pjaukra
by Alex Fink
The Text
ketšaire tauγantai
sadi baidi rai. er mu znaga an ketšaire tauγantai paγeste.
znaga jan faŋaranu, as i tauγantu bedu. man selkwi an miŋkwi ra jere ketšaire tauγantai paŋanu. znaga jere naktanu.
kaš mera ara ketšaire znagau mu tauγanta jawu. ketšaire ju pradu: "au
le raista miŋkwe rai? werje swire ar, we ŋjari ra jeri mju ajar."
znaga ju kwempradu: "ar gawe. er kak ketse naktanu."
"mi tauγanta ljau feneste mawi an njawelke." miru ar ketši ra ju ketšaire swireke seku.
kar znaga mira sadu, kir ma i dwiru an stawau latseu naγu.
English Version
The seer of the temple
Listen to my words. I will tell a story of a thief and a seer of a temple.
Once upon a time, the thief was wandering, when he found a temple.
There were silver and crystals which the seer of the temple was guarding.
The thief wanted them.
One day later, the seer spoke to the thief about the temple. The seer
told him: "Are you looking for my crystals? If so, know that they aren't
here."
The thief replied: "I am not. I only wanted a prediction."
"This temple will give you pain and tears." This is the prediction that the seer indeed saw.
Then, because the thief heard this, he fled and hid in a remote place.
Grammatical information
There are four declensions of the noun and adjective. Nouns inflect
for case and number, and adjectives agree with nouns they modify.
Those whose final vowel in the citation form is a, e, i, u
inflect in the singular according to column 1, 2, 3, 5
and in the plural according to column 2, 3, 4, 3 respectively
of this table.
1
2 3 4 5
nominative -a -e -i* -wi -u
accusative -u -i -e -we -a
genitive -ai -ei -a* -wa -ui
locative -au -eu -u* -u -u
The starred entries in column 3 palatalise the preceding consonant:
t > š, k > kj, d > gj, g > gj, s > š, x > š, γ > j, n > nj, ŋ > ŋj, l > lj.
If the consonant is not one of the above, the endings appear as -i, -ja, -ju.
Prepositions govern the locative if they have a spatial sense, else the nominative.
With certain verbs (such as verbs of giving or speech), the locative has a dative meaning.
The forms of the first person pronoun are
sg. pl.
nom er res
acc ri ren
gen rai rei
loc rau reu
those of the second person pronoun are
sg. pl.
nom le les
acc li len
gen ljai ljei
loc ljau ljeu
and those of the third person pronoun are
sg. pl.
nom i jeri
acc ju jere
gen ja jerja
loc ju jerju
There is one conjugation of the verb. Verbs inflect for tense/aspect
but not person or number. The forms of verbs appearing in this text
are
present -a
past imperfective -anu
past perfective -u
future -este
imperative -0 (zero) or -i
The above forms for 'to be' are
pres ar
psim man
pspe ur
fut ertse
imp mei
Both SOV and SVO are frequent structures; the differences between them are
not relevant to this relay. In a relative clause, the relativized thing
is fronted.
Adjectives and genitives follow their nouns (but <mi> precedes them).
Prepositions precede nouns.
Lexicon
Nouns are cited here in the nominative singular, and verbs in the present.
an and
ar be, exist
ara day
as when (used when one event interrupts another)
at- (negative marker) (takes the form <aj-> with the verb <ar>)
au (yes/no question particle)
baida word
beda find
dwira flee
er (first person pronoun)
faŋara wander
fena give
gawe false
i (third person pronoun)
jan once, long ago
jawa speak
kak only
kar [1] kir [2] because [1], [2]
kaš forward, in front of, after
ketsi prediction, prophecy
ketšaire seer, fortune-teller, prophet
kwemprada reply
latse far
le (second person pronoun)
ma and then
mawa pain
mera one
mi this (both adjectival and nominal)
miŋkwe crystal
miru this (refers to a sentence or part of the current text)
mju here (locative of <mi>)
mu about, concerning
naγa hide (verb)
nakta want
njawelku tear (liquid secreted by the eye)
ŋjara know (a fact)
paγa tell a story
paŋa protect, watch over, herd, guard
prada talk, say
ra (introduces relative clause), (introduces complement clause)
raista seek, look for
sada hear, listen to
seka see
selki (piece of) silver
stawa place
swire true, real
swireke truly
tauγanta temple
werje [1] we [2] if [1] then [2]
znaga thief