Conlang Relay Nineteen: Some Final Observations

Habot is the word for rock or stone.  The plural is botí, which makes the stem bot with different affixes for the singular and plural.  It is also the word for milestone, and by extension the word for mile, the measured distance between stones.

Bena, mountain, is a feminine noun.  The genitive is benas.  After a verb of motion the indirect object is the accusative benan, otherwise bena is used for the indirect object as well.

This language has three gramatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.  Masculine nouns are usually unmarked after the stem.  Feminine nouns end in -a, neuter nouns in -on.  The plural endings are -í, -e, and -a.  There are other plural endings that have slipped into the language like the marker -ga.  Nouns and adjectives agree for endings in gender, number and case.

I have used surut, stream, to translate river, and ríon, brook, to translate valley as I don't have these words yet.  This would mean that ríon has the extended meaning of a watercourse that may be dry for part of its time.

Shradye means 'heart, emotional organ', different from heart, physical organ which pumps blood.  The phrase for 'sad' literally means 'troubled heart'.  The construction is repeated in the final quote as a balance.  Shradye is a feminine noun with a soft ending.

There are two stems for the word 'be at, be here': âya for inanimates like rocks, and íya for people and animals.

The associative preposition has different forms.  If it governs a masculine or neuter noun it is ya or a.  If it governs a masculine or neuter noun in an indirect clause after another preposition it is ye or e.  This form is also used before plural nouns.  If the noun is feminine it is yí or í.  The y is dropped if the word before it ends in a consonant.  In context it can mean 'and' or 'with'.  It can join verbs together as an infinitive marker.  It cannot join clauses.  In that case the conjunction dok is used.

Conlang Relay Nineteen Paragraph Four

Last paragraph:

Nidolgon poslí merega, luk ve dâyet lúb a kashte:

“Bodú ve seft nisha benan, dok bodú ve bint títíg haní, títíg bishí, ye títíg dúdwan.”

Premye habot ve kashte “Na'dâ wolenshim bina ten.”

Tal ve bonte, “Nas shradyega budet shaten nipana.”

Nidolgon poslí merega, luk ve dâyet lúb a kashte:

A long time after some days, the mouse came back and said:

locative.long-time after day.plural mouse.nominative non-present come.past return associative say.past

“Bodú ve seft nisha benan, dok bodú ve bint títíg haní, títíg bishí, ye títíg dúdwan.”

"I went beyond the mountain, and I saw the same grasses, the same seeds, and the same insects."

1s non-present gone.past locative.beyond mountain.accusative, then 1s non-present see.past demonstrative-plural.same-plural grass.plural demonstrative-plural.same-plural seed.plural associative demonstrative-plural.same-plural insect.plural

Premye habot ve kashte “Na'dâ wolenshim bina ten.”

The first rock said, "We don't want to see that."

first rock non-present say 1p.here want.present.plural.negative see.infinitive demonstrative.neuter

Tal ve bonte, “Nas shradyega budet shaten nipana.”

The other answered, "Our hearts will be happy forever."

other non-present answer.past our.plural heart.plural will-be.present happy locative.ever

Good night

Conlang Relay Nineteen Paragraph Three

Back again, thanks for waiting.  While I've got time before Doc Who and the Last Gunslinger I can post another paragraph.

Pet poslí kata deng ve plogete lúb a kashte:

“Bodú ve ploget nisha benan, dok bodú ve bint bradí surutí, wôda ría ye aotoka dradra.

Premye habot ve kashte “Magarí kem na'dâ ve gabinten ten.”

Tal ve bonte “Nas shradyega budet sús nipana.”

Pet poslí kata deng ve plogete lúb a kashte:

Soon after a time the bird flew back and said:

soon after time.genitive bird.nominative non-present fly.past return associative said.past

“Bodú ve ploget nisha benan, dok bodú ve bint bradí surutí, wôda ría ye aotoka dradra."

I flew beyond the mountain, and I saw broad streams, green brooks and tall trees.

1s non-present fly.past locative.beyond mountain.accusative, then 1s non-present see.past broad.masculine.plural stream.masculine.plural, green.neuter.plural brook.neuter.plural associative tall.neuter.plural tree.neuter.plural

"Premye habot ve kashte “Magarí kem na'dâ ve gabinten ten.”

The first rock said, "Perhaps we could see that."

first rock.singular non-present say.past perhaps relative 1p.here non-present conditional.see.past demonstrative.neuter

Tal ve bonte “Nas shradyega budet sús nipana.”

The other answered, "Our hearts will be unhappy forever."

other non-present answer.past 1p.possessive.plural heart.plural future-be troublesome locative-ever

Have a good evening.

Conlang Relay 19 Paragraph Two

Second Paragraph:

Deng a lúka ve'de. Pena kúhya, brekí ve kashten, “Ya botí, na'dâ pochen shodya nisha benan. Na'dâ ve kashoden ye dâya lúb, dok gúya pena Sei ei petten so bina wa nastrí, dok kembí ve kawidet.” Botí ve shahente, dok deng a lúka ve shodyete bôt.

Deng a lúka ve'de.

A bird and a mouse were there.

bird.nominative associative.s mouse.genitive non-present be-at.past.

Pena kúhya, brekí ve kashten, “Ya botí, na'dâ pochen shodya nisha benan.

On hearing, they said, "O rocks, we can go beyond the mountain.

locative hear/listen.infinitive 3p non-present say.past.plural vocative rock.plural 1p.here can.present.plural go.infinitive locative.beyond mountain.accusative.

"Na'dâ ve kashoden ye dâya lúb, dok gúya pena Sei ei petten so bina wa nastrí, dok kembí ve kawidet."

We will go and come back, and tell to you about what we see, and you will know.

1p.here future.go.plural associative.p come.infinitive return then tell.infinitive locative reflexive topic what.dative which-is see-infinitive instrumental 1p.genitive then you non-present future.know.3s.

Botí ve shahente, dok deng a lúka ve shodyete bôt.

The rocks agreed, and the bird and the mouse went away.

rock.plural non-present agree.past then bird associative.s mouse.genitive non-present go.past away.

Conlang Relay 19 Paragraph One

I see my connection to Blogspot has fixed itself.  I can start posting on a translation exercise that I've recently finished.  I was working on a translation of Amanda Babcock Furrow's Merechi text.  The first papagraph reads as follows:

Ten ve âte yilí botí nirúmbe benas. Údnon premye habot ve kashte “Gak súda petten âyet nisha bena?”

Tal ve bonte “Na'dâ ve kawiden shame.”

To translate:

Ten ve âte yilí botí nirúmbe benas.

There were two rocks on the slope of a mountain.

3s.neuter non-present  be-at.past two.plural rock.plural locative.slope.dative mountain.genitive.

Údnon premye habot ve kashte “Gak súda petten âyet nisha bena?”

Once the first rock said, "I wonder what is beyond the mountain?"

one.neuter first rock non-present say.past guess self.genitive what.accusative be-at.present locative.beyond mountain.dative.

Tal ve bonte “Na'dâ ve kawiden shame.”

The other answered, "We shall never know.

other non-present answer.past 1p.here non-present future.know.plural never.