Conlang fluency thread

[jal]

Alright, plodding along. What about you? How are you doing?

Moles sem :). It a kweya taym-dem. It luk mata tahn beta. You longga ste de Balin?
About the same :). These are strange times. Matters seem to get better. You still living in Berlin?


JAL

[bradrn]

Imralu Dɵmɵn hlʉ́ ni e di? Héb ple á nɵ.
Imralu /dɵ̀mɵ̀n hl̥ʉ́ nì è dì ‖ héb pl̥è á nɵ̀/

Imralu

Imralu

dɵ̀mɵ̀n

German

hdʉ́

CL.human

nì=e

COP=3

dì

Q

‖

‖

héb

know

plé=a

NEG=1|2

nɵ̀

DECL

Is Imralu German? I didn’t know that.

[jal]

Is Imralu German? I didn’t know that.

Im in Jahman, im el ota Oswelya. Oba im ste de Balin (o folis di ste).
He's not German, he's from Australia. But he lives in Berlin (or at least he did).


JAL

[The&System]

zeo ky! teoq zhy sheo pei sha laiq seq kyo qe zeao sha shio ly peu sha laiq peushu dy
Hello! Presently, I want to make a language, but I don't know what to make

zhei sha tioq ben laiqbun zy teq zhan veia qau ry zheoa he pei sha qau. qe neou sha zhao shoo pei sha kka dy.
I feel like Laiqbun is already good, other people speak it and it's pretty much finished. I don't know what to do now.

[masako]

opua ka
Finished?

neta tapyepak
I can't take you seriously.

[bradrn]

Is Imralu German? I didn’t know that.

Im in Jahman, im el ota Oswelya. Oba im ste de Balin (o folis di ste).
He's not German, he's from Australia. But he lives in Berlin (or at least he did).

Besiwiŋu lheybuq maag! Tsah: qalit’aw, qaŋeth! (Sil bel ‘Aussie’ mengu tleŋ ngii.)
/bəˈsiwiŋu ˈɬəjbuʔ maːɣ ‖ t͡sah | ˈʔalitaw | ʔaŋətʰ ‖ sil bəl ‘Aussie’ ˈməᵑɡu t͡ɬəŋ ᵑɡiː/
1s=have.PFV-TEL knowledge NEG! if: sun’good, person! (here 1p ‘Aussie’ many DEF.PL NEG.COP.)

I didn’t know that! In that case: G’day, mate! (There aren’t too many of us Aussies here.)

zeo ky! teoq zhy sheo pei sha laiq seq kyo qe zeao sha shio ly peu sha laiq peushu dy
Hello! Presently, I want to make a language, but I don't know what to make

Welcome! Have some pickles and tea:



(It’s a board tradition for welcoming new members, for some reason.)

zhei sha tioq ben laiqbun zy teq zhan veia qau ry zheoa he pei sha qau. qe neou sha zhao shoo pei sha kka dy.
I feel like Laiqbun is already good, other people speak it and it's pretty much finished. I don't know what to do now.

Nimu mahŋu fawetl yam thaŋ. Qantatewu niwaq fawetl kheydi!
/ˈnimu ˈmahŋu ˈfawət͡ɬ jam tʰaŋ ‖ ˈʔantatəwu niˈwaʔ ˈfawət͡ɬ ˈkʰəjdi/
2s=PST do.PFV speech one DEF.SG. now=can 2s=do.IMPF speech two-ORD!

You’ve made one language. Now you can make another one!

opua ka
Finished?

Yaazhyazhiimelyeken, yaagzaabʔiih.
/ˈjaːʒjaˌʒiːmelˌjeken | ˈjaːˌgzaːbˌʔiːh/

yaa-

3s.ᴀʙꜱ-

zh-

1s.ᴇʀɢ-

ya-

ᴄᴀᴜꜱ-

zhiim

be.joined

-el

-ᴀɴᴛɪᴘ

-yek

-need

-en,

-ɴᴇɢ,

yaa-

3s.ᴀʙꜱ-

gzaab

finished

-ʔiih

-can

It can be finished if s/he doesn’t need to add anything else.

[The&System]

opua ka
Finished?

neta tapyepak
I can't take you seriously.

veoveoveo. neao sha kiiuq leiu teqkku dy. zhei sha hiue qau tao seq teau dy qe he pei kyo gyn qe heue pei sha laiqzuyq dy
Yeah, yeah. I'm aware that it sounds kinda nonsensical. I just feel like it only needs new words. It's not finished finished, but I don't need to make more grammar either

Welcome! Have some pickles and tea:



(It’s a board tradition for welcoming new members, for some reason.)

