LCC3 Relay Text – Langs and Conlangs

February 3, 2011January 21, 2011

Ä«

The fourth line of the LCC3 Relay Text:

se jÄ«xÅsa cÄ« Änen anwÄlte annÄra il anpÄ“xeni Ä« Ã±i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

Ä« is one of those particles that can mean several things. As a conjunction, it means “and also”. As a clause-level modifier, it means “again, also”. If this is the conjunction Ä« then this sentence has to mean, “Let’s passionately look back in final moments and also (they) move away.” Hmm. If this is the clause-level modifier Ä«, then the sentence can mean “Let’s passionately look back again in final moments (as) (they) move away.” if Ä« is modifying the first clause, or “Let’s passionately look back (as) the final (waves) again move away.” if Ä« is modifying the second clause. Personally, I like the last interpretation, but they are all valid.

la liÄ“n sÅ« anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa;
la jÄo pa anhÄ“ ja Ã±i antÄoni antÄÎ»i rÅ«japÄ“xa;
Ã±i nÄra lemÅra Ã±i antÄoni antÄÎ»i rÅ«japÄ“xa;
se jÄ«xÅsa cÄ« Änen anwÄlte annÄra il anpÄ“xeni Ä« Ã±i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

I am at the edge of the stormy sea and the breaking waves move away.
This is good, that the wild waves move away.
All my dreams become the wild waves moving away.
Let’s passionately look back as the final waves again move away.

February 2, 2011January 21, 2011

anpÄ“xena

The fourth line of the LCC3 Relay Text:

se jÄ«xÅsa cÄ« Änen anwÄlte annÄra il anpÄ“xeni Ä« Ã±i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

anpÄ“xena means “last, final”. Here it appears after il, a marker denoting a time phrase, and in the collective, though there is no collective noun in the sentence for it to modify. So, either it is modifying an elided noun like anÄ«li “moments” or it’s doing something else. Since il also acts as a conjunction, (usually a coordinating conjunction, but this is poetry,) let’s see if that makes more sense. If so, and if Ä« which I will discuss tomorrow can also be parsed with the refrain, then anpÄ“xeni can be modifying the elided “waves”. Of course, putting the object of the relational at the very front of a clause is unusual.

I am at the edge of the stormy sea and the breaking waves move away.
This is good, that the wild waves move away.
All my dreams become the wild waves moving away.
Letâ€™s passionately look back â€¦ moving away.

February 1, 2011January 24, 2011

jÄ«xÅsa

The fourth line of the LCC3 Relay Text:

se jÄ«xÅsa cÄ« Änen anwÄlte annÄra il anpÄ“xeni Ä« Ã±i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

jÄ«xÅsa means “a second look at someplace or in some direction because one is searching for something”. As the object of an uninflected se followed by the mood marker cÄ«, this clause implies “Let’s look back” or “Let’s look again”. cÄ« does not actually belong here. It would belong at the end of the whole sentence, but this is poetry. cÄ« here makes it ambiguous as to which clause (this one or the truncated refrain, “(they) move away”) the phrases Änen anwÄlte annÄra, il anpÄ“xeni, and Ä« belong to.

Änen anwÄlte annÄra is composed of familiar words and means “with strong emotion” or “passionately”. So, are we passionately looking back or passionately moving away. Neither clause has an overtly animate participant capable of experiencing anwÄlte, though since the first line of the poem does contain a first person singular pronoun, and the refrain generally refers to waves, we can mostly assume that Änen anwÄlte annÄra should be parsed with the first clause and its unspoken experiencer rather than with the second.

Tomorrow il anpÄ“xeni.

