Ni aɬudan ni loho

The North Wind and the Sun

Now that I have revised and re-revised and re-re-revised, etc, I have a new version of this standard story. Here it is in its entirety. Sentence by sentence explanations will start tomorrow and continue on Fridays and Tuesdays.

Tena ni aɬudan ni loho tɛŋɛteya dusena ŋɛha—da daɬo ɛnnavi baŋi tɛndɛ kɨtlɛ na dɛmɛ—na dona nɛn lude kyala dantɨŋe. Hanna oŋŋe ŋyehe: sa tɛndɛ kɨtlɛ na sa donava ludɨdɛn pɛstɛ giya. Aɬudan aŋe kyɛgɛ edatta. Ha dɛlɨdiya evena. Ha dɛlɨdiya evena iyɛ, dona ludɨdɛn ɛmmena o ŋɛha mɛha no. Linoda ha aŋe da mɛddatta. Ala loho aŋe kyɛgɛ edatta. Ha logɨdiya evena, nɛnsi dona ludɨdɛn opɛstɛ noya. Aɬudan deya omɛddustɛ: loho tɛndɛ kɨtlɛ na.

An argument is being had by the north wind and the sun with each other—it is which of the two is stronger—when a traveler with a warm cloak came along. They came to an agreement: he is stronger (=) he who can remove the cloak from the traveler. The north wind is beginning the task. He sends out breaths over and over. The more he sends out breaths, the closer the traveler pulls the cloak to himself. Finally, he (the north wind) is finishing it. Now the sun is beginning the task. She sends out light over and over, and so the traveler takes the cloak off. The north wind says this: the sun is the stronger.

For comparison, here is the previous published version:

Lohonɛn aɬudan tɛŋɛteya duso ha tɛndɛ kɨtlɛ andaya dɛmɛ, na dona ludenɛn kyala dantɨŋi tena. Hayi otni ŋyehe da ha tɛndɛ kɨtlɛ andaya hatto dona ludɨdɛn evi tena. Aɬudan tambi kyɛgɛ andaya tena. Aɬudan dɛlɨdiya evna tena. Dɛlɨdiya tɨnna donava yanna dona ludɨdɛn ɛmɛna mahanɨt yanna tena. Aɬudan otni kyɛgɛ tena. Loho tambi kyɛgɛ tena. Loho logɨdiya evna tena. Dona ludɨdɛn evi tena. Aɬudan ŋyehe mɛddustɛ loho tɛndɛ kɨtlɛ andaya tena.

Thoughts?

Test Sentences, 136

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. The dress of the little princess was embroidered with roses, the national flower of the Country.

Well, no country, so no national flowers. And no princesses. Sorry, Puey. I could come up with a rough paraphrase, but it wouldn’t include that phrase modifying roses. Bah. Let’s look at a few more:

  1. They wore red caps, the symbol of liberty.
  2. With him as our protector, we fear no danger.
  3. All her finery, lace, ribbons, and feathers, was packed away in a trunk.
  4. Light he thought her, like a feather.

I could probably come up with something for 177. It wouldn’t be a symbol of liberty, though. 178 I can do, though it would be two clauses. 179? Oh dear. Lace? No. Trunks are also problematical. At this point I am spending more time trying to twist the vocabulary into something my conculture might actually have that it is getting out of hand. Then we get to 180, and I am ready to call it quits. No. Just, no. I think I have come to the end of this exercise. I’ve already identified several places where my grammar needs serious work. I think that rather than go on, I will quit. I will go on vacation, I will come back. I will contemplate the deficiencies of my current grammar. I will hopefully come up with cures for those deficiencies. I will do some more work on vocabulary. Someone has a conlanger’s thesaurus, right? 🙂

Then after all that I will probably revisit this exercise, revising what I already have and doing more sentences per post.

Test Sentences, 135

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. Sit here by yourself.

This is another one that looks like a reflexive but isn’t really.

176. ŋidi tɛndɛ susi naddeya ka.

ŋidi
2P.MTsg
tɛndɛ
tɛndɛ.IMP
susi
here
naddeya
by oneself
ka
CMD

Questions?

Test Sentences, 134

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. I feel ashamed of myself.

This is not actually a reflexive, or rather, it doesn’t have to be. As a simpler “I am ashamed”, we have “I go about in shame.”

175. lene eyaŋi iɬɛt.

lene
1P.MTsg
ey-
in
aŋi
aŋi.IMP
iɬɛt
shame.SSsg

But then I asked myself how would I say “I am ashamed of him.”

lene mava iɬɛtnɛn ono.

lene
1P.MTsg
mava
3P.MTsg
iɬɛt
shame.SSsg
-nɛn
with
ono
ono

Which means one could say:

175. lenada iɬɛtnɛn ono.

lenada
1P.MTsg.REFL
iɬɛt
shame.SSsg
-nɛn
with
ono
ono

but the previous sentence is more likely to be found in the wild (so to speak).

