A nashiwat ten tuon sebio chet?
Da tí yodna tugikan
Two sentences this time. In the first sentence pupil says What does that thing call itself? Ghostians feel that to call something is a reflexive verb. The word for thing is a neuter noun, tuon. The word for 'it' is also used as an article, usually demonstrative. It can be used to mean 'this' or 'that' without distinction.
Teacher replies It's a pencil. He changes the gender to feminine to agree with the noun.
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Monday, 30 August 2010
What is that?
A tí da chet?
Da tí yodna knihan
A tí da kakanian knihan?
Da tí yodin nenayon
And so begins the third dialogue between a teacher and a pupil. I will jump straight into the dialogue this time, rather than post my draft version.
First the pupil asks What is that? Literally in ghostian, question-tag is that what. Pupil earns some points for identifying the object as feminine case in ghostian and uses the feminine pronoun, da. Don't put it past a pupil to deliberately ask for a word that is obvious. Pupil also uses the question word chet, what? In ghostian it is placed as the object of the sentence.
Teacher replies It is a book. Books are considered inanimate objects and take the accusative case as an object. Your average book tends to tolerate this sort of prejudice, but that's not to mean it enjoys it. The indefinite article before it is yodna. It does not take the accusative ending, although it is marked as feminine with the a-ending. The indefinite pronoun is used less often than in English, and tends to mean One or A Certain... Pupil asks What Kind of book is it, which is another leading question. Which or What Kind is treated as an adjective and has a longer ending than yodna.
Teacher says It is a dictionary. This word took a lot of thinking out. None of my grammars have provided me with a word for dictionary and I eventually went back to the oldest forms of the Old Tongue where a dictionary is called a collection of words. In the end I settled for this form. It means something like a word-tool and is used for keeping words in. The ending makes it neuter and before it yodin drops the a-ending from the feminine word.
Da tí yodna knihan
A tí da kakanian knihan?
Da tí yodin nenayon
And so begins the third dialogue between a teacher and a pupil. I will jump straight into the dialogue this time, rather than post my draft version.
First the pupil asks What is that? Literally in ghostian, question-tag is that what. Pupil earns some points for identifying the object as feminine case in ghostian and uses the feminine pronoun, da. Don't put it past a pupil to deliberately ask for a word that is obvious. Pupil also uses the question word chet, what? In ghostian it is placed as the object of the sentence.
Teacher replies It is a book. Books are considered inanimate objects and take the accusative case as an object. Your average book tends to tolerate this sort of prejudice, but that's not to mean it enjoys it. The indefinite article before it is yodna. It does not take the accusative ending, although it is marked as feminine with the a-ending. The indefinite pronoun is used less often than in English, and tends to mean One or A Certain... Pupil asks What Kind of book is it, which is another leading question. Which or What Kind is treated as an adjective and has a longer ending than yodna.
Teacher says It is a dictionary. This word took a lot of thinking out. None of my grammars have provided me with a word for dictionary and I eventually went back to the oldest forms of the Old Tongue where a dictionary is called a collection of words. In the end I settled for this form. It means something like a word-tool and is used for keeping words in. The ending makes it neuter and before it yodin drops the a-ending from the feminine word.
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Concluding Second Dialogue
Nena riaknia tí dakil úwidant, kodin?
Sha shim odakilion
Bodú wol tai úwed nena riaknia duen
Yao reb mapena melion úwidant kembí
In the first sentence lady student asks National language is easy to learn, isn't it? The new word is dakil which is used here to mean 'easy'. It turns out the verb úwidant, to get to know, is also used for to learn or to teach. Convenient!
Teacher says Not too difficult. The phrase he uses literally translates as All not un-easy-very. Dakil is the same word used in the above sentence.
Lady student says I want to learn national language well. The desiderative particle tai is used to join 'want' and 'learn', and the second verb takes the same tense as the first rather than become a verbal noun. So it literally means I want that (I) learn...
