Texts in bradrn’s conlangs

[bradrn]

I’m going to use this thread to try something a little different. Previously I’ve presented my conlang(s) in a scratchpad format — but that’s boring for me to write and for you to read. I want to try a different (and hopefully more interesting) approach with this thread: illustrating them in context, using annotated sample texts.

The first text I’d like to present is a translation of ‘The North Wind and The Sun’. OK, I know I’m not supposed to translate that, but there’s a few mitigating factors. In particular, the language in this case happens to be an unattested protolanguage, so this story is as good as any. But also, this story probably wouldn’t even be too culturally inappropriate, given what we can reconstruct of the protoculture, though it is of course difficult to say for sure.

Sasat thaŋmu tlaqufli Qalit thaŋ waqli gilut fawetlli, ‘naqeŋ khayiqenebey tshaal pawtiq?’,
/ˈsasat ˈtʰaŋmu ˈt͡ɬaʔufli ˈʔalit tʰaŋ ˈwaʔli ˈɣilut ˈfawət͡ɬli | ˈnaʔəŋ ˈkʰajiʔənəbəj t͡sʰaːl ˈpawtiʔ/
sasat thaŋ=mu tlaquf-li qalit thaŋ waq-li gilut fawetl-li, ‘naqen khayiq-ene=bey tshaal pawtiq?’,
wind DEF.SG=PST follow-CONT sun DEF.SG do.IPFV-CONT argument say.IPFV-CONT, ‘who strong-NMLZ=Q leave all?’,

The Wind and the Sun were disputing saying ‘who is strongest?’,

The first clause here is a serial verb construction (SVC). Here, tlaquf ‘follow, accompany’ introduces a comitative argument Qalit thaŋ ‘the Sun’, while the final fawetl ‘say’ acts as a quotative (required before all direct and indirect speech). The middle verb in this SVC, waq ‘do’, is used here as a light verb: waq gilut ‘do argument = dispute’. Note the agreement between verbs in a SVC: in this case, all are in the continuative aspect, indicating an ongoing action where the start and end of the action are defocused. Both SVCs and light verbs are omnipresent in discourse, due mostly to the paucity of verbs (many descendant languages, especially older ones, have a closed verb class, and presumably the protolanguage did as well); the ‘missing’ verbs must thus be expressed using other techniques.

Also prominent here are second-position clitics. The clitic =mu expresses past tense; it is non-obligatory, being most common in introductions and conclusions. We might say that, in addition to marking past tense, it also has a backgrounding function. Also present is =bey, marking questions. Though these are both second-position clitics, they differ in the details of their positioning. =bey may appear only at the end of the first phrase, while =mu may additionally appear after the first word (so both Sasat thaŋmu … and Sasatmu thaŋ are grammatical).

qaŋethinga siwitsi lamaq yusayetsi.
/ˈʔaŋətʰiᵑɡa ˈsiwit͡si ˈlamaʔ ˈjusajət͡si/
qaŋeth=inga siwi-tsi lamaq yusaye-tsi
person=MIR have.PFV-DIM cloak come.PFV-DIM

when a person came along with a cloak.

Another SVC: here, the directional construction ‘have come’ is used for the single verb ‘bring’. Again, note the aspectual agreement, with both verbs in the diminutive aspect. This aspect has the core meaning of ‘punctual or limited duration’; here it is used in the extended sense of ‘interrupted action’. It is accompanied here by the clitic =inga, expressing unexpectedness or surprise (a ‘mirative’). An interesting feature of the aspectual system is that nearly all verbs undergo stem alternations depending on whether they are in a perfective or an imperfective example. As seen here, the diminutive is considered a perfective aspect, with the perfective stems siwi and yusaye corresponding to the imperfective stems siwe and yusaa respectively.

One quirk of this language (and its descendents) is that it has a strong preference for clause juxtaposition over explicit co- or subordination. The exact relationship often ends up being coded primarily in the choice of aspects. Here the first clause is in the continuative aspect while the second is in a perfective aspect, indicating that the second takes place while the first is still ongoing.

