Fourth Linguifex Relay/Van

From Linguifex
Jump to navigation Jump to search

varaske ha-vavaralas halov ha-sotsorite
ha-lisat, nome ras, sere ha-seralas ras
veńavaj mir valo ta
tavańa mir ha-livav nomete
vańa vańa sataka mir jan vańa tan
ha-koralas, mare mir, nivańa nonete mir ras, netesi rase

Interlinear gloss

var-a-s-ke ha-vavaralas halov ha-sotso<ri>t=e
tear-dyn-nonact-quickly poss-mosaic life def-stones<dim>=dir
ha-lisat no-m-e ras ser-e ha-seralas ras
def-ruler intens-great-stat 3p.m sit-stat poss-chair 3p.m
veń-a-vaj mir valo ta
come-dyn-suddenly 2p sea away
ta-vań-a mir ha-livav no-met=e
good-do-dyn 2p poss-favour intens-sky=dir
vań-a vań-a sataka mir jan vań-a tan
cause-dyn do-dyn law 2p like proverb-dyn 1p
ha-koralas mar-e mir ni-vań-a no-net-e mir ras net-e-si ras=e
def-friend upright-stat 2p perhaps-cause-dyn intens-hold-stat 2p 3p.m hold-stat-little 3p.m=dir

Notes

  • Almost everything is explained in the short article Van. Do take a peek.
  • Van is almost excludingly VSO with rare SVO.
  • Time is *not* of essence in Van. Context and adverbs may be of help but aren't really considered necessary most of the time (ha!).
  • A construction approaching a polite imperative is formed using the 2P and the prefix ni- “perhaps” on the verb.
  • A “relative” clause follows its (pro-)nominal head and is always offset with comma. When they are related to the object of the main clause they are marked with the directive =e.
    mak, karesi ras, lana ras ha-tok. “Mark, a bit old is he, cooks he the chicken.” → mak, karesi ras, lana ras ha-tok, laja rase. “Mark, a bit old is he, cooks he the chicken, sings he;dir” where the second relative clause matches with ha-tok, i.e. it's the chicken who sings and not Mark.
  • When the verb in a relative clause is stative and the main clause verb too, the main clause drops the common pronoun.
    mak, pare ras, tanire [] mar vańe tavi → “Mark, red is he, taller is [he] than taller is David”
  • no- is variously translated as “great, many, much, very, really, truly” depending on context and is a general intensifier which attaches to any word.
  • The directive enclitic =e habitually works several jobs including doing night shifts as an object marker for relclauses, a benefactive/dative marker here and there on saturdays, all this beyond being a typical 'directive'. Oh, right, let's not forget, sometimes it works a bit like a translative, (NP NP=e), e.g. mak nansi=e “Mark became Nancy”. It attaches to phrases.

Bonus

  • vavaralas and varaske looking similar? That's because a mosaic in Van is a "a collection of torn things/things you tear".
  • The diminutive infix <ri> is a recycled favourite from an old sketch.
  • lisat and sataka looking similar as well? Well, yes, these are two related nouns: a ruler and "things-used-to-rule-with" (laws) formed on the common root √sat- “to govern, rule”!
  • √mar- is a bit of a dark joke, being borrowed from Latinate 'mort-' with the semantic shift of “dead” → “stiff” → “upright”~“just”.