Conlang Relay 17/Mirexu

Relay text in Mirexu

Dilexundal pixdetiertumni

Ifwefu dilexuna ajtikariv. Tjusxutshorgi kjetamluso dilexunna ajtileashdusseni ajatrenivse, dilexuna umajtileashdushiv. Dilexun ia antikjopesav. I titatelav.

Dilexungi ajukevse, nealuskisivu dilexnu vtijeviriv. Dilexnu ia sorexivu attiretav.

Smooth translations

Smooth translation of the Mirexu

The bad dragon's tale

Someone had a dragon. Despite knowing that only a great magician could mount a dragon, he tried to mount it. The dragon attacked him. He ran.

Because the dragon screamed, many dragons came. The dragons chased and killed him.

Smooth translation of the Iljena (previous round)

The bad dragon

A man has a dragon. The man mounts the dragon. The dragon attacks the man. The man runs. The dragon screams. Many dragons come. The dragons run. The man dies.

• Note about the translation: the part about knowing that only a great magician could mount a dragon came from the Iljena definition of the word h-n-q as "A mythical beast, which according to legend, can only be ridden by a powerful sorceror."

Interlinear

 dilexun -dal  pi-  x-    detiert -um  -ni
 N       -ADJ  GER- PASS- V       -GER -3sg.n.poss
 
 ifwefu  dilexun -a    aj-        ti- kar -iv  
 N       N       -ACC  3sg.m.erg- PT- V   -PERF
 
 tjusxut -shor -gi       kje- tamlu -so    dilexun -na
 N       -ADJ  -SUB.NOM  NEG- N     -CONJ  N       -SUB.OBL
 
 aj-        ti- le-    ashdus -se    -n   -i     aj-        a-  tren -iv   -se 
 3sg.m.erg- PT- DERIV- V      -DERIV -AOR -COMP  3sg.m.erg- PR- V    -PERF -ADV
 
 dilexun -a    um-   aj-        ti- le-    ashdus -hi    -v
 N       -ACC  CIRC- 3sg.m.erg- PT- DERIV- V      -DERIV -PERF 
 
 dilexun  i     -a    an-        ti- kjopesa -v
 N        3sg.m -ACC  3sg.n.erg- PT- V       -PERF
 
 i      ti- tatela -v
 3sg.m  PT- V      -PERF
 
 dilexun -gi       a-  juke -v    -se 
 N       -SUB.NOM  PR- V    -PERF -ADV
 
 ne-  a-  luskis -iv   -u    dilexnu  v-    ti- jevir -iv
 REL- PR- V      -PERF -ADJ  N        REAS- PT- V     -PERF
 
 dilexnu  i     -a    sorex -iv   -u     at-      ti- reta -v
 N        3sg.m -ACC  V     -PERF -CONJ  3pl.erg- PT- V    -PERF

Key

3pl.erg third person plural, ergative
3sg.m third person singular, male
3sg.m.erg " " " ", ergative
3sg.n.erg third person singular, neuter, ergative
3sg.n.poss " " " ", possessive
ACC accusative case
ADJ adjective or adjectival relative clause ending
ADV adverbial clause ending
AOR aorist aspect
CIRC circumstantial clause agreement marker (agrees with adverbial clause)
COMP subordinate complement clause ending
CONJ conjunctive ending
DERIV derivational affix
GER gerundive circumfix particle
N noun
NEG negation
PASS passive voice derivational affix
PERF perfective aspect
PR present tense
PT past tense
REAS reason clause agreement marker (agrees with adverbial clause)
REL relative clause
SUB.NOM nominative case in subordinate clause
SUB.OBL accusative/oblique case in subordinate clause
V verb

Glossary

a accusative case suffix
a present tense marker
aj 3rd person singular male ergative agreement marker
an 3rd person singular neuter ergative agreement marker
ashdus v. to be on top of

• leashdus: to climb on top of, to mount
  
• leashdusse: to be able to mount
  
• leashdushi: to try to mount
  

at 3rd person plural ergative agreement marker
dal adj. bad (suffix to noun)
detiert v. to tell about, to describe, to recount (a story)

