Fic a Week 32 - A raid on the garden people

[pauraque_bk]

I'm doing this collaborative conlang project dealie. The idea is that I take someone else's conlang and derive a daughter language from it (using plausible principles of historical linguistics, hopefully), and then someone derives a language from mine, and so on. Everyone gets two weeks to finish.

The details are of no possible interest to anyone who isn't a linguistics geek, but I did decide to kill two birds with one stone and make up an extra sample text. The person whose language I was assigned to work with had made up a very patriarchal farming culture to go with it, and suggested that some of their descendants would domesticate the horse and become nomadic, so I went with that.

I hope the unicode stuff doesn't just get wrecked for most people.

++

A raid on the garden people

The year I became a man, some of our sheep had died, and so my father wanted to raid the garden people. Of course this was years ago, when there were still some garden people along the sea-coast who didn't guard their herds so well. My father said this: "In my experience, their animals are fat, and mere children guard them. They will be afraid of our horses."

So then we scouted their hills, and I saw a young woman there, who was taking water from a stream. I was surprised to see that she was beautiful, with plump legs and black hair; I had heard that the garden people were ugly as dung.

We returned and I said this to my father: "I know we're here to steal sheep, but I saw a beautiful woman among them. I am a man and I want that woman."

Well, he laughed at my boldness! He said this: "Perhaps you should have that woman if you can pull her up onto your horse and steal her."

You know young men get carried away. When we raided them I stole that woman, even with arrows whizzing past my ears.

We stole sheep, and lanolin too, and that woman is my wife. Now I'm an old man with many children. I rarely get carried away anymore!

~

Lo tɯká:zone:v no, ta œnó saŋ sí:bo: iŋomœ́ŋhɯː: ca áje:zo:, ky zɯ: cí:kejigo notɯnó ótabola:pol sœ:gɯsávu:kavogu:v sa. Myŋœ́n mojé mœl mœ́ŋhɯcu: ponujáɯgu:k mu e sí:bouk otabola:polá. Ky jácijigo notɯnó-- "Kœnucelépa: su:ke:pécɯu:kagœ:, ca pónujagœgo: pidokœ́lo:. Iŋosánhi: kómogœguj a:v."

Kœsœ́:ke: pa palucéudo:zonenh sa, aŋí to cɯ́pe ca jɯ́pu:zogu:z useŋí. Sau: a:v zɯ́sa zanhululɯ́:po: ómo kaocasá ómo, ótabola:po: kœ se:mosáu:kausi:v kesá ŋi.

Sa pa laléiusa:zon notɯnó ke ky ca jáci:zon-- "Mœ́ŋhɯː: lobóɯn sa, a:v ómo zɯ́sa kœ céudo:zon no. No lou:káɯn, ta:v úseŋ ca cí:ke:zon no."

Moukonó el a:v kákoji:v! Ky jáciji:v a:v-- "Ta:v úseŋ ásij to, cesanhí no a:v e: éiusataj to, ca lóboj to."

Loŋholó: si:gu:jáɯ:v. A:v sœ:gɯsávu:ka:zone:v sa, ta:v úseŋ ca lóbo:zon no, nolú:ko: mœl éci: kœ papádoji. Mœ́ŋhɯː: lóbo:zonen sa, tɯlusé:u ca lóbo:zoneg sa, ta:v úseŋ ca ási:zone:v no. Jesí: lonhakœ́lo: ómo no ozolou:káɯn. Nuj no si:gú:ja:zon jesí:!

~

lo-0 tɯká-:zo-ne:v no
man-ABS become-E1-1>3C1 1s
"I became a man"

ta-0 œn-ó saŋ sí:bo-: iŋo-mœ́ŋh-ɯː: ca áje-:zo-:
yonder-C5 year-ERG inside some-C3 1pPOS-sheep-PL and die-E1-C3
"And during that year some of our sheep died"

ky-0 zɯ: cí:ke-ji-go no-tɯn-ó ótabola:pol-0 sœ:gɯsávu:ka-vo-gu:v sa
CAT-C5 thus want-E3-3>3C5 1POS-father-ERG garden_people-ABS raid-SUBJ-3>3C1 1p
"So my father wanted to raid the garden people"

myŋœ́n moj-é mœl mœ́ŋhɯc-u: ponujá-ɯ-gu:k mu e sí:bo-uk otabola:pol-á
yesteryear sea-ERG along herd-PL guard-E6-3>3C6 well not some-C6 garden_people-ERG
"Of course years ago some garden people along the sea-coast didn't guard their herds well"

ky-0 jáci-ji-go no-tɯn-ó
CAT-C5 say-E3-3>3C5 1POS-father-ERG
"My father said this"

kœ-nucelép-a: su:ke:pécɯ-u:ka-gœ-:
3pPOS-animal-PL fat_one-COP-E7-3C3
"In my experience, their animals are fat"

ca pónuja-gœ-go: pido-kœ́l-o:
and guard-E7-3>3C3 small-child-PL
"And mere children guard them"

iŋo-sánh-i: kómo-gœ-guj a-:v
1pPOS-horse-PL fear-E7-3>3C2 AN-C1
"They will be afraid of our horses"

kœ-sœ́:k-e: pa palucéudo-:zo-nenh sa
3pPOS-hill-PL then scout-E1-1p>3C2 1p
"So we scouted their hills"

aŋ-í to cɯ́p-e ca jɯ́pu-:zo-gu:z useŋ-í
river-ERG at water-ABS and gather-E1-3>3C4 woman-ERG
"And a woman was drawing water from a river"

sau: a-:v zɯ́sa-0 zanhu-lulɯ́:p-o: ómo kao-cas-á ómo
surprisingly AN-C1 beautiful_woman-ABS thick-leg-PL with black-hair-ERG with
"I was surprised to see she was a beautiful woman, with thick legs and black hair"

