Archive for June, 2014
Tatediem: Various subordinating conjunctions
Monday, June 30th, 2014One common subordinating conjunction originates with the word Tatediem word for 'event, case, circumstance, occurrence'. Normally, this is a neuter 2 noun, (ye)med-, but sometimes it is given the grammatical class marker instead, giving remed-. This has a few uses, depending on which cases are applied to it: instrumental - as a mass noun: if, remest, absolutive - whether, remedo, dative - in order to, remesti. As a singular definite partitive remeti, during. Remedo mainly functions as a direct object of verbs such as know. A form remesti is used for 'regardless if' or 'whether' in constructions like "whether he arrives or not is of no relevance".
The word for 'and' likewise has a nominal origin, in the noun 'group, tribe', (ku)el.
Test Sentences, 113
Monday, June 30th, 2014Continuing with Gary’s list:
- The little house had three rooms, a sitting room, a bedroom, and a tiny kitchen.
he! Three rooms sat in the little house: a room with a chair, a room with a bed, and a small room with a table.
149. suni hadi tɛttɛ laka ɨsa; sune tɛnɛnɛn, sune mudenɛn, sune ɨsa tɛbɛnɛn dɛstɛ.
- suni
- room.SSpl
- hadi
- three.SSpl
- tɛttɛ
- tɛndɛ.PRF
- laka
- house.SSsg
- ɨsa
- small.SSsg
- sune
- room.SSsg
- tɛnɛ
- chair.SSsg
- -nɛn
- with
- sune
- room.SSsg
- mude
- bed.SSsg
- -nɛn
- with
- sune
- room.SSsg
- ɨsa
- small.SSsg
- tɛbɛ
- table.SSsg
- -nɛn
- with
- dɛstɛ
- I’m told
Questions?
Test Sentences, 112
Sunday, June 29th, 2014Continuing with Gary’s list:
- The boat sails away, like a bird on the wing.
- They looked cautiously about, but saw nothing.
The first sentence here uses the particle go to turn the destination into a manner adverb.
147. gɛdɛ ŋyɛttenɛn pɛsi tutava ŋyandinɛn go.
- gɛdɛ
- boat.MTsg
- ŋyɛtti
- sail.SSpl
- -nɛn
- with
- pɛsi
- pɛsi.IMP
- tutava
- flying-lizard.SSsg
- ŋyandi
- wing.SSpl
- -nɛn
- with
- go
- like
The second uses an indefinite pronoun vudeya “nothing” as a subject. I am not sure I will let that stand, but it’ll do for now.
148. mavna doŋina soteya tono mɨdeya na vudeya tono badi dɛstɛ.
- mavna
- they.MTpl
- doŋina
- eye.MTpl
- soteya
- place.SSsg
- tono
- ono.PRF
- mɨdeya
- cautiously
- na
- and
- vudeya
- nothing.SSsg
- tono
- ono.PRF
- badi
- but
- dɛstɛ
- I’m told
Questions?
Test Sentences, 111
Saturday, June 28th, 2014Continuing with Gary’s list:
- Our bird’s name is Jacko.
- The river knows the way to the sea.
Straightforward! Though the river cannot “know” anything, so I paraphrased that as “The river’s path goes to the sea.” And, of course, no birds!
145. bɛdɛ Jacko daɬa udlava.
- bɛdɛ
- name.SSsg
- Jacko
- Jacko
- daɬa
- daɬa.IMP
- udlava
- lizard.SSsg
146. tanan ha toneya tɨŋi agada dɛstɛ.
- tanan
- river.MTsg
- ha
- PS
- toneya
- path.MTsg
- tɨŋi
- tɨŋi.IMP
- agada
- sea.SSsg
- dɛstɛ
- I’m told
I am wondering if tanan toneya tɨŋi agada dɛstɛ, where tanan is a source would convey the same thing.
Questions?
Test Sentences, 110
Friday, June 27th, 2014Continuing with Gary’s list:
- On a fine summer evening, the two old people were sitting outside the door of their cottage.