I mean. I'll gladly take 'em.

[bradrn]

Woolaam be: Penesilinek yaagiisinem yaayyakwang riʔaa.
/ˈwoːˌlaːm be ‖ ˈpeneˌsiliˌnek ˈjaːˌgiːsiˌnem ˈjaːj.jaˌkwaŋ ˈriˌʔaː/

woo-laam

2s.ABS-know

be:

Q:

Penesilin-ek

Penicillin-ERG

yaa-giisi=nem-∅

3s.ABS-small=REL-ABS

yaa-y-yakwang

3s.ABS-3s.ERG-pop

riʔaa.

INTS.

Did you know: Penicillin works by making bacteria explode.

[Imralu]

Alright, plodding along. What about you? How are you doing?

Moles sem . It a kweya taym-dem. It luk mata tahn beta. You longga ste de Balin?
About the same . These are strange times. Matters seem to get better. You still living in Berlin?

Tä wel wennuuž ibBalin.
[tæ ˈw͍ɛɫ ˈw͍ɛnːʊ͍ːʒ ˈibːɐɫɪn]

tä

still

wel

location

we(e)-

ATTR-

nu(u)-

POSS.DOM

ž

1S

i(i)-

DEF(e)

Balin

Berlin

Yes, I'm still in Berlin.

Besiwiŋu lheybuq maag! Tsah: qalit’aw, qaŋeth! (Sil bel ‘Aussie’ mengu tleŋ ngii.)
/bəˈsiwiŋu ˈɬəjbuʔ maːɣ ‖ t͡sah | ˈʔalitaw | ʔaŋətʰ ‖ sil bəl ‘Aussie’ ˈməᵑɡu t͡ɬəŋ ᵑɡiː/
1s=have.PFV-TEL knowledge NEG! if: sun’good, person! (here 1p ‘Aussie’ many DEF.PL NEG.COP.)

I didn’t know that! In that case: G’day, mate! (There aren’t too many of us Aussies here.)

[ɡɾæɪ̯ mæɪt̚ | æo̯jəˈɡaːə̯n]

[Qwynegold]

I just feel like it only needs new words. It's not finished finished, but I don't need to make more grammar either

Mi no wakte i on.
I have never done this.

(I wanted to say "achieved", but that's a way too complicated word for me to have yet.)

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Anybody else get the urge to suddenly translate poetry and make something that sounds flowery?

No.

何故？花書 楽しい！
「えゆ゙ゑ？さけせけ をろしい！」
Eluwe? Sasseki woroshi!
[é.ʎỳᵝ.ʋè̞ || s̪ɐ̞̀s̪.s̪é̞ˑ.c͡çí wò̞ᵝ.ɾ̪ò̞ᵝ.ɕí]
what.reason flower.language fun.PREDICATIVE
"Why not? Flowery language is fun!"

Bal ngen qegsaam tleŋyan tshaal qalit sul tlii yusaa. Beba lhiisiŋu fawetl qitham tleŋ maag, bena ŋandu quna tuq.
me POSS exam the.PL=already leave.IMPF day three a.PL come.IMPF. me=still see.PFV-TEL speech some the.PL not, me=thus twist.IMPF stomach very
My exams are already in three days. I’m very worried as I still haven’t watched some lectures.

何様 在れけ ほっい？
「えざわ あれけ ほっい？」
Ezō areki hoi?
[è̞.z̪ó̞͜ó̞ᵝ ɐ̞́ˑ.ɾ̪è̞.c͡çì xó̞͜ˑì]
what.manner be.STEM.PAST INTERROGATIVE-PARTICLE
"How did they go?" (Or, more literally, "How were they?")

And I suppose that if I don’t want to be out-competed I now need to make even more notes than Rounin Ryuuji did:

敖が在るれど はっあ？玩ゑよむる 吾れら！
「だわれが あるれど はっあ？ぎうゑよむる われら！」
Dôre-ga aruredo ha~a? Juweyomuru warera!
[d̪ó̞͜ó̞ᵝ.ɾ̪è̞.gɐ̞̀ ɐ̞̀.ɾ̪ʉ́ᵝˑ.ɾ̪é̞.d̪ò̞ᵝ xɐ̞́ˑ.ɐ̞̀ˑ || ʑỳᵝ.ʋé̞.jó̞ᵝˑ.mʉ̀ᵝ.ɾ̪ʉ̀ᵝ ʋɐ̞́ˑ.ɾ̪è̞.ɾ̪ɐ̞̀]
game.INDEFINITE-NOMINATIVE copula.EXCLAMATORY.HYPOTHETICAL EMPHATIC-INTERROGATIVE-PARTICLE play.VOLITIONAL.ADNOMINAL 1pn.UNBOUND.PLURAL
"So it's a game, is it? Let's play, you and I!"

