Tolakiso

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Tolan
Tolakiso
Pronunciation: ['to.la.ˌki.so]
Spoken in: Tola, Tolan Empire
Conworld: Kalna
Total speakers: None
Genealogical classification: Kalnaean
Seranic
Tolan
Writing System: Tolan Syllabary
Basic word order: SVO
Morphological type: Agglutinating
Morphosyntactic alignment: Nominative-Accusative
Created by:
Ian Cook August 1, 2012

Tolan (Tolakiso ['to.la.ˌki.so]) is an ancient language which was once spoken on the continent of Seran in the region of Tola and by the Tolan Empire on the planet of Kalna. Tolan is the only member of the Seranic language family to survive after the Tolan Empire conquered and ruled Seran. However, its descendants were all influenced by the other languages of the various regions.

Tolan is typologically highly agglutinative, although it shows occasional fusional and isolating characteristics. It modifies and inflects nouns (though nominative and accusative are shown through word order), pronouns, and verbs, depending on their roles in the sentence. There are twelve noun cases, and verbs conjugate to show four moods, three tenses, two voices, and three aspects.

Phonology

Primary stress on Tolan words is always given to the first syllable in the word. Secondary stress is usually placed on alternating syllables thereafter, but it is often such a small stress that it is barely noticeable. In compound words, each component after the first receives secondary stress on its first syllable.

Tolan has five vowels, however there is some allophony based on the different regions in which Tolan was spoken. Allphones are shown in parentheses below.

Vowels
Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
High i [i] (i) [y] u [u]
Near-high (i) [ɪ] (u) [ʊ]
High-mid e [e] o [o]
Mid (e) [ə]
Low-mid (e) [ɛ] (o) [ɔ]
Near-low (a) [æ]
Low a [a] (a) [ɑ]

All vowels are analyzed as occurring within the time frame of one mora Therefore, doubled vowels are treated as a sequence of two identical vowels, rather than as a long vowel. Two different vowels in sequence are treated as distinct syllables, rather than as a diphthong.

Tolan uses only twelve consonants. None of the plosives or fricatives are voiced, and there are no affricates. Voiced plosives and fricatives will be heard as allophones for their unvoiced counterparts.

Consonants
Bilabial Labiod. Dental Alveolar Post-alv. Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m [m] n [n]
Plosive p [p] t [t] k [k]
Fricative f [f] s [s] h [h]
Approximants w [w] y [j]
Flap or Tap r [ɾ]
Lateral Approximant l

The basic syllable structure is (C)V(n) where "C" is any consonant, "V" is any vowel, and "n" is the letter "n". This can create long strings of vowels, all of which are considered separate syllables, but can not create any consonant clusters.

Orthography

The Tolan language is written using the Tolan Syllabary.

Grammar

The Tolan language is highly inflected, often through agglutination, but sometimes shows fusional and isolating tendencies. The morphosyntactic alignment is nominative-accusative, but unlike any other cases, neither nominative nor accusative are marked morphologically, being distinguished only by word order. There are twelve other distinct noun cases.

Verbs are highly inflected, though they are not marked for person. They are, however, inflected for four moods and three tenses, two voices, and three aspects.

Nouns

Tolan does not distinguish gender in any nouns or pronouns.

Cases

Tolan has fourteen noun cases: four grammatical cases, six marginal cases, and four locative cases.

Tolan Cases
Case Glossing Abbr. Suffix English prep. Example Translation
Grammatical
Nominative nom - - rami house
Accusative acc - - rami house
Dative dat -ti to ramiti to (a) house
Genitive gen -sa of/-'s ramisa of (a) house
Marginal
Vocative voc - O rami O house
Instrumental inst -ko with/using ramiko using (a) house
Benefactive ben -hin for ramihin for (a) house
Causal cau -te because of ramite because of (a) house
Comitative com -ru with ramiru with (a) house
Abessive abe -ya without ramiya without (a) house
Locative
Lative lat -we to ramiwe to (a) house
Adessive ade -mo at/in/on ramimo at (a) house
Ablative abl -han from ramihan from (a) house
Prolative prol -fu through/via ramifu through (a) house

Note that neither the nominative nor the accusative take a morphological suffix. Instead, these cases are determined by word order. A noun is distinguished as nominative if it is located before the verb, and as accusative if it is located after the verb.

Plurals

Nouns do not decline to show plurality. Unmarked nouns have no number, and the specific number is left ambiguous. This is called transnumeral. To specify the number of a noun, a number or another modifier must be used. For example:

Ken enma unfa
one cl17 sheep
One sheep
Yuwa enma unfa
some cl17 sheep
Some sheep
Liten enma unfa
many cl17 sheep
Many sheep

In the above examples, unfa is the Tolan word for "sheep" while enma is the noun classifier for most non-human mammals.

Definiteness

Tolan does not have any articles, and thus nouns have no inherent way to express definiteness. Instead, this is expressed using demonstratives and numbers. For example:

Mui
man
(A/The) man
Ken onru mui
one cl15 man
A man or One man
Kanso onru mui
this cl15 man
This man
Onru mui
cl15 man
Men (in general)

In the above examples, mui is the Tolan word for "man" while onru is the noun classifier for humans.

Classifiers

Noun classifiers, also called measure words, are independent lexical items which are used to classify the referent of countable nouns according to their meaning. This is done any time a noun is being modified by a demonstrative or a number. These classifiers are also used as third-person pronouns. The Tolan language has a total of 78 noun classifiers.

Tolan Noun Classifiers
CL# Classifier Usage
cl01 ra Generic classifier
cl02 wori Generic classifier, naturally occurring in pairs
cl03 un Generic classifier, naturally occurring in threes
cl04 ki Generic classifier, naturally occurring in fours
cl05 punyin Generic classifier for groups
cl06 yilen Long, thin objects
cl07 unsan Group of long, thin objects
cl08 pan Flat objects
cl09 pun Group of flat objects
cl10 hon Round objects
cl11 finu Group of round objects
cl12 mu Small, grain-like objects
cl13 fon Group of small, grain-like objects
cl14 innon Objects which can be rolled up
cl15 onru Humans
cl16 rope Group of humans
cl17 enma Most non-human mammals
cl18 enko Group of most non-human mammals
cl19 rasi Cats and dogs
cl20 wan Groups of cats and dogs
cl21 an Birds and bats
cl22 unnin Groups of birds and bats
cl23 tonyo Reptiles and amphibians
cl24 nen Groups of reptiles and amphibians
cl25 ifu Other land animals
cl26 into Group of other land animals
cl27 on Whales, dolphins, sharks, and fish
cl28 anre Groups of whales, dolphins, sharks, and fish
cl29 yenne Other aquatic animals
cl30 epe Group of other aquatic animals
cl31 hoken Flying insects
cl32 tanfen Group of flying insects
cl33 sonli Non-flying insects
cl34 len Group of non-flying insects
cl35 puwo Trees
cl36 lun Group of trees
cl37 hanwi Flowers
cl38 won Group of flowers
cl39 pe Other plants and fungi
cl40 le Groups of other plants and fungi
cl41 akon General food
cl42 wehu Groups of general food, sections of a meal, courses
cl43 enyan Slaughtered meat
cl44 uyun Small fruit
cl45 sahi Group of small fruit
cl46 tuma Large fruit
cl47 lo Vegetables
cl48 tako Group of vegetables
cl49 nanyon Herbs and spices
cl50 ho Baked food
cl51 irun General liquids
cl52 wofun Drinkable portions of liquid
cl53 uyi Rivers and large bodies of water
cl54 pemi Land formations
cl55 iwen Meteorological phenomena, volcano eruptions, and earthquakes
cl56 sin Celestial bodies
cl57 min Buildings and other large, immobile, man-made objects
cl58 witin Portions of land, property, and countries
cl59 in Sea, air, and space vehicles
cl60 usan Land vehicles
cl61 nitu Tools and machines
cl62 pa Containers
cl63 ori Piles
cl64 amu Stacks
cl65 wuyu Rows
cl66 munta Weapons, armors, other tools of war, and magic
cl67 rin Arts
cl68 ane Colors and sounds
cl69 talin Languages and parts of languages such as words
cl70 fona Books and other texts
cl71 si Wool, hair, fur, clothing, blankets, sheets, towels, fabrics, and things made from fabrics
cl72 fansin Classes and lessons
cl73 okan Fire and explosions
cl74 ito Emotions, sensations, dreams, states, ideas, and supernatural/spiritual entities
cl75 eso Time
cl76 setu Distance and directions
cl77 nolo Position, turn, and order
cl78 fi Occurrances, number of times, degrees of temperature and angles

Pronouns

The pronouns in Tolan are inflected much in the same way that their referent nouns are.

Personal Pronouns

The personal pronouns are used as substitutes for proper or common nouns.

Personal Pronouns
Tolan English
Singular
no I
ta you
sahu he/she/it
yu one (generic)
Plural
wonia we
ontu you
moni they
wu they/*ones (generic)

Reciprocal Pronouns

Reciprocal Pronouns
Tolan English
pawi each other, one another

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns
Tolan English
honti oneself, himself, myself, etc.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns
Tolan English
kanso this
kansoni that

The demonstrative pronouns are also used as determiners.

Relative Pronouns

Relative Pronouns
Tolan English
suro restrictive
fasi non-restrictive
No iweto muiti suro wuna unfa.
I.nom search.pres-prog man.dat rstr.pro have.pres sheep.acc
I am looking for a man who has a sheep.
I do not have a specific man in mind, but the group of "men" is restricted to the subset of men who have a sheep.
No iweto muiti fasi wuna unfa.
I.nom search.pres-prog man.dat nrstr.pro have.pres sheep.acc
I am looking for a man who has a sheep.
I have a specific man in mind, and the information that he has a sheep is extra.

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns
Tolan English
saki what
sakionru who (literally "what person")
sakan when
sana where
saen why
satu how
sahe which
sama whether

The interrogative pronouns can also be used as determiners.

Note that the pronoun saki can be prefixed to any of the noun classifiers in the same way as sakionru.

Indefinite Pronouns

The indefinite pronouns are a list of all pronouns that do not fall into any of the categories above.

Interrogative Pronouns
Tolan English
yen any
yen-cl anyone/anybody/anything
yuwa some
yuwa-cl someone/somebody/something
na all
na-cl everyone/everybody/everything
kan none
ka-cl no one/nobody/nothing
fai other/another
powa each
tesi either
tesiko neither
patu enough
rosan too much
kun both
niki several
hoke such

Note that most indefinite pronouns can be prefixed to any of the noun classifiers in the same way as yen, yuwa, na, and kan.

Verbs

Tolan verbs are conjugated through an extremely regular process of agglutination. They are inflected to show four moods, three tenses, two voices, and three aspects. Verbs do not inflect to show person in any way.

Verb Inflections


Tolan Conjugation
Inflection Glossing Abbr. Suffix
Tense-Mood
Present-Indicative prs -
Past-Indicative pst -he
Future-Indicative fut -hu
Imperative imp -ka
Present-Conditional prs.cond -sa
Past-Conditional pst.cond -se
Future-Conditional fut.cond -su
Present-Subjunctive prs.sjv -fa
Past-Subjunctive pst.sjv -fe
Future-Subjunctive fut.sjv -fu
Voice
Active -
Passive pas -wi
Aspects
Perfect prf -(e)n
Progressive prog -to
Habitual hab -ru

The verbal infinitive is formed as simply an unmarked verb (as though in the active present indicative) with the addition of the preposition ni.

Note that although a verb can take only one tense-mood and can take only one voice, it can have any combination of aspects. Further, the tense-mood, voice, and aspects can all be added together to add more meaning to the verb. For example:

ni ye
inf carry
to carry
No ye.
I.nom carry.prs
I carry.
No yeheto.
I.nom carry-pst-prog
I was carrying.
No yehun.
I.nom carry-fut-prf
I will have carried.
No yehuwintoru.
I.nom carry-fut-pas-prf-prog-hab
I will have been being carried (habitually).

Tenses

There are three tenses in Tolan.

  • Present: The present tense corresponds to the English present tense. It is the unmarked tense of a verb.
  • Past: The past tense corresponds to the English simple past, indicating a past action which is complete.
  • Future: The future tense corresponds to the English future tense, indicating a future action which is yet to take place.

Moods

There are four moods in Tolan.

  • Indicative: The indicative mood is used for factual statements and positive beliefs. It is the unmarked mood of a verb.
  • Imperative: The imperative mood expresses commands, requests, prohibitions, and permissions.
  • Conditional: The conditional mood refers to a hypothetical state of affairs or an uncertain event that is contingent upon another set of circumstances. It is often used in conjunction with the subjunctive mood in if... then statements.
No yesa sahu eo ta wuofa sahu.
I.nom carry-prs.cond it.acc if you.nom make-prs.sjv it.acc
I would carry it if you were to make it.
  • Subjunctive: The subjunctive mood is used in subordinate clauses to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, or opinion.

Voices

There are two moods in Tolan.

  • Active: The active voice is used when the subject of a sentence is the agent of the verb.
  • Passive: The passive voice is used when the patient of the verb is promoted to the subject.

Aspects

There are three aspects in Tolan.

  • Perfect: The perfect aspect expresses the present relevance of past events or actions.
  • Progressive: The progressive aspect expresses that an incomplete action is in progress at a specific time.
  • Habitual: The habitual aspect expresses that an action or event is habitual or recurring.

Verb Negation

To negate a verb, precede it with the particle ka. For example:

No ka ye.
I.nom not carry.prs
I do not carry.

Interrogatives

A question can be formed either by using a specific question word (i.e. an interrogative pronoun or determiner) or by adding the particle sen to the end of a sentence. It can also act as a preposition for the word in question to add emphasis or clarification about the question. For example:

Sakionru wuna unfa?
what-cl15.nom have.prs sheep.acc?
Who has a sheep?
Ta wuna unfa sen?
you.nom have.prs sheep.acc int?
Do you have a sheep?
Sen ta wuna unfa?
int you.nom have.prs sheep.acc?
Do you have a sheep?
Ta sen wuna unfa?
you.nom int have.prs sheep.acc?
Do you have a sheep?
Ta wuna sen unfa?
you.nom have.prs int sheep.acc?
Do you have a sheep?

Adjectives

There is no distinct category of adjectives in Tolan. Instead, adjectives are expressed as verbs which mean "to be _____". For example:

No uyan.
I.nom be.happy.prs
I am happy.

These can be conjugated into the participle to be used more as an adjective following the noun it modifies. For example:

Kanso unfa uyanso
that sheep.nom be.happy.part
That happy sheep (it would translate literally to *That being-happy sheep)

For comparison, adverbs and adverbial phrases which modify the adjectival verb are used.

Adjectival Comparison
Tolan English
anrin very
wa so
hu that/than
eu least
so less
kana little/few
wa kana hu as little as
wa liten hu as much as
liten much/many
tome more
iwa most

These are placed after the verb they modify. For example:

No uyan anrin.
I.nom be.happy.prs very
I am very happy.
No uyan tome.
I.nom be.happy.prs more
I am more happy, or, I am happier.
No uyan so hu ta.
I.nom be.happy.prs less than you.nom
I am happy less than you, or, I am less happy than you.
No uyan wa liten hu ta.
I.nom be.happy.prs so much than you.nom
I am as happy as you (it would translate literally to I am happy as much as you).

