Conlang fluency thread

[jal]

(Oh, and I think ‘orc’ has ⟨c⟩ in it rather than ⟨k⟩, not that that matters.)

(You are completely right of course, Sajiwan has a "k" but English has a "c" :). In The Hobbit they're still called "goblins", though they're the same as LotR "orcs", so for Sajiwan I went by that.)


JAL

[masako]

Magic is just science, unexplained.

Yu in ebl esplen olda mata tek sayans.
You cannot explain everything with science.

ya ke pala
Yes, you can.

kua mo'an yoha
Everything has an explanation.

[jal]

Yes, you can. Everything has an explanation.

Fo ray, oba no olda mata ebl esplen don sayans. Som mata af oda esplen.
Sure, but not all things can be explained by science. Some things have another explanation.

(Writing in green now to distinguish my own words and those of a hypothetical Sajiwan.)


JAL

[bradrn]

Yes, you can. Everything has an explanation.

Fo ray, oba no olda mata ebl esplen don sayans. Som mata af oda esplen.
Sure, but not all things can be explained by science. Some things have another explanation.

Yaawgnazhabnem yaazhewziingʔiih be?
/jaːwɡnaʒabnem jaːʒewziːŋʔiːh be/

yaa-w-gnazhab=nem-∅

3s.ABS-2s.ERG-remove=REL-ABS

yaa-zhe-w-ziing-ʔiih

3s.ABS-1s.DAT-2s.ERG-give-PERM

be?

Q

Could you give me an example?

[jal]

Could you give me an example?

Dopi, fo saml. Nof man luk dem, an yu se dem de, kos dem mek olda kayn a malis. Oba sayans tok se "dem dopi no de".
Duppies, for example. Many people have seen them, and you know they exist, as they cause all kinds of mischief. But science says "duppies don't exist".


JAL

[bradrn]

Could you give me an example?

Dopi, fo saml. Nof man luk dem, an yu se dem de, kos dem mek olda kayn a malis. Oba sayans tok se "dem dopi no de".
Duppies, for example. Many people have seen them, and you know they exist, as they cause all kinds of mischief. But science says "duppies don't exist".


JAL

Bemute lhiise-lhiise dapi maag. Dapi ngii; bendisii tsek.
/bəˈmutə ˈɬiːsəɬiːsə ˈdapi maːɣ ‖ ˈdapi ᵑɡiː | bəⁿdiˈsiː t͡sək/
1s=PST see~HAB duppy NEG. duppy NEG.COP; 1s=think that.

I’ve never seen a duppy. I think duppies don’t exist.

(Grammar note: This language is rather underdeveloped and has no subordinate clauses yet, so I had to ‘fake’ one using two clauses, by instead saying ‘Duppies don’t exist; I think that’.)

[masako]

anyatsanim ma anutsanim ke ok kotsik
Stories of things heard and seen prove nothing. (They're anecdotal.)

[quinterbeck]

Da iglo ene-yod diheun oudain dihem he- nullou Leima:
I added a distributive affix he- to Leima:

Deg oan houde allu idyoerni hemehoream

Deg

GO.PST

oan

man

hou-de

ALL-PROX

allu

REL.ACT.PST

idyoerni

carry

he-meh-oream

each-six-fish

The men arrived, carrying six fish each

[jal]

The men arrived, carrying six fish each

Dem iman kac poh, olda wan kari sis fis.


JAL

[bradrn]

Oh, so this is a translation challenge? In that case:

Qaŋeth tleŋ mute yusayŋu. Ŋiimute daalan lekhus tawayam-tawayam tlii.
/ˈʔaŋətʰ t͡ɬəŋ ˈmutə ˈjusajŋu ‖ ŋiːˈmutə ˈdaːlan ˈləkʰus ˈtawajam ˈtawajam t͡ɬiː/

qaŋeth

person

tleŋ

DEF.PL

mute

PST

yusaa-i-ŋu.

approach-PFV-TEL

ŋii=mute

3p=PST

daalan

carry

lekhus

fish

tawayam~tawayam

six~DIST

tlii.

INDF.PL

(Note: you may notice that none of my sentences here seem to have quite the same grammar. That’s because I’m still working on this proto-language, and I hadn’t quite figured out how to do everything in a way I’m happy with. But I think I’ve finally managed to figure out something I’m happy with, so hopefully I won’t be making too many more major changes after this.)

