Re: A theatre play for translation

On Tue, 11 May 1999, FFlores wrote:

> Boudewijn Rempt <bsarempt@...> wrote:
>=20
> I don't think you have told us about the Broian stage language
> before. What is it exactly, a (superset) of a con-natlang called
> Broian, or is it the con-natlang itself? The whole concept of
> a specialized dialect for theatre plays is fascinating to me.
>=20
The Broian stage language is a development from the Broian
language, which belongs to the northern branch of the
Charyan languages.

A bit of history: taking the reign of emperor Rordal as present,
about two thousand years ago the first Charyans migrated from the
southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. They founded a
city, Broi, which was mainly a trading post and a convenient place
to banish officials to. The poplulation spoke a dialect of a northern
Charyan language.

When a few hundred years later there occurred a great migration
from the south to the north the original inhabitants of Broi became
a small minority in their own city. For a while they continued to
use their language, but after a certain period it was only used=20
at festivals (apart from a still smaller minority who kept speaking
it right into the present).=20

Then its use contracted even more, and it was only current on the
stage at those native Broian festivals. About five centuries ago,
the native Broian dramatic tradition suddenly became fashionable,
and new plays were composed in this language. The reason for this
popularity was probably that Broian drama was supposed to be a=20
direct continuation of the dramatic tradition of the old, Southern
empire.

A lot of items were relexified. For instance, the original proximal-
distal distinction in the deictic system became to mean on and off=20
stage, and a pronominal suffix that indicates whether the other
actors on stage can hear what is said or not.=20

In the Broian dramatic tradition there are ten roles or emplois,
and every play has to fit them. These are _par_ 'emperor', _foadur_,
'Noble', _nudan_, 'merchant', _charka_, 'military', _rachtan_, 'farmer',
_judan_, 'townsmen', _pandan_ 'civil servant', _nirdir_ 'extra, alien',
_p'up'u_, 'fool', _udan_ and _yudir_ 'man' and 'woman'. Every emploi
has its own pronouns.

There are no theatres; plays are performed by groups of travelling
actors. This means that there's little in the way of a stage or=20
stage props. The costumes are very elaborate, however, and every
actor wears a mask. These masks play an important role; a ghost
will appear without a mask to indicate that the dead always show
their real face. A play is always accompanied by music and often
includes songs in the classical language.=20

>=20
> > Yu ya fohun tan fo.c'enuda.da an  tu.palodel.us   0.gennar.lo.us
> > 3s 1s night GEN moon.dark.DUP LOC NEG.protect.PRF NTR.leave_alone.PRT.P=
RF
> >=20
> > He has left me alone without not protecting me in a night when the
> > moon was fading.
>=20
> Sorry for the gloss; it said "darkening" and it should have said
> "being dark" (it's a state, like all other adjectival verbs, not
> a process). So the moon has indeed faded completely. This is
> important for the mythos -- Fens=EEl comes down to Earth only when
> moonlight has gone completely; he cannot stand it and moves his
> home in the moon each day just not to see the light! But the
> sentence could stand like that, provided the moon was fading
> when the husband went away AND is now completely gone.
>=20
In that case, just delete the reduplicating <-da>.

>
> IIRC those were two sentences, the last one being just an
> exclamation, "A night as dark as a hole!". But if you want
> to complicate things for your amusement, go ahead :)
>=20
Ok, I'll let that stand!

>=20
>=20
> > Ya yudir.yerp      y   yu pulandir.qu    afran ray.zi   t'awe.
> > 1s woman.remainder CMP 3s magistrate.ALL go    good.AUG EMOT
> >=20
> > I'd rather be a widow than that he goes to the magistrate.
>=20
> The other sentence was right: "If I don't become a widow,
> then I'll send a judge to him" or something to that effect.
>=20
In that case:

Ya tau.yudir.yerp,      ya yu...
1s NEG.woman.remainder, 1s 3s...=20

> > Fensil: Tarmis  agur.wih    tan fo   yu.afran.lo.us=20
> >         because light.white GEN moon CRT.go.PRT.PRF
> >        =20
> >         duromis   da fo.yan    pah.gedrafan yu.jindrad sima.
> >         therefore 1s moon.from IMPR.leave   CRT.able_to GLAD
> >=20
> > Fensil: Now that the white light has departed from the moon I can
> >         escape from it.
>  =20
>=20
> As I explained to Irina earlier, this actually meant
> "Now the white moonlight from which I escape has gone".
> Probably my fault :(
>=20
That's even more difficult to translate!

>=20
> >         atur udan.fiqar  perin.per mursha turma.dajun namu
> >         3s   man.courage fire.cold blood  HSTL.make   PON
> >        =20
> >         He makes heroes into cold fire and blood.
>=20
> Hmm... Actually it's =DCns=FCth who becomes cold fire and blood.
>=20
Well, cross _udan.fiqar_ out, in that case.

>=20
> Sorry to have to correct you. You couldn't have known, of course,
> but the relationship between H=E1pseret and Fens=EEl are a bit
> trickier. See, H=E1pseret is a little displicent lady and she=20
> considers herself equal to Fens=EEl. Her powers are not so evident,
> but she's no less a divinity than Fens=EEl is. Fens=EEl usually
> ignores her, but she's not weak; in fact she's the only one
> that can stop him from doing some really disgusting things.
> Think of a kind of Lisa Simpson and a cross product of
> Bart Simpson and Monty Burns... :)
>=20
Yes, this was a bit interpretation on my side. Luckily, we haven't
got a television set, and have never seen the Simpson's, but I can
guess the situation.



Boudewijn Rempt  | www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt