Test Sentences, 12

Continuing with Gary’s list, and experimenting with a one-a-day format:

  1. The baby’s ball has rolled away.

“Away” in this one signals that pɛsi is probably the verb to use. pɛsi requires a source, but that can easily be the baby (class I noun kyɨbe). As a source, kyɨbe will need to be in the sessile singular, unless the baby deliberately made the ball roll away. “Ball” is a class III noun, kyoda, which will need to be motile as it is the subject of the sentence. Which leaves “rolled”, for which we will use an adverb of manner, namely bɛldɛnya, for something that exhibits a rolling, turning, or spinning motion. Putting this all together:

31. kyɨbava kyodɨdɛn pɛstɛ bɛldɛnya.

kyɨbava
S
baby.SSsg
kyodɨdɛn
A
ball.MTsg
pɛstɛ
V
pɛsi.PRF
bɛldɛnya
ADV
rollingly

The ball (presumably the baby’s) went away from the baby rollingly, or The baby’s ball has rolled away.

In Kēlen, any observer of this scene wouldn’t care about expressing the “rolling” part, because what else is a ball supposed to do, hop?

31. ñi jacāora rū macīwa;

ñi
NI
jacāora
ball
FROM
macīwa
baby

Questions?

Test Sentences, 11

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. He will arrive soon.

This one uses ono, which requires a source. Arrive means to come to a place, usually where the speaker is, so we will use “here” as a source.

30. susi mava ono galaba tɛlɛ.

susi
S
here
mava
A
3P.MTsg
ono
V
ono.IMP
galaba
ADV
soon
tɛlɛ
EVI
INF

He will come here soon (I infer).

In Kēlen

30. anniþen ñi sāen rā þō.

anniþen
soon
ñi
NI
sāen
3PSG
to
þō
here.

He will go to here soon.

Questions?

Test Sentences, 10

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. Go away!
  2. Let’s go!
  3. You should go.
  4. I will be happy to go.

Right. Generic “go” is usually tɨŋi, though “go away” is pɛsi. But pɛsi requires a source, so “go away from S”. The source is often susi “here, there”.

26. susi pɛsi ka

susi
S
here
Ø
A
(you)
pɛsi
V
pɛsi.IMP
ka
CMD
!

Go away from here! or Get away from here!

But,

26. tɨŋi dupɛsya ka

Ø
A
(you)
tɨŋi
V
tɨŋi.IMP
dupɛsya
ADV
far away
ka
CMD
!

Go away!

also works. The rest of the sentences also use tɨŋi.

27. leni tɨŋi ki.

leni
A
1P.MTco
tɨŋi
V
tɨŋi.IMP
ki
HRT
!

Let’s go.

28. ŋidi tɨŋi dɛstɛ ki.

ŋidi
A
2P.MTsg
tɨŋi
V
tɨŋi.IMP
dɛstɛ
EVI
REP
ki
HRT
!

You should go.

Evidentials are generally not used with commands and suggestions, but using the reported evidential dɛstɛ here with hortative ki makes this a polite suggestion.

29. lene tɨŋi andabalya dɛga.

lene
A
1P.MTsg
tɨŋi
V
tɨŋi.IMP
andabalya
ADV
happily
dɛga
MDL
FUT

I will be happy to go. / I will go happily.

In Kēlen:

26. ñi rūjapēxa ka;

ñi
NI
rūjapēxa
go away
ka
CMD

27. ñanna rū þō cī;

ñ-
NI
anna
1Ppl.incl.A
from
þō
here
HRT

28. ñarra rū þō cī;

ñ-
NI
arra
2Psg.A
from
þō
here
HRT

29. rēha ñalla rū þō ānen anālne.

rēha
FUT
ñ-
NI
alla
1Psg.A
from
þō
here
ānen
with
anālne
happiness

Questions?

Recap

We’ve done 25 sentences, so I thought I would summarize the vocabulary used so far.

There’ve been 16 nouns in various inflections:

MTsg MTpl SSsg SSpl
person N.1 ɛlɛ ɛlɛna
animal N.2 paki pakina
cat N.2 idɛl
eye(s) N.2 doŋi
kitten N.2 iddɨse
raindrop, rain N.2 tadan tadna tadava tadnavi
sun N.2 loho
game N.3 gyɛdɛ
home N.3 ko
plain N.3 mesɨdɛn mese
settlement N.3 dɛspɛdan dɛspi
table N.3 tɛbɛ
hope N.4 kyɛsi
light N.4 logɨdiya logatan
place N.4 soteya sota
shout N.4 umɨdiya ume

Class 1 and 2 nouns have their citation form as the motile singular (MTsg). Class 3 and 4 nouns use the sessile singular (SSsg) for their citation forms. The citation forms are in bold.

