Text
U itsiru u lo mɛwɛ
Ño u gəru axe, pɔ’ɔ mɛsuga nɛwɛ adɛ oskə. Ɔdɔ’ɔwa mura rɛ oldɔwa xa gəsta adɔ noñə, o nodɔwa ada tsə dɛñə tavlɛ amo. Tiya oño rɛ olnone dediga ño u manavo podɔ nzɛ, o none’o puh lo sɔga adɔ ɔ itsiru tsapse ñire lu noñə adɔ.
Tuse, esə uvi rɛ wɛ’ɔwa ɔ yuska mɛsɛ. Oldɔwa puh tsa lu itsiru ome ma ivri, alu esa mve rɛ nona’o əvre. Wəya lu aski adɔ meyu, dal ma əño.
Tuse, wɛ’oña nzɔ suni ena mɛsu lu ɔlu rɔma lo yuska o tsɔve, alu pɔwah o tselu wɛtuldɔ me suni ma mvotsi. Wɛ’oña nzɔ suni ena rɔmah ño u əbe təña o tola idə.
Tuse, oldɔwa məmat rɛ tsona lo əbe ɔ suni ah təña sopsə. Oldɔwa məmat rɛ tsonə u suni desu ɔ nawə. Oldɔwa leda ɛru rɛ pɔwaxa nzɔ suni ntuya lu aski adɔ nodɛ, mpu esaxa nzɔ ŋkə ñalta ɔ ogava o ntalu kwə mvoso.
Tuse, pɔxədo mɛsu nzo suni pato mpadɛ, ni ɔdɔ’ɔwa tselu ma noñə ño u omva. Lɛñɔ gəru axe, oldɔwa xa məmat: Pɔxədo mɛsu nzo suni pato mpadɛ, ni ɔdɔwa’o lo yuska ma esə botso.
Tsa, tsonexa u nzɔ suni ntuya mve rɛ sah ɔ algɔ, mpu saxa ɔ maldɔ nzəwoga kutsa. Pɔwah nzo suni mañi o tselu agɛ, ni stɔwa nte’a rumɛ rɛ wɛ’ɔwa ɔra maldɔ nzəwoga kutsa.
Lɛñɔ gəru axe, pɔ’ɔ nɛski buna: Ta lu kwərə mpi, mpu wə skɛga lo aski adɔ noñə.
English Translation
Advice from the father
As a son of mine, you might want to come closer to me. You have decided that you must leave this family of yours, and that you plan to travel to those mountains far away. It occurs to me that maybe I should be a mentor to you, and that I want to give you some advice before you leave.
You know, it may happen that you encounter a yuska. Don’t let him know about my advice, even though he might threaten to destroy you. He will frighten your horse, but he will not kill it.
You know, you will see apples near the place where the yuska is lurking, even if there might be no apples growing at that place. You will see apples that look like a bright, edible moon.
You know, you should remember that the moon is brighter than an apple. You should remember that a real apple is red. You should by all means prevent the apparent apples from touching your horse, because those same apples actually cause suffering and death.
You know, if you stay close to the evil apples, you will not have to leave that place as a dead person. You, son of mine, you should remember this: If you stay close to the evil apples, the yuska will not be able to attack you.
Yes, those pseudo-apples are said to be sweet, because they protect people. If those special apples are at hand, you can be sure that they will protect everybody.
By the way, son of mine, you might want to listen now: The goat is starting to cry, because your horse is also leaving.
