Conlang Relay 17/Talarian

Text

hawactôs tusar rilohani-hamffi

hóssa hanaras-ta; hóssa rilohâm-ca. tây, hehácsesti hanaras-ta rilohâni-han-ca stahem;
tây-pa stóha rilohâm-ca ççamcarana-han; meméryyahanti-he amtar-hap rilohâam-ca hanaram-ta;
itay-ta-he hóssa carraromtar. táy-pa hehárnti-ta çerewar-hap. pepálaffti rilohâm-ca
hexamyómti-he sahaçram-ca! an-a-trámpâmtar coy hanaram-ta; memórta is-ta.

a-cretati tactacar-he-ca.

Smooth English

Story about the evil oliphant

There was a man; there was an oliphant. Now, this man tried to stand on the oliphant;
but the oliphant stood up on his two legs; and he tossed the man away from him;
and that one attacked the man. But the man ran away really quick. The oliphant called out
and a great-gross more came to him! They pummeled the man; and he died.

And the badger wept.

Lexicon

hawactôs = story
tusar = bad, evil
-hamffi = around, about
hóssa = 3s. stative of hassem, to be
hanaras = man
-ta = secondary topic marker
rilohâm = large pack animal, such as an oliphant (lit. "he drinks twice")
-ca = immediate topic marker
tây = adv. then, now
hehácsesti = 3s aorist of hacsesam, to try, attempt
stahem = to stand
-pa = conj. but
stóha = 3s nonresultive stative form of stahem
ççamcarana = dat./loc. dual of ççamcar, shank, leg, hock
-han = postpos., on, upon
meméryyahanti = 3s aorist of meryyahanam, to toss, throw, hurl
-he = conj., and
amtar = 3s cataphoric pronoun
-hap = postpos., away, away from
itay = dem. pron., that one, the same, he/she/it
hóssa carraromtar = circumlocution composed of hóssa (to be) + verbal
root containing main idea (in this case, carra-, to hit again and again) +
-omtar, meaning "possessor of"
hehárnti = 3s aorist of harnam, to run, get away
çerewar = speed, quickness
pepálaffti = 3s aorist of palaffam, to call, shout, summon
hexamyómti = 3pl aorist of xamyam, to come, to arrive
sahaçram = num. 12^3
an-a-trámpâmtar = 3pl durative past of an-trimpam, to stamp, pummel
coy = 3pl nom. pronoun
memórta = 3s resultive stative of martam, to die
is = 3s nom. pronoun, he/she/it, this one
a-cretati = 3s past durative of cretam, to grete, to wail
tactacar = a smallish, grey furry mammal with a white stripe down his snout

Grammar

Talarian words are made up of roots and affixes. Substantive roots can act
as nouns, verbs or attributive nouns (adjectives) as need be. Affixes are generally
postposed (what in English are prepositions are in Talarian postpositions), though some
kinds are preposed. Word order is generally VSO (all the sentences and phrases in this story
are VSO). Talarian pronouns serve double duty as pronouns proper and also as topic markers.
The two kinds of topics are "immediate" and "secondary".

In the text, I use dashes to separate affixes from the main parts of the words. Often, two or
more affixes will be used in a single word.

The above notes should get you through the exercise. For more in depth explanation, see the
Grammar at http://bethisad.com/world/languages/talarian_grammar.htm

There's also a lexicon there that contains most of the words for the exercise.

Background

Talarian is an Aryo-Anatolian language spoken in the Eastlands of The World. It shares some
similarities with Hittite and Tocharian and has a rather conservative Puntic (pre-IE) lexicon.