Relay 10/R

List of translations

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Lexicon

ak (vocative particle)
an (gnomic aspect particle, used for timeless truths)
an and
as when, interrupted by (conjunction or aspect particle)
at (negative particle; written as an affix)
beila joy
darara fellow, partner, companion
diwest- murder
dwerj- open, make loose
elj- act, do
fezg- play
gaj- sing
gwire male (adj)
γej- dance
jaw- speak
kaiwe alert, keen (of senses)
kir therefore
kjalel how
kjanteili profoundly evil, corrupt, horrible
kut now
ljada skin
men while
mijel then
muŋjaw- ask
naγ- hide
ŋaudaγ- cast aside, discard
ŋjar- know
ŋjara knowledge
paγ- tell a story
paγu story
paj- eat
parast- enforce (a rule), maintain order
pari but, however
pen- lessen, diminish, fade
ra (introduces a complement clause)
rix- be the same as, be equivalent to
selja beautiful
sinaga moor, heath
sluzgi corpse
srak- leave, become lost, pass (of time)
sraw- look, gaze, behold, watch, observe passively
swirara existence (from 'real, true')
šera woman
xanja child
xaskj- make a sudden and violent motion
xemelkekwi   internal organs (collective)


pjaukra

Alex Fink

Ring A


paγara ja rixa swirara ja

ak darare rai, kaiweke srawi! srakparastaitija paγa rai an ŋjara. xanja gwire kjanteili an šera selja man. xanja srau ra šera gajanu. i gajanu an fezgaiteke γejanu, an xanjau man beila. pari i šeru as diwestu. i ljadu ja xaskjaiteke dwerju an xemelkekwe ja paju an sluzge ja sinagau ŋaudaγu.

res kut kjalel elja? res atŋjara ra er mijel elju. kir er naγa ŋjaru rai an atjawa men le atmuŋjawa.


Its existence is equivalent to its telling

Watch alertly, my companions! Order of passing away (personified) knows my story. There was a horrible boy and a beautiful woman. The boy watched the woman sing. She sang and playfully danced, and the boy was happy. However, he suddenly killed the woman. He opened up her skin with a violent motion and ate her internal organs and discarded her corpse on the heath.

What do we do now? We don't know that I did something then. Therefore I am hiding my knowledge and won't speak until you ask.


Notes and grammatical information

wu, ji are replaced by w, j (possibly represented u, i) everywhere.

There are four declensions of the noun and adjective, depending on the final vowel in the nominative singular (the citation form). Nouns inflect for case and number, and adjectives agree with nouns they modify. (This table was copied from previous relays; most of it doesn't apply here.)

            sg   pl       sg   pl       sg   pl       sg   pl
nominative  -a   -e       -e   -i       -i*  -wi      -u   -i
accusative  -u   -i       -i   -e       -e   -we      -a   -e
genitive    -ai  -ei      -ei  -ja      -ja  -wa      -ui  -ja
locative    -au  -eu      -eu  -ju      -ju  -u       -u   -ju
 * palatalizing

Pronouns decline irregularly. In this text the following appear:

            1sg   1pl   2sg   3sg
nominative  er    res   le    i
genitive    rai               ja

Since there's only one 3p pronoun, occasionally it has a couple different referents at once, when context makes the matter clear.

There is one conjugation of the verb. Verbs inflect for TAM only. This text has the

present              -a
past imperfective    -anu
past perfective      -u
formal imperative    -i
 plus the
active participle    -aita
event nominalization -ara
agentive             -aire

Though -ara is fully productive, some verbs have other corresponding nouns as well.

As for the copula, which is irregular, the only form occurring is past imperfective man.

The copula serves to express 'have' with subject in locative.

More morphology: -eke derives adverbs and is quite productive. -ija derives a noun meaning 'one who/that is X', often a proper name, from an adjective. Final vowels disappear before these suffixes.

Basic word order is NA, NG, PN, and both SOV and SVO. SVO is more common when the object is indefinite, SOV when the object is definite. Any of the nominal arguments can be omitted.

Lastly, a note on srakparastaitija. My Darynese source had a very elegant and concise kemae in its place; but I've done regrettably little conculturing on the pjaukra-speakers and have no idea what sort of figures in their belief system would be equivalent, so I've come up with this very klugish compound.


© Jan van Steenbergen, Alex Fink, 9 Sept. 2004