Conlang Relay 16, ring B

Relay 16 was mastered by Jeffrey Jones based on a starting text by John Quijada. I came at the end of ring B, translating from Clayton Cardoso's mabri to my gzb on 17 November 2008. Then John Quijada translated my gzb back into his Ithkuil.

gjâ-zym-byn text

sun i, fâ-ŋĭw mĭ-i ₣ĭ-gô heŋ ŋĭn-i; wǒn jâ-purj hĭ-bô i, ƥ dâm-ř râ-van ryň mĭ-i, gâ lǒ mĭ-i râ sâ-cô-fwa krĭ-o gân-van.

!wǒn ť ĉi purj pe ť ŝu-i ryň ĥy-i ĉâm-ť-zô mwe, wǒj dlâw-ť-van heŋ kĭ-zô hǒŋ ť sâm-i mâ ʝǒ mĭ-i.

wǒj sâm-cô-van mâ ʝǒ mĭ-i, ƥ ŝu-i ru ryň-zla-za mĭ-i hu pǒ ŋĭn-i mwe.

Draft English translation from mabri

in/until the end / by ending, the untrustworthiness of the soul brings [pl] (of?) deeds to many difficult situations/conditions, at the same time causing evil.

And change your situation of/about your behavior, because you need not consider different (other?) people the same as yourself.

Because of this, their much important behavior in comparison to life must exist.

Smooth English translation from mabri

In the end, the untrustworthiness of the soul brings forth actions under difficult conditions, causing evil.

So change your own conditions and behavior, because you need not consider other people the same as yourself.

Because of this, their way of life must be as it is.

Smooth English translation from gjâ-zym-byn

In the end, the emotional faculty is unreliable; thus in difficult circumstances, actions result from it which cause evil events.

So gradually change your environment and your actions, because you do not need to consider other people the same as you.

Because different people are dissimilar, their way of doing things must have this nature.

Grammar overview

gjâ-zym-byn (gzb) is an agglutinative language, fairly minimalistic lexically, which leads to some long and sometimes not perfectly perspicuous compounds. In the glossary I've listed mostly only the root words, particles and suffixes, but also listed a few compounds used in the text where they seemed especially hard to guess from the component morphemes. Feel free to email asking for help, or look at the online lexicon.

Root words are nominal, and are turned into verbs and modifiers -- also postpositions and conjunctions — with appropriate suffixes. Compound postpostions, used to mark case roles, are formed using one of the core spacetime postpositions {i, o, ř} as a suffix on a root word for the appropriate abstract concept. I've listed a few of the most abstract compound postpositions in the glossary; others should be clear enough from their component morphemes.

The only verb suffixes used in the text are {-zô} and {-van}. {-zô} former marks an active (and agentive) verb. {-van} marks a stative (but not necessarily non-agentive) verb.

Number is not obligatorily marked on nouns; {mâ} by itself could mean either "person" or "people" for instance.

Typical word order is OVS, but varies since subjects and objects are marked fairly explicity for theta roles with postpositions. Postpositional phrases almost always precede what they modify. Most complements tend to precede the direct object and verb. If the subject is at the end of a clause or sentence, the subject postposition can be omitted. gjâ-zym-byn allows for omitting the subject when it is the same as in the previous sentence.

Punctuation: all sentences end in a period. The exclamation point ! marks an imperative sentence.

Glossary

Abbreviations

• Main {gjâ-zym-byn} index
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