Ŋiiyusaye wiiletsi fawetli tsah naaqa waq qaŋeth thaŋ siifa lamaq qulu, ŋay nii khayiq.
/ŋiːˈjusajə ˈwiːlət͡si ˈfawət͡ɬi t͡sah ˈnaːʔa waʔ ˈʔaŋətʰ tʰaŋ ˈsiːfa ˈlamaʔ ˈʔulu | ŋaj niː ˈkʰajiʔ/
ŋii=yusaye wiiletsi fawetli tsah naaqa waq qaŋeth thaŋ siifa lamaq qulu, ŋay nii khayiq
3p=fall.PFV contact.PFV say.PFV if someone do person DEF.SG remove cloak move.off, 3s COP strong

They agreed that if someone could make the person take off his cloak, he is strong.

The first part of this sentence is an idiomatic SVC: yusaa wiilets ‘fall contact = agree’. Such constructions are common, again due to the paucity of verbs. Syntactically, it’s a causative: the construction would be non-idiomatically interpreted as ‘X fall contact = X falls, [so] X touches’. There is a more straightforward causative later on, with the causee introduced by waq ‘do/make’. (The verb takes on both meanings, a surprisingly common collocation crosslinguistically.) The verb complex is ended by the directional verb qulu ‘move off’. The whole construction is thus naaqa waq qaŋeth siifa lamaq qulu ‘someone make/do person remove cloak off = someone makes the person take off their cloak’.

Sasat thaŋ yusaa waq haŋuhaŋu qaŋeth thaŋ, kaday mahŋu ŋay;
/ˈsasat tʰaŋ ˈjusaː ˈwaʔ ˈhaŋuˈhaŋu ˈʔaŋətʰ tʰaŋ | ˈkadaj ˈmahŋu ŋaj/
sasat thaŋ yusaa waq haŋu~haŋu qaŋeth thaŋ, kaday mah-ŋu ŋay;
wind DEF.SG come.IPFV do.IPFV IDEO person DEF.SG, exhaustion do.PFV-TEL 3s;

The wind came and blew and blew across the person, until he was exhausted;

This clause gives an example of an ideophone: haŋuhaŋu ‘blowing persistently and/or strongly across another object’. Ideophones are a poorly-defined class in this language, having a mostly phonological definition: they are either monosyllabic or reduplicated (most other content words are straightforwardly disyllabic, with the exception of a few particularly common verbs). Syntactically, they have few distinguishing features — this one, like the majority of ideophones, fits straightforwardly into the class of coverbs. These are verbal words which can only be used together with a supporting light verb, here waq ‘do’. As there are no ditransitive verbs, a diagnostic feature of coverbs is that they can give the appearance of a verb with two objects; this is seen in the sentence above, which has mahŋu haŋuhaŋu qaŋeth thaŋ ‘do haŋuhaŋu the person’.

(Honestly, I’m not entirely sure if ideophones are reconstructable at the protolanguage level; I’m assuming they are, because it’s pretty difficult to tell a story without them.)

Also present are some other interesting features. Kaday mahŋu ŋay is a so-called ‘experiencer-object construction’, in which the animate experiencer is placed in object position, with an abstract noun being used as the subject. Here the construction is ‘exhaustion does him’, for ‘[until] he was exhausted’. Incidentally, this also gives another example of clause juxtaposition: ‘the wind came and blew [imperfective] onto the person, he was exhausted [telic]’ implies that the first clause led to the second as its end result.

tsan naa qaŋeth thaŋ siwe lamaq thaŋ ŋandi mandaŋ phuum.
/t͡san naː ˈʔaŋətʰ tʰaŋ ˈsiwə ˈlamaʔ tʰaŋ ˈŋaⁿdi ˈmaⁿdaŋ pʰuːm/
tsan naa qaŋeth thaŋ siwe lamaq thaŋ ŋandi mandaŋ phuum.
but and person DEF.SG take.IPFV cloak DEF.SG pull.IPFV pass.IPFV IDEO

but the person wrapped the cloak around himself tightly.

