yaharansa kambepu livengi ratu anju yatikas kaçumaye cakrecek ri vorani ratu-- napi yakayi, i yale aceçni loroni licarak. ne yayumora yatovar yavele andracun, ne yakota: yanda liris! mavirap te mapole racuñ. kaçuma ye ne yatingas yakota, cetremi na, iya kundrini pita racundi. kotani kaçut, ongar? riyena iya?-- yamanji kaçuma, ri puna iya, yavu-yavu analemim, luminji silani!
ya-haran-sa kañ-mepu livengi ratu anju ya-tikas kaçuma-e ak-recek 3s-vb.-past AGT/NOM-vb prep. noun conj 3s-vb. noun-dat. ACCID-vb. ri vora-ni ratu - napi ya-kayi, i ya-ale ace-ç-ni loro-ni icarak. LOC N-poss. N adv. 3s-vb. conj 3s.-vb N-Pl-Poss. Num-poss adj/vb ne ya-yu-mora ya-tovar ya-vele añ-racuñ, ne ya-kota: 3s/dat 3s-INCH-vb 3s-vb 3s-vb NOM-vb 3s/dat 3s-vb yanda liris. ma-virap te ma-pole racuñ. kaçuma ye ne ya-tingas IMP/neg vb. 1s-vb 2s/dat 1s-vb vb noun dem/f 3s/dat 3s-vb ya-kota: cetre-mi na, iya kundrini pita racuñ-ti. 3s-vb noun-1poss part. dem/3m adv verb verb-2s/poss. kota-ni kaçut: ongar? riyena iya? ya-manji kaçuma: ri puna vb-3poss noun interrog. interrog dem/3s/m. 3s-verb noun Loc Noun iya, yavu-yavu ana-la-e-mim, luminji sila-ni dem/3s/m redup.vb noun-pl-dat-1pl/poss noun NUM-poss.
ace - leg
ale - to be; yale (idiom.) there is/are; in _yale noun-NI_ = 'he/she/it has N'
ana - child
anju - time, when
cetre - spouse
haran - to walk
kaçuma - woman
kaçut - man
kayi - living, alive
kota - word; to say
kundrini - truly, really, in fact
licarak - cut off, lopped off
liris - afraid
livengi - the length of..., along ongar - why?
luminji - female children from approx. puberty to marriageable age
manji - to answer
mepu - to work, do
mora - near
na - particle, 'well'--also topicalizer, can form a sort of cleft-sentence construction (sorry- not discussed at the website....)
napi - (emph.) barely
nuwak - to ask
pita - to need
pole - can, be able to
puna - house
racuñ - to help
ratu - road
recek - tip/fall over
riyena - (at) where?
ro - two; redup. loro - each two, both
sila - three
tikas - to see
tingas - to look at
tovar - to hope
vele - to give
virap - certain, sure
vora - side
yavu - to guard, watch over
GRAMMATICAL NOTES: Nothing terribly out of the ordinary. Mostly SVO, but simple SV can > VS. Verbs agree with subject (optional in semi-informal style, as here in a case or two). Most trans. verbs take their DO in the dative case.-NOM: nominalizing prefixes; kañ- agent nouns, añ- abstracts
-INCHO: Inchoative form of the verb, 'beginning..., becoming....'
-ACCID: Accidental form of the verb, 'overcome by..., suffering..., experience in a bad way...'
-LOC: the locative marker; in/at with accusative (unmarked here); to/toward with dative (no instances here)
-The -NI suffix: actually 'his/her/its/their'; can also nominalize verbs (colloq.); and is used to indicate a possessive relationship between inanimate things. There is a lot on this in the Syntax section of the website.
-Anim. nouns pluralize with -la- (M/F not distinguished except in the pronouns~demonstratives), inanimates with -ç-
-Verbal tense is usually marked on the first verb in a narrative, but not thereafter.
A workman was walking along a road when he saw a woman lying collapsed by the side of the road-- barely alive, with both her legs cut off. He approached her in hopes of giving help, and said "Don't be afraid. I'm sure I can help you." The woman looked at him and said, "It's my husband who really needs your help." The man said, "Why? Where is he?" The woman answered, "He's at home, taking care of our children, three teen-aged girls!"