User:Cedh audmanh/TCR3/Proto-Mbingmik

Text fragment 6 in Proto-Mbingmik

Chmɔɔ uthŋaay ɗum ŋgyap sŋiim ɗin mal kathruc ɗaay yɛɛ tɨʔ: Mindrɛŋ θəy kha ʔiŋ tean ɗum khəy khlɛɛń khəy kəkɔɔy suot yɛɛ məw, ńe ɓao kɨəh nuk ndaaʔ lɛʔ mbrəy ndrəmɛk ʔak saa.

Translation

On the previous day, I experienced this event and felt angry because of it: My youngest sister, she made me wait, continue waiting, and repeat waiting for her, and eventually I came to find myself, abandon waiting, and be done with it.

Note: The text contains several idioms, which I've translated fairly literally:

• an iterative-continuative construction "VERB continue VERB repeat"
• "find oneself" = recognize the current situation; do what needs to be done

Interlinear gloss

chmɔɔ    uthŋaay      ɗum     ŋgyap          sŋiim ɗin      mal      kathruc ɗaay         yɛɛ  tɨʔ
chmoo<#> uthŋaay      ɗum     ŋgyap          sŋiim ɗin      mal      kathruc ɗoay<#>      yɛɛ  tɨʔ
when.SBJ previous_day 1SG.DAT experience.IND event this.ABS feel.IND anger   because<SBJ> same ABL

On the previous day, I experienced this event and felt angry because of it:


mindrɛŋ          θəy kha           ʔiŋ  tean
mindrɛŋ          θəy kha           ʔiŋ  tean
youngest_sibling AGT 3SG.F.FAM.NOM PAST give.IND 

My youngest sister, she made me


ɗum     khəy      khlɛɛń        khəy      kəkɔɔy      suot        yɛɛ  məw
ɗum     khəy<#>   khliiń<#>     khəy<#>   kəkuuy<#>   suot<#>     yɛɛ  məw
1SG.DAT wait<SBJ> continue<SBJ> wait<SBJ> repeat<SBJ> do_for<SBJ> same DAT

wait, continue waiting, and repeat waiting for her,


ńe  ɓao     kɨəh nuk           ndaaʔ     lɛʔ     mbrəy        ndrəmɛk  ʔak saa
ńe  ɓao     kɨəh nuk           ndɨɨʔ<#>  lɛʔ     mbrəy<#>     ndrəmɛk  ʔak saa<#>
and 1SG.NOM next arrive_at.IND find<SBJ> REFL.SG abandon<SBJ> position ACC finish<SBJ>

and eventually I came to find myself, abandon waiting, and be done with it.

Vocabulary

ɓao        pron.   (first person singular pronoun, nominative)
chmoo      v.      happen in the same timeframe as (similar to "when", but verbal)
ɗin        pron.   (demonstrative pronoun, absolutive singular: "this")
ɗoay       v.      be done by, be due to, happen because of
ɗum        pron.   (first person singular pronoun, dative)
kathruc    n.a     anger, fury
kəkuuy     v.      repeat, do sth. over and over
kɨəh       adv.    and then, next, subsequently
kha        pron.   (third person singular female familiar pronoun, nominative)
khəy       v.      rest, stay, wait
khliiń     v.      be busy, continue
lɛʔ        pron.   (reflexive pronoun: "-self"; can be used for all persons)
mal        v.      feel, sense, know intuitively (subject takes dative)
mbrəy      v.      move away from, leave, abandon
məw        par.    (case particle: dative/benefactive)
mindrɛŋ    n.h     youngest brother or sister, nesthäkchen
ndɨɨʔ      v.      find, discover
ndrəmɛk    n.i     position, place, situation, posture, stance (lit. "state of sitting")
nuk        v.      reach, arrive at
ńe         cj.     and
ŋgyap      v.      experience, come across, undergo, survive (subject takes dative)
saa        v.      finish, get done with, fulfill
sŋiim      n.i     event, occasion, circumstances
suot       v.      do sth. for the benefit of
tean       v.      give (can also be used as a causative auxiliary verb)
tɨʔ        par.    (case particle: ablative/genitive)
θəy        par.    (case particle: agentive)
uthŋaay    n.i     the previous day
yɛɛ        pron.   the same one
ʔak        par.    (case particle: accusative/absolutive)
ʔiŋ        adv.    (past tense marker)

Grammar notes

• Proto-Mbingmik is a mostly isolating language with basic SVO word order.
• The language is syntactically accusative, but morphologically split-ergative: All full nouns that act as the agent of a transitive verb, as well as all pronouns with non-human referents in the same role, must be explicitly marked as agents.
• The role of full nouns is indicated with postposed case particles.
• Pronouns exhibit a familiar/foreign disctinction for human non-speaker referents. They inflect for three basic cases directly (NOM/ACC/DAT), but they may also appear together with a case particle.
• Some verbs (mostly verbs of perception) assign the dative case to their subjects.
• Demonstratives follow their noun.
• Verbs inflect only for mode (indicative vs. subjunctive). The subjunctive is used for all kinds of subordination; it is formed through ablaut of the stressed vowel (a table is given below).
• Proto-Mbingmik syntax relies heavily on serial verb constructions (SVC), which portray complex actions as a combination of several simple actions. There are two subtypes: If there is no object, or if all verbs in the SVC share the same object, the structure is S V1 V2 (V3...) (O). If the verbs in the SVC have different objects, the structure is S V1 O1 V2 O2 (V3 O3...). The last verb in a different-object SVC may also be intransitive.
• Prepositions and most conjunctions are transitive verbs, which appear in the indicative when they're a valid constituent of the main clause, and the subjunctive when they're used adnominally or as part of a subordinate verb phrase.

Vowel changes in the subjunctive:

• ii, ee > ɛɛ
• uu, oo > ɔɔ
• ɨɨ, ea, oa > aa
• ae > ii
• ao > uu
• i > e
• u > o
• e > ɛ
• o > ɔ
• ɛ, ɔ > a

The following vowels are unchanged: ie, ɨə, uo, ɛɛ, ɔɔ, aa, a, ə, ɨ

Links

A very basic sketch of the grammar is being written here: http://akana.conlang.org/wiki/Proto-Mbingmik