The Relay Museum

Tan fmyvûkfê duâ. Thënfemek fenatžê tanfê duâ. Fenatthot "Xananum kök duâ?"
jügicfê kak vithit.
Risön kak vithitthot "žu šyn xananum duâ." tanfê fenat.
Fenatthot "Jëtenêt sê žo zyšenumjâk. Duâžê snijatâ žösatêt." tanfê kak vithit.
Snijatâžê tanfê fenat.
"Sê femekâsožutêt duâ tyk rekžê femekâsoêt sê tyk mûcxêtvâ femekâsoêt snijatâ.
Dût navnyc tišnamêt duâ tyk tanso šyn [zo žösatêt duâ] jafitdu kafmym xögak
navnyc tišnamêt ro." tanfê vithit.
"Linmunum kök duâ? Du züt žösat kafmym tišnamum kök duâ?" jügicfê fenat.
"Dužê femekâsoum šnön duâ dom jafitdu kafmym xananum žu. Dužê femekâsoum fmök žu
jo žutê xaxatum kök du?" jagecfê vithit.

They made speech. They spoke of a swift-minded beast. A dark bird asked the
beast, "Do they live?".
The beast said to the scared dark bird, "You know that they live.".
The dark bird said to the beast "I hide myself in order to help myself. The
mountains protect them."
The beast spoke about the mountains.
The bird said "They make me think, so I think about sadness, so the mountains
think about aloneness. They rest on importance so the speaker knows that she
rests on bravery in that land which they protect."
The beast asked "Do they battle? After that do they rest on protection?"
The bird replied "They might think about her, because you live in that land. If
you think about her, do you make her laugh?"

They create talking. They tell of a clever beast. A dark bird inquires of the
beast: "Do they live?"

The beast says to the scared dark bird: "You know that they live."

The dark bird says to the beast: "I helpfully hide myself. The mountains protect
them."

The beast speaks about the mountains.

The bird says: "They make me think and so I think about sorrow. And so the
mountains think with isolation. They rest on importance so that a person knows
that she rests on bravery in yon region which they protect."

The beast asks: "Do they battle? And then do they rest in the protection?"

The bird answers: "If you may think about her, for they may think think about
her since you live in yon region, do you make her laugh?"

dût -- (adj) big; large; grand; major; important
dom -- (postposition) because 
du -- (pronoun) 3rd person neutral; he; she; it; this; that 
xaxat -- (intransitive verb) laugh 
xanan -- (noun) life 
xögak -- (noun) courage; bravery; valor; foolishness; irrationality;
(intransitive verb) be courageous; be foolish 
-xêt -- (suffix) lacking; lack of; no; not
jagec -- (transitive verb) answer; respond; reply 
jafit -- (noun) land; territory; the general term for anything that isn't ocean
or sky, like grass, dirt, rocks, snow, etc. 
jëten -- (intransitive verb) cower; hide 
jügic -- (transitive verb) ask a question 
-jâk -- (valency) in order to 
jo -- (conjunction) if; implies; therefore 
fmök -- (auxiliary verb) irrealis mood; counterfactual; conditional;
hypothetical; if x fmök were to happen then y 
fmyvûk -- (transitive verb) make; create 
femekâso -- (intransitive verb) think; contemplate 
fenat -- (noun) animal; land animal, particularly mammals and reptiles 
-fê -- (aspect) durative 
vithit -- (noun) bird; overseer 
-vâ -- (case) instrumental II -- tools too big to hold in the hand, and
intangible tools like software
thënfemek -- (adj) clever 
-thot -- (case) recipient/beneficiary 
snijat -- (noun) mountain 
sê -- (pronoun) 1st person animate; I 
-so -- (noun>noun) having-one; an entity having the thing referred to by the
stem 
zyšen -- (adj) cute; adorable; beautiful; pretty; nice; kind; (transitive verb)
help; aid; assist
züt -- (postposition) after; once; soon after
zo -- (pronoun) 3rd person inanimate; he; she; it
šnön -- (auxiliary verb) it is possible that; may; maybe 
šyn -- (postposition) knowing abstract things
žösat -- (transitive verb) defend; protect
-žê -- (case) focus/source 
žo -- (pronoun) self; the subject of the clause; reflexive
žu -- (pronoun) 2nd person animate; you
-žut -- (noun>trans) cause to be 
lin -- (noun) fight; (transitive verb) fight
rek -- (adj) sad; depressed
risön -- (noun) fear; panic; paralysis 
ro -- (pronoun) 3rd person animate; he; she; it 
mûc -- (noun) that which cities, forests, and hives have in common, a community

-mun -- (suffix) very; extremely; maximal intensification 
navnyc -- (postposition) upon; atop; on top of 
tan -- (noun) honey; vomit; language; (postposition) said that; (transitive
verb) speak; vomit 
tišnam -- (intransitive verb) rest
tyk -- (conjunction) so; as a result 
-tê -- (case) causative 
kafmym -- (postposition) in; inside; (experiencer transitive verb) be inside 
kak -- (adj) darkened 
kök -- (auxiliary verb) polar interogative; yes-no question 
-â -- (noun>noun) plural 
-êt -- (aspect) habitual 
-um -- (aspect) gnomic

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.