il words – Page 2 – Langs and Conlangs

April 23, 2011April 22, 2011

āl

We’re now on the eleventh sentence of the 14th Conlang Relay Text:

āl ñanna lekū rājōl rā mērji ma setenne mīsien cī;

āl is an il word, a word that refers to time. In this case it is a tense/aspect modifier that emphasizes the present, and is usually translated as “now”.

As for the rest of the sentence, we have ñi inflected for a 1st person inclusive paucal agent. The object of ñi is lekū “our hands” and then comes the locative phrase rājōl “to up”, so we have changed the location of our hands upwards: “Now we lift up our hands…” And then rā mērji “to mērji“, which I will explain tomorrow.

January 23, 2011January 7, 2011

ilwae

On to sentence 7 (the final sentence) of the LCC2 Relay Text, concerning the talking rock.

ilwae sele jarūna wā mo lerōña to jakīþa jatēnnā jē nā;

ilwae is a clause-level modifier dealing with time, so an il-word. It means “never”. More on sentence 7 tomorrow.

December 5, 2010December 26, 2010

il aþ

is an il word meaning “and then”, expressing something subsequent to something else. In the second sentence of the Babel text:

il ñatta jarēþa rūānnie il ñatta jamāesa japōññe sū jekiēn xīnār il aþ ñatta āke jamāramma;

it acts as part of a coordinating conjunction connecting the three clauses in the sentence. So:

while:
they made a journey from the east
during which:
they found a plain in the land Shinar
and then:
they made there their home

While they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and made there their home.

November 19, 2010December 26, 2010

illoren

The next sentence of the North Wind and the Sun starts with this word. illoren is a clause-level modifier that denotes that a period of time has finished and now something is going to happen. I generally translate it as “finally”.

illoren ñamma jacēha jatōrren ā mūrāna masīrien;

From Tuesday’s post we also know that it is the North Wind (mūrāna masīrien) that is about to do something.

November 15, 2010December 26, 2010

il

The next sentence in the North Wind and the Sun consists of two NI clauses coordinated by il. il is a coordinating conjunction that joins two clauses that are happening at the same time and is often translated as “when, then” or “while” or “during”.

il ñamma anūri nā ā mūrāna masīrien
il ñamma jalūra rā sāen āñ nō ā marāona;

November 12, 2010December 26, 2010

il aþ

This is a simple clausal connective meaning “and then”.

il aþ ñi marāona nīkamma jalūra jacālle rājanō;
Then along came a wanderer with a warm cloak.

That’s sentence four of the North Wind and the Sun.