The construction of this clause is pretty similar to that of those before it. It starts with a conjunction tsan naa ‘but’; this is a complex conjunction, literally ‘but and’. The clause itself is a SVC. It starts with siwe ‘take’ to introduce the undergoer, then continues with the main action ŋandi ‘pull’, finishing with a directional element mandaŋ ‘pass’. This last might seem slightly odd, but is simply an instance of the polysemy so common in verbs: it is used here in the related sense of going ‘around’ something. The clause ends with another ideophone: phuum ‘snug, warm’. As with many ideophones, this one is somewhat unusual in its phonology — it uses the long vowel /uː/, which is unattested outside ideophones (the usual vowel inventory is /a ə i u aː iː/), and is monosyllabic.

Qalit thaŋ yusayetsi siifitsi qaathanitsi waalhitsi qaŋeth thaŋ, qiyan paatliŋu qaŋeth thaŋ siifiŋu lamaq thaŋ qefayeŋu.
/ˈʔalit tʰaŋ ˈjusajət͡si ˈsiːfit͡si ˈʔaːtʰanit͡si ˈwaːɬit͡si ˈʔaŋətʰ tʰaŋ | ˈʔijan ˈpaːt͡ɬiŋu ˈʔaŋətʰ tʰaŋ ˈsiːfiŋu ˈlamaʔ tʰaŋ ˈʔəfajəŋu/
qalit thaŋ yusaye-tsi siifi-tsi qaathani-tsi waalhi-tsi qaŋeth thaŋ, qi=yan paatli-ŋu qaŋeth thaŋ siifi-ŋu lamaq thaŋ qefaye-ŋu.
sun DEF.SG come.PFV-DIM emit.PFV-DIM fall.PFV-DIM go.PFV-DIM person DEF, 3s=already give.PFV-TEL person DEF.SG remove.PFV-TEL cloak DEF.SG rise.PFV-TEL

The sun came and shone onto the person, and immediately the person took off his cloak.

Siifa, glossed here ‘emit’, is a typical polysemous verb, taking on meanings including but not limited to ‘emit, shine, breathe, communicate,
describe, show, remove, delete, stop’ (though curiously not ‘emit sound / speak’, which is fawetl). The directional element is qaathan ‘fall’ indicating downwards direction, followed by waalh ‘go’ to introduce the target of motion — this latter is necessary as qaathan cannot take a direct argument specifying a target.

The second clause here displays a quirk of clitic positioning. As with =bey, =yan is positioned strictly after the first constituent. Here however this is a problem — the first constituent is itself a proclitic, namely the third person pronominal qi=. It is possible to position the second-position enclitic after the first phonological word — qipaatliŋuyan — but perhaps more common is for the enclitic to interrupt the phonological word and split it in two, giving the result seen here: qiyan paatliŋu. (The first ‘word’ here still isn’t particularly stressed, so it could be argued that =yan is an endoclitic interrupting a single phonological word: qiyanpaatliŋu.)

Sasat thaŋmu yusayeŋu wiiletsiŋu fawetliŋu, ‘nikhayiqenedaa thaŋ tshaal bal’.
/ˈsasat ˈtʰaŋmu ˈjusajəŋu ˈwiːlət͡siŋu ˈfawət͡ɬiŋu | niˈkʰajiʔənədaː tʰaŋ t͡sʰaːl bal/
sasat thaŋ=mu yusaye-ŋu wiiletsi-ŋu fawetli-ŋu, ‘ni=khayiq-ene=daa thaŋ tshaal bal’.
wind DEF.SG=PST fall.PFV-TEL contact.PFV-TEL say.PFV-TEL, ‘2s=strong-NMLZ=CONF DEF.SG leave 1s’.

