Messages

16

Beginners / Re: Sentence Attempts

« on: May 01, 2011, 05:44:43 pm »

Yes, I think drivo is the correct word.

Good to know.

As for ambiguity, I know that there are several words that need to be understood in context. Just take a word like me that means both he, she and it so you would need to be explicit if there is a chance there will be confusion.

On the other hand. Have you seen Davids writing guide for english? http://dedalvs.com/guide/index.php
He's very aware of the fact that english is full of strange things and I would guess based on that that he would perhaps want to avoid ambiguity in the languages he creates.

He has also proposed his own spelling reform for the english language. http://dedalvs.com/petersonian.html

I've seen LOTS of the things at his site, but never the things related to English.

Spelling reform is very interesting, but I don't think it will happen in my lifetime due to the fact that it would undermine English’s linguistic dominance in the technology age. Pronunciations have diverged so significantly in Singapore, India, etc. that without the "standardized" spellings a lot of the intelligibility across geographic boundaries would evaporate.

17

Beginners / Re: Sentence Attempts

« on: May 01, 2011, 03:29:43 pm »

Anha tih meqosar ost allegre ma me drivo.
I saw the spider bite the duck and it died.

Hash me athjilar?

Which animal died?

Let's see. The literal translation would be: I saw that the spider bit the duck and it died. I guess that means the same thing as your translation.

As for who died that is a bit tricky. That even causes confusion in english doesn't it? Does the fact that we expect the target of a bite to die change the subject from the spider to the duck? If the sentence was "I saw the spider race against a duck and it won" I would think that the spider won. But if it was "I saw the policeman shoot the suspect and he died" I would assume it was the suspect that died. I think usually it is better to be less ambiguous in these types of sentences right?

Yes. It is generally better to avoid this kind of ambiguity.

Is drivo correct for "died" in the past tense?

I also wonder if David is doing anything about ambiguity within the grammar. Some languages don't allow or do all they can to avoid this kind of ambiguity. English really doesn't care that much.

18

Beginners / Re: Sentence Attempts

« on: May 01, 2011, 12:18:01 pm »

Anha tih meqosar ost allegre ma me drivo.
I saw the spider bite the duck and it died.

Hash me athjilar?

Which animal died?

19

Beginners / Re: Sentence Attempts

« on: May 01, 2011, 12:04:10 pm »

Re:

Lekh Dothraki allayafa anna ma me san athnrojari.

Lekh Dothraki allayafa anna ma me sekke nroja.

Questions:

  - Are they (both) grammatical?

  - What do they mean?

  - Is one more correct than the other?

  - Is there no word for 'but' yet?

20

Introductions / Re: m’athchomaroon

« on: May 01, 2011, 10:44:14 am »

I most certainly will, when it happens. There is also a chance that I might get to raise one!

I find that the flipped R (if I am doing it right) is pretty easy in Hrakka. The trilled R is a lot harder and doesn't sound as nice.  Perhaps we can talk about this the next time we go over Na`vi lessons (which I hope is soon!).

For me, a flap r is so short that there is barely any time to add/include the breath.

<aside>
I'll be back from the East Coast time zone next Sunday, but busy with work until the 13th. We can certainly target meeting soon after that.
</aside>

21

Introductions / Re: m’athchomaroon

« on: April 29, 2011, 09:35:11 pm »

The lions, etc. are doing quite well. Kenya has been mating with Serena as of late, that could mean early summer cubs!

Question: Is the r in Hrakka flipped or trilled?

It's a flap I think. The trill is generally for r's that are in the beginning and then end of words.

OH! Cubs!! Please take lots of photos if/when that happens (and post them)!!

I find it very hard to flap /ɾ/ following the breath of the /h/.

22

Introductions / Re: Hello I'm Ingsve

« on: April 29, 2011, 09:30:45 pm »

Zehy Ingsve

I agree that your linguistic knowledge is really impressive and you clearly have as good a grasp on Dothraki as anyone so far (other than David P.) 

Thank you for all of the time and effort you've spent here already.

23

Dothraki Language Updates / Re: Verb conjugation

« on: April 29, 2011, 08:32:22 pm »

I like that there seem to be negative verb conjugations. Very Japonesque (and *potentially* easier for me to remember (unless there are a million different ones))...

