Kar Marinam text

pshóms emús klútir fè snès ÿnmemsi sgidrowy ùsnihokesh
mby remeletom lýmrëta msýdäshba sus ùsnihokesh
lam gàshek wòk dlurak ùsnihokesh

dhugúho lekremél sùk mpúwabésbö krú
bratígà shwùsok egïli
dhlem gòlem èpróho udashdadhÿ ehosi
dhyl mlih sgágim mpedhlishiklëhopont märél

Kar Marinam interlinear

Text with grammatical tags added:

pshóms emús klúti-(e)rUM wè snès ÿnmem-si sgir-do-wy ùUM-snihok-esh
mby remel-tom l-ýmrëta ms-ýdäbsha sus ùUM-snihok-esh
lam gàsh-ek wòg dlur-ak ùUM-snihok-esh

dhugú-o le(k/UM)-remél sùk mp(e)-ú-wabés-pó krú
bra-tígà shwùsok egïli
dhlem gòlem èr-pó-o udash-t-dhÿ ehosi
dhylNM blih sgá-gim mp(e)-dh-l-ishik-lë-op-nt märél

Interlinear:

pshóms     emús      klúti-(e)rUM wè   snès     ÿnmem-si         sgir-do-wy         ùUM-snihok-esh
old.person take.NF.D wolf-C1.Sp   not1 healthy1 APG.Pat-healthy2 TD.An.Gr-baby-not2 TE.An.Sp1-winter-TE.An.Sp2

mby remel-tom  l-ýmrëta       msýdäshba     sus  ùUM-snihok-esh
on1 plants-on2 Inc-dwell.NF.D Neg-can.NF.St rock TE.An.Sp1-winter-TE.An.Sp2

lam    gàsh-ek     wòg    dlur-ak     ùUM-snihok-esh
cruel1 beak-cruel2 sharp1 claw-sharp2 TE.An.Sp1-winter-TE.An.Sp2

dhugú-o     le(k/UM)-remél        sùk mp(e)-ú-wabés-pó                 krú
ASSC.TD-App Gen.An.Gr-exuberance  boy S:An.Pl-Imp-pray.F.D.NP-AP.An.Sp I.AP

bra-tígà        shwùsok egïli
Loc.In.Gr-earth summer  dance.NF.D

dhlem   gòlem èr-pó-o          udash-t-dhÿ       ehosi
ASSC.Gl I.Gl  sun-AP.An.Sp-App mother-C2.Sp-ASSC see.NF.D/St

dhylNM   blih   sgá-gim     mp(e)-dh-l-ishik-lë-op-nt                            märél
ASSC.Gen under1 step-under2 S:An.Pl-grow.F.D.NP1-Inc-grow.F.D2-Opt-Thus-DO:An.Pl flower

Abbreviations:

An - Animate
AP - Agent-Patient case
APG - Animate Plural General pronoun
App - Appositive
ASSC - Animate Singular Specific Casual pronoun
C1 - Construct 1
C2 - Construct 2
D - Dynamic
DO - Direct Object
F - Finite
Gen - Genitive
Gl - Goal
Gr - General
In - Inanimate
Inc - Inchoative
Loc - Locative case
Neg - Negative
NF - Non-Finite
NP - Non-Past
Opt - Optative
Pat - Patient case
Pl - Plural
S - Subject
Sp - Specific
St - Static
TD - Trigger-Dynamic case
TE - Trigger-Existential case

Kar Marinam glossary

NOUNS

dlur - 1 hook; 2 claw
èr - sun
gàsh - beak
klúti - wolf
märél - flower
pshóms - 1 old person; 2 beggar
remel - 1 brush, plants; 2 foliage
remél - joy, happiness, exuberance, excitement
sgá - step, footstep, pace
snihok - winter, wet season (this covers half of the year)
sùk - boy
sus - rock, stone
shwùsok - summer, dry season (this covers the other half of the year)
tígà - ground, earth, dirt
udash - mother

