Re: A look at the new version of Kelen

Sylvia Sotomayor wrote:

> However, that look at the Kelen grammar post that apparently wasn't
> very readable *is* now available on the web at:
> http://users.lmi.net/sylvia/Kelen/kithje.html
> So, anyone who wants to read the first part of a Kelen story is
> welcome to look there and try their hand at it. Any questions and
> comments are welcome.
I had a go at it, but it wasn't easy. The topic driven thing
is tricky and hard to understand to the untrained ear.

Anyway, here's my attempt. You guys will probably laugh
out loud when you see my silly attempts at a readable
English translation, but what the hey.

Incidentally I reread the Kele=F1 grammar yesterday,
though I don't know if that helped. Well, it's a
try:

i=E9lte            la        ja-l=F3n we
once.upon.a.time there.was day    neg.adj
'Once upon a time there was a bad day'

pa      an-=E9l=E1 m=EDren to     ja
1 has 2 people fear  SOURCE 3p.inanim.
'The people had fear from it' or perhaps
'That made the people afraid'

se-sae=F1 =E9   an-s=F3ren ath r=E1    r=FA ja        r=F3=E1=F1el
REL     and word.PL  and going to 3p.inanim oracle
'And they said the words to themselves: go to the oracle'
or: 'Let's go to the oracle!'

se-mish sha pa      le m=EDren to la  ja-l=F3n  we
REL         1 has 2 1p fear  SOURCE day.DEF neg.adj
'And they said to him: We have fear of the bad day'

se-mish j-erras=F3r sha
REL     reply     REL
'He replied to them'

k=E1  r=FA K=EDthje ma      s=FA ja-l=E1j=E1      =F3l
IMP to K=EDthje 3p.anim at mountain.DEF on.top
'Go to K=EDthje. He is at the top of the mountain.'

lirie    la        an-=E9l=E1     r=FA K=EDthje ma     =20
and.then there.was people.DEF to K=EDthje 3p.anim
'and then the people went to K=EDthje...

s=FA ja-l=E1j=E1      =F3l
at mountain.DEF on.top
...at the top of the mountain'

pa      an-=E9l=E1     ja-p=F3u=F1 to sa=E9n
1 has 2 people.DEF finding from 3p.rflx
'The people have a finding from themselves' or:
'The people discovered something about themselves'

se-mish sha
REL
'They said to him'

pa      le m=EDren to     la       ja-l=F3n  we
1 has 2 1p fear  SOURCE there.is day.DEF neg.adj
'We have fear of there being a bad day'

t=F3     pa      K=EDthje =E9   r=E1    =E9   an-ist=EDl r=F3nien
and.so 1 has 2 K=EDthje and going and sky.DEF  seen
'and so K=EDthje went to look at the sky'

se-mish ja-s=F3ren K=EDthje sha pa      ci     k=E1  h=ED
REL     word.DEF K=EDthje REL 1 has 2 1p.AGT IMP possibility
'K=EDthje said to them the word: I have a possibility' or:
? 'K=EDthje told them that there was a possibility'

t=F3     pa      an-=E9l=E1 ja-r=FAs r=FA an-m=E1r=E1
and.so 1 has 2 people return to the.village
'and so the people returned to their village'


It was tricky to know who said what to whom and how
many the 1p were. And the negative adjective? What's
that? I translated it into 'bad'.

Anyone else had a try? How did you do?=20
Comments please.


- Daniel Andreasson
  daniel@conlang.nu       [ e-mail ]
  http://conlang.nu    [ main page ]
  http://rinya.conlang.org [ Rinya ]
 =20
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Lech dhis lirenya  /lEx DIs li'renja/
"Curiousity is the origin of learning."
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