LCC4 Relay/Naeso

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This is where we translate the LCC4 relay torch from English to Naeso.

English text

The Evil Goat

1. A beautiful woman is riding an elephant over a bridge.
2. The goat stopped running.
3. The goat said, “Lady! You are very beautiful! Marry me!”
4. The woman said, “You ask me to marry you? No! You do not know my name!”
5. The goat said, “Your name? I don't ask you to say the name!
6. I ask you to marry me, and you said 'no'!”
7. The woman said, “I didn't say that!”
8. and cut the goat's head off its body.
9. The head on the bridge said “Does this really mean that you say ‘yes’?”

Translation

Let's go line by line here.

Title

Goat Evil

1

Go-am ku ona beautiful instrumental elephant so bridge.

• The Vašt î Kûvik text uses a progressive aspect particle in this sentence, so "-am" is pretty much required here. —FH

2

Run-ja(zo) ku goat.

• How do we translate the auxiliary verb "stop" into Naeso? We could simply use the perfective aspect, or combine it with the inceptive aspect, or maybe someone has a better idea? —FH

3

Jia ku goat pan “Ona! Beautiful very pan tha! Marry-gy ku tha pan si!”

• Here, there are two things that have not yet been decided: How direct speech is indicated (here I simply used the focal preposition), and how a copula is formed (here I made the adjective into a verb like in sifi benh bu dakai, which I had voted against earlier but now I think it it is an elegant solution). Feel free to suggest alternatives. —FH

4

Jia ku ona pan “Ask-li/tu ku pae pan bam marry ku si pan pae? No! Know-negative ku pae pan name sibi!”

• Why do we have two interrogative mood suffixes? —FH
• I suppose we'll find outin due time, right? 'Let usage define meaning'. There are, after all, many ways to ask a question. -BF

5

Jia ku goat pan “Name thabi? Ask-negative ku si pan bam jia ku tha pan name!

• I think it makes sense if the goat refers to the woman using "tha" since he's asking her to marry him. —FH

6

Ask ku si pan bam marry ku tha pan si, bvi jia ku tha pan no!”

7

Jia ku ona pan “Jia-negative ku si pan inna!”

8

bvi cut pan head goat-si kim body kesi.

9

Jia ku head so bridge pan “Jia-intention ku tha pan yes?”