Conlang Relay 17/Ndok Aisô

by Jan Strasser

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Ndok Aisô text

Gahog akseu

Mosteu maga o-aiteu rai lusitad gesanô mpe noi pahêxa neulox tsi. Dol akseu tôxadaud rai rêlaihad pop, rafêd ketstad oga pispêd a nte mêgeu. Ngu pop lusitad rote, koidabêd êheu od wôtskêp'ad êb a. Ngol dôstodad eu mpag tsôhop'oi oga aidageupad ntsex! Roits eu akaksad oga nte nggol tsig wôtskêp'ad, akseu bebad gesanô.

Roits os êdeube waihe, kêhibe o-zat'an noi êheuloi od mihoibe.

Translation

English

The angry horse

Once upon a time, a peasant tried to sit on the back of his workhorse. But the horse did not let him ride; instead it shook him off and hurt him severely. When the man tried to run away, the animal screamed and kicked at him. Indeed, it attacked that unfortunate person and struck him down! By trampling on him and kicking him with its feet, the horse killed the peasant.

On seeing this, the pigs in the stable squealed and rejoiced.

English translation of previous text

(Silindion, by Elliott Lash)

The angry workhorse

A man had a workhorse, on whose back he rode, but who refused to carry him. Instead, it threw him off and hurt him severely. When the man tried to escape, the workhorse bellowed and kicked the man.

Thus, this is what happened: Behold, the strong one did attack the weak one! By trampling and kicking with his feet, it injured the man to death.

On seeing this, the pig squealed and rejoiced.

Interlinear gloss

Gahog

gaheu-g

angry-ACC.SG

akseu

akseu

horse

The angry horse

Mosteu

mot-steu

COP-IMPF.SG

maga

maga

before

o-aiteu

o-aiteu

PL-day

rai

rai

SUB.ACC

lusitad

lusit-d

try-PFV.SG

gesanô

gesanô

peasant

mpe

mpe

sit[INF]

noi

noi

on

pahêxa

pahê=a

back=ANT

neulox

neulox

workhorse

tsi.

tsi

3SG.GEN

Once upon a time, a peasant tried to sit on the back of his workhorse.

Dol

dol

but

akseu

akseu

horse

tôxadaud

tôxadoi-d

prevent-PFV.SG

rai

rai

SUB.ACC

rêlaihad

rêlek-d

ride-PFV.SG

pop,

pop

man

rafêd

rafêd

instead

ketstad

ketsteu-d

shake.off-PFV.SG

oga

oga

and.GAP

pispêd

pispeu-d

hurt-PFV.SG

a

a

3SG.ACC

nte

nte

with

mêgeu.

mêgeu

mighty[N]

But the horse did not let him ride; instead it shook him off and hurt him severely.

Ngu

ngu

when

pop

pop

man

lusitad

lusit-d

try-PFV.SG

rote,

rote

flee[INF]

koidabêd

koidabeu-d

scream-PFV.SG

êheu

êheu

animal

od

od

and

wôtskêp'ad

wôtskêp'eu-d

kick-PFV.SG

êb

êb

to

a.

a

3SG.ACC

When the man tried to run away, the animal screamed and kicked at him.

Ngol

ngol

indeed

dôstodad

dôstod-d

attack-PFV.SG

eu

eu

3SG.NOM

mpag

mpeu-g

that-ACC.SG

tsôhop'oi

tsôhop'oi

pitiable.person

oga

oga

and.GAP

aidageupad

aidageupeu-d

strike.down-PFV.SG

ntsex!

ntsex

EMPH

Indeed, it attacked that unfortunate person and struck him down!

Roits

roits

SUB.ADV

eu

eu

3SG.NOM

akaksad

akakseu-d

trample-PFV.SG

oga

oga

and.GAP

nte

nte

with

nggol

nggol

foot

tsig

tsig

3DU.GEN

wôtskêp'ad,

wôtskêp'eu-d

kick-PFV.SG,

akseu

akseu

horse

bebad

beb-d

kill-PFV.SG

gesanô.

gesanô

peasant

By trampling on him and kicking him with its feet, the horse killed the peasant.

Roits

roits

SUB.ADV

os

os

3PL.ABS

êdeube

êdeu-be

see-PFV.PL

waihe,

waihe

this.thing

kêhibe

kêheu-be

squeal-PFV.PL

o-zat'an

o-zat'an

PL-pig

noi

noi

in

êheuloi

êheuloi

stable

od

od

and

mihoibe.

mihoi-be

be.thankful-PFV.PL

On seeing this, the pigs in the stable squealed and rejoiced.

