Re: translation exercise

On Wed, 1 Jan 2003 16:01:56 +1300
andrew <hobbit@...> wrote:

A bit late I know, but I haven't translated munch into Tetelgen for a long
while, so here goes:

> I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, "Give me a light
> that I may tread safely into the unknown."  And he replied, "Go out into
> the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God.  That shall be
> better than light, and safer than a known way.
"Sfé emr nehomenthí irn hicinel a thaune, gelu lham cjetechí mhade de
tanze et, gelu a gnaue de lene ev, gennu senen maurfue eicetiseden tede
teteive et. At mhendeive de et ej, gelu a dteive emth' fhólennu, aí a
ngaue vae sá et gelu emr sdhole snae sáechí. Menú mamachalwíme tanze ene
cienth' lhene, ge cien vhaiev fue senen."

An interlinear with pronunciation (leaving out stress, since I still
haven't figured that one out), a morphemic breakdown, and a gloss, follows

In the morphemic breakdown, there are some phonological-process
morphemes indicated:

H+ = lenition
?+ = eclipsis
R+ = reduplication

In the gloss, FIN='finite verb form suffix', ADJ='non-finite/adjectival
verb form suffix'.

All nouns are by default countable, and are used with a special
uncountable article "thú" (or "thó" or "th'") to indicate the
uncountable form. This article causes lenition.

The particle flagged 'ADV/IO' indicates the beginning of the adverbial
or indirect-object zone, which normally is placed before the verb.

The 'ge-' conjunctions 'GELU', 'GE', 'GEHERU' (but not "gennu") say
effectively to imagine the previous sentence repeated here, but with the
[ object | everything but the subject | the adverbial-indirect-obj zone]
(respectively) replaced by what follows. (Hence 'ge' is very similar to
'and' in 'John went and did ...'). 'GEHERU' doesn't occur here.


"Sfé   emr nehomenthí  irn hicinel  a  thaune,        gelu   lham cjetechí
/sfE:  Em4 nEhOmEnTI:  i4n hIkInEl  A  TAunE          gElU   KAm  kZEat,ExI:
 sfé   emr nehom.enthí irn H+icinel a  H+taun.e,      gelu   lham cjete.chí
<which at  gate.near   the GEN+year so PAST+stand+FIN GELU   to   man.upon

mhade    de   tanze et, gelu   a gnaue  de   lene  ev, gennu   senen  maurfue
wAdE     dE   tAnzE Et  gElU   A NAu.E  dE   lEnE  Ev, gEn:U   sEn.En mAu4p\E
H+made   de   tanze et, gelu   a ?+naue de   lene  ev, gennu   senen  mau.ir.fue
PAST.say PERF this  2s  namely o give   PERF light you so-that safe   through.the-abstract

eicetiseden   tede teteive et.  At mhendeive       de   etje,  gelu  a dteive
EikEtIsEdEn   tEdE tEtEivE Et   At wEndEivE        dE   EtjE   gElU  A dEivE
eic.etis.eden tede R+teive et.  At  H+mendeiv.e    de   et.je, gelu  a ?+teive
un.know.ADJ   SUBJ FUT+go  you. And PAST+reply+FIN PERF 1s.3s  GELU  o OPT+go

emth'          fhólennu,                 aí  a ngaue   vae     sá   et gelu emr
EmT            O:lEn:U                   AI: A NAuE    vAE     sA:  Et gElU Em4
em.thú         H+fóle.nnu,               aí  a ?+naue  vae     sá   et gelu em.ir
to.UNCOUNT-ART UNCOUNT.dark-thing.inside and o OPT.put 2s-GEN  hand 2s ..   to.the

sdhole snae sáechí.      Menú  mamachalwíme            tanze ene    cienth'
sDolE  snAE sA:ExI:      mEnU: mA"mAx,AlwI:mE          tAnzE EnE    kIEnT
sdhole snae sá.echí.     Menú  R+mach.halwím.e         tanze ene    cien.thú
lord   his  hand.inside. Now   FUT-more.auspicious.FIN this  ADV/IO more.UNCOUNT-ART

lhene,        ge  cien  vhaiev   fue       senen."
Kene          gE  kIEn  hAIEv    p\E       sEnEn/
H+lene,       ge  ciena H+vaiev  fue       sen.en.
UNCOUNT-light GE  FIG+path  which-is safe.ADJ>




s.