Re: Hello? It's working?

In a message dated 12/3/01 7:12:01 PM, faceloran@JUNO.COM writes:

<< My name is Christopher Wright. I'm fifteen and have been interested in
conlangs for about two years so far. I've been lurking for a few weeks,
trying to post (thanks, Yoon Ha Lee, for helping me), and I have to say
that (humor) you're the craziest group of people that I've ever seen
since I left the institution(/humor). >>

    Welcome.  :)

<<I make words by translating the Bible and the works of
Shakespeare.>>

    Hey, me too!  Well, not the Bible.  And thus far, I've only started on
the Tempest and Coriolanus.  I might try this one, though...

<<snip Sturnan and English versions of "To Be or Not to Be">>

    Usually when we include snippets of our language, we include an
interlinear, so everyone knows exactly what word means what (for instance, in
my most fully developed language, every word order is possible, and every
word order is used, so parsing it gets tricky).  I'd be willing to give this
one a shot:

Esei (to be--inf.) fus (or) naisei (neg+to be--inf.); lar (that--pron) esag
(is--3s) a (def) paka (question), ivus (whether) huri (benefactive) a (def)
kiras (heart) esag (is--3s) vamete (beter) nolnei (to withstand) a (def)
eifkod (stone) ak (and) isud (arrow) eiko (of) thuna (fortune) len (in)
pertin (anger), fus (or) weltei (set) hasnai (weapon) henti (against) mora
(sea) penil (troubles), ak (and) tuldhei (to end--inf) suvei (they?
Infinitive or a verb?) len (in) a (def) kata (opposition).

Murtei (to die--inf), sevnei (to sleep--inf); naimeivas (no more); ak (and)
molei (to say) sol (that/rel) inas (we) tuldhin (end) had (by means of) sevna
 (sleep--n) a (def) kirapona (heart + pain [from Latin poena?]) ak (and) a
(the) gelos (thousand) therom (natural) henisi (fears--if order is
consistent) eiko (of) matones (inheritance--of?) dhitemil (flesh); esag
(is--3s) laisen (obsession) sur (all) tral (should)
biselesa (desire).

Murtei (to die), sevnei (to sleep); sevnei (to sleep); ven (perchance) tusei
(to dream [note: I think that last "sleep" is usually parced with "to dream",
so it's "To die, to sleep; to sleep, perchance to dream"]); sel
(yes--evidential?), alin (there?) esag (is--3s) a (def) vula (thorn) len (in)
a (def) merte (fig--ha!  What a cool expression!); di (for/because) len (in)
fo (that) sevna (sleep) murtail (of? death) dina (what) tusai (dream) fan
(may) heldei (come--inf) klein (when) inas (we) punsis (pluck--1p) fe
(this--masculine?) keru (broken) sunadh (flesh--two words for flesh?) deunoth
unsa (must give fearful hesitation?  Perhaps the word for "flesh" was left
out?) huri (dative--a dative/benefactive marker?) inas (us--1p); alin (there)
esag (is--3s) a (def) hendis (fear) sol ("that") deunan (give--3s: Okay, now
we know "deunoth" is "give".  Is there a "must" in there and does "unsa" mean
"fearful hesitation"?  I think I'd like such a word in my language) apeno
(calamity) eiko (of) makir (long), feilom (weary) veila (life).

    A couple questions: (1) Is there a gender system, and what types of
things does it affect?  (2) What's the exact usage of the word "eiko"?  (3)
What's the orthography?  (4) Is everything determined by position in the
sentence, like in English?  (E.g.: "The boy hits the ball" is not the same as
"The ball hits the boy", whereas it could be in Latin).  Very cool working of
the passage.  :)  Is there a webpage, or anything like that?

-David

"s&m raSalo SirejsatIm, spAjs Zi v&TIl dZaGagzaZA."
"If it keeps on rainin', the levee's going to break."
        --Led Zeppelin