Conlang Relay 15/Prevli

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

hå

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