Questions?

Test Sentences, 133

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. He proved himself trustworthy.
  2. We could see ourselves in the water.
  3. Do it yourself.

More reflexives. The first one is closer to “He made himself trustworthy.” The last one translates really to “Go by yourself”.

172. mahanɨt gɛnada omɛt.

mahanɨt
3P.MTsg
gɛnada
trustworthy.MTsg
omɛt
ɛmɛmɛ.PRF

173. le doŋi lɛnnanada tono gadava kadeya.

le
1P
doŋi
eye.MTsg
lɛnnanada
1P.MTpl.REFL
tono
ono.PRF
gadava
water.SSsg
kadeya
reflectedly

174. ŋivaŋya tɨŋi ka.

ŋivaŋya
2P.MTsg.REFL
tɨŋi
tɨŋi.IMP
ka
CMD

Questions?

Test Sentences, 132

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. I hurt myself.
  2. She was talking to herself.

These are reflexives, in the sense that the same argument appears in two different roles. For reflexives (subject to change) the pronoun is not repeated, but suffixed with a reflexive suffix that varies by person and noun class (which is a touch of whimsy on my part).

170. lenada otni tude.

lenada
1P.MTsg.REFL
otni
tɨŋi.PRF
tude
hurt.MTsg

171. mahanɨt deya duso.

mahanɨt
3P.MTsg.REFL
deya
something.MTsg
duso
duso.IMP

Questions?

Test Sentences, 131

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. The little girl made the doll’s dress herself.

The first is similar to the previous two. On the surface it looks like it has a reflexive, but really, that means by herself or alone. Also, I am also going to simplify doll’s dress to doll.

169. laki ɨsa gyɛdɨdɛn omɛt naddeya dɛstɛ.

laki
girl.MTsg
ɨsa
little.MTsg
gyɛdɨdɛn
doll.MTsg
omɛt
ɛmɛmɛ.PRF
naddeya
by herself
dɛstɛ
I’m told

Questions?

Test Sentences, 130

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. We will make this place our home.
  2. The squirrels make their nests warm and snug with soft moss and leaves.

These two use the same structure.

167. leni kohɨdɛn eyɛmɛ da sota dɛga.

leni
1P.MTco
kohɨdɛn
home.MTsg
ey-
in
ɛmɛmɛ
ɛmɛmɛ.IMP
da
this.SSsg
sota
place.SSsg
dɛga
FUT

168. kyɨlna lomɨdi kyalɨdi kɨdlɨdi eyɛmɛ gɛŋyi mɛsyi malinɛn dɛstɛ.

kyɨlna
wasp.MTpl
lomɨdi
nest.MTpl
kyalɨdi
warm.MTpl
kɨdlɨdi
comfortable.MTpl
ey-
in
ɛmɛ
ɛmɛmɛ.IMP
gɛŋyi
grass.SSpl
mɛsyi
soft.SSpl
mali
leaf.SSpl
-nɛn
and
dɛstɛ
I’m told

Questions?

Test Sentences, 129

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. We consider them our faithful friends.

This is two clauses, but the second is elaborating on the subject of the first clause. So it goes in the otherwise empty destination slot.

166. lɛnna dɛɬɛ ono mavna sɛdɛ syanna loŋina.

lɛnna
1P.MTpl
dɛɬɛ
idea.MTsg
ono
ono.IMP
mavna
3P.MTpl
sɛdɛ
sɛdɛ
syanna
friend.MTpl
loŋina
faithful.MTpl

Questions?

Test Sentences, 128

Continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. Be satisfied with nothing but your best.

This sentence translates to “Do not go about comfortable without your best.”

At this point I’ve decided to treat adjectives somewhat like Latin adjectives. They look like nouns, but can take their class from what they modify or are assumed to modify. In this case best is assumed to be modifying a class III noun muhe, seen a couple of sentences ago.

I am also experimenting with using a set of adjectival possessive pronouns. We’ll see if they stick or not.

165. ŋidi andanɨdɛn ŋivɨdɛn tɛpa eyaŋi kɨdla voya ka.

ŋidi
2P.MTsg
andanɨdɛn
best.MTsg
ŋivɨdɛn
your.MTsg
tɛpa
without
ey-
in
aŋi
aŋi.IMP
kɨdla
comfortable.MTsg
voya
not

Questions?