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Ring B: 8/22: Njaama |
David J. Peterson | ||
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| << Larash Yawakh | Jovian >> |
NjaamaHáme Aazu
Wá lánge. Héé siláw k'isyú v'uuyór yili s'iyele wá. Syómu sáá k'isyú lí sáángi sa kewáázé sá:
T'ópa en k'isyú sáá Íyésyan. Syómu li k'isyú wa kewáázé sá:
T'ópa en sáángi sáá Malán. Tutu Aazu
Héé yólew ap'éémúlá i!aynáá sapo súwíméndan hézu.
We k'ánóze lúúmbe wantá howap'éé. |
|
Smooth TranslationFirst Part I am a commander. A thin young girl wants to give me gold. Lie down there, underneath that man. Man: I want to lie down here, underneath this girl. Then the girl says to the man:
The girl's name is Iyeshan. Then I say to the little girl:
The man's name is Maran. Next Part
The old hopers are ready to come together there.
We hope to go on a journey. |
Native Script
Grammar
(1) Njaama is an old SVO language moving to SOV. For that reason, every sentence will be structured in this way:
(Subject NP) (Object NP) (Other NP) (Subject Pronoun) Verb (Object Pronoun)
Any of these elements except the verb (and maybe the subject pronoun) can be omitted. When the subject is a pronoun, then there is no "subject NP"--just the subject pronoun. If there is no object, or the object is a place, then the object pronoun may be filled with a place adverb (like "there").
(2) Adjectives precede nouns, and determiners precede adjectives.
(3) Njaama is prepositional.
(4) There is no copula, so copular sentences look like this: X Y = X is Y. When giving a name, proper names are preceded by /sáá/, so those will look like name of X sáá Y, where Y is the name.
(5) Possession works like this: X en Y = X of Y or Y's X.
(6) Njaama makes abundant use of auxiliaries. Auxiliaries work somewhat bizarrely. The morphology differs depending on whether the subordinate verb is transitive or intransitive. Using /yele/ "to want", as an example, you mark the subordinate verb differently depending on whether its transitive or intransitive. If you say "I want to be free", you put an /l-/ in front of "to be free", /ulanpíndá/, and then that verb comes before the subject pronoun (referring to the structure in (1)), and you get /lulanpíndá wa yele/. If the subordinate verb is transitive, you use /i-/ (or /y-/ before a vowel). So if you want to say "I see you", you get /ikaané wa yele yáá/ (/yáá/ = you; /kaané/ = see). The important thing to note is that the subject and object surround the auxiliary, and not the subordinate verb, even though the object is the object of the subordinate verb.
The latter is important because of the different levels of morphology you see when the verbs don't match in class (knowing classes shouldn't be important for this translation). So if you want to say "I want to hug you", you have to change the auxiliary (/máálé/ = "hug"). By changing it, you change the class so that it matches the subordinate verb, and because its class has changed, the morphology changes. So, for example, the "hug" class of verbs requires a prefix when it takes an object. So "I want to hug you" will look like this: /imáálé wa kiyele yáá/.
None of this is important to getting the meaning necessary for the translation, so I tried to minimize the impact that this would have by listing, for example, /iyele/ as a variant of /yele/. For that reason, when it says "variant", treat it as identical. It has to be that way because that's the language is, but the change isn't in meaning; it's kind of like agreement.
[Note: Because of this, the same information may be expressed by different phonological material on different verbs.]
(7) There's one sentence involving an auxiliary that I couldn't simplify. It's form is similar to a sentence like "The man wants the woman to hug the girl" (/eelín/ = woman). I'm going to write this entire sentence out so you can see the form, and apply it to the one above:
-(Héé sáángi) (l'eelín) (li k'isyú) (limáálé) (sa) (kiyele) (sá). -(Subject NP) (Subordinate Subject NP) (Object NP) (Subordinate Verb) (Subject Pronoun) (Auxiliary Verb) (Object Pronoun).
(8) Possession is a bit unusual in Njaama. The preposition /ngónu/, "under", is used to indicate possession, such that if X is under Y, Y owns or possesses X. In order to get or obtain something, then, one has to move X under Y. When X is moved under Y, Y then possesses X.
