Continuing with Gary’s list:
This uses the same structure as yesterday’s sentence.
76. dappɛbɨdi hɛnɨdi sɨŋyɨdi alanduso gamaɬi olaya dɛstɛ.
In Kēlen:
76. la jamāli japēwi janēli jasīñi sū anhamāji āñ;
Questions?
Continuing with Gary’s list:
Between! That means a new verb: duso. And that means I have now used all 11 verbs. Yay, me!
duso means to go back and forth from one point to another. To make a path between two points, we prefix duso with alamya making alanduso. And even though the valley is not actually moving, we still use alanduso.
75. gyɨdɨdɛn gegyelɨdɛn alanduso laɬi laddɨŋyi ɛni dɛstɛ.
In Kēlen:
75. la jajīra sū jalāji jasīñi ēnne āñ;
Questions?
Continuing with Gary’s list:
Hmm. This is a description of the river’s path. Which means we get to use some neato path words, one of which we’ve already seen: edatta “entrance, beginning of a path”. For this sentence we will use mɛddatta “end of a path” and hɨddatta “turn in a path”.
74. tanan dantɨŋi daka nokiɬi mɛddatta tɨŋi hɨddatta aŋana notɨŋi sandɨŋi dɛstɛ.
The river goes along its path and goes towards its end and goes to a sharp turn and goes towards the east. We could probably omit dantɨŋi daka.
In Kēlen:
74. ñi jatāna rā jatōrren nō rānnie ānen anāŋŋena;
Questions?
Continuing with Gary’s list:
OK a question with an actual question word. This took a little thinking, and I think I am satisfied by how I did this, but I reserve the right to change it later.
First, for guests, we use madɛlɛ. Arriving is susi N ono where N is arriving. Guests from the city requires a relative clause, and I am going to use “other village” rather than “city”: madɛlɛ ma dɛspɛ hɨde tɨŋi.
Now for the question word “when”. For this we are going to use the phrase baŋi ɨlɨŋi which means “which time” or “some time”. We will also use the dubitive dɛmɛ as we did in other questions.
73. susi madɛlɛna ma dɛspɛ hɨde tɨŋi ono baŋi ɨlɨŋi dɛmɛ.
In Kēlen:
73. ñi malāsēli rū jamāonre rā þō ilkēñ;
Questions?
"We must burn the house down!" said the Rabbit's voice; and Alice called out as loud as she could, "If you do. I'll set Dinah at you!"
Continuing with Gary’s list:
Let’s deal with the second half first. We often walked in the pastures or fields uses eyaŋi “move about in”. leni eyaŋi mɨŋyi ɨnavi.
Now for the first part. Country here is “countryside” as opposed to “city”. I am not sure this conceptual distinction exists in my language. So, we are going to use da sota “this place”. And “during our residence” is “while we dwelled” because I don’t want to create an abstract noun “residence”. leni kohɨdɛn eyɛmɛ da sota.
To join the two pieces, we use na which would be the equivalent of “while, during”.
72. leni kohɨdɛn eyɛmɛ da sota na leni eyaŋi mɨŋyi ɨnavi.
In Kēlen:
72. il ñalna jamāra sū xō il ñi lēim rā jamāesi āñ ilnāja;
Questions?
Continuing with Gary’s list:
Way back in episode 8 I discussed the pattern SRC LOC mɛhaŋi ko as “SRC makes a home in|dwells in|lives in LOC”. But that gets a bit unwieldy with a complex location like “on the top of the hill in a little hut”. So, an alternative construction involves the verb ɛmɛmɛ, which we haven’t used yet. Specifically, it involves ey-ɛmɛmɛ in the construction SRC ko-hɨdɛn ey-ɛmɛ LOC, which leaves room for a complex LOC.
71. kyɛnɛ tɛta syena kohɨdɛn eyɛmɛ laka ɨsa da tɛndɛ lɛnɛ da olat dɛstɛ.
In Kēlen:
71. ñamma jamāra ā macēna mahēna masōnen sū jakō jīña sū jalāīñ ōl;
Questions?
