| Torch: |
Xinedele yeleda sedeseda Idalata xosu lasa genedu laca yeleda. Lohote kele geli
kullo kuje dulloseda gama gelipe. Kuno kutta nosekemo Xammada xope Seneto lasa
geneke. Gacagaca casa lakasu tene deyesekemo. Cammo telloboloda. Sesekemo,
"Kullo kuje noye tellodi lohote geli cewadu." Sesedayo, "Cammo tellole." Paca
godu dunno nomesekemo. Sesekemo, "Cammo dullodi, wusupe kullo kujedi." Wedewana
lasa yelesa Madawala xosu cana cannosesamo Xinedelemo. Xammada xodu dasesa.
Kenni kenni noyesesayo Seneto geneyo. Sesesayo, "Sedele kage yisi Xinedeledu."
Kennewa yittupe goli cannoseda sodo wududu. Lono wusudasu Wedewana yelesa kuno
dasesamo lakape. |
| Smooth translation: |
Xinedele was the daughter to the chief of Idalotu. She could weave fine gold
from grass. Seneto, chief of Xammada, seized her. He put her inside a locked
hut. She must eat. He said to her, "You must start to weave gold for me." She
said to him, "I must eat." He said to her, "You can eat, after you weave."
Wedewana, chief of Madawala, loved Xinedele. He went to Xammada. He came to
fight with chief Seneto. He said to him, "I am Xinedele's younger brother." She
waited a long time for word from the fight. This day, Wedewana went to get her
from the hut. |
| Glossary/mini dictionary |
cammo [v] eat
cana [n] love
cana canno [v] love, feel love
canno [v] feel
casa [n] belly, stomach
casa [a] inside
cewa [n] 1st person singular full pronoun
da [v] go, go and V
deye [v] leave, make V
du [cl] direction to, beneficiary for, relative of, thing shown
dullo [v] think, can V
dunno [v] see
dunno nome [v] show
gacagaca [a] locked, guarded
gama [n] a grass
geli [cl] curvilinear thing, path, line
gene [cl] respected elder
go [cl] food
goli [a] long time
goli canno [v] wait
Idalotu [n] a place name
kage [n] brother
kele [a] fine, finely made
kennewa [a][n] hitting, a fight
kenni [v] hit
kenni kenni [v] fight
kuje [v] twist
kullo [v] pull
kullo kuje [v] pull & twist, braid, weave
kuno [v] get, catch, have
kutta [v] push, V strongly
laca [n] daughter
laka [cl] house, shelter
lasa [n] chief, boss, local important person
lohote [n] gold
lono [n] day
Madawala [n] a place name
no [v] come, come and V
nome [v] come out, appear, let V
noye [v] emerge, emit, start to V
pe [cl] direction from, source, cause
paca [cl][n] animal
se [v] say, speak
sede [v] be, stand
Seneto [n] a proper name
sodo [n] word, speech, message
su [c] location clitic: at, on, in
tello [v] must V
tene [v] be, sit
Wedewana [n] a proper name
wudu [cl][n] wind, air, breath, speech
wusu [cl][n] time
Xammada [n] a place name
Xinedele [n] a proper name
xo [cl] place
yele [cl][n] person
yisi [a] young, small
yittu [cl] event |
| Grammar notes |
Orthography: mostly like Latin, except:
x = English sh
c = English ch
y = English consonant y
j = English j, dg
Stress is on the initial syllables, and intonation is by trochees going left to
right. Final syllables are never stressed, so if there is an extra syllable
after the final trochee, that forms a dactyl. XW speakers like to end sentences
in a dactyl. Some forms can be extended to make a dactyl. Single syllable words
are disallowed, so those single syllable grammatical morphemes become clitics
that attach to the end of the previous word.
Verb phrases and noun phrases can occur in any order (free order), but the words
within the noun or verb phrase generally occur in a fixed order.
Verb phrases consist of one or more conjugatable verb (there are 38 total in the
language), sometimes preceded by other words, including other verbs, and
suffixed with a tense + evidentiality marker, and then a subject clitic, and if
needed, an object clitic. so [X V-t/e=S=O].
The tense/evidentiality markers are:
non-past zero marking, no evidentiality.
recent past -la (direct evidential), -bo, -bolo (inferred), -se, -sese
(reported)
distant past -te (direct), -tote (inferred), -to, -tose (reported)
Inferred evidentiality can be used for surprise or sarcasm. There are other
complexities, none of which happen in the text.
Subject and Object clitics:
Person 1sg 1pl.excl 1+2dual 1pl.incl 2sg 2pl 3sg/pl
Subject le mi ñe te di ja -
Object ce cena ño ñona ŋa ŋena -
Note that 3rd person is zero marked as subject and as object, regardless of
number. This has led to the use of deictic clitics to tag 3rd person (generally
animate) arguments that appear in the discourse. These are:
this/here that/there that/yonder
Subject da sa ke
Object mo be yo
Subject clitics are used to reference the subject of the verb (whether of not
the subject is actually stated in the sentence), and Object clitics are used for
the object of a transitive verb and for any peripheral arguments. The subject
deictic clitics can also be used to modify time and place classifiers to create
adverbs of place and time.
A verb phrase can be a complete sentence. Since there are only 38 conjugatable
verbs, some verb combinations have a regular meaning.
Noun phrase can consist of any number of nouns and or adjectives followed by a
classifier and then an optional deictic tag or a location/direction clitic, so
[N|A CLAS DT CL]. Technically all of these words are optional, though the
classifier comes closest to being required. However, proper names don't actually
require classifiers, though they can have them anyway. Single syllable
classifiers can attach to the preceding word OR form a word with a following tag
or location/direction clitic. Many classifiers are also generic nouns. Some
locational adjectives (as opposed to a location clitic) are derived from body
parts. |
