The Relay Museum

Jadhei khi wei Manei

Èdèvuk ùm izu têwikê dju sjë djohu.
Mathtik ùm zi djohu,
   lo omsik liì mìnêgò ègrivùk dènè,
   lo rukeiruk sò djòm.
Raskuk lang iudu zeing sjë ru sò djòm.
Dushèmuk to ùm izu iudu dènè,
   liì vanda i reiku dènè masui.
Ìnnifei dèt Jadhei Sìsèng ùm izu iudu khi,
lo èlêvufei dèlè, Jadhei Sìsèng.

Great Spirit of Words

I stand in the middle of a dark place.
I shouted in darkness,
and lost my hearing ability,
and departed in silence.
I made a world in silence in a distant place.
I discovered there in my world
that my realm had a people.
They named me "Holy Spirit" throughout the whole world,
and praised me, Holy Spirit.

ang (art) - indefinite article (inflects like definites above)
dèlè (pron) - me (accusative case)
dènè (pron/adj) - my, of me (genitive case)
dèt (pron) - to me, me (dative case)
djohu (adj, n) dark, darkness
djòm (n) quiet, silence, stillness
dushèmaika, dushèmai, dushèmumas, dushèmàno, dushèmùk (v) - to discover
ègrivaka, ègriva, ègrivumas, ègrivano, ègrivùk (v) - to hear
èlêveka, èlêve, èlêvumas, èlêvèno, èlêvùk (v) - to admire, praise, worship
gìk, gì, èdèvumas, gèvèno, èdèvùk (v) - to be
ìka, ìng, nìnmas, nenèno, ìng (v) - to name, call, give a name to (+dat)
iudu (n) - world, earth
jadhei (n) - spirit, ghost, angel
khi (adj) - great, large, magnificent; whole, entire
lo (conj) - and
mang (n) - word
masaka, masa, masumas, masano, masùk (v) - to have
mìnêgò (n) - ability
omaka, omas, ommas, omaino, omsìk (v) - to lose
raskèka, raskè, raskumas, raskèno, raskùk (v) - to make, create, build
(w/ hands)
reiku (n) - dominion, kingdom, thrall, slave, serf
ru (adj) - far, distant
rukeirika, rukeiri, rukeirumas, rukèrìno, rukeirùk (v) - to leave, depart
sìsèng (adj) - holy, sacred
sjë (n) - place
têwikê (n) - middle
to (adv) - there (distance reference)
ùm (prep) - in
vanda (n) - people, race, society, cultural unit

Word order is VSO, except in subordinate clauses. Adjectives, adverbs
and genitives follow that which they modify.

Nouns have 7 cases. The noun itself does not decline except in dative
and genitive, so case is marked by the article. Each case has a
"thematic" consonant, since the article declensions don't follow a
strong pattern.

Nominal thematic declensions:
nominative (subject) - no consonant. (def. articles: iì, iu, ilu, i; fei)
accusative (dir. obj.) - <l>
dative (indir. obj.) - <t> (noun inflects in <-t>)
genitive (possessive) - <w> (noun inflects in <-ng>)
locative (passive location) - <z>
instrumental (association, partition, usually "with") - <s>
lative (active motion) - <dj>

I'll leave it to you to decide what's an article and what isn't. ;)

Verbs have a complex conjugational system, inflecting in 3 persons, 2
numbers, 2 voices (active, passive), 2 moods (indicative, subjunctive),
and 5 tenses. The only tense/mood/aspect used in this passage is the
perfect active indicative, so it's a little easier than it could be. The
inflection:

-k -v
-s -iweis
-i -fei

I'm going to have to give you the principal parts of the verbs, because
some verbs exhibit bizzare enough changes in the perfect stem that it
wouldn't be at all fair if I didn't give you some clue. The pps are:

1. Pres-act-ind (1PS)
2. Infinitive
3. Perf-act-subj (1PS)
4. Pres-pass-ind (1PS)
5. Participle (usually a shortened or omitted final vowel)