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Translation of The Bladder Slugs of Yik
The Bladder Slugs of Yik
Posted 91.8.14 by Alan Dench, Dept. of Anthro, U. Western Australia
<A_DENCH@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au> on conlang@buphy.bu.edu (constructed
languages list), reposted by lojbab on lojban-list@snark.thyrsus.com.
Challenge is to translate the tense metaphors into Lojban.
------
Inferred physical situation: the Bladder Slugs orbit Arcturus IV, and
their orbit decays gradually but inevitably; the rate is under
voluntary control to some extent. Offspring ascend to the top of the
exosphere by an unknown mechanism, then begin their inward spiral.
Metaphors of impact and/or implosion from rising outside pressure are
used for the final event -- though physically I would expect more
meteoric results.
Generalization on tense: insofar as there is a 1-1 relation between
time and altitude, the directional properties ga'u-gapru-above and
ni'a-cnita-below can be substituted directly where humans would use
pu-purci-past and ba-balvi-future. Where needed I have also used
vi-"at" or ne'a-lamji-next.to as a substitute for ca-cabna-same.time.
in Lojban, both temporal and spatial tenses (directional properties)
fit the same syntactic sites <PU-BAI> and both can be elaborated in the
same ways, and hence there is no problem at all making a 1-1
replacement. Comments below on expression problems, therefore, are
equally applicable to conventional time tenses.
Since this is going to at least one non-Lojbanist, I have put in extra
translation data. poi is the structure word linking a restrictive
subordinate clause; I mark it RSC in the translations. SSC marks a
supplementary or "by the way" clause. EMK is one of various kinds of
endmarks. Arguments (analogous to English noun phrases) typically
begin with what linguists call a "determiner", but to simplify I have
mostly omitted their translations. "le" and "lo" are in this category.
The one exception is loi-the* which specifies a "mass individual", one
example of which is "the* lion lives in Africa".
A. I perceived a large glabbage upperday.
mi ganse lo jduboi poi barda ku'o ga'u pa djedi
I sense(stimulus) a glabbage RSC big EMK above one day
ganse - sense stimulus. I failed to locate a good word for
"perceives the external reality" as opposed to "senses a
stimulus", which I use here.
jduboi - jduli bolci - jelly sphere - glabbage. Parallel diklujvo.
ga'u pa djedi: See sentence E for explanation.
B. The time for implosion is just below us.
le nu mi'o po'afa'e cu ve'a cnita mi'o
event we implode "EMK" small-interval below us(you+me)
po'afa'e - spoja fatne - explode reverse.order - implode. Abstract
diklujvo, somewhat questionable with existing place structure
of fatne.
Though the English word "time" is used, in Lojban the x1 argument
has nothing to do with time. Instead a Lojban event abstraction is
used. This pattern occurs several times in this text.
C. The pressure increases; the light is dimming; I'm plummeting old.
le ni mi se danre cu zenba
quantity I x1<->x2 pressed-on increases
.i le ni mi se gusni cu manze'a
quantity I x1<->x2 illuminated dims [dark increase]
.i mi bazo'i no'eselsaifa'u
I future-approaching plummet
manze'a - manku zenba - dark increase - dimming. Abstract diklujvo
except that the places of zenba don't clearly allow this
interpretation.
zo'i: approaching (<PU> tense). Because the selbri is spatial I have
combined zo'i with a time tense "ba" for contrast, rather than
with ni'a (below).
no'eselsaifa'u - no'e se sarji farlu - scalar-neutral x1<->x2 support
fall - plummet (fall unsupported). XXXfa'u is a parallel
diklujvo.
Lojban allows "le ni se danre" etc., but I prefer a style in which for
each phrase as many places as reasonable are occupied explicitly.
D. How deep until we fall on dense times. (Original appears to be
not a question but a discursive calling the listener's attention
to the size of the interval.)
condi fa le nu mi'o felda lo denmi
deep x1 event we(you+me) fall dense (something that is dense)
Again, time is irrelevant; this is translated by an event abstraction.
E. Three days above I consumed a large splodj.
ga'u lo djedi be li ci ku mi citka lo danlysplodji poi barda
Above a day times 3 EMK I eat a (animal)splodj RSC big
danlysplodji: I don't have the exact rules for this kind of
le'avla but it's at least close to legal.
Discussion of the time modal phrase: djedi is defined as "x1 is x2
days long" (ignoring x3 as irrelevant here). At first I was confused
trying to make this work in an old Loglan style, but then I recognized
that djedi was intended to be used the same way as a -gua!spi unit of
measure. (Yes, this guy knows when he wins!) The only problem is that
the sentence is placed at the top of an interval 3 days long, but where
does the interval start? The place structure lacks an origin. One can
reasonably assume, though, that when a unit of measure is used
ordinally, as here, the start point is the current tense reference;
ra'i-kraji-origin has the right semantics for an explicit origin.
It may be useful to list rejected modal phrases.
ga'u ci le djedi Above three of the (different in extension) days.
ga'u le ci djedi Above the three (different) days.
ne'a le ga'u djedi be li ci At the aboveward 3-day interval -- not
above the interval.
F. In the rarefied days of my youth, I set my life on a helical path.
ne'a le za'i mi citno fi'o da'ecma ku
At state I young RSCb dense-small EMK
mi punji le pu'u mi jmive kei lo pluta poi sarlu
I set process I live EMK route RSC spiral
da'ecma - denmi cmalu - dense small - rarefied: abstract diklujvo.
Again, "days" is irrelevant in Lojban; the modal phrase is translated
with an abstraction, in this case for a "state". The bridi restrictive
subordinate clause (RSCb) says that "I am young" was low density, which
for the Bladder Slugs is clearly a tense metaphor; this is the only
past tense in the sentence. (Technically, fi'o <bridi> is a tense in
Lojban.)
Lojban has no gismu (defined primitive word) for "helix"; however it
does have one for "spiral", which is physically more likely as the
Bladder Slug's path.
G. The foolish Yik lives like a falling space rock. (2 translations)
loi selnatmryika poi bebna cu tarti tai loi ru'u rokci poi farlu
The* Yik RSC fool behaves in-form the* orbiting rock RSC fall
.i simsa fi le tarmi lo pu'u tarti ku loi selnatmryika poi bebna
Similar x3 form process behave EMK the* Yik RSC fool
loi ru'u rokci poi farlu
the* orbiting rock RSC fall
selnatmryika: From natmi = "x1 is a nation/ethnic group of peoples
x2" with the Yiks in x2. This is slightly cheating on the
meaning of x2. I hope the le'avla is morphologically correct.
tarti: x1 behaves/conducts self as x2 circumstance x3. "Alive"
really gets applied to the rock, which would be bogus
semantically.
ru'u rokci: "ru'u-orbiting" is literally a tense in Lojban. I very
much dislike the metaphor pattern "space X"; I looked for and
found this alternative.
simsa: x1 is similar to x2 in property x3.
The first translation is quite similar to the English sentence form.
But the main point of the sentence is to say that X and Y are similar,
not to say that the* Yik behaves, and the second translation, more Lojban
style, makes "similar" the jufra selbri. A defect of this sentence is,
what is behaving? You have to guess that it's the Yik and the rock.
-gua!spi replication rules also can't get past "le tarmi". I wonder if
a better x3 might be "fi lo pu'u ta'i tarti". This lets -gua!spi style
replication stick x1 and x2 into x1 of tarti, but does this phrase
adequately express that the similar property is the form of behavior,
not the fact of behaving?
H. At darkest bottom, we all meet at the centre.
ba le dizrai noi manrai
At(time-future) lowest SSC darkest
ro ma'a penmi lo fi'e vi le midju
all we(you+I+others) meet x1-copy at(space) middle
dizrai - dizlo traji - low superlative - lowest. Abstract diklujvo.
manrai - manku traji - dark superlative - darkest. Abstract diklujvo.
