Translation exercise (Vyääh)

Yao, hope everyone is well!  (^-^)/

Matt in Tokyo here, formerly a.k.a. SuomenkieliMaa.  I've been keeping
myself busy with ordinary life, work and play, not much else.  Still as
much the Japanophile as I know Christophe is a Hollandophile!

Well, I won't try to kid you that I've been working on conlanging or even
learning more about what all of you true linguists discuss, but I would
like to occasionally take part in the forum.  (I vowed to myself that I
won't take part in any chatroomesque discussion but only email when I find
something interesting like Amanda's suggested translation exercise.) I
figure the more these fun exercises intice me to conlang, the more my
infantile and practically-structureless conlang Vyääh will grow.

 ========================================================================

> Translation exercise:
> In your language, express a native speaker's opinion of the
> appropriateness of the cat (or other domestic animal) peeing (or other
> disgusting action) on the bed (or other inappropriate place).
Vyääh in Romanized form
UUaa rrhakjks! Hyÿélhînœg-ìamoœ, rrhakjks ÿikôyylhityhshìnfuttanÿi-
rrhöxoœððurrhèssmeid, kymg mikj vœböxpn af yîmäì af! Oœððeidoo sam, shôyððo
oœoldoo myhyÿylhivääräsääroœ!

One-to-one Breakdown
(Basic expression of disgust)! (Honorific).cat.it.(condescending),
(emphatic disgust) over.this.lovely.new.futon.(emphatic of 'over')-
(past).pee.[(gerund).(2nd p.sing.)='your ...-ing'], indeed why
(passive).nuture/spay.(1st p.sing.) not (emphatic of 'I') not?  (With
digrace).leave.(2nd p.sing.).('may'/command) (emphatic, informal form
of 'you'), there (with disgrace).be.(2nd p.sing.).('may') my.torturer!

Translation in English
Oh gee!  You naughty cat, why I ought to have you nutured for wetting all
over this lovely new futon!  Out you go, and stay there, you torturer!

Vocabulary
UUaa - (sound of disgust, especially with a long-drawn and rounded /u/
       and long-drawn and flat /a/)
rrhakjks - (severe disgust, annoyance - very flat short 'a')
élhî - four-legged animal (add ending to distinguish what type)
nœg  - feline, weak ---> élhînœg - cat, nœgððo - weakness
lhyð - canine, strong ---> élhîlhyð - dog, lhyððeiì - strong man
uukjd - slither ---> élhîuukjd - reptile
mikj - (interrogative indicator, alone indicates "why" as in above; the
       real word for "why" is _misöx_)
ÿ+ (YY+ when the beginning of a sentence) = hyÿ+ - (honorific)
ÿi - over, above, through, (positive, additional)
oœ - under, below, (negative, retractive, condescending)
tyh - extreme
ylhi - likeable
ylhityh - lovely
tyhylhi - preferable
vääräsäär - beauty
ylhivääräsäär - darling (term of endearment)
hyÿ+(n)+oœ - (condescending form of n)
hyÿylhivääräsääroœ - torturer (or "my child, the little terror")
ylhiðäävylh - sweety (term of endearment)
ðäävylh - friend
my - my
sy - your (sing.)
ðy - his
rrhy - her
ìöxtaì - its
ny - our
dy - your (pl.)
vœðy - their (of the men)
vœrrhy - their (of the women)
vϓy - their (genderless)
hif - far
tyhhif - far away, far-off
shìn - new
shìntyh - newly
tyhshìn - brand-new
kôy+ - this
kôyððo - here
shôy+ - that
shôyððo - there
+ððo - (place or group)
ðeiì - man
ðeiìððo - mankind, people (general - emphasis on it being mainly men)
rrhöx - woman
rrhöxððo - womankind, people (general - emphasis on it being mainly women)
urrh - unclean liquid/water
rrhöx+ - (past tense indicator)
ððurrhè - urinate (put out unclean liquid)
oœððurrhè - pee
ÿioœððurrhè - piss
ððè - put out
oœððè - throw out
ððei - exit
oœððei - leave (with disgrace)
vœ+(v) - (passive of v)
vœ+(n) - (pluralizer of n)
+ssmei+ - (gerund, -ing)
böxp - nuture/spay, make infertile

 ========================================================================

> And Amanda Babcock comments:
> I suspect many conlangs would either only have one way, or borrow the
> same structures used in the speaker's L1 or L2.  It would be
> interesting to see if we can get a diversity of structures here...
With relation to mine, at least, Amanda is very correct. Not a true
conlanger, I suppose, and very amateuresque, I like to 'just do it' there
and then - ie. in front of the computer at the internet cafe.  This means
that as I 'create,' I rely upon an amalgamation of structures in my L1
(Amerenglish), my L4 (Japanese, which is much stronger now than my L2 and
L3!), with a hint of the little Finnish, Thai, Vietnamese, Khmer and Hangul
that I picked up from traveling.  Well, for me, it's just a non-
conventional hobby so that's ok.

> And Robert Wilson comments:
> native kontoko speakers don't like cats...
Nor do the Enclave - ie. the naturally same-gender oriented and semi-
telepathic human citizens of the far-off galaxy called Vaahvieu (written in
Romanized Vyäähn language as Väävy'ÿ).

> And, finally, Padraic Brown renders his translation as follows:
> Ozes-ty aur a va Vaistres "Que's Dack e Phrovoer";
> que's drext e phroveor es ne trambuckar _pepil_ di
> chathes meyanz neo alteor chanaves pissanz ar publick!
> 'Na marcca yowenck cuomo la Ty defs
> saver meyoer! Iesu Duls, cant bodoer me yowenck, nonck
> jijanason nus poz y nustoer chanavethes esmerzant are
> leck. Ce's que deckem me. '
>
> Not _precisely_ the answer you were looking for, I'm sure! Consider it
> the opinion of an older woman native speaker:
>
> "Now you listen here, Miss "What Is Proper"; what is
> proper ain't gobbin on about pissin cats nor any other
> whizzin pets in public! A young lady such as thyself
> ought to know better! Why, when I were a lass, we never
> jabbered on about our kitties crappin all over the bed.
> That's all I'm saying."
Just IMHO, I absolutely love this rendition by Padraic.  Gosh, the more I
read it, the more tears of laughter gush out of my eyesockets!  Everyone
else whose rendition was posted also deserve a round of applause, but hands
down, this is the best - or funniest, at least!  If Padraic or someone has
a website where I can read on the above conlang, please send to me directly
at my old-but-still-active yahoo account (suomenkieli@yahoo.com).

Regards
Matt / M.E.S.

Reply