is 'grant', an abstract
noun; So, 'She gave her a/the life by means of a grant.'

> 2. journey
> Their journey to visit their friends was long.
te jahóLen jaréTa-mma tó túaT anñánni ánen maxáni-mma;
        te is the relational LA in the past tense. The object of LA is the
rest of the sentence or 'the long-duration thing, the journey
associated with some 3p in order to meet with their friends.'. The
associative suffix -mma is generic in number and could also mean
his/her. The two associative suffixes do not have to refer to the
same entity. So, 'It was a long-time, the journey in order to meet
with their friends.'

        One could also say: te jaréTa-mma tó túaT anñánni ánen maxáni-mma
ien jahóLen;
        'The journey to meet with their friends, it was a long-time thing.'
using the marker ien to signal that jahóLen refers to the same entity
as jaréTa-mma tó túaT anñánni ánen maxáni-mma.

new word & root derived from existing root:
jahóLen 'a period of long duration' < jahóLa 'a time period,
equivalent to approximately 2 1/2 Earth hours'

> 3. brick
> He gave his brick to him.
temme jacálme-mma;
        Again, temme is SE in the past tense with a 3rd person singular
source & 3rd person singular goal. So, we have two referents. The
associative suffix on the word for brick can refer to either the
source 3p or the goal 3p. The phrase 'to him' would be redundant in
Kélen since it is already part of the relational.

> 4. merry
> She was merry all day at the festival.
tielen pa sáen análne il jalónaña nára;
        tielen signals a past time, pa is the whole/part relational and has
a double object: a whole (sáen, the 3p singular pronoun) and a part
(análne, 'happiness'). The conjunction il introduces a temporal
phrase. jalónaña is the name of a specific festival day and nára
means all. So, 'She was happy all of Lónaña Day.'

> 5. fail
> He failed to save him.
órra ñamma japíccé mo ñi maTérél;
        órra ñamma is the completed marker and the relational ÑI with a 3p
singular agent. ÑI takes an object that has had a change of state
caused by an agent. The object is japíccé mo ñi maTérél 'a failed
attempt to make someone-rescued', where mo is a goal marker
signalling the goal of the failed attempt, which was ÑI with an
abstract agent and maTérél, an animate noun, the patient/object of
ÑI. He and him are different entities, otherwise the sentence would
be: órra ñamma japíccé mo ñemeñ maTérél; 'He failed to rescue
himself.'

        One could also say: órra ñamma japíccé mo ñamma jaTéra mo ma;
        'He made a failed attempt to make a rescue of him/her.'

new words & roots
anpíccé = failure < -cé 'try'
japíccé = a failed attempt
jaTéra = a rescue
maTérél = someone rescued

> 6. approve
> He approved his request.
He granted his request.
temme jakéña-mma ho anseráe;
        Same sentence structure as #1 above.

> 7. jaw
> Their jaws were bruised from fighting their enemies.
tielen pa sáim jaNéta japíxxéi tó te anñiñáki ánen masénreni(-mma);
        tielen signals a past time, pa is the whole/part relational. Here pa
has the reqired whole (sáim, the 3p paucal pronoun), the required
part (jaNéta, 'their-jaws'), and a second part, the part of a part
(japíxxéi, 'bruises'). tó means because and usually signals a
separate clause (te anñiñáki ánen masénreni). te is LA + past tense,
it's object is anñiñáki ánen masénreni 'fighting with enemies'. The
associative suffix -mma could be added to enemies, but that is a
stylistic decision most Kéleñi would not make. So, 'Their jaws had
bruises because there was fighting with enemies.')

new word & root:
japíxxé 'bruise' < -xé 'dark'

> 8. hardship
> He thought his hardship too great to bear.
tielen pa jatóla jaNúta-mma anwíra nápie;
        tielen signals a past time, pa is the whole/part relational. The
whole, jatóla, is one of the six mental functions that is inherently
possessed and means his-belief/his-thought. The part, jaNúta-mma, is
the stative noun anNúta turned into a specific instance jaNúta, with
a 3p associative suffix. This suffix does not have to refer to the
same 3p refered to by jatóla. The part of the part, anwíra nápie,
means too-much burden. So, 'His thought was that his hardship was too
much of a burden.'

new word from existing root:
anNúta 'hardship'

> 9. whatever
> Whatever she did, she was not happy.
órra ñamma honahan ewaT te anéspe pa sáen análne wá;
        órra ñamma is the completed marker and the relational ÑI with a 3p
singular agent, as in #5 above. honahan is 'any-kind-of-thing'. ewaT
is a clausal conjunction 'and yet, yet, but'. te anéspe + clause
means 'it remained that...' PA is the whole/part relational with the
whole (sáen, 3p singular) and the part (análne wá, no amount of
happiness). So, 'She did any number of things and yet she was not
happy.' Whatever, refering to any object of any verb, doesn't exist
in Kélen.