(Note 2: Due to the aforementioned underdevelopment of this language, I haven’t figured out how conjunctions and subordination work, so — like my previous sentence here — I had to use two separate sentences instead.)

[masako]

The men arrived, carrying six fish each

Dem iman kac poh, olda wan kari sis fis.

tlakam uatsimua tsa'oli amonko talaye

[Yalensky]

Calintese:

amattas noye homònonei làelae géitiae
man-PL=DEF carry-M.PL fish-GEN.PL-N.ACC six.DISTR come-PFV-M.PL
The men arrived, carrying six fish each

làelae is a distributive number. It also is a neuter noun, which is why 'fish' is in the genitive (and also marked with the case/gender of làelae).

[IomanaLurkare]

Kuerhyét:

Enu gyetin atan, cobulä ciraetúedesájuecóbie!
1P.SG enjoy-3P.OV 3P.SG.DEM play.INDEF word-meaning-declaration-game
I like to play translation games!

Hetin iri(/yet) kihima, etea(/eteam) bietin inämies hyara.
het-in iri(/yet) kihima, etea(/eteam) biet-in in-ämie-s hyara
arrive.PT-3P.OV DEF.HUM.PL(/.DU) men, 3P.PL(/.DU) carry-3P.OV DIST-six-DIST fish
The men arrived, carrying six fish each.

[HazelFiver]

Sparrowgrass 2.0alpha, now with both a distributive case and distributive numerals, which apparently aren't the same thing.

Oqfuusat fe neplytha qwasosat zhifka wlad.
o-qfu-u-sa-t fe neplyth-a qwas-o-sa-t zhiv-ka wlad
HSY-come.to-PST-3p.PROX-VOL NOM man-PL carry-INF-3p.PROX-VOL six-DISTR fish
(I heard that) the men arrived, carrying six fish each.

[masako]

nam yakuhun pakohe
1PL translate.challenge-ACC be.new-NEC
We need a new translation challenge.

[IomanaLurkare]

nam yakuhun pakohe
1PL translate.challenge-ACC be.new-NEC
We need a new translation challenge.

Hämem hoatí iseruo.
be-1P.INCL.DU agreeing REFL-COM
I agree.

Tuoso hau ayancyi?
IMP-someone make 3P.INA-DEM-Q
Does someone have any suggestions?

[bradrn]

nam yakuhun pakohe
1PL translate.challenge-ACC be.new-NEC
We need a new translation challenge.

Ningen fawetl thaŋ siwe fawetl nduy qingen lheybuq nii ‘nduy ŋiiŋandu’‽
/ˈniŋɡən ˈfawət͡ɬ tʰaŋ ˈsiwə ˈfawət͡ɬ ⁿduy ˈʔiᵑɡən ˈɬəjbuʔ niː ⁿduj ŋiːˈŋandu/
2s-POSS.ALN speech DEF.SG have speech COMP 3s-POSS meaning COP ‘COMP 3p=turn’‽

Your language has a word for ‘translation challenge’‽

[masako]

tla milakasu
It's a calque.

[HazelFiver]

Azuksesit plisga zír nolk ktu qjox dezgił.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Gu setl sweizdlaujił šidmeilił i ofes setłëq Wistar. Ofës swedlaujal íloz gu setl cfefcéwił, sjaso oissweurit ksi úzaf gu swenguktlaujalëq fwi si. Ofer ev si nglať fóz o tmysa lír, oz ofer lwang łis gu bort ksi céu łis.
The Wistar rat is an outbred albino rat. It was the first breed of laboratory rat, from which more than half of all strains are descended. It has a wide face and long ears, and its tail is shorter than its body.

[jal]

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Fas bwon fos ya jom oba aygl on ya.

The Wistar rat is an outbred albino rat. It was the first breed of laboratory rat, from which more than half of all strains are descended. It has a wide face and long ears, and its tail is shorter than its body.

Di Wistar rat a otsay-bwit rat. Im di fehs kayn a laboratori rat, im ospwing tahn ina af a olda yahn. Im af way-mol fes an long iyas, an fi tel a coh pas fi bodi.

Obviously had to calque some stuff.


JAL