Conlang Relay 19/Khangaþyagon

Text

yaging volkeson, "a! bilbitehaltsher yer! volkesakh ya sivolk talpku u vi holshe de yeakhar."

volkesing yi, "graming pirr talpðen. manstingar banar singar vretar arrkhar den talpebgri. zhelut u graming pirr talpðen, iðuzhovlingar holar sur banar singar, gog omna'ut iðuzhovli holshe yir, beb bilbitihangar banar talpebgri."

yeðoshing volkeson kholontar garrtuwaning. ulvlanihangar yir. yaging yi, "yurish! remba ya spirrokhku u akdeling yi ðengig. peteshing yi banamar den talpebgri. rembing yi vellakur damzkur hirrihangar yir. vingar holar sur enban. gog omna'ut modut yagingar banar spirrokhakh beb vellaakh ansidikur hirrovlingsher yir, manstosfingar yir zhelut modut. bashtringar yir der gelo talporrðen, parushkilaug kuþanto enwo. vlanting bel omna. akdelingar spirrokh beb vellar pirrgramut.

loremingar gravdar sur nisamo omna'ut. rembingar spirrokhar banar magku mœzku, iðuzhingar yir yi gælip kemniip ullsaip. urœwaningar kholingar banar enil, beb sloningar yir ansidikur rolovlingar yir.

saming omna, warsing hal, graming pirr, beb nisaming vella. rembing vella, 'iðuzhang ya kemmif temv, beb hurrza mœz trinnitsa'utombar avrishutombar.' nirakingar banar garshlwaningar ansidikur urœdahingsher yir. bengilaug, halbanut u alþigraming pirr, akdelingar spirrokh beb vellar zhelbanig."

Smooth English

The storyteller said, "Oi! Stop wittering on! I will tell you a story about the mountain that nobody knows." He said, "The sun rose behind the mountain. Two small, sharp, rough stones stood on the mountain. Where [1] the sun rose behind the mountain, everybody could see the small stones, but at night nobody could see them, and the stones kept chattering on the mountain."

The storyteller looked fiercely at the hearers. They were sleeping. He said, "Good! I will tell about the mouse who came out of a hole. He scampered to the two [2] stones on the mountain. He told that many bats were flying. Everyone knew that. But one night, the stones said that they could not fly, they must stay in one place. They asked them to go beyond the mountain to find something out. Day became night. The mouse and the bats departed at sunrise.

The animals began to return at night. The mice told the stones that they saw a great tree in a broad green valley. The stones heard this happily, and wished they could move.

Night came, time passed, the sun rose, and the bat returned. The bat told, 'I saw much grass, and a great swarm of delicious gnats.' The rocks replied angrily that they were not happy. Therefore, when the sun rose high, the mouse and the bats left that place.

Notes

[1] Translation error here. I meant "when" but wrote "zhel" (place) instead of "hal" (time) [2] Slightly ungrammatical, the Khangaþyagon should have read "banamar denam" for the correct agreement.

Grammar

VSO, agglutinating. Adjectives follow the noun they qualify and agree with them. Numerals do not inflect for plurality, since they are already intrinsicly plural. Predicative adjectives compound with the verb. Adverbs agree with the verb. Reported speech uses a topic-comment form.

=Morphology

Nouns

Nouns may be followed by segunakar (suffixes, literally follow-parts) of six ranks, given in the order which they follow the rood, of which the following are found in the text

• modsegunakar*(1st rank)- deixis markers

il

this

ban

that

wo

any

she

no

• densegnunakar* (second rank)- Proximity markers. Indicate how closely the marked noun is associated with another noun

ut

at

eb

in contact with

orr

far

• radsegunakar* (third rank) - relative position

ðen

beyond

gri

over

omb

around

• karvsegunakar* (fourth rank) - sense of motion.

am

to

ig

from

• sintsegunakar* (fifth rank) - abstract. ku topic, about

akh

recipient

aug

purpose, reason, cause

• bantsegunakar* (sixth rank) - number (a)r plural

Verbs

Verbs are obligatorily followed by a person, participal or infinitive segunak

a

1st person

e

2nd person

i

3rd person

o

infinitive

on/ont

present participal (can also act as an agent noun)

The following segunakar appear in the text

• Continuous aspect*

ha

• Tense*

ng

past

kh

future

• Mood*

lt

imperative

• Negation*

she

• Number*

(a)r

plural

Derivational affixes

l

forms adjectives in the sense "Characterised by"

wan

forms adverbs in the sense "in such a manner"

Compounding

The head of a compound appears last

Vocab

(in bukhstav order)

bashtr

ask

ban

stone

beb

and

bel

day

beng

reason

bilbit

chatter, witter on

u

such that

urœ

happy

ulvan

sleep

ullsa

wide

khol

hear

su all, whole sam come spirrokh mouse sivolk story sing small slon want talp mountain temv much trinn bite a interjection commanding attention avrish delicious arrkh rough akdel leave ansidi oneself alþi high v know volkes tell stories vella bat vret sharp vlant become parushk purpose pettesh scamper pirr sun osf can ovl can omna night hurrza swarm hal time hol person hirr fly dah be damz many de alternative 3rd person pronoun, used when the referent is not the most obvious one. den two en thing manst stand, stay mag tree mœz great mod one rol move remb tell rik man itsa flying insect iðuzh see kuþant discover kemmif grass kemni green nisam return zhel place ðeng hole lorem begin garsh anger garrtu fierce gog but gel go gravd animal gram rise glaf horse gæl valley y+person ending personal pronoun yurish good yag say yeðosh look wars pass