| Site | Njaama  |
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| Translation Image | 
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| Language | Njaama |
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| Year | 2002 |
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| Translator | David J. Peterson |
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| Introduction | Njaama [ndZá:ma] is my first tone language (technically, pitch-accent). It's SVO, though it's becoming an SOV language with subject and object circumfixes. The way it works is that, with both a specified subject and object, the subject comes first, then the object, preposed by the direct object particle, then the verb phrase, which is comprised of a subject pronoun, the verb, and an object pronoun. As it stands now, the initial subject and object phrases are adjuncts. That said, the accute accent will be used to mark a high tone, and the absence of an accent will be used to mark a low tone. Additionally, since there are ejectives, a hyphen will be used to mark contractions, rather than the traditional apostrophe. Also, a colon is used to mark long vowels. |
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| Verse 1 | já:nómu hé: há nélu w-ínu en t'énélu Ngónu é:lé en á:ne sa tépólu hézu. |
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| Verse 2 | l-ómu !a en k'éndeme salá tSíjúmbe hézu, tu lí !ulá l-á:ne Ngónu Sínar salá níWáp'álú sá, tu salá níkólúmé sá. |
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| Verse 3 | tu hé: sáNgi li ndZóte en sa, sa níwá:zé sá, "pé:j! lí !ítuki wanja:lá kekemop'á sála, tu wanja:lá kekembundu sála." tu lí !ítuki so p'óNgákí Si o:leju so i:zu salá níjénta sála. |
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| Verse 4 | tu salá níkéwá:zé, "pé:j! lí vúntá li pá:lá wanja:lá keke:Ngú sála í so wanja:lá, Si hé: ja:na en pá:lá li kajá:Sá sa kúmé sá, tu lí t'ópa wanja:lá keWambanáj sá i so wanja:lá, otu wanja:lá !úwátSímula li p'étSa en é:lé en á:ne. |
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| Verse 5 | Sómu hé: já:we sa tekér, i lí vúntá li pá:lá !a i:Zilá en tSú:Ngá salá nijeNgú sála tu sa ka:né sála. |
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| Verse 6 | tu sá: já:we sa níkéwá:zé, "kaka:né! há á:ne Ngónu salá, Si há nélu í é:lé en salá, tu lí sá: salá nikole:Ngú sá. sáwmu lí óné:lé !a salá ke!umbanáj sá, tu s-ówáNgénto í salá, o. |
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| Verse 7 | pé:j! w-ekér, Si lí nélu en salá wa kívú!óka sá, tu salá ó?ík'ómba, o. |
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| Verse 8 | tu hé: já:we sa nítSímula sála en jántsu li p'étSa en é:lé en á:ne, tu lí vúntá salá niWe:Ngú sá. |
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| Verse 9 | izá:, salá nít'ópa sá we "mbá:mber", í jántsu já:n já:we li nélu en é:lé en á:ne sa níZívú!óka sá, Si í en jántsu já:n já:we sa nítSímula sála li p'étSa en é:lé en á:ne. |
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| Interlinear Translation 1 | (then, long, long ago) (new subject) (one) (language) (INST.+few) (QUANT.) (word) (under) (all) (QUANT.) (land) (3sg.pron.) (PAST+lie) (there). |
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| Translation 2 | (LOC.-time) (REL.) (from) (Qedem) (3pl.pron.) (IMPERFECT+travel) (there), (RESUMPTIVE) (direct object marker) (valley) (LOC.-land) (under) (Shinar) (3pl.) (PERFECT+find) (3sg.Obj.), (and consequently) (3pl.) (PERF.+INCEPTIVE+habitate) (3sg.Obj.). |
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| Translation 3 | (consequently) (n.sub.) (man) (to) (friend) (GEN.) (3sg.), (3sg.) (PERF.-say) (3sg.Obj.), "(EXHORTATIVE)! (Direct Object) (brick-INANIMATE PLU.) (1pl.incl.) (IMP.-make) (3pl.Obj.), (consequently) (1pl.incl.) (IMP.-bake) (3pl.Obj.)." (consequently) (D.O.) (brick-IN.PLU.) (EQUATIVE) (stone-IN.PLU.) (furthermore) (clay) (EQU.) (mortar) (3pl.) (PERF.-use) (3pl.Obj.). |
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| Translation 4 | (consequently) (they) (PERF.-ANTIPASSIVE-say), "(EXH.)! (D.O.) (city) (and) (tower) (1pl.Incl.) (IMP.-build) (3pl.Obj.) (BENEFACTIVE) (same) (1pl.Incl.), (furthermore) (n.sub.) (top) (GEN.) (tower) (D.O.) (sky) (3sg.) (IMP.TRNS.-habitate) (3sg.Obj.), (consequently) (D.O.) (name) (1pl.Incl.) (IMP.TRNS.-gain) (3sg.Obj.) (BEN.) (same) (1pl.Incl.), (no+so that=lest) (1pl.Incl.) (UNCERTAIN-PASSIVE-ITERATIVE-release) (LOC.) (back) (GEN.) (all) (QUANT.) (land). |
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| Translation 5 | (at that time) (n.sub.) (YHWH) (3sg.) (PERF.-to descend), (PURPOSIVE) (D.O.) (city) (and) (tower) (REL.) (child-PLU.HUM.) (GEN.) (humanity) (3pl.) (PERF.-build) (3pl.Obj.) (RSMP.) (3sg.) (IMPERFECT-see) (3pl.Obj.). |
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| Translation 6 | (consequently) (same subject) (YHWH) (3sg.) (PERF.-ANTIPASSIVE-say), "(IMP.-see)! (one) (land) (under) (3pl.), (furthermore) (one) (language) (BEN.) (all) (QUANT.) (3pl.), (consequently) (D.O.) (this[pron.]) (3pl.) (PERF.-INCEP.-build) (3sg.Obj.). (now) (D.O.) (nothing) (REL.) (3pl.) (UNCERTAIN-to strive for) (3sg.Obj.), (RSMP.) (3sg.-NEG.-PASS.-deprive) (I.O.) (3pl.), (no). |
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| Translation 7 | (EXH.)! (1sg.-IMP.-descend), (furthermore) (D.O.) (language) (GEN.) (3pl.) (1sg.) (IMP.-TRNS.-confuse) (3sg.Obj.), (so that) (3pl.) (NEG.-RECIPROCAL-IMP.-hear), (no). |
