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

linya-reng

thing-AGT:inan

thing

kumeng

kumeng

unique

unique

COP

is

silvyam

silv-yam

see-BEN

see

eda-tuyānyam.

eda=tuyān-yam

this=dance-BEN

for this dance

To watch this dance is a unique thing.

Ang

ang

AGTFOC

Ø

mea

mea

shall

shall

silvongu

silv-ong-u

see-SUBJ-IMP

would-see!

mengay

mengay

once

once

enya

enya-Ø

everyone-FOC

everyone

adanyās!

adanya-as

that_one-PAT

that

Everyone should see it once!

Silvu

silv-u

see-IMP

see!

yoa!

yoa

3s:n.LOC

at it

Look at it!

Adanyāng

adanya-ang

that_one-AGT

that

COP

is

voy

voy

no

no

mətuyānas-nama,

mə-tuyān-as=nama

INDEF-dance-PAT=just

just some dance

nārya

nārya

but

but

sa

sa

PATFOC

Ø

telbayong

telba-yong

show-3s:n

it shows

ku-malinoang

ku=malino-ang

like=song-AGT

like a song

adanya

adanya-Ø

that_one-FOC

that

nyam

nyam

1p.BEN

to us

sas

s-as

REL-PAT

which

ang

ang

AGTFOC

Ø

sompoyyo

somp-oy-iyo

learn-NEG-3s:n

does not learn

tingra

tingra-Ø

music-FOC

music

nas.

nas

1p.PAT

us

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

Kada

kada

thus

thus

adanyāng

adanya-ang

that_one-AGT

that

COP

is

ranyās

ranya-as

nothing-PAT

nothing

pang

pang

behind

beyond

bihānya

bihān-ya

comprehension-LOC

comprehension

keynamena,

keynam-ena

humans-GEN

of humans

nārya

nārya

but

but

adanyāng

adanya-ang

that_one-AGT

that

COP

is

miranas

miran-as

way-PAT

way

sungyam

sung-yam

find-BEN

to find

vetānas

vetān-as

truth-PAT

Truth

ranitisu.

ranitisu

hidden

hidden

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

Sitadaya

sitadaya

When

when

tuyayan

tuya-yan

dance-3p:m

dance

ikanang

ikan-ang

all-AGT

all

yomasāra

yoma-asa-ara

be-HAB-3s:inan

is usually

irayisu

irayisu

exalting

exalting

adanyareng.

adanya-reng

that_one-AGT:inan

that

When all dance it is usually something exalting.

Arēn

arēn

anyway

however

epangya

epang-ya

after-LOC

after

kivo

kivo

small

short

sa

sa

PATFOC

Ø

tavyong

tav-yong

get-3s:n.AGT

it gets

tipinyam

tipin-yam

itch-BEN

itching

padang

padang-Ø

mind-FOC

mind

nana

nana

1p.GEN

our

nay

nay

and

and

kyunnang

kyun-nang

begin-1p.AGT

we begin

mangayam

manga-yam

move-BEN

to move

demingeri,

deming-eri

purpose-INST

with purpose

sa

sa

PATFOC

Ø

telbanang

telba-nang

show-1p.AGT

we show

manganye

mangan-ye-Ø

feeling-PL-FOC

feelings

kalam

kalam

true

true

si

si

REL

which

payratong

payr-tong

surpass-3p:n.AGT

surpass

tenanas

tenan-as

soul-PAT

soul

keynamena.

keynam-ena

humans-GEN

of humans

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

Kada

kada

thus

thus

narānyeang

narān-ye-ang

word-PL-AGT

words

si

si

REL

that

narayos

nara-yos

speak-3s:n.PAT

are spoken

ri Nahang

ri Nahang

INST Lord

by the Lord

COP

are

birenyānya

birenyān-ya

doubt-LOC

doubt

kaivay,

kaivay

without

without

nay

nay

and

and

naratong

ada=nara-tong

that=speak-3p:n.AGT

they speak

veta.

veta

veritable

veritably

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

Ya

ya

LOCFOC

Ø

ming

ming

can

can

lingiyan

ling-iyan

ascend-3p:m

ascend

tuyamayāng-ikan

tuyamaya-ang=ikan

dancer-AGT=all

all dancers

da-mesam?

da=mesam-Ø

such=level-FOC

to such a level

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

Mangasara

mangasara

away

away

sitang-iliyan

sitang=il-iyan

self=give-3p:m

self-give

keynamang-aril

keynam-ang=aril

people-AGT=some

some people

nay

nay

and

and

kyuntang

kyun-tang

begin-3p:m.AGT

they begin

tandangyam

tandang-yam

pay_attention-BEN

to pay attention

bangalyeas

bangal-ye-as

trace-PL-PAT

traces

yilana,

yila-na

feet-GEN

of feet

nay

nay

and

and

saratang

sara-tang

cease-3s:m.AGT

they cease

mangayam

manga-yam

move-BEN

to move

demingeri.

deming-eri

purpose-INST

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’