Category: Conlanging

Continuing with Gary’s list:

56. Can you come tomorrow?

Again, we will use ono, and the source will be “here” as in “Can you come here tomorrow?”

56. susi ŋidi ono lannal dɛmɛ?

In Kēlen:

56. ñi riēn rā þō il lānnāl kēñ;

Questions?

A quarter of the way through and continuing with Gary’s list:

55. Is your sister coming for you?

As I mentioned before “come” is usually handled by the verb ono, which requires a location of some sort in the source slot. In this sentence, since “the sister” is the one moving, she is also the subject. And where is she moving? That is open to interpretation. We could say that the sister is moving to “you” or, she could be moving to a nebulous “here” with “you” as the purpose. In sodna-lɛni, the first interpretation would be the most basic, though it is neutral about whatever might happen next. The second interpretation would imply that then you and she would go on to do something else, which I think is closer to what the English sentence implies.

So, “you” as a purposive source, “here” as a locative source (ono‘s arrow of direction is reversed, so that the “destination” is actually in the source slot), and the sister as the subject.

55. susi ŋideya tiɬa ono dɛmɛ?

In Kēlen:

55. ñi matiē rā þō rā riēn kēñ;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

54. Did the man leave?

Well, this one is easy. Leaving uses the verb pɛsi, which requires a source, usually susi. So:

54. susi kyume pɛstɛ dɛmɛ?

In Kēlen:

54. ñi macūma rūjapēxa kēñ;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

53. Can your brother dance well?

Another question. There is no verb “dance”, but there is a class IV noun gyadad for the event or action of dancing. And if you are doing an activity, the activity is a location. But the question isn’t asking if your brother is dancing, but whether your brother can dance well. So the activity is treated like a mental or physical state, and is co-subject with “your brother” using a verb of stance. The adjective “well” is then put in the destination slot.

53. kaɬa gyadadnɛn sɛdɛ ge dɛmɛ?

(Your) brother stands with dancing well?

In Kēlen:

53. ñamma anjāri anhēi ā makāe kēñ;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

52. Were you born in this village?

Ooh, questions! Questions are formed with the quasi-evidential dubitive adverb dɛmɛ, which expresses doubt. So you don’t actually ask a question, you express doubt about a statement, inviting affirmation or correction.

Asking about where you were born is idiomatic. It involves using the class IV noun molola “birth event” as a source. (Giving birth involves tɨŋi molola, with the birth event as the destination.)

52. molola ŋidi sɛdɛ dɛspɛ dɛmɛ?

In Kēlen:

52. ñarra jamāranrie sū jakēste il jamōla kēñ;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

51. Yesterday the oldest girl in the village lost her kitten.

“Lost” is an adjective, and a kitten becomes lost iddɨse tɨŋi do. Now we just need to specify which kitten and when. When is easy. That is the adverb talondɛ. Which kitten is a little more complex.

Let’s start with the girl’s kitten iddɨse ha laki. But not any girl, the oldest girl in the village. A girl in the village (or rather, of the village) is laki ma dɛspɛ. That is the same possessive construction used for the girl’s kitten. That leaves “oldest”. The speakers of sodna-lɛni don’t really care about relative age, but they do have other hierarchies, and the equivalent of the oldest girl would be the top girl. So one could say laki ola ma dɛspɛ “the village’s top girl”.

Put this all together and we have:

51. iddɨse ha laki ola ma dɛspɛ otni do talondɛ dɛstɛ.

The village’s top girl’s kitten got lost yesterday {I’m told}.

In Kēlen:

51. ñi jalāca ānen anhēna anānexa sū jakēste jatūmsemma jarō il talōnte;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

50. The child waited at the door for her father.

Waiting showed up earlier in sentence #47 (post #25). There I used the verb sɛdɛ plus the adverb goɬi. So this is essentially the same sentence with different nouns:

50. sobeya hɨse sɛttɛ syudo goɬi.

I should mention that having “father” as a sessile source is the common “purpose” construction. Causative agents also appear as sources, but as motile sources. So motility carries with it an idea of agency. If the father had told the girl to wait by the door, father would be in motile form soba.

In Kēlen:

50. ñi mīsa mēspe sū jaxūra tō masōwa;

Questions?