Teacher vows to teach her well. He uses a bit of hyperbole here. The sort of language that it is. He says I strive most well to teach you. As a teacher he uses the yao-form of the first verb. The superlative mapena is used before the comparative adjective of 'good' to make it 'best'.
That is the end of the Second Dialogue and it will go on Frathwiki soon.
Sha shim odakilion
Bodú wol tai úwed nena riaknia duen
Yao reb mapena melion úwidant kembí
In the first sentence lady student asks National language is easy to learn, isn't it? The new word is dakil which is used here to mean 'easy'. It turns out the verb úwidant, to get to know, is also used for to learn or to teach. Convenient!
Teacher says Not too difficult. The phrase he uses literally translates as All not un-easy-very. Dakil is the same word used in the above sentence.
Lady student says I want to learn national language well. The desiderative particle tai is used to join 'want' and 'learn', and the second verb takes the same tense as the first rather than become a verbal noun. So it literally means I want that (I) learn...
Teacher vows to teach her well. He uses a bit of hyperbole here. The sort of language that it is. He says I strive most well to teach you. As a teacher he uses the yao-form of the first verb. The superlative mapena is used before the comparative adjective of 'good' to make it 'best'.
That is the end of the Second Dialogue and it will go on Frathwiki soon.
Saturday, 21 August 2010
talking in language
Ei nena riaknia lâ, nadastâmshim monion
Kuan veandâde kembí kariakkan e bodúta
Bodú veandâde na kariakkan a kembí yodin mâwet porom
Kembí dâguôt nena riaknia duen
Kembí tí'na dohantie sudabodú
Ten tí alidení. Kembí dâguôt sha duen
A longer exchange as we head towards the end of the second dialogue.
The lady student opens the discussion by talking about the language they are learning. The language name is moved to the beginning of her statement between the topic marker ei and the emphatic particle lâ. Here the language is called nena riaknia. In the previous dialogue nena meant words and here is being used for language. For the name of the language I have copied the original Chinese dialogue and the lady student refers to it as nena riaknia, national language. Riaknia is an adjective derived from the word meaning kingdom, the same word is used later in these sentences.
The lady student completes the sentence by saying I don't understand very well. The word for understand is nadastâm. Most verbs don't mark the end of the first person singular verb. Nadastânt is one of a handful of verbs that are different and take an -M at the end of the finite verb. Ghostians argue that these are a set of very old verbs that are done in the old way. They should be respected whereas the rest of the language has moved on. Nadastânt is not yet changing like some of these old verbs are changing. The adverb monion used for very well literally means greatly.
Wow, the next sentence is full of lots of new words. Teacher asks When did you arrive in our country? Going through it word by word: Kuan is a question word, when; Veandâde, arrived, is a verb moved directly after the question word, it beginning with the non-present particle ve which has fused with the A of andâde. It's our friend dânt, to come, with a prefix borrowed shamelessly from German so it means to arrive; Niriakkan means in the country, the word for country is riakka, kingdom, which is the stem of riaknia used above, here it is an accusative noun after the prefix ka-, to, for, which can only be used on place-words. Our is translated from e bodúta, which is the plural of bodú, I, me. It acts like a noun rather than a pronoun and needs the plural accompanitive preposition to mark it as a possessive.
Lady student replies I arrived in your country only last month. When kembí is used as a possessive it needs the accompanitive preposition like bodú which is why it is often replaced by sebio, one's own. The time phrase is yodin mâwet porom, one month last, or only last month.
Teacher tells her You speak national language well. The student replies You flatter me. The word for flatter is another causative verb created from a noun meaning praise. To make it excessive she adds the reflexive particle súd to bodú, literally 'self-of-my'. Her disclaimer literally says You are praising myself.
Teacher reassures her It is true; you speak really well. The word true, alidení has the same ending as riaknia above, without agreeing with the noun it follows. The word translated as really is sha which is common as an interjection in sentences.
