Re: translation exercise

On Saturday 06 April 2002 11:22, Christian Thalmann wrote:
> A voice said to me:
> "Smile and be happy!
> Things could be worse!"
> So I smiled
> And was happy.
> And things got worse.
tele to jawúrre ien
sereñ jálne sereñ análne
híja te jálniwi ná;
tó jáo teleñ é jálne
aT análne;
il aT ñi jálniwi ná;

tele               to          jawúrre    ien
SE+past+1p.sg.goal inan.source "voice".sg comment

sereñ         jálne      sereñ         análne
SE+2p.sg.refl "smile".sg SE+2p.sg.refl "happiness".state

híja        te      jálniwi                ná;
possibility LA+past "unfortunate-event".pl more

tó jáo          teleñ              é   jálne
because-of-this SE+past+1p.sg.refl and "smile".sg

aT       análne;
and-then "happiness".state

il aT    ñi                 jálniwi                ná;
and-then LA+change-of-state "unfortunate-event".pl more

SE marks transactions, with a source and a goal
LA marks existence

From a voice to me:
"Give yourself a smile. Give yourself happiness.
There could have been more misfortune."
So, I gave myself a smile
and then happiness.
And then there was more misfortune.

Note that the words for "smile", "happiness", and "misfortune" all
come from the same root -áln- "smile"

--
Sylvia Sotomayor
sylvia1@ix.netcom.com

The Kélen language can be found at:
http://home.netcom.com/~sylvia1/Kelen/kelen.html

This post may contain the following characters:
á (a-acute); é (e-acute); í (i-acute); ó (o-acute); ú (u-acute);
ñ (n-tilde);