I don't much like any of the choices for "darkest bottom":
le dizrai noi manrai the bottom, which by the way is darkest
le dizrai poi manrai of bottoms, the one which is darkest
le dizrai po'u le manrai the bottom, that is, the darkest place
Note with penmi-meet: the Lojban phrase says "we meet each other".
I. The aliens, who live for eternity high above the days of our youth,
believe the universe is expanding. But according to the great
physicist Alblort Einslug, it is merely moving up into its own "past".
loi fange noi piro ze'u jmive ga'u ve'u
The* alien SSC all long-time-interval lives above long-space-interval
le za'i ma'a citno cu krici
state we(you+I+others) young EMK believe
le pu'u le munje ca'o calze'a
process cosmos continuous volume-increase
.i ku'i du'o la .alblort einslug. noi banli
But known-by (name) Alblort Einslug SSC great
le ka skefa'i ku'o le munje nitkla le lofi'e purci
property science-discover EMK cosmos ascend x1's past
The required meanings are handled uneventfully by Lojban with one
exception: "merely". I spent much time (maybe a month on and off)
struggling to translate "only", "merely" and "such" in Old Loglan and
later in -gua!spi, without success; finally I had to create a gismu. I
refuse to repeat that task in Lojban. Somebody else please translate
"merely".
Diklujvo:
calze'a - canlu zenba - volume increase - expand. Abstract diklujvo.
skefa'i - saske facki - science discover - scientist. If "science"
is defined as "x1 is a scientific fact (about x2)", this works as a
transitive diklujvo.
nitkla - cnita klama - below go - ascend. Parallel diklujvo, motion
word subtype. The reason "below" is used rather than "above" is
that x1 is related to x2, and during the motion the x1 (moving
object) is below the destination.
The following usages are plausible but not backed by known official
patterns:
piro ze'u: use of the fractional "all" quantifier to suggest eternity.
ze'u, ca'o: use of a <ZEhA> (space interval) or <ZAhO> (aspect) in a
<PU-BAI> (elaborated tense) slot without an actual tense.
lofi'e: which bridi does it extract an argument of? Strictly
speaking, it grabs the output placeholder of the sumti, producing
the meaning "the past of itself" or "something which is its own
past" (if that has any meaning). vo'a (or ledei?) hit the main
bridi, which in this sentence but not always is the one you want.
I'm not sure of what anaphor will always work.
le lofi'e purci: The official form would be le purci be lofi'e, but
when the s-selbri is the kind accepting transitive arguments,
one frequently interprets le X <selbri> as le <selbri> be X --
even though there is no official rule allowing this transformation.
J. All lives converge. At impact we will share our common destiny.
de se klama fo lo pu'u ro da poi jmive cu jmive
There exists Y <x2 goes x4 process all X RSC alive live
(There exists Y which is the destination of an ensemble of motions, the
route of each of which is the process of some X living, for all alive X.)
.ije ca le nu da janli kei da cmibi'o
And at(time) event X impact EMK X member-become
lo se kampu be le ka se dimna be de
x2<->1 common property destiny Y
This is a tour de force of quantification. The Bladder Slugs' situation
determines the semantics, but it has little to do with time metaphor.
Lojban lacks a proper "share" gismu, but also the semantics of "share"
in this sentence are bogus in that X has destiny Y from the beginning,
not just at the moment of impact. I have, however, represented the
bogus semantics fairly faithfully. But I had a great deal of trouble to
get the quantification right in the correct semantics. Can anyone do
this right?
klama-go: x1 goes to x2 from x3 via x4 (on legs x5). Due to the needs
of quantification, the selbri's place order is radically slewed
around. x2 = de, x4 = "life".
litru-travel: The semantics are much better than farna-orientation
or klama-go. If it had a standard motion word place structure
it could have been used here.
ro da...: "the life process of everything that is alive". It sounds
stupid to repeat jmive, but "da" has to be restricted.
janli-collide: x1 crashes into x2. It is logical, but heavy-handed,
to mention Y (de) as x2 of janli.
cmibi'o - cmima binxo - member become: abstract diklujvo. x1-x2 feeds
into cmima x1-x2.
kampu-common: (abstract) x1 is common to (the members of set) x2.
