Conlang Relay 15/Ayeri

by Carsten Becker

The Text

Ningambakar

New words marked with °, extensions to existing words marked by *

Linyareng °kumeng silvyam eda-°tuyānyam. Ang mea silvongu mengay enya adanyās! Silvu yoa! Adanyāng voy mətuyānas-nama, nārya sa telbayong ku-malinoang adanya nyam sas ang sompoyyo tingra nas. Kada adanyāng ranyās *pang °bihānya keynamena, nārya adanyāng miranas sungyam vetānas ranitisu. Sitadaya tuyaiyan ikanang yomasāra °irayisu adanyareng. *Arēn epangya kivo sa tavyong tipinyam padang nana nay kyunnang mangayam demingeri, sa telbanang manganye kalam si payratong tenanas keynamena. Kada narānyeang si narayos ri Nahang °birenyānya kaivay, nay naratong veta. Ya ming lingiyan tuyamayāng-ikan da-mesam? °Mangasara sitang-iliyan keynamang-aril nay kyuntang °tandangyam bangalyeas yilana, nay saratang mangayam demingeri.

Smooth English

Tell Tale

To watch this dance is a unique thing. Everyone should have seen it! Look at it! It is not just some dance, but like a song it shows us what music does not teach us. Thus it is nothing beyond human comprehension, but it is a way to find the hidden truth. When all dance it is usually something exalting. However, shortly after we get excited and we begin to move purposefully, we show the feelings which surpass the human soul. Thus the words spoken by the Lord are without doubt and they speak veritably. Can all dancers ascend to such a level? Some people surrender themselves and they begin to pay attention to the traces of feet and they cease to move purposefully.

Smooth English Translation of Previous Text

A tell tale

This dance is unique to watch. Everyone should have seen it! Look at it! It is not just a dance, but like a song it shows us what music does not teach one. Hence it is not something beyond human comprehension, but it is a way to find the hidden truth. When all dance together it is usually something exalted. However, soon after we get excited and we start to move purposefully, we show the true feelings that transcend the human soul. Thus the spoken words of God are without doubt and speak truth. Can all dancers ascend to that degree? Some people surrender themselves and start to pay attention to the footprints; and they cease to dance purposefully.

Interlinear

Ningambakar

ningambakar

story-lie

lie story

Tell tale

Linyareng	kumeng		silvyam	eda-tuyānyam.
linya-reng	kumeng		silv-yam	eda=tuyān-yam
thing-AGT:inan	unique	COP	see-BEN	this=dance-BEN
thing	unique	is	see	for this dance

To watch this dance is a unique thing.

Ang	mea	silvongu	mengay	enya	adanyās!
ang	mea	silv-ong-u	mengay	enya-0	adanya-as
AGTFOC	shall	see-SUBJ-IMP	once	everyone-FOC	that_one-PAT
0	shall	would-see!	once	everyone	that

Everyone should see it once!

Silvu	yoa!
silv-u	yoa
see-IMP	3s:n.LOC
see!	at it

Look at it!

Adanyāng

voy

mətuyānas-nama,

nārya

sa

telbayong

ku-malinoang

adanya

nyam

sas

ang

sompoyyo

tingra

nas.

adanya-ang

voy

mə-tuyān-as=nama

nārya

sa

telba-yong

ku=malino-ang

adanya-0

nyam

s-as

ang

somp-oy-iyo

tingra-0

nas

that_one-AGT

COP

no

INDEF-dance-PAT=just

but

PATFOC

show-3s:n

like=song-AGT

that_one-FOC

1p.BEN

REL-PAT

AGTFOC

learn-NEG-3s:n

music-FOC

1p.PAT

that

is

no

just some dance

but

0

it shows

like a song

that

to us

which

0

does not learn

music

us

It is not just some dance but what music does not teach us is what it shows to us like a song.