• xdetiert: to be told (of a story), to be described
  

dilexnu n, pl. dragons
dilexun n, sing. dragon
gi nominative case ending in subordinate clauses
hi attemptive verbal derivational suffix (to try to)
i 3rd person singular male pronoun
i subordinate complement clause ending
ifwefu n. someone
iv perfective aspect marker (after consonants)
jevir v. to come
juke v. to scream, yell
kar v. to have (a living animal)
kje negation marker
kjopesa v. to attack (literally "to move against")
le inceptive derivational prefix to verbs (to begin to)
luskis v. to be many; to be present in a large group
n aorist aspect marker
na accusative/oblique case ending in subordinate clauses
ne relative clause prefix
ni 3rd person singular neuter possessive ending
pi gerundive prefix
reta v. to kill (an animal, prey, a human)
se possibilitative derivational suffix to verbs (to be able to)
se adverbial clause ending
shor adj. excellent, useful, accomplished, good (suffix to noun)
so conjunctive suffix for nouns
sorex v. to chase
tamlu n. another

• kjetamlu: no other
  
• ... kjetamluso: only ... ("... and no other")
  

tatela v. to run
ti past tense marker
tjusxut n. magician
tren v. to know (a fact)
u adjectival relative clause ending
u conjunctive suffix for verbs
um gerundive suffix
um circumstantial clause agreement marker on main verb
v perfective aspect marker
v reason clause agreement marker on main verb
x passivizing derivational prefix for verbs

Grammar

Verbs are marked for: agreement with certain types of subordinate clause; negation; agreement with any ergative argument; agreement with non-third-person absolutive arguments; agreement with each oblique argument; tense; and aspect. Verbs frequently contain many derivational morphemes, some of which are shown above in the interlinear although the derived verb is given in the glossary as well. The verb paradigm is as follows:

 [ ADV ] [ NEG ] [ ABS ] [ ERG ] [ OBL [ OBL ...] ] TENSE verb-base ASPECT

Verbs may form subordinate clauses in the following ways:

• adverbial clauses: the adverbial clause marker -se is appended to a fully declined verb. Its arguments, if they are not clauses themselves, take on subordinate clause suffixes. Its tense is relative to the time frame of the main clause. In the main clause, an agreement morpheme is prefixed to the verb complex.

• complement clauses: the complement clause marker -i is appended to a fully declined verb. Its arguments take on subordinate clause suffixes. Its tense is relative to the time frame of the main clause. In the main clause, the appropriate agreement for a third person singular neuter argument is used (usually null, as complement clauses are usually not agents).

• relative clauses: the relative clause marker ne- is prefixed to a verb with core argument agreement, relative tense, aspect, and optional negation, but no oblique arguments or subordinate clause agreement markers. If an external head exists, the adjectival marker -u is appended. The position relativized is that of the absolutive argument.

Additionally, a deverbal nominal form glossed as the gerund exists. It is an activity nominalization of the verb. It consists of an intransitive verb stem which may be negated but is not marked for tense, aspect or agreement, and a gerundive circumfix consisting of a prefix and suffix. Its original subject can appear as its possessor, so it is normally possessed. It does not pluralize and cannot take derivational affixes.

Verbs may combine through conjunction if they share all arguments (and therefore also degree of transitivity) and tense. All but the final verb are marked for aspect and negation only, and the conjunctive ending -u appended. The final verb is an ordinary fully declined finite verb.

Adverbial clause agreement markers on the main verb occupy one slot. If more than one adverbial clause is modifying the same main verb, only one of the associated agreement markers will appear. Adverbial clauses that in English might begin with "because" will cause the reason clause agreement marker v- to appear on the main clause verb, while adverbial clauses which in English might begin with "it being the case that" or even "despite, although" will cause the circumstantial clause agreement marker um- to appear on the main clause verb.

Nouns and free pronouns show nominative/accusative alignment, in contrast with the absolutive/ergative alignment of verb agreement. Since the ergative and absolutive agreement markers on the verb are really incorporated pronouns, any standalone pronoun agreed with by such a marker will not appear. However, as absolutive third person pronouns are not marked on the verb, they do appear either in the accusative as objects of transitive verbs, or in the nominative (with null case ending) as subjects of intransitive verbs. Nouns with the oblique case ending have their role marked on the verb. In subordinate clauses nominative nouns take the subordinate nominative ending, and accusative and oblique nouns take the subordinate oblique ending.

Nouns may be possessed. If this is the case, instead of their case ending they have a possessive suffix. They will be preceded by their possessor (unless it is a pronoun which has been subsumed by a verb agreement marker), on which their case will be marked. Agreement on the verb is with the possessor, but the actual argument is the possessed noun.

Nouns in the same case and to which all the same arguments (adjectives, relative clauses, possessors) apply may form conjunction by all but the first noun having the conjunctive noun suffix -so instead of a possessive or case suffix.

A small closed class of derivational suffixes to nouns encodes Mirexu's only native adjectives.