The Relay Museum

hrôdha ryca, malaxan aen rydu sella sohan yó maìdaru mânða. tav tav tav. soel âr
hrôel kann ys. aò Hetuel âr hrôel vru egiemanagið. uleìneta: tsar cillaen saha a
uleìne, tsar mar cvåìiel xvuac uesen marðe sajuruen, vacyévkeì a vacevahux

During winter, those who are old, sick or young always come together near the
soft grass by thamong the stones. The wolf is a wolf. We believe that winter
forces it. Besides, the tiger thinks that winter understands the difference
between good and evil. It is said: when the shilla dance and sing, when green
spring makes joyfull greetings go to you, lead others and go yourselves.

During winter, the old, the sick, and the young always gather near the soft
grass by the stones. The wolf is. We believe that winter forces it. The bear
however, suspects that winter truly knows the difference of good and evil. It is
said: when the leprechauns dance and sing, when green spring sends you happy
greetings, lead others and go yourselves.

hrô -dha ry -ca malaxan a -en ry -du sella sohan yó maì -da -ru mân -ða -en
hrô -dha ry -ca malaxan a -PL ry -du sella sohan yó maì -da -ru mân -ða -PL

tav tav tav
tav tav tav

so -el  âr hrô -el  kann ys
so -EXP âr hrô -EXP kann ys

aò Hetu -el  âr hrô -el  vru egie -ma -n -ag  -ið  
aò Hetu -EXP âr hrô -EXP vru egie -ma EP -age -BEN 

uleìneta
uleìneta

tsar cilla -en saha a uleìne,
tsar cilla -PL saha a uleìne

tsar mar cvåìi -el  xvu -ac u -es  -en mar -ðe saju -ru -en,
tsar mar cvåìi -EXP xvu -ac u -LOC -PL mar -ðe saju -ru -PL,

va-  cyév -keì a va-  ceva -hux
IMP- cyév -keì a IMP- ceva -RFL


Abbreviations:

AGT: agentive, basically like nominative for this text, except that it
  doesn't mark the subject for the experiencer-verbs, like |âr|
BEN: benefactive, basically like dative for this text
EP: epenthesis, no meaning whatsoever, has its own symbol in the native
  scripts. Pronounciation depends on dialect but one can safely assume
  VnV, CaC (except in the Xaldean dialect-continuum which practices
  vowel-disharmony) and CV, VC otherwise (that is: nothing). 
EXP: subject of experiencer-verbs
IMP: imperative
PAT: patientive, basically like accusative for this text
PL: plural
RFL: reflexive ("self")

a: and, see grammar notes
-ac: increases valency by one and turns verb into experiencer-verb
aò: 'and then', furthermore, likewise. Used to continue a story and to compare
and contrast
âr: to think, believe (experiencer-verb)
-age: bad/evil (well, there no such thing as evil but certainly things can be
bad...)
cilla: small, winged creatures, best approximation to "fairy"
cyév: lead the way, head, go in front
ceva: go, move, leave, come (whether go _to_ or go _from_ is not specified)
cvåìi: spring (the season)
-dha: during, in
-ða: among, through, between
egie: to differ, see grammar-notes
hrô: winter
Hetu: tiger (I received 'bear' but as there are no bears in Taruven...)
kann: to force (experiencer-verb)
-keì: other(ness)
mân: stone
-ma: good
maì: grass
malaxan: sick, weak, (body+change+ache)
mar: green
mar: joy
-ru: noun-ru is located somewhere (there must be a noun phrase with a locating
marker in the same sentence)
ry: demonstrative noun, used for 'this/that' in 'that one', and sometimes
instead of 3rd person pronouns
saha: to dance
saju: hello, hi, greetings
sella: always
so: 1st person plural
sohan: gather, come together
tav: wolf
tsar: when
u: 2nd person singular pronoun
uleìne: to sing (experiencer-verb)
uleìneta: fixed expression meaning 'they say, it is said/known' etc. Actually is
the experiencer-passive of |uleìne|, 'to sing', which is often used for 'say,
speak'.
vyccah: to know (as German: können, not kennen) (experiencer-verb)
vru: to understand, know well
xvu: move towards, approach, go to. See movement-verbs above
yó: soft
ys: 3rd person singular benefactive animate pronoun (high register)

Axis words:
  phrase1 AXIS phrase2
  'a' and experiencer-verb+subject are axis-words, meaning you can
  switch what's on the left with what's on the right with no change in
  meaning. Furthermore, if the phrases on the left and right have
  suffixes in common, they can move to the axis-word. An example in the
  text is |ryca [sick] aen rydu|, where the axis |a| carries the plural
  instead of it being redundantly marked on the three other words.
Copula: Naaah, see 'Tripling of nouns'
Free phrase order: except when axis words interfere.
Movement verbs:
  A large set of verbs involving movement (example in text: xvu). If
  they have objects these are locations, hence marked with the locative. 
  If they are transitive and are turned into experiencer-verbs, the old
  remains in the locative and the old subject is suffixed with -ru.
  "xvuac" means "some(thing|one) makes some(thing|one) move to
some(thing|one)"
Object incorporation:
  VERB + OBJECT(s)+ VERB-SUFFIXES
  An unusual example in the text is |egie|, which takes a list of
  objects that differ, separated by ephenthesis, and the subject is the
  measure that the objects differ in, like size or color. Actually, the
  example in the text lacks a subject and could also be written yegie
  (passive), but egie is often used without a subject and in Taruven,
  ambiguity is king.
Tripling of nouns:
  There is no copula, or word for exist, but a similar effect can be
  reached through tripling of the noun. Doubling sets it apart from
  other nouns while the tripling emphasizes what is unique with it.
The experiencer-phenomena:
  A subset of verbs takes a specially marked subject (-el), and either an
  object marked for benefactive or another statement, an example in the
  text is |âr| 'to think'. There isn't a standalone complement-word in
  Taruven, instead there's this phenomena.


Pronounciation-tips: (easier to read it out loud in your head :) )

c is /S/
j is /Z/
^ is length (long consonants are doubled)
' on a vowel means it is the dominant "partner" in a diphthong
` on a vowel means the preceding vowel in the diphthong is dominant
H is an uvular /r/ followed by an alveolar trilled /r/
åì workaround, the |ì| is an y with `, but no such thing in latin-1
two vowels next to eachother with no extra diacritics means they are
  separated by hiatus
y is rounded /i/ but in addition the lips are extruded (further forward
  than french u in lune). Sounds hollow, metallic.
u is the high middle rounded vowel (further back than french u in lune)
o is the high back rounded cardinal vowel
r is an alveolar trill