First Linguifex Relay/Kiwi
Here follows the Kiwi source text for the First Linguifex Relay. Note that it is strictly forbidden to create public English translations of this text and its derivations while the relay is running, so please avoid doing so. It only spoils the fun. If you are not partaking in the relay, do not worry, a proper translation will be published after the relay has run its course.
This time it's really important you read all the notes.
Kanāti hikaukaʻinā
Ōnatahāʻi wakaʻi, ma keʻeli,
kanāti me telēaheʻ,
kanāti maʻorīnā,
kilāʻ wewiʻakānia nuhuʻ kikaukaʻime,
ʻūluna tāʻingīne wetāʻitelā,
ʻūluna tāʻipīriʻ, ūluna tāʻiwuʻe.
Katā yilāʻ yititelāʻinā
kilāʻ wewiʻakānia nuhuʻ kikaukaʻime,
ʻĀlunu ana me naʻi,
ʻālunu ana taʻahumei taʻ hikōloʻi.
Interlinear gloss
| Glossing abbreviations used on this page | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
| > | transitivity direction |
| 1 | first person |
| 2 | second person |
| 3 | third person |
| ~ | reduplication (preceded by its significance) |
| - | morpheme separator |
| . | grammatical function separator |
| PA | paucal |
| PL | plural |
| VN | verbal noun |
| cX | noun class |
| ADZ | adjectiviser or adverbialiser |
| NOM | nominative case |
| ACC | accusative case |
| INST | instrumental case |
| BEN | benefactive case |
| GEN | genitive case |
| SUPL | superlative case |
Kanāti hikaukaʻinā
kanātia hi-kaukaʻi-nā
to_sing.vn-nom c8.gen-song_bird.pa-gen
Ōnatahāʻi wakaʻi, ma keʻeli,
ōna-tahāʻi wakaʻi-∅ ma keʻeli
supl-to_drift.vn-nom ground.pa-acc a.art to_dream.vn
kanāti me telēaheʻ
kanāti me telēa-heʻ
to_sing.vn-nom no.art reason.pa-ben
kanāti maʻorīnā
kanāti maʻorī-nā
to_sing.vn-nom murder.pa-gen
kilāʻ wewiʻakānia nuhuʻ kikaukaʻime
ki-lāʻ we~wiʻakāni-a nuhuʻ ki~kaukaʻi-me
c6-two pl~lover-nom to_fly.vn-nom pl~song_bird-inst
ʻūluna tāʻingīne wetāʻitelā
ʻūluna tāʻi-ngīne we-tāʻi-telā
ocean.pa.acc c6.adz-gust and-c6.adz-change
ʻūluna tāʻipīriʻ, ʻūluna tāʻiwuʻe.
ʻūluna tāʻi-pīriʻ, ʻūluna tāʻi-wuʻe
ocean.pa.acc c6.adz-cold ocean.pa.acc c6.adz-ice
Katā yilāʻ yititelāʻinā
kata-a yi-lāʻ yi-ti~telā-ʻinā
kata.pa-nom c8-two c8.gen-pl~change-gen
kilāʻ wewiʻakānia nuhuʻ kikaukaʻime,
ki-lāʻ we~wiʻakāni-a nuhuʻ ki~kaukaʻi-me
c6-two pl~lover-nom to_fly.vn-nom pl~song_bird-inst
ʻĀlunua ana me naʻi,
ʻālunu-a ana me naʻi
abyss.pa-nom past not to_speak
ʻĀlunua ana taʻahumei taʻ hikōloʻi.
ʻālunu-a ana taʻahu-mei taʻ-∅ hi-kōloʻi
abyss.pa-nom past 3>4.pa-to_see that.rel-acc c8.adz-secret
Dictionary
All the word appear in their basic form: accusative paucal for nouns, and infinitive or verbal nominal form for verbs. Any additional informaion is provided in the Notes column.
The Kiwi languages has little distinction between noun and verb. Thus, the Notes column will display which function the word has in this text, as well as which classes the nouns have.
| Kiwi | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| kanāti | to sing | verb |
| kaukaʻi | song bird | noun, c1 |
| tahāʻi | to drift, to fly | verb |
| wakaʻi | land | noun, c6 |
| ma | indefinite article | article |
| keʻeli | to dream | verbal noun, c8 |
| me | no, no one | negative article |
| telēa | to have a reason, to originate | verbal noun, c8 |
| maʻorī | to murder, to die | verbal noun, c8 |
| lāʻ | two | numeral |
| wiʻakāni | lover | noun, c1 |
| nuhuʻ | to swim, to fly | verb |
| ʻūluna | ocean | noun, c6 |
| ngīne | gust | noun, c1 |
| telā | to change | verbal noun, c8 |
| pīriʻ | to freeze | verbal noun, c8 |
| wuʻe | ice | noun, c8 |
| kata | time | noun, c8 |
| ʻĀlunu | abyss, the personification of the abyss | noun, proper noun, c6 |
| ana | morning, PAST | particle |
| naʻi | to speak | verb |
| mei | to see | verb |
| taʻ | that | relative pronoun |
| kōloʻi | to conceal, to keep secret | verbal noun, c8 |
| we- | and | conjunction |
Grammar
The following are the cases used in the text.
| Kiwi | Case | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| -heʻ | benefactive | |
| -me | instrumental | Has a comitative function, as well as an instrumental one. |
| -ʻinā, -nā | genitive | The possessor agrees with the possessee, by means of class prefixes. In this case, the class prefixes do not adjectivise. If there is no ADZ-prefix on the possessor, the genitive means about. |
| -a | nominative | If the subject is not a verbal noun, it gets a marked nominative. |
| -a | accusative | If the accusative is a verbal noun, the accusative is marked. |
| ōna- | superlative | Denotes movement over something else. |
Notes
Morphosyntactic alignment and copula
Kiwi is unusual in that it has a marked nominative morphosyntactic system, which means that the nominative is marked on nouns, but the accusative is not. The language also does not have a copula, but two arguments lacking a verb get connected.
- Anā wōri
- ana-a wōri-∅
- me-NOM girl-ACC
- I am a girl
VN: The verbal noun
Kiwi makes use of verbal nouns when the subject and tense is unknown. Verbal nouns take many forms in English, in Kiwi, however, they all take the same form, the infinitive::
- To err is human.
- I like singing.
- Ramā miraʻ.
- ramā miraʻ
- to_regret.VN to_understand.VN
- Regretting is to understand.
As it happens, the marked nominative alignment does not apply to verbal nouns. Instead, they get a marked accusative.
- Wehaʻākani kanātia.
- weʻa-ʻākani kanāti-a.
- 1>3-to_like to_sing.VN-ACC.
- I like singing.
cX and ADZ
Kiwi has noun classes, simple as that. To derive adjectives and adverbs, a noun gets a class prefix that agrees with the attributed noun's class.
- ʻūluna tāʻikulāʻ
/ʔuːluˈnɑ taːʔɪquˈlaːʔ/
ʻūluna tāʻi-kulāʻ
ocean.c6.PA ADZ.c6-darkness.c8.PA
dark ocean
X>Y: The bipersonal agreement
In the Kiwi language, the object and subject of a transitive verb are both marked with one prefix, this is called bipersonal agreement.
- A subject X acts upon an object Y.