Depending on the usage, these also may come after any other adverbs or other words which are modifying the adjectival verb. For example:

No uyan anrin keho.
I.nom be.happy.prs very often
I am often very happy.
No uyan keho anrin.
I.nom be.happy.prs often very
I am happy very often.
No uyan keho wa liten hu ta.
I.nom be.happy.prs often so much than you.nom
I am happy as often as you. (it would translate literally to I am happy often as much as you).

Adverbs

A common way to derive adverbs is by adding the suffix -li to an adjectival verb. For example:

ni uyanuyanli
inf be.happy → be.happy-adv
to be happyhappily
ni susuli
inf be.quick → be.quick-adv
to be quickquickly

Adverbs can be modified for comparison in the same way that adjectives can.

uyanli anrin
be.quick-adv very
very quickly
uyanli tome hu ta
be.quick-adv more than you
more quickly than you

Numerals

The cardinal numbers for one through ten are given below.

Cardinal Numbers
Tolan English
sunen zero
ken one
hi two
en three
wo four
ri five
yi six
lin seven
men eight
fan nine
nan ten

Further numbers are compounded in the form of [tens digit]-i-[ones digit]. However, some are slightly irregular when put in this format.

Cardinal Numbers, cont.
Tolan English
naniken eleven
nanihi twelve
nanien thirteen
hin twenty
hiniken twenty one
ena thirty
enniken thirty one
wona forty
woniken forty one
rina fifty
riniken fifty one
yin sixty
yiniken sixty one
lina seventy
liniken seventy one
mena eighty
meniken eighty one
fana ninety
faniken ninety one

The higher numbers are given below.

Cardinal Numbers, cont.
Tolan English
sukan (one) hundred
nasun (one) thousand
tolima (one) million
tohilima (one) billion
toenlima (one) trillion
towolima (one) quadrillion
torilima (one) quintillion
toyilima (one) sextillion
tolinlima (one) septillion
tomenlima (one) octillion
tofanlima (one) nonillion
tonanlima (one) decillion

Each of these words will be separate words from the smaller digits which come after, but they are suffixed to any modifying digits which precede them. For example, 200 is hisukan but 102 is sukan hi. For further illustration:

573,924
risukan liniennasun fansukan hiniwo

To make a number into any type of numeral other than cardinal, a particle is placed after the number.

Other Numerals
Type Tolan Particle English Examples
Ordinal fa first, second, third...
Partitive ke whole, half, third...
Multiplicative mun once, twice, thrice...
Collective su pair, dozen...
Distributive ma singly, one-by-one, in pairs, two-by-two...

Sentence Structure

Since nouns are not marked for the nominative or accusative cases, this must be shown through word order. Therefore, sentences must be in SVO order, where the noun before the verb is the subject in nominative and the noun after the verb is the object in accusative. Nouns in other cases, however, can be placed anywhere due to their case markings.

In a noun phrase, any determiner present is first, any modifying number present is second, the noun's classifier if present is third, and the noun itself is fourth. Adjectives then follow the noun they modify (including nouns in the genitive case), and adverbs follow the verbs that they modify. Adpositions are prepositional.

Lexicon

Tolan has a highly productive system of agglutination for derivation by adding prefixes and suffixes to root words. There is also a highly productive system of compounding.

