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A Grammar of Meutegwenish Public PDF
A Grammar of Meutegwenish Public PDF
A Grammar of Meutegwenish Public PDF
Na O
Meutegwen su Jeuukwen
MrIcerly
1 A Grammar 3
1.1 Phonology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1 Consonants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1.1 Gemination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1.2 Labialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.1.3 Palatalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.2 Vowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.2.1 Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.2.2 Nasal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.2.3 Silent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.2.4 Diphthongs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.3 Phonotactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.4 Stress and Intonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.1.5 Orthography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.5.1 Formal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.5.2 Popular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.5.3 Other Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2 Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.1 Syntax and Word Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.1.1 Sentence Word Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.1.2 Noun Phrase Word Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.1.3 Verb Phrase Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.1.4 Null-Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.2 Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.2.1 The Article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.2.2 Degrees of Plurality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.2.3 Definiteness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.2.4 Measure Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.2.5 Ergativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2.2.6 Topicality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2.2.7 Genitive Constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2.2.8 Indirect Object, Benefactive, and Malefactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2.3 Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2.4 Postpositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2.5 Adjectives and Adverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2.5.1 Superlatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2.6 Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1
1.2.6.1 Number Forming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.2.6.2 Cardinals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2.6.3 Ordinals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2.7 Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2.7.1 Aspect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2.7.2 Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.2.7.3 Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.2.7.4 Infinitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.7.5 Copula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.8 Conjunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.8.1 Strong and Weak Conjunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.8.2 Conditionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.2.9 Dependent Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.2.9.1 Relative Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.2.10 Temporal Constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.2.11 Questioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.2.12 Direct Address and Politeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 Sample Texts 21
2.1 Article 1 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 The Babel Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3 My Hovercraft is Full of Eels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4 The North Wind and the Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 Glossary 25
3.1 Glossing and Grammatical Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Introduction
Meutegwenish, pronounced [mjut@"gwEnIS], is a constructed language created by MrIcerly. The
name Meutegwenish comes from a now-defunct compound word, meaning house-near-language,
or neighbors language. This is because in the authors original fictional setting, the languages
culture took place near the speakers of the creators first language. Meutegwenishs design goals
were to have a unique aesthetic with an underlying East Asian-like framework. This included strict
syllable structure with a highly analytic syntax. Features such as measure words and intensive
word compounding were also included. The language transitioned from a sketch to reality around
October 2013, and has been under intermittent development ever since.
This documentation is a conglomeration of all the mechanics behind the language, from phonol-
ogy to grammar, to provide a full description. Reading this should give the user a complete
understanding of the language.
2
Chapter 1
A Grammar
1.1 Phonology
1.1.1 Consonants
1.1.1.1 Gemination
All unvoiced stops phonemically geminate, therefore the length of time a consonant is held is
perceived differently. Gemination is indicated by a double letter in orthography.
(1) cu [cu:] m. Crops
(2) ccu [c:u:] n. Lock
3
1.1.1.2 Labialization
All stops have a labialized variant. Labialization is a noticeable rounding in the lips when pro-
nouncing the consonant. The variant is phonemic.
(3) -ku [ku:] bm. Made of
(4) kwu [kw u:] nm. Four
(5) pax [pA:] v. To ride, mount
(6) pwax [pw A:] adj. Venial, insignificant
1.1.1.3 Palatalization
Alveolar and postalveolar fricatives and affricates will palatalize before high vowels. This change is
assimilate
not phonemic and is only phonetic, as the distinction makes no difference. [ts] and [dz]
to [tC] and [d]; [S] and [Z] become [C] and [], respectively.
>
(7) su [tCu:] pp. gen
(8) shik [CIk] m. Lattice
(9) shoh [So:] nm. Five
1.1.2 Vowels
Meutegwenish consists of five cardinal vowel placements, indicated by the phonemes /i/, /u/, /e/,
/o/, and /a/. These phonemes vary in a number of other phonemic and phonetic modifications.
Vowels can be voiced, unvoiced, or nasalized voiced. Within each of these there is contrastive
length. There exists three diphthongs, all end in [u].
1.1.2.1 Length
As Meutegwenish vowels change in length, the qualities of the vowels also change.
4
Figure 1.3: Short Vowels
Front Back
Near-close I U
Open-mid E O
Near-open ()*
Open a
[a] and [] are phones of phoneme /a/. [a] changes to [] after unvoiced consonants and
when syllable-initial.
