Re: CHAT: translation (was: Re: CHAT: "have a nice day")

From: "Matt Pearson"

> >> pâtakimwukêc atimwêsup apiyêsupim ecanukwûpôk?
> >...>it means, um.... 'hast thou never seen a dog sitting in a tree?'
> I like this one.  Here it is in Tokana:
>
>         Ni hieloton uithat ikei palahtai?
>         QU see-NEG-PI sit-DEP dog tree-DAT
Throw down the chalice, will ya?  :) I accept.

In Géarthnuns:

Fenfe lö höi fau bursaub kür vau bözhalörsaut fö ngarekhsös hötel?

you-nom/neg perfect höi a-neg tree-postpositional/neg on the-neg
sitting-acc/neg a-neg dog-genitive/neg see-interrogative mood?

Normally, one would use the locative with "tree", "burs", but that would
place the dog at the tree, near the tree, under the tree, at the foot of the
tree (where we might normally expect a dog). With birds, the locative would
imply "in the tree", but since we want to stir it up a little, we need to
use the postpositional + kür to get the dog up in the tree. I suspect
Géarthnuns speakers would do a more jarring initial double-take than English
speakers before settling in and becoming comfortable with the effect of the
sentence.

Kou