The other day, when I was reading io9, I came across an article about One of the World’s First Statements About the Scientific Method. The article is about a quote by Alhazen – Ibn al-Haytham, an Arab polymath of the 10th/11th cenutry –, the quotation from his book Doubts Concerning Ptolemy (Al-Shukūk ‛alā Baṭlamyūs). I don’t know how accurate the translation is, but I thought that it would still be nice as a Translation Challenge, so I’m basing the following translation off of this English translation, since I don’t know any Arabic. Unfortunately, there is no indication of the edition the translated passage is quoted from. According to one of the comments on the article, the source of this quotation is the closing passage of Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist by Bradley Steffens. Contrary to what it says in the comment, however, there is a critical translation of Alhazen’s book into English by Don L. Voss, published in 1985 as a Ph.D. thesis at the University of Chicago, but it doesn’t seem to be easily available outside of UChicago. Since I don’t have access to either book, I’m quoting this from the io9 article:
The seeker after truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration and not the sayings of human beings whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfection and deficiency. Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, and, applying his mind to the core and margins of of its content, attack it from every side. [H]e should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency.
What struck me as challenging here is that this rather lengthy quotation consists of just three sentences with both a complex structure and interesting vocabulary that exceeds that of daily language, e.g. seeker after truth, the ancients, natural disposition, deficiency, investigate, … However, since I don’t like too complex sentences in Ayeri, I split the three sentences in the quote up into multiple sentences, which makes translation a bit easier. The first sentence especially also lends itself well to using anaphora and parallelism as a stylistic device. The English text also does that, but obscures it a little by using a lot of coordinated clauses in a single sentence.
- Balang
- Seek
- kalam
- truth
- -maya
- -AGTZ
- -ang
- -A
- voy
- NEG
- nyān
- person
- -as
- -P
- si
- REL
- le
- PT.INAN
- sobisa
- study
- -yāng
- -3SG.M.A
- tahang
- writing
- -ye
- -PL
- -Ø
- -T
- timbay
- ancient
- -an
- -NMLZ
- -ena
- -GEN
- nay
- and
- parona
- trust
- -yāng
- -3SG.M.A
- suhing
- nature
- -ya
- -LOC
- yana
- 3SG.M.GEN
- nasyam.
- according.to.
‘The truth-seeker is not a person who studies the writings of the ancient and trusts in them according to his nature.’
- Adanya
- That.one
- -ang
- -A
- nāreng
- rather
- nyān
- person
- -as
- -P
- si
- REL
- sa
- PT
- birenya
- doubt
- -yāng
- -3SG.M.A
- paronān
- trust
- -Ø
- -T
- yana
- 3SG.M.GEN
- nay
- and
- sa
- PT
- nikang
- question
- -yāng
- -3SG.M.A
- adanya
- that.one
- -Ø
- -T
- si
- REL
- sob
- learn
- -yāng
- -3SG.M.A
- ray.
- 3PL.INAN.INS.
‘He is rather a person who doubts his trust and questions what he learns from them.’
- Adanya
- That.one
- -ang
- -A
- māy
- AFF
- nyān
- person
- -as
- -P
- si
- REL
- ya
- LOCT
- sitang=
- self=
- avan
- subject
- -yāng
- -3SG.M.A
- mandan
- argumentation
- -Ø
- -T
- nay
- and
- pukatan
- proof
- -Ø,
- -T,
- nāroy
- but.not
- narān
- word
- -ya
- -LOC
- keynam
- people
- -ena
- -GEN
- =nama
- =mere
- si
- REL
- -Ø
- -GEN
- -nā
- -GEN
- suhing
- nature
- -ang
- -A
- tan
- 3PL.M.GEN
- deng
- full
- miran
- kind
- -ye
- -PL
- -ri
- -INS
- =hen
- =all
- sempay
- perfect
- -arya
- -NEG
- -na
- -GEN
- nay
- and
- sinka
- flaw
- -ye
- -PL
- -na.
- -GEN.