Kada

adanyāng

ranyās

pang

bihānya

keynamena,

nārya

adanyāng

miranas

sungyam

vetānas

ranitisu.

kada

adanya-ang

ranya-as

pang

bihān-ya

keynam-ena

nārya

adanya-ang

miran-as

sung-yam

vetān-as

ranitisu

thus

that_one-AGT

COP

nothing-PAT

behind

comprehension-LOC

humans-GEN

but

that_one-AGT

COP

way-PAT

find-BEN

truth-PAT

hidden

thus

that

is

nothing

beyond

comprehension

of humans

but

that

is

way

to find

Truth

hidden

Thus it is nothing beyond human comprehension, but it is a way to find the hidden Truth.

Sitadaya	tuyayan	ikanang	yomasāra	irayisu	adanyareng.
sitadaya	tuya-yan	ikan-ang	yoma-asa-ara	irayisu	adanya-reng
When	dance-3p:m	all-AGT	be-HAB-3s:inan	exalting	that_one-AGT:inan
when	dance	all	is usually	exalting	that

When all dance it is usually something exalting.

Arēn

epangya

kivo

sa

tavyong

tipinyam

padang

nana

nay

kyunnang

mangayam

demingeri,

sa

telbanang

manganye

kalam

si

payratong

tenanas

keynamena.

arēn

epang-ya

kivo

sa

tav-yong

tipin-yam

padang-0

nana

nay

kyun-nang

manga-yam

deming-eri

sa

telba-nang

mangan-ye-0

kalam

si

payr-tong

tenan-as

keynam-ena

anyway

after-LOC

small

PATFOC

get-3s:n.AGT

itch-BEN

mind-FOC

1p.GEN

and

begin-1p.AGT

move-BEN

purpose-INST

PATFOC

show-1p.AGT

feeling-PL-FOC

true

REL

surpass-3p:n.AGT

soul-PAT

humans-GEN

however

after

short

0

it gets

itching

mind

our

and

we begin

to move

with purpose

0

we show

feelings

true

which

surpass

soul

of humans

However, shortly after we get excited and we begin to move purposefully, the feelings which surpass the human soul we show.

Kada	narānyeang	si	narayos	ri Nahang		birenyānya	kaivay,	nay	naratong	veta.
kada	narān-ye-ang	si	nara-yos	ri Nahang		birenyān-ya	kaivay	nay	ada=nara-tong	veta
thus	word-PL-AGT	REL	speak-3s:n.PAT	INST Lord	COP	doubt-LOC	without	and	that=speak-3p:n.AGT	veritable
thus	words	that	are spoken	by the Lord	are	doubt	without	and	they speak	veritably

Thus the words spoken by the Lord are without doubt and they speak veritably.

Ya	ming	lingiyan	tuyamayāng-ikan	da-mesam?
ya	ming	ling-iyan	tuyamaya-ang=ikan	da=mesam-0
LOCFOC	can	ascend-3p:m	dancer-AGT=all	such=level-FOC
0	can	ascend	all dancers	to such a level

To such a level, can all dancers ascend to it?

Mangasara	sitang-iliyan	keynamang-aril	nay	kyuntang	tandangyam	bangalyeas	yilana,	nay	saratang	mangayam	demingeri.
mangasara	sitang=il-iyan	keynam-ang=aril	nay	kyun-tang	tandang-yam	bangal-ye-as	yila-na	nay	sara-tang	manga-yam	deming-eri
away	self=give-3p:m	people-AGT=some	and	begin-3p:m.AGT	pay_attention-BEN	trace-PL-PAT	feet-GEN	and	cease-3s:m.AGT	move-BEN	purpose-INST
away	self-give	some people	and	they begin	to pay attention	traces	of feet	and	they cease	to move	with purpose

Some people surrender themselves and they begin to pay attention to the traces of feet and they cease to move purposefully.

Vocabulary

This information is copied straight from the dictionary.