Hence X becomes a member of a set which has a common property Z
(see below). The set members of x2 in extension should feed into
x1 of an abstraction which is in x1 of kampu. The -gua!spi
dictionary, but not the Lojban dictionary, prescribes this.
dimna: (abstract) x1 is the destiny of x2. The common property Z is
having the destiny Y (de).
K. I hope our bladderlings will rise into the upper reaches of the
brightest past.
.a'o loi gapydakcifnu poi se rirni mi'o cu nitkla
(I)hope the* bladderling RSC parent by we(you+I) ascend
le pagbu poi galtu be le selgusrai lo'i purci
part RSC high brightest set past
Diklujvo:
gapydakcifnu - gapci dakli cifnu - gas bag baby - bladderling: Two
nested transitive diklujvo. It seems to me that cifnu-baby will
be used terminally in many compounds such as kitten, colt,
tadpole, anythingling. Therefore it needs a terminal rafsi.
nitkla - ascend: See sentence I.
selgusrai - se gusni traji - illuminated superlative - brightest.
Abstract diklujvo using definition discussed below.
Probably bogus: poi se rirni mi'o. The English sentence says "our
bladderlings", which literally translated means "which you and I are
the parents of". But most likely "our" means "all Yiks'", in which
case "the* bladderling" (minus "our") is quite sufficient. So the
RSC should be omitted entirely.
Definitely bogus: le pagbu poi galtu be le... The clauses are required
to be after the s-bridi with its arguments. However, the result in
this instance is atrocious in style; required is G SSSS C (G =
s-selbri, SSSS = long sumti, C = clause) while you much prefer to have
the longer element after the shorter: G C SSSS.
The real solution is to use le galtu pagbu be le... (creative tanru
whose meaning you can't be sure of) or le galpau be le... (matching
lujvo). But pagbu = "x1 is a part of whole x2" with no place for a
selecting property. galpau could be considered an abstract diklujvo
were the definition like this: "x1 is a part of x2 with common property
x3" -- in this case, the upper part. A gismu, similarly defined, is
also needed for "subset".
I have a converse problem with traji-superlative. It is "x1 is
superlative in property x2" but it should be defined as "x1 is (one of)
the extreme member(s) of set x2 in (abstract property) x3". "One of"
is needed because ties are possible.
L. I believe the shadows of our downtime bladderlings fell across us
upperday.
.ia le ctino be le ma'a ni'a gapydakcifnu
(I)believe shadow our below bladderling
cu te no'egu'i ma'a ga'u pa djedi
x3<->x1 unilluminate we above one day
This sentence is very philosophical, and so I have elected to translate
"our" less anally retentively this time, as "ma'a"-"you + I + unspecified
other(s)". Expressing the riptime connections is equally successful
(or obscure) using human time <PU>'s or Bladder Slug spatial <PU>'s.
I suddenly notice that no'e is not listed as a rafsi; hence the usage
no'egu'i is questionable; perhaps it should be no'egusni. Is there an
actual morphological reason to suppress no'e as a rafsi representing
no'e? (And similarly for other <NAhE>.)
---------------
Conclusion: Lojban temporal and spatial tenses are highly parallel and
so it was a non-issue to deal with the Yik spatial tense metaphors.
This text has a number of diklujvo. I would judge that even a person
unfamiliar with their guidelines for interpretation can accept their
meanings as plausible, no more uncertain than with any other unofficial
lujvo. But the listener with access to the guidelines can interpret
them as surface structures representing a deep structure in which each
bridi or s-bridi is headed by a gismu; thus he can interpret these
lujvo with the same certainty (solipsist or uniform) that he can expect
for gismu.
James F. Carter (213) 825-2897
UCLA-Mathnet; 6221 MSA; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA, USA 90024-1555
Internet: jimc@math.ucla.edu BITNET: jimc%math.ucla.edu@INTERBIT
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