Test Sentences, 35

Continuing with Gary’s list:

57. Have the neighbors gone away for the winter?

“Going away” is pɛsi for sure. The subject is “neighbors”. Hmm. Back to that in a minute. The purpose (source) is “winter”, implying that the neighbors have gone away from the winter as well as because of the winter.

OK. Vocabulary. There ought to be a word for something like “neighbors”. But what? According to wiktionary, the word derives from something like “near-dwellers”. And if another language uses a different derivation, I can’t find it. So, people in the next camp? no is “near to” and ko is “home”, (and the Kēlen cognate means “hearth”. So noko? There is a collective suffix dɨn for people, so nokodɨn, a class I noun, for “a set of neighbors”.

As for “winter”, well there is the rainy season, which is humid and wet and rainy and has flooding and the occasional mudslide. Then there is the dry season, which is hot, and dry, and hot. I’m not sure which of those someone would leave for. Either way, I need some vocabulary. [pause for a moment while I create some more vocabulary] OK. The word for “season” or “half-year” is bɨɬɨs, a class IV noun. The rainy season would be bɨɬɨs tada and the dry season would be bɨɬɨs sɨdi.

57. bɨɬɨs tada nokodɨn pɛstɛ dɛmɛ?

In Kēlen:

57. ñi xō mēla rā þō il jīlcīlre nāra kēñ;

Questions?