copyright © 2005-2008 Dennis Paul Himes

The contents of this page are preliminary. They won't become canonical until the first version of the Tale of Tifa Walbatnuwa Siina is up. - DPH

Examples of Seezzitonian

In these examples I will first write the Seezzitonian, then an interlinear, then the English translation, and possibly some notes.

There's a list of abbreviations at the bottom of the page.

Feesttapo umimeettiij nniisttap maamzuweezzaamiit essilumiit.

give-IND-PRES-1OP kiss-ACC-P-IND-PRES you(S)-BEN-IND-PRES 24-5-IND-PRES-3TP and-6-IND-PRES-3TP

I give you 126 kisses.

126 is 56 base 24.

Neettebobaa, maneettepovbo bojizz tejasiso sijis ttadadizzisit.

know/believe-NEG-IND-PRES-1O reflexive-know/believe-SUBJ-PRES-1O I-ACC-SUBJ_PRES buy-IND-PAST-1OS mouse-ACC-IND-PAST be_pregnant-SUBJ-PAST-3TS

I don't know, but I think I bought a pregnant mouse.

Neettepo, neettebob in the indicative means "know". In the subjunctive it means, "believe" in the sense of "think it's probably so, but not be sure." Like most verbs which semantically take phrases as their objects, it syntactically takes the subject of that phrase as its direct object (here bojizz, from be, "I"). Note that teja, "buy" is in the indicative, and ttadad, "be pregnant" is in the subjunctive. That's because it's the pregnancy, and not the purchase, which the speaker is unsure of.
A sit is not really a mouse, but it's a close equivalent.

Otee, ttapaapo neettiim, nnepiit dadiij laidjomidyiit dobubait, liimliij daddapistee vazee ttaptebaistee, neeneemissee seem peem.

be-true-IND-PRES-3U, talk-IND-PRES-1OS dream-ASS-P-IND-PRES to-be-IND-PRES-3TP child-ACC-P-IND-PRES brain-ASS-TP be-busy-NEG-IND-PRES-3TP which-ASS-TP-ACC-TP beget-IND-PAST-3U fantasy-NOM be-useful-NEG-IND-PAST-3U as-be-thin-IND-PRES-3U air-ASS-IND-PRES substance-ASS-IND-PRES

True, I talk of dreams; which are the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy; which is as thin of substance as the air.

1) This was written by William Shakespeare. Mercutio says it in Romeo & Juliet.

The following abbreviations are used in the interlinear:

NEG is the abbreviation for a negative form.

GENDERS
F Feminine
M Masculine
P Positional
T Transportable
U Uncountable

NUMBERS
P Plural
S Singular

CASES
ABE Abessive
ABL Ablative
ACC Accusative
ADE Adessive
ASS Associative
BEN Benefactive
CAU Causative
COM Comitative
DER Derivative
DIS Distributive
ILL Illative
INE Inessive
INS Instrumentive
LOC Locative
NOM Nominative
POS Possessive
PRO Prolative
VOC Vocative
Adjectival cases can be distinguished from the corresponding adverbal cases because the latter will be followed by gender and number and the latter by tense and mood.

PERSONS
1O First Person Ordinary
1I First Person Intimate
2 Second Person
3F Third Person Feminine
3M Third Person Masculine
3P Third Person Positional
3T Third Person Transportable
3U Third Person Uncountable

TENSES
FUT Future
PAST Past
PRES Present

MOODS
ANAL Analytic
IND Indicative
HYP Hypothetic
OPT Optative
SUB Subjunctive

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