PRONOUNS

dhlem - 2nd or 3rd person, animate, singular, specific, casual, Goal case
dhugú - 2nd or 3rd person, animate, singular, specific, casual, Trigger-Dynamic case
dhÿ - 2nd or 3rd person, animate, singular, specific, casual, Patient/Unmarked case
dhylNM - 2nd or 3rd person, animate, singular, specific, casual, Genitive case
gòlem - 1st person, singular, Goal case
krú - 1st person, singular, Agent-Patient case
ÿnmem - 2nd or 3rd person, animate, plural, general, Patient

VERBS

ýdäbsha - can, be able to [in terms of own ability, not permission], enable, succeed; Non-Finite, Static form
dhishik - grow, sprout [refers to plants only]; non; Finite, Static, Non-Past Form
egïli - dance; Non-Finite, Dynamic form
ehosi - 1 see, look, view; 2 plan; Non-Finite, Dynamic OR Static form
emús - pluck, pull, steal, snatch, grab, whisk away; Non-Finite, Dynamic form
ýmrëta - live, reside, dwell, inhabit; Non-Finite, Dynamic form
wabés - 1 summon; 2 pray, hope; Finite, Dynamic, Non-Past form

ADJECTIVES

blih-gim - under, beneath, below
lam-ek - cruel, vicious
mby-tom - at [a place], on, upon
snès-si - healthy
wè-wy - Negation marker for nouns; not
wòg-ak - sharp, pointed, broken, jagged

AFFIXES

bra- - Locative case marker, for inanimate, general nouns
-(e)rUM - Construct marker, for specific nouns (animate or inanimate)
-l- - Inchoative marker for verbs; this is an infix that shows up before the fist vowel in the word
-lë - Optative marker for verbs; the speaker wishes or hopes that the verb will take place
le(k/UM)- - Genitive marker for animate, general nouns
mp(e) - agreement marker for Verbs; this shows that the subject is animate and plural
ms- - Negation marker for non-finite verbs
-nt - agreement marker for Verbs; this shows that the direct object is animate and plural
-o - Appositive marker
-op - "thus"; shows that the verbs leading up to this one are related to it and lead up to it in some way, if not directly cause it
-pó - Agent-Patient case marker for animate, specific nouns
sgir- - Trigger-Dynamic case marker, for animate, general nouns
-t- - Construct 2 marker; comes between head noun and modifier (in that order)
ú- - Imperative marker for verbs
ùUM- -esh - Trigger-Existential case for specific nouns; this is a circumfix

(NOTE - the "UM" and "NM" in several of the affixes refer to different types of mutations that they trigger, which you don't have to worry about for the translation)

Kar Marinam grammar notes

EXPLANATION OF CASES/RELATIONALS

Agent-Patient - the noun is both experiences the action or state described by the verb, and is the willfully causes it
Appositive - joins two nouns to show that they refer to the same entity, as in "my friend, John"; the second noun is not marked for case, but assumed to be in the same case as the first
Construct 1 - joins one noun (the one the affix attaches to) to a modifier as described for the Genitive case, or to a relative clause
Construct 2 - expresses the same semantic relationships as described for the Genitive below, but the head noun and one modifier are combined into one word with the affix in between
Genitive - like the Construct marker this marks several types of relationships, however this attaches to not the head noun, but the MODIFIER itself; semantically it is similar to the word "of" in English, expressing anything from ownership to amount to more abstract relations
Goal - shows what the action or state is focused on; often corresponds to a direct object in English
Locative - location in, on, or at
Patient/Unmarked - refers to experiencer of a state (including mere existence) or action; this is the least marked form and is also used for nouns that have no particular role in the sentence itself, or whose role is shown by an adjective
Trigger-Dynamic - The trigger form in general is used to focus on or topicalize a particular noun phrase (possibily made up of more than one noun phrase, conjoined); a noun in this form can move to a position other than the one mandated by normal word order rules, though it maintains its status as Subject or Object; it can be used to split up a sequence of conjoined nouns, so that some can remain in place, and others can be moved and topicalized; here anyway, the verb in the clause ends up taking the case affix that would have appeared on the noun to mark its role in the clause had it not taken the trigger affix (or the verb may not take any affix - remember, the Patient form is unmarked); this particular form is only used in a clause with a dynamic verb
Trigger-Existential - functions as the form described above, