My first translation in Moten! Champagne for all!
| From: | Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, June 2, 1999, 11:08 |
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Hello all, I'm glad to show you my very first translation in Moten. All of
you know this text, as it is simply the Babel text. To translate it, I used
three versions: an Esperanto one, an English one, and the English version
you can find in Steg Belsky's homepage (as you used directly the Hebrew
version, I think that it would be a way to stick most to the original
version). To make this translation, I had to create only 7 new words.
So now, here it is the Moten version of the Babel text, followed by a
lexicon and some explanations:
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BAVE|L OKNE :
Ot Telgadenvo|l gilveon ku|lu opa gebezdati su zunludazun etok.
Opa lusos eme|zevaj jubazdin djedokun, pum debezdin Sinvari difeoj a|lek
opa o jumpi etok.
Opa |latesel isej : 'daa, telga blu|zikun koat jude|n ige !' opa blesik
vep, opa voneseneod kemen |lalsos etok.
Opa isej etok : 'daa, telga |lavikse bazlo opa fejn bevoj mofejn izunluda|n
iges |zikajumpudin ej, opa telgudan numsik jolda|n ige, kotelga moteve|l
bezunlevaj debezej imikto|n us igef.'
Opa kes|so jej itos bazlo opa |zikajumpedin ipe|laj tejto, Seju ipivi etok.
Opa Seju isej etok : 'ludamun vejzi todaj egekaf, venla opa |lanumfiki
ku|lu su, opa nudegzun pagek u|nav negz us iges memut izunlaj ito.
Daa, kolsos teve|l ku|ledun ezet opa igi|nudo|n us igef, len ipivdin opa a
lufosi ku|ledun isejfi agdemun ige.'
Opa Seju moteve|l voj bezunlevaj debezdin imikoj ge, opa bazledon jej pad
us etok.
|Zulos, 'Bavel' sigvojzi etok, iz o Seju bezunlevaj debezevi ku|ledun sejf,
opa voj Seju moteve|l bezunlevaj debezdin imikoj egek.
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ALPHABET:
a: /a/
b: /b/
d: /d/
e: /e/
f: /f/
g: /g/
i: /i/
j: /j/
k: /k/
l: /l/
|l: /lj/ (palatalized 'l')
m: /m/
n: /n/
|n: /nj/ (palatalized 'n')
o: /o/
p: /p/
s: /s/
|s: /ts/ (affricate)
t: /t/
u: /u/
v: /v/
z: /z/
|z: /dz/ (affricate)
GRAMMATICAL AFFIXES:
The use of grammatical affixes with words (especially infixes) leads to
complex phonological changes which a single post would be too short to
explain. For the ones who are interested, I recommend you to go and see my
page about Moten
(http://www.bde.espci.fr/homepage/Christophe.Grandsire/Conlang/MesConlangs/M
oten/intro.html) unfortunately available only in French.
Prefixes will be shown by a hyphen at their end, suffixes by a hyphen at
their beginning, and of course infixes by a hyphen at both limits. Infixes
always take place before the last vowel of the word (except the infixed
definite article that takes place always before the case infix). The
affixes will be presented in their order of appearance in the text.
-v- + -i: genitive case, singular.
used much like "of" in English.
nothing: nominative case, singular.
-e-: infixed definite article.
means "the". is not used in titles and with proper nouns and pronouns.
-z: participle suffix of non-conjugated verbs.
used with non-conjugated verbs to make the participle form.
i- + -i: infinitive for non conjugated verbs.
used with non-conjugated verbs to make the infinitive form.
-d- + -n: accusative case, singular.
e- + -k: past for auxiliary verbs.
only auxiliary verbs ('agem':to have and 'atom':to be) are conjugated.
The other verbs are always in impersonal forms (infinitive and
participle) followed by an auxiliary verb. The impersonal forms are
declined to add aspect or mode.
-s-: nominative case, plural.
di-: temporal prefix.
the three cases (nominative, accusative and genitive) can have each
three meanings: absolute (nominative=subject, accusative=object and
genitive=noun complement), spatial (nominative=locative,
accusative=lative, genitive=delative) or temporal (nominative=date,
accusative=duration, genitive=frequency). When there can be an ambiguity,
di- is used to show that the case has a temporal meaning. It is also used
with verbs (which hence must be overdeclined) to make temporal clauses.
|la-: benefactive prefix.
means "to, for" in "I speak to you" or "this present is for you". This
prefix (as well as others) always take the nominative case, singular or
plural. They can appear with a genitive case, but it's a case of
overdeclination (like in Basque). They can also be used with verbs to
make circonstantial clauses.
-|z- + -n: accusative case, plural.
ko-: means prefix.
has many meanings: means of doing something, manner of doing something,
material with which something is made, etc... Also used for subjects of
transitive verbs that act unvoluntarily. Functions like |la-.
i-: present for auxiliary verbs.
mo-: spatial prefix.
same use as di-, but with a spatial meaning.
