Eestaak
by bnathyuw
The Text
akerubigawakitu faattarakusitu
akero.beg.awake.eto faras.tarak.os.eto
evil.bring.er.when god.talk.ADJ.when
While wrongdoers prayed
deenka fasfahagga deengo.
deran.kan fad.fak.s.g deran.ok.g
narrate.thing teach.er.SUBJ.PL narrate.PAST3.PL
Teachers told a story,
itarahahhanga faahhandog sarisoggo ivimmoggo.
e.tarak.kan.g faras.kan.os.g sareto.s.g benb.ok.g
this.speak.thing.PL god.thing.ADJ.PL person.SUBJ.PL believe.PAST3.PL
People thought it was sacred.
rato dihevge
rato des.eb.g
hiding go.PAST1.PL
We hid.
emmeg wadaga sood book raka surudawahissenke embezeg rato disuhissenke.
enbeg wa.daga sorod bar.ok raka sorod.awake.esten.k# enbe/d#\g di rato des.os.esten.k#
us not.CONTRARY-TO-EXPECTATION help can.PAST3 you-see help.er.because.ABL us/DAT\ hiding go.ADJ.because.ABL
But noone could help us as anyone who could have helped us was in hiding with us.
fazwak eveg angag tarahuk.
fad.fak beg an/s\kag tarak.ok
teach.er therefore someone/NOM\ say.PAST3
So someone said to a teacher:
--faattaatta fade immedde.
--faras.tarak.t fad.e embeg.d#
god.talk.INF teach.IMPER us.DAT
"Teach us how to pray,
rato raka dihevge akirubigawahissenke faattarakuhissenke--
rato raka des.eb.g akero.beg.awake.esten.k# faras.tarak.os.esten.k#--
hiding you-see go.PAST1.PL evil.bring.er.because.ABL god.speak.ADJ.because.ABL
For we have hidden becuase the nasty people are praying"
faswak daga etarahuk.
fad.fak daga e.tarak.ok
teach.er CONTRARY-TO-EXPECTATION thus.say.PAST3
But the teacher said:
--saretu tarahut ribazambi faassa gadaak we--
--sareto tarak.ot re.badanbe fara/s\s gadar.ak we--
person say.ADJ thereof.everything god/NOM\ hear.PAST3 already
"The god has already heard everything people say."
faka akirubigaakke dehuk.
faka akero.beg.awa/s\ke des.ok
anger evil.bring.er/NOM\ go.PAST3
The wrongdoers grew angry.
faswak daga faattarahuk we.
fad.fak daga faras.tarak.ok we
teach.er CONTRARY-TO-EXPECTATION god.talk.PAST3 already
But the teacher was already praying.
Grammar Notes
--Eestaak has a complex system of sandhi. for this
reason I've given an interlinear of the roots, which I
suggest you concentrate on. I've also put the vocab
and analysis as an interlinear, as I hope this will be
the easiest for both of us. I've tried to avoid
complicating the picture too much, so the only grammar
I'll give you is a brief note on sentence structure
and noun cases :
--Eestaak has six primary cases, of which only four
are used here:
Accusative is unmarked
Nominative has an infixed /s\
Dative has a suffixed .d# ( # indicates a repetition
of the previous vowel )
Ablative has a suffficed .k#
The term accusative is somewhat misleading : the
majority of sentences start with a noun in the
accusative case, and while this is often the subject,
it can in fact be any player in the sentence. In other
words, this noun should be seen more as the topic of
the sentence ( a la Japonaise ) rather than the direct
object.
Verbs tend to come after the primary nouns, and can
then be followed by adverbial material.
Idiom Notes
akerobegawake - evil person
farastarak - to pray
-eto-, -esten- - subordinate clauses are marked on the
principal nouns rather than by particles. -eto- marks
a temporal clause, -esten- marks a causal clause
rato des - to hide
daga, beg - affective particles, somewhat equivalent
to conjunctions
re - indicates that the noun it is attached to is
defined by the preceding noun or phrase
faka des - to become angry
Concultural Note
The speakers of Eestaak have a pampsychist religion,
which sees spirits in all objects and therefore
encourages their propitiation when a particular object
is needed for a task. Prayer therefore is not the
primary mode of worship ( the annointing with oil and
polishing of woodem totems is the most common form --
wood being relatively scarce in the desert areas where
they live and thus prized as a material, unlike glass,
which, being made from sand, is pretty standard ).
I've kept prayer in this context, as it seemed more
appropriate to the story. I've also translated faras
as 'god', where it could more appropritely be
translated 'numen', 'spririt'.