ótabola:p-o: kœ se:mo-sá-u:ka-usi-:v kes-á ŋi
ɡarden_person-ABS however bad-eye-COP-E4-3C1 dung-ERG like
"Although I had heard that garden people were ugly as dung"

sa pa laléiusa-:zo-n no-tɯn-ó ke ky-0 ca jáci-:zo-n
1p then return-E1-1 1POS-father-ERG to CAT-C5 and say-E1-1
"We returned, and I said this to my father"

mœ́ŋh-ɯː: lobó-ɯ-n sa
sheep-PL steal-E6-1 1p
"I know we're stealing sheep"

a-:v ómo zɯ́sa-0 kœ céudo-:zo-n no
AN-C1 with beautiful_woman-ABS however see-E1-1 1s
"But I saw a beautiful woman with them"

no lo-u:ká-ɯ-n
1s man-COP-E6-1
"I am a man"

ta-:v úseŋ-0 ca cí:ke-:zo-n no
yonder-C1 woman-ABS and want-E1-1 1s
"And I want that woman"

mouko-nó el a-:v káko-ji-:v
sharp-1s because AN-C1 laugh-E3-3
"He laughed at my boldness"

ky-0 jáci-ji-:v a-:v
CAT-C5 say-E3-C1 AN-C1
"He said this"

ta-:v úseŋ-0 ási-0-j to
yonder-C1 woman-ABS own-E8-2 2s
"Perhaps you will have that woman"

ce-sanh-í no a-:v e: éiusata-0-j to
2POS-horse-ERG up AN-C1 if pull-E8-2 2s
"If you pull her up onto your horse"

ca lóbo-0-j to
and steal-E8-2 2s
"And steal her"

loŋho-ló-: si:gu:já-ɯ-:v
new-man-PL float_downstream-E6-3
"You know young men get carried away"

a-:v sœ:gɯsávu:ka-:zo-ne:v sa
AN-C1 raid-E1-1>3C1 1p
"We raided them"

ta-:v úseŋ-0 ca lóbo-:zo-n no
yonder-C1 woman-ABS and steal-E1-1 1s
"And I stole that woman"

no-lú:k-o: mœl éc-i: kœ papádo-ji-0
1POS-ear-PL along arrow-PL however shoot-E3-3C5
"Even though I felt/heard arrows shooting past my ears"

mœ́ŋh-ɯː: lóbo-:zo-nen sa
sheep-PL steal-E1-1p>3C3 1p
"We stole sheep"

tɯlusé:u-0 ca lóbo-:zo-neg sa
lanolin-ABS and steal-E1-1>3C7 1p
"And we stole lanolin"

ta-:v úseŋ-0 ca ási-:zo-ne:v no
yonder-C1 woman-ABS and own-E1-1>3C1 1s
"And I married that woman"

jesí: lonha-kœ́l-o: ómo no ozo-lo-u:ká-ɯ-n
today 1s many-child-PL with old-man-COP-E6-1
"Today I'm an old man with many children"

nuj no si:gú:ja-:zo-n jesí:
rarely 1s float_downstream-1 today
"I rarely get carried away anymore"

Comments

[fishwhistle.livejournal.com]

In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent.

This is cool! It wasn't until recently that I became aware there were whole conlang communities and conferences and stuff. I've always been somewhat interested in linguistics and dabbled in inventing languages at various times (sometimes to go along with my maps of fictional places), but never got anywhere near this serious.

[pauraque]

I haven't read that one, it sounds like it's mostly about auxiliary languages, which aren't of as much interest to me. I'm a big artlang enthusiast. :)

I go on and off the conlanging community; before I did the Harry Potter thing I learned Klingon and hung out with those folks. Now that I'm not as interested in fanfic, I have time to do stuff like the historical linguistics relays (which are organized via the zompist bboard, which is full of very smart geeks who love to fight about linguistics and everything else). But I always conlang for my own enjoyment, and always have.

[fishwhistle.livejournal.com]

The book does spend more chapters on auxiliary languages and the various "philosophical" langauges, but she ends with artlangs, via Tolkien through Klingon. She takes mostly a chronological approach, and her point of view is that the activity of inventing languages has mostly shifted in purpose: that hardly anyone is trying to improve the flaws of natural language anymore and that creating them for artistic purposes is where the action is now.

[pauraque]

Indeed, at present the conlang community usually considers the best conlangs to be those that suggest the idiosyncracies and cultural biases of natlangs. There are still folks who come up with high-concept "logical" or philosophical languages, but even these are artlangs now -- their authors consider them aesthetically pleasing rather than a tool for world peace or whatnot.