1.1.2.2 Nasal
One of the possible modifications to a vowel is whether or not it is nasalized. In nasalized vowels air
passes through the nasal cavity as well as the oral. Nasal vowels contrast with voiced and devoiced
vowels.
Voicing:
5
Consonants succeeding unvoiced vowels must be unvoiced. In the issue of word compounding
which the language does extensively a glottal stop is inserted after the vowel to avoid issues.
Consonant clusters must match the voicing of the consonant closest to the nucleus.
Syllables and Syllable Structure:
Syllable structure is (C)(C)V(C) or (C)(C)VnK where C is a consonant, V is a vowel, and
K is a velar stop.
Sonorants are not allowed in clusters, except /n/ before velar stops.
6
(28) Awc pwen o, ox zhaxvo yax kwehn set.
pardon subj I.abs, def post office.top towards how go
>
[auc pw En o: (.) o: ZA"vo: jA: kwEn tsEt]
Excuse me, how do I get to the post office?
1.1.5 Orthography
Meutegwenishs orthography is morpho-phonemic, meaning that words are written as they are
grammatically realized, rather than strictly how they are pronounced. While the majority of the
written word is phonetically written, the word-final vowel lengthening is ignored when writing.
Observe the differences between example 21 and example 22 in section 1.1.3. Even though the final
vowel in htohi is long, it is not indicated in orthography because, when compounded, the final h-ohi
is short.
There exists two forms of romanization: a formal variant and a popular variant. The majority
of sounds have the same letters for both varieties, and are listed out in sections 1.1.1 and 1.1.2
Both convey the same language but with different conventions.
1.1.5.1 Formal
The formal variant is designed for readability and conciseness. Its employment of diacritics pro-
motes it goal, but has the drawback of being less type-able.
Conventions:
1.1.5.2 Popular
The popular variant is easily type-able, but requires more effort to read. It is characterized by its
usage of digraphs.
Conventions:
7
Long vowels have an acute accent.
Oxnu pan nget toh kaxu peh beh ttang sex ttang ew
def.pl all human.cl man.erg beginning down free.v gno str and have gno equal
ccewl axm dox.
dignity.abs wk and entitlements.abs
>
[O"nu: pn NgEt to: kA:P"u: pe: be: t:Ng i: tse: t:Ng eu c:eul m do:]
All human beingsare born free equal in dignity andrights.
and
1.2 Grammar
1.2.1 Syntax and Word Order
Meutegwenish is a highly analytic language, and thus word order matters immensely. Phrase order
is largely head final, meaning that the head of a noun or verb phrase is near the end. There are
a few exceptions, however. Postpositions and particles are the most noticeable. These two objects
go directly after the noun or verb they modify.
NP PP PP A NP
NP NP A
Art Art N
8
1.2.1.1 Sentence Word Order
Word order of a sentence follows a general SVO (subject-verb-object) pattern. A maximal sentence
would be in this order:
erg > Prep. phrases > Benefactive/Indirect object > Verb > abs > Malefactive
Article > Relative clauses > Adjectives > Genitives > Measure words > Head >
Postpositions/Grammar particles
(29) . . . oxy o jew deh luhc axm sah ox tohawdaw sheh daw
def.pauc I observe rel yellow wk and little def shepherd.gen farm animal.cl sheep
san
ben
>
[O"ji: o: eu de: lUc m sA: o: tOP"audau Se: dau tsn]
. . . for the yellow
and little
sheep oftheshepherd
that I observed yesterday
1.2.1.4 Null-Subject
In many cases the subject is left out, if obvious. This situation is called null-subject. Sentences
with a null-subject typically have no topic.
1.2.2 Nouns
1.2.2.1 The Article
The article in Meutegwenish conveys two aspects of nouns: plurality and definiteness. The article
itself is agglutinative, and combines two aspects to indicate the aforementioned properties. The
pattern is always def/indef.sing/pau/plur. To indicate a definite noun hox-i is used. Paucal
number is h-yi and plural number is h-nui. If nothing is written, singular is assumed.
9
Indefiniteness is slightly more complex. The indefinite article hnah-i will be used if there is a
noun or dependant clause modifying the indefinite noun, or the noun is imbedded in a noun phrase.
