Langs and Conlangs

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?

Continuing with Gary’s list:

43. The children ran after Jack.

“run after” means chase, or go behind. I visualize it like so: children —> Jack —>. So Jack is simultaneously the destination of the first arrow, and the thing moving for the second arrow.

This is essentially two sentences, one for each arrow. This requires turning the second into a relative clause: The children go towards Jack who goes.

43. hɨsna noyotni Jack ma otni.

notɨŋi says that the children go towards Jack rather than to Jack. But I hate that sentence. Let’s try again. We could use a clausal conjunction between the two: Jack goes, so the children go towards Jack.

43. Jack otni nɛnsi hɨsna noyotni maveya.

Hmm. Not as awful as the first. Another idea: we could say that the children go along Jack’s path towards Jack.

43. hɨsna danotni tona da Jack noyotni maveya.

I like this better. Stringing together verbs like this requires that the subject be the same for each verb. Here the subject for both verbs is hɨsna “the children”. dantɨŋi means to go along a path.

And we can simplify that a little by using the non-specific daka instead of the class 4 noun tona:

43. hɨsna danotni daka noyotni Jack.

In Kēlen:

43. ñi mīsi rā Jack mīrien;

Questions?