Conlang Card Exchange 2012b

Second Line:

Ní âre premye babik Yeu ve shapâmet premyeron nenon. 

Ossí premyeron nenon wo' a?

conj first.neuter word be.past interrogative

In the beginning first grandfather Yeu said the first word.

And the first word was 'eh?'

The interrogative particle a usually comes at the beginning of a sentence where it acts like the English verb 'do' in a question: A shapâmet Yeu? Does Yeu speak?  In this text I decided to play with it and use it as an utterance of surprise: oh! hey! huh!  So for the Shente they say, In the beginning was the word, and the word was D'oh!  Maybe things started out differently for them.

Conlang Exchange Card 2012a

I posted my cards for the Conlang Exchange today.  Here is the first line:

Ní âre premye babik Yeu ve shapâmet premyeron nenon.

loc beginning.dat first.masc grandfather Y. nonpresent command.past first.neuter word

In the beginning first grandfather Yeu uttered the first word.

First grandfather Yeu is the primal ancestor of the Shente.  The Shente call him babik grandfather because everything originated from him.  Because of his importance the Shente use superior status language when talking about him.  He doesn't just say the first word, he commands the first word.

 The language of the Shente has grammatical gender.  Babik is masculine and nenon word is neuter.  The word for 'first' changes before each word, being premye before babik and premyeron before nenon.

Starlings' Song 5

Some final comments on this translation.

rodinití heroic deeds the stem is rodina hero.  The ending makes it into an abstract noun.

imbon song or hymn a neuter noun

I needed to create three words for names of bird species.  I chose in the end to look in a guide to birds of my local city.  I found out that 'starling' has been borrowed into Maori as taringi.  I borrowed that word and disguised it as tadrin.  

'Heron' came from the Maori word kotuku which I can trace back to a proto-Polynesian list of words.  The Kotuku is the white heron, a sacred bird in some traditions.  It crosses between the worlds of the living and the dead.  I made the word kôduk.

I was pleased to find the skylark in the guide.  Its Maori name is whioi, the whistler.  I couldn't find a word for 'whistle' so I used the word wúya, to blow. Wúyayon means 'instrument for blowing', I changed the ending to a diminutive, wúyayet, little whistler.  I don't rule out that the stem of the bird-name may change if I uncover a more suitable word.

The word for rain is wua.  Feminine nouns in the dative change the stem with the inclusion of an i-sound, wia.

Bina see, look is one of a handful of verbs that changes stem if it is in a dependent clause, a rule borrowed from Irish Gaelic.  In this case the dependent verb is wabina.

The sentiment of the last line appeals to me in this language.  Who knows the truth about birds?  My theory is we create language to make a model of the universe.  I think the Shente have a creation myth that when premye babik Yeu first grandfather Yeu said Ai petten? what's that? the universe came into being.

Now to play with something new.  See you in a while.

Starlings' Song 4

Ei rodinití imbon e tadrinte gúyet

Pena wia matina kôduk pret

Ninosht wúyayet bitwente dyayet

Chota lideyen e dengí so wabina?

Who sees the truth of birds?

who.nominative truth.accusative accompanitive.plural bird.plural be.relative dependent.see.infinitive.

The last line of four lines.  That was fun to do.  I will post a final note on this translation at a future time.

Starlings' Song 3

Ei rodinití imbon e tadrinte gúyet

Pena wia matina kôduk pret

Ninosht wúyayet bitwente dyayet

In the night the skylark worships the stars

locative-night skylark star.plural worship.present.singular

Starlings' Song 2

The second line:

Ei rodinití imbon e tadrinte gúyet

Pena wia matina kôduk pret

In the morning rain the heron washes

locative rain-dative morning-genitive heron launder.present.singular

Starlings' Song 1

I enjoyed working on the text from the Conlang Relay.  I've gone back and had a go at the first relay, the Starlings' Song.  Here is the first line:

Ei rodinití imbon e tadrinte gúyet

About heroics the song of starlings speaks

topic hero.abstract.plural song accompanitive.plural starling.plural speak.present.singular

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.

McGuffey 1:7-13

Since I have time it is worth posting the next page from the McGuffey Reader.  Especially since I have worked them out, and I can see the number of hits you gave me for posting.  Please feel free to comment, question or complain.  Maybe I can improve the messy presentation that blog-composer gave me last time.  Cross fingers!

[7] Binú tag' ume! See the man!
[8] Binú tago taknok as umena! See the boy and the man!
[9] Ta ume tent údnon pillon, The man has a hat.
[10] A tent ta taknok údnon pillon? Has the boy a hat?
[11] Ta taknok pohat kúrina, The boy can run.
[12] A pohat ta ume kúrina, Can the man run?
[13] Ta ume pohat bina tago taknok kúrina, The man can see the boy run.

Binú is the imperative of bina to see.

Tago drops the final -o before a noun beginning with a vowel.

Ume means man, husband.  In the genitive form of the noun after as the stem is umen-.

Tent is the form of the verb to have, to hold, when the subject is a noun.

Údnon is the neuter form the indefinite article.  It comes before the neuter noun pillon, hat.  The neuter noun and the indefinite article have the ending -on in the Eclectic Tongue.

Kúrina means to run.

A is the question marker.  It comes at the beginning of a sentence. When it is used the sentence changes order so that the verb comes directly after it, and then the subject of the sentence.

McGuffey 1:1-6

The Journal of an Eclectic Tongue has been dormant for the first half of 2012.  Did you miss it?  I needed an exercise that would give this project some life.  McGuffey's First Reader seemed like a good exercise to challenge me.  It's available from Gary Shannon's website Fiziwig.  Here's a go at the first page.

[1] Bodú bin údnígo taknok,  I see a boy.
[2] Bodú bin údnan kalkan,  I see a girl.
[3] Bodú bin tago taknok ís kalkas,  I see the body and the girl.
[4] Ta taknok pohat bina dan kalkan,  The boy can see the girl. 

[5] Bodú poham bina dan kalkan as taknoka, I can see the girl and the boy.

[6] Bodú poham bina dan kalkan, I can see the girl.

That's a lot of information.

Bodú is the usual word for the pronoun I.

Bin is the word for see, look at.  The infinitive form of the verb is bina.

Poha is the stem for the auxiliary verb can, be able to.  If the subject of poha is bodú then the ending is -m.  If the subject of poha is a noun then the ending is -t.

Údnígo and údnan are both articles meaning a (certain one).  Údnígo is masculine animate accusative, and údnan is feminine accusative.  The Eclectic Tongue is heavily inflected and the inflections have to be learned.

Taknok means child, boy.  It is a masculine noun in the Eclectic Tongue.  Masculine nouns do not alter in the ending in the nominative and accusative forms.  After as in sentence [5] taknok takes the genitive ending -a.

Kalkan means girl, with the accusative ending -n, which is added to feminine nouns.  Feminine nouns in the Eclectic Tongue do have a separate accusative form of the noun, unlike masculine nouns.  The nominative form, kalka, is not used in this group of sentences.  After ís in sentence [3] kalkan replaces the accusative ending with the genitive ending -s.

Ta is the definite masculine nominative article.  Ta takes the ending -go before an accusative masculine noun.  Dan is the feminine accusative definite article.

Ís and as are conjunctions and both mean and-the.  After both conjunctions the noun is always in the genitive form, although it is not always a possessive.  In these sentences it is understood to accompany the previous noun, not to be the possessor of it.

That's enough for this lesson.  Bye for now.