Translation Challenge: Flight (was: Re: Translation (almost) done)

From: "Yahya Abdal-Aziz" <yahya@...>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 4:25 PM

> FLIGHT
> That evening, I was considering whether I would eat my
> supper when the man arrived at our house, hungry and
> exhausted.  He was tall, with hair dyed blacker than a
> crow, after the custom of the North. While he was washing
> I had to dry his clothes for him in front of the fire.
> He ate voraciously and drank a cup of wine which made him
> sleep. The next morning he warned us to leave that place
> immediately, as the floods would soon overwhelm it, and
> it was almost too late to escape.  All five of us mounted
> the horses we had bought at the last festival and followed
> him, but not without wondering fairly seriously whether he
> was in fact insane.  How lucky we were!  Not two days
> later, the waters destroyed our house and all the fields
> beyond it, and most of our neighbours, who had mocked us
> fleeing, were pitiably drowned.
Should be doable in Ayeri (because I still don't pay too
much attention to build in excentric, un-IE-ly twists
...) -> including proposals for the changes I wrote about on
the language's homepage's change log:

| [...] First off, the "variable vowel" stuff is not very
| well implemented and I thought about getting rid of it.
| Another, completely illogical bug is that adverbs are
| marked as if they were adjectives - the only problem is
| _which noun_ they would refer to. Since adverbs refer to
| the properties of an action, there is nothing to agree
| with in fact regarding the current rules. Having adverbs
| agree in tense and whatnot is just unnecessary in my
| opinion.

Also, since there's already enough ambituity, I'd propose to
change the current conditional/consequencial construction,
which includes weird vowel changes I can never remember when
I need them and some mutation of consonants. I'd favour
something like <bada ... kada ...>, which would resemble
English's <if ... then ...>. Like in German, the tense and
mode of the verb keeps the same in both clauses. The
spelling is also cured a bit. Also, _ena_ -> _na_ (more
colloquial and more common I decided recently). No
distinction between incl. 'we' and excl. 'we' anymore as
well. I also need to think about comparison again. Oh, and
the grammar still lacks the information that after a
conjunction that is used as a temporal adverb no locative
marker is needed.


Ayeri:
------

DANGUANO
Flight

Adasirtuayea, manilayang bada na mea kondongayang ankyu
tokedayley ayin, sitadayea ang magirendaiya ayonin nangaea
aynena, iyāng numabo nay nupisuikan.
that.evening.LOC, PST.think.1s.A if TRG:GEN shall
eat.SUBJ.1s.A really supper.P 1s.TRG, when TRG:A
PST.arrive.3s.m man.TRG house.LOC 1p.GEN, 3s.m.A (was)
A.hungry and A.tired.all.

Iyāng nunake, kayvo mitrangea si mabinisaiyoley amakāryeng
mevipimakāryaena aykāryo nay manasyaiyāng adāre miranley
temisena.
3s.m.A (was) A.large, with hair.LOC REL (was) PST.dye.3s.n.P
P.black.more_than a.P-blackbird.GEN OBL.big and
PST.follow.3s.m.A in_that_way way.P north.GEN.

Luga ang maketaiyain sitangiyāris ang rua matirisāyin
dayungley iyaena marin tupoyea iyayam.
While TRG:A PST.wash.3sg.m.TRG self.3s.m.P TRG:A must
PST.dry.1s.TRG clothing.P 3s.m.GEN in_front_of fire.LOC
3sg.m.BEN.

Le makungiyāng tokayon iyaena nay ena maginiyāng lepayley
nimpuron, sena matoriyoisa iyāris.
TRG:P PST.devour.3s.m.A meal.TRG 3s.GEN and TRG:GEN
PST.drink.3s.m.A mug.P wine.TRG, REL.GEN PST.sleep.3s.n.CAU
3s.m.P.

Ya mavapatiyāng aynaris benenōn mararya sarayam adayanoley
edauikan, yanoyam ang pamalesongiyo venamin aroley, nay
yomongaroreng nutyabongas ekeng.
TRG:LOC PST.warn.3s.m.A 1p.P morning.TRG next leave.BEN
that-place.P immediately, because TRG:A FUT1.fall_on.3sg.n
flood.TRG 3s.n.P, and be.SUBJ.3s.n.A A.late.almost too.

Ang manedrāynin nuirikan manga marin pelea si vaintaynang
bekalea pang nay sira manasyaynang iyain, nārya
maprantaynang ankyu sitangaynaris bada iyāng nupadabanya
kyuyam.
TRG:A PST.sit.1p.TRG A.five.all MOT on horse.LOC REL
PST3.buy.1p.A festival.LOC last and TRG:P PST.follow.1p.A
1s.m.TRG, but PST.ask.1p.A really self.1p.P whether 3s.m.A
A.insane in_fact.

Aynang nutampuing!
1p.A A.lucky.so!

Sira mādruiyo karonang nangain aynena nay ibangyein-ikan
epang iyoea -- marin bahisyēa sam iri.
TRG:P PST.destroy.3s.n water.A house.TRG and
field.PL.TRG.all behind 1s.n.LOC 1p.GEN -- before day.PL.LOC
two already.

Magotriyan dipakayam lapanyearis aynena avāye saris le
masagoiyanang danguanōn aynena.
PST.drown.3p.m pity.BEN neighbour.PL.P 1p.GEN P.most.PL
REL.P TRG:P PST.mock.1p.A flight.TRG 1p.GEN


Again as a whole text:

| DANGUANO
|
| Adasirtuayea, manilayang bada na mea kondongayang ankyu
| tokedayley ayin, sitadayea ang magirendaiya ayonin nangaea
| aynena, iyāng numabo nay nupisuikan. Iyāng nunake, kayvo
| mitrangea si mabinisaiyoley amakāryeng mevipimakāryaena
| aykāryo nay manasyaiyāng adāre miranley temisena. Luga
| ang maketaiyain sitangiyāris ang rua matirisāyin
| dayungley iyaena marin tupoyea iyayam. Le makungiyāng
| tokayon iyaena nay ena maginiyāng lepayley nimpuron, sena
| matoriyoisa iyāris. Ya mavapatiyāng aynaris benenōn
| mararya sarayam adayanoley edauikan, yanoyam ang
| pamalesongiyo venamin aroley, nay yomongaroreng
| nutyabongas ekeng. Ang manedrāynin nuirikan manga marin
| pelea si vaintaynang bekalea pang nay sira manasyaynang
| iyain, nārya maprantaynang ankyu sitangaynaris bada
| iyāng nupadabanya kyuyam. Aynang nutampuing! Sira
| mādruiyo karonang nangain aynena nay ibangyein-ikan epang
| iyoea -- marin bahisyēa sam iri. Magotriyan dipakayam
| lapanyearis aynena avāye saris le masagoiyanang
| danguanōn aynena.


Woah. Ready. Has taken me about 2 hrs ... I'm not yet sure
about several sentences. Most of them are actually too long
anyway. Yes, Ayeri *is* wordy as a matter of fact.

Cheers,
Carsten

--
"Miranayam kepauarà naranoaris." (Kalvin nay Hobbes)
Palayena, Ihaloy 22, 2315 ya 25:01:28 pd