   

24

Beginners / Re: Sentence Attempts

« on: April 29, 2011, 08:24:53 pm »

Zhey Ingsve

San athchomari yeraan save.

25

Beginners / Sentence Attempts

« on: April 29, 2011, 05:46:21 pm »

I am going to attempt to write sentences in Dothraki. I will very much appreciate anyone who wants to discuss/correct them. I'm SURE they will be replete with errors.

San athchomari yeraan.

My 9 sheep are quiet tonight.
Qazat oqet anni chakae ajjalan.
Qazat oqet anni chaka ajjalan.

That spider bit me again under my glove yesterday.
Rek qosar save oste anha torga hlak anni oskikh.
Rek qosar save ost anha torga hlakon anni oskikh.
Rek qosar save ost anna torga hlaki(?) anni oskikh.


Sheep’s wool is useful to ill foreigners.
Vafikh oqet(i (gen?)) davrae ifaki shikhaki. (I don't know which case to put on ifaki (or how to form it).)
Vafikh oqeti davrae ifakoa shikhaki.

Lekh Dothraki nroja. 

26

Introductions / Re: M’ath

« on: April 29, 2011, 09:38:04 am »

Then there shall be a viewing party. I would be happy to host.

To hijack: I'm thinking of naming myself Memziri ... memzir is a bird call/tweet, and -i is diminutive; so: little chirp? hahaha...

You are a traveler: may your feet ever tread lightly upon beds of moss. Green soft happy moss. =D

A viewing party sound like fun!

We're about to be TRAVELING (whãn whãn whãn whãããããn ba’ dahm bhahm!!) to South Carolina and I'll be busy with work when we return until the  13~15th of May or so, but things are likely calmer after that for a while anyway.

Memziri seems like a highly appropriate Dothraki.org moniker for you. Even the Hupa would approve.

Even when traveling I try not to step on the moss. I'm just conscientious that way. And I'd over-squish it, I'm afraid.

27

Introductions / Re: M’ath

« on: April 28, 2011, 07:33:46 pm »

Hi Verak. I think I know you from another life, too. I need a name...

How do you like the series so far?

By way of introduction: My name is Judy. I loved the books, have loved them for years. Got bitten by the conlang bug after being wholly captivated by floating atokirina' in a 3d movie theater. So now I am here.

Mipa kifkey! I can't wait to meet the rest of you... familiar text-signatures with unfamiliar names, and new faces =D

Look up to the top, zhey Judi, there's a name. 

I haven't started reading yet and I don't have HBO, so I'm still in the dark on the "story" front. 

28

Introductions / Re: M’ath

« on: April 28, 2011, 08:50:08 am »

Welcome, Verak. I seem to think I know you from another life.....

Thank you, zhey Hrakka. Sek! Yer athjilar.

29

Dothraki Language Updates / Re: Phrases

« on: April 26, 2011, 10:46:33 pm »

So SHEEP aren’t animate? Me zireyesee anna.

Nope. I asked David about that and he said that the animacy or inanimacy of words often have a historical logic behind them (in his made up history of the language) but things have gotten jumbled over time. Apparently lots of herd animals are inanimate. It's just one of those things that you have to learn sort of like definite articles in german.

Ugh. I probably really am just a verak here, then. While I respect the depth of 'reality' represented by this level of detail, I find this kind of thing rather annoying and personally burdensome. One of the reasons I never really learned Latin was because of all the permutations with the declensions. I guess I'm just lazy.

   

30

Dothraki Language Updates / Re: Phrases

« on: April 26, 2011, 07:49:57 pm »

No, it's not a typo. We only have confirmation about how the accusative case works for inanimate nouns which is that if they end in a vowel that vowel is removed in the accusative case and if it ends in a consonant the accusative is the same as the nominative.

For animate nouns we don't know what the accusative is. My guess is that the examples you gave are probably the animate accusative case. So tokikes is probably accusative and the nominative is probably tokik or something like that. As I said, there is an error in the dictionary so the tokikes and sajoes are most likely not the nominative.

So SHEEP aren’t animate? Me zireyesee anna.

I think there will be a longer text from the conlang relay they will be presenting at the Language Creation Conference in May. They have this tradition of taking a text and then translating it between various conlangs to then see how it has changed when they translate it back into english. It's sort of like a conlang game of telephone.

I'm familiar with those relays. Nice that Dothraki will be included.