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As for my patience, a cat destroyed it completely.
I remember that it was a very large cat.
It played a trick on me on the occasion that Tɔma wanted to open a barrel of water.
"What kind of nonsense are you thinking?"
"In which corner of the marketplace could Tɔma possibly be a barrel?", I said.
"Of course he is not a barrel at all; Tɔma is a person!"
But the cat, who had been eating a fish, did not understand my words.
She had been given the fish by Tɔma.
My childlikeness, a large yurt-cat has killed it.
I believe it was a large cat.
This animal lied because Thomas needed to open a bottle.
'Is Thomas a bottle?', I said.
'He is not a large bottle; this person is Thomas.'
The cat, who had eaten a fish, did not understand (lit. was not made to understand).
The object that Thomas carried was a fish.
Nzo ña’éxu axe, na u ñufɛ tsə xoñi leda.
Seya məmat rɛ nə lo ñufɛ ɔ ñavra ntsa.
Nɛ sɛga rabɛ rɛ ɛ’iya Tɔma ɔ raxolbo kwə u sɔmɛ mvomérɔ.
"Xɛwa ste’ɔwa ño u tsəñe nəbe? O ewa tso u lo ñuylu pɔwə dediɡa Tɔma ɔ raxolbo?", neya mve.
"Alme ma ntɛvɔ́ve loru ɔ raxolbo; esə Tɔma ɔ maldɔ!"
Dal ma lo ñufɛ, rɔma ɔ mpɛsa nə tul, lu lɛwi axe kwemi.
Nɔdɔwa lu mpɛsa nzɛwə u Tɔma.
- mostly isolating
- head-initial
- basic word order: AuxSOV with occasional topic fronting and subclause postposing
- basic morphosyntactic alignment: NOM-ACC
- pro-drop
- no lexical distinction between nouns and adjectives
- nouns/adjectives do not inflect at all
- determiners are mandatory in full noun phrases (except when the head of the noun phrase is a pronoun or a proper name)
- nouns without a determiner usually have adjectival function
- most determiners are marked for case
- nominal number is unmarked
- prepositions inflect for the person of their object (almost all instances in the text are 3rd person)
- each preposition governs a specific case for their object
- objects of prepositions can be omitted if clear from context
- content verbs do not inflect at all
- auxiliary verbs are mandatory in all clauses
- auxiliary verbs inflect for person and number of the subject AND person of the object
- aspect, mood, and voice are indicated by the choice of the auxiliary
- no tense marking
- additional distinctions may be made by adding one or more uninflected auxiliaries right before the content verb, or sentence-finally if the content verb is missing
- in clauses which have no content verb but contain an accusative-marked noun phrase, the auxiliary functions as a copula
ah | pp.+ NOM | of, belonging to, with regard to |
alme | adv. | surely, certainly, invariably, without exception, of course |
axe | (pp.) | (1st person object form of ah: "of me") |
dal | cj. | but, however |
dediga | adv. | maybe, possibly, conceivably |
ɛ’i- | aux. | (optative auxiliary: "want") |
esə- | aux. | (emphatic/abilitative auxiliary: "do indeed, can indeed") |
ewa | det./pron. | which one? (accusative) |
kwemi | v. | understand |
kwə | pp.+ NOM | with, having (comitative) |
lɛwi | n. | word |
leda | adv. | completely, thoroughly |
lo | det. | (definite article, nominative) |
loru | pron. | (3rd person animate singular, nominative) |
lu | det. | (definite article, accusative) |
ma- | aux. | (negative auxiliary: "do not") |
maldɔ | n. | person; human beingfs |
məmat | v. | recall, remember |
mpɛsa | n. | fish |
mve | v. | say, speak |
mvomérɔ | v. | open sth. |
nə- | aux. | (perfective auxiliary: "has done") |
