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Ring B: 4/22: Foaji |
G. Nicholas D'Andrea | ||
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Foajiwaxuft`a apentas jinotsi jiqelkibd`i gd`elvedkiho korivafniuca. notsicagipoitkidufariniu. gipoitki jitsit`fikinoniud`i. isulgipoitukijebeka: nbako opbinud`i. npaliwi s`inbinud`i. opeb rutdufot`d`iqiedi. had`elrut fot`kid`iqieddu narisi galudwo futju futpig patbatd`i patngadd`i aqwofugica karat. opeb s`udan pattasni. nbako jibinnbaliwid`i jid`iqolins`aidu narisdujid`ifris`ai. had`elrut wonveds`ai. gipt`ifkibepaika: nbaliwi opbinud`i. nbako s`inbinud`i. opeb rutdufot`d`iqiedi. had`elrut fot`kid`iqieddu narisi galudwo futju futpig patbatd`i patngadd`i aqwofugica karat. opeb s`udan pattasni. nbaliwi jibinnbakd`i jid`iqolins`aidu narisdujid`ifris`ai. had`elrut wonveds`ai. apengawa waxu fud`iaho gipjad`tu. giphuitho waxadpili:
gd`elvedtasho gipebd`ifariwonelniuka. gd`eljuho gipd`ifutniuka.
gd`elrat`ho |
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Smooth TranslationMarriage Prayers First Part About the necklace, god, O God, may the strength be sent! May the necklace go to the man. Man, this onto the neck of the woman. So, the man proclaims this: Mako I am named. Malija, you are named. About us, today holds a marriage. About the future, it holds this marriage: during goodness, evil, sunshine, rainfall, when my body has health, when my body has sickness, whether there is food to be eaten or not, indeed! About the two of us, there is togetherness. There is only one self. Mako, he loves Malija, and ensures goodness goes to her. Into the future, all this stays true. The woman repeats this: Malija, I am named. Mako, you are named. About us, today holds a marriage. About the future, it holds this marriage: during goodness, evil, sunshine, rainfall, when my body has health, when my body has sickness, whether there is food to be eaten or not, indeed! About the two of us, there is togetherness. There is only one self. Malija, she loves Mako, and ensures goodness goes to him. Into the future, all this stays true. Second Part For the prayers, o Priest invited the crowd. People in the audience, pray or sing:
O First God, always may you guide the two people. |
Interlinear
waxu-fot`a
apen-tasi
ji-no-tasi ji-elo-ki-bi-d`i gd`elo-vata-ki-ho kori-vafe-niu-ca. no-tasi-ca-gipa-oitu-ki-du-fari-niu. gipa-oitu-ki-ho ji-tasi-t`ifi-ki-no-niu-d`i. isul-gipa-oitu-ki-je-pe-ka:
nbako opi-binu-d`i. nbaliwi s`ine-binu-d`i. opi-eb ruta-tu-fot`a-d`i-iedi. had`el-ruta fot`a-ki-d`i-iedi-tu narisi galudwo futju futpig pati-batu-d`i pati-ngadi-d`i aq-wofu-u-gi-ca karat. opi-eb s`udan. pati-tasi-ni. nbako ji-binu-nbaliwi-d`i ji-d`i-olin-s`ai-du narisi-du-ji-d`i-fari-s`ai had`el-ruta wone-veto-s`ai
gipa-t`ifi-ki-be-pai-ka:
nbaliwi opi-binu-d`i. nbako s`ine-binu-d`i. opi-eb ruta-tu-fot`a-d`i-iedi. had`el-ruta fot`a-ki-d`i-iedi-tu narisi galudwo futju futpig pati-batu-d`i pati-ngadi-d`i aq-wofu-u-gi-ca karat. opi-eb s`udan. pati-tasi-ni. nbaliwi ji-binu-nbako-d`i ji-d`i-olin-s`ai-du narisi-du-ji-d`i-fari-s`ai had`el-ruta wone-veto-s`ai
apen-gawa
waxu fud`ia-ho gipa-jad`u-du. gipa-huit-ho waxu-adpi-li:
gd`elo-veta-tasi-ho gipa-eb-d`i-fari-wonelo-niu-ka.
gd`elo-ju-ho gipa-d`i-futa-niu-ka.
gd`elo-rat`o-ho gipa-ka-xi-d`i-fari-no xi-aq-ca-ruwit`i-ka.
gd`elo-wofilu-ho-fit`u-d`i-anas`-un-had`el-niu-ka.
gd`elo-nos`-ho hatas-fut`a-niu-du.
