| Site | Zhyler  |
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| Translation Image | 
If image fails to load, try this link. |
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| Language | Zhyler |
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| Year | 2003 |
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| Translator | David J. Peterson |
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| Introduction | Zhyler is a language that was mainly inspired by Turkish, though it also drew some inspiration from Swahili, Megdevi (a language of mine) and Latin. For the transcription, I used strict X-SAMPA, except that /a/ stands for [A] (this becomes important, where vowel harmony is concerned). Also, there's a regular allophonic distribution between lax and tense vowel variants of each vowel phoneme. I used only one character to symbolize both. |
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| Verse 1 | al erwi ymM ergajajan las MlDaja. |
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| Verse 2 | kedemiT dZarm2sleraz, urDar MlDaz Sinaraja Dejler, ras vMnase eZZanlar. |
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| Verse 3 | kaja n2nzerler, "zin! rymSuj kenlymeje, ame dZimMSSMja." ame rymSuj tSurjujkMjat mekler, ame kenelwi solwMxMja mekler. |
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| Verse 4 | ame n2nlerkaja, "zin! majaS tajdZar, enedwizM dZ2f deJdZeje ulbolarnam valzamaja, ras l2Za majaS ZenDer levzemeje, volanaz meJjaf ketSlerjes noGenzerneswimej." |
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| Verse 5 | ame ziliryf meSkajaja valdZajalara tajdZa, ulbolnamuf mataljatSot valar. |
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| Verse 6 | ame n2nler, "mat! al MlDa, je al erwi laskaS bel, ame ledZer edZZaNkaja. je manarDawMxMja r2zDe kajas Zarreznezze. |
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| Verse 7 | zin! tSot zixM erwixMf SirkMjar matkMNwMriz, vazamaja, ame erwixMjMr vMnase ugdazamaj. |
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| Verse 8 | ame meJjaf ketSlerjes vMnaseT noGenzerkajalar, ras kaja tajdZar valzMklar. |
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| Verse 9 | ras "babelet" Zennesler, tSot meJjaf erwijes vMnase ugdalar, ame meJjaf ketSlerjes vMnaseT noGenzerkajalar. |
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| Interlinear Translation 1 | (one) (language[xv]) (few+NONNOM.) (word[xvi]+PLU.+COMM.) (all) (land[xi]+POSS.). |
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| Translation 2 | (Qedem+ABL.) (travel+PROG.+PAST+INE.), (plain[xi]+ACC.) (land[xi]+INE.) (Shinar+INVOC.) (find+PAST), (consequently) (there) (to live+INCEP.+PAST). |
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| Translation 3 | (3pl.pron.[i]) (say+DIST.+PAST), "(come+IMP.)! (brick[xii]+PLU.) (make+1plu.), (and then) (be on fire+CAUS.+3pl.[xii])." (and then) (brick[xii]+PLU.) (stone[vii]+PLU.+[i]+PLU.+INST.) (to be+PAST+3sg.), (and) (clay[xv]) (mortar[xv]+[i]+PLU.) (to be+PAST+3sg.). |
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| Translation 4 | (and then) (say+PAST+3pl.[i]), "(come+IMP.)! (1pl.pron.+BEN.) (city[xiii]+ACC.), (sky[xv]+INE.+NONNOM.) (3sg.pron.[xiii]+GEN.) (roof[xiii]+POSS.) (tower[vi]+ACC.+CONJ.) (construct+FUT.+1pl.), (consequently) (same+NONNOM.) (1pl.pron.+BEN.) (name[xi]+ACC.) (create+FUT.+1pl.), (if/lest/should) (Earth[vii]+GEN.) (scalp[x]+POSS.+ENE.) (put+REV.+DIST.+PASS.+IRR.+1pl.)." |
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| Translation 5 | (and then) (humanity[x]+GEN.) (son+PLU.+POSS.) (build+3pl.[xiii]+PAST+NONNOM.) (city[xiii]) (tower[vi]+CONJ.+GEN.) (sight[xiv]+POSS.+PURP.) (descend+PAST+3p.[not specified]). |
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| Translation 6 | (and then) (say+PAST.+3p.), "(see+IMP.)! (one) (nation[xi]), (and [now]) (one) (language[xv]) (everyone[i]+BEN.) (exist+PRES.), (and then) (this thing[xiii]+ACC.) (make+INCEP.+3pl.). (now) (to plot+[xi]+IRR.+[i]+PLU.) (nothing[xi]) ([i]+PLU.+DAT.) (deny+PASS.+FUT.). |
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| Translation 7 | (come+IMP.)! (so that) (person[i]) (language[xv]+[i]+GEN.) (friend[i]+POSS.+ACC.) (understand+ABIL.+IRR.+NEG.), (descend+FUT.+1pl.), (and then) (language[xv]+[i]+PLU.+ACC.) (there[far]) (break+REP.+FUT.+1pl.). |