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| Translation 8 | (consequently) (n.sub.) (YHWH) (3sg.) (PERF.-scatter) (3pl.Obj.) (ABL.) (that place) (LOC.) (back) (GEN.) (all) (GEN.) (land), (consequently) (D.O.) (city) (3pl.) (PERF.-CESS.-build) (3sg.Obj.). |
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| Translation 9 | (therefore), (3pl.) (PERF.-name) (3sg.Obj.) (INST.) "(Babel)", (because) (there) (pejorative sub.) (YHWH) (D.O.) (language) (GEN.) (all) (QUANT.) (land) (3sg.) (PERF.-confuse) (3sg.Obj.), (furthermore) (because) (ABL.) (there) (pej.sub.) (YHWH) (3sg.) (PERF.-scatter) (3pl.Obj.) (LOC.) (back) (GEN.) (all) (QUANT.) (land). |
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| English Paraphrase 1 | Long, long ago, one language with few words existed in all the land. |
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| Paraphrase 2 | While they were traveling from Qedem, they found a valley in the land of Shinar, and they took up residence there. |
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| Paraphrase 3 | Then one man said to his friend, "Come on! Let's make bricks and bake them." And so they used bricks as stones and clay as mortar. |
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| Paraphrase 4 | And they said, "Come on! Let's build a city and a tower for ourselves, and the head of the tower will live in the sky, and in so doing, we'll gain a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the back of all the earth. |
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| Paraphrase 5 | At that time, Yaawe came to see the city and tower that the children of humanity had build. |
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| Paraphrase 6 | And Yaawe said, "Would you look at that! They have one land, and one language for the lot of them, and now nothing they undertake will be deprived them. |
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| Paraphrase 7 | Come! I'll go down there and confuse their language, so that they won't be able to hear each other. |
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| Paraphrase 8 | And so Yaawe went down there and scattered them all over the back of the earth, and, as a direct consequence, they stopped building the city. |
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| Paraphrase 9 | Therefore, they named it "Babel", for it was there that mean ol' Yaawe confused the language of all the land, and it was from there that mean ol' Yaawe scattered them all over the back of the earth. |
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| Notes 1 | An archaic verb for "to lie" is used as a locative copula in the past tense (only in the past tense). Also, for tones, there are only four possible tone patterns: H, L, HL and LH. Also, /w-ínu/ is a contraction of /we/ (instrumental) and /ínu/ (few). Also, /hé:/ introduces a new subject. It's not obligatory; purely stylistic. |
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| Notes 2 | The exclamation point is a dental click. It's an unfortunate symbol, since actual exclamation points appear in this text, but they should be easy to pick out, since Njaama doesn't allow it as a coda consonant. Also, /!a/ marks the beginning of a relative clause; /tu/ indicates that the main clause will continue. |
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| Notes 3 | The imperative is used here as a means of putting forth a suggestion. |
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| Notes 4 | The antipassive is used here to delete the object argument. Verbs in Njaama are divided into four classes, and this verb, being class III, requires an object, lest it's meaning be changed to "to be a talker". The antipassive preserve the active meaning. The adjective /so/ "same" is used before pronouns to make the pronoun an anaphor. |
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| Notes 5 | I elected to give YHWH a proper name in this text. Poor guy gets no respect. |
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| Notes 6 | Njaama requires double negatives, so that "nothing" is "not deprived", "no". The last "no" is not obligatory, however. Here, the benefactive /i/ serves to act as the marker of an indirect object--almost a malefactive. |
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| Notes 7 | The word for "confuse" is derived from "to rotate". |
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| Notes 8 | "ABL." stands for "ablative", as in "(coming) from x". |
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| Notes 9 | Njaama has a regular sound change whereby final /l/ becomes [r], so /mbá:mbel/ is [mbá:mbEr]. Also, Njaama doesn't have a [b], only a prenasalized [mb]. |
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| Submitted By | David J. Peterson |
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| Date Submitted | Friday, August 29, 2003 |
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| Updated By | David J. Peterson |
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| Date Edited | Saturday, July 03, 2004 |
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| Description Of Update | Just fixed a placement error. |
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| Date To Headline | Tuesday, July 06, 2004 |
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