bac text

tawso Wonse ghahret Rape Gel thoga, that wosic Cahkanp.
tnawso Rap tog tata 'sot Sanlayj.'
tnog Ranpe Ghwawp Bace tata 'sot Yanw. Snanlaj sot Gnuw.'
tnawso Bachas tog tatasa 'sot Ranp Shanlaj wer Ghuw. snot Sanlanj galhotas Gunw tatasa, that Wons gedek.'
tnog Rap Ghop Gajje tawso Bace tata 'deshic Tenr galher.'
tnawso Bare tates Lebe Ter.

bac morphemic analysis

ta.wso Wons.e ghahret Rap.e Gel thog.a, that wos.ic Cahkanp.
tna.wso Rap tog tat.a 'sot Sanlayj.'
tnog Ranp.e Ghwawp Bac.e tat.a 'sot Yanw. Snanlaj sot Gnuw.'
tna.wso Bach.as tog tat.as.a 'sot Ranp Shanlaj wer Ghuw. snot Sanlanh galh.ot.as Gunw tat.as.a, that Wons ged.ek.'
tnog Ranp.e Ghop Gajj.e ta.wso Bac.e tat.a 'desh.ic Tenr galh.er.'
tna.wso Bar.e tat.es Leb.e Ter.

bac glossary

-a: marks apposition
-as: coordinates two words in a sentence which go together but are physically separated
Bac: say
Bar: hear
Cahkap: break, be broken
desh: child
-e: and (goes after each element of coordinated clauses)
-ek: 2
-er: 2nd person possessive
gahret: path
Gajj: look at carefully, inspect, size up
galh: female partner, wife
ged: jaw
Gel: be near
Gop: believe
Guw: be good, do well, benefit
Gwap: suspect
-ic: 3rd person possessive
Leb: smile, be happy
Rap: join, go into
Rap+subjunctive: not be able (in this instance)
Sanlaj: be of assistance
Sanlaj Y Guw: help Y (lit. be of assistance such that Y benefits)
sot: I (appears as |sot| when first used, then |snot|)
ta-: prefix for irregular nouns
tat: which, who
tat.a: marks reported thought or speech
Tenr: be in
Ter: go away
tog: house
wer: you
Wos: go
wos: leg
Wos gedek: be in danger (lit. walk the jaws)
wso: traveller
Yaw: be in pain

bac grammar notes

Roots

All nouns and verbs in bac are based on a root paradigm. This has the form C1VC2. For the word |Wos|, |W| is C1, |o| is V and |s| is C2. For the word |gahret|, |g| is C1, |e| is V and |t| is C2. For an irregular form such as |wso|, a lengthened form |ta.wso.t| is formed. |t| is C1, |o| is V and |t| is C2. Only the parts subject to phonetic change need be included. This should be borne in mind in what follows, as these are the parts of the root that mutate.

Verbs

Verbs have an initial capital

In this passage, two aspects and three tenses are used:

--CVC marks the simple aspect. It represents an event (this is sometimes called the perfective)
--CVnC marks the continuous aspect. It represents an ongoing state or action (this is sometimes called the imperfective)
--CVyC marks the future
--CVwC marks the past.

In bac the 'present' tense (unmarked) is the usual tense or narrative. This corresponds to the English past. Therefore, the bac past tense can be equivalent to the English pluperfect.

Verbs also have mood:

--The indicative CVC is used for narrative.
--In this passage the subjunctive ChVC is used after modal particles.
--The optative is used in this passage to express need (it can also express desire)

Verbs also have a frequentative aspect and a complex system of topic agreement, but these aren't used here.

Nouns

The noun comes in three strengths:

1 CnVC
2 CVC
3 ChVC

--1 is used when the noun is the topic of a sentence and is definite
--2 is used when the noun is the topic of a sentence and is indefinite, or when it is not the topic of the sentence and is definite
--3 is used when the noun is not the topic of a sentence and is indefinite.

Nouns also have number and tense, and can form augmentative and diminutive forms, but these aren't used here.

Sentence Form

The basic form of a sentence is:

[initial comment] [topic/s] [verb] [verbal complement]

In fact, many sentences have more than one verb in them (the following verbs are considered part of the verbal complement).

The topic/s are in form 1 or 2 of the noun, whilst if a noun or a clause is embedded as an initial comment or in the verbal complement, all nouns should be in form 2 or 3. any noun which defines another noun is in form 2 or 3.

Apposition

Apposition is frequent in bac. The particle -a is attached to the initial noun and the noun apposed to it follows. If the first noun is the topic, the second will be in the 1 or 2 form; if it's not the topic, the second will be in the 2 or 3 form. The choice in each case depends whether the apposed noun is definite. The following are particular cases of this:

• Relative Clause

  The form of a relative clause is:

  ...NOUN.a, tat...
  ...NOUN.a, tnat...

  if the tat is in the 1 or 2 form (according to position in the sentence), the relative clause is restrictive. If it is in the 2 or 3 form, the clause is descriptive

• Reported speech

  If a verb is followed by tata '...' this indicates that what follows is either reported speech or reported thought. Reported thought may give the reason for an action, rather than the actual thoughts in someone's head. Nonetheless, the persons of the nouns don't change.

Smooth English translation

A traveller was walking along a path when he came to a house whose leg was broken.
He went up to the house to help.
The house was surprised and said, 'I'm in pain. I need help.'
The traveller said to the house, 'I can't help you at the moment. I'm helping my wife, who's in danger.'
The house didn't believe this, but gave him the once over and said, 'Your wife's pregnant'
The traveller heard this and went away smiling.