CONLANG Translation Relay 16

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Mirexu (Ring A)

Text

Smooth Translation

Interlinear

ulo	-gi	si	-na	tjutren	-sei
N	-SUB.NOM	3sg.refl	-SUB.OBL	N	-3sg.refl.poss

aj-	a-	sorgile	-n	-i
3sg.m.erg-	PR-	V	-AOR	-COMP

kje-	a-	kumela	-n	-i	a-	darusa	-n
NEG-	PR-	V	-AOR	-COMP	PR-	V	-AOR

ne-	lur	-up	-u	dalwe	-gi	talefwe	-na
REL-	V	-IMP	-ADJ	N	-SUB.NOM	N	-SUB.OBL

an-	ku-	flukwela	-v	-i	a-	ise	-n
3sg.n.erg-	FUT-	V	-PERF	-COMP	PR-	V	-AOR

i	-gi	tjutren	-ei	tulsi	-so	si	-na
3sg.m	-SUB.NOM	N	-3sg.m.poss	N	-CONJ	3sg.refl	-SUB.OBL

aj-	ku-	vekjulide	-v	-i	ku-	kumela	-v
3sg.m.erg-	FUT-	V	-PERF	-CONJ	FUT-	V	-PERF

kisu	forepatupwe	-gi	ku-	korvirfe	-v	-i	kje-	ku-	kwela	-v
ADJ	N	-SUB.NOM	FUT-	V	-PERF	-CONJ	NEG-	FUT-	V	-PERF

Key

3sg.m	third person singular, male
3sg.m.erg	" " " ", ergative
3sg.m.poss	" " " ", possessive
3sg.n.erg	third person singular, neuter, ergative
3sg.refl	third person singular, reflexive
3sg.refl.poss	" " " ", possessive
ADJ	adjective or adjectival relative clause ending
AOR	aorist aspect
COMP	subordinate complement clause ending
CONJ	conjunctive ending
FUT	future tense
IMP	imperfective aspect
N	noun
NEG	negation
PERF	perfective aspect
PR	present tense
REL	relative clause
SUB.NOM	nominative case in subordinate clause
SUB.OBL	accusative/oblique case in subordinate clause
V	verb

Glossary

a	accusative case
a	present tense marker
aj	3rd person singular male ergative agreement marker
an	3rd person singular neuter ergative agreement marker
dalwe	sorrow
darusa	to be wrong; kje.... adarusan, must
ei	3rd person singular male possessive ending
flukwela	to happen at
forepatupwe	border, fault line, crack
gi	nominative case ending in subordinate clauses
i	subordinate complement clause ending
i	3rd person singular male pronoun
ise	to be possible; "might" in present aorist
kisu	any X, any one of the group of X's; in negated context, none, not a single X
kje	negation marker
korvirfe	to be crossed
ku	future tense marker
kumela	to happen always, to happen every time (in perfective), to continue on (in imperfective)
kwela	to happen
lur	to be big, mighty, great, terrible
na	accusative/oblique case ending in subordinate clauses
ne	relative clause prefix
sei	3rd person singular reflexive possessive ending
si	3rd person singular reflexive pronoun
so	conjunctive suffix for nouns
sorgile	to follow
talefwe	path
tjutren	belief, sacred knowledge
tulsi	strength of spirit
u	adjectival relative clause ending
ulo	man
up	imperfective aspect marker (after consonants)
v	perfective aspect marker
vekjulide	to save, rescue

Grammar

Verbs are marked for: agreement with certain types of subordinate clause; negation; agreement with any ergative argument; agreement with non-third-person absolutive arguments; agreement with each oblique argument; tense; and aspect. Verbs frequently contain many derivational morphemes which are not given separately above for time and space reasons. The verb paradigm is as follows:

[ ADV ] [ NEG ] [ ABS ] [ ERG ] [ OBL [ OBL ...] ] TENSE verb-base ASPECT

Verbs may form subordinate clauses in the following ways:

• adverbial clauses: the adverbial clause marker -se is appended to a fully declined verb. Its arguments take on subordinate clause suffixes. In the main clause, an agreement morpheme is prefixed to the verb complex.
• complement clauses: the complement clause marker -i is appended to a fully declined verb. Its arguments take on subordinate clause suffixes. In the main clause, the appropriate agreement for a third person singular neuter argument is used (usually null, as complement clauses are usually not agents).
• relative clauses: the relative clause marker ne- is prefixed to a verb with core argument agreement, tense, aspect, and optional negation, but no oblique arguments or subordinate clause agreement markers. If an external head exists, the adjectival marker -u is appended. The position relativized is that of the absolutive argument.

Verbs may combine through conjunction if they share all arguments (and therefore also degree of transitivity) and tense. All but the final verb are marked for aspect and negation only, and the conjunctive ending -u appended. The final verb is an ordinary fully declined finite verb.

Nouns and free pronouns show nominative/accusative alignment, in contrast with the absolutive/ergative alignment of verb agreement. Since the ergative and absolutive agreement markers on the verb are really incorporated pronouns, any standalone pronoun agreed with by such a marker will not appear. However, as absolutive third person pronouns are not marked on the verb, they do appear either in the accusative as objects of transitive verbs, or in the nominative (with null case ending) as subjects of intransitive verbs. Nouns with the oblique case ending have their role marked on the verb. In subordinate clauses nominative nouns take the subordinate nominative ending, and accusative and oblique nouns take the subordinate oblique ending.

Nouns may be possessed. If this is the case, instead of their case ending they have a possessive suffix. They will be preceded by their possessor (unless it is a pronoun which has been subsumed by a verb agreement marker), on which their case will be marked. Agreement on the verb is with the possessor, but the actual argument is the possessed noun.

Nouns in the same case and to which all the same arguments (adjectives, relative clauses, possessors) apply may form conjunction by all but the first noun having the conjunctive noun suffix -so instead of a possessive or case suffix.

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page started: 2008.Dec.05 Fri
last modified: 2008.Dec.27 Sat
form originated by qiihoskeh;
content copyright Amanda Babcock Furrow.