nəbe | v. | think about, refer to, have in mind, mean, intend |
nɔdɔ- | aux. | (past resultative auxiliary: "had done before; had become") |
ntɛvɔ́ve | adv. | in vain; (in negated clauses) not at all |
ntsa | adv. | very |
nzɛwə | v. | receive, be given sth. |
nzo | det. | (topic marker, accusative) |
ña’éxu | n. | patience, tolerance |
ñavra | n. | broad, wide, large |
ño | pp.+ NOM | as, like (essive) |
ñufɛ | n. | cat |
ñuylu | n. | main square, marketplace |
ɔ | det. | (indefinite article, accusative) |
o | pp. +ACC | at, on |
pɔ- | aux. | (conditional/irrealis auxiliary: "might, would, could") |
rabɛ | pp. +ACC | at the time of, while, during |
raxolbo | n. | cask, barrel |
rɛ | cj. | (complementiser, accusative) |
rɔma- | aux. | (relative clause auxiliary; relativized noun is topic but not necessarily subject of subclause) |
sɛga | v. | lie, deceive, play tricks on sb. |
sə- | aux. | (null auxiliary: "do") |
ste- | aux. | (progressive/durative auxiliary: "be doing") |
Tɔma | n. | (a male name) |
tul | v. | eat |
tsə | det./pron. | (distal deictic, accusative: "that, those") |
tsəñe | n. | unlikely, far-fetched, having a non-obvious connection |
tso | n. | knee; corner |
u | det. | (indefinite article, nominative) |
u | pp.+ NOM | of, from, relating to (associative/genitive) |
xɛwa | pron. | what? (accusative) |
xoñi | v. | break, destroy, tear apart |
-’ɔwa | suffix | 2nd person singular subject, 3rd person object |
-a | suffix | 3rd person singular subject, 3rd person object (-ya after /i e ɛ/, -wa after /u o ɔ/) |
-ɛ | suffix | 3rd person singular subject, 1st person object |
-e | suffix | 1st person singular intransitive |
-eya | suffix | 1st person singular subject, 3rd person object |
-ə | suffix | 3rd person singular intransitive (-Ø after /a/, -wə after /u o ɔ/) |
Nzo ña’éxu axe, na u ñufɛ tsə xoñi leda. TOP.ACC patience GEN.1 PFV.AUX-3SG>3 INDEF.NOM cat that.ACC break completely As for my patience, a cat destroyed it completely. Seya məmat rɛ nə lo ñufɛ ɔ ñavra ntsa. NULL.AUX-1SG>3 remember SUB.ACC PFV.COP-3SG DEF.NOM cat INDEF.ACC large very I remember that it was a very large cat. Nɛ sɛga rabɛ rɛ ɛ’iya Tɔma ɔ raxolbo kwə u sɔmɛ mvomérɔ. PFV.AUX-3SG>1 deceive during.3 SUB.ACC OPT.AUX-3SG>3 NAME INDEF.ACC barrel with.3 INDEF.NOM water CAUS-open It played a trick on me on the occasion that Tɔma wanted to open a barrel of water. "Xɛwa ste’ɔwa ño u tsəñe nəbe?" what.ACC PROG.AUX-2SG>3 as.3 INDEF.NOM unlikely_thing think "What kind of nonsense are you thinking?" "O ewa tso u lo ñuylu pɔwə dediɡa Tɔma ɔ raxolbo?", neya mve. at.3 which.ACC corner from.3 DEF.NOM marketplace COND.COP-3SG possibly NAME INDEF.ACC barrel PFV.AUX>1SG>3 say "In which corner of the marketplace could Tɔma possibly be a barrel?", I said. "Alme ma ntɛvɔ́ve loru ɔ raxolbo; esə Tɔma ɔ maldɔ!" invariably NEG.COP-3SG not_at_all 3SG.ANIM.NOM INDEF.ACC barrel EMPH.COP-3SG NAME INDEF.ACC person "Of course he is not a barrel at all; Tɔma is a person!" Dal ma lo ñufɛ, rɔma ɔ mpɛsa nə tul, lu lɛwi axe kwemi. but NEG.AUX-3SG>3 DEF.NOM cat REL.AUX-3SG>3 INDEF.ACC fish PFV.AUX eat DEF.ACC word of.1 understand But the cat, who had been eating a fish, did not understand my words. Nɔdɔwa lu mpɛsa nzɛwə u Tɔma RES.AUX-3SG>3 DEF.ACC fish receive from.3 NAME She had been given the fish by Tɔma.
page started: 2018.Feb.01 Thu
current date: 2018.Feb.08 Thu
content originated by Jan Strasser
form originated by qiihoskeh
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