So the wind came to agree with the sun: ‘you are indeed stronger than me’.

The story ends with a comparative, literally ‘your strength leaves/surpasses me’. Perhaps surprisingly, this is not an SVC: the construction involves an adjective converted to an inalienably possessed quality noun, which is said to ‘leave’ (alternately ‘surpass’) another’s quality. (Indeed, a comparative SVC would be practically impossible: ‘adjectives’ have nominal rather than verbal character, as they refer to objects having a certain quality as opposed to the state of having that quality.) The clitic =daa ‘indeed’ is not part of the SVC, but expresses confirmation. Its positioning rule is different to that of =yan, and thus does not show the same ‘quirky’ behaviour.

[Ares Land]

Just stopping here to say that I haven't had the time to check this in detail, but will definitely do so in the future. Very interested in any future post you'd make.

[Qwynegold]

The first text I’d like to present is a translation of ‘The North Wind and The Sun’. OK, I know I’m not supposed to translate that,

Why?

The clitic =mu expresses past tense; it is non-obligatory, being most common in introductions and conclusions.

That's interesting.

Another SVC: here, the directional construction ‘have come’ is used for the single verb ‘bring’.

Hmm, this gave me an idea. If I have SVC with a transitive and an intransitive verb in Omni-kan, the transitive verb should come last so that it can be directly followed by its object.

Sasat thaŋ yusaa waq haŋuhaŋu qaŋeth thaŋ, kaday mahŋu ŋay;
/ˈsasat tʰaŋ ˈjusaː ˈwaʔ ˈhaŋuˈhaŋu ˈʔaŋətʰ tʰaŋ | ˈkadaj ˈmahŋu ŋaj/
sasat thaŋ yusaa waq haŋu~haŋu qaŋeth thaŋ, kaday mah-ŋu ŋay;
wind DEF.SG come.IPFV do.IPFV IDEO person DEF.SG, exhaustion do.PFV-TEL 3s;

The wind came and blew and blew across the person, until he was exhausted;

Note to self: I've read this far. Maybe you should split things up into shorter posts?

[bradrn]

The first text I’d like to present is a translation of ‘The North Wind and The Sun’. OK, I know I’m not supposed to translate that,

Why?

Oh, I vaguely remember hearing someone advise against translating these sorts of standardised texts, rather than translating a text from within the relevant culture. (The other texts with that reputation are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Tower of Babel story; all three have been translated ad nauseum by both conlangers and natlang linguists.)

The clitic =mu expresses past tense; it is non-obligatory, being most common in introductions and conclusions.

That's interesting.

Thanks! (I know I read about some other language which does this, but I can’t seem to find it now… Cocama is similar in that it has optional tense clitics, but the distribution is somewhat different.)

Another SVC: here, the directional construction ‘have come’ is used for the single verb ‘bring’.

Hmm, this gave me an idea. If I have SVC with a transitive and an intransitive verb in Omni-kan, the transitive verb should come last so that it can be directly followed by its object.

Yep, that’s what most SVO languages do. (Including this one, though the story doesn’t show it.) A natlang example from Taba (source):

N=babas

3s=bite

welik

pig

n=mot

3s=die

do.

REAL

It bit the pig dead.

Sasat thaŋ yusaa waq haŋuhaŋu qaŋeth thaŋ, kaday mahŋu ŋay;
/ˈsasat tʰaŋ ˈjusaː ˈwaʔ ˈhaŋuˈhaŋu ˈʔaŋətʰ tʰaŋ | ˈkadaj ˈmahŋu ŋaj/
sasat thaŋ yusaa waq haŋu~haŋu qaŋeth thaŋ, kaday mah-ŋu ŋay;
wind DEF.SG come.IPFV do.IPFV IDEO person DEF.SG, exhaustion do.PFV-TEL 3s;

The wind came and blew and blew across the person, until he was exhausted;

Note to self: I've read this far. Maybe you should split things up into shorter posts?

