LCC4 Relay/Batu

This is the Batu torch from the LCC4 Relay, translated by Fenhl from Jan Strasser's Tmaśareʔ. Parts of it can also be found on the official relay page.

wan-munpe !xisu-munpe. php

The torch in the Batu abjad

waz-zaxi-wúmu bó nutephm . kwan kwaz fi-tzup . kwan kwaz isip " .sxa! " kwen bli-zaxi-kwen php " kwon kwen finapalo : kwon-or-finako fa fropif " kwen mafta fina-lú-php " kwon kwen ropin

kwaz wal-bunsad bilip . kwaz kwan fhpal " kwon mafta fina-lú-php : ?kwiw? : kwen kwon rosin " kwen kwon-or-wbú úpuneró % kwen kwon isip

kwan " kwen kwen-or-wbú izis " kwen kwon ?bilisun? " kwon kwen isipolo "" kwon kwen ropin " ?kwiw? kwen-or-gaze php

kwaz " kwaf kwon-or-gaze php . kwaz-or-zino-zec kwan mulp , kwafo wal-kwan-or-flub fi-flup

kwal malal-só-snigko waxp kwal kwaz fi-isip " kwen kwon ?hawiseró?

Vocabulary

• bilip — to hear/listen to
• bli — graceful/elegant
• bó — arc/bridge
• bun — word
• fa — joy
• fhp — to laugh about/at
• fi — quick
• fina — eye
• finap — to see/watch/look at
• flub — head
• flup — cut
• frop — to contain
• gaze — answer
• hawip — to agree with
• isip — to speak to/with
• izip — to speak about
• kwafo — pronoun for subject of preceding sentence
• kwal — variable pronoun
• kwan — variable pronoun
• kwaz — variable pronoun
• kwen — you (sg.)
• kwiw — what (question particle)
• kwon — I
• lú — in regard to Y (connective)
• mafta — moon
• malal — river
• mulp — to kill
• munpe — goat
• nutep — to walk on/above/over/across
• or — of Y (connective)
• php — to be (copula)
• rop — to marry
• snigko — grass/lawn/field
• só — at/near Y (connective)
• sxa — oh
• tzup — to stop
• úp — to know
• wal — variable pronoun setter
• wan — variable pronoun setter
• waxp — to fall towards/into/onto
• wbú — name
• wúmu — woman
• xisu — loud
• zaxi — beautiful
• zec — knife
• zino — focused/sharp/precise/exact

Suffixes

• -al — tense: present and near future (but mostly present)
• -alo — tense: present progressive
• -eró — modality: assumption/probably
• -hm — modality: hearsay
• -if — modality: starting to
• -in — modality: want/wish/desire
• -ko — collective plural
• -olo — tense: near past
• -p — mood: indicative
• -s — mood: interrogative
• -sad — regular (additive) plural

Intonation marks

• !word. — headline
• .word! — exclamation
• ?word? — question

Grammar notes

• The word order is strictly SOV.
• Punctuation used to separate sentences or clauses is spaced on both sides.
• When punctuation is attached directly to a word, you are dealing with an intonation mark. See also: http://masuco.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/muxop/
• Adjectives are prefixed to the noun, and in the written language separated from it and from each other by a hyphen.
• Adverbs are treated like adjectives of the verb.
• There is a sepcial class of adjectives called connectives, which connect the noun it belongs to (X in the vocabulary) with another noun (Y in the vocabulary), which is placed in front of the connective as if it were an adjective.
• The variable pronouns kwan, kwaz, and kwal each stand for a noun but have no inherent meaning. They are given a meaning by prefixing the corresponding adjective wan, waz, or wal to a noun.
• The vocabulary lists verbs with the indicative suffix "-p".
• The order for verb suffixes is: mood, time, modality.
• The quotation mark (") denotes that the following sentence is a quote from the subject of the sentence before the quote.
• If a quote is longer than one sentence, each sentence must be prefixed by a quotation mark.
• To denote a quote within a quote, two quotation marks are used, and so on.
• The colon means "thus" or "therefore", the comma means "and" or "also", the percent sign means "but" or "however".

A Loud Goat

A beautiful woman goes across the bridge. A goat suddenly stops her and loudly speaks these words: "Oh! You are really very graceful and beautiful! As I am watching you here, my eyes have become full of joy. You appear to shine like the moon. I really want to marry you!"

The woman hears these words and starts to laugh: Why would you desire me if I look like the moon? I assume you don't even know my name. Yet you are talking to me!"

"Your name? Didn't you listen to my words? I told you: 'I really want to marry you!' What is your answer?"

"This is my answer!" she said, and with a quick cut of a sharp knife killed the goat and cut off his head.

And when it had fallen into the grass near the river, the loud goat's head suddenly said: "I take it you agree?"