Attribute – Page 8 – Langs and Conlangs

May 28, 2011May 24, 2011

anīña

Here are sentences four and five of the LCC4 relay text:

temme ien la rixōλa ñe jajāra; la rirōña ñe mamōra mīña;

This is what Tānre said. We know this from the temme ien at the beginning of sentence four. se followed immediately by ien is generally a quote marker. la rixōλa ñe jajāra “your beauty is like a dance” is a fancy way of saying “you are graceful”. la rirōña ñe mamōra mīña is “Your eyes are like small moons”, mīña being the animate singular inflection of the stative anīña which means “little” or “small” in size or volume.

May 27, 2011May 24, 2011

anlāmen

The third sentence of the LCC4 relay text:

ñamma jacērja ja semme jasōri rēha ā λi tānre ma ñi malāmen;

So, the second relative clause. This is ma ñi malāmen and it modifies Tānre. anlāmen means “hidden”, so ma ñi malāmen is “who has become hidden”.

Tānre, who was hidden, decided he would say something to her.

May 23, 2011May 20, 2011

anlūnte

Last post on the final sentence of the 18th Conlang Relay Text:

ā macēna nīkamma sālne jajēren jē nā ñamma sū ma hāl jalāmīke jalūnte rājatā;

As mentioned yesterday, the object of ñi is the phrase jalāmīke jalūnte. jalūnte is the inanimate singular form of the stative attribute anlūnte. anlūnte means “shiny, lustrous, or sparkling” so jalāmīke jalūnte is a shiny, lustrous, or sparkling mask or veil.

“The woman with only a playful smile set down in front of him a shiny veil.”

Tomorrow I will start on the LCC4 relay text, which should take us through mid-June. After that, I am not sure what to blog about. Suggestions are welcome. Requests will likely be granted.

May 21, 2011May 20, 2011

anjēren

Now for the sixth and final sentence of the 18th Conlang Relay Text:

ā macēna nīkamma sālne jajēren jē nā ñamma sū ma hāl jalāmīke jalūnte rājatā;

This sentence has an unusual structure in that the ā phrase modifying the relational ñi (inflected for 3rd person singular) is in front of the relational instead of trailing at the end as usual. An ā phrase names an agent for the change of state indicated by ñi, and ñi is inflected to match. The ā phrase is ā macēna nīkamma sālne jajēren jē nā. The first word after ā is macēna “woman”, and then comes nīkamma which is an associative preposition and a bit redundant since the next word is the obligatorily possessed sālne “smile”. The smile is described as jajēren, the inanimate singular form of anjēren meaning “having to do with games or play, playful”. The phrase is finished with the modifier jē nā “merely, just”, which is likely what triggered the inclusion of the redundant nīkamma. So the whole phrase translates as “The woman with only a playful smile…”

May 20, 2011May 9, 2011

anērre

We’re on the fifth sentence of the 18th Conlang Relay Text:

ewaþ ñi ē antiēleni nāra anrūēñi ē anērre ī;

And here is where I realize that I messed something up. It happens in every text, of course. So, anērre means “a sense of self-worth and dignity”. The original text implied that past events and dignity were both forgotten. But here forgotten (anrūēñi) is modifying past events (antiēleni) but it is not modifying anērre because anrūēñi and anērre have different inflections. The first is inanimate collective and the second is stative. The parallel ē … ē construction implies that anrūēñi and anērre have something syntactically in common. But, I messed up. And turning anērre into anērri in order to match anrūēñi doesn’t make semantic sense. I will think about this and someday figure out how to rewrite it so that the semantics and the syntax match. Suggestions are welcome.

May 19, 2011May 9, 2011

anrūēñ

We’re on the fifth sentence of the 18th Conlang Relay Text:

ewaþ ñi ē antiēleni nāra anrūēñi ē anērre ī;

anrūēñ means “forgotten” or “no longer remembered”. It obviously is modifying antiēleni because it has the same inflection. So ñi antiēleni nāra anrūēñi is “all past events are forgotten”. Tomorrow I will discuss anērre.

May 17, 2011May 2, 2011

antāña

We’re still on the fourth sentence of the 18th Conlang Relay Text

sū jatāsa la jatēwa jaλāona jarōllōl ja sūjōl la macēna maranīsa masērre saŋē ē jawūña ē jāŋŋeren sawēλa jatāña janēūñ ñe anmāe;

The attribute antāña means “flushed (with a pale tint)” or “blushing”. The woman’s cheeks are flushed janēūñ ñe anmāe “pink like tea”.

“In the market square is a wide, snow-covered table, on top of which is standing a well-dressed woman, her face contemptuous and beautiful, her cheeks flushed pink like tea.”

May 15, 2011May 2, 2011

anwūña

We’re still on the fourth sentence of the 18th Conlang Relay Text

sū jatāsa la jatēwa jaλāona jarōllōl ja sūjōl la macēna maranīsa masērre saŋē ē jawūña ē jāŋŋeren sawēλa jatāña janēūñ ñe anmāe;

macēna maranīsa masērre is a noun phrase meaning a “well-dressed, upright-standing woman”. This is followed by the possessed noun saŋē which means “her face”. Then come two conjoined stative nouns, inflected in inanimate singular to modify saŋē. The first of these is anwūña “showing or exhibiting contempt, disapproval, disdain, or scorn”. The second of these is anāŋŋeren “beautiful” (of the awe-inspiring kind).

“In the market square is a wide, snow-covered table, on top of which is standing a well-dressed woman, her face contemptuous and beautiful….”

May 13, 2011May 2, 2011

anλāona

aao

anλāona

We’re on the fourth sentence of the 18th Conlang Relay Text

sū jatāsa la jatēwa jaλāona jarōllōl ja sūjōl la macēna maranīsa masērre saŋē ē jawūña ē jāŋŋeren sawēλa jatāña janēūñ ñe anmāe;

Modifying jatēwa is jaλāona, the inanimate singular form of anλāona, which means “wide” or “broad”. I blogged anrōllōl “snow-covered” in an earlier relay text. jatēwa jaλāona jarōllōl is a wide, snow-covered table in the market-square (sū jatāsa) and…. Tune in tomorrow for more.

May 8, 2011May 2, 2011

anrewēλa

We’re still on the third sentence of the 18th Conlang Relay Text

samma japēlti mo jaxēxi ja ē ñi jarewēλi ī ñi jahūwi ī ñi jasēþa ñe jawēlrienāl rū jatāsa λi xēþa āñ;

The tūmse is barking at smoke that… something. anrewēλa describes something that is being twisty and curvy in shape and is also in motion, so something that is twisting, curling, whirling, etc., which is something that smoke could definitely be doing. The next clause has anhūwa, which describes something that is breaking up into pieces. “…smoke that is twisting and breaking and…” more tomorrow.