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.