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Ring A: 2/18: Volapük |
Jim Henry | ||
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| << Da Mätz se Basa | Wenedyk >> |
Med ta lüg nifüpa Ün göd semik ün dekul, love süt de stopöp nibuda, kanoy logön jenöpi at. Pul, kel binom kleiliko pö täv äl jul, stanom fo buid gada, e labom su jot oka hikati bigik e rediki. Nim leigavetom oki skiliko, du pul steifom ad lemufükön oni okao. Nu dalogoy omi plu e plu dredäliki, bi sevom, das nibud vo olükömon us suno. No tupom nonik kati. Balna, pladom lufuti bali oka sui buid, ab jiniko tuvom oni tu koldiki, so rofom oki sui bäkasakäd julana. Ven pos ekovenikom, nibud jula lükömon. Pos atos, del kata pas enitedikon. |
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A remedy against winter depression On a certain morning in December, across the street from a bus stop, you can see this scene: A boy, clearly on his way to school, stands in front of a garden fence, with a big red tomcat on his shoulder. The creature is balancing skillfully while the boy tries to shake it off. Now you can see him getting more and more worried, because he knows the bus is sure to arrive soon. He isn't bothering the cat at all. At one point he gets one paw onto the fence, but seems to find it too cold, and pulls back onto the student's backpack. Just when he's gotten comfortable, the bus arrives. The cat's day has just gotten interesting. |
Translation from Da Mätz se Basa |
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A remedy against wintertime depression
One morning in the twelfth month, [one] can see the following scene on the other side of the street from the bus stop.
There is a youth obviously on his[?] way to school, in front of a garden fence, who has a big red tomcat on [his?] shoulder. The animal balances adroitly while the youth tries to shake it off. Now see him[?] [getting] more and more panicky, because the bus must arrive at the bus stop very soon. He doesn't bother the cat at all. At one point it gets a paw onto the fence, but seemingly finds it too cold, so pulls itself back on to the student's backpack. Just as he has made himself comfortable, the school bus arrives.
After this, the cat's day has really gotten interesting.
Grammar |
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=== Verbs ===
Tense and aspect are indicated by a vowel prefix before the verb stem. Present imperfect is the default tense and usually not marked.
Person and number are indicated by pronominal suffixes on the verb. Moods other than the (default) indicative are indicated by suffixes following the personal suffix, except for the infinitive -ön which takes the place of the personal suffix. The standalone personal pronouns are identical to the personal endings of verbs, and are typically omitted when nominative.
=== Nouns ===
Noun stems end in a consonant. Cases other than nominative are marked with suffixed vowels. Plural number is marked with -s after the case vowel or directly on the stem if nominative.
Compound words are usually formed with the genitive case -a as an epenthetic vowel after the first root, but other case vowels can be substituted according to semantics. Affixes are attached with no epenthesis.
=== Modifiers ===
Adjectives are marked with final -ik. The normal position for adjectives is after the noun they qualify. They do not agree with their head noun in case and number unless they precede the noun, or are separated from it by other words.
Adverbs are marked with -o, usually added to an adjectival -ik but sometimes directly to the root. Directional adverbs (quasi-allative and elative, like Esperanto "hejmen") can be formed by adding the accusative -i or genitive -a before the -o (omitting -ik).
See http://personal.southern.edu/~caviness/Volapuk/ for more resources. The best dictionaries are in the file archives of the volapuk Yahoo group, but I'm pretty sure I got all the words in this text into the lexicon below. I think I only listed the pronouns, case endings, and tense prefixes that are actually used in the text.
Vocabulary |
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a suff. genitive case ad conj. to, in order to (+ infinitive verb) an suff. person associated with root (more general than Esperanto -an, -ul) at dem. this atos pron. this (thing, event, situation etc.) bal num. one bi conj. because bigik adj. big, thick, fat binön v. to be buid n. fence bäkasakäd n. backpack dalogön v. to look (at) das conj. that de prep. from, away from dekul n. December del n. day dredälik adj. fearful, panicked du conj. during, while e conj. and ["ed" before vowels] e pref. present perfect tense/aspect e suff. dative case fo prep. in front of, before gad n. garden göd n. morning hi pref. he-, male, masculine i suff. accusative case ik suff. form adjective from noun stem jenön v. to happen, to appear, to appear jenöp n. scene, place where something happens jinön v. to appear, seem jot n. shoulder jul n. school kanön v. to be able kat n. cat kel pron. relative pronoun kleilik adj. obvious, clear koven n. comfort labön v. to have leigavetön n. to balance lelüg n. sadness, depression lemufön v. to shake (intr.) logön v. to see love prep. across, over lufut n. paw, foot lükömön v. to arrive, come to med n. means, method, way na suff. forms adverb: happening N times naed n. time, moment, occasion nibud n. bus (public transport vehicle) nifüp n. winter nim n. animal nitedik adj. interesting no adv. no, not nonik adv. none, not any nu adv. now o pref. forms future tense of verb o suff. forms adverb from noun or adjective stem ok pron. self, oneself, himself... reflexive pronoun om pron. he; 3d person masculine on pron. it, he, she; 3d person neuter/inanimate/indifferent oy pron. one (generic 3d-person, like Esperanto "oni") pas adv. just, only just pladön v. to put, to place plu adv. more pos prep. after (time) pro prep. for pul n. boy, youth pö prep. at, in, on pö täv phrase on the way; en route redik adj. red rofön v. to pull back semik adj. certain, specified sevön v. to know skilik adj. skillful so conj. so, thus stanön v. to stand steifön v. try, attempt stopön v. to stop, halt su prep. on, on top of, atop sui prep. onto suno adv. soon süt n. street, way ta prep. against tu adv. too, too much tupön v. to bother, disturb tuvön v. to find täv n. way, voyage, trip us adv. there ven conj. when vo adv. indeed äl prep. to, towards, directed to öp suff. place ön suff. infinitive mood of verb ük suff. makes intransitive verbs transitive, like Esperanto -ig ün prep. in, at, on (time)
Abbreviations |
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adj. adjective adv. adverb conj. conjunction n. noun num. numeral pref. prefix prep. preposition pron. pronoun suff. suffix v. verb
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