Kuan veandâde kembí kariakkan e bodúta
Bodú veandâde na kariakkan a kembí yodin mâwet porom
Kembí dâguôt nena riaknia duen
Kembí tí'na dohantie sudabodú
Ten tí alidení. Kembí dâguôt sha duen
A longer exchange as we head towards the end of the second dialogue.
The lady student opens the discussion by talking about the language they are learning. The language name is moved to the beginning of her statement between the topic marker ei and the emphatic particle lâ. Here the language is called nena riaknia. In the previous dialogue nena meant words and here is being used for language. For the name of the language I have copied the original Chinese dialogue and the lady student refers to it as nena riaknia, national language. Riaknia is an adjective derived from the word meaning kingdom, the same word is used later in these sentences.
The lady student completes the sentence by saying I don't understand very well. The word for understand is nadastâm. Most verbs don't mark the end of the first person singular verb. Nadastânt is one of a handful of verbs that are different and take an -M at the end of the finite verb. Ghostians argue that these are a set of very old verbs that are done in the old way. They should be respected whereas the rest of the language has moved on. Nadastânt is not yet changing like some of these old verbs are changing. The adverb monion used for very well literally means greatly.
Wow, the next sentence is full of lots of new words. Teacher asks When did you arrive in our country? Going through it word by word: Kuan is a question word, when; Veandâde, arrived, is a verb moved directly after the question word, it beginning with the non-present particle ve which has fused with the A of andâde. It's our friend dânt, to come, with a prefix borrowed shamelessly from German so it means to arrive; Niriakkan means in the country, the word for country is riakka, kingdom, which is the stem of riaknia used above, here it is an accusative noun after the prefix ka-, to, for, which can only be used on place-words. Our is translated from e bodúta, which is the plural of bodú, I, me. It acts like a noun rather than a pronoun and needs the plural accompanitive preposition to mark it as a possessive.
Lady student replies I arrived in your country only last month. When kembí is used as a possessive it needs the accompanitive preposition like bodú which is why it is often replaced by sebio, one's own. The time phrase is yodin mâwet porom, one month last, or only last month.
Teacher tells her You speak national language well. The student replies You flatter me. The word for flatter is another causative verb created from a noun meaning praise. To make it excessive she adds the reflexive particle súd to bodú, literally 'self-of-my'. Her disclaimer literally says You are praising myself.
Teacher reassures her It is true; you speak really well. The word true, alidení has the same ending as riaknia above, without agreeing with the noun it follows. The word translated as really is sha which is common as an interjection in sentences.
Friday, 20 August 2010
More tea?
Yako brobú chân kapena moikorí
Íe. Da tí gotúa duen
Kulahú, moikorí, pihant chân
Âriget
The student orders the servant to bring tea. Ghostians seem to run on the stuff! She introduces the command with the phrase yako. Ako is the pronoun used for addressing inferior ranks, such as servants, children, students and animals. It was be insulting to address a friend or equal by it. The Y-prefix is the same as the accompanitive preposition a used in the previous dialogue. At the beginning of a sentence the preposition begins with a Y, and it means Let you (prepare tea for the teacher).
The servant replies that it is well ready. The word châ being feminine the pronoun used here for 'it' is da which is otherwise translated 'she'. The adjective for ready gotúa also has a feminine ending to agree with the pronoun. It is not always necessary for the adjective to agree with the subject in this position. In this case gotú belongs to a set of adjectives with which it is necessary. Yet again this is a case of 'that's the way it is'.
The student invites the teacher to take tea and he thanks her.
Íe. Da tí gotúa duen
Kulahú, moikorí, pihant chân
Âriget
The student orders the servant to bring tea. Ghostians seem to run on the stuff! She introduces the command with the phrase yako. Ako is the pronoun used for addressing inferior ranks, such as servants, children, students and animals. It was be insulting to address a friend or equal by it. The Y-prefix is the same as the accompanitive preposition a used in the previous dialogue. At the beginning of a sentence the preposition begins with a Y, and it means Let you (prepare tea for the teacher).
