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Babel text in Orêlynna

From:James W <jworlton@...>
Date:Monday, June 16, 2003, 2:45
I haven't translated all of it yet, but here are the first five verses (I used
the KJV as the source):

1 ki dynrytet      y   elante    odhe  am  nilanuna,    ki  am
 and possessed.imp the earth.nom whole one language.acc and one

rinuna.
speech.acc


2 ki sôlayntet,  po hânrydaelt        kaynenauth, râ   hulendaelt
 and happened.it as jouneyed.they.imp east.ela    that found.they.perf

thinlanueth    yr linethy      sinarsa;  ki  aylenrydaelt   vela.
flat-earth.acc in land-the.dat Sinar.gen and dwelt.they.imp there.

3 ki rindaelt        dhotel,      "zintôl       helanueth, ki
 and spoke.they.perf [reflex.prn] make.we.imper brick.acc  and

vyntôl        vedho      ethuel." ki  dyndaelt      helanêth  or
bake.we.imper thoroughly them.acc and had.they.perf brick.acc for

ranêth    ki  dyndaelt      paynêth or  thilanêth.
stone.acc and had.they.perf tar.acc for mortar.acc

4 ki rindaelt,       "telyntôl          dhotêl       donueth  ki
 and spoke.they.perf construct.we.imper [reflex.prn] city.acc and

vatelynueth, ma              tylonayte    alanna  âthe  nâlunnâr;  ki
tower.acc    [subj.particle] reach.it.fut top.nom whose heaven.ill and

zintôl        dhotêl       lonuna,  tôki      ma
make.we.imper [reflex.prn] name.acc fear.conj [subj.part]

theyholanayte    oalyu  vedho      ath  y   elante.
scatter.pass.fut us.acc thoroughly upon the earth.nom

5 ki fundat    nâlunnauth y   avando   donuethy     ki  vatelynuethy
 and came.perf heaven.ela the Lord.nom city.the.acc and tower.the.acc

nâ            sunayr, lauth telynrydaelt y   anhyel       andaelsa.
[verb linker] see.inf which build.imp    the children.nom men.gen


Some notes:
* /i/ = [I]
* /y/ = [i]
* /th/ = [T] - how do I type in a thorn?
* /dh/ = [D] - how do I type in an eth?
* word order is basically VSO.
* in VPs containing an infinitive, the inf. gets placed at the end of the phrase
and is marked with the verb-linking particle |nâ|.
* stress falls on the second syllable, unless the word contains a long vowel
(indicated by the circumflex), in which case the long vowel receives the
stress.
* adjectives do not decline, except for indicating plural, therefore they must
immediately follow the noun.
* there is no indefinite article in Orêlynna. The definite article preceeds the
noun in the nominative case only. In all other cases it is attached to the end
of the noun. (Yes to Romanian as an influence :).)
* the words for tar and mortar do not derive from anything. They were created
solely for the translation. They may stay in the lexicon, however. All other
nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs derive from root forms.

I think that describes most of the oddities. The grammar is in a state of flux,
of course, so any of this may change. Any comments welcome :)
--
=============
James Worlton
         "Time flies like an arrow.
          Fruit flies like a banana."
                          --Unknown


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Replies

James Worlton <jworlton@...>
Tristan <kesuari@...>