Elsewise, the definiteness part article will remain unmentioned.
(34) Y lx fol
pauc flower.cl flower
[ji: l: fOl]
A few flowers
(35) Y kwu mil lex
pauc four moderate animal.cl horse
[ji: kw u: mIl le:]
Four horses
1.2.2.3 Definiteness
Definiteness in Meutegwenish has a loose definition. The definite article hox-i is used in a more
metaphorical sense. Take for example this sentence:
Literally, this sentence means all the men are obliged to die. In general, the definite article is
used for definiteness, abstract terms (words with no physical referents), and names. Names will be
touched on later in section 1.2.12.
10
be plural or when modified by a numeral, and are placed within the noun phrase. There are many
measure words, all pertain to a specific semantic category. The exact word used by an individual
can be subjective or humorous, and doesnt always have to be entirely accurate. Pronouns do not
need measure words, as there is a specific plural form for each.
1.2.2.5 Ergativity
Meutegwenish handles transitive and intransitive verbs with ergativity. This means that the agent
of a transitive verb is ergative. The patient, or object, of a transitive verb and the core argument of
an intransitive verb are in the absolutive. Ergative nouns are placed before the verb, and absolutive
nouns after.
1.2.2.6 Topicality
Topicality is expressed with a drop in intonation on the first syllable of the topic noun. The topic
of a sentence, usually defined as what the sentence is talking about, is most often the subject.
However, there are a few cases where it is not most often in intransitive and passive clauses.
Passive clauses are discussed more in section 1.2.7.3.
In intransitive clauses, the argument of the verb is expressed the same way as the object of a
transitive verb, this means that, while still technically the subject, the topic is expressed on the
object. Observe example 40 in section 1.2.2.5. In it, the man falling is the subject, but htohi is
after the verb, where absolutive nouns go.
11
1.2.2.7 Genitive Constructions
The genitive case is expressed in multiple ways in Meutegwenish. There are two methods for
indicating nominal possession, with one being more popular than the other.
The older, more archaic form exists as particle hsui. It placed after the possessor noun, and
the possessive phrase is placed in the noun phrase of the possessed. Usage of this method is
largely dying out, and sticks to the formal written form, as is the case with the title for this
document, demonstrated in example 33 in section 1.2.2.1. hOx Mewtegwen sui is the possessor of
hnah jewukweni.
The most commonly used (and entirely so in the colloquial language) genitive construction is
placing the possessor in the noun phrase in the same position as if hsui was there, but without the
particle. Colloquially, the title would be rendered as:
1.2.3 Pronouns
Pronouns behave similarly to nouns, but have a few deviations. The article is never used for
pronouns, they have their own ways of representing their two degrees of plurality: singular and
plural.
12
Figure 1.7: Pronouns of Meutegwenish
Person Singular Plural
1st o ro (exclusive) yo (inclusive)
2nd gweh gwehc
ca (human) aj (human)
3rd c (animate) coh (inanimate) j (animate) yoh (inanimate)
cot (indefinite) jot (indefinite)
First person plural includes a differentiation between whether or not the individual spoken to is
included in the group we. Third person plural and singular have separate pronouns for whether
or not the object spoken about is human, or, if not, animate or inanimate.
Pronominal genetives are handled as if they are adjectives, as their construction involves the
nominal adjectivalizer h-ori.
1.2.4 Postpositions
All adpositions words that indicate spatial or temporal relation come after the noun they
modify, making them postpositions. Some postpositions also carry grammatical information, such
as the indirect object hsani. All particles in Meutegwenish are expressed as postpositions.
1.2.5.1 Superlatives
There are varying degrees of Meutegwenish superlatives in two different scales, all of which apply
to both adjectives and adverbs. The first scale is true fact, it consists of three degrees. The -
est degree is a highly strengthened form of the adjective. It is expressed by reduplication of the
adjective. A degree lower, but still enhancing the adjective, is the -er scale. The lowest degree is
the attenuative degree, or -ish. This weakens the strength of the adjective.
13
The second scale refers to comparative superlatives. These compare degrees with another adjec-
tive of adverb phrase. Particle hvuxi is used to indicate comparison.
1.2.6 Numbers
The Meutegwenish numeral system is heximal (base-6). This means that each place-value expressed
is a power of six.
