The starling's song: Valdyan -> Jarrda

I decided to do a Jarrda translation of Irina's starling poem, and since =
I
had time, I recorded both a spoken and a sung version of it and put it on
my web page. For a limited time (until I run out of space on Tripod, =
where
my audio samples are), I've also uploaded 8-bit .WAV versions for those =
who
can't easily play .RA files. (The .WAV files are 5 times the size of the
corresponding .RA files, and sound noisier, so I recommend the .RA files =
if
you can hear them.)

http://members.tripod.com/Thryomanes/languages.html

I've always thought that Jarrda sounds awkward and artificial, but this
poem worked out nicely with only minor changes. No rhymes, but perhaps
Janarr don't need rhymes in their poetry. In any case, the meter is =
almost
consistently in trochaic tetrameter except for the word "yezhrriag" and =
the
four successive stressed monosyllables in the third line.

=46ue Marrgarrel

Tez yezhrriag rrelta marrgai;
Reunma zhana grameot mugha;
Virr'ra mav por lhon khar thlomor;
Sora bezlu reamag tiri?

Of the Starling Song

Courageous deeds are spoken with the song of the starling;
The heron washes himself in the rain of morning;
The lark admires the sacred stars in the darkest night;
Who actually perceives the truth about birds?

(The Jarrda version is actually genderless, but "him/herself" is
exceedingly awkward in English, and I don't like the sound of "itself"
referring to a living being.)

fue marrga-rrel
[fy 'marga,rel]
about starling-birdsong

tez yezh-rriag-0 rrel-ta marrga-i*
['tez 'jez",riak 'relta 'margai]
speak courageous-deed-ABS. birdsong-INST. starling-GEN.

reun-ma zhana-0 gram-eot mugh-a
['r*U"nma 'z"ana 'gr*amO"t 'muGa]
wash-REFL. heron-ABS. rain-INST. morning-GEN.

virr-ra mav por lhon khar thlom-or
['vira 'mav 'por* 'Lon 'xar* 'l"omor*]
lark-ERG. admire star sacred at night-dark

so-ra bez-lu reamag tir-i
['sor*a 'bezlu 'r*Emak 'tir*i]
who-ERG. perceive-DIR. truth bird-GEN.

*The word for "starling" is a borrowing from Tirelat. The other bird =
names
are former Jarrda words that have been reassigned to Tirelat.

--
languages of Kolagia---> =
+---<http://www.io.com/~hmiller/languages.html>---
      Thryomanes        /"If all Printers were determin'd not to print =
any
   (Herman Miller)     / thing till they were sure it would offend no =
body,
   moc.oi @ rellimh <-/  there would be very little printed." -Ben =
Franklin