Back & translation exercise (was: A random bit of Telona)

Hi! I'm back! I had thought of lurking for a while, but
it's only been yesterday that I emerged from NOMAILness
and I'm already up due to this...

> On Sun, Apr 06, 2003 at 11:16:04PM +0200, Christian Thalmann wrote:
> > --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Jonathan Knibb <j_knibb@H...> wrote:
> >  > 'The eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.'
> > Wheee!  A translation exercise!  =)
In Yivokuchi:

    Mermeri damagramde. Liya dicire lipu siu yin.

Interlinearly, with underlying forms:

    mar.mar-i   dama=gram  =de
    eye.DUP-DEF DUR= closed=COP
    the eyes    are ever-closed

    li    -a   di- cir -e   li- pu        -0   siu  yi- n
    person-NDF IMP-look-PRS COM-instrument-CON core GEN-OBJ
    a person   must look    by   means     of  her/his core/center/heart


Abbrevs: reDUPlication, DEFinite, DURative, COPula, iNDeFinite,
         IMPerative, PReSent/habitual, COMmitative case, CONstruct state,
         GENitive case, anaphoric OBJect of case

One could say |lisiu yin| but the commitative case as instrumental
tends to prefer the "helper noun" |pu| 'instrument, means'. The present
tense mark in the imperative |dicire| is meaningless, and optional.
The |siu| is one's core or inner persona (the heart as an organ is
not used for this metaphor); in other contexts it means 'center'.


--Pablo Flores
  http://www.angelfire.com/scifi2/nyh/index.html
  "Your freedom justifies our war."
    (Niccolò Macchiavelli -- slightly paraphrased.)