Grammar and Vocabulary
Grammar
TYPOLOGY
- mostly isolating
- head-initial
- basic word order: AuxSOV with occasional topic fronting and subclause postposing
- basic morphosyntactic alignment: NOM-ACC
- pro-drop
NOMINALS
- no distinction between nouns and adjectives
- nouns/adjectives do not inflect at all
- determiners are mandatory in all full (i.e. non-pronominal) noun phrases
- nouns without a determiner usually have adjectivial function, but may refer to an abstract quality when used as the object of a preposition
- most determiners are marked for case (but quantifiers and some pronouns aren’t)
- nominal number is unmarked
- several nouns can be used within a single NP if they are connected with the conjunction o “and”, and the end of the listing is marked with a stranded preposition kwə “with”
PREPOSITIONS
- prepositions inflect for the person of their object
- each preposition governs a specific case for their object
- objects of prepositions can be omitted if clear from context
VERBS
- content verbs do not inflect at all
- auxiliary verbs are mandatory in all clauses
- auxiliary verbs inflect for person and number of the subject AND person of the object
- there is a small class of “ergative verbs” whose subjects are marked with the accusative case, and which require a special set of transitive person markers on the auxiliary
- aspect and mood are indicated by the choice of the auxiliary
- no tense marking
- additional distinctions may be made by adding one or more uninflected auxiliaries right before the content verb
- in clauses which have no content verb but contain an accusative-marked noun phrase, the auxiliary functions as a copula
LINKS
Grammar sketch: http://akana.conlang.org/wiki/Buruya_Nzaysa
Auxiliary verb suffixes
| -a | suffix | 3rd person singular subject, 3rd person object |
| -ah | suffix | 3rd person plural intransitive |
| -axa | suffix | 3rd person plural subject, 3rd person object |
| -a’o | suffix | 3rd person singular subject, 2nd person object |
| -exa | suffix | 1st person plural subject, 3rd person object |
| -e’o | suffix | 1st person singular subject, 2nd person object |
| -ə | suffix | 3rd person singular intransitive |
| -iya | suffix | 1st person singular subject, 3rd person object |
| -xədo | suffix | 2nd person reflexive |
| -’ɔ | suffix | 2nd person singular intransitive |
| -’ɔwa | suffix | 2nd person singular subject, 3rd person object |
| -’oña | suffix | 2nd person singular subject, 3rd person agent/source (used with ergative verbs) |
There are some important morphophonological alternations when a suffix is added to an auxiliary verb stem:
- Vowel-initial auxiliary suffixes usually delete a preceding vowel, with the exception that /ə/ is itself deleted after /a/
- esə-_ + /ʔ/ (written <’>) = _st-_
- _ol-_ + /ʔ/ = _old-_
- _(ol)non-_ + /ʔ/ = _(ol)nod-_
- _wə-_ + /ʔ/ = _wɛ’-_
Glossary
| ada | pp. +ACC | to, towards |
| adɛ | pp. | (1st person form of _ada_) |
| adɔ | pp. | (2nd person form of _ah_) |
| agɛ | v.erg. | be, exist |
| ah | pp. +NOM | of, belonging to, with regard to |
| algɔ | n. | sweet |
| alu | cj. | although, despite |
| amo | v. | travel |
| aski | n. | horse, stallion |
| axe | pp. | (1st person form of _ah_) |
| botso | v. | attack |
| buna | v. | hear, listen |
| dal | cj. | but, however |
| dɛñə | n. | mountain, hill |
| dediga | adv. | maybe, possibly |
| desu | n. | normal, usual, typical, real |
| ɛru | v. | prevent, inhibit, avoid |
| ena | v.erg. | see, notice |
| esə- | aux. | (emphatic/abilitative auxiliary: “do indeed, can indeed”) |
| əbe | n. | moon |
| əño | v. | kill |
| əvre | v. | strike down, crush, destroy |
| gəru | n. | son |
| gəsta | n. | family, relatives, descendants |
| itsiru | n. | hint, advice |
| ivri | v. | tell, narrate, inform |
| kutsa | v. | ward off, defend, protect |
| kwə | pp. +NOM | with (comitative) |
| kwərə | n. | goat |
| lɛñɔ | det./pron. | (2nd person singular pronoun, nominative) |