The servant replies that it is well ready. The word châ being feminine the pronoun used here for 'it' is da which is otherwise translated 'she'. The adjective for ready gotúa also has a feminine ending to agree with the pronoun. It is not always necessary for the adjective to agree with the subject in this position. In this case gotú belongs to a set of adjectives with which it is necessary. Yet again this is a case of 'that's the way it is'.
The student invites the teacher to take tea and he thanks her.
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Courtesies
Kulahú sedant sebio
Kembí tí talik bohoras ristú
Kulahú. Ta tí shawoltaran
Teacher and lady both invite each other to sit down, Please sit yourself. The lady student declares that the teacher is too polite. The words she uses are bohora, which means life-force and ristú, of a guest. Teacher is the soul or spirit of a guest.
Teacher dismisses her compliment. Please! It is shawoltaran. Shawoltaran is an abstract word. It means What Ought To Be Done, a common courtesy or good manners.
Kembí tí talik bohoras ristú
Kulahú. Ta tí shawoltaran
Teacher and lady both invite each other to sit down, Please sit yourself. The lady student declares that the teacher is too polite. The words she uses are bohora, which means life-force and ristú, of a guest. Teacher is the soul or spirit of a guest.
Teacher dismisses her compliment. Please! It is shawoltaran. Shawoltaran is an abstract word. It means What Ought To Be Done, a common courtesy or good manners.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Salutations
Moikorí Kinig ya, a ítí kembí duen ya
Duen. Makorina ya, kembí aft baget alí, kodin?
Íe. Kembí aft baget alí, kodin?
Belem, yao a'bagetshim or Sonan yao a'
Four sentences this time. The first is straightforward, 'Mr Kinig, are you well?' or 'How are you' The second sentence is 'Well. Have you eaten, lady?' In English this would be an impertinent sentence. In other cultures this inquiry is considered courteous. Remember the original dialogue comes from a Chinese grammar. It seems ghostians think similarly, as the phrase literally translates 'Have you eaten rice'. Ghostian already had the word alí for rice. The word does not refer to rice plant, but cooked rice. Presumably rice in other contexts is a different word, I haven't checked.
The second sentence introduces two other new words: aft, have (done something), and baget, eaten, following after aft. Also at the end of the sentence ghostian uses kodin as a question tag. We would say 'haven't you', instead ghostians use kodin.
In reply the lady student says Yes, and asks the same question. There are two longer answers as alternative in the fourth sentence: Not yet, I have not eaten; and On-the-contrary, I have. The teacher refers to himself as yao, I. Yao is used when a person has higher rank than the other. A teacher or a boss may use yao and expect a student or a worker to use the humbler egalitarian bodú in reply. After yao, or bodú the past perfect verb aft is shortened to a'.
Duen. Makorina ya, kembí aft baget alí, kodin?
Íe. Kembí aft baget alí, kodin?
Belem, yao a'bagetshim or Sonan yao a'
Four sentences this time. The first is straightforward, 'Mr Kinig, are you well?' or 'How are you' The second sentence is 'Well. Have you eaten, lady?' In English this would be an impertinent sentence. In other cultures this inquiry is considered courteous. Remember the original dialogue comes from a Chinese grammar. It seems ghostians think similarly, as the phrase literally translates 'Have you eaten rice'. Ghostian already had the word alí for rice. The word does not refer to rice plant, but cooked rice. Presumably rice in other contexts is a different word, I haven't checked.
The second sentence introduces two other new words: aft, have (done something), and baget, eaten, following after aft. Also at the end of the sentence ghostian uses kodin as a question tag. We would say 'haven't you', instead ghostians use kodin.
In reply the lady student says Yes, and asks the same question. There are two longer answers as alternative in the fourth sentence: Not yet, I have not eaten; and On-the-contrary, I have. The teacher refers to himself as yao, I. Yao is used when a person has higher rank than the other. A teacher or a boss may use yao and expect a student or a worker to use the humbler egalitarian bodú in reply. After yao, or bodú the past perfect verb aft is shortened to a'.
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