• The element 花書 (sasseki) means literally "flower-writing", and can refer also to proper literature (for which the word 花文 "sakĕfumi" also exists); for very overblown writing, 光語 ("sasekĕshiyu" or "sasesshiyu") is often used;
• the latter word includes a pun on how 光 ("saseki, sasekĕ-" — "light, splendour"; possibly connected with Japanese 差す "sasu" — "shine, be visible") sounds similar to both 花 ("saki, sakĕ-" — "flower"), and 書 ("seki, sekĕ" — "writing, to write"; connected with Japanese 急く"seku" — "to hurry, to rush", probably originally referring to cursive writing, and then to writing generally);
• A cognate to Japanese 花 ("hana" — "flower") appears as 植 ("hada" — "plant"); a cognate to Japanese 書く("kaku" — "write") appears as 掻う ("kaku" — "scratch, scrape");
• The element 楽 (woro) in 楽しい (woroshi) is cognate to the first element in Japanese 笑う ("warau" — "smile, laugh"); the cognate to Japanese 楽しい ("tanoshii" — "fun") is 唹 ("dan" — "slight smile"), the two elements apparently having flipped in meaning;
• I tend to use more drawn-out, "proper" expressions for these examples, but there are multiple contracted forms that could be used, notably for the hypotheticals, futures, and conditionals, 在るれど (aruredo) could easily reduce to one of 在るりよ (aruryo), this one also being the more "proper" contraction used in educated speech, or the more commonplace 在るろう (aruro);
• There are a number of interrogatives, usually "ha, he, hoi" and variants upon them, common in all registers of speech, but usually carrying rather subtle differences — the most common expletive in the language by far is "hoi", which shows up at the beginning and ending of sentences, usually as a sort-of "softener" (also a mark of youthful or boyish speech), with "he" or "hei" being more formal or stilted, and "ha", and lengthened variants of it, being used, as above, for more playful sorts of questioning; it may also, with a fully falling pitch, be used to express surprise or dismay;
• The element 玩ゑよむ (juweyomu) is the volitional of 玩ゑる (juweru — a loanword; cf. also 玩々 "juju", meaning "plaything"); other words for "play" include 敖す (dōresu), which is not usually used with 敖 (dōre) as a noun, and more means "make a game of something", implying the something is not usually a game, and and 遊う (wasō — note Japanese 遊ぶ "asobu"), which tends to be used for sports and physical competition;
• The most "prominent" vowel, when short, will tend to be half-long, as noted in some of the examples given;
• Ineshîmé, unlike Japanese, does not have topic and subject-marking particles, and is much less topic-prominent than Japanese: contrast the expressions 敖が 在るれど ("Dōre-ga aruredo" — "if it's a game, so it's a game") with 花書 楽しい ("Sasseki woroshi" — "Flowery language is fun"); the former uses the indefinite article が ("ga"), usually obligatory with verbs of being, to note that something is of a specific class; the reflex of Japanese は (wa) is Ineshîmé は (-a, -ya, -ha), a definite article;
• Optional topic prominence is still possible if the topic is either set aside by a pause in speech where it is not also the subject;
• Both languages tend to be verb-final; however when modifying nominals, most Ineshîmé verbs will take the particle る ("ru", as illustrated by the clause ) or の ("no"), unless they (1) use the remote past form (玩ゑよむる 吾れら "Juweyomuru warera"); usually the particle る emphasises the performance of the action itself, while の emphasises that the nominal performs the action; omitting both particles where such specification is not wanted is also possible and commonplace.

宜し 在り はは？
「よろうしい あり はは？」
Yorosche ari hā?
[jó̞ᵝˑ.ɾ̪ò̞͜ò̞ᵝ.ʃ(ɘ̥̆̀) ɐ̞́ˑ.ɾ̪ʲì xɐ̞̀͜ɐ̞̀]
good.ADJECTIVE-STEM be.PREDICATIVE QUESTION-PARTICLE
"How's this?" (more literally "Is this well, huh?")

