Re: New Conlang-to-conlang translation project

On Tue, 4 May 1999, Nik Taylor wrote:

> the beginning of _Wapatisagg=E1 tiKast=E1n=E1f_
Gyrn tay lestea bronut, Castien talie lyase ruve amrat. Tal yat
dolish. Tainena alea brona tysenayt, Lhapitei liz. Ruve tainena cora
ternat. Herni lye bechayt so hyrayt. Ahanrie tainene hestat guzea so
taine lyen menat. Lye chanie parisenen taine tadashean trudat, lye
chanie so nacronenes nacronat. Sahanrie ibarie trynyes farat
crashenin Vlamei foryas narovinayt so chalat.

"Cherien! Culi yat? Foryas yat narovina tysesaye lei so lea foryas
yat lein na gazesat."=20

Chanie lye hyrayt.=20

"Ei! Vlami tayen ni tayen anin, nagraneni do so alein alea learne le
napylayt."

Dogazynesat.

"Ine tray echain, atine do chanie i hyraye. Esh yat rhesyna malan."
Cyne fusean lasynat ni lea natay muy na ryshenat da liz huchea fusat
fere. Narovinean fusynat. Gazei lyin vyste nilesayt.


Abbreviations:

nom  - nominative case
gen  - genitive case
dat  - dative case=20
abl  - ablative case
acc  - accusative case
loc  - locative case
ill  - illative case
ins  - instrumental case
s    - singular
d    - dual
p    - plural
Ag   - agent ("-er")
3s   - third person singular
2p   - second person plural
3p   - third person plural
PRS  - present tense
PST  - past tense
INF  - infinitive
IMP  - imperative
INC  - inceptive aspect
PRF  - perfective aspect
PNC  - punctual aspect
RFL  - reflexive pronoun
IMP  - impersonal pronoun
REL  - relative pronoun
AUG  - augmentative
DIM  - diminutive
NEG  - negation


gyrn tay   lestea  bronut,    =20
sun  while sky-acc love-PST-3s=20

In the time when the sun loved the sky,=20

This has the verb in the past tense; all other verbs can now take the
present tense (the usual way to tell a story). If any other verb was
in the past tense, it would mean that the action of that verb took
place *before* the time of the story; a kind of pluperfect.


Castien    talie       lyase ruve       amrat.
Castan-loc village-loc woman old.person live-PRS-3s

an old woman lived in the village of Castan.


tal     yat  dolish
village this AUG-evil

This village [was] very evil.


tainena   alea brona    tysenayt,        Lhapitei    liz.
god-acc-p all  love-INF cease-PRF-PRS-3s Lhapita-gen except

They had ceased to love all gods, except Lhapita.

/lh/ (voiceless lateral fricative) is what Valdyans would make of
/tl/.


ruve       tainena   cora        ternat.
old.person god-acc-p believe-inf persevere-PRS-3s

The old woman kept believing in the gods.

(i.e. she knew that they existed. Valdyans don't *believe* in gods so
much, they trust in them, worship them, argue with them, etcetera,
but it's silly to actually believe in them; it's clear that they
exist. You might as well believe in a tree.)


herni   lye bechayt     so  hyrayt
other-p her mock-PRS-3p and laugh-PRS-3p

The others mocked her and laughed at her.


ahanrie   tainene   hestat      guzea     so  taine   =20
every.day god-dat-p pray-PRS-3s oil-acc-s and god-dat-s

lyen    menat
her-dat give-PRS-3s

Every day she prayed to the gods and gave oil to her [own] god


lye chanie parisenen   taine   tadashean       trudat=20
she only   feast-loc-p god-dat DIM-sheep-acc-s kill-PRS-3s

Only she killed a lamb for the god on feast days,


lye chanie so  nacronenes             nacronat.
she only   and NEG.eat.occasion-loc-p NEG-eat-PRS-3s

and only she fasted on fast days.


