Re: A random bit of Telona

Jonathan Knibb wrote:

>I seem to be establishing a pattern of semi-lurking and just poking my
>head out from time to time to ask silly questions.  So, I thought I'd
>actually take an active part in proceedings for a change and post a
>bit of Telona now that it's shaping up a little.  I can't believe it's
>five years old this month ... and I still can't get the phonology just
>right. :)
It happens. Every time the phonology of Rhean tries something funny (which
is rare these days), I blame some obscure dialect that I've
just "dicovered".
And ... happy birthday?

>'Lodanvè' shows how, in matters of perception and suchlike, Telona
>prefers to identify the perceiver with the organ of perception.  The
>idea of 'I', 'you' and so forth is quite elastic in Telona.  One can
>refer to a group of people as 'I', if one identifies oneself with them.
>Similarly, if I see something, the eye seeing it is just as much 'I'
>as I am, as far as Telona is concerned.
I had to read over this a couple of times. It's a different concept for
grammatical persons, for sure. Do verbs conjugate for person? And could you
then use the "I" conjugation for a group identified with the speaker?
(sounds a bit like an ingroup/outgroup conjugation I'm fiddling with for
Tolborese; you'll see it here soon)

>The enclitic '-nve' means 'acting as'.  Without it, 'cihi loda' would
>mean 'seeking while being a heart'; but with it, 'cihi lodanvè' means
>'seeking while acting as a heart' - or bearing in mind the flexibility
>of personal reference, 'seeking with one's heart'.
I like this! "In the ROLE of a heart (but not EQUIVALENT to a heart)". Now
if only the word "heartily" were not already coined for another meaning...

>Anyway - the exercise is a quotation from 'The Little Prince' (hommage
>à nos amis Francais):
>
>'The eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.'
This has become a translation excercise now, which of course binds me to
complete it.

Olge k'luli c'ez. Ventrom amiak fadit.
eyes blind be-3PL . stomach-INST look-INF must-2SG
"The eyes are blind. You must look with the stomach."

Notes:
|ventrom|
The Rheans associate emotions with the stomach rather than the heart.
Compare with phrases like "gut instinct" in English. The heart is |körko|,
and is associated with the "soul" but in a manner VERY detached from the
corporeal world. And yes, |ventro| is a stolen word.
|fadit|
There is no impersonal "one" pronoun in Rhean. I could have used
|pök| "person", which is common ("a person must..."), but in the context of
giving advice to a listener ("YOU, buddy, must look with the stomach") the
second person singular works just as well.

M