Vocabulary

=a	case		noun phrase enclitic (antigenitive; =xa after a vowel)
a	PRON		3SG accusative pronoun
aidageupeu	V	-a-	"strike down, defeat"
aiteu	N		"day"
akakseu	V	-a-	"trample, stamp down on"
akseu	N		"horse, stallion"
-be	aspect		verbal aspect suffix (perfective plural)
beb	V	-a-	"kill, slay (on the battlefield)"
-d	aspect		verbal aspect suffix (perfective singular)
dol	CJ		"but"
dôstod	V	-a-	"attack"
êb	PP		"to, at, towards"
êdeu	V		"see, perceive" (subject takes accusative case)
êheu	N		"animal"
êheuloi	N		"stable, stall, barn"
eu	PRON		3SG nominative pronoun
-g	case		adjectival case suffix (accusative singular)
-g	number		pronominal number suffix (dual)
gaheu	ADJ		"angry, violent"
gesanô	N		"peasant, commoner"
kêheu	V	-i-	"squeal, squeak"
ketsteu	V	-a-	"get rid of, cause to let go"
koidabeu	V	-ê-	"shout, scream, yell, roar"
lusit	V	-a-	"try, attempt"
maga	PP		"before" (temporal)
mêgeu	N		"strength" (zero-derived from the adjective "mighty")
mihoi	V		"be thankful, be delighted"
mot	V		"be" (copula; irr. stem: mo-)
mpe	V		"sit, stay, remain, become"
mpeu	ADJ		"that" (deictic; irr. stem: mpa-)
neulox	N		"workhorse"
nggol	N		"pair of feet" (takes dual agreement)
ngol	ADV		"even, indeed"
ngu	CJ		"when, while, as"
noi	PP		"at, on, in"
nte	PP		"with, by, using"
ntsex	ADV		emphatic particle (cf. "bloody", but may have positive force)
o-	number		nominal number prefix (plural)
od	CJ		"and"
oga	CJ		"and" (object-gapping)
os	PRON		3PL accusative pronoun
pahê	N		"back of the body"
pispeu	V	-ê-	"hurt, injure"
pop	N		"man"
rafêd	CJ		"rather, instead"
rai	CJ		complementizer (accusative)
rêlek	V		"ride" (irr. stem: rêlaiha-)
roits	CJ		adverbial subordinator
rote	V		"flee, escape, run away"
-steu	aspect		verbal aspect suffix (imperfective singular)
tôxadoi	V	-au-	"prevent, refuse"
tsi	PRON		3SG genitive pronoun (number marking refers to possessed noun)
tsôhop'oi	N		"person who deserves pity"
waihe	PRON		"this thing"
wôtskêp'eu	V	-a-	"kick"
zat'an	N		"pig"

ABBREVIATIONS:

ADJ		adjective
ADV		adverb
CJ		conjunction
N		noun
PP		preposition
PRON		pronoun
V		verb

case		nominal or adjectival case suffixes and enclitics
number		nominal or pronominal number affixes
aspect		verbal aspect/number suffixes

The third column lists verbal stem vowels occurring in the text where they are different from the citation form.

Grammar

Ndok Aisô has some quite complex verbal and adjectival morphology, but that doesn't really show up in this text: There are only two adjectives (including the one in the title), and none of the sentences require finer distinctions in mood or aspect.

Nominal morphology is isolating and fairly minimal, marking only number (with prefixes) and possession (with an "antigenitive" enclitic, which attaches to the last word of the possessed noun phrase).

Personal pronouns are fusionally marked for number and case (NOM/ACC/GEN); a peculiarity of the genitive pronouns (which historically derive from demonstratives) is that they agree in number only with the possessed, not with the possessor. Genitive pronouns do not co-occur with the antigenitive enclitic. They precede the noun in free-standing noun phrases, but follow it when the NP is part of a possessive or prepositional phrase. Prepositions, as the label indicates, precede their object.

Adjectives inflect for case and number of their referent by means of fusional suffixes. They normally follow their head noun; however, deictic and predicate adjectives usually precede it.

The main verbal distinctions of Ndok Aisô are aspect, mood, and voice, of which only aspect plays a minor role in this text. Tense is unmarked in the active voice. Verbs also agree with the subject in number, but not in person. The morphosyntactic alignment is technically a variant of split-S; however, the vast majority of verbs follows a NOM-ACC pattern, and the text contains only one instance of an "ergative verb", which (for simplicity) I've treated in the glossary as lexically requiring an accusative-marked subject.

Coordinating conjunctions have special "object-gapping" forms, which indicate that the coordinated clauses have the same direct object (the latter can therefore be dropped from one of the two clauses). Identical subjects can be dropped from either clause even when normal conjunctions are used; clauses without an overt subject are assumed to have the same subject as the main clause of the previous sentence.

The default word order in Ndok Aisô is SVO, but the parent language was verb-initial, and VSO order is preserved in several types of subclauses. Intransitive main clauses also often have VS order.

Links

Ndok Aisô grammar