Derivation

Derivational Affixes
Derivation Gloss Part of Speech Change Affix Usage
Agentive (Active) Participle part V → V -so [verb]ing participle
Agentive Nominal anom V → N -son-cl-yo agent of [verb]/[verb]er
Patientive (Passive) Participle ppart V → V -pu [verb]ed participle
Patientive Nominal pnom V → N -pun-cl-yo patient of [verb]
Dative Nominal dnom V → N -ti-cl-yo indirect object of [verb]
Genitive Nominal gnom V → N -sa-cl-yo owner (or other relation) of object of [verb]
Instrumental Nominal inom V → N -ko-cl-yo tool or method of [verb]
Benefactive Nominal bnom V → N -hin-cl-yo benefactor of [verb]
Comitative Nominal conom V → N -ru-cl-yo one who [verbs] with the subject
Causative Nominal caunom V → N -te-cl-yo one who is the cause of [verb]
Abessive Nominal abnom V → N -ya-cl-yo one who doesn't [verb] with the subject
Lative Nominal lnom V → N -we-cl-yo destination or goal of [verb]
Adessive Nominal adnom V → N -mo-cl-yo location where [verb] is done
Ablative Nominal abnom V → N -han-cl-yo location from which [verb] is coming
Prolative Nominal pronom V → N -fu-cl-yo route of [verb]
Collective Locative colloc N → N -wokan location with lots of [noun]
Relative Adjective reladj N → V -ki to be related or pertaining to [noun]
Compositional Adjective comadj N → V -inu to be made or composed of [noun]
Semblance Adjective semadj N → V -fuwa to be similar to or resemble [noun]
Rich Adjective richadj N → V -lian to have much or [noun]
Poor Adjective pooradj N → V -on to lack [noun]
Augmentative aug N → N -oka large [noun]
Diminutive dim N → N -ika small [noun]
Pejorative pej N → N onku- shows bad feelings for [noun]
Laudative lau N → N onti- shows good feelings for [noun]
Frequentative Adjective freq V → V -uyu to do [verb] often, or to be [adjective] often
Standard Action Verb stav N → V -ku to use [noun] in a typical way
Instance Noun inst V → N -ri instance of [verb] happening
State Noun stan V → N, N → N -pi abstract quality of [adjective] or [noun]
Collective Noun coln N → N -kin [noun] and company
Prenoun pre N → N we- before [noun]
Postnoun post N → N han- after [noun]
Misverb mis V → V ku- to [verb] poorly or wrongly
Unverb un V → V tin- to reverse [verb]
Reverb re V → V me- to [verb] again
Becoming Verb becv N → V, V → V -ata to become [noun] or [adjective]
Membership Noun memb N → N -yon member, follower, participant, or inhabitant of [noun]
Doctrinal Noun doct N → N -itu organization, doctrine, or system of membership of [noun]
Noun Market mrkt N → N -ela place where [noun] is sold
Descendant Noun desc N → N -eri offspring or descendant of [noun]
Vocational Noun vocn N → N -pan one who is occupied with [noun] professionally or by hobby
Worth Adjective wrth V → V -usin worthy of being [verb]
Quality Adverb qual V → A -li with the quality of [adjective]

Compounds

Each of the elements of a written compound word can optionally be separated by hyphens to make its meaning more clear, particularly if a compound is very long. Compound words are formed through the simple process of concatenation. However, in most cases it is the word as a whole which declines or conjugates, not merely the head (this is similar to words like the English verb to pickpocket, as by completing this action you are pickpocketing, not *pickingpocket).

Some common types of compounding are as follows:

  • N+N Endocentric Compounds ([noun] is qualified and made specific by [noun]), e.g. railroad
  • V+N Endocentric Compounds ([noun] is incorporated as an argument of [verb]), e.g. pickpocket
  • N+V Endocentric Compounds ([noun] is qualified by [adjective]-part), e.g. green tree
  • V+N Endocentric Compounds ([adjective] is similar to [noun]), e.g. tree-green
  • V+V Endocentric Compounds ([verb] is qualified or given distinctions by [verb]), e.g. to start to read (in these compounds, each element can be conjugated separately, and often the first verb is conjugated while the second remains uninflected)
  • N+N Copulative Compounds (a hybrid, combination, or mixture of [noun] and [noun] (and [noun]...)), e.g. saltwater
  • V+V Copulative Compounds (a hybrid, combination, or mixture of [adjective] and [adjective] (and [adjective]...)), e.g. bittersweet
  • V+V Serial Verbs ([verb] and [verb] (and [verb]..) all take the same subject and are inflected as a single unit to express a series of actions)
  • Appositional Compounds (various [noun]s and [adjective]s can be joined together to give different descriptions of the same referent), e.g. child-actor