[Nortaneous]

hm is the alt-english mutually intelligible

Chau bogh yiestrew pa plantes ful y verwen ie schau zweilt yð yoard eals þe voery oas dud, agh yoald ie nil oan yð haarous chul au watermeloenes.
[tʃʊˈbɔx pæ jəstˈrøy plɑnts ful i vərˈwɛn əʃə zwɪlt ɪð jɔrd ɛlz ðə vurɪ ɔs dʏd, əx jɔld ɤ nɪl ən ɪð hærʊs tʃəlˈau wætərməluns]

[Rounin Ryuuji]

hm is the alt-english mutually intelligible

Chau bogh yiestrew pa plantes ful y verwen ie schau zweilt yð yoard eals þe voery oas dud, agh yoald ie nil oan yð haarous chul au watermeloenes.
[tʃʊˈbɔx pæ jəstˈrøy plɑnts ful i vərˈwɛn əʃə zwɪlt ɪð jɔrd ɛlz ðə vurɪ ɔs dʏd, əx jɔld ɤ nɪl ən ɪð hærʊs tʃəlˈau wætərməluns]

江栗語 在り ほっい？
「えぐりいふ あり ほっい？」
Eguri-iyu ari hoi?
[é̞.gʉ́ᵝˑ.ɾ̪ʲí íˑ.jỳᵝ ɐ̞́ˑ.ɾ̪ʲì xó̞ᵝˑí]
bay.chestnut.language COPULA.PREDICATIVE QUESTION-PARTICLE
"That's English?"

其れに 分れぜい。
「けい゙れに わかれぜい。」
Kyore-ni wakareze.
[c͡çi̯ó̞ᵝˑ.ɾ̪è̞ ɲì ʋɐ̞̀.kɐ̞̀.ɾ̪é̞.z̪é̞]
MESIAL-DEMONSTRATIVE.PRONOMINALISER.LAT/LOC understand.ADVERBIAL.NEGATIVE
"I can't understand it."

「ぼへ」と「買へけ」て 言らほっい？
「『ぼへ』と『がへけ』て いへら ほっい？』」
"Bohĕ"-to "Gaeki " te iyera hoi?
[bó̞ó̞ᵝ.çɘ̥̆̀ t̪ò̞ᵝ gɐ̞́ˑé̞.c͡çì t̪è̞ í.jè̞.ɾ̪ɐ̞̀ xó̞ᵝˑí]
(FOREIGN WORD) QUOTATION-PARTICLE buy.INFINITIVE.PAST QUOTATION-PARTICLE.DEFINITE say.FUTURE QUESTION-PARTICLE
"Does bogh mean bought?"

Not having enough vocabulary existing in this language for everything, a few other guesses:

chau — "I have" (guessed from something mentioned in the thread about "ch"- being a first-person prefix, and something about [w] and [v] waffling around; it is not immediately obvious or transparent);
bogh — as above, probably "bought";
yiestrew — probably "yesterday";
pa — this seems to be misplaced, given the IPA, but going on what I remember of the thread, it might be "two";
ful — despite its resemblance to English "full", I hesitate to guess it's a cognate, since such a word meant... something else (I don't immediately recall) in the thread on the language;
zweilt — probably "such" (similar to Chaucerian "swich")
yoard — fairly certainly "garden, yard"
eals — fairly certainly "also"
oas — might be "house"
voery — possibly "very", especially if borrowed from a French dialect in which the [ei] > [oi] shift may have happened
dud — might be "dead";

With the rest, it's either too transparent to bear remarking, or else unintelligible to me personally. I think the overall sense might be something about buying two plants to replace dead ones in the garden, and watermelons probably being involved.

[Nortaneous]

"yesterday I bought two [watermelon] plants which I expect will die from the heat in the yard like the last ones did, but maybe they won't and I'll have watermelons in the fall"

chau — "I have" (guessed from something mentioned in the thread about "ch"- being a first-person prefix, and something about [w] and [v] waffling around; it is not immediately obvious or transparent);
bogh — as above, probably "bought";
yiestrew — probably "yesterday";
pa — this seems to be misplaced, given the IPA, but going on what I remember of the thread, it might be "two";

correct

ful — despite its resemblance to English "full", I hesitate to guess it's a cognate, since such a word meant... something else (I don't immediately recall) in the thread on the language;

