"Det var en gång, men sen blev den en väg." I love it! Also: From the fantastic QI with the even more fantastic Stephen Fry, a (slightly bad-taste) joke from Ancient Greece: An absent-minded [professor] is voyaging aboard a galley when an almighty storm hits. The sails are ripped away, th...
What were your reasons for switching to a tripartite system? I began with a standard nom/acc alignment, but with an explicitly-marked nominative (this was vaguely inspired by Latin, the only inflectional language I'd had much exposure to at that point). However, I didn't like the idea of proper nou...
Well, I didn't know what a tripartite system was until 2 days ago, so I kind of made it without knowing it. I also understood only a little bit about ergativity, but I thought it would make my language cool and unique, so I accidently ended up making an absolutive case and turned the nominative int...
... it was nominative/accusative but now has a different case that is the subject of an intransitive verb. Hi, Wake. As someone whose conlang underwent exactly the same change some time ago, can I ask what sparked your decision to go tripartite? From what you've said so far, I'm guessing our reason...
:eng: 1 - The brothers Grimm wrote a story. (There are two men that are brothers to each other and they are part of the Grimm family) 2 - Grimm's brothers wrote a story. (There is a person that belongs to the Grimm family and s/he has brothers) 1 - goljevilt Grimilt/goljevGrimilt zhailaentef gOupkin...
:eng: Sightly altered because I don't have a verb 'to die' at this point and it's far too late to be dreaming up new words. The man saw the woman and went. (The man went) The man saw the woman and she went. (The woman went) :con: Zidhgebzhail - Assuming that the going is as a direct result of the se...
:eng: 1) He said that the man was walking. (plain utterance) 2) He asked where the man was walking. (question) 3) He ordered the man to walk. (order) :con: Zidhgebzhail 1) zy gAizhlon [hyt] oz gAmdzhaed. He said [that] man was walking. 2) zy gAlswen hup oz gAmdzhaed. He questioned where man was walk...
I've been thinking about negation and double-negatives recently, and am reminded of one of my favourite Simpsons moments. So how does your natlang/conlang handle this one? As usual, I'm altering the words used to match my existing vocabulary, so feel free to go nuts. :eng: Marge: Homer, are you lick...
:eng: I went to Russia to learn Russian. :con: Zidhgebzhail - Which uses two clauses separated by a subordinator in the benefactive case for this construction. vy Rrous[keb]eshjeim gIn hong Rrous[keb]zhailef Oagdien. I went to Rus-folk-land for the purposes of learn[ing] Rus-folk-speech. v-y Rrous-[...
Dan, I notice you keep your conculture pure. You always change the culture-specific words and names in your translation challenges. Hi, mate. I like your handle, btw. Ancient Egyptian? I don't actually have a conculture, it's not something that interests me. I got into conlanging to help myself to ...
:eng: 1) I want to wear that dress in the shop. (The dress is in the shop). 2) I want to wear that dress in the shop. (You want to try it out in the shop). 3) Today we're going to discuss food trade with the man. (The man is the discussion partner). 4) Today we're going to discuss food trade with th...
1) The man opened the door. 2) The door opened. 3) The door was opened. 4) The door was opened by the man 5) The door opened itself. 6) The man made the woman open the door. 7) The man opened. (=opened something, not that he opened up himself) 1) ozil faedef gAvgun oz-il faed-ef g-Avgu-n man-ERG.SG....
:con: Zidhgebzhail - Which uses the copula for all of these purposes. He is a fisherman. zy ha-kaduloz z-y ha-kadul-oz-Ø 3-ABS.SG.M COP1-fish-man-ABS.SG.M He is strong. zy ha-soalys z-y ha-soal-y-s 3-ABS.SG.M COP1-strength-ABS.SG.M-ADJ He is my husband. (said by a woman) zy har-ozrev-vaera z-y har-o...
:eng: 1 - I went to the house with Rachel. 2 - Rachel and I went to the house. 3 - He went for a walk with his girlfriend. 4 - He went for a walk with his animal. 5 - The boy hit the animal with a stick. 6 - With great effort, Peter ate the food. 7 - I was fighting with a great animal. :con: Zidhgeb...
A classic. But I can never resist adding the first half of the next line. :eng: My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. :con: Zidhgebzhail - Using 'ye mighty' as a masculine plural to keep in line with the period. smukh-vae har-Oziemand...