Ayeri	Part of speech	ID	English
-nama	adverb suffix	64	(1) just (2) only
Nahang	noun singular, animate	1517	(1) lord (2) the Lord (as in the Bible)
adanya	pronoun 3rd person	100	that one
arēn	adverb	134	(1) in every way (2) in any way (3) anyway (4) however
bangal	noun animate, singular	766	trace
bihān	noun animate, no plural	1639	(1) comprehension (2) understanding
birenyān	noun animate, no plural	1641	doubt
da-	3rd person, prefix	745	such
deming	noun animate, singular	471	purpose
eda-	article prefix	353	this
enya	pronoun 3rd person, plural	621	(1) everybody (2) anybody (3) everything (4) anything
epang	adverb	627	(1) after (2) next
ikan	adjective	858	(1) all (2) complete
il-	verb	862	(1) to be less ... than ... (2) to give
irayisu	adjective	1640	exalting
kada	conjunction	763	(1) then (consequence) (2) thus
kaivay	adverb	203	without
kalam	noun animate, no plural	239	truth
kalam	adjective	240	true
kalam	adverb	1254	to be honest ...
keynam	noun animate, plural by default	244	(1) humans (2) people
kivo	adjective	259	(1) small (2) little (3) short (span of time)
kumeng	adjective	1637	unique
kyun-	verb	257	(1) to begin with sth. (2) to start
ling-	verb	1341	to ascend
linya	noun inanimate, singular	900	thing
malino-	noun animate, singular	930	song
manga-	verb	948	(1) to move (2) to remove
mangan	noun animate, singular	942	(1) feeling (2) sentiment (3) dream
mangasara	adposition	946	away
mangasara ilao	verb	1642	to surrender (lit. 'to give away')
mea-	verb	N/A	(1) shall (2) to be to
mengay	adverb	1174	once
mesam	noun inanimate, singular	1242	degree
ming-	verb	1496	(1) to be able to (2) can
miran	noun animate, singular	1498	(1) way (of doing something) (2) style (3) custom (4) kind (of something)
nana	pronoun 1st person, plural, genitive	N/A	our
nara-	verb	1534	(1) to speak (2) to talk
narān	noun animate, singular	1533	word
nas	pronoun 1st person, plural, patient	N/A	us
nay	conjunction	1542	and
ningambakar	noun animate, singular	1645	tell tale (lit. 'lie story')
nyam	pronoun 1st person, plural, benefactive	N/A	to us
nārya	conjunction	1581	(1) but (2) although (3) though (4) nevertheless (at the end of the sentence)
padang	noun animate, singular	1588	(1) heart (i.e. where the feelings are) (2) mind
pang	noun animate, singular	397	back
pang	adposition	626	(1) behind (2) at/to the back of (3) at/to the end of (4) beyond
payr-	verb	960	to surpass
ranitisu	adjective	803	hidden
ranya	pronoun 3rd person, singular	N/A	(1) nobody (2) nothing
sara-	verb	N/A	(1) to go (2) to leave (3) to cease
silv-	verb	1310	(1) to see (obj. = PAT) (2) to watch (obj. = BEN) (3) to look at (obj. = LOC)
sitadaya	adverb	N/A	when
sitang-	pronoun	N/A	self
somp-	verb	1217	(1) (itr) to learn (2) (tr) to teach
sung-	verb	N/A	to find
tandang-	verb	1643	to pay attention
tav-	verb	1324	(1) to get (2) to become (3) to conceive
telba-	verb	N/A	to show
tenan	noun animate, singular	1204	soul
tingra	noun animate, no plural	N/A	music
tipin-	verb	1401	to itch
tuya-	verb	N/A	to dance
tuyamaya	noun animate, singular	N/A	dancer
tuyān	noun animate, singular	1638	dance
veta	adjective	553	(1) true (as a virtue) (2) veritable
vetān	noun animate, singular	555	(1) truth ('truth' as a virtue) (2) verity
voy	interjection, colloquial	310	no
yila	noun animate, plural	N/A	feet
yoa	pronoun 3rd person neuter, singular, locative	N/A	in/at it
yoma-	verb	N/A	(1) to be (2) to exist

Words with an ID can be directly accessed by opening http://benung.freehostia.com/?i=<ID> in a browser, where <ID> is to be replaced with the ID given in the table above. Most other words can be found in the old vocabulary list at http://beckerscarsten.de/conlang/ayeri/dictionary.html.

