As wonderous and beautiful as those are, I'd love to see a translation/transliteration and perhaps an explanation as to why these passages are important, both to Akat, and to you.
Rik- 03-19-2008
As wonderous and beautiful as those are, I'd love to see a translation/transliteration and perhaps an explanation as to why these passages are important, both to Akat, and to you.
#1: We are sitting in the night, and like the night, we are silent.
First, some words:
sit: ý-vud
night: na-setfùx
silence: tu-kat
The sentence is composed of two clauses:
Clause 1. we are sitting within/during the night'we' is the patient, with no agent
no need to include a direct object
'night' is oblique, using the 'at' particle
for the verb ...
V. action root: -vud- (sit)
v. class/aspect: -ó- (continuous)
a. agent marker: -ù- (absent - intransitive)
p. patient marker: -ehm- (we, paucal)
C. tense/conjunction - (indicative nonpast)
D. patientive determiner: - (definite article)
g|G. agentive class & root: -|- (absent)
M. modality: - (absent)
E. evidentiality - (absent)
for the agent ...
nothing - none present
for the patient ...
nothing - demonstrated in the verb
for the oblique ...
oblique particle: xyl (at)
object: na-setfùx (night)
Which gives us a clause of:
agent ~ verb(CgMGvVaDpE) ~ patient ~ oblique
--- ~ ----óvudù-ehm- ~ --- ~ xyl-na-setfùx
óvudùehm xylnasetfùxClause 2: and we are silent like the nightno verb!
'we silence' forms the patient
'like the night' is oblique
PROBLEM: the second clause is clearly dependent on the first (requires an 'and' -e- conjunction), but there's no verb in the second clause on which to hang the conjunction.
SOLUTIONS:
1. hang the conjunction onto the first object (rejected)
2. use a null verb (accepted with reservations)
The smallest null verb is probably ỳvaz (work), which can supply us with a null verb - vaz - which can then be used as a sort of 'pro-verb', allowing tense/conjunction, modality and evidentiality information to be added to otherwise verbless sentences. This sounds like a better solution than just allowing an intrinsically verbal particle to attach to an object.
Unfortunately, it also means burdening lots of sentences with a long, repetitive word. Thus I've decided that colloquially, the pro-verb wyvazjuul is generally shortened to 'vaz' or even 'vz' – haven't decided whether to give it its own special symbol in the logography, but I think I ought to use it in the other alphabets and mention it in the grammar somewhere ...
for the verb ...
pro-verb: wyvazjuul (shortened to vz)
tense/conjunction: e (indicative additional scope)
for the agent ...
nothing - none present
for the first patient ...
object: neike! (we two)
for the second patient ...
modifying particle: ti (who are/have)
object: tu-kat (silence)
existential suffix: xik (continuing)
for the oblique ...
oblique particle: ciry => cirsy (like)
object: na-setfùx (night)
Which gives us a clause of
agent ~ verb ~ patient1 ~ patient2 ~ oblique
evz ~ neike! ~ titukatxik ~ cirsynasetfùx
evz neike!titukatxik cirsynasetfùxFINAL TRANSLATION
We are sitting in the night, and like the night, we are silent.
óvudùehm xylnasetfùx evz neike!titukatxik cirsynasetfùx
Core concept logographs:
fut => vud (seat/chair)
set (time)
fux (darkness, dimness, shade)
fas => vaz (agency, performance, consumption)
ke! (being-ness)
kat (sound)
Sano- 05-18-2008
I was re-reading this thread today, and I must say Rik, you are quite creative and talented in so many ways.
The detail and breadth you've put into both your con-work and presentation there of, is staggering and admirable.
I would truly enjoy you displaying/discussing more/as much as possible, of it.
Rik- 06-16-2008
I was re-reading this thread today, and I must say Rik, you are quite creative and talented in so many ways.
The detail and breadth you've put into both your con-work and presentation there of, is staggering and admirable.
I would truly enjoy you displaying/discussing more/as much as possible, of it.
Hey Sano - many thanks for the comments. Hadn't noticed them until today.
What I could do is try to pull together a couple of 'lessons' using the script as the basis for introducing the various bits and bobs of the language - the explanation I posted in March doesn't really show how the script ties in with the language, which is a pity as according to the internal history of the language the script was developed by the Nakap philosophers specifically to show the philosophical underpinnings of the reconstructed language.
fut => vud (seat/chair)
set (time)
fux (darkness, dimness, shade)
fas => vaz (agency, performance, consumption)
ke! (being-ness)
kat (sound)