-s: relative suffix.
used with verbs to make completive clauses ("I say that..." or "I know
that...") or relative clauses ("the person that...").
-af: consequence suffix.
used with verbs to make consequence clauses ("so that"). Subordinate
clauses must normally precede the principal clause, but you can sometimes
inverse this order. It is very marked but not so rare.
te-: goal prefix.
functions like |la- and ko-.
-daj: participle suffix for auxiliary verbs.
like -z, but for auxiliary verbs 'atom' and 'agem'.
-f- + -i: genitive case, plural.
pa- + -k: eventual for auxiliary verbs.
Auxiliary verbs can be conjugated for four 'tenses': present ('ige',
'ito'), past ('egek', 'etok'), eventual ('pagek', 'patok') and imperative
('ge', 'to'). Others nuances are given by periphrastic conjugation, like
non-conjugated verbs. The eventual serves to make conditional sentences
and so means "if". It's the tense of the other clause that gives the
degree of condition.
a- + -m: infinitive for auxiliary verbs.
like i- + -i, but for auxiliary verbs 'agem' and 'atom' (their radicals
are thus respectively 'ge' and 'to').
|zu-: cause prefix.
means "because of" or "because". Functions like |la-, ko- and te-
LEXICON:
The words will be presented in their order of appearance in the text. An
important thing to know is that radicals can be generally used either as
nouns or verbs, and that nouns (substantives) are not different from
adjectives. The abreviations I'll use are as follows:
s: substantive.
vi: intransitive verb.
vt: transitive verb.
vaux: auxiliary verb.
pn: proper noun (never take -e-).
pr: pronoun (never take -e-).
i: invariable word.
Bavel, s pn: Babel.
okne, s: story.
ot, s pr: yon time.
used mainly in an adverbial meaning (but it's a substantive) for a
distant past or future.
tel, s: other.
can be used as a noun or an adjective. Also used with the -e- article
as a reciprocal pronoun (each other) which can be used at any person and
always agree in number with the subject.
ga, s pr: me.
declined without -e- and in singular only.
telga, s pr: us (other+me).
declined like ga in singular.
denol, s: planet
Telgadenol, s pn: Earth ("our planet").
gilvon, s: higher part (of something).
used completed by a substantive in genitive to mean "above" (if
indefinite) or "on" (if definite).
ku|lu, s: language.
opa, i: and.
gebez, vi: to speak
dati, s: way, manner (of doing something).
gebezdati, s: way of speaking.
su, s pr: one.
can be used as an adjective, but never takes -e-
zunla, vi: to be (place).
means also "place" as a substantive.
to, vaux: to be (auxiliary).
one of the two auxiliary verbs.
los, s pr: yon.
can be used as a pronoun or an adjective. Never takes -e-. Also ed as a
3rd person non-refexive pronoun when needed.
eme, s: sun.
|zaj, s: beginning, rising (of the sun).
eme|zaj, s: East.
uba|s, vi: to come.
pum, s: valley.
debezi, s: field.
used here as an adjective to mean "large, extended". Also used as a
postposition to mean "on the surface of".
Sinar, s pn: Shinar.
difoj, s: middle.
can be used like 'gilvon' as a "postposition" to mean "between, among"
(when indefinite), or "in the middle of" (when definite).
a|lek, vt: to find.
o, s pr: yon place.
like 'ot', is generally used as an adverb for a distant place.
umpi, vi: to settle.
as a substantive (used later), means "house".
se, vt: to say.
daa, i: come! (interjection)
blik, s: brick (yes, it's a borrowing from French).
at, s: fire.
ej, vt: to make.
means "thing, object" as a substantive.
ge, vaux: to have.
the second auxiliary verb.
vep, s: stone, rock.
vone, s: water.
senod, s: earth.
vonesenod, s:clay ("water earth").
kemen, s: cement (another borrowing).
vike, s pr: -self.
used at any person as a reflexive pronoun (myself, yourself, etc...).
Never takes -e- but agrees in number with the subject.
bazlo, s: village.
fin, s: high, summit, node, top.
can be used as an adjective to mean "high", as a "postposition" to mean
"on" or "on the top of" (as it is used two words later), or as a verb to
mean "to come up, to climb".
bo, s: sky.
|zika, s: mountain.
|zikajumpi, s: tower ("mountain house").
numik, s pr: each one, every one, everybody.
composed of 'nu-': "each" and mik: "who?". used in singular or plural
to mean "one" (when "one" is "everybody").
ola, vt: to glorify.
bezunla, s: land, country.
miko, vi: to move away.
also means "far" as a substantive.
us, i: not.
always placed right before the auxiliary (or the verb if the auxiliary
is omitted).
kesto, s: human (being).
pe|la, vt: to see, to watch.
