| Smooth translation: |
How to make little meat pies
Take white flour, oil, salt, and make dough with enough water. Put away. Chop up
cooked meat and put chopped onions, spices and a little salt in it. Make dough
balls as big as walnuts. Flatten them into circles as big as a spread-out hand.
Put a ball of meat mixture into each circle. Cover one half over the other and
stick together. Put into the oven and bake until golden. |
| Interlinear |
Khuras phustakitun qarmahi
khur.as phusta.ki.t.un qar.ma.hi
meat.s.gen pastry.dim.p.acc make.inf.s.dat
'How to make little meat pies'
Kapa lukha tajar lipa saliqin athi sathi vat'urt'a qar tiku.
kap.a lukha tajar lipa sali.qin athi sathi vat'ar.t'a qar tiku
take.imp-2s white flour.s.nom oil.s.nom salt.s.nom.CONJ AND enough water.s.abl
make.imp-2s dough.s.nom
'Take white flour, oil, salt, and make dough with enough water.'
Aca s'a.
ac.a s'a
put-away.imp-2s 3.s.nom
'Put away.'
Tama paqathu khur athi s'ahi t'aha tamthu kup'at thusat salis
tak'uriqin.
tam.a paqa.thu khur athi s'a.hi tah.a tam.thu kup'a.t thusa.t sali.s
tak'uri.qin
chop.imp-2s cook.PPR meat.s.nom AND 3.s.dat put.imp-2s chop.PPR onion.p.nom
spice.p.nom salt.s.gen little-bit.s.nom.CONJ
'Chop up cooked meat and put chopped onions, spices and a little salt in it.'
Qar karus mak'ussi tikus pal'at.
qar karu.s mak'.us.hi tiku.s pal'a.t
make.imp-2s walnut.s.gen big.ABS.s.dat dough.s.gen ball.p.nom
'Make dough balls as big as walnuts.'
Thanthu kisras mak'ussi qalutahi palthuja s'at.
than.thu kisar.as mak'.us.hi qal.u.ta.hi pal.thu.j.a s'a.t
spread.PPR hand.s.gen big.ABS.s.dat round.SUB.p.dat flat.PPR.CAUS.imp-2s 3.p.nom
'Flatten them into circles as big as a spread-out hand.'
Qalutt'a sammi t'aha khuras mik'us pal'a.
qal.u.t.t'a sam.hi tah.a khur.as mik'u.s pal'a
round.SUB.p.abl one.s.dat put.imp-2s meat.s.gen mix.SUB.s.gen ball.s.nom
'Put a ball of meat mixture into each circle.'
Thaka thik'aqin san uthar hali uthart'a.
thak.a thik'.a.qin san uthar.t'a hali uthar
cover.imp-2s stick.imp-2s.CONJ one.s.nom half.s.abl other half.s.nom
'Cover one half over the other and stick together.'
Kaminni taha haurihi pak'aqin s'at.
kamin.hi tah.a haur.i.hi pak'.a.qin s'a.t
oven.s.dat put.imp-2s gold.ADJ.dat bake.imp-2s.CONJ 3.p.nom
'Put into the oven and bake until golden.'
|
| Glossary/mini dictionary |
(All nouns are given in the nominative singular and all verbs are in the 1sg
present indicative.)
acan to put away (< ak- 'out' + -ja [causative suffix])
athi conjunction 'and'
hauri golden (< haura 'gold' + -i [adjectival suffix])
kamin oven
kapan to take, to get
karu walnut
kisar hand
-ki diminutive suffix
khur meat
lipa oil
lukha white
-ma infinitive/masdar/gerund ending
mak'us bigness (< mak'a 'big' + -us [deverbal abstract suffix])
mik'u mixture (< mik'an 'to mix' + -u [deverbal substantive suffix])
pak'an to bake
pal'a ball
palthuja to flatten (< palan 'to spread out' + -thu [passive participle] + -ja
[causative])
paqan to cook
phusta pie, pastry
qalu circle (< qalan 'to be round' + -u [substantive])
qaran to make
-qin conjunctive particle 'and'
sali salt
san one, each (gen. sg. samas)
sathi enough
s'a third-person pronoun
tak'uri a little, a bit
taman to chop up
tiku dough (< tikan 'to knead' + -u [substantive])
thajar flour
thakan to cover
thanan to extend, to stretch
thik'an to stick, to glue
thus spice
t'ahan to put, to set
uthar half (< 'one [side/part] of two')
vat'ur water |
| Grammar notes |
Thalassan has canonical SOV word-order in indicative sentences, but basically
allows for rather free word-order due to its large number of cases. Imperative
sentences typically have objects follow the verbs, however. In the present text,
all oblique arguments precede the imperative verb unless they modify the object
of the sentence; this is frequent in texts with imperative usage and also
indicates proper "style."
All the verb forms in the text are in the second-person imperative, which is
just the bare verb root/stem.
There are no articles. There is no copula in the present tense.
Adjectives do *not* agree with their head nouns in either case or number. There
is no grammatical gender in nouns.
Cases
Nominative [null] plural: -t
Accusative -n, -an, -un -tun
Genitive -s, -as -tas
Dative -hi* -tahi
Ablative -t'a -tt'a**
* Note: Nouns whose roots/stems end in resonants or fricatives 'absorb' the |h|
/x/ of the dative ending with compensatory lengthening of the stem-final
consonant. For example, kaminni < kamin-hi 'to (the) oven.'
** Note: The ablative plural represents a 'long' |t'| /t_>/.
Dative uses: indirect object, motion (in)to, delimiter (as in 'towards x'), 'in
order to' (with masdar/gerund).
Ablative uses: motion (out) of, instrumentality (as in 'with x'), delimiter
(i.e. indicating that each member of a set is treated individually, used with a
form of san 'one, each').
Thalassan has no infinitives per se. What it does have is a masdar or gerund
verbal form, which is basically a non-finite deverbal noun indicating the
activity of the verb. This is formed with the suffix -ma and can be inflected
for case and number like any other noun.
The forms of "and": Thalassan has two forms of "and", athi and -qin. The former
is related to Indo-European *eti (e.g. Latin et) and is used *only* in linking
two independent clauses. That is, '[clause1] athi [clause2]' means '[clause1]
and [clause2].' The later is related to IE *-kWe (e.g. Latin -que) and also
Finnish -kin '(and) also'; it is used mainly in linking two or more nouns in a
clause but can sometimes be used the same way as athi. In the latter case, the
two verbs *must* be adjacent to each other in the sentence and therefore must
have the same core arguments (subject(s) and direct object(s)). Its usage is
then similar to that of Latin -que.
Like many other languages (particularly the Uralic tongues), direct objects in
Thalassan do not take the accusative when the verb is in the 2nd-person
imperative form.
Phonology
Phonology Notes: An apostrophe following a stop indicates glottalization of that
stop; e.g. |t'| = /t_>/. If an apostrophe follows a non-stop consonant, however,
it indicates palatalization; e.g. |l'| = /l_j/. |
