To Be or Not To Be…in a manner of speaking…
tsmykeyena̝kʼéyopál hyohye’yo xa̝ enrráyon tʼa; vinakʼtol rráyom yvetʼyo prrki’át mpé.
I’ve found having people come to me and say “how would you say…in your language” REALLY helps to boost the vocab AND to inform my development of the culture of this people. As an example, a friend recently asked me to translate “I think therefore I am” into rráp ‘ayá. This turned out to be particularly tricky because I had to decide whether this was something that rráko̝kʼé would ever say. I decided that they wouldn’t put that kind of emphasis on thought patterns as they were more interested in the voice. They would be more likely to say “I speak therefore I am.” There is also the issue that, when I was developing the culture for this language, I decided that they would never speak of something in terms of what it IS. What something IS is knowable only to the Gods, this is its ‘iáxtá, its True Name. So they speak of things in terms of what they do/have/make, etc. So to say “I am” would never happen. So it forced me to create a work around for this phrase which turned into what you just heard.
I had to create the word for “word” and to do that I had to create the word for “language” because the word for “word” translates as “a piece of language.” And “language” required the creation of the words “sound” and “path” because “language” translates directly as “sound path.” I also had to create the verb “to have” and the noun “substance/physicality.” So it translates directly as “It is truth that in the direction of my words [lit. pieces of (the) sound path (language)] I give mind/thought; to that end, I have substance (or so I believe).”
enmrrawán chʼefáp hyán mbetárrkofíyoxavárrpʼá pex.
This is one of the first full sentences that I came up with for rráp ‘ayá. It’s a simple declarative statement but includes an example of most of the features I had developed for the sentence at that time: case marking, verb tense, verb aspect, adposition, pronouns, lenition, evidentials…that’s a lot to pack into one simple statement about a man’s kitty. This translates directly as “It is rumored that Jeff’s cat (it) was (recently) running very quickly.” This could just as easily be said, “hyán mbetárrkofíyoxavárrpʼá chʼefáp enmrrawán pex,” without changing the meaning at all. In this instance, “was running very quickly” would take a small amount of emphasis as it was uttered first.
ndaxa̝topát yltoxoyo enrráyon tʼá.
This is “Thank you” in rráp ‘ayá. It translates directly as “I truthfully and gladly acknowledge your grace.” It occurred to me that when some one does something that warrants a “thank you,” they are acting (typically) in a gracious manner and it seemed lovely to me to acknowledge that grace.
ylyetohye’yo he’ enrráyon tʼá!
This is a formal greeting. It translates as “happily, I am listening (lit. giving (an) ear) with complete honesty.” The fictional speakers of rráp ‘ayá place a profound importance on the voice and sound so this would mostly be translated as “I’m Listening.”
ylyáyáohye’yo̝kʼé rrá tʼá!
This would be a formal farewell, again placing emphasis on the voice by saying “Truthfully, I am happy to say that we have spoken.”
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