As a reminder, nouns are inflected for motility as well as number. Subjects are generally motile. Sources are motile when animate or agentive. Destinations are always sessile. OK? There are exceptions of course, but I don’t think we’ve seen any so far.

We’ve also seen 6 verbs, out of a total of 11.

eyaŋi AF+V in+aŋi.IMP
mɛhaŋi AF+V out+aŋi.IMP
mɛhonnɨt AF+V out+aŋi.PRF
evi V evi.IMP
evna V evi.ITR
tavi V evi.PRF
tono V ono.PRF
pɛstɛ V pɛsi.PRF
sɛdɛ V sɛdɛ.IMP
tɨŋi V tɨŋi.IMP
otni V tɨŋi.PRF
tattɨŋi AF+V down+tɨŋi

Other words we have seen so far:

ala ADV now
amba ADJ some
andabalna ADJ happy.MTpl
aŋo ADJ many
bala EVI non-visual/sensory evidential
bodna ADJ finished.MTpl
deya PN N4.MTsg
dɛga MDL future marker
dɛstɛ EVI reported evidential
galaba ADV soon
gyɛttaɬna ADJ wild.MTpl
iyɛ iyɛ ADV again
iyɛnɛ ADV twice
ɨnavi ADV often
ɨsa ADJ little.2MTsg
lannal ADV tomorrow
lene PN 1P.MTsg
leneya PN 1P.SSsg
lo ADJ bright.2MTsg
loya ADV brightly
ma PN 3P inalienable possessive
nadna ADJ all.1MTpl
nɛn CNJ with
olaya ADV upwards
tadya ADV downwards
tɛlɛ EVI inference evidential
tilɛnya ADV once long ago
tosi ADV slowly
tto AF agentive/causative marker

Questions?

Test Sentences, 9

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. Slowly she looked around.

Well, “slowly” is easy enough. That is the adverb tosi. Looking and seeing is covered by the verb ono, which requires a source (the experiencer). The source here would be “she” in the form of “her eyes” ma doŋi. The subject would be whatever her eyes are experiencing, which is undefined in this sentence. Looking around implies looking in a place, and we know about places from the last post–soteya.

But ma doŋi soteya tono tosi is really “She saw the place slowly”. Looking has an agency to it that mere seeing does not. That can be solved by adding the causative/agentive –tto to the source. tto acts to increase the animacy of the source, which is equivalent in SL to increasing the agency. So ma doŋitto soteya tono tosi “She deliberately saw the place slowly.” or “Slowly she looked around.”

25. ma doŋitto soteya tono tosi.

ma
3P
doŋi
eye.MTsg
-tto
CS
soteya
place.MTsg
tono
ono.PRF
tosi
slowly

In Kēlen:

25. sema jasēlni mo maroña ānen antōxa;

se
SE
-ma
3psg.BEN
jasēlni
sights
mo
BEN
maroña
3P-eyes
ānen
with
antōxa
slowness

Questions?

Test Sentences, 8

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. Once wild animals lived here.

Well, “wild animals lived here” is a simple sentence. However, “live somewhere” as in dwell is one of those concepts that tends to be idiomatic in other languages. Of course, I already sort of came up with this in the Babel text, using

ɛlɛna mesɨdɛn mɛhaŋi dɛspi.

ɛlɛna
S
person.MTpl
mesɨdɛn
A
plain.MTsg
mɛh-
ADV-
out
aŋi
V
aŋi.IMP
dɛspi
D
settlement.SSpl

The people make settlements on the plain.

The adverb mɛya, when prefixed to aŋi means that D dɛspi is made out of A mesɨdɛn. However, for this sentence we are going to use ko “home” instead of dɛspɛdan “settlement”, which means that “here” is essentially the subject of the SL sentence, and “wild animals” is the source.

Regarding “here”, the usual word is susi, but susi cannot be used as a subject of a sentence. 🙁 But, there is another word, sota “place” which can be used. It is a class IV abstract noun, so the motile singular is soteya. We might even make it more specific, saying deya soteya “this place”.

The word for animal is paki, pakina in the motile plural. It can mean any kind of animal, including pets, so we need the adjective “wild” to modify it. That would be gyɛttaɬ, making pakina gyɛttaɬna the source, deya soteya the subject, mɛhaŋi the verb, and ko the destination. Now all that is left is that pesky “once”.

“Once” to me implies that either the animals lived here long ago, or that however long ago it was, it will not happen again. The adverb tilɛnya mostly sort of covers that. Plus, we need the evidential dɛstɛ to explain how we know this.