I’m just doing one text per post; it’s a bit easier that way. I can try make the next text a bit shorter though.

[Qwynegold]

Oh, I vaguely remember hearing someone advise against translating these sorts of standardised texts, rather than translating a text from within the relevant culture. (The other texts with that reputation are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Tower of Babel story; all three have been translated ad nauseum by both conlangers and natlang linguists.)

Oh, but how are you gonna find a text from a relevant culture? I think fables are fine because they don't contain any technological terms, and they consist of simple stories that anyone can understand.

[Qwynegold]

Note to self: I've read until: tsan naa qaŋeth thaŋ siwe lamaq thaŋ ŋandi mandaŋ phuum.

I should also do some work about onomatopoeia.

[bradrn]

Oh, I vaguely remember hearing someone advise against translating these sorts of standardised texts, rather than translating a text from within the relevant culture. (The other texts with that reputation are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Tower of Babel story; all three have been translated ad nauseum by both conlangers and natlang linguists.)

Oh, but how are you gonna find a text from a relevant culture? I think fables are fine because they don't contain any technological terms, and they consist of simple stories that anyone can understand.

…I can just write the text myself, right? The ‘relevant culture’ in this case being a con-culture.

Note to self: I've read until: tsan naa qaŋeth thaŋ siwe lamaq thaŋ ŋandi mandaŋ phuum.

I should also do some work about onomatopoeia.

You mentioned earlier that you use Windows, so there should be a Sticky Notes app which you can use for this stuff. I use it all the time to remember things like this — it’s really useful! (Not that I mind you posting it here, I’m just suggesting it as a possibly more convenient alternative.)

Also, I should note that onomatopoeia is different to ideophones — the latter concept is quite a bit broader.

[Ares Land]

Oh, well, it turns out I have little to say except that it looks great and that I'd love to see more.

I really like the serial verb constructions, and of course the second position clitics with their variations.

One thing that is really a matter of taste, but could be helpful: I do develop a bit of the proto-languages but I like to work out the daughter languages very soon and in a very detailed way.
I find it's very tempting to spend time documenting the proto-language which is kind of unrealistic if it's unattested.

[evmdbm]

Oh, I vaguely remember hearing someone advise against translating these sorts of standardised texts, rather than translating a text from within the relevant culture. (The other texts with that reputation are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Tower of Babel story; all three have been translated ad nauseum by both conlangers and natlang linguists.)

I suppose if your conculture makes contact with Earth - all mine needs to do is get its Alcubierre Drive to work - someone might need to translate this stuff out of English so the Vedreki know what makes Earth humans tick... mind we need something for Earthlings to translate from Vedreki as well too...

[bradrn]

Oh, well, it turns out I have little to say except that it looks great and that I'd love to see more.

I really like the serial verb constructions, and of course the second position clitics with their variations.

Thank you!

One thing that is really a matter of taste, but could be helpful: I do develop a bit of the proto-languages but I like to work out the daughter languages very soon and in a very detailed way.
I find it's very tempting to spend time documenting the proto-language which is kind of unrealistic if it's unattested.

Oh yes, I am very much aware of that, and have been trying to not spend too much time on this one: the ‘grammar’ is only 15 pages, and many of the most important areas (aspect system, SVCs, light verbs, clitics) have practically no documentation. I eventually decided that I would make enough of the grammar to be able to translate a short text — which I have now done — and then move on to the descendents. (Still, even this much took me about a year… what can I say, I conlang very slowly.)

Oh, I vaguely remember hearing someone advise against translating these sorts of standardised texts, rather than translating a text from within the relevant culture. (The other texts with that reputation are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Tower of Babel story; all three have been translated ad nauseum by both conlangers and natlang linguists.)

I suppose if your conculture makes contact with Earth - all mine needs to do is get its Alcubierre Drive to work - someone might need to translate this stuff out of English so the Vedreki know what makes Earth humans tick... mind we need something for Earthlings to translate from Vedreki as well too...