        One could also say: te anéspe pa sáen análne wá ewaT ñamma honahan
órra;
        'It remained that she was not happy, and yet she did any kind of
thing.'

> 10. goods
> Their goods were locked on their wagon.
te anpáoi-mma anháci sú japéña-mma ól;
        te is LA + past tense. anpáoi-mma anháci is 'their collection of
goods, a collection of locked up things' and sú japéña-mma ól is 'on
(top of) their wagon'. Again, the two associative suffixes do not
have to refer to the same 3p entity.

new word & root:
anháci 'locked-things'

> #2.5: 17 Nov 2002
> Topic: predicate adjectives
> 1. answer
> Her answer was too short.
tielen pa játténa-mma anúsa nápie;
        past-time PA whole(her answer) part(too much short-duration)

> She answered at length.
tielen pa játténa-mma anhóLen;
        same syntax as above:
        past-time PA whole(her answer) part(long-duration)

new word & root:
júsa 'a short duration'

> 2. silence
> The silence was uncomfortable.
tielen pa ansóha anTírníwe;
        past-time PA whole(silence) part(uncomfortable-ness)

new word derived from existing root:
anTírníwe uncomfortable-ness < anTírne 'peace of mind' and -íwe, a
negative suffix

>3. tune
> The tune he played was beautiful.
te jáNeren jaxíma ñamma;
        LA+past object(beautiful thing, the tune he made)
        One could also say: ñamma jaxíma pa anáNeren;
        ÑI+3ps-agent tune PA (it) beauty. (Here the whole that PA expects is
the object of ÑI and precedes PA, while the part is in its usual
place. )

> He tuned his [tuneable instrument].
órra ñamma jasálíhen pa anxáláe;
        completed ÑI+3ps-agent musical-instrument PA (it)
harmony/tuned-ness. (OK, I don't have any words for any specific
instruments except drum and pipes.'

new word & root:
jaxíma 'tune, piece of music'

> 4. camp
> Their camp was nearly invisible.
tielen pa jalúta-mma antarúníwe ámíwe;
        past-time PA whole(their camp) part(almost-enough invisibility).

> They camped on the butte.
te jalúta-mma sú jaláe ól;
        LA+past their-camp at mountain on. (No word for butte.)

new word & root:
antarúníwe 'invisibility' < anrúna 'visible' + íwe, a negative suffix

> 5. blood
> Blood is red.
pa jamána ansúra;
        PA whole(someone's-blood) part(redness). (Actually, ansúra refers
specifically to the color of blood.)

> 6. lend
> She lends her time to anyone who asks.
samma jíla-mma mo manahan se jakéña;
        SE is the transactional relational and signals that its object has a
source and a goal. Thus it can stand in for give, bring, lend, take,
etc. SE, here, has a pronomial suffix signalling a 3p singular source
and a 3p singular goal (not the same 3p's). The object here is
jíla-mma 'her time', the goal is mo manahan se jakéña 'to anyone who
asks'. se jakéña is a bare SE because the source was already named in
the main clause's goal phrase and the goal of this SE is abstract.
jakéña 'question, asking, request' is the object. So, 'She gives her
time to anyone who requests (it).'

> 7. equal
> We get equal pay for our work.
selne anténni ñe sáeT jé jakéwíke-nle;
        SE+1p(excl)paucal-goal money same-as them(3p-plural) in-exchange-for
labor-our.

> 8. determination
> Her determination was impressive.
se anmárwakie to jakéspen-ma;
        SE impressive inanimate-source-marker her-determination

New word & root derived from existing root:
ankéspen 'determination' < -ésp- 'remaining, staying'

> 9. anger
> His anger was frightening.
se anmíra to janúra-mma;
        SE fear inanimate-source-marker his-anger

> 10. name
> Their names are far too long.
pa jawéri-mma anómen nápie;
        PA whole(their names) part(too much length)

> #2.6: 23 Nov 2002
> topic: finite complement clauses
> 1. me, I
> It bothers me that she is late.
sele anráNNen to jaxéwen-ma;
        SE+1p.sg.goal bothered-ness inanimate-source-marker
her-lateness(specific instance). The regular 1p pronoun is lién, or
le in its reduced form, and -le after se as a goal, and -alla after
se (reduced to s-) as a source and after ñi (reduced to ñ-) as an
agent.

new word & root derived from existing root
jaráNNen 'bother/annoy' < -áNN- 'sharp point'

> 2. quick
> I hope that Sam is quick.
pa lecéxa ñi Li-sám matánre;
        PA whole(lecéxa 'my hope', one of the 6 inherently possessed mental
functions) part(ñi Li-sám matánre 'that Sam is-made-to-be
a-quick-person'). Sam is prefixed by Li- to signal that a proper noun
is the object of the relational. Proper nouns do not need Li- in
other positions.