If the place value is more than 0, then the suffix is h-mahi (collection of), and the place value
(6x ) is put before the morpheme, and the value within the place value is put at the beginning
If the place value is less than 0, then the suffix is h-sui (of), and the place value (6x ) is at the
end, with the value before the morpheme
14
1.2.6.2 Cardinals
Cardinal numbers (one, two, three) are treated just like measure words, and should be placed in a
noun phrase as such.
1.2.6.3 Ordinals
Ordinal numbers (first, second, third) are formed with the number and the adjectival suffix h-ori.
Shortened numerical forms are the numeral with the suffix h-ori. Ordinals are handled as if they
are adjectives.
1.2.7 Verbs
Verbs in Meutegwenish carry a number of grammatical features: aspect, mood, and voice. A
common verbal feature, tense, is not expressed, and is usually inferred via context or phrases that
specify time (now, tomorrow, yesterday).
The order by which particles are applied are aspect, mood, and voice.
1.2.7.1 Aspect
The most prominent and in-depth of verbal features is aspect. Aspect demonstrates how the action
took place in the flow of time. There are five distinct aspects expressed: perfective, habitual,
inceptive, cessative, and durative.
The most common is perfective. Indicated by a lack of aspectual particle, it means that the
action discussed is one single unit in time; it happens, happened, or will happen.
Habitual aspect refers to when the action occurs multiple times in succession. Particle hzawi is
used to indicate the aspect.
15
(61) Yaw zaw o!
laugh hab I.abs.top
>
[jau dzau o:]
I kept
laughing!
When the action begins, inceptive aspect is used. The aspect is also called inchoative. hPoli is
used when the verb is inceptive.
The opposite of inceptive is cessative. Cessative refers to the ending of the action, and is indicated
by particle hzhati.
Durative aspect, marked by hfoi, refers to when the action occurs over a certain time.
1.2.7.2 Mood
Verbal mood indicates the speakers attitude towards the sentence. Meutegwenish covers five moods:
indicative, subjunctive, gnomic, admirative, and hypothetical.
Indicative is a realis mood states that something happened. The lack of a mood particle indicates
indicative mood.
The subjunctive mood demonstrates irreality, something the speaker wishes were true or is yet
to be true. It can also be used for judgement, opinion, and imperatives. It is indicated by particle
hpweni.
16
Gnomic verbs are verbs that state an observation, and usually something that is universally true.
hTtangi indicates the gnomic mood.
Admirative mood expresses the speakers surprise or unpreparedness for the action. It is expressed
with huri.
Hypothetical presents a situation that is counterfactual to reality, but might have happened. It
expresses verbs that couldve happened with htwai.
1.2.7.3 Voice
Voice is largely carried out by manipulation of objects and topicality. In the active voice subject
and object remain as they normally do, however, in the passive things switch. The doer of the
action remains in the ergative, and the individual acted upon in the absolutive, but the topic goes
from the subject to the object. Omission of the doer in the passive is common.
Reflexive voice is indicated by the verbal particle hzui, as indicated by example 68 in sec-
tion 1.2.7.2.
17
1.2.7.4 Infinitives
Infinitive verbs are handled similarly to nouns syntactically. There are no particles to indicate the
infinitive, so the presence of two verbs in a sentence indicates an infinitive.
1.2.7.5 Copula
The copula in Meutegwenish is complex, and its functions are split across multiple verbs. The
most simple use is the linking of noun and adjective. Adjectives are treated exactly like verbs in
this respect they are placed syntactically where a verb would, and receive verbal adverbs and
particles the same.
However, when two nouns are linked, the verb hkweki is used. One noun is ergative and one is
absolutive.
1.2.8 Conjunctions
1.2.8.1 Strong and Weak Conjunctions
The majority of conjunctions have two counterparts: sentential binding (strong) and phrase bind-
ing (weak). Sentential binding conjunctions only bind full clauses that can stand alone, while
weak, phrasal conjunctions can bind anything else adjectival, nominal, or dependent clauses. It
should be noted that sentences that begin with conjunctions begin with the strong form.
18
1.2.8.2 Conditionals
Conditional statements are indicated by the conjunction hexi. It precedes both the protasis, the
if phrase, and the apodosis, the then phrase. It is at the beginning of both clauses.
