Website: http://wiki.frath.net/Conlang_Relay_17
Hosted by Kenner Gordon
February/March 2010
"Relay" is a game regularly played by conlangers on the Conlang Relay Mailing List over at valdyas.org. The participants are professional and hobbyist linguists alike, however only constructed, that is, artificial languages are allowed. The game proceeds like this: One person makes up a text in their conlang and hands it on to the next person on the plan, who has to make sense of the text they got according to the grammar notes and vocabulary attached—within 48 hours per turn. And so on, until the ring is closed and the worn-out text returns to the person who started the game. Since there is typically a large number of participants, four rings of twelve people are not uncommon. When all rings have finished translating, all texts are revealed and fun is had by everyone, as bears may have turned into dragons, ravioli into primordial soup, busses into divine chariots, and bees into swirling dervishes...
R17, Ring A:
|
Humano Fi-molto Celvetto ne fidele. |
The Death of Human Littledeer isn't trustworthy. |
Of course, I only received Jeffrey's translation after I had had my turn, however I was pretty close actually:
Human begins dying
Little Deer was not trustworthy.
Earlier, he had been called Man's Friend.
But no, in fact Man usually bothered Little Deer.
Because of that, now the Fourfeet began to fight those two-footed men.
In between two fights, Little Deer called loudly, and many deer came quickly.
Immediately they made Man run away, and followed him.
They caught him and bit him into all parts of his body.
They have killed Man.
Rua tenyaya ang Keynam
Ang Ikamkivyan paronisoy.
Maritay sa garaya Ledokeynam.
Voy! Cuyam ang rankasaya nerau Keynam yās.
Adayam ang berataya penyam Yilayo sa Keynam yilasam.
Luga penoya sam, ang bahaya Ikamkivyan nay sahayan para nelyam ikamang-ikan.
Edauyikan sā mangsara nimpyan sa Keynam, nārya ang nasyyan yās.
Panca sa petigatang ya, nay ya rohtang kitas-hen yana.
Ang tombayan sa Keynam.
Man Must Die
Little Deer is not trustworthy.
Before he was called Manfriend.
But no! In fact Man used to treat him badly.
Because of that the Fourfeet decided to fight two-footed Man.
Between two fights, Little Deer cried out loudly, and quickly many deer came to help.
Immediately they made Man run away, but they followed him.
Eventually they caught him, and bit him into all of his limbs.
They murdered Man.
adj adjective case case suffix conj conjunction excl exclamation inf infix name name (proper noun) na noun, animate pr pronoun prep preposition quant quantifier suf suffix v verb adayam conj therefore, for that reason -ang (ang X) case (agent) -asa- inf (habitative aspect) -as (sa X) case (patient) baha- v to cry out loudly berata- v to decide cuyam conj really, in fact, actually edauyikan adv immediately gara- v to call, to name -hen quant all Ikamkivyan name "Little Deer" ikam na deer -ikan quant many, much -isa (sā X) case (causative) keynam n human, people, "Man" kitas n limb Ledokeynam name "Friend of Man" luga prep between, among mangsara prep away (from the place of action) maritay adv before, earlier nārya conj but nasy- v to follow nay conj and nel- v to help nerau adj ill-willed, mean, viscious nimp- v to run -oy suf (negating) panca adv finally, eventually, in the end para adj fast, quick paronisa adv trustworthy peno n fight, battle pen- v to fight petiga- v to catch rank- v to treat roh- v to bite (off) rua- v must, to have to saha- v to come (to the place of action) sam adv two -tang pr they (masc., agent) tenya- v to die tomba- v to kill, to murder voy excl (but) no! -yam suf (participle) -yam (yam X) case (benefactive case) yana pron his -yan pr (3rd pers. pl. masc. agreement/focussed) -ya pr (3rd pers. sg. masc. agreement/focussed) yās pron him (patient) -ya (ya X) case (locative case) yilasam adj two-footed Yilayo name Fourfoot (used figuratively here)
This has never been resolved, and Kenner never answered to any mails anymore. I hope nothing bad has happened to him. The original text can probably be reconstructed from the first torches – here is the smooth translation of John Quijada's torch in Ithkuil:
The Bad Horse
The man had a horse. The man tried to position himself on the back of the horse. The horse acted in a hostile manner to the man. The man ran. The horse cried out. A thousand horses approached. The group of horses ran. The man died.
Again, since we lost contact with Kenner, another text has to serve as the result. In this case, it's the smooth English translation of the penultimate torch in Tirelat by Herman Miller.
Man must die
Ghavizahr "Little Deer" is untrustworthy. He was previously called Tahlamozha "Friend of Man". But that was wrong! Indeed, Man was cruel to him. So Fourfoot decided to fight two-footed Man. Between two fights, Ghavizahr loudly cried out and many deer quickly arrived to help. They immediately chased Man away, but they followed him. Eventually they caught him, and bit off all his limbs. They killed Man.
Carsten Becker 2010, CC BY-SA 4.0