24. pakina gyɛttaɬna deya soteya mɛhonnɨt ko tilɛnya dɛstɛ.

pakina
animal.MTpl
gyɛttaɬna
wild.MTpl
deya
this.MTsg
soteya
place.MTsg
mɛh-
out
onnɨt
aŋi.PRF
ko
home.SS
tilɛnya
once-long-ago
dɛstɛ
REP

Wild animals once made home(s) here. (I’m told)

In Kēlen:

24. iēlte ñatta jamāra þō ā japāci;

iēlte
once
ñ
NI
-atta
3Ppl.A
jamāra
home
þō
here
ā
A
japāci
wild animals

Wild animals once lived here.

Questions?

Test Sentences, 7

The next three sentences in Gary’s list concern more rain:

  1. The rain has stopped.
  2. Soon the rain will stop.
  3. I hope the rain stops soon.

21. tadna otni bodna.

tadna
rain.MTpl
rain
otni
tɨŋi.PRF
moved to
bodna
finished.MTpl
finished

bodna is an adjective. The construction N tɨŋi ADJ means that the N becomes ADJ.

22. tadna tɨŋi bodna galaba tɛlɛ.

tadna
rain.MTpl
rain
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
move to
bodna
finished.MTpl
finished
galaba
soon
soon
tɛlɛ
INF
I infer

tɛlɛ is the inference evidential. One could also say tadna tɨŋi bodna galaba dɛstɛ. “Soon the rain will stop (I’m told).”

23. lene kyɛsinɛn sɛdɛ tadna tɨŋi bodna galaba.

lene
1p.MTsg
I
kyɛsi
hope.SSsg
hope
=nɛn
COM
with
sɛdɛ
sɛdɛ.IMP
be vertical
tadna
rain.MTpl
rain
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
move to
bodna
finished.MTpl
finished
galaba
soon
soon

sɛdɛ is one of the three verbs to be. Its subject is something with a strong vertical configuration, like a person. Its subject can be either motile or sessile, which is why kyɛsi stays sessile. All of the to be verbs can take a clause in the destination slot, which refers to one of the subjects, in this case kyɛsi.

In Kēlen:

21. ñi antārranni antōrreni;

ñi
NI
antārranni
rain
antōrreni
stopped

22. anniþen ñi antārranni antōrreni rēha;

anniþen
soon
ñi
NI
antārranni
rain
antōrreni
stopped
rēha
FUT

23. sele jacēxa ien anniþen ñi antārranni antōrreni rēha;

sele
SE+1SG.BEN
jacēxa
hope
ien
that
anniþen
soon
ñi
NI
antārranni
rain
antōrreni
stopped
rēha
FUT

Questions?

Test Sentences, 6

The next three sentences in Gary’s list concern rain:

  1. It’s raining.
  2. The rain came down.
  3. The kitten is playing in the rain.

Rain is tadan, another class II noun, but with a singulative suffix, so really tadan is ‘raindrop’. In the collective/plural, it is tadna.

Falling is motion downwards, using tɨŋi. With rain, the downwards part can be left off.

18. tadna tɨŋi.

tadna
rain.MTpl
rain
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
moves

19. tadna tɨŋi tadya.

tadna
rain.MTpl
rain
otni
tɨŋi.PRF
moved
tadya
downwards
downwards

I said that tadya was no longer prefixable, but I think it will be possible to simply say tattɨŋi (tad+tɨŋi) and mean “It’s raining”, literally “it’s moving downwards”. Any other usage of tadya with tɨŋi, though, requires the formations above.

20. gyɛdɛ iddɨse eyaŋi tadnavi.

gyɛdɛ
game.SSsg
game
iddɨse
kitten.MTsg
kitten
e-
in
in
aŋi
aŋi.IMP
move about
tadnavi
rain.SSpl
rain

aŋi means to move to a large, diffuse destination. Prefixed with aŋi, it means to move about in a location (here, the rain). gyɛdɛ ‘game’, in the source slot and sessile, is indicating a purpose for the rest of the sentence. So the kitten is moving about in the rain for the purpose of a game.

In Kēlen:

18. la antārranni;

la
LA
antārranni
rain

19. ñi antārranni rājatā;

ñi
NI
antārranni
rain
rājatā;
to+down

20. ñi jatūmse jajēren sū antārranni;

ñi
NI
jatūmse
tūmse
jajēren
playful
at
antārranni
rain

“The tūmse is playful in the rain.”

Questions?

Test Sentences, 5

My friends' new kitten Whiskey.

The next three sentences in Gary’s list have kittens:

  1. The kitten jumped up.
  2. The kitten jumped onto the table.
  3. My little kitten walked away.

I have to confess that as much as I love cats, the Kēleni don’t have them. 🙁 I have not yet decided if the people who speak sodna-lɛni have cats as pets, but I think they will, by fiat. Even if it ends up not making sense. OK, so a word for cat and for kitten. Class II with the other animals….

idɛl for ‘cat’ and iddɨse for ‘kitten’. Those are motile singular forms.