(77) Ex ox yoxzh yov set fo gweh, ex kah pwen set.
cond def hell through go dur you.abs.top, cond persist subj go.inf.abs
> >
[e: o: jOZ jOv tsEt fo: gw e: (.) e: kA: pw En tsEt]
If you are going throughhell, keepgoing. Wintson Churchill
19
1.2.11 Questioning
Most questions in Meutegwenish are handled by adverbs such as hkwehni, how, but, due to the
lack of yes or no, questions requiring affirmation are expressed differently. These questions follow
the go not go question form, meaning that the verb is repeated twice, once being negated. No
and yes are instead echoing the verb back, either negative or not, respectively. The questioning
enclitic, hax-i, calls into question the object specified.
20
Chapter 2
Sample Texts
21
And they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.
And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
4. Fadoreh aj yawn Zhad pwen, yo cwa pwen yo san kweviwahp nah awf
nah ox bohfar j awf ox coh yovar def yovshahp deh tohmah, oxnu nget
panar cwe yo; aws ox dwum shahsh twut twaj pol.
Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the
heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth.
5. Ox Lored bohfar reh zhad si ox tohmah axm ox oxnu nget uztoh kwevi-
wahp deh yovshahp.
The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.
6. I ox Lored yawn Kkepwen, aj kwek ur ox gwu cawl tohmah, awf ox
gwu pek kwen; zhehar loso kwek pwen ox ox aj yefu kaxu; oxnu aj kwzh
deh ppew yumkwis yumceng pwen.
And the Lord said, Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and
this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will
now be impossible for them.
7. Zhad pwen, yo peh zhad pwen, ngar pwen ox ajor kwen, aj ox nax raku
san yum ngaw pwen zu.
Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not under-
stand one anothers speech.
8. Ox Lored ox nax raku san ox dwum shahsh twut twaj aj, voxrzhad ox
los axm reng tohmah.
So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they
left off building the city.
9. Ox nax raku san ppolahp pol ox Babel, raku ox Lored naxvo j twaj ox
ox dwum shahsh gwu pek kwen; ox Lored naxvo reh ox dwum shahsh
twut twaj aj.
Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the
earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Genesis 11:19, NRSVCE
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2.4 The North Wind and the Sun
The North Wind and the Sun is one of Aesops Fables, a collection of short stories credited to
an Ancient Greek slave named Aesop. This particular fable teaches persuasion over force, and is
commonly chosen for phonetic transcriptions.
Ox ret shaw axm ox mhc ja fo deh cot tut cot vux mahc fad nah a pwu shuh
ayek deh toh keht yax.
Aj iwzh deh co gwuo ag ox toh gihk ox caor pwu deh cot tut cot vux mahc.
Ox ret shaw ca ttef vux mahco yefshaw, aws ox caor mo mahc shaw ag mo zumo
sum pwu;
ttaho ox ret shaw buv. Ox mhc fadoreh axm ao sush, ox toh nuro gihk.
I raku san awzh ox ret shaw ttel deh ox mhc kwek mo mahc cot.
(90) Ox ret shaw axm ox mhc ja fo deh cot tut
def north wind.erg.top wk and def sun.erg.top argue dur dep one.erg.top other
cot vux mahc fad yax keht nah a pwu shuh ayek deh
one comp strong.v when towards wander indf warm cloak inst warm by rel
toh.
man.abs.top
[o: Et Sau m o: mi:c A: fo: de: co:t tu:t co:t vu: mac fd jA: kEt nA: A: pw u: Cu:
:]
A:jEk de: to
The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came
along wrapped in a warm cloak.
[A: iuZ de: co: gw u:P"o: g o: to: gIk o: cA:P"o: pw u: de: co:t tu:t co:t vu: mac ]
They agreed
that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off
should be considered stronger than the other.
23
>
[t:P"o: o: Et Sau bu:v (..) fd"o:e: m A:P"o: tCu:S o: mi:c (.) i: o to: nu:"o: gIk]
and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shinedout warmly, and
immediately the traveler took off his cloak.
>
[i: o: nA: ak"u: tsn auZ o: Et Sau t:e:l de: o: mi:c kw Ek mo: mac co:t]
And so the North Wind was obliged to confess
thatthe Sun was the stronger of the two.
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Chapter 3
Glossary
25