Cats – Langs and Conlangs

April 17, 2023April 13, 2023

I am no longer allowed to take baths

The bathtub belongs to my cat. I am no longer allowed to use it. Lucky for me I also have a shower. Phew.

Someday I will learn to take video in landscape mode. Today is not that day.

June 30, 2019

One of these things…

Here is a picture of my cat:

Cat in the line with flowerpots — One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong. Can you tell me which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?

That sounds like a translation challenge! In Kenda Soro:

ŋiri: ŋiri; PL

koyonda: koyo=nda; this=SRC

idiridu: idiri=du; others=GOAL

naravu.: nara=vu; one=NOT

One of these is not like the others.

ŋiri: ŋiri; PL

koyonda: koyo=nda; this=SRC

kozos: kozo=s; here=LOC

nara: nara; one

ŋodose.: ŋodo=se; wrong=STAY

One of these is wrongly here.

ŋiri: ŋiri; PL

koyonda: koyo=nda; this=SRC

idiridu: idiri=du; others=GOAL

naravuza: nara=vu=za; one=NOT=PATH

evihi: e=vi=hi; 3PL.IN=OUT=POT

Can be told which one is not like the others

zimivito: zimi=vi=to; music=OUT=STOP

tileya?: tileya; before

before the music stops?

July 3, 2018July 18, 2018

DC (2000-2018)

My cat DC had to be put down early last month. She was 18 years old.

DC arrived in my life in October 2000 as a 6-month old kitten rescued from a humane trap in the cemetary. My goddaughter and her friend rescued her and brought her to me on the grounds that I had only 1 pet and they each had 3-4 in their households. My goddaughter named her DC for “dazed and confused”, though as she adapted to her new life it quickly became “demanding and complaining” as befits a pampered house cat.

In October 2011 I moved with her into mom’s house in the desert, and she adjusted to that very nicely. Mom was all “but my white couch…” and in less than a week “what an excellent cat!” DC especially liked going out into the garden and hunting for lizards. She rarely caught them, but would hang out under the rosemary bush for hours waiting for them. That is where her ashes are now.

https://kelen.conlang.org/archives/category/cats has pictures of her going back to 2009.

March 3, 2015

DC Studying Latin

Here is my cat, DC, helping with the Latin homework. We’re studying the subjunctive right now. Felis amat ut cibum potiatur.

February 7, 2014February 11, 2014

Test Sentences, 5

My friends' new kitten Whiskey.

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

The kitten jumped up.
The kitten jumped onto the table.
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;