Tag: sodna-lɛni

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?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

49. A little girl with a kitten sat near me.

This is also fairly simple:

49. laki ɨsa iddɨsenɛn notɛttɛ leneya.

Next up, a recap in a few days.

In Kēlen:

49. ñi malāca mīña nīkan jatūmse mañōcce rā liēn nō;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

48. The campers sat around the fire.

I am going to praphrase this to “They sat around the campfire.” That way I don’t have to make up a word for “campers”.

48. mavna notɛttɛ nolako dugaŋya.

tɛndɛ is the stance verb for compact objects and sitting humans.

In Kēlen:

48. ñi sāeþ rū janāola āñ;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

46. We arrived at the river.

Well, this is really simple.

46. tanava lɛnna tono.

Let’s try the next one, too.

47. I have been waiting for you.

Also fairly simple.

47. ŋideya lene sɛdɛ susi goɬi.

“I’ve been standing here for some time for you.”

In Kēlen:

46. ñi liēþ rā jatāna;

47. ñi liēn mēspe tō riēn;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

45. We went to the village for a visit.

Sodna-lɛni tends to put a purpose (for a visit) into a sentence as a sessile source. Doing that, we get

45. madat lɛnna otni dɛspɛ.

dɛspɛ, a class III noun meaning “village”, is a different word from dɛspɛdan, a class IV noun meaning “settlement”.

In Kēlen:

45. ñi liēþ rā jakēste tō ñi jataxōsa;

Questions?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

44. I can play after school.

“I can play after school” = “I am able to play when school is finished”. Since I don’t have a word for “school”, I will substitute “work”.

44. lene sɛdɛ gyɛdɛ giya ɨdeba sɛttɛ kɛbɛdan.

I am not sure that is the right place for ɨdeba, but I’ll leave it for now.

In Kēlen:

44. ñalla jajēra cēja il antielen ñalla jakēwīke;

Questions?