Note that these various compound types can sometimes be combined for further distinctions, giving very long compound words. This is not common, however.

Sample Translations

Each of the following translations from English to Tolakiso will include the original text, the translated text, a gloss of the translated text, and a retranslation of the text back to English.

Schleicher's Fable

Schleicher's Fable is an artificial text which was composed by August Schleicher in his version of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language in 1868. Schleicher was the first scholar to compose a text in Proto-Indo-European.

Schleicher's Fable by August Schleicher

On a hill, a sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses". The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool". Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain.

Kianika Selakeresa Aguseta Selakerete

Sa oenmo, ken enma unfa hekotaya tenahe yuwa enma run, ken enma manfaheto heni omuso, ken yeheto faanla fenhuso, i ken yeheto mui suli. Unfa minihe runti: "Ennou nosa konu no, tenato mui suro pinto run". Run minihe: "yooka, unfa, ennou woniasa konu wonia sakan wonia tena kanso: mui, anlio, wuo hekotako saminenyuso hontihin. I kansoni unfa ka wuna hekota". Sakan unfa minyahe kanso, sahu unkohe feuni ironwe.

story-dim Schleicher-gen August Schleicher-cau

on hill-ade, one cl17 sheep.nom wool.abe see-pst some cl17 horse.acc, one cl17.nom pull-pst-prog wagon.acc be.heavy-part, one.nom carry-pst-prog load.acc be.large-part, and one.nom carry-pst-prog man.acc be.quick-adv. sheep.nom say-pst horse-dat: "heart.nom I-gen hurt.pres I.acc, see.pres-prog man.acc rstr.pro drive.pres-prog horse.acc". horse.nom say-pst: "listen.imp, sheep.voc, heart.nom we.gen hurt.pres we.acc when we.nom see.pres this.acc: man.nom, master.nom, make.pres wool.inst clothing-be.warm-part.acc self-ben. and that sheep.nom not have.pres wool.acc". When sheep.nom hear-pst this, it.nom flee-pst in grassland-lat.

Schleicher's Little Story by August Schleicher

On a hill, a sheep without wool saw some horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a large load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: “My heart hurts me, seeing a man who is driving horses”. The horses said: “Listen, sheep, our hearts hurt us when we see this: a man, master, makes with wool warm clothing for himself. And that sheep does not have wool.” When the sheep heard this, it fled into the grassland.

The North Wind and the Sun

The North Wind and the Sun is one of Aesop's Fables by the ancient Greek slave and storyteller Aesop.

The North Wind and the Sun by Aesop

The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

Aweamire i Sei Isopate

Aweamire i Sei aminoheto sahe fenamihe tome sakan ointusononruyo wotehe yoni reyapu feunifu saminenyusomo. Moni unsohe hu kansoni ken ra suro ken fa mohe otonterayo saminsa muisa meninasewi ni fenami tome. Tan Aweamire enwuhe fenamili wa liten hu sahu sanihe, u sakan sahu enwuhe tome, mui reyahe samin sahusa oneoli tome kuyi hontimo; e Aweamire yanfihe kanso elonfari. Tan Sei paankihe enyuli, i mui otonhe sankonli yuwa si samin sahusa. E Aweamire utanhewiwina hu Sei fenamihe tome hu sahu.