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| Translation 8 | (and then) (Earth[vii]+GEN.) (scalp[x]+POSS.+ENE.) (there[far]+ABL.) (put+REV.+DIST.+[i]+PLU.+PAST), (consequently) (3pl.) (city[xiii]+ACC.) (build+CESS.+PAST). |
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| Translation 9 | (consequently) "(Babel+INST.)" (to name+PASS.+PAST+3p.), (because) (Earth[vii]+GEN.) (language[xv]+POSS.+ENE.) (there[far]) (break+REP.+PAST+3p.), (and then) (Earth[vii]+GEN.) (scalp[x]+POSS.+ENE.) (there[far]+ABL.) (put+REV.+DIST.+[i]+PLU.+PAST). |
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| English Paraphrase 1 | All the land had (only) one language with a few words. |
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| Paraphrase 2 | While they were traveling to Qedem, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they began to live there. |
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| Paraphrase 3 | And they said to one another, "Come on! Let's make bricks and fire them." And the bricks were their stones, and the clay was their mortar. |
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| Paraphrase 4 | And they said to each other, "Come on! Let's build a city for ourselves and a tower who's head reaches the sky. That way, we'll make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the Earth." [Translator's Note: FORESHADOWING!!!] |
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| Paraphrase 5 | And then Someone descended to take a look at the tower the sons of humanity had built. |
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| Paraphrase 6 | And then Someone said, "Look! There's one nation, and now one language for the lot of them, and now they've made *this* thing. Now nothing they should plot will be denied them. |
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| Paraphrase 7 | Come! Let's go down and confuse their language, so that one person won't be able to understand his friend. |
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| Paraphrase 8 | And then Someone came and scattered them all all over the face of the Earth, and, as a direct consequence, they couldn't keep building their city. [Translator's Question: What happened to confusing their language...?] |
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| Paraphrase 9 | Therefore, it [the tower] was called Babel, for that was where Someone confused the language of the Earth, and scattered them all over the face of the Earth. |
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| Notes 1 | Zhyler has noun classes, so those little Roman numerals you see indicate noun classes. I'll explain them as they come up, as with the various case markers and other shortenings. Oh, quick note: All nouns/adjectives without a case are in the nominative. It's unmarked in both instances, so I left it out in the interlinear. Class xi: For places, emotions, ideas, states, etc. Class xv: For substances, of various kinds. Class xvi: For parts of things. NONNOM.: Stands for "nonnominative", an adjectival case. What it does is adds a final vowel to all adjectives that modify nouns that aren't in the nominative. PLU.: Plural. COMM.: Commitative. Means "with x", but not in an instrumental sense. POSS.: Possessive. In this instance, it means "on the land", or "the land has". It's not actually a verb, so it carries no tense. As such, this is a tenseless phrase. It's interpreted as past, because of the rest of it. |
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| Notes 2 | Qedem becomes kedem in Zhyler. Since it's foreign, it doesn't have a noun class suffix. PROG.: Progressive. PAST: Past tense. Can be simple or perfect. INE.: Inessive. Indicates the state of being inside something. It's also used to pick out a specific point in time (like "at" in English). So the first part could be read "At the time that they were traveling from Qedem, they found..." ACC.: Accusative. INVOC.: The Invocative. This is used for phrases like "the act of murder", "the covenant of marriage", or "the land of Shinar". It's not an actual possession; just a specification. INCEP.: Inceptive. Used to indicate the beginning of an action. Probably a better translation of this verb is "to take up residence". |
