The Relay Museum

Ti' emol Asclepyos

Home"u"fadi vraotceipcei tle"the chasmeuth achuunao' ae,
hompas ceipcei skro"e"he chasmeuth clu"u"me ae,
hompas vraotendhipsirmeude"i"ri gdoja"re ae,
: eufadipenta"e"sti, eufadipenta"e"sti ehequ"e"va Asclepyos : |

Ucirmadh elptasinsubeude"li fyongyo"ngo ae,
ucirpas sratese"li tuuplao' zoepe' memyo' ae,
ucirpas fadhe' vraotproce"i"ri i"nte yan creszeud vraotuuf' cre"luum ae,
: eufadipenta"e"sti, eufadipenta"e"sti acmiqu"e"va Asclepyos : 

(About) Asclepios's sayings

They hear that the wind gives health.
They hear that the stream gives good food.
They hear that the separation saddens the belly.
Let's praise them! Let's praise Asclepios's ears!

They see that the forest strengthens the house.
They see that the fear covers the child's darkness.
They see the richness that breaks the spouse's love for his/her spouse.
Let's praise them! Let's praise Asclepios's eyes! 

Ti'          e-mol       Asclepyos
3i-about                      pl-phrase-const                               Asclepios

"Ti'" is a preposition used much like the Latin 'de' and meaning
"about, concerning". Like all prepositions, it is in fact a contracted form of a
verb ('ti"che': to concern) and is conjugated. But here the object prefix is
0- so it doesn't appear.

The structure noun1-const noun2 means "noun2's noun1" or "noun1 of
noun2". The construct state is also used with nouns followed by a relative clause and
verbs of clauses followed by a subclause.

The text I got from Rob didn't have Asclepios, but the god of medicine of his
conculture. With the description he gave me of him, I decided that it matched very well
with the Greek god of medicine, Asclepios, so I used his name.

Hom-eufadi vraot-ceip-cei tleth-e chasmeuth achuuna-o ae,
3i-hear-const-3pel             3sel-give-3il                       wind-def            
good                   health-def               END

The order in the subclause is VSO, the adjective 'chasmeuth' refers to the next
noun (not the standard order in Chasma"o"cho, but here it 'feels' right
and it's not forbidden), and the article is used also to refer to things in general,
where English wouldn't use it (hence health-def: "health" in general).

NOTE: 'health' is animate in Chasma"o"cho.

'ae' is used to mark the end of a subclause. The beginning of this subclause is
easy to find: it is the second verb of the sentence. The order in the verbal complex is:
object prefix-stem-(incorporated object-)subject prefix. Agreement is mandatory.

Note that the punctuation in Chasma"o"cho is very different from that in
English. The comma is used when in English a dot is used (or sometimes a comma too, but to
separate independent clauses only), colons surrounding a sentence signal an exclamation,
the pipe | means the end of paragraph. Also, only the first letter of a paragraph is
capitalised, not the first letter of every sentence.

hom-pas     ceip-cei skroeh-e chasmeuth cluum-e ae
3i-hear-const-3rl           3i-give-3il              stream-def               good        
              eat-def           END

Adding the article on a verb stem makes it a concrete noun, so eat-def:
"food".

hom-pas      vraot-endhipr-sirm-eud-eiri   gdojar-e     ae,
3i-hear-const-3rl                        3sel-sadden-belly-3pes-3il                       
                   separation-def                END

Here you have an example of incorporation of the object inside the verb. It is possible
only if the object is a single noun completed only by short form affixes and by no
adjective, noun or subclause. The object incorporated is also a noun that has mandatory
possession on it. To refer to the noun in general (like with a simple article), the
possessive used is the 3rd person plural epicene short form -eud. So 'sirmeud'
doesn't mean "their belly" here, but simply "the belly".

: eufadi-pent-aesti,    eufadi-pent-aesti    e-he-queva
                   3pel-praise-1pl                                      3pel-praise-1pl   
                                         pl-ear-3sml
Asclepyos : |
        Asclepios.

'Ear' also has mandatory possession. When followed by the possessor (here
Asclepios), you must still use the possessive suffix, in long form only, and agreeing
totally with the possessor. So here: "ear-his Asclepios": "Asclepios's
ears".

NOTE: like all bodily parts, 'ear' is animate in Chasma"o"cho.

Ucir-madh     elptas-insub-eud-eli     fyongyong-o ae,
     3i-see-const-3pel                 3i-strengthen-house-3pes-3sel                      
     tree-coll-def            END

Here is another example of incorporated object, and 'house' has also mandatory
possession. Collectives can be made by doubling the last syllable of a noun. So
'fyong': tree -> 'fyongyong': small forest. Collectives are used only
for small quantities, and are of the same gender as the noun where they come from (here
animate).

ucir-pas    srates-eli tuupla-o    zoepa-e    meme-o ae,
3i-see-const-3rl                   3i-cover-3sel            fear-def                    
darkness-const            child-def      END

I didn't understand this sentence. So I made a word-by-word translation. I hope you
will find a meaning.

NOTE: unlike other emotions, and like feelings like love, 'fear' is animate.

ucir-pas   fadha-e   vraot-proc-eiri int-e   yan
3i-see-const-3rl         richness-const                     3sel-break-3il                
pstem-def         love-const

cres-eud    vraot-uuf'    cr-eluum    ae,
spouse-3pes                       3sel-for                           spouse-3sel          
        END

The pro-stem 'int' is here used as a resumptive to mark the function of the
antecedent in the relative clause. 'Spouse' is also a word with mandatory
possession. It is an epicene word in Chasma"o"cho. "Uuf'" is a
preposition coming from the verb 'uufa"ce': to give to. It has the meaning of
the dative 'to', or the benefactive 'for'. The prefix on it is just there
as it agrees with its complement (here the object following it) as a verb.

NOTE: 'love', as all feelings, is animate. this word is special, as its construct
state is identical to the normal state.

: eufadi-pent-aesti, eufadi-pent-aesti akmi-queva
                  3pel-praise-1pl                                  3pel-praise-1pl        
                   pl-eye-3sml
Asclepyos : |
Asclepios

'Eye' also has mandatory agreement and is animate. 

Chasma"o"cho is a VSO language with possible incorporation of the object in the
verbal complex, agreement with both subject and object, animate/inanimate
gender, normal/construct state and a strange orthography. It has also words with
mandatory possessives. But everything will be clearer in the interlinearization.
So here is the text (followed by a SAMPA transcription, if you want to see what
it sounds like). Don't be afraid by the umlauts, they only mark the stress when
it doesn't fall on the last syllable of the word, and are put on both vowels of
a diphtong if necessary. In the same way, the apostrophe is only a graphical
mark that has no particular meaning (except that there is something missing,
like in English).