Sadly, no-one’s going to be translating texts into this one… it’s a protolanguage, at about the same age as our PIE.

[Qwynegold]

tsan naa qaŋeth thaŋ siwe lamaq thaŋ ŋandi mandaŋ phuum.
/t͡san naː ˈʔaŋətʰ tʰaŋ ˈsiwə ˈlamaʔ tʰaŋ ˈŋaⁿdi ˈmaⁿdaŋ pʰuːm/
tsan naa qaŋeth thaŋ siwe lamaq thaŋ ŋandi mandaŋ phuum.
but and person DEF.SG take.IPFV cloak DEF.SG pull.IPFV pass.IPFV IDEO

How come take is imperfective here? Is it just because all the other verbs are imperfective.

…I can just write the text myself, right? The ‘relevant culture’ in this case being a con-culture.

Yes, of course. It just seems like a lot of work to me. Personally, I wouldn't get that done at all.

You mentioned earlier that you use Windows, so there should be a Sticky Notes app which you can use for this stuff. I use it all the time to remember things like this — it’s really useful! (Not that I mind you posting it here, I’m just suggesting it as a possibly more convenient alternative.)

Yes, except that I'm reading this on my phone in the morning when I don't want to get up.

Also, I should note that onomatopoeia is different to ideophones — the latter concept is quite a bit broader.

Yeah, I know. But I won't have ideophones in Omni-kan. Japanese has some interesting ways of handling them syntactically, so I could maybe do something similar with just the onomatopoeia.

Note to self: Last bit still unread.

[bradrn]

tsan naa qaŋeth thaŋ siwe lamaq thaŋ ŋandi mandaŋ phuum.
/t͡san naː ˈʔaŋətʰ tʰaŋ ˈsiwə ˈlamaʔ tʰaŋ ˈŋaⁿdi ˈmaⁿdaŋ pʰuːm/
tsan naa qaŋeth thaŋ siwe lamaq thaŋ ŋandi mandaŋ phuum.
but and person DEF.SG take.IPFV cloak DEF.SG pull.IPFV pass.IPFV IDEO

How come take is imperfective here? Is it just because all the other verbs are imperfective.

Yes, exactly. Verbs in an SVC agree in aspect.

…I can just write the text myself, right? The ‘relevant culture’ in this case being a con-culture.

Yes, of course. It just seems like a lot of work to me. Personally, I wouldn't get that done at all.

This is true. On the other hand, it’s far more interesting than translating the same text for the umpteenth time, and it gives me an excuse to work out some of the culture.

You mentioned earlier that you use Windows, so there should be a Sticky Notes app which you can use for this stuff. I use it all the time to remember things like this — it’s really useful! (Not that I mind you posting it here, I’m just suggesting it as a possibly more convenient alternative.)

Yes, except that I'm reading this on my phone in the morning when I don't want to get up.

Aha, good excuse.

Also, I should note that onomatopoeia is different to ideophones — the latter concept is quite a bit broader.

Yeah, I know. But I won't have ideophones in Omni-kan. Japanese has some interesting ways of handling them syntactically, so I could maybe do something similar with just the onomatopoeia.

I didn’t know that — sounds interesting! Do you know of anything I can read about the syntax of Japanese ideophones?

[Qwynegold]

I didn’t know that — sounds interesting! Do you know of anything I can read about the syntax of Japanese ideophones?

I don't know any good sources unfortunately. Off the top of my head:

• Ideophones may appear as interjections
• They may appear in adverb position, optionally followed by the quotative particle to
• They can be turned into verbs by adding suru (do) after
• Adding naku (cry) after an onomatopoeia turns it into a verb meaning "to sound like X"
• There are a few other ideophone+verb combinations with specific meanings, like jiro jiro miru (stare), where miru means to see or look

[Qwynegold]

The story ends with a comparative, literally ‘your strength leaves/surpasses me’. Perhaps surprisingly, this is not an SVC: the construction involves an adjective converted to an inalienably possessed quality noun, which is said to ‘leave’ (alternately ‘surpass’) another’s quality.