> 3. preparation
> I think she made a lot of preparations.
pa letóla ñamma jákíki ná órra;
        PA whole(letóla 'my thinking/my belief', one of the 6 inherently
possessed mental functions) part(ñamma jákíki ná órra 'that she-made
preparations many completed-marker')

> 4. sum
> The sum of these numbers is 42.
la jaraná ámmor aTénne jé jánnari xó;
        LA object(jaraná ámmor aTénne 'sum 42') in-exchange-for numbers
these-ones.

> I know that she sums quickly.
pa lién antéla ñamma jaranáe ho antánre;
        PA whole(1p.sg) part(knowledge) part-of-part(ñamma jaranáe ho
antánre 'She-makes sums with quick-ness'). Knowledge is not one of
the mental functions that is inherently possessed. Possibly because
knowledge is something that can exist independently of the person or
can be passed from person to person... Or maybe it is just a quirk of
the language.

> 5. pity
> It is a pity that he did that.
(that's a way of saying it's too bad, or it's a bother rather than
it's a pitiful thing/it's a pitious thing)
la jaráNNen ñamma áke órra;
        LA states the existence of something (in case you haven't figured
that out yet.) LA has by definition a single object. Therefore, when
several nouns or subclauses make up the object of LA, they must all
refer to the same entity. So, here, the noun jaráNNen 'a bother' and
the clause ñamma áke órra 'he-did that-thing completed-marker' must
refer to the same thing.

> 6. pipe
> Their pipes are dirty.
pa jacímíki-mma ancérre;
        PA whole(their pipes) part(dirt as an abstract noun)

> 7. dip
> There is a dip in the road here.
la xó jaratá sú jatóna;
        LA there dip at road

> I hear she dips her jelly donuts in her tea.
sele jaxiéna to ñamma [jelly-donuts] rá jamá-mma mé tá;
        SE+1p.sg.goal understood-thing inanimate-source-marker
ÑI+3p.sg.agent [jelly-donuts] to her-tea into down. mé tá is a
compounded locative modifier meaning 'down in'. The locative case
marker rá adds the 'to' vector. I don't have a word for jelly-donuts.
Sorry. So, 'I understand she dips jelly donuts into her tea.'

new word & root:
jaratá 'dip, downward bend' < -tá- 'down'

> 8. outdoor
> I saw him outdoors. (adv)
tele ankeróña to sáen sú jéma;
        SE+past+1p.sg.goal sight involuntary-source-marker 3p.sg at outside.
This sentence is ambiguous: was it him or me outdoors?

> I want to go on an outdoor adventure. (adj)
pa lekíña ñi le rá jéma (áñ) tó jaretálne;
        PA whole(my-want) part (ñi le rá jéma tó jaretálne, 'I go to outside
for adventure'). ñi le rá is an idiom. One could also say rá jéma áñ
'to/among outside', where áñ adds the idea of 'among, in the midst
of'.

> 9. priest
> The priest says that she is an honest woman.
samma ke maróáñel ien (réha) ñi sáen mehéjél;
        SE+3p.sg.source animate-source-marker oracle/priestess
equivalent-of-object-marker (future-marker) ÑI+abstract agent 3p.sg.
honest-person. Without réha, we have 'she is an honest person'. With
réha we have the traditional asking about the future character of a
child and the answer from the oracle priestess. Otherwise the word
for priest/priestess is makéranen.

        So, one can also say:
        samma jepéríke ke makéranen ien ñi sáen mehéjél;
        'The priest judges that she is an honest person.'

new word & root:
mehéjél honest person
anehé   honesty

> 10. pretty
> I smelled the pretty flowers.
tele jahúña to jamálári jaxóLi;
        SE+past+1p.sg.goal smell inanimate-source-marker flowers
pretty-things.

--
Sylvia Sotomayor
sylvia1@ix.netcom.com

The Kélen language can be found at:
http://home.netcom.com/~sylvia1/Kelen/kelen.html

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