The Relay Museum

(1) Tan nat ocnéhaz ohílitah ei ánake íoñezaluvuske ol.
(2) Tacnékat ei ána kóuka « Apnáñi la kóuka ozzavnépeko.
(3) An ozavnépehaz ! »
(4) Tacnékat ei voeké kóuka « Kan ozavnépehaz zavné ! »
(5) Tacnékat ei ána kóuka : « Taléiɣ ki ñehúenuc moɣméni he séhaɣka vo. »
(6) Tacnékat ei voeké kóuka : « Tan kat séhaɣ éoka ? »
(7) Tacnékat ei ána kóuka : « Tukíle kóuka takézata okézila im tavupohâka kat
knáonovka ve-tatóemi li ei ki cioɣ tóupim io pévehka. »
(8) Tacnékat ei voeké kóuka : « Taléiɣ húeni ki táñuvi ol ei tóutanolim zéhe !
»
(9) Ve-tahílikat ei voeké itóem li ei ánam ñezáluvuce ei ohán.

ƔU TO ENGLISH
(1) This funny story is about the cleverest waterfowl.
(2) The duck said: "Now I know that I was created.
(3) I am a creation!"
(4) The chicken said: "You really are a creation!"
(5) The duck said: "Anyone courageous can spy, on the mountain."
(6) The chicken said: "Where is that mountain?"
(7) The duck said: "They stand like a knife cut them, while they are in that
land, and they're always embarrassed by the naked one."
(8) The chicken said: "Anyone wearing long underwears can fight!"
(9) And the chicken laughed because the clever duck was embarrassed by
existence.

FROM MAY28
(1) This joke is about the cleverest waterfowl.
(2) The waterfowl said: "Now I know that I was created.
(3) I am a creation!"
(4) The game fowl said: "You really are a creation!"
(5) The waterfowl said: "Any courageous man from the mountain can spy."
(6) The game fowl said: "Where is that mountain?"
(7) The waterfowl said: "They stand, cut by knife, while they are in that land,
and they're always discomforted by the one without pants."
(8) The game fowl said: "Anyone wearing long pants can fight!"
(9) And the game fowl joked that the clever waterfowl was discomforted by
existence.

ána		n	duck
cioɣ		n	face ; person
-cné		v	say
ei		det	the
		pn	which, who(m), that ; he, she, it, they
éoka		adv	where?
-han		v	be
-híli		v	laugh
-huen		v	fight
kat		det	that
-kez		v	cut
ki		det	a, some (hypothetical)
		pn	some(one/thing)
-kil		v	stand
knáonov		n	land, country
kóuka		conj	like, as ; that
la		adv	here ; now
-leiɣ		vm	can, be able to
-moɣmén he	v	spy
nat		det	this
ñehúenuc	adj	courageous
ñezáluvuc	adj	intelligent, clever
ocnéhaz		n	story
-óem li		v	embarrass
ohán		n	existence
ohílitah	adj	funny
okézila		n	knife
ol		post	around ; about
ozavnépehaz	n	creation
pévehka		adv	always
-pnañ		v	know
séhaɣ		n	mountain
-táñuv ol	v	wear
tóupim		adj	naked
tóutanoli	n	underwear
ve-		conj	and
vo		post	on
voeké		n	chicken, rooster
zavné		adj	real, actual
zeh		adj	long

*ORTHOGRAPHY
Acute marks stress. It can move within the word.

*NOUNS
They decline for case and number (not here). The cases are:
— Nominative (∅)
- Patientive (-e after consonants, -m after vowels)
- Benefactive (-ah after consonants, -o after vowels)
— Locative (-ka after consonants, -ke after vowels)
The locative suffix triggers consonant changes, for example fricativization of
stops and VN->V[+long] (noted with a circumflex).
The use of the patientive and the benefactive are a bit idiosyncratic, both
being used for direct objects here. The patientive when the object has its
structure modified by the action, the benefactive when it benefits in some ways
from the action.

*ADJECTIVES
They go after the modified noun and agree with it in case and number.
The elative is formed with a ío- prefix; without a complement its meaning is
superlative.

*DETERMINERS
They come before the noun and are invariable.

*ADVERBS
Along root adverbs, adjectives when inflectionless at the end of a sentence
become adverbials.

*VERBS
**POSTPOSITIONAL VERBS
Verbs that are stem+postposition stay an inseparable unit
**TENSE MARKING
There are three synthetic tenses in Ɣu, suffixed:
— present : -i, -e (after <k ɣ l>
— recent past : -(k)o
— distant past : -(k)at, -ata (after monosyllabic consonantal stems)
**PERSON MARKING
The person prefixes in this text are:
— 1st sg a(n)-
— 2nd sg ka(t)-
— 3rd sg ta(t)-
— 3rd pl tu(v)-
— 3rd unspecified o(v)-
These are for the subject.
For the object, the marking comes directly before the stem:
— 1st sg -z-
— 2nd sg ∅
3rd persons have no object marking on the verb, the pronoun ei is used.
**MODAL VERBS
They inflect (here) for person only, the conjunct form (stem+tense) of the
modalized verb providing with tense. The subject may go between the modal and
the conjunct form.
**INFINITIVES
There are two, one in i(t)- whose meaning is "in order to X" or "because X", the
other in po(h)- that expresses temporality "when X" or "while X" (when inflected
for locative). The subject of the clause they are the head of comes last (VOS),
or is expressed by a possessive prefix (in this text tavu- 3rd plural).

<!> The verbe -han "to be" is highly irregular: the first consonant usually
disappear with person prefixes, and the present tense is suffixless.

*SYNTAX
Normal word order is VSO, head-first. Adverbs go normally at the end of the
sentence.
Relative clauses get the relativizer ei (pl. i) in the position it would be as a
pronoun in a simple sentence (subject, object, etc.)
Postpositions trigger the locative case on noun phrases.