Re: Die, Artlanger Scum

On 30 April, Jake X wrote:

> It has become a translation excercize.  Nothing escapes the fate.
>
> Die, artlanger scum!
> Netdas, gem biscemtddan ddanciatea!
> ['nETas gEm 'bIscem,TraN raN'jat@]
> die.imperitive you.masc.inverse whim-word-man semen.adjective
>
    This seemingly simple sentence actually proves quite
intriguing for rtemmu, my conlang. Specifically the concept
of death and wishing it upon someone.
    In brief, the rtemmu worldview posits that the whole universe is
an ongoing process. One narrows one's view to focus on partial
processes contained in the one grand process in order to talk about
what's going on.
    Describing death from the victim's point of view
would necessarily involve assumptions about
whether the "life-process" continues after "death".
This is important because, in rtemmu, the rates of change
of the processes under discussion must be taken into account,
including the rate of change of a dying person.
     If the "life-process" does not continue after death, what does
this imply about the "universal ongoing process" (how is the
"ongoingness" affected by the cessation of one of it's
sentient, self-aware "subprocesses"? And can one talk about a
"death-process" as a part of the universal ongoing process for
one who ceases to be? It's the old philosophical question about
a tree falling in an empty forest: does it make a noise?)
OTOH, if "life" does go on after "death", is it a "process" or something
else? Can one describe it in terms of rates of change? Or must some other
grammatical feature be used?
    I'm cowardly taking the easy way out here and using, for "death", simply
"the cessation of  life-process (not the speaker's)
from the (ongoing) speaker's point of view", or  shyesax.
(shye = existence, -sax = cessation of a process).
    The other question arises from the impossibility in rtemmu of simply
saying: "Die!" as in English. One would have to specify how the
person is to do it. To use a straight imperative would imply
"to cause death, to kill", not necessarily oneself. To use a reflexive
would imply suicide. I'm not sure if this is the intent of the sentence.
To use the affix -evi-, which means "may it happen; I wish it for you"
seems kind of wimpy, even though it's the standard form for curses.
    In rtemmu, there is a "general form of the imperative", lyau-.
It's sort of like "let it be", but more forceful. It's an imperative, not
just for the second person, but for the whole universal process. In effect,
using lyau-, is demanding "open season" on the object of the discussion.
I think that this is the most appropriate form for this sentence.
    Thus, for "Die, artlanger scum", I would say, in rtemmu:

va'i  na  mhu  no  lyaushyesax,  fr`bke
na  rtemmutahforr`unu  auga'r`  ne  nyixihshina!

Or loosely translated: "May the universe cause an end to your existence
in an excruciatingly slow manner because you are an artlanger, which really
is scum!"

r = [r]
r` = [R]
' = glotttal stop

va'i = declaration of emotion
na = mhu  is changing at a subjectively normal rate
mhu = the process of being 2ns pers sing
no = lyaushyesax is developing at a subjectively very slow rate
lyau-  = universal imperative
shye = existence
-sax = cessation of process (from the speaker's point of view)
fr`bke = because
na = rtemmutahforr`unu is subjectively changing at a normal rate

rtem = basic unit of meaning
-mu = dynamic system
-tahfo = developing in beauty
-rr`unu = human-aided development
        thus:
rtemmutahforr`unu = artlang

auga'r` = forceful assertion (as opposed to the regular
               assertion:  auag)
ne = nyixihshina is subjectively developing quickly;
        (The intended image is of scum infesting a previously
        clean and pure pond and quickly taking over)

nyixihsh = the process of being scum
-ina = one's basic nature is

    One last comment: as always in rtemmu, the question of
rates of change come into it. One can't just say "Die!".
One has to specify just how fast the dying should progress!
This, of course, opens up all kinds of room for nuances.
Die a quick death or a slow one? Does the death-process
accelerate or decelerate? Or proceed by different rates in
different parts of the person? Should the death be subjective
or should I assert that I can discern the beginnings of your
demise already in an objective fashion?
    Merely using different rate-of-change-markers would change
the type of death wished upon the artlanger in all these different ways.


Dan Sulani
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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a

A word is an awesome thing.