sahanrie ibarie     trynyes    farat
some.day d-foot-ins market-ill go.to-PRS-3s

One day she went to the market on foot

I couldn't do anything with "the perilous market"; after all, she
didn't know it was to be a dangerous undertaking. _Fara_ with the
illative is to go somewhere, expecting to reach it. With the locative
it means "to arrive". _Trynyas_ "market" literally means
"trade-place".


crashenin        Vlamei    foryas              narovinayt          =20
ill.wisher-nom-p Vlami-gen worship-place-acc-s NEG-make.holy-PRS-3p=20

so  chalat.
and see-PRS-3s

and saw malicious people desecrate the holy place of Vlami.

The whole phrase "crashenin... narovinayt" is the object of _chalat_
and counts as one constituent for the placing of _so_ (which comes
after the first constituent of the second clause when it joins
clauses).


cherien!         arlene    culi yat?     =20
neighbour-voc-p  world-loc what this

Neighbours!      Whatever is this?

_Cherin_ are people you know who live in your town or village, not
necessarily next-door neighbours.

_arlene culi_ "what in the world, whatever" expresses amazement or
exasperation.


foryas              yat  narovina          tysesaye
worship.place-acc-s this NEG-make.holy-inf cease-INC-IMP-p

Stop desecrating this holy place [right now]

The inceptive ("start ceasing") gives it great urgency.


lei so  lea foryas        yat  lein na  gazesat
he  and REL worship.place this his  not be.angry-INC-PRS-3s

and he whose holy place this is will not get angry.

I could have used the future tense here, or even the inceptive
future, but that takes away some of the immediate threat of Vlami's
anger.

The relative clause was tough; eventually the Valdyan came out much
like the original, "he who this [is] his worship-place".


chanie lye hyrayt
only   her laugh-PRS-3p

They only laughed at her.


ei!  Vlami tayen ni  tayen anin,
Hey! Vlami god   not god   our

Hey! Vlami is no god of ours

"the god Vlami is not our god", we admit that Vlami may be a god, but
*we* don't worship him.


nagraneni             do  so  alein   alea  learni     le  napylayt.
NEG-sane.person-gen-p but and of.them REL-p RFL-self-p RFL NEG-like-PRS-3p

but of madmen and of those who hate themselves.


dogazynesat
AUG-get.angry-PNC-INC-PRS-3s

She lost her temper.

"She suddenly started to get very angry"


"ine tray     echain, atine do  chanie i  hyraye
 I   friendly PST     p-you but only   me laugh-PRS-2p
=20
"I was friendly, but you only laugh at me.

_echain_ is a past marker for when tense is required and there's no
finite verb to mark it on. It's pronounced [a'chain] (unstressed
initial e- tends to do that). Attributively, it means "former".


esh      yat  rhesyna       malan"
owing.to this honour.do-inf be.obliged-PRS-1s

Therefore I must do a deed of honour.

_rhesyn_ is something you do out of honour, usually a good deed, but
it can seem otherwise to people who don't know the circumstances.
Avenging someone is a good example. _Rheis_ "trust, honour" is a
tricky concept; it can even take the form of "I'm honoured to have
you for an enemy".


Cyne      fusean      lasynat     ni  lea natay muy na  ryshenat=20
presently knife-acc-s draw-PRS-3s NEG REL never yet NEG
use-PRF-PRS-3s

da          liz    huchea     fusat       fere.
in order... except meat-acc-s cut-PRS-3s ...to=20

Then she drew a knife that she had never used yet, except to cut
meat.

Note the proliferation of negations in the relative clause.


narovinean             fusynat
NEG.make.holy-Ag-acc-s cut-PNC-PRS-3s

She stabbed a desecrator.


Gazei     lyin    vyste nilesayt.
anger-abl her-abl fast  escape-INC-PRS-3p

They ran away fast from her anger.


            Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastinay.
                     irina@rempt.xs4all.nl (myself)
     http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/frontpage.html (English)
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)