‘He is a person who subjects himself to argumentation and proof, but not to the word of mere humans the nature of which is full of all kinds of imperfections and flaws.’
- Dila
- find.out
- -yam
- -PTCP
- -an
- -NMLZ
- -ang
- -A
- kalam
- truth
- -ena
- -GEN
- bahalan
- goal
- -as
- -P
- ayon
- man
- -ena
- -GEN
- si
- REL
- le
- PT.INAN
- nivisa
- investigate
- -yāng
- -3SG.M.A
- tahang
- writing
- -ye
- -GEN
- -Ø
- -T
- sobisaya
- scholar
- -ye
- -PL
- -na,
- -GEN,
- ruān
- duty
- -as
- -P
- yana
- 3SG.M.GEN
- kada,
- thus,
- sa
- PT
- tav
- become
- -yāng
- -3SG.M.A
- kehin
- enemy
- -Ø
- -T
- enya
- everything
- -na
- -GEN
- si
- REL
- laya
- read
- -yāng.
- -3SG.M.A.
‘If finding out the truth is the goal of the man who investigates the writings of the scholars, his duty is thus for him to become the enemy of everything he reads.’
- Na
- GENT
- pakua
- apply
- -yāng
- -3SG.M.A
- tenuban
- reason
- -as
- -P
- yana
- 3SG.M.GEN
- terpeng
- center
- -yam
- -DAT
- nay
- and
- lito
- margin
- -yam
- -DAT
- erar
- content
- -Ø
- -T
- nay
- and
- ang
- AT
- kongr
- attack
- -ya
- -3SG.M.A
- ray
- side
- -ena
- -GEN
- =hen.
- =every.
‘He applies his reason to the center and the margin of the content and attacks it from every side.’
- Ang
- AT
- mya
- be.supposed.to
- birenya
- doubt
- -ya
- -3SG
- -Ø
- -T
- sitang=
- self=
- yās
- 3SG.M.P
- naynay
- as.well
- ling
- during
- nivisān
- investigation
- -j
- -PL
- -ya
- -LOC
- yana,
- 3SG.M.GEN,
- kadāre
- so.that
- ang
- AT
- mya
- may
- manang
- avoid
- -ya
- -3SG
- -Ø
- -T
- tav
- become
- -yam
- -PTCP
- kimbisan
- prey
- -as
- -P
- adun
- prejudice
- -ena
- -GEN
- soyang
- or
- tataman
- leniency
- -ena.
- -GEN.
‘He is to doubt himself as well during his investigations so that he may avoid becoming the prey of prejudice or leniency.’
The whole text:
Balangkalamayāng voy nyānas si le sobisayāng tahangye timbayanyena nay paronayāng suhingya yana nasyam. Adanyāng nāreng nyānas si sa birenyayāng paronān yana nay sa nikangyāng adanya si sobyāng ray. Adanyāng māy nyānas si ya sitang-avanyāng mandan nay pukatan, nāroy narānya keynamena-nama sinā suhingang tan deng miranyeri-hen sempāryana nay sinkayena. Dilayamanang kalamena bahalanas ayonena si le nivisayāng tahangye sobisayayena, ruānas yana kada, sa tavyāng kehin enyana si layayāng. Na pakuayāng tenubanas yana terpengyam nay litoyam erar nay ang kongrya rayena-hen. Ang mya birenyaya sitang-yās naynay ling nivisānjya yana, kadāre ang mya manangya tavyam kimbisanas adunena soyang tatamanena.
[Added pretty scriptie and recording; fixed some errors and redundancies both in translation and in wording. —CB, 2014-05-09]
Continuing with Gary’s list:
The first boy in line is the subject of the sentence, and it is rendered as the line’s first boy galanɨd da koda andana and he goes to the entrance edatta and then he stands there, all stopped or unmoving vodakya.
70. galanɨd da koda andana otni edatta ladi mava sɛttɛ vodakya dɛstɛ.
In Kēlen:
70. ñi mamōīñ sū jañūna jānne mōrre sū anxūri;
Questions?
