Kélen

by Sylvia Sotomayor

The Text

jatáen jé jasóránre to jakéresoT
pa jatáen é makáTón í makéranen; iélte la makáTón ánen jamára sú jakéresoT nó; tema ankíñen to ancáláni anwáleni sú-áke tó-jáo ñi macónón to anrúna; jaliTa é ñamma makéranen matórja rú-éma aT temme ien sele jasóránre cí; temme jáo tó wá céja ñamma jataxósa honahan; aT temme jerrasór ien wá tele jasóránre howae; ñi é manúra á macónón aT makéranen jé antánre rá-péxa rá jaxúra jeláma áñ;

English version

The story of the password to the holy-house.
The story has a thief and a priestess. Once upon a time there was a thief living near a holy-house. He wanted the fine valuables from there; therefore, he made himself out as a guard. One day, he stopped a priestess coming from outside and said "Give me the password." He said this because he was not able to make any discovery. She replied "I haven't got any password." The guard became angry and [so] the priestess went swiftly away through a hidden door."

Interlinear

orthographic text
grammatical function
form as in glossary

jatáen jé jasóránre to jakéresoT
N PREP N PREP N
ja- -táen- -0 jé ja- -sóránr- -e to ja- -kéresoT- -0
pa jatáen é makáTón í makéranen ;
REL N CONJ N CONJ N .
pa ja- -táen- -0 é ma- -káTón- -0 í ma- -kéranen- -0 ;
iélte la makáTón ánen jamára sú jakéresoT nó ;
ASP REL N Prep N DIR N LOC .
iélte la ma- -káTón- -0 ánen ja- -már- -a sú ja- -kéresoT- -0 nó ;
tema ankíñen to ancáláni anwáleni sú-áke
REL N PREP N N DIR LOC
tema an- -kíñen- -0 to an- -cálán- -i an- -wálen- -i sú áke
tó-jáo ñi macónón to anrúna ;
CONJ REL N PREP N .
tó-jáo ñi ma- -cónón- -0 to an- -rún- -a ;
jaliTa é ñamma makéranen matórja rú-éma
ASP CONJ REL N N DIR LOC
jaliTa é ñamma ma- -kéranen- -0 ma- -tórj- -a rú éma
aT temme ien sele jasóránre cí ;
CONJ REL PREP REL N MOOD .
aT temme ien sele ja- -sóránr- -e cí ;
temme jáo tó wá céja ñamma jataxósa honahan ;
REL PN CONJ ASP ASP REL N PN .
temme jáo tó wá céja ñamma ja- -taxós- -a honahan ;
aT temme jerrasór ien wá tele jasóránre howae ;
CONJ REL N PREP ASP REL N PN aT temme j- -errasór- -0 ien wá tele ja- -sóránr- -e howae ;
ñi é manúra á macónón aT makéranen jé
REL CONJ N PREP N CONJ N PREP
ñi é ma- -núr- -a á ma- -cónón- -0 aT ma- -kéranen- -0 jé
antánre rá-péxa rá jaxúra jeláma áñ ;
N DIR LOC DIR N N LOC .
an- -tánr- -e rá péxa rá ja- -xúr- -a j- -elám- -a áñ ;
Legend:
. punctuation - end of sentence
ASP aspect marker (modifies entire clause)
CONJ conjunction
DIR directional
LOC locative
MOOD mood marker
N noun
PN pronoun
PREP preposition, case marker
REL relational (defines a clause)
X anything above

Vocabulary

-0 generic or singular N suffix
-a generic or singular N suffix
á marks an animate cause
áke "there by him/her/them"
an- abstracted N prefix
áñ "through, between"
ánen "with"
aT "and then"
-cálán- "something expensive, valuable"
céja "could, can, be able"
cí commissive/suggestive mood
-cónón- "guard, guardian"
-e generic or singular N suffix
é "and"
-elám- "something hidden"
éma "outside, out of, out"
-errasór- "reply"
honahan "anyhow, any kind, some kind"
howae "no how, no kind"
-i plural N suffix
í "and also"
iélte "once upon a time"
ien quotative marker
ja- inanimate N prefix
jaliTa "one day"
jáo "this, that"
jé marks partial identity
-káTón- "thief"
-kéranen- "priestess, priest"
-kéresoT- "holy house, temple, church, monastery..."
-kíñen- "desire"
la (see grammar) LA
ma- animate N
prefix -már- "house"
ñamma (see grammar) NI + 3p.sg.agent
ñi (see grammar) NI
nó "near"
-núr- "anger"
pa (see grammar) PA
péxa "away, far"
rá "to, towards"
rú "from"
-rún- "seeming, appearance"
sele (see grammar) SE + 1p.sg.goal
-sóránr- "password"
sú "at"
-táen- "story, tale"
-tánr- "something swift"
-taxós- "something discovered"
tele (see grammar) SE + past + 1p.sg.goal
tema (see grammar) SE + past + 3p.sg.goal
temme (see grammar) SE + past + 3p.sg.src + 3p.sg.goal
to marks an inanimate cause or source
tó "because"
tó-jáo "because of this, therefore"
-tórj- "something still, not-moving"
wá negative marker
-wálen- "something fine, high-quality"
-xúr- "door"

Grammar

(ASP) REL N (MOOD)
A clause consists minimally of one REL and one N. ASP markers generally come before the relational. MOOD markers are always at the very end of the clause. Aspect markers often mark tense, modality, and negation as well as time. Mood markers tell what kind of clause it is. Most are indicative or declarative, which has a null marker. Questions, commands, suggestions, prohibitions, and exclamations are the other moods. As for relationals, there are four of them: LA, SE, NI, and PA.
LA N simply states that some N exists.
SE N states that some N exists and that it has a source or cause and a goal or beneficiary.
NI N states that something now exists as something else, i.e. that something has changed its state to N, and that this was caused by some agent.
PA is the odd one, it requires two Ns: PA N N. The first N is a whole and the second N is a part of that whole. For all the relationals besides PA, two identically inflected nouns rename each other. Nouns are inflected with a prefix and a suffix. The three prefixes are the inanimate, the animate (which refers to a person), and the abstract. The suffixes are the generic and the plural. The abstract prefix combined with the plural suffix makes a collective noun. NI and SE can be inflected for person. In the case of NI, if there is an animate agent, then NI is inflected for agent. If, however, the agent is the same as the object of NI (think reflexive), then NI is not inflected. With SE, if the source is animate and/or the goal is animate, SE will be inflected for source and/or goal. SE can also be inflected for tense. Sometimes the source, goal, or agent involved will be explicitly stated using the PREPs to, ke, mo, and á. á is used to mark an animate agent in a NI clause. ke is used for a volitional (and therefore animate) source in a SE clause. to is used for an inanimate or non-volitional agent, cause, or source. mo is used for a goal or beneficiary. Other Prepositions include ánen, jé, and ien. ien occurs with SE to make a quotative clause. ánen generally means "with". jé can mean a lot of things. It usually confers some sort of incomplete identity among two nouns, so that one can almost stand for another.
CONJ X CONJ X
Conjunctions come in two parts (usually) and coordinate two things. If a conjunction only occurs once in a sentence, it is marking the second thing:
X CONJ X.
Conjunctions can join two nouns, two phrases, even two clauses, so long as both things are actually nouns, phrases, or clauses respectively. In other words, a conjunction won't join a noun and a phrase, etc.
DIR (X) LOC
Locatives don't occur without directionals. X is the thing being located.