January 31, 2011January 21, 2011

samÅra

The third line of the LCC3 Relay Text:

Ã±i nÄra lemÅra Ã±i antÄoni antÄÎ»i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

lemÅra is the 1st person possessed form of samÅra, “one’s dreams”. The first clause, Ã±i nÄra lemÅra is incomplete, “All my dreams (become something).” The second clause, the refrain, is again “the wild waves move away”. Putting these two clauses together usually requires some sort of conjunction or relative pronoun or both. As it is poetry, the juxtaposition of these two clauses leads one to interpret this line as “All my dreams become the wild waves moving away”.

la liÄ“n sÅ« anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa;
la jÄo pa anhÄ“ ja Ã±i antÄoni antÄÎ»i rÅ«japÄ“xa;
Ã±i nÄra lemÅra Ã±i antÄoni antÄÎ»i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

I am at the edge of the stormy sea and the breaking waves move away
This is good, that the wild waves move away
All my dreams become the wild waves moving away

Tomorrow, we start line 4.

January 30, 2011January 21, 2011

nÄra

The third line of the LCC3 Relay Text:

Ã±i nÄra lemÅra Ã±i antÄoni antÄÎ»i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

nÄra is a modifier meaning “all” that generally comes after the noun it modifies. Here it comes before it, likely because of something having to do with meter. Poetry, remember. lemÅra will be discussed tomorrow.

la liÄ“n sÅ« anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa;
la jÄo pa anhÄ“ ja Ã±i antÄoni antÄÎ»i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

I am at the edge of the stormy sea and the breaking waves move away
This is good, that the wild waves move away

January 29, 2011January 21, 2011

antÄÎ»a

The second line of the LCC3 Relay Text:

la jÄo pa anhÄ“ ja Ã±i antÄoni antÄÎ»i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

There’s only one unfamiliar word, here, and that is antÄÎ»i, a stative noun modifying antÄoni in the changing refrain. antÄÎ»a means “having the qualities of chaos” so “chaotic, wild, unordered”. The first clause, la jÄo pa anhÄ“ means “this has goodness”. It is followed by the relative pronoun ja, and then the refrain. So, “This is good, that the wild waves move away”.

la liÄ“n sÅ« anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa;
la jÄo pa anhÄ“ ja Ã±i antÄoni antÄÎ»i rÅ«japÄ“xa;

I am at the edge of the stormy sea and the breaking waves move away
This is good, that the wild waves move away

Tomorrow the third line.

January 28, 2011January 21, 2011

anhÅ«wa

Still on the first line of the LCC3 Relay Text:

la liÄ“n sÅ« anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa;

anhÅ«wa means “broken into pieces” and in this line it modifies antÄoni “waves”. antÄoni anhÅ«wi is “the breaking waves” and Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa is “the breaking waves move away”. The phrase Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa really ought to be its own sentence, but since this is poetry, it is simply glommed on to the previous clause in a way that assumes an “and”.

la liÄ“n sÅ« anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa;
I am at the edge of the stormy sea and the breaking waves move away.

January 27, 2011January 21, 2011

jahÄwa

Line 1 of the LCC3 Relay Text:

la liÄ“n sÅ« anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa;

jahÄwa means “the end or edge of something”. Coming as it does after the phrase anÄlhÄri anÄlri “stormy sea”, it refers to the edge of the stormy sea. The entire phrase anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa is the object of the preposition sÅ«, which indicates a location. la liÄ“n sÅ« anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa “I am at the edge of the stormy sea”.

January 26, 2011January 21, 2011

anÄlre

Continuing with our theme, today we start on the text for the LCC3 Relay. The original text was a poem contributed by David J Peterson. I have mixed feelings about translating poetry. I’ve never been good at poetry, even in a conlang. On the other hand, it does provide an opportunity to mess with the syntax and vocabulary. And having a refrain means less to translate, which can be a plus or a minus.

So, the first line:

la liÄ“n sÅ« anÄlhÄri anÄlri jahÄwa Ã±i antÄoni anhÅ«wi rÅ«japÄ“xa;

Unfamiliar words include anÄlri, jahÄwa, and anhÅ«wi.

anÄlri is the stative anÄlre inflected to modify anÄlhÄri “ocean”. anÄlre means “having to do with storms, having the quality of a storm” or “stormy”, so anÄlhÄri anÄlri is “stormy ocean”.

Tomorrow jahÄwa.