Seju, s pn: God.
means exactly The One (su + infix -e-). Strange derivation (su can't
normally have -e-, and proper nouns never have -e-, that's why I put The,
also with a capital T), it can hence have two different declinations:
- whether you consider it as a compound s-e-u:
nominative: Seju,
accusative: Sedun,
genitive: Sevuj,
- or you consider it as a brand new word:
nominative: Seju,
accusative: Sejdun,
genitive: Sejvuj.
Both seem licit for me. It's just a matter of taste.
piv, vi: to come down, to descend.
exactly the opposite of 'fin'.
lam, s pr: that.
another demonstrative pronoun (like 'los'). The demonstratives can be
used either for persons or for things.
venla, s: nation, people.
neg, vt: to do, to accomplish.
there are three "do, make" verbs:
- 'dati' means "to do (in a certain way)" like in "I'm doing my homework",
- 'neg' means "to do" as a reemplacement of any other verb, like in
"what do you do?",
- 'ej' means "to do, to make", in the sense of "to build, to create".
'dati' and 'neg' are very close. Differences are mainly idiomatic.
u|nav, i: so, hence.
used here between a conditional sentence and another to show that the
first is the condition and the second is the thing done is the condition
is true (as conditional clauses are _not_ subordinate clauses, this
construction becomes sensible). It can also be used normally to mean "so".
memut, s pr: nothing.
compounded of 'me-': "no" and 'mut': "what? which?".
ezet, vt: to hear, to listen.
gi|no, vt: to understand.
len, s pr: this.
the third and last demonstrative pronoun. Used here in a ceremonial way
to mean "me" (like the "we" used by God or a king).
a, s pr: that place.
nearer than 'o'.
sejf, vi: to become confuse.
pad, i: (not) anymore, no more.
can be used only if the sentence contains 'us' or a word in 'me-'
sigoj, vi: to be called.
means "name" as a substantive.
iz, i: for.
causal conjunction.
NOTES:
Now I'll end with some notes about the syntax of Moten. Again, the features
I comment appear in the same order as in the text.
SENTENCE ORDER:
The basic order is: determiner precedes determinee, except if the
determiner has an adjectival meaning. So:
- The genitive precedes the word it completes.
- The subordinate clauses precede the clause or noun they complete (there
are exceptions, when for instance the subordinate clause is very long and
the principal clause is short, or when the subordinate is a new information
you want to put last to make a surprise. In this case, the inverse order is
allowed but considered as "unusual", hence very meaningful).
- The verb is at the end of the clause.
- The adjective follows the noun.
The basic sentence order is thus SOV or OSV (as subject and object are
marked by cases, both orders are nearly as frequent. It depends on what you
say, what you want to mean, and even the simple rhythm of the sentence).
RULE OF NON-REDUNDANCY:
With the word order, this is the most important rule that you must follow
to speak in Moten, even if it can be broken, especially in everyday speech.
This rule says that if coordinated (connected for example by 'opa', 'u|nav'
or 'iz') or juxtaposed words have the same grammatical function
(grammatical affixes), only the last one takes the affixes. That means that:
- in a phrase composed of a noun plus an adjective, only the adjective
takes the affixes (of course, if by chance you take the adjective before
the noun, the contrary happens),
- in coordinated clauses where the verbs are conjugated and/or declined
the same, only the last verb takes the affixes (this rule is more complex
as the conjugation in Moten is periphrastic. See the text for more examples).
CONJUGATION OF VERBS:
Only two verbs can conjugate: 'atom': "to be" and 'agem': "to have". They
have the following forms:
Infinitive: atom, agem Participle: todaj, gedaj
Present: ito, ige Past: etok, egek
Eventual: patok, pagek Imperative: to, ge
The other verbs have only three forms (example: 'pe|la': "to see, to watch"):
Infinitive: i-pe|la-i=>ipe|laj Participle: pe|la-z=>pe|laz
Imperative: pe|la
To conjugate them (and to conjugate the auxiliaries for othe tenses and
aspects), you must use periphrastic constructions with the verb in a
declined impersonal form (infinitive or participle) followed by a
conjugated form of 'atom' or 'agem'. There are 12 possibilities (three
cases for each impersonal form plus two auxiliaries), but the ones that
were used in this text are:
Nominative infinitive + atom = simple tenses of atom.
Accusative infinitive + atom = durative, continuous tenses.
Accusative participle + atom = perfect.
Genitive participle + atom = inchoactive (to begin to).
Nominative infinitive + agem = factitive.
Accusative infinitive + agem = future.
Nominative participle + agem = capacitive (to be able to).
Well, now I think you know what to know to understand the text, and how
Moten functions. But if you have questions, just ask me!
Now, second text: the translation relay!
Christophe Grandsire
|Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.
"Reality is just another point of view."
homepage : http://www.bde.espci.fr/homepage/Christophe.Grandsire/index.html