How can one see it's inalienable? Is it because the pronoun is cliticized onto it?

[bradrn]

I didn’t know that — sounds interesting! Do you know of anything I can read about the syntax of Japanese ideophones?

I don't know any good sources unfortunately. Off the top of my head:

• Ideophones may appear as interjections
• They may appear in adverb position, optionally followed by the quotative particle to
• They can be turned into verbs by adding suru (do) after

These (especially the latter two) are pretty standard for ideophones, from what I can see.

• Adding naku (cry) after an onomatopoeia turns it into a verb meaning "to sound like X"
• There are a few other ideophone+verb combinations with specific meanings, like jiro jiro miru (stare), where miru means to see or look

These are interesting though — thanks for sharing!

The story ends with a comparative, literally ‘your strength leaves/surpasses me’. Perhaps surprisingly, this is not an SVC: the construction involves an adjective converted to an inalienably possessed quality noun, which is said to ‘leave’ (alternately ‘surpass’) another’s quality.

How can one see it's inalienable? Is it because the pronoun is cliticized onto it?

Yes, exactly. Generally, inalienable possession is marked via juxtaposition, whereas alienable possession uses the possessive particle ngen. Pronouns are special, as they get cliticised onto the possessed noun in an inalienable construction: ni=khayiqene. (Also, I just discovered a small error in that text, now fixed.)

[Vardelm]

Quick note to say I finally got to read through this. Plenty of interesting tidbits. I like the use of light verbs since one of my early conlangs was heading in the direction of heavily using them. The mu clitic is cool as well as Qwynegold mentioned. Looks like that's attached to the singular definite article (so at the end of a noun phrase?), which seems to place some (optional) tense marking on the noun phrases. If I read that right, I dig it.

The SVC stuff is beyond my brain's bandwidth right now. Hopefully I'll remember to get back to this & get a better sense of what you're doing with it since we had so many discussions about SVCs in my own scratchpad.

[bradrn]

Quick note to say I finally got to read through this. Plenty of interesting tidbits. I like the use of light verbs since one of my early conlangs was heading in the direction of heavily using them. The mu clitic is cool as well as Qwynegold mentioned. Looks like that's attached to the singular definite article (so at the end of a noun phrase?), which seems to place some (optional) tense marking on the noun phrases. If I read that right, I dig it.

I’m glad you like it! Though it isn’t entirely correct to say that =mu is attached to the noun phrase… it goes after the first constituent, which is usually the NP, but can also be something like a focus or even the predicate if there is no explicit nominal subject. (e.g. ‘I was going home’ would be be=waalh=mu sasay thaŋ, with the clitic going after the first word.)

[Vardelm]

it goes after the first constituent, which is usually the NP, but can also be something like a focus or even the predicate if there is no explicit nominal subject.

Gocha. Equally nifty.

[Raholeun]

Waking this thread from its ancient slumber with a question regarding this comment of yours, bradrn:

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure if ideophones are reconstructable at the protolanguage level; I’m assuming they are, because it’s pretty difficult to tell a story without them.)

This remark was a bit confusing to me, because it seems that a connection is made between two implied propositions:
1) Can ideophones be reconstructed from a proto-language?
2) Do they, in practice, from an indispensable of any narrative of length?

Unfortunately I cannot see the link between the two questions. Ideophones or expressives are indeed know to have aberrant phonology, and will often not fit nicely into the syllable structure or sound inventory of the general language. Sure, that could form a problem when reconstructing a proto-language. However I do not see the correlation with the (frequency of) occurance in a longer narrative like a story, as opposed to a single sentence. I am interested in whether there might be a correlation between these things.

[bradrn]

The link is that this text is supposed to be in a reconstructed protolanguage. (Sorry for not making that clear.)