Re: Insult (jara: Weekly Vocab 8)

Roger Mills wrote:

> Same problem in Kash, indeyama /inde+ama/ 'mother-father',
In Piata, the word for "parent" isn't a problem, it's _suaka_.
However, the word for "brother" is a bit more problematic. There's
actually four words:

neka    brother, little
sise    brother, older
nohte   brother (of female)
nikv    brother (of male)

So the words _neka_ and _sise_ are used by both sexes to refer
to one's younger or older brother, but _nohte_ is what a woman
would call her brother, regardless of his being older or younger,
and _nikv_ ["nIkV] is what a man would call his brother.

So in this case, if I were to say "Your parents were brothers"
it gets a little tricky because I'm talking about someone else's
brothers. But since both of the parents were probably male, I
think _nikv_ is the right word to use.

So, in Piata: _Susuakka nikkvvchv!_

su   -suakka     fu   -nikkvv         -chv
2:PAT-parent:PL  3:PAT-brother:PL:PAST-DENOM
'Your parents were brothers.'

Plural is marked by a lengthening of the final consonant of
a noun. Predicate nominals are formed by adding the
denominalizing suffix _-chv_ to the noun, making it a verb.
So literally, the above phrase is actually closer to "Your
parents, they brothered".

This small phrase was very tricky to translate. Phew. It
turns out that you can mark tense on predicate nominals as
well. Past tense is marked by lengthening the final vowel,
hence _nikkvv_ with two _v_'s (pronounced [V]).

But as it turns out, it seems I have much more done on Piata
than I thought. And what I haven't figured out yet (at least
not on paper) I can come up with on the spot. The grammar of
Piata seems to be already "out there", or rather "in there"
in my head. The solution with marking tense on the NP just
seems natural to me.

Oh, and it's my birthday tomorrow. Belated congratulations
to Roger Mills from another Gemini. I wonder how the Piata
tribe says "Happy birthday" and "congratulations"... ::goes
back to notebook::

And oh again. There should probably be a pejorative suffix
on either or both of the NP's. This is _-ish_. And there's
probably a good idea to throw in a discoursal emphatic
particle as well, like _ni_ or _sv_.

_Susuakkaish funikkvvchv, sv!_ 'Your damn parents were
brothers, bah!' :)

Daniel Andreasson

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