Relay 10/R

List of translations

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Glossary

All words are nouns unless otherwise marked. See the grammar for an explanation of particles and pronouns.

kanuna-sekupe [law+watcher.] police -- the typically local governmental force that enforces laws
kasu [Latin 'causa', extant in Spanish and English, with initial /k-/ in Hindi /karn/.] cause -- someone or something that produces an effect, result or consquence
kelepe [Blend of Hindi /kel/ and Arabic /laib/, influenced by Latin 'celebrare', extant in English, Spanish, et al.] play, diversion -- activity engaged in for enjoyment or recreation
kita [From Arabic /gida/.] food -- any substance that can be metabolised by an organism to give energy or build tissue
kukitu [From Latin 'cognitio', extant in Spanish, English, et al.] knowledge -- the psychological result of perception, learning and reasoning
kune [From Latin 'contra-', extant in English, et al.] opposite extreme, polar opposite -- the direct contrast
kunune [From Latin 'comunicare', extant in Spanish, English, Italian, Esperanto, Novial, et al., with intial /k-/ in Arabic /kalam/.] communication -- the activity of exchanging information
kupate [From Late Latin 'combattere', extant in Romance (French, Spanish) and English, with initial /k-/ in Arabic.] fight, combat, conflict -- a conflict between opposing groups, in which each attempts to gain power over the other
lele [Unknown origin.] male -- a person or animal that belongs to the sex that cannot have babies
lete [From Romance -el, -et, -elet, extant in English -let ('booklet'), -ette, et al.] little -- a small amount or duration {diminutive}
lete-kune-satisi [{diminutive}+{opposite}+satisfaction.] annoyance; irritation -- slightly bothering or troubling
lesune [From Old French 'raison', extant in Russian, Spanish, English, Novial.] reason, explanation, justification, rationale -- a rational motive for a belief or action
nala [Latin 'mal-', extant in English and Romance.] badness; pejorativeness.
nesetu [From English 'nest', with initial /n-/ in Spanish /nid/ and Hindi /nir/. Close in initial sound to Russian /gnizdo/.] nest, house, lair, den -- a dwelling place for humans or animals
nune [Blend of Latin 'non' & Germanic /n-t/. Latin 'non' is extant in Spanish, Italian, French, Novial, et al., while Germanic /n-t/ is extant in English 'not', German 'nicht', Dutch 'niet', et al.] negation -- the act or progress of nullifying or making something inactive or invalid
nusika-kalane [music+communication-unit.] song -- a piece of music accompanied by spoken words
pakala [From Hindi /pakar/.] hold -- the act or means of grasping something with the hands
palate [From Romance 'part' (from Latin 'pars'), extant in English, Romance (Spanish, Italian) and auxiliaries (Esperanto, Novial).] part -- something determined in relation to something that includes it
pasatu [From Spanish /pasado/ (cognates in Italian and Esperanto) and English 'past', with initial /p-/ in Russian /proshla/ and Hindi /purv/.] past -- time that has elapsed
pasatu-tine [past+day.] yesterday
pinise [From Latin 'finis', "end", extant in English, Spanish, Italian, Esperanto, Novial, et al.] ending, conclusion, completion -- the last part of a process or object considered in its entirety
puse [From Persian /pors/, "ask", similar to Russian /vapros/, "question" with initial /pr-/ in Hindi /prashn/, Spanish 'pregunta' and English 'probe'.] question, query -- an instance of interrogation
salape [From Arabic /salaf/, "old".] old object -- something that has existed for a relatively long time [scalar]
sanile [From Arabic /jamil/.] beauty -- qualities that give one pleasure
sasala [From Arabic /hasal/.] event, occurrence, happening -- something that takes place
sati [From Hindi /sati/.] truth -- fact that has been verified
sekupe [From English 'scope'.] watcher -- a close observer
senuse-kalane [sense+communication-unit] Attention.
sesete [From Russian /sistra/, "sister", and Romance /-esse/ (English -ess), with intial /s-/ occuring in words meaning "sister" in Mandarin Chinese and Hindi.] female -- a person or animal that belongs to the sex that has babies
seti na [emotion+{ablative}] interj. Oh, my!
setina-kene [wall+hole.] window -- a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air
sisi [Unknown origin.] movement -- the act of changing one's location from one place to another
sulala [From Arabic /sulala/.] offspring -- immediate descendant(s)
sulala-pe [offspring-person] baby, toddler
supele-palate se [augmentative+part {verb}] dismember, tear into pieces
tasale [From Hindi /tahar/.] remainder, remnant -- that which is left over
tu [From Indo-European *duwo.] two -- the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing such a number

If I left out any word, it can probably be found here.

Senuse-kalane se nala lele sulala-pe su!