gd`elo-pas-ho wan-niu-ka.
gd`elo-fuq-ho bingo-d`i-fut`a-niu-ka.
gd`elo-pul-ho gipa-ca-kas`en-niu-ka.
gd`elo-narisi-ho gipa-d`i-anas`-un-had`el-niu-ka.
gd`elo-jit-ho tasi-elo-ki-pi-ca-iedi-d`i gipa-eb-ca-fot`a-ka
gipa-eb-d`i-fari-niu-ka:
las gipa-eb-fot`a-tu gipa-oitu-du-gipa-t`ifi-d`i-olin gipa-t`ifi-du-gipa-
oitu-d`i-olin gipa-eb-anas`-un-had`el-niu-ca.
ruta setna karat.
Grammar
Conventions and Abbreviations
In this document I've used braces {} to surround morphemes/words in inline English text the first time that morpheme/word appears in that section.
For orthographical purposes, it may be convenient to know that the backtick character (`) in Foaji text appears after either t, d, or s, and forms a digraph. s` is different from s. (A backtick refers to a reflexive, should you be curious)
Abbreviations
I've tried to avoid using abbreviations, as they haven't been very necessary.
Grammar
To start, Foaji is fairly synthetic and agglutinative, and treats morphemes in unusual ways. Morphemes typically belong to no part of speech on their own, and rely on particles to adjust their meaning. This can be useful to keep in mind when translating. If it helps, you can think of everything in terms of being a noun or an adjective, with a few helpful particles that boil down to meaning some form of `do' or `is.'
[Note: I've used `word' in this grammar in several places to mean `morpheme.' What I mean should be clear.]
Each word typically represents a complete thought in Foaji. As one adds words in speech, one simply adds more complete thoughts to paint a clearer picture. Of course, there are divisions between sentences as in English; this isn't formal in Foaji, however--it's just whenever the topic switches to something else.
Each `complete thought', then, contains what could be considered a phrase or a clause, or even sometimes a full sentence. It has what functions as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, oh my! The order for such things breaks down to SOV. This is sometimes useful to keep in mind, but really it's only necessary to remember that it is verb-final. Now, let's get on with how to tell what's what.
Agent and Patient relations
Noun phrases are marked with postpositions to show their function on the verb. Nouns that act most subject-like, acting with volition and effect, etc., are marked with {ka}. Nouns that act most object-like, without volition, but experiencing a visible effect, are marked with {ca}. Between ka and ca is {du} and {d`i}, in order. These represent various levels of experiencers.
So:
| [1] | ka | is the AGENT |
| [2] | du | is the FIRST EXPERIENCER |
| [3] | d`i | is the SECOND EXPERIENCER |
| [4] | ca | is the PATIENT |
Of course, there won't always be all four of these for a given verb, and there doesn't even have to be one. But on its own, a `verb' might just be considered a noun, and it would probably be translated as just `There is X.' or something. Anyway, I digress.
The position of these particles is either immediately after the noun phrase, or at the end of the word. The particle is at the end of the word if it refers to something not on the word, like an external topic, or if there is only one such noun phrase and it is thus unambiguous. In other cases, it moves to the end of the phrase.
For a clearer distinction, compare these examples:
pigsobdu pigu- soba- du rain falling do[2] Rain falls. gipsobtsa gipa- soba- tsa person falling do[4] The person falls. gipsobka gipa- soba- ka person falling do[1] The person jumps.
N.B. In the interlinears where I provide a side-by-side morpheme glyph, I'll simply use do[#] for the various forms.
Causative
Use of {ka} can be considered a causative in some situations. {du} is often the default or automatic `subject' marker, so thus ka is considered stronger.
Copula
Let's talk about the copula. There really isn't one, per se. To say there is something, or to say two things relate, just say that thing or the two things.
Compounds
Morphemes in Foaji tend to compound in forming lexemes. Some morphemes can't stand alone as full lexemes, and act only as modifiers. Morphemes modify preceding morphemes. This works for postpositions as well, including case- marking postpositions and just relation expression postpositions.
Compounds with Relation Expressions
These are of, in, on, etc. Typically these go at the end, but in the case where the condition is permanent/natural, they precede the expression.
Topic
Sometimes the first word in a thought does not express an action, but instead is simply a concept. This concept is typically translated as the topic of the thought. The topic usually shapes the meaning of the rest of the words. For example:
opi gippante opi gipa- pante SPEAKER person hiding Literally translated : About me, the person hides. More meaningfully : The person hides from me.