Straightforward! Though now I am considering having a word for senex.
144. bɨlɨs sɨdi da galsɨnda ge ɛlɛna tɛtna ɛnna mɛttɛndɛ laka da syudo dɛstɛ.
- bɨlɨs sɨdi
- summer.SSsg
- da
- PS
- galsɨnda
- evening.SSsg
- ge
- good.SSsg
- ɛlɛna
- person.MTpl
- tɛtna
- old.MTpl
- ɛnna
- two.MTpl
- mɛh-
- out
- tɛndɛ
- tɛndɛ.IMP
- laka
- cottage.SSsg
- da
- PS
- syudo
- door.SSsg
- dɛstɛ
- I’m told
Questions?
nine is dereksä (revisited)
Friday, June 27th, 2014Word derivation for "nine"
Basque = bederatzi, Finnish = yhdeksän
Miresua = dereksä
My previous Miresua conlang word for nine was erdenisä. The first two letters of the new word, de, are letters in common between the Basque and the Finnish words. The new word is 7 characters long, one character less than the shorter of the two source words, which is allowed under my word-building rules.
By the way, the Finnish word for nine, yhdeksän, is a compound that presumably meant something like "one before (ten)". One in Finnish is yksi.
The word nine occurs four times in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.
Test Sentences, 109
Thursday, June 26th, 2014Continuing with Gary’s list:
- This cottage stood on a low hill, at some distance from the village.
If we assume that it is the cottage (and the hill) that is some distance from the village, we can make this a single clause with “village” as the source.
143. dɛspɛ da laka tɛttɛ lɛnɛ ɨsa sɨsya dan dɛstɛ.
- dɛspɛ
- village.SSsg
- da
- this.SSsg
- laka
- cottage.SSsg
- tɛttɛ
- tɛndɛ.PRF
- lɛnɛ
- hill.SSsg
- ɨsa
- small.SSsg
- sɨsya
- distantly
- dan
- enough
- dɛstɛ
- I’m told
Questions?
Test Sentences, 108
Wednesday, June 25th, 2014Continuing with Gary’s list:
- Jack seized a handful of pebbles and threw them into the lake.
Here we can get by with a serial predicate.
142. Jack amba kɨdɨdi onnɨt ma kunava iɬanya eyonnɨt ɛbɛ dɨmmeya dɛstɛ.
- Jack
- Jack
- amba
- some.MTpl
- kɨdɨdi
- rock.MTpl
- onnɨt
- aŋi.PRF
- ma
- 3P
- kunava
- hand.SSsg
- iɬanya
- filled-ly
- eyonnɨt
- into
- ɛbɛ
- aŋi.PRF
- dɨmmeya
- lake.SSsg
- dɛstɛ
- forcefully
Jack filled his hand with pebbles and forcefully sent them into the lake.
Questions?
Test Sentences, 107
Tuesday, June 24th, 2014Continuing with Gary’s list:
- We are a brave people, and love our country.
- All the children came except Mary.
Country? Yeah, no. That implies a level of political organization that just isn’t there. And substituting “village” or “territory” doesn’t really work, either. This sentence is essentially saying, “Hey, we are willing to go to war over our piece.” And I don’t feel like figuring out all the concepts and words for this in SL. So I am skipping this sentence.
Luckily, the next one is easy.
141. susi nadna hɨsna tono na Mary vono badi.
- susi
- (t)here
- nadna
- all.MTpl
- hɨsna
- child.MTpl
- tono
- ono.PRF
- na
- and
- Mary
- Mary
- vono
- ono.NEG
- badi
- but
Questions?
Test Sentences, 106
Monday, June 23rd, 2014Continuing with Gary’s list:
- They heard the warning too late.
Mostly straightforward.
139. mavna sadna sɛŋeya tono ɨdeba alam.
- mavna
- their
- sadna
- ear.MTpl
- sɛŋeya
- danger.MTsg
- tono
- ono.PRF
- ɨdeba
- late
- alam
- too
Questions?