Conlang Relay 18/Skerre

The Skerre Text

Se’eran a sakar riitoso a roohina. Riiheran a kihan e tswanet wateson. Risan a rohas e quenos sawa kihan. Keeriihaton a eson, ire te hasin hiyos. Hantsarin tsa sakar a tsahi ye teen ir keeriiwatayonin a sisa-sa. Ona sekeeyowarin a eson sawa sii’erek ne tintsaka i yiket. Keeriiheran sawa tinkotsiyok ir kiyes ka’antanen, yaatse sesiisan a sakar ye teen.

Grammatical Notes:

Morphological Constructions tin- + N-stem 'Ns, collection of Ns'         (collective plural) wa-/wat- + N-stem    'have N'           (verbalizer) N-word + -sa 'his, her, its N' (3sg possessor) sii- + V-stem               'Ving, Vation'   ('action' nominalizer) ts- + V-stem 'thing that Vs' ('patient' nominalizer)

      • A stem-initial s- or h- is absorbed into the -s- of this prefix

rii- + V-stem 'make V, cause to V' (causative) kee- + V-stem 'get V'd, V oneself' (anticausative)

         •  This turns an externally-caused event into an internally-caused one                             

V-stem + -(i)n            VFIN form                 (finite verb)             •  If the vowel in the syllable preceding the affix would otherwise be long, it is short before this suffix             • Without a prefix signifying tense, aspect, or mood, the VFIN form has a general aspectual interpretation (somewhat similar to the English present tense)             • Without a person-marking suffix, the VFIN form is interpreted as having a 3SG subject se- + VFIN form            'Ved'                (perfective aspect) ka- + VFIN form            'be Ving'         (progressive aspect)

Syntax -- Head-initial: verbs, nouns, prepositions all precede their arguments.

     • Most modifiers are also after verbs, nouns, etc. but some are before 
     • Sentential connectives (coordinators, subordinators) all precede the sentence they go with

-- If subject marking is found in a clause, it will be suffixed to either the clause-initial verb or to the first of any number of adverbials preceding the first verb of the clause -- The 'with' preposition is used as a coordinator with nominal phrases -- Skerre has ergative alignment with "full NPs", but accusative alignment with pronominal affixes -- Skerre verbs are known for their "quirky" case assignment, so you might find that a Skerre preposition may seem superfluous (from the standpoint of the English translation) or should be translated in a way that appears to contradict the glossary translation. -- See my website at http://skerre.conlang.org/skerre/skerremain.html for additional and/or supplementary information. In cases where the website and these notes disagree, take the notes here as correct.

Glossary of Roots

a absolutive prepostion aka do antane disappear, be gone ayon red e of the era begin, start, commence erek be proud eson spirit, demon hantsar serve, give food to, give drink to hasin surface, slab, tabletop hato be visible hera move, go hiyos white i of ir and ire sit kihan arm kiyes while, when kotsiyok untruth ne with the ona but quenos smoke risa spew, spurt rohas cloud, plume, billow roohina shrine, temple, area of religious significance sahi drink sakar child sawa from the sisa face te at the, in the, on the teen him, her, it (general use 3SG independent pronoun) toso wake up, rise (from sleep) tsa ergative preposition wanet worship, idolize (has negative connotations) yaatse only, just ye to, towards, into yiket all, everyone yowar forget

Smooth English Translation

The child began to awaken the shrine. S/he moved the arm of the spirit-idol. A cloud of smoke billowed from the arm. A spirit appeared, sitting on a white slab. The child served a drink to it and its face turned red. But the spirit had been forgotten due to everyone's pride and habits. It was removed by [these] falsehoods and, when it disappeared, the child only smiled at it.