"which" < hwylc; loss of final -tʃ in 'grammatical words' is regular

zweilt — probably "such" (similar to Chaucerian "swich")

"die of heat", from some OE word or other which in OTL died out after presumably influencing "wilt" < welken

yoard — fairly certainly "garden, yard"
eals — fairly certainly "also"

correct

oas — might be "house"

ones (probably this should be ɤs however, unstressed and restressed)

voery — possibly "very", especially if borrowed from a French dialect in which the [ei] > [oi] shift may have happened

cognate to Dutch vorig

dud — might be "dead"

did

[Rounin Ryuuji]

hm is the alt-english mutually intelligible

Chau bogh yiestrew pa plantes ful y verwen ie schau zweilt yð yoard eals þe voery oas dud, agh yoald ie nil oan yð haarous chul au watermeloenes.
[tʃʊˈbɔx pæ jəstˈrøy plɑnts ful i vərˈwɛn əʃə zwɪlt ɪð jɔrd ɛlz ðə vurɪ ɔs dʏd, əx jɔld ɤ nɪl ən ɪð hærʊs tʃəlˈau wætərməluns]

If the spelling of pa (> twa) and ful (> hwyl) were more conservative (as indicated), they would certainly be more intelligible to my Our-Timeline-English-reading eyes. Additionally, I'm guessing schau is cognate to our shall, should, and verwen might be cognate to Dutch verwachten (though the loss of what I suppose would've been an [x] here, but not in "bogh", perplexes me not a little, but perhaps I've forgotten some of the sound changes you've used), and ie seems to be a third-person plural pronoun? Oh, and haarous is probably cognate to "harvest", and likely means "fall, autumn". Zweilt might be related to our swelter, I suppose? Further decypherment, yð is probably a contraction of words meaning "in the"; agh is probably cognate to Swedish och, German auch, and seems to replace our "but"; chul is probably the equivalent to I'll, and au probably menas have. It's becoming clearer and clearer the more I look at it and have answers, so I suspect it would probably be not extremely difficult for English-speakers to learn it, even if it has low surface intelligibility with most "standard" varieties of English.

[Nortaneous]

and verwen might be cognate to Dutch verwachten

"expect pessimistically" < forwenan

[bradrn]

Anybody else get the urge to suddenly translate poetry and make something that sounds flowery?

No.

何故？花書 楽しい！
「えゆ゙ゑ？さけせけ をろしい！」
Eluwe? Sasseki woroshi!
[é.ʎỳᵝ.ʋè̞ || s̪ɐ̞̀s̪.s̪é̞ˑ.c͡çí wò̞ᵝ.ɾ̪ò̞ᵝ.ɕí]
what.reason flower.language fun.PREDICATIVE
"Why not? Flowery language is fun!"

Bembu waqli yakhaan tlii ŋew-ŋew.

1s=CONTR do.IMPF-CONT song INDEF.PL bad~ADV

But I’m a terrible poet.

Bal ngen qegsaam tleŋyan tshaal qalit sul tlii yusaa. Beba lhiisiŋu fawetl qitham tleŋ maag, bena ŋandu quna tuq.
me POSS exam the.PL=already leave.IMPF day three a.PL come.IMPF. me=still see.PFV-TEL speech some the.PL not, me=thus twist.IMPF stomach very
My exams are already in three days. I’m very worried as I still haven’t watched some lectures.

何様 在れけ ほっい？
「えざわ あれけ ほっい？」
Ezō areki hoi?
[è̞.z̪ó̞͜ó̞ᵝ ɐ̞́ˑ.ɾ̪è̞.c͡çì xó̞͜ˑì]
what.manner be.STEM.PAST INTERROGATIVE-PARTICLE
"How did they go?" (Or, more literally, "How were they?")

Balmu ngen qegsaam yandu thaŋ nii siphu! Bal ngen waqene thaŋ daw tshayelŋu ndisiine thaŋ.

bal=mu

1s=PST

ngen

POSS

qegsaam

exam

yan-du

one-th

thaŋ

DEF.SG

nii

COP

siphu

finish

|

|

bal

1s

ngen

POSS

waq-ene

do-NMLZ

thaŋ

DEF.SG

tshayel-ŋu

leave.PFV-TEL

ndisii-ne

think-NMLZ

thaŋ

DEF.SG

I’ve finished my first exam! It went better than I was expecting.