Grammar

All grammar that is up so far can be read at http://benung.freehostia.com/?go=grammar&action=grammar.The grammar notes presented here are rather incomplete in that they only contain things that are most important in order to translate this text.

Typology

• Ayeri has V-A-P-Obl constituent order (Obl = oblique arguments, i.e. non-core arguments).
• Whether it is Nom/Acc or Erg/Abs is not very clear.
• Modifiers (including possessive pronouns) commonly follow their heads.

Nouns

• Nouns are marked for these cases:
  • Agent - Who does something? (also, origin in ditransitive clauses)
    • suffix: -ang (animate), -reng (inanimate)
    • prefixed to a verb to mark focus on that argument: ang (animate), eng (inanimate)
    • prefixed before name: ang (animate)
  • Patient - Who is affected by the action? (also, thing given in ditransitive clauses)
    • suffix: -as (animate), -ley (inanimate)
    • prefixed to a verb to mark focus on that argument: sa (animate), le (inanimate)
    • prefixed before name: sa (animate)
  • Benefactive - Who is in benefit of the action? (also, recipient of ditransitive clauses)
    • suffix: -yam
    • prefixed to a verb to mark focus on that argument: yam
    • prefixed before name: yam
  • Genitive - Who does something belong to? Where is it from?
    • suffix: -(e)na (the ‘e’ is infixed when the stem ends in a consonant)
    • prefixed to a verb to mark focus on that argument: na
    • prefixed before name: na
  • Locative - Where is something?
    • suffix: -ya when the stem ends in a vowel, -ea when the stem ends in a consonant
    • prefixed to a verb to mark focus on that argument: ya
    • prefixed before name: ya
  • Instrumentative - By means of what or whom is the action done? Who helped?
    • suffix: -(e)ri (‘e’ is infixed when the stem ends in a consonant)
    • prefixed to a verb to mark focus on that argument: ri
    • prefixed before name: ri
  • Causative - What is the reason for the action? Who made it happen (on purpose)?
    • suffix: -isa
    • prefixed to a verb to mark focus on that argument: sā
    • prefixed before name: sā
• Nouns are also marked for number
  • Marker: -ye
  • If there is a measurement either implied or given as e.g. “three”, “many” etc. nouns are not marked for number.
• Nouns are by default without any articles
• The closest thing to an indefinite article is mə-, which means “some X” in the sense of something rather general, like German irgendein.
• Some nouns are in plural by default, they have been given in their respective form in the vocabulary list.
• The demonstrative articles are:
  • near: eda-
  • far: ada-
  • "such": da-
• The demonstrative pronoun adanya is frequently used instead of third person pronouns.

Noun phrases and topic marking

• The topic of a sentence, which comes closest to the Subject of IE languages, is marked by omitting the case marker of an NP’s head noun and putting it in front of the verb as an anaphora to the NP.
• Topic marking does not work with objects of participles.

