Re: translation exercise

On 6 Apr 02, at 21:22, Christian Thalmann wrote:

> Here's an easy one to sink your teeth into.
It was indeed easy. Since the sentence structure was so simple, and
there were so few (and fairly common) words, I had a go at translating
it into as many Mark Rosenfelder languages as I could ;) Pity that I
couldn't make proto-Eastern (the reconstructed proto-language that's
the ancestor of most of the languages on his web site), mostly because
I couldn't find "voice", "say", "bad", or the conjugation of "to be".

The Verdurian I'm fairly confident about, and then it gets a bit less
and less certain as I get less familiar with the languages and the
languages are less fully described and/or have weirder syntax.

> A voice said to me:
> "Smile and be happy!
> Things could be worse!"
> So I smiled
> And was happy.
> And things got worse.
Verdurian:

(Here, /r/ makes [4], a single-tap r; /J/ is left-tail n as
in Spanish año or Italian bagno)

Vuá sen mizhe:                  /vu"a sEn "miZE/
"Rizireu er esanei lerezhe!     /Rizi"rEu Er Esa"nEi lE"rEZE/
Shozî epcelu esan mudhe durnëi!"/"SozI Ep"kElu "Esan "muDE dur"JEi/
Urë ridru                       /u"rjE "ridru/
Er fuai lerezhe.                /Er fu"ai lE"rEZE/
Er shozî osnu mudhe durnëi.     /Er "SozI "osnu "muDE dur"JEi/

Voice to-me said:
Smile and be happy!
Things could be more bad!
Therfore I-smiled
And was happy.
And things became more bad.


Cadhinor:

(no IPA for Cadhinor and Cuêzi as I haven't got a good description
handy)

Vua seon emu:
"Ridu er kar esi!
Scosit avecorit estont!"
Duha ridie
Er kar fuio.
Er scosit avecorit olociont.

(STAT = static aspect; DEF = definite mood; REM = remote mood)
voice.NOM.SG I.DAT.SG say.STAT.DEF.PAST.1SG
smile.STAT.REM.IMP.2SG and happy.MASC.NOM.SG be.STAT.REM.IMP.2SG
thing.NOM.PL worse.MASC.NOM.PL be.STAT.REM.PRES.3PL
therefore smile.STAT.DEF.PAST.1SG
and happy.MASC.NOM.SG be.STAT.DEF.PAST.1SG
and thing.NOM.PL worse.MASC.NOM.PL become.STAT.DEF.PAST.3PL

"A voice said to me:
'Smile and be happy!
Things may be worse!'
So I smiled and was happy.
And things became worse."


Cuêzi:

Gori se:nu missu:
"Ridile:ur fual:ei-to ami:sibodê!
Fualine utûtâte!
Co:i baridir
Bafuyo-to ami:sibodê.
Ton bafua: utûtâte.

(ACT = active voice; PERF = perfect aspect; IMP = imperfect aspect; DEF
= definite mood; REM = remote mood; INC = inceptive; COMP =
comparative)
voice.NOM.SG I.MASC.DAT.SG say.ACT.PERF.DEF.PAST.3SG
smile.ACT.IMP.DEF.FUT be.ACT.IMP.DEF.FUT-and joyful.MASC.NOM.SG
be.ACT.IMP.REM.FUT bad.COMP.MASC.NOM.SG
therefore smile.INC.ACT.IMP.DEF.PAST.1SG
be.INC.ACT.IMP.DEF.PAST.1SG-and joyful
and be.INC.ACT.IMP.DEF.PAST.3SG bad.COMP.MASC.NOM.SG

"A voice said to me:
'Smile and be joyful!
It may be worse!'
Therefore I began to smile and to be joyful
and it began to be worse.

(Cuêzi's verbal inflection system is a "joy" -- there are up to 576
distinct lexical forms for each verb due to the possible combinations
of voices, moods, tenses, aspects, and the possibility of causative and
inceptive forms.)


Barakhinei:

Fu sû shpakhâ:                  /fu sU "Spax{/
"Rid êr ez lerchê!              /rid Er ez "lertSE/
Shkozi epezmê eza avekuri!"     /"Skozi e"pezmE "eza ave"kuri/
Odi ridi                        /"odi "ridi/
E fuch lerchê.                  /e futS "lertSE/
E shkozi olokîn avekuri.        /e "Skozi olo"kIn ave"kuri/

(IMP = imperative, SUBJ = subjunctive; INF = infinitive)
voice.NOM.SG I.DAT.SG say.PAST.3SG
smile.IMP and be.IMP happy.MASC.NOM.SG
thing.NOM.PL can.SUBJ.3SG be.INF worse.NOM.PL
then smile.PAST.1SG
and be.PAST.1SG happy.MASC.NOM.SG
and thing.NOM.PL become.PAST.3PL worse.NOM.PL

"A voice said to me:
'Smile and be happy!
Things could be worse!'
Then I smiled
and was happy.
And things became worse."

(Spoken Barakhinei would also add phatic particles -- probably "Rid êr
ez lerchê *ma*!" to emphasise the imperative and "Shkozi olokîn avekuri
*kokue*" to express lamentation that things got worse.)


Ismaîn:

Va es,pagi sen:                 /va E"s`pagi sEn/
"Riz,i r" ezi lr"eje!           /"riz`i r= "Ezi lr="Ez\E/
Es,kozi ebezeme ezn avegr"!"    /E"s`kOzi EbEzEmE Ezn= a"vEgr=/
Oz,i riz,y                      /"Oz`i "riz`1/
R" fuz,e lr"eje.                /r= "fuz`E lr="Ez\E/
R" es,kozi olos,yn avegr".      /r= E"s`kOzi O"lOs`1n a"vEgr=/

(IMP = imperative; SUBJ = subjunctive; INF = infinitive)
voice.NOM.SG say.PAST.3SG I.DAT.SG
smile.IMP.2SG and be.IMP.2SG happy
thing.NOM.PL can.SUBJ be.INF worse
then smile.PAST.1SG
and be.PAST.1SG happy
and thing.NOM.PL become.PAST.3PL worse

"A voice said to me:
'Smile and be happy!
Things could be worse!'
Then I smiled and was happy.
And things became worse."


Kebreni:

Kaam ninize h'em:               /ka"am ni"nize Cem/
"Pabautte agetu!                /paba"utte a"getu/
Bonu h'av!"                     /"bonu Cav/
H'em pabautte katu              /Cem paba"utte "katu/
Eh'c bonu h'uva.                /eCc "bonu "Cuva/

(BEN = benefactive; PERF = perfect; IMP = imperfect; SUB = subordinate;
VOL = volitional)
spirit speak.BEN.PERF I
laugh.SUB happy.VOL.IMP
thing good
I laugh.SUB happy.IMP
and thing good.PERF

"A spirit spoke to me and gave me advice:
'Laugh and be happy!
Things are good!'
I began to laugh and be happy
And things were no longer good."


Cheers,
Philip
--
Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...>