(9) Just to reiterate, the verbs section of my website should prove useful if some of the auxiliary sentences are taking time to parse:
Vocabulary
| !ajnáá | (v.) | to bring together |
| !ááza | (n.) | tree |
| !olíí | (n.) | path, road |
| !ú- | (pref.) | irrealis (like "would" or "could" or "might") |
| á!óluzu | (v.) | to copulate with |
| aa | (n.) | water |
| aazu | (n.) | section |
| angwózí | (v.) | to accompany |
| ansyónú | (n.) | weather |
| ánúme | (n.) | destruction, annihilation |
| ap'éé | (v.) | to hope, to wish, to pray |
| áyli | (adj.) | good |
| éélómuki | (adv.) | always, reliably |
| eengú | (v.) | to build |
| en | (prep.) | of (genitive) |
| énle | (n.) | night |
| h- | (pref.) | reciprocal (the plural subject does the action with one |
| another) | ||
| háme | (n.) | one; (adj.) first |
| héé | (pron./adj.) | that; (adj.) marks an unfamiliar/unknown subject |
| hézi | (n.) | sun |
| hézu | (adv.) | there |
| hóóvú | (n.) | wind |
| howap'éé | (aux.) | variant of /ap'éé/ |
| i- | (pref.) | used with a subordinate verb (/y-/ before V's) |
| ili | (v.) | to give to (recipient = direct object; gift expressed with /we/) |
| íméndan | (aux.) | variant of /méndan/ |
| ínów¢a | (v.) | variant of /nów¢a/ |
| ip'a | (v.) | to start; (aux.) to start to |
| iyap'éé | (aux.) | to hope to (alternate form) |
| iyele | (aux.) | to want to (alternate form) |
| Íyésyan | (nm.) | a given name |
| íyúúmbe | (v.) | to move x (takes locative prepositional phrase) |
| iyuumyá | (aux.) | variant of /uumyá/ |
| k'ánóze | (n.) | journey |
| ke- | (pref.) | transitive prefix used in the present tense |
| -ki | (suf.) | plural |
| k'ípé | (n.) | fertility; (adj.) fertile |
| k'isyú | (n.) | (young) girl |
| k'uumu | (n.) | moon |
| l- | (pref.) | used with subordinate verbs |
| -lá | (suf.) | plural |
| lánge | (n.) | commander, general |
| li- | (pref.) | used with a subordinate verb (similar to /i-/) |
| li | (or | lí) (prep.) preposes direct objects; (prep.) at (temp.) |
| lóómá | (n.) | day |
| lúúmbe | (v.) | subordinate form of /úúmbe/ |
| Malán | (nm.) | a given name |
| mbotú | (n.) | man (colloquial) |
| memetá | (n.) | female breasts |
| méndan | (v.) | to be ready; (aux.) to be ready to |
| mézi | (n.) | shade |
| -mú | (suf.) | agent/actor suffix |
| ndewme | (adj.) | suitable, good for a specific purpose |
| ndéwsa | (v.) | to die |
| ngónu | (prep.) | under(neath); ngónu x y íyúúmbe z (v.) for y to bring z |
| into | the | possession of x |
| nimá | (v.) | to lay something down (with reflexive, to lie down) |
| nów¢a | (v.) | to allow; (aux.) to allow x to y (see note 7 above) |
| nuyu | (n.) | beauty; (adj.) beautiful |
| owe | (prep.) | without |
| s' | (pron.) | elided form of /sa/ |
| -sá | (suf.) | same as /sa/, but expressed as a suffixal object |
| sa | (or | sá) (pron.) s/he/it |
| sáá | (pron./adj.) | this; (adj.) marks a familiar/known subject; (adj.) |
| precedes | proper | names |
| sáángi | (n.) | man |
| salá | (or | sála) (pron.) they (plural) |
| sapo | (or | sápó) (pron.) they two |
| sázu | (adv.) | here |
| s' | (pron.) | elided form of /sa/ before /i/ and /y/ |
| siláw | (adj.) | thin |
| su- | (or | sú-) (pref.) reflexive |
| suw- | (or | súw-) (pref.) variant of /su/ used before vowels |
| suwiyele | (aux.) | to want to x oneself (subordinate verb is reflexive) |
| syómu | (adv.) | then, next |
| -tá | (suf.) | dual |
| t'áwlaza | (n.) | ship |
| t'enuu‡é | (n.) | harvest |
| t'ópa | (n.) | name |
| tutu | (adj.) | next |
| tyamba¢óó | (n.) | goodness, virtue |
| tyap'éé | (n.) | hope |
| t'yóózu | (n.) | fire |
| undéy | (v.) | to avoid |
| úúmbe | (v.) | to go (on a trek, for example, use /we/) |
| uumyá | (v.) | to think; (aux.) used to form the future tense |
| úúngá | (n.) | human being, person |
| w' | (prep.) | elided form of /we/; (pron.) elided form of /wa/ |
| wá | (or | wa) (pron.) I |
| wantá | (or | wánta) (pron.) we two (first person dual exclusive) |
| wáázé | (v.) | to say to |
| we | (prep.) | with, by means of |
| y- | (pref.) | used with a subordinate verb (/i-/ before C's) |
| yáán | (pron./adj.) | that over there (far away) |
| yele | (v.) | to want; (aux.) to want to |
| yí | (expr.) | yes |
| yíyúúmbe | (v.) | variant of /íyúúmbe/ |
| yólew | (adj.) | old |
| yúli | (n.) | luck, fortune |
Abbreviations
| adj. | adjective |
| adv. | there |
| aux. | auxiliary |
| C | consonant |
| expr. | expression |
| imp. | imperative |
| n. | noun |
| nm. | name |
| pref. | prefix |
| prep. | preposition |
| pron. | pronoun |
| suf. | suffix |
| temp. | temporal |
| V | vowel |
| v. | verb |
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