The Relay Museum

Xananžê Tanfêgân Jinmun Cigym Kê Tak Decek
Cigym: [Cigym kic zanum sê] sê düdötfê sin do!
Decek: Cigym zanum dit žu.
Cigym: Xögakvmê snijatâ navnyc fmanêt sê!
Decek: Jafitkužê datum snijatduâ?
Cigym: [Gëšökvmê dyznekâgu xafömšo duâ kê xyt jûkükâ vazötêt duâ] duâvmê jafitžê
datum zoâ!
Decek: Jûkükxêt lingynâ saficfê!
Tyk znökdu sno decek takfê kê cigym jinmunêt ximac.

A Crazed Rubber Duck and an Amused Chicken Discuss Life
Duck: Witness that I am a rubber duck! (I know this through long study.)
Chicken: You are indeed a rubber duck.
Duck: I stand upon the Mountains of Valor!
Chicken: From what land do those mountains rise?
Duck: They rise from the land of those who wield the Calendar Swords and disdain
all trousers!
Chicken: The pantless warriors return!
And so the chicken was amused for that day and the rubber duck continued to be
insane.

â -- plural
cigym -- rubber duckie
dat -- rise; get up; take off; move upwards
decek -- chicken
dit -- (auxilliary) reaffirm; indeed
do -- second person neutral pronoun; you
du -- third person neutral pronoun; he; she; it; this; that
düdöt -- to witness; to observe; to notice
dyznek -- 2-handed sword
êt -- (aspect) habitual
fê -- (aspect) durative
fman -- to stand guard; to stand firm; to watch one's surroundings
gân -- (valency) reciprocal; to each other
gëšök -- calendar, especially the traditional Sajem Tan calendar
jafit -- land; territory; the general term for anything that isn't ocean or sky,
like grass, dirt, rocks, snow, etc.
jin -- light; pathos; display of irrationality/passion; dramatic situation
jûkük -- pants; trousers; something worn on the body below the waist but not on
the feet
kê -- and
kic -- (evidential adverb) carefully discerned through protracted study
ku -- which
lingyn -- warrior (compound of fight+worker)
mun -- intensifier
navnyc -- upon; atop; on top of
safic -- to return; to come; to arrive at the spot of the speaker
sê -- first person animate pronoun; I
šo -- (aspect) continuous
sin -- imperative
snijat -- mountain
sno -- in the time of; during; on (a day)
tak -- game; amusement; recreation; play
tan -- to say; to speak; to vomit; language; honey; vomit
tyk -- so; as a result
um -- (aspect) gnomic
vazöt -- cat; to regard with disdain
vmê -- (case) genitive; possessive
xaföm -- attack (if object has no case marking); wield (if object has
instrumental marking)
xanan -- life
xêt -- lacking
ximic -- (auxilliary) continue, mid-past tense: ximac
xögak -- courage; bravery; valor
xyt -- all; each; every; whole
zan -- copula; to be
žê -- (case) focus; source
znök -- day
žu -- second person animate pronoun; you
zo -- third person inanimate; it

Sajem Tan is normally OVS, though it switches to OSV when the subject is an
experiencer rather than an agent (or, is passive rather that active). Relative
clauses, adjectives, and genitives all precede nouns. Relative clauses are
written inside square brackets [] (pronounced "mu...om" incidentally) and
explicitly refer to the head noun (so "the man that he yelled" rather than "the
man that yelled"). Postpositional phrases precede nouns, and come at the very
beginning when applied to a whole sentence. The same is true of case marked
nouns. Verbs conjugate for aspect and optionally take a suffix after that for
valency-changing operations. Tense and mood are marked by auxilliaries. Adverbs
come immediately before verbs and auxilliaries come immediately after. Compounds
are generally modifier-head and words change from one part of speech to another
very freely (though that does not happen much in this text). There are no
articles.