Jumping is motion upwards, using tɨŋi.

15. iddɨse otni olaya.

iddɨse
kitten.MTsg
kitten
otni
tɨŋi.PRF
moved
olaya
upwards
upwards

16. iddɨse otni tɛbɛ olaya.

iddɨse
kitten.MTsg
kitten
otni
tɨŋi.PRF
moved
tɛbɛ
table.SSsg
table
olaya
upwards
upwards

tɛbɛ ‘table’ is the destination. Destinations are always sessile.

17. leneya iddɨse ɨsa pɛstɛ.

leneya
1P.SSsg
from me
iddɨse
kitten.MTsg
kitten
ɨsa
little.MTsg
little
pɛstɛ
pɛsi.PRF
moved away

In sodna-lɛni one would only specify ‘my’ in contrast with ‘yours’ or ‘his/hers’ or such. So I left it out of 17. And we have a third verb: pɛsi which means to move away from a required source. Since source is grammatically required, I added one, making “The little kitten moved away from me.” And it is in the sessile to denote that I didn’t send the kitten away. I am just another location in this sentence. Sources in previous sentences were motile, implying a degree of agency.

In Kēlen, using tūmse for the pet:

15. ñamma jatūmse rajōl;

ñamma
NI+3SG.A
jatūmse
tūmse
rajōl
to+top

16. ñamma jatūmse ra jatēwa ōl;

ñamma
NI+3SG.A
jatūmse
tūmse
to
ra
table
jatēwa
up
ōl

17. ñamma jatūmse rūjapēxa;

ñamma
NI+3SG.A
jatūmse
tūmse
from+[here]+away
rūjapēxa

Test Sentences, 4

The next four sentences in Gary’s list have people shouting:

  1. All the people shouted.
  2. Some of the people shouted.
  3. Many of the people shouted twice.
  4. Happy people often shout.

And they have quantifiers!

People is a class II noun, and since it is the source in all 4 sentences, it’ll be in the motile plural form ɛlɛna. The shout, though, is a class IV noun, also in the motile plural: umɨdiya. Shouting uses the same verb as shining, evi, because with shouting, the noise is moving out in all directions, just as with shining.

11. nadna ɛlɛna umɨdiya tavi bala.

nadna
all.pl
all
ɛlɛna
person.MTpl
people
umɨdiya
shout.MTpl
shouts
tavi
evi.PRF
moved out
bala
NVS
(I heard it)

12. amba ɛlɛna umɨdiya tavi bala.

amba
some
some
ɛlɛna
person.MTpl
people
umɨdiya
shout.MTpl
shouts
tavi
evi.PRF
moved out
bala
NVS
(I heard it)

13. aŋo ɛlɛna umɨdiya tavi iyɛnɛ bala.

aŋo
many
many
ɛlɛna
person.MTpl
people
umɨdiya
shout.MTpl
shouts
tavi
evi.PRF
moved out
iyɛnɛ
twice
twice
bala
NVS
(I heard it)

14. ɛlɛna andabalna umɨdiya evna ɨnavi dɛstɛ.

ɛlɛna
person.MTpl
people
andabalna
happy.MTpl
happy
umɨdiya
shout.MTpl
shouts
evna
evi.ITR
move out habitually
ɨnavi
often
often
dɛstɛ
REP
(I’m told)

sodna-lɛni has evidentials. The visual evidential is zero marked, which is why they haven’t appeared until now. The visual evidential is for things one knows because one has seen or witnessed the information in the sentence. bala is for things one knows because one has heard, smelled, or otherwise sensed, but not actually seen, the information in the sentence. Shouting would involve hearing rather than seeing, so it is the appropriate evidential for 11-13. But the statement that happy people often shout is one of those things that is generally learned from an authority of some sort, so it uses the reported evidential dɛstɛ.

In Kēlen:

11. tatta jarūlōn ke mēli nāra;

satta
SE.PAST+3PC.SRC
jarūlōn
shout
ke
SRC
mēli
people
nāra
all

12. tatta jarūlōn ke mēli pē;

satta
SE.PAST+3PC.SRC
jarūlōn
shout
ke
SRC
mēli
people
some

13. tatta jarūlōn ke mēli nā il ēnne;

satta
SE.PAST+3PC.SRC
jarūlōn
shout
ke
SRC
mēli
people
many
il ēnne
twice

The paucal source and singular shout in 11-13 says that the people shouted together at the same time.

14. saxxa jarūlōni ke mēli mālni;

saxxa
SE+3PL.SRC
jarūlōn
shouts
ke
SRC
mēli
people
mālni
happy