Modifiers – Page 2 – Langs and Conlangs

April 23, 2011April 22, 2011

āl

We’re now on the eleventh sentence of the 14th Conlang Relay Text:

āl ñanna lekū rājōl rā mērji ma setenne mīsien cī;

āl is an il word, a word that refers to time. In this case it is a tense/aspect modifier that emphasizes the present, and is usually translated as “now”.

As for the rest of the sentence, we have ñi inflected for a 1st person inclusive paucal agent. The object of ñi is lekū “our hands” and then comes the locative phrase rājōl “to up”, so we have changed the location of our hands upwards: “Now we lift up our hands…” And then rā mērji “to mērji“, which I will explain tomorrow.

April 9, 2011April 2, 2011

mē

We’re still on the third sentence in 14th Conlang Relay text:

se jalāña mo jāŋŋeren jēspe sū ñēim manaren mē;

mē is a particle that means “inside” or “in”. With the preposition sū, mē means “on|at the inside” or “inside”. sū ñēim manaren mē means “inside all of us” and modifies jāŋŋeren jēspe “waiting beauty” which makes the whole sentence:

“Give praise for the beauty waiting inside all of us.”

Except, this is not to be interpreted as a command or a suggestion, but rather as a declaration or statement, so maybe “Giving praise…” would be more accurate.

April 5, 2011April 2, 2011

þō

We’re on the second sentence in 14th Conlang Relay text:

sanna jasāla jīsōra ke þō lisōra;

þō here is acting as a definite modifier “this” or “these”. þō is also a particle meaning “here” or “this place”. Here, however, it has to be the first þō because it is part of the source phrase headed by ke.

Tomorrow I will discuss lisōra.

April 1, 2011March 25, 2011

hōkēñ

We’re on this sentence of the 15th Conlang Relay Text:

ñaxxa jāŋŋeren nā ā majjārien ānen ankēwīke pē hōkēñ;

hōkēñ is a combination of the prefix hō and the mood marker kēñ. kēñ has been blogged before as the mood marker governing questions. Being prefixed with hō makes the question a “how” question. So, “How do the dancers make much beauty with little effort?”. This sentence is unchanged from the original.

Tomorrow, the final sentence!

March 31, 2011March 25, 2011

pē

We’re on this sentence of the 15th Conlang Relay Text:

ñaxxa jāŋŋeren nā ā majjārien ānen ankēwīke pē hōkēñ;

pē is a modifier meaning “some” or “few” or “little” and as such is the opposite of nā. So ānen ankēwīke pē is “with little effort”. So far our sentence reads “The dancers make much beauty with little effort”. Tomorrow, hōkēñ

March 18, 2011March 16, 2011

āñ

We’re on this sentence in the 15th Conlang Relay Text:

la sāeþ ānen anexīmi wā ānen sawūrre āñ ēmma;

sawūrre is the word for one’s voice. The particle āñ is modifying sawūrre and is acting as a reflexive marker, thus implying ‘own voice’. Since the entire phrase ānen sawūrre āñ ēmma is modifying sāeþ ‘they/them’, and since possessed nouns as a rule do not show plural marking, ānen sawūrre āñ ēmma is best translated as “except for their own voices”.

la sāeþ ānen anexīmi wā ānen sawūrre āñ ēmma;
“They are without music except for their own voices.”

There are only minor changes between this sentence and the original one I submitted in the relay. One minor change is the plural marking on sawūrre. The other is the singular inflection of anexīmi.

March 9, 2011February 20, 2011

Tag: Modifiers

āl

mē

þō

hōkēñ

pē

āñ

tēaral

āllaral

ēnnaral

āral