Plurality
Foaji does not distinguish normally between plural and singular amounts with any morpheme. Amount is easily deduced from context in most cases. Cases where it's more difficult and necessary to distinguish may use the following modifying words. Note that these modifying words not only distinguish amount, but also show `tightness' of position.
| WORD | AMOUNT | TIGHTNESS |
| hed | few | close-together |
| s`it | few | far-between |
| huit | many | close-together |
| vop | many | far-between |
| eb | two | close-together |
Another word of note is {ki}. This is as close as Foaji gets to having a definite article. Normally, whether a noun is definite or indefinite is determinable from context, but ki refers to a `specific' instance of that noun. Mind you, however, as Foaji does not have articles, per se, that ki can simply be thought of as an adjective meaning `a specific.' {Ki} can refer to a specific group, i.e. can be plural in meaning. [Also relevant: keep context in mind here. Sometimes ki isn't used because the meaning is obvious.]
Pronouns
There are no pronouns in Foaji, but there are a couple of morphemes that have a meaning normally associated with pronouns.
| WORD | MEANING |
| opi | refers to the speaker, or a group including the speaker |
| s`ine | refers to the listener, usually, but any non-speaker, or group of non-speakers |
| gipa | often translated as `person,' but refers to any non-speaker (s), non-hearer(s). |
| wone | all, everyone |
In this particular text I've used {gipa-oitu} or {gipa-t`ifi} to refer to a man or a woman in particular. Words do not inherently possess gender. Note that it's unusual to see {oitu} or {t`ifi} on its own, as they mean, respectively, the quality of being a male or female.
It's significant to mention that since there is no word for `you' directly, it's more common to simply use the listener's name. This extends into the use of one's own name instead of using {opi}. It's considered impolite to speak someone's name without speaking your own, so sentences are often in a literal `third-person.'
There are some situations where the `pronoun' words above do not directly refer to the speaker, but rather, refer to the person speaking. For instance, if a person is speaking publicly, one may use {opi} to refer to that speaker.
Anaphora
There are no relative clauses in Foaji. To achieve the same meaning, Foaji makes heavy use of anaphora. This works in Foaji by having several words that are defined to refer to something in particular.
There are four such words, mainly: {ji}, {ja}, {hi}, and {hu}. Hi and hu refer solely to locations, whereas ji and ja can refer to anything, but usually a person, thing, or action.
The way these work is by simply using them in multiple, generally adjacent contexts. Like so:
xi- elo- had`el gipa- xi- tsa- fari- ka here city above person here do[4] travel do[1] Here, above the city, they travel to.
Notes about Grammar
It can sometimes seem ambiguous in translating Foaji text. Just try to keep in mind what is being talked about. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me.
Vocabulary
| adpi | voice |
| anas` | liking (anas`-un-xad`el : like from above, bless) |
| apen | section |
| aq | NEGATION |
| batu | heatlh |
| be | speech, speaking |
| bi | related to |
| bingo | boat |
| binu | name |
| eb | duality |
| elo | city (elo-ki-bi : of the city, gold) |
| fari | travel |
| fit`u | growth |
| fot`a | marriage |
| fud`ia | seer, wiseman, teacher, priest |
| fuq | wind |
| futa | weather |
| galudwo | evil |
| gd`elo | king, leader |
| gi | can, able |
| gipa | person |
| had`el | above |
| hatas | night |
| ho | O <thing>, vocative |
| huit | many, close together |
| iedi | hold, contain |
| ja | this |
| jad`u | joining, combination |
| ji | this |
| jid | beauty |
| ju | sun |
| karat | indeed |
| kas`en | shade |
| ki | specific |
| kori | power |
| las | beginning |
| li | or |
| narisi | goodness |
| nbako | Mako, Marko, whatever male name fits your conculture |
| nbaliwi | Malija, Maria, whatever female name fits your conculture |
| ngadi | sickness |
| ni | only |
| no | on a surface |
| nos` | moon |
| oitu | male |
| olin | love |
| opi | speaker |
| pai | again, repetition |
| pante | hiding |
| pas | water |
| pati | self, body, mind |
| pigu | rain |
| pul | tree |
| rat`o | fire |
| ruta | today |
| ruwit`i | destruction |
| s`ine | non-speaker |
| s`udan | togetherness |
| setna | tomorrow |
| t`ifi | female |
| tasi | neck |
| un-X | from-X |
| vafe | transfer |
| veda | great |
| veto | truth |
| wan | calm |
| waxu | prayers |
| wofilu | harvest |
| wofu | food, eating |
| wone | all |
| wonelo | always |
| xa | this (place) |
| xi | this (place) |
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