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| Notes 3 | [I'm intentionally ignoring the explanation of the vowel harmony system. It's eight times as large and complex as the Turkish vowel harmony system, so I'm leaving it out.] I've noticed that I occasionally refer to /ka/ and /kaja/ as either a pronoun or just a class suffix. It can act as both, though it's not a true, official pronoun. There are only two of those: First and second person. Also, noun class suffixes can attach to verbs, either to signify subjects or direct objects, depending on their placement withing verb. A handy rule: If it comes before the tense marker, it's an object; if it comes after, it's a subject. Class i: For human beings without titles. Class xii: For manmade objects that can be easily lifted. DIST.: Distributive. Works to either split up action among individuals (rather than a bunch of individuals working together as a group), or indicate a type of plural action on the verb. IMP.: Imperative. CAUS.: Causative. |
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| Notes 4 | Quick note: Any word can be an adjective, if the stress is shifted from ultimate to penultimate. I didn't indicate stress in the text, though, so it's hard to see (well, by that I mean impossible). Class vi: Used for tall plants, or tall things. Class vii: Used for naturally occuring phenomena. Class x: Used for small plants, or things that cover a large area. Class xiii: Used for manmade objects not easily lifted. BEN.: Benefactive. GEN.: Genetive. To do a true genetive construction in Zhyler, you put the possessor in the genitive and place it first. Then you put the possessed in the possessive and place it second. If that construction then becomes a direct object, for example, you attach the accusative to the possessed, directly after the possessive case marker. CONJ.: Conjunctive. Similar to /-qve/ in Latin, it means "the previous noun and the noun I'm attached to". FUT.: Future. ENE.: Enessive. Indicates the state of being on top of something. REV.! ! ! ! ! ! : Reversive. When attached to a verb, it reverses the action (cf. English screw/unscrew). PASS.: Passive. IRR.: Irrealis. |
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| Notes 5 | Class xiv: Indicates actions. I call it the verb class. PURP.: Purposive. Like "in order to". When I said the 3p. wasn't specified, this was to take care of the extremely vague, extremely unhelpful YHWH problem. Since Zhyler's a prodrop language, there are no problems. In English, though... |
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| Notes 6 | The verb "bel" is kind of like "there is/are" in English or "il y'a" in French. It's negative counterpart is "tor". DAT.: Dative. The last sentence is a bit confusing, if you're used to English. It might be translated as "Now the 'they-plot-to-do-it' nothing will be denied them." Nah, that's no good, either. How it works is that the word /manarDawMkMja/ is an adjective made from a verb. The verb is "They would plot to do it". The suffix /Da/ is the "it" there, and it refers to the next noun, /r2zDe/ [notice: the same class suffix]. |
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| Notes 7 | The class i suffix in "language" serves as a possessive pronoun, of sorts. ABIL.: Abilitive. Like "can". NEG.: Negative. REP.: Repetitive. The "there[far]" thing is for the three way spatial deictics in Zhyler. There's next to the speaker (here), next to the listener (there), and next to neither (there[far]). |
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| Notes 8 | ABL.: Ablative. Indicates movement away from. CESS.: Cessive. Indicates the cessation of an action. |
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| Notes 9 | INST.: Instrumental. Names get an instrumental tag. So they'd call it "Babel", not "Babelet", in nominative circumstances. |
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| Submitted By | David J. Peterson |
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| Date Submitted | Friday, June 13, 2003 |
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| Updated By | Jeffrey Henning |
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| Date Edited | Monday, February 09, 2004 |
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| Description Of Update | Inaugural Babel Text image for new image field, to show translation in "native" writing system. |
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| Date To Headline | Wednesday, February 11, 2004 |
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