
From: David J. Peterson <dedalvs@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, May 9, 2008 at 6:16 PM
Subject: [Relay] The Torch
To: Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@gmail.com>
Cc: Peter Bleackley <Peter.Bleackley@rd.bbc.co.uk>


Hi Jim,

The torch has come!  This is the text in Kamakawi.  This message is
structured as follows:

1. Introductory Remarks
2. Kamakawi Text
3. Lexicon
4. Grammar Overview
5. Glossary

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1. Introductory Remarks
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The romanization system matches up fairly well with CXS, except
for the following: [j] (palatal glide) = "y"; [?] (glottal stop) = "'" (an
apostrophe).  Additionally, capital letters are used at the beginning
of sentences, and general English punctuation is used.

I tried, at first, to make some sense of the text, but gave up on that
in the interest of time.  Be prepared for that as you hit the last two
sections.  You'll be able to find more grammatical information,
should you need it, at my website:

<http://dedalvs.free.fr/kamakawi/>

If anything's still missing, or if something's unclear, feel free to
send me an e-mail.

So, here it is.

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2. Kamakawi Text
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A meuto'u hoe mata neu ima.

Mata ia ie itei fuilaila!  Oku takamaka amo ti itakepo'u; iu popowi
oku: Moala ie noala neape.

A kama'a'u itei fuilaila ti ima'a; e miki.

Au neyana tei o amo tiu emi.  Ae totou emi kulona.  U takekenipi
utai fe'a ie neale o upea oku.  A eovuku amo hitie.  Oku hale ei i
amo tou, ae meliki ipe emi kapale oku.  Oku e male hake ika; a
male ikaka amo okuka.

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3. Lexicon
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The lexicon is arranged in English alphabetical order.  Each entry
begins with an asterisk.  Where applicable, additional grammatical
information will appear in parentheses, and additional etymological
information will appear in brackets.  Though many Kamakawi words
have many different meanings and can appear in many different
categories, I've only included the relevant translations and categories.

*a (part.) marks present tense, and that the subject of the sentence is
new or different
*amo (pron.) 3sg. neuter pronoun
*au (part.) marks present tense, and that the subject of the sentence is
new or different and plural

*e (part.) the (definite article, sg.; attaches to prepositions); (part.) marks
present tense, and that the subject of the sentence is identical to the subject
of the previous sentence
*emi (n.) human (being), person
*eovuku (vi.) to seem, to appear (takes noun + adjective)

*fe'a (v.) to know
*fuilaila (n.) sky; (adj.) celestial

*hake (v.) to visit
*hale (v.) to believe (note: hale...i amo..., ae = to believe that)
*hitie (adj.) easy, simple
*ho (part.) a resumptive particle (see note below)
*hoe (contr.) contraction of /ho/ and /e/

*i (prep.) marks direct objects; marks general locations and/or times
*ia (pron.) you
*ie (contr.) contraction of /i/ and /e/
*ika (adv.) again
*ikaka (v.) to be different
*ima (part.) emphatic particle
*ima'a (n.) lesson
*ipe (dem.) that/those
*itakepo'u (n.) plan
*itei (n.) dance
*iu [1] (prep.) through
*iu [2] (contr.) contraction of /i/ and /u/
*iu [3] (v.) there are (argument is plural)

*kama'a (vt.) to teach
*kapale (adv.) so
*kulona (adv.) not much

*mata (v.) to see
*mata neu (v.) to understand
*male (part.) future tense
*meliki (vi.) to be beautiful
*meuto'u (v.) to be difficult to (see note below)
*miki (vi.) to move at random, in any direction
*moala (n.) voice

*neape (adv.) only
*neale (n.) goal, destination
*neyana (vt.) to be better than x
*noala (n.) sound

*o (prep.) marks the genitive (X o Y = "X of Y")
*oku (part.) negates a sentence (used initially or finally); (adv.) not
*okuka (adv.) never

*popowi (n.) musical instrument

*-tai (suf.) as if, like
*takamaka (v.) to proceed
*takekenipi (vi.) to go about without a goal, directionless
*tei (n.) dancer
*ti (prep.) with (instrumental); marks oblique phrases; by, because of
*tiu (contr.) contraction of /ti/ and /u/
*tou (adv.) can, be able to
*totou (v.) to be skilled, to have skill

*-'u (suf.) passive
*u (part.) the (definite article, plu.; attaches to prepositions); (part.) marks
present tense, and that the subject of the sentence is identical to the subject
of the previous sentence and plural
*upea (pron.) 3plu. pronoun that indicates no gender
*utai (contr.) contraction of /u/ and /tai/

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4. Grammar Overview
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-Typological facts: word order = VSO; prepositional; NG; NA; NR.

-A PP can be moved to the front of a clause, but otherwise word
order is maintained.

-Kamakawi is a pro-drop language.  If the subject marker /e/ or
/ae/ is used, the subject may be omitted, as it can be retained
from the previous clause.

-Subject status markers let the hearer know if the subject of the new
sentence (embedded or otherwise) is the same as the subject of
the previous sentence.  There are three possibilities: (1) It's identical;
(2) it's from the previous clause, but isn't the previous clause's subject;
(3) it's brand new (or more than a clause old).  To mark these statuses,
a particle is used which preposes the verb.  The markers are as follows:

(k)e = (1)
(k)ae = (2)
(k)a = (3)

Certain discourse particles (words like "because" and "so that") are
suffixed directly to these subject status markers.  So if you had a
sentence like Kale X Y, it'd mean "Because Y did X".

-Adverbs occur sentence-finally, generally.  Adverbs are sometimes
used like modals in English.  For example, if you say Ka mama eine
i nawa (PAST hug woman PREP fish), it'd mean "The woman hugged
a fish".  If you say Ka mama eine i nawa tou (PAST hug woman PREP
fish can), it'd mean "The woman could hug a fish".

-Where a verb has 2 arguments, the preposition /i/ marks the less
agent-like of the two.  For this reason, it's used to cover a whole
range of prepositional functions, including spatial and temporal.

-Certain verbs take adverbial complements.  They're listed in the
lexicon as X...Y.  For these verbs, any objects and subjects come in
between the members X and Y.  Otherwise, the two function as a
single verb with a single meaning.

-When two vowels of the same quality occur next to one another,
they're separated by a glottal stop.

-Kamakawi allows--and even encourages--double negation.

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5. Glossary
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3 = third person
A = adjective
adj. = adjective
adv. = adverb
conj. = conjunction
contr. = contraction
dem. = demonstrative
G = genitival phrase
N = noun
n. = noun
nm. = name
O = object
P = preposition
part. = particle (generally freestanding)
PP = prepositional phrase
pref. = prefix
prep. = preposition
pron. = pronoun
R = relative clause
S = subject
sg. = singular
suf. = suffix
V = verb
v. = verb that can be transitive or intransitive
vi. = intransitive verb
vt. = transitive verb

-David
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"A male love inevivi i'ala'i oku i ue pokulu'ume o heki a."
"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn."

-Jim Morrison

http://dedalvs.free.fr/