Seti na, pasatu sasala se? Sekupe se le ta sulala-pe ke lesune-ka, pasatu-tine sisi se le ta nesetu li sanile kune-salape sesete pi. Kelepe se le ta sulala ke lesune-ka, pi su lete-kelepe se nusika-kalane se ke. Nune-kase-ka, le ta sulala-pe kupate se sesete ke, supele-palate se ke, kita se ke, sisi se tasale ke setina-kene li! Tu le pi se? Le pi se?! Le pi sati nune kukitu se. Kase-ka, kanuna-sekupe pi nune kune-pinise se puse se lete-kune-satisi lete-puse ke lesune-ka, le pi nune kunune se le sasala su.

Grammar

Morphology

The core vocabulary of Kali-sise consists of 400 root nouns, 2 pronouns, 1 verbal marker (se), 6 case markers and 1 clause marker (ka). New words can be only combined from these roots. With the occasional exception of names, words are never borrowed from other languages into Kali-sise.

Case Markers

Kali-sise has six root case markers:

	Case Marker
Nominative	pi
Genitive	ta
Accusative	ke
Dative	su
Locative	li
Ablative	na

Most of the Kali-sise vocabulary is derived from prominent natural languages (e.g., luna, "moon", from Latin). The primary exception is that the six case markers form a mnemonic derived from the language's nickname, Pitakesulina, a word coined to show all the sounds in the language (pitakesulina is also the Kali-sise word for "alphabet").

• The locative is used to locate actions in time as well as place (e.g., sula li, "in an hour").
• The ablative acts as a "catch-all" case.
• The case markers can be modified to indicate more precise semantic roles (e.g., kasu-na, "because of").
• When the case markers aren't proceeded by noun phrases, they are often translated with third-person pronouns (e.g., pi kunune se, "they communicate").
• The stock order pi su is often used for reflexive actions (e.g., pi su kunune se, "they talk to each other").

Articles

The language does not have any definite or indefinite articles.

Pronouns

le - first-person pronoun
ne - second-person pronoun

Possessive pronouns are formed by using the particle ta. Demonstratives "this" and "that" are formed from the pronouns (think of them as meaning "this thing near me" and "that thing near you"). Thus le ta kanisa means "my shirt" (or "our shirt") and le kanisa means "this shirt".

Verbs

Any noun can be converted to a verb by following it with se (e.g., pusi se ["usage {verb}"], "use"; kunune se ["communication {verb}"], "communicate").

Serial verbs are ambiguous and can either mean:
1. Two separate actions (e.g., Pi su kunune se nune sunu-senuse se, "They speak and do not hear each other").
2. The first verb affects the second (e.g., Pi pinise se pepe se, "They finished creating").

Clause Markers

• Relative clauses begin and end with ka. A postposition indicates the role the noun would play: ka pe pi pepe se ke ka pine-tuna, "people making [ke] tower", "tower people were making". In this fragment, ke indicates the role the modified noun plays (in this instance, the object being made).
• Relative clauses cannot be nested.
• Other clause markers can be coined. For instance, long quotations begin and end with kalane-ka, "quote/unquote". Dependent clauses must precede the independent clause.

Syntax

• Modifiers precede the words that they modify. Even relative clauses precede the words they modify.
• Whether a word is modifying the word immediately after it or the noun before the particle is ambiguous.
• The language defaults to SVO but any order is possible thanks to the case markers and verb marker.

Questions

The language lacks interrogative particles. Questions must be determined from context. Ne pi se? "You did what? What should you do?"

Sample Sentences

Kelu supaka-sunu ke sese kane ke Kali-sise pi nalike se.
four vowel(opening+sound) {accusative} six opposite {accusative} possession {verb}.
"Four vowels and six consonants Kalisise has."

Nasala-tepuse li Kali pi, Kali pi Tesu ta sasape pi, Kali pi se Tesu pi.
beginning(origin+time) {locative} Word {nominative}, Word {nominative} God {genitive} companion {nominative}, Word {nominative} {verb} God {nominative}.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was the companion of God, and the Word was God." John 1:1

nasala-tepuse [origin+time] beginning

Additional note

I can see one possible hangup in the number of dependent clauses in the text. As with Japanese, compound Kali-sise sentences begin with the dependent clause. Unlike Japanese, they are terminated by a modified clause marker specifying the relation of the dependent clause to the independent clause. For instance, to translate, "I went to lunch early, because I had skipped breakfast" you would have to rephrase it "I pi past skip se breakfast ke cause-clause-marker I pi early movement se lunch li."

Another hangup might be that Kali-sise lacks prepositions or (if it emulated Japanese on this vector) postpositions. The case marker alone specifies the relation. So for something like setina-kene li you have to use your judgment to determine if that should be translated "to the window", "out the window", "in the window", "through the window".