宜し 在り はは？
「よろうしい あり はは？」
Yorosche ari hā?
[jó̞ᵝˑ.ɾ̪ò̞͜ò̞ᵝ.ʃ(ɘ̥̆̀) ɐ̞́ˑ.ɾ̪ʲì xɐ̞̀͜ɐ̞̀]
good.ADJECTIVE-STEM be.PREDICATIVE QUESTION-PARTICLE
"How's this?" (more literally "Is this well, huh?")

Nitshayelŋu bal.

2s=leave.PFV-TEL 1s

You win.

[Well, lexically at least. My notes were of course far more sophisticated and detailed about grammar But the lexicon is the tricky bit.]

[Rounin Ryuuji]

But I’m a terrible poet.

Oh, I have some pretension of at least being a not-terrible one, so that explains the discrepancy.

Balmu ngen qegsaam yandu thaŋ nii siphu! Bal ngen waqene thaŋ daw tshayelŋu ndisiine thaŋ.

bal=mu

1s=PST

ngen

POSS

qegsaam

exam

yan-du

one-th

thaŋ

DEF.SG

nii

COP

siphu

finish

|

|

bal

1s

ngen

POSS

waq-ene

do-NMLZ

thaŋ

DEF.SG

tshayel-ŋu

leave.PFV-TEL

ndisii-ne

think-NMLZ

thaŋ

DEF.SG

I’ve finished my first exam! It went better than I was expecting.

ほっいほっい、宜しみ 在り ほ～い！
「ほっい ほっい、よろしみ あり ほ～い！」
Hoi hoi, yoroschemi ari ho~i!
[xó̞͜ᵝˑì xó̞͜ᵝˑì || jó̞ᵝ.ɾ̪ó̞ᵝˑ.ʃ(ɘ̥̆̀).mᶣí ɐ̞́ˑ.ɾ̪ʲì xó̞ó̞ó̞ᵝˑì]
EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE, good.ADJ.INFINITIVE copula.PREDICATIVE EXPLETIVE
"Woohoo, that's good (to hear)!"

(Yes, that expletive sound does get used a LOT.)

Nitshayelŋu bal.

2s=leave.PFV-TEL 1s

You win.

[Well, lexically at least. My notes were of course far more sophisticated and detailed about grammar But the lexicon is the tricky bit.]

Creating words, or stories for them, and starting with one word and letting it proliferate into dozens of others, is what I find most fun about this, and like them to fit patterns that already feel natural to me. I could've delved in to structure more, but I feel like it would just be saying, "Yes, this is very like archaic Japanese, isn't it?"

[Imralu]

Na i zo ngindyo ya lo gyaneno wi nyodwo zi
[nɐj zɔ ˈŋɪnd͡ʒɔ jɐ lɔ ˈgjɐnɛnɔ wi ˌɲɔndwɔ ˈzi]

na

1S

i

COP

zo

come/go

ngindyo

gathering

ya

GEN

gyaneno

birthday

u-

ADV-

-i

-COP

nyodwo

nighttime

zi

RET

I went to a birthday party last night.

Na i zi dyombungwe vye lye ngwidu. Na i boga zyu dwe i holwo da.
[nɐj zɪ ˈd͡ʒɔmbʊŋwɛ vjɛ lʲjɛ ˈŋwɪɾʊ | nɐj ˈbɔɡɐ ʒu ˌdwɛj ˌhɔɫwɔ ˈdɐ]

na

1S

i

COP

zi

RET

dyombungwe

order

vye

GEN.PL

lye

other/new

ngwidu

shoe

|

|

na

1S

i

COP

boga

hope

zyu

GEN.C

dwe

DEF.3P

i

COP

holwo

enough/to.a.good.degree

da

large

I have ordered some new shoes. I hope that they fit.

[Imralu]

Balmu ngen qegsaam yandu thaŋ nii siphu! Bal ngen waqene thaŋ daw tshayelŋu ndisiine thaŋ.

bal=mu

1s=PST

ngen

POSS

qegsaam

exam

yan-du

one-th

thaŋ

DEF.SG

nii

COP

siphu

finish

|

|

bal

1s

ngen

POSS

waq-ene

do-NMLZ

thaŋ

DEF.SG

tshayel-ŋu

leave.PFV-TEL

ndisii-ne

think-NMLZ

thaŋ

DEF.SG

I’ve finished my first exam! It went better than I was expecting.

Wa i limu mya?
[wɐj ˈlɪmʊ mjɐ]

wa

2S

i

COP

limu

learn

mya

what.GEN

What are you studying?