Re: Vocab #4
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Saturday, April 20, 2002, 1:18 |
Attempt number two. :-) Windows crashed while I was doing this
before. :-(
I'll give both the High Uatakassi (the formal dialect) and the dialect
of Low Uatakassi spoken in and around the Holy City in the Early
Imperial period.
> 1. bunny / rabbit
A rough analogue is _kizunaanuu_, which is a contraction of
_kizunaamanuu_, lit. "little thief"
HU:
[Cizu'na:nu:]
LU:
Lakat'in (loss of gender four plus replacement by a borrowing)
[l@k@'tsen]
> 3. knife
HU: Pinaklus
[pina'kl_0os]
LU: Pinatlus
[pin@'tl_0os]
Low Uatakassi has developed a phonemic distinction between /l/ and /r/.
In HU, /l/ is pronounced [r\] after dentals. HU tl, dl, nl, sl, and zl
are represented in LU by tr, dr, nr, sr, r; while kl and gl have become
tl and dl. Some dialects make those lateral affricates. So, in LU, /l/
and /r/ contrast only word-initially, intervocallically, or after t, d,
or v (-vzl- was a legal, tho rare, cluster in HU, that became -vr- in
LU)
> 4. alien / foreigner
HU: Sutailatia (Fem: Titailatia, Masc: Natailatia)
[sutaj'latSa] ([tSitaj'latSa], [nataj'latSa])
Derived from tai- "person associated with" (itself related to _sutaki_
"person") and latia "other"
LU: Titailatia (Masc: Natailatia)
[tSitej'latS@] ([n@tej'latS@])
Low Uatakassi lost gender 3 (rational epicene) and instead uses feminine
as default
> 6. help!
HU & LU: Liuta! [lju'ta]
> 10. blood
HU: Uasidanti
[wASi'dantSi]
LU: Usidanti
[uSi'dantSi]
> 1. That bunny has a knife!
HU:
(Launilki) kizunaanukaz kiuz pinaklus!
Launi -l -ki ki-zunaanuu-z k- iu -z pi-naklus
Be.loc-it-NonPunct G4-rabbit -dat G4-that-dat G7-knife
Nouns ending in long vowels go in one of four groups, depending on
etymology (or analogy), group I, the most common, changes the long vowel
to Vk before plural, genetive, or dative suffixes.
[law'nelCi Cizu'na:nukAz Coz pina'kl_0os]
LU:
Ivvaiki lakat'inau liau pinatlus!
Ivvi-l -ki la-kat'in-au l- iu -l pi-natlus
Have-it-NonPunct G5-rabbit-erg G5-that-erg G7-knife
[ev'vejC=] l@k@'tsinou ljou pin@'tl_0os]
LU regularly changes il ([el]) to ai ([ej]), and changes al and ul
([al/Al] and [ol]) to au ([ow])
Ivvi (in the form Iavvi) means "to own" in HU, but became the usual verb
for "have" in LU
> 2. This is my ferret. She likes to dance!
Chaning "ferret" to "rabbit"
HU:
(Klalki) klissi kizunaanuukua. Kastazgulva!
Kla -l -ki k- lissi ki-zunaanuu-kua kasta-daku -l -va
Be.equat-it-NonPunct G4-this G4-rabbit -my dance-enjoy-it-Habitual
[kl_0al'Ci kl_0eS'Si Cizu'na:nu:kwA kAs'tazgolva]
LU:
Lalissi lakat'inku. Sabitauv lisnaz pikasta
La-lissi la-kat'in-ku sa-bita-l -va l- isna -z pi- kasta
G5-this G5-rabbit-my be-good-it-hab G5-pronoun-dat inf-dance
[l@leS'Si l@k@'tseNku h@bi'towv leS'naz pi'kAst@]
/s/ is pronounced [h] when intervocalic and not geminated
Pi- plus the imperative (bare-stem) form of a verb is used for
infinitive, derived from a contraction of pi-bla- (G7-act.of-), hence
the shift of stress to first syllable of the stem. Now it's viewed
simply as an infinitive prefix (in fact, in later forms, gender 7 was
lost, but this pi- remained)
> 3. The bunny with the knife is coming for me!
HU:
Faissilki nlis kizunaanuu pinaklusaf
Faissi-l -ki nli -s ki-zunaanuu pi-naklus-f
Come -it-NonPunct I.masc-all G4-rabbit G7-knife -gen
[fajS'SelCi nr\eS Sizu'na:nu: pina'kl_0usaf]
If you really needed to specify THE rabbit as opposed to A rabbit, you
could use the topic construction, Tassi kizunaanuu pinaklusaf, faissilki
nlis (Tassi = topic particle)
LU:
Faissiaiki tris lakat'in lafnu pinatlusaf pifnuf
Faissi-l -ki tri-s la-kat'in la-fnu pi-natlus-af pi-fnu-f
Come -it-NonPunct I -all G5-rabbit G5-the G7-knife -gen G7-the-gen
[fejS'SejC= tr\eS l@k@'tsen l@f'nu pin@'tl_0uh@f pef'nof]
The definite article -fnu/-ffumi is derived from the HU demonstrative
_funu_ "that previously mentioned", which also serves as a dummy
pronoun. Also, the gender-specificity of the free first and second
person pronouns was lost, with the feminine winning out.
> 4. Does that alien eat people or not?
HU:
Kaftitankibu sutailatial siul suttakii?
Kafti-tan -ki =bu su-tailatia -l s- iu -l su* -taki -i
Eat -them-NonPunct=Question G3-foreigner-erg G3-that-erg G3Pl-person-pl
[kAf'tSitaJCibu sutaj'latSal 'Sol sotta'Ci:]
LU:
Sraukibu sutailatia siu suttakiili?
S- lau-l -ki =bu su-tailatia s- iu su*- taki -i -li
AntiPass-eat-it-NonPunct=Quest G3-foreigner G3-that G3Pl-person-pl-inst
[sr\ow'Cibu sutej'latS@ 'Su sott@'Ci:li]
Instrumental is used as the case of demoted absolutives in antipassive
and dative-object constructions.
Antipassive was used much more in LU. In later imperial times, it came
to be obligatory in transitive verbs, causing the instrumental to become
an accusative case, and the absolutive a nominative, with s- being a
transitivity marker. But, in early imperial times it was still a true
voice.
Also, LU lost the distinction between kafti (eat, non social context)
and lau (eat, socially), making lau the normal verb for "to eat" and
kafti came to shift in meaning to "eat voraciously"
The others I'll work on tomorrow.
--
"There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd,
you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." -
overheard
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42