| leda | adv. | completely, thoroughly |
| lo | det. | (definite article, nominative) |
| lu | det. | (definite article, accusative) |
| ma- | aux. | (negative auxiliary: “do not”) |
| maldɔ | n. | person, human being |
| manavo | n. | consultant, mentor, member of the city council |
| mañi | n. | rare, remarkable, special |
| mɛsɛ | v. | meet, come across, encounter |
| mɛsu | pp. +ACC | near, next to |
| mɛsuga | adv. | nearby, closely, tightly |
| mɛwɛ | n. | father |
| me | det./qu. | no, none of |
| meyu | v. | shock, terrorize, frighten |
| məmat | v. | remember |
| mura | v. | decide, make up one’s mind, conclude, determine |
| mpadɛ | v. | keep positioned (in a certain way) |
| mpi | v.erg. | cry, weep |
| mpu | cj. | because |
| mve | v. | say, speak |
| mvoso | v. | cause, bring about, result in |
| mvotsi | v.erg. | grow |
| nawə | n. | red |
| nɛski | adv. | anyway, no matter what, by the way |
| nɛwɛ | adv. | more, most |
| ni | cj. | if/then (typically placed in the apodosis clause), therefore |
| nodɛ | v. | reach for, get in physical contact with |
| nonə- | aux. | (intentional auxiliary: “going to”) |
| noñə | v. | leave, depart, go away |
| ntalu | n. | death |
| nte’a | adv. | really, truly, indeed |
| ntuya | n. | fake, copy |
| nzɛ | v. | do, tackle |
| nzəwoga | adv. | safely, securely |
| nzɔ | det./pron. | (topic marker/article, nominative) |
| nzo | det./pron. | (topic marker/article, accusative) |
| ñalta | adv. | indeed, actually |
| ñire | pp. +ACC | as far as, until, before |
| ño | pp. +NOM | as, like |
| ŋkə | n. | same, identical, -self |
| ɔ | det. | (indefinite article, accusative) |
| ɔdɔ(w)- | aux. | (resultative auxiliary: “have become”) |
| ɔlu | n. | place, location |
| ɔra | det./qu. | all, each, every |
| o | cj. | and |
| o | pp. +ACC | at, on |
| ogava | n. | pain, agony, misery, suffering |
| olə- | aux. | (obligative/necessitive auxiliary: “must”) |
| olnonə- | aux. | (admonitive/hortative auxiliary: “should”) |
| ome | pp. | (1st person form of _u_) |
| omva | n. | corpse, dead body |
| oño | v. | think, guess, suppose, believe |
| oskə | v. | come, approach, move towards |
| pato | n. | nasty, evil, vicious |
| pɔ(w)- | aux. | (conditional/irrealis auxiliary: “might, would”) |
| podɔ | pp. | (2nd person form of _puh_) |
| puh | pp. +NOM | to, for (benefactive) |
| rɛ | cj | (complementizer, accusative) |
| rɔma- | aux. | (relative clause auxiliary: “which does”) |
| rumɛ | v. | know, be sure of |
| sə- | aux. | (null auxiliary: “does”) |
| skɛga | adv. | likewise, equally, in the same way |
| sɔga | n. | ears |
| sopsə | v. | conquer, defeat, surpass |
| suni | n. | apple |
| ta- | aux. | (inceptive auxiliary: “start”) |
| tavlɛ | n. | far away, outside the Edák cultural sphere |
| təña | n. | light, brightness |
| tola | n. | meal, food |
| tuse | intj. | well, I guess, you know |
| tsa | intj. | yes |
| tsa | det./pron. | that, those (nominative) |
| tsapse | v. | give, provide, supply |
| tselu | pron. | there, that place |
| tsə | det./pron. | that, those (accusative) |
| tsɔve | v. | watch, observe, lurk, look out for |
| tsonə- | aux. | (habitual/gnomic auxiliary: “be always”) |
| u | det. | (indefinite article, nominative) |
| u | pp. +NOM | of, from (associative) |
| uvi | v.erg. | happen, occur, come to pass |
| wɛtuldɔ | adv. | even |
| wə(y)- | aux. | (futurative auxiliary: “will”) |
| xa | det./pron. | this, these (accusative) |
| yuska | n. | a legendary creature that eats people. The yuska is a mythical creature from Miwan folklore, which is said to live in the depths of the Ici Forest south of Buruya. It is twice the size of a man, looks more or less like a panther with a large dinosaur-like tail (similar to this picture: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/2937892514_8e77313865.jpg), and it eats people, hunting them by ambushing from the treetops. |