wind-north.voc and sun.voc Aesop-cau

wind-north.nom and sun.nom argue-pst-prog which be.strong-pst more, when travel-anom.cl15.nom come-pst near-prol wrap-ppart in clothing-be.warm-part-ade. they.nom agree-pst that that one.nom cl01 rstr.pro one ord be-pst remove-caunom clothing-gen man-gen consider-pst.cond-pas inf be.strong more. then wind-north.nom blow-pst be.strong-qual so much than he be.able-pst, but when he.nom blow-pst more, man.nom wrap-pst clothing.acc he-gen tight-qual more around self-ade; thus wind-north.nom forfeit-pst this attempt-inst.acc. then sun.nom shine-pst be.warm-qual, and man.nom remove-pst be.immediate-qual some cl71 clothing.acc he-gen. thus wind-north.nom obligate-pst-pas-confess that sun.nom be.strong-pst more than he-acc.

Northwind and Sun by Aesop

The Northwind and the Sun were arguing which was stronger when a traveller came through wrapped in warm clothing. They agreed that the one who first was the cause of the removal of the man's clothing would be considered to be stronger. Then the Northwind blew as strongly as he was able, but when he blew more, the man wrapped his clothing tighter around himself; thus the Northwind forfeited this attempt. Then the Sun shined warmly, and the man immediately removed some of his clothing. Therefore the Northwind was obligated to confess that the Sun was stronger than him.

The King and the God

The King and the God is a text by S. K. Sen loosely based on the "king Harishcandra" episode of Aitareya Brahmana and translated into Proto-Indo-European.

The King and the God by S. K. Sen

Once there was a king. He was childless. The king wanted a son. He asked his priest: “May a son be born to me!” The priest said to the king: “Pray to the god Werunos”. The king approached the god Werunos to pray now to the god. “Hear me, father Werunos!” The god Werunos came down from heaven. “What do you want?” “I want a son.” “Let this be so”, said the bright god Werunos. The king's lady bore a son.

Fukan i Lisu S. K. Sente

Kansonimo mohe ken onru fukan. Sahu paetoonhe. Fukan tianhe tusi. Sahu eyenhe ofeanti sahusa: "Hu paeto eatofawi noti!" Ofean minihe fukanti: "Wihenka kansoni ito lisuti Werunoti". Fukan iofenhe lisu Weruno like ni wihen opin kansoni lisuti. "Rohonka no, ontiwere ontiWeruno!" Lisu Weruno wotehe uno monyehan. "Saki ta tian?" "No tian tusi." "Hu sahu mofa polin", lisuomeyaso Weruno minihe. Ontisiun fukansa eatohe tusi.

King.voc and God.voc S. K. Sen-cau

that-ade be-pst one cl15 king.acc. he.nom child-pooradj-pst. king.nom want.pst son.acc. he.nom ask.pst priest.dat he-gen: "that son.acc birth-prs.sjv-pas I.dat!" priest.nom say-pst king-dat: "pray-imp that cl74 god-dat Werunos.dat". king.nom approach-pst god.acc Werunos.acc for inf pray now that god-dat. "hear-imp I.acc, lau-father.voc lau-Werunos.voc!" god.nom Werunos.nom come-pst down heaven-abl. "what you.nom want.prs?" "I.nom want.prs son.acc." "that it.nom be-prs.sjv so.acc", god-be.bright-part.nom say-pst. lau-woman.nom king-gen birth-pst son.acc.

King and God by S. K. Sen

There was a king. He was childless. The king wanted a son. He asked his priest: "May a son be birthed to me!" The priest said to the king: "Pray to the god Werunos". The king approached the god Werunos in order to pray now to the god. "Hear me, good father Werunos!" The god Werunos came down from heaven. "What do you want?" "I want a son." "May it be so", the bright god Werunos said. The king's lady birthed a son.

The Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel is a story from the Book of Genesis which tells of how God spread the peoples of the world throughout the earth and gave them distinct languages.

The Tower of Babel

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.