| Ring A next: | Angosey |
| Ring A previous: | Dec04 Original |
A woman was afraid.
"There is a coconut crab* in my house!" said the woman to me.
"I don't know why the coconut crab is there," I sad to her.
It seemed that it was hungry: it opened the refrigerator. "I hope it doesn't eat Tomas."
"Is Tomas in the refrigerator?"
"No. There is a large vessel there."
I discovered that Tomas was a large fish.
"You know that the coconut crab wants to eat the fish," said the woman.
Qallcav mjytlcyyb.
"Xwar lajeq ysjek kjeswehylwe!" mce'yk swemjytlcyybyd jelle.
"Bje berwymel e-sh swelajeq dym lejny" mce'ykel yjny.
Bjyshev e-vypajmev: ykaryk dwegamet. "naasel e-hykyng bje Temas."
"Sha-sh Temas ysjek dwegametewe?"
"Bje. She setw qely."
Bernwahykel e-pyng qely Temas."
"Berwymeq e-cyxle swelajqyd e-hykyng swepyng" mce'yk swemjytlcyyb.
Maurang is VSO and head-modifier. For copular constructions in the present tense, a null copula is used, although the order of constituents is reversed from what an English speaker would naturally expect.
Normally, the negative particle *bje* precedes the verb, but it moves immediately after the verb when the subordination marker *e-* is added.
An epenthetic *-e-* (pronounced as a schwa) is sometimes inserted to break up consonant clusters. In general, Maurang phonotactics do not allow consonant clusters in onsets or codas, and only two consonants at most may come together across a syllable boundary. Furthermore, an approximant may not immediately follow another consonant (orthographic sequences that seem to violate this rule are digraphs indicating consonants with secondary articulations).
Maurang also does not like vowel sequences, and inserts /h/ between pairs of vowels that come together (again, orthographic double vowels represent something else).
Maurang is Ergative. The only regular case endings that you will see here are the Ergative case in *-yd* and the Oblique case in *-we*.
Pronouns decline in a manner that can seem quite irregular. The forms you'll see here are as follows:
| jelle | First Person Singular (Dative) |
| lejny | Relative Pronoun (Dative) |
| yjny | Third Person Singular (Dative) |
There is a definite article *swe-*, which is prefixed to the noun in question.
These fuse with the case endings, although you can usually discern the form without too much trouble. The only one you'll see if *-ylwe*, a first person singular possessor attached to a noun in the Oblique case.
There are two personal endings used in this text, both singular: *-l* (first person) and *-q* (second person). Additionally, the third person singular is unmarked. These suffixes are used to mark both subject and object, and thus more than one may occur on a given verb, although there are no instances of that in the text.
The two TAM markers you will see are *-v* (imperfective past) and *-yk* (perfective past). Both are placed before personal endings.
Subordinate clauses are introduced by *e-*, which is attached to the verb or initial element of a copular construction.
Interrogative sentences are introduced by *sha-*, which behaves just like *e-*.
| bernwa | v | to find out, learn/discover (by chance) |
| berwym | v | to know (a fact) |
| bje | part | not, no |
| bjysh | v | to seem, it seems |
| cyxle | v | to want |
| dwegamet | n | refrigerator |
| dym | prep | for, for the purpose of |
| hykyng | v | to eat |
| kjeswe | n | house, dwelling |
| laj(e)q | n | a large land crab similar to a coconut crab |
| mce' | v | to say |
| mjytlcyyb | n | woman |
| naas | v | to hope, wish |
| qallca | v | to be afraid, +GEN: to fear |
| qely | adj | big, large |
| pyng | n | fish |
| setw | n | pot, large bowl, bucket, vessel (for storage of liquid) |
| sh(e) | v | to be (in a place) |
| Temas | n | (a male name) |
| vypajme | adj | hungry |
| xwar | v | there is, there are (existential verb) |
| ykar | v | to lift, raise, (of storage devices) open |
| ysjek | prep | in, inside of |
page started: 2018.Jan.07 Sun
current date: 2018.Feb.15 Thu
content originated by kechpaja
form originated by qiihoskeh
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