Conlang Relay 15/Prevli

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by Roger Mills

The Text

kaŋ or suśtu g,i:mä

məriná mizent at givonta. usel duŋ zet diez ttamne. uśparne zetento duŋ yaśna, ŋok o tukpu hå zet biltuktaśte. uśturŋü zento bon nifar tturŋüt od y,üri. ŋo tuvnaga zetento kaŋalá hhimni di kaŋalá gozo, kaŋalá ye:mmípu niśtá. tafsuso nagbovon zet man ot sün,åt olta.


usel duŋ givonta or tavzumpü man okta. navge te hulhim zet. meŋgö u on keśtá nama ddiśkä. meŋgö u muhu äyva keśtá.


uśtuvbaśnak u tuvon neśóvnu ttate bak neždeenu ŋŋaro.


usel ya, mempun anertaner nagaŋgá zetento kahot hhimnit.

Smooth English

A Paradox

Observe dancers They have no plan They use no music, but just the sound of their own voices They do not learn the dance from (by means of) written instructions. But they can perform any step in any direction, whatever they wish.. They are dancing more precisely than all the others


There are no dancers more agile than these. They turn and gesture. It seems they are of one mind It appears to be very easy for them.


I cannot believe that there can be so much beauty from so little effort. It is not as if they are doing the same steps over and over.

Grammar

Prevli is a VSO language.(Adverbials may precede the verb.) There is a lot of metathesis and consequent allophony, much of which is not indicated here to avoid an unnecessarily complicated description. Note only:

  1. /s/ > [ś] before most cons, [ž] before a vd. stop.
  2. palatalized C are indicated with a following comma, e.g. “g,”. Sorry, there's nothing on-line.

Irrealis verbs

May be translated 'probably..., may...', but in fact they are simply required in certain constructions involving doubt, questioning, lack of knowledge, hypotheticals etc.

Relative clauses

Rel.Pron. must be the subject of the vb. in the RC; consequently the verb must sometimes be passive.

Possession

Alienable: Possessor + /dia+poss.sfx/ + possessed

Inalienable:

  1. (optional PRON) Possessed+poss.sfx.
  2. Possessed+sfx + (Noun) possessor

Nouns

There is no case marking; only plural is marked. Modifying adjectives precede the noun, and agree in number.

Pronouns

  1. simple, with intrans.vbs.; neuter “it” is not indicated
  2. compound Subj+Obj. with trans. vbs.; there are dative and passive-agent forms in the wordlist, actually Prep+Pron.


Vocabulary

a
(pl. at) marks animate DO
/anid/ aner
another, again;
anertaner
= aner te aner
bak
prep. from
/basan/ baśna
to believe
biltuk
voice (N, inalien.)
bon
a certain dance (traditional)
givon
(agt.noun) one who does this dance
bovon
vb. to do the bon dance
dee [de?e]
little, little bit
di
prep. to (direction)
/dia/
die+poss. marker of alienable possession
/disak/ diśkä
to intend, noml. ddiskä [(.)'d:iSk&]
/duŋu/; no, none
el
vb. there is; (irreal.) on; may sometimes = simply 'it is...'; with dative/possessive, 'to have....'
/giham/
to understand, pass. g,i:mä ['dZi:m&] /g-i-iham/
/goza/ gozo
N. direction
same, own
hulhum
gesture (n, vb.)
/inim/ imni
to move: noml. hhimni ['ximni]
-k (pron.sfx.)
1st pers.sing. (**Omitted from the version I sent to Kevin)
kahu
same
kaŋ
thing, something
kaŋalá
whatever, any(thing) at all
keśtá
3rd pl dative
/madin/ marne
observe, look at; imper. məriná
man
part. than
mei
vb. to want; irreal. emmí [Em'bi], pass. ye:mmí
mempun
conj. as if
/menug/ meŋgö
to seem appear
mizent
compd. pron. 2s subj+3pl. obj.
muhu
adv. very
/nabig/ navge
vb. to turn
/naga/
vb. to do, act, irreal. aŋgá
nag-
pfx. of the progressive aspect “be...ing”
nama
NUM. one
nes-
adv, prefix: so...
neśóv so much...
nifar
prep. by means of
niśtá
pron. 3rd pl. agent (passive)
nu
indicates partitive
/ŋadu/ ŋaro
vb. to try; noml.
ŋŋaro
[(ə)'Ngaro] effort
ŋo(k)
conj. but
o, pl ot
def. article
/odi/ ore ~ or
REL pronoun
oku
demonst. that, that one
ôl
adj. all, pl. olta
/padin/ parne
to use
-pu
Part. just, only
-śte
3d pl. possess. suffix
/susa/ suso
precise, exact
/susut/ suśtu
difficult
/suyan/ sün,å ['synjO]
adj. other, different
-ta ~ -t
noun/adj. plural marker
/tanim/ tamne
to plan, design; noml. ttamne ['tsamne]
/tati/ tate
beautiful
/tavu/ tav- ~ taf-
comparative, 'more...'
te
conj. and
/tudiŋ/
turŋü to learn noml.
tturŋü ['tsurŋy]
'lesson, instruction'
/tug/
N. sound
tuv-
pfx. of the potential aspect: able to..., can...
u
introduces complement clauses
us
negator (the -s undergoes sandhi)
ya
part., indicates cleft sentence (in this text)
/yasan/ yaśna
N. music
/yava/
easy irreal. äyvá
/yuri/
to write; pass. y,üri [žy'ri] (**I had “z,üri” in the version sent to Kevin)
zet
pron. 3pl.
zento
compd pron. 3pl subj+3sg obj.
zetento
compd.pron. 3pl.subj+3pl.obj.
/zunip/ zumpü
skillful, agile
Conlang Relay 15
Ring A Ring B Ring C
Pete BleackleyKhangaþyagontorch
What is a relay?list of relays and participantsedit the TOC aboveedit this template