Verbs and Verb phrases

• Verbs can have a very high information load in Ayeri.
• Focus markers are always the first element of a verb phrase. They are anaphora to the argument of the sentence that is in focus (see above).
• After that (if present) follow preverbal adverbs: Words like ming have been classified as adverbs in this grammar, though not undisputedly so. They are derived from regular verbs, so they might as well be regarded as auxiliaries — except that they are not inflected for anything because the content verb carries the inflections instead.
• The verb stem itself can be further modified by the tense prefixes as well as suffixes for mood and person agreement with the agent of a transitive clause or the only argument of an intransitive sentence, which may be both an agent or a patient.
• The word manga can also be put in the place of preverbal adverbs in order to indicate progressive aspect. It is not as widely used as in English however.
• When the agent (or the single argument of an intransitive clause) of a sentence is expressed as a pronoun, this pronoun attaches to the end of a verb word, replacing the person agreement with a case-marked form of it.
• Adverbs of degree and measure are always appended to the end of a verb phrase, usually hyphenated.
• Adverbs of manner always follow the whole verb complex, temporal adverbs often precede it.
• The copula yoma-, ‘to be, to exist’, is usually omitted, except when the context explicitly requires TAM marking.
• Tense markers:
  • Present: Ø-
  • Near or immediate past: ka-
  • Past: ma-
  • Remote past: va-
  • Near or immediate future: pa-
  • Future: se-
  • Remote future: ni-
• Mood markers (preceding vowel is always deleted):
  • Indicative: Ø-
  • Imperative: -u
  • Subjunctive: -ong
  • Habitative: -asa
• Participles following modal verbs are formed by marking a verb with the benefactive case ending, e.g. verb tuyayam, ‘verb dancing’ or ‘verb to dance’.

Adjectives and Adverbs

• Adjectives and adverbs always follow their heads
• They do not show agreement with their heads, except in some very old-fashioned styles

Pronouns

• Ayeri has got a lot of personal pronouns, which are irregularly formed due to the unmarked person agreement clitics having merged with the case markers over time

Agent	Patient	Genitive	Benefactive	Locative	Instrum.	Causative	Person agreement/ Unmarked
1s	yang	yas	nā	yām	yā	rī	sā	ay
2s	vāng	vās	vana	vayam	vaya	vari	vasa	va
3s masc	yāng	yās	yana	yayam	yāy	yari	yasa	(-i)ya*
3s fem	yeng	yes	yena	yeyam	yea	yeri	yesa	(-i)ye*
3s neut	yong	yos	yona	yoyam	yoa	yori	yosa	(-i)yo*
3s inanimate	reng	raley	ran	rayam	raya	reri	rasa	ara
1p	nang	nas	nana	nyam	nya	ni	nisa	ayn
2p	vāng	vās	vana	vayam	vaya	vari	vasa	va
2p hon	vayang	vayas	vayena	vayyam	vayea	vayeri	vayisa	vay
3p masc	tang	tas	tan	tyam	tya	tri	tis	(-i)yan*
3p fem	teng	tes	ten	teyam	teya	teri	teys	(-i)yen
3p neut	tong	tos	ton	toyam	toya	tori	toys	(-i)yon
3p inanimate	teng	ratey	ten	ratyam	ratya	ray	ratas	aran

• when pronouns beginning with 'y' are suffixed to verbs, ‘i’ is inserted when the preceding morpheme ends in a consonant.
• Reflexive pronouns are formed with sitang- plus the respective pronoun.

Relative clauses

• The relative pronoun is s(i)-, or si when it is directly following the NP that is described by the relative clause
• The relative pronoun can be marked for its head’s case in order to disambiguate. The head is in the matrix clause. The relative clause is usually a complete clause in that it contains at least an agent/patient and a verb. It can be used as an attributive clause as well (i.e. like an adjective).
• It can be double-marked to derive forms like “of which”, e.g. sangena is the relative pronoun marked both for agent and for genitive.

Prepositions/postpositions

• Ayeri usually has prepositions, although for example kaivay ‘without’ is usually a postposition. The number of such words is very small though.
• Adpositions are technically nouns, though they already include the ‘of' that would be necessary in English, e.g. ling Xya = top_of X-LOC, i.e. ‘on X’. Dependants of locatives must be marked with the locative case. When there is no adposition but only an NP marked for the locative case, the adposition is implied by semantics. It is usually ‘in’ or ‘at’.
• The word manga put before an adposition denotes moving along the path that is defined by the preposition: manga ling Xya = MOT top_of X-LOC, i.e. ‘over X’