Boudewijn Rempt <bsarempt@...> wrote:
> Finally! I've done enough on the grammar of the Broian to translate
> this piece of a play. I've written a whole play a few years ago, the
> first part in Broian, the rest in Dutch, and this was too good an oppor=
tunity
> not to revisit that language.
>=20
> Because of the structure of the Broian stage language, which is a real
> linguistic corset, I had to put a lot of explicit nuances into the text=
, that
> the original would have left to the audience. Of course, since nobody i=
n a
> Charyan audience really understands Broian, these explicit pointers are
> necessary to get the story across. Some special effects of the language=
like
> the suffix that indicates whether the other actors on stage can hear t=
he
> speaking actor I couldn't use at all!
>=20
> First I give the running text, followed by interlinear glosses and
> explanations.
Sorry for the very late reply. I'm still reading the text
in detail, but it seems you've done a very thorough job
-- an excellent one.
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.
> fentandan: P=E1lmadhel kira.sire fentan t'aya!
> story-teller P=E1lmadhel ill.wish story IMPRT
>=20
> Announcer: The story of the ill wishing of P=E1lmadhel!
>=20
> (t'aya: sentence final particle indicating that what
> follows is important to listen to. Gloss: IMPRT)
I just love this particle!
> [tamrodu] Yojal yu ya na timpo.gennar.lo.us t'aya.
> noise due_to_this 3s 1s thusly NARR.leave_alone.PRT.PRF IMPRT
> [diverse alarums] Due to this I have been left alone in this way.
>=20
> (I have taken this to be an introduction to the rest of the=20
> story, that's why I have chosen for the narrative verbal prefix
> <timpo-> and the important utterance sentence final particle
> t'aya. But I'm not entirely sure about this sentence, and I expect
> you will be able to correct me!
> )
It seems right to me.
> 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.
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.
> yu ya fohun y sho.genang logh 0.nahan.lo.usar ralaw.
> 3s 1s night CMP hole.black LIKE NTR.go.PRT.ALWAYS AFRAID
>=20
> In a night of the darkening moon not protecting me
> and leaving me alone he went far into a night like a
> black hole.
>=20
> (This was a very difficult one! Since the first clause
> hasn't got a sentence-final particle it is joined with
> the second. All this talk of dark and moonless nights
> is pretty frightening, so the entire sentence is finished
> with _ralaw_, which indicates fear. The aspect suffix
> <-usar> indicates that the action has begun in the past
> and continues into the present. The reduplication of=20
> _c'enuda_ brings on the meaning of 'darkening', but
> this is not very idiomatically translated. A better idiom
> would be 'fo yiyi', which means 'the moon becomes smaller
> and smaller'. But that hasn't the connotations of darkness.
> )
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 :)
> 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.
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.
> Butterflies fly up. P=E1lmadhel exit. The moon enters.
I explained the butterflies to Irina yesterday.
> 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
As I explained to Irina earlier, this actually meant
"Now the white moonlight from which I escape has gone".
Probably my fault :(
> 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.
Hmm... Actually it's =DCns=FCth who becomes cold fire and blood.
> H=E1pseret:- Udir ha.ca.kar mama.afran.lo tiar. Du fo.an mama.ot=
and lunda!
> brother 1s.poss.1s RESP.go.PRT LOVE. 3s moon.LOC RESP.stay=
sad
>=20
> H=E1pseret:- My brother has gone. If he would only stay on the moon!
>=20
> ( Hapseret is _pandan_, extra. The possessive affix <-ca> is an
> infix when the pronoun is polysysllabic. She loves her brother,
> therefore _tiar_. (This ties in nicely with the Charyan twin
> gods, the Brother and Sister of the Kirimany, the divine lovers.
> She naturally respects her brother, therefore uses the respectful
> prefix <mama->. She's sad he's gone, therefore uses _lunda_.
> )
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... :)
> All in all, this was a b*****y complicated translation exercise,
> but I did enjoy it a lot.
Thanks. If I ever have free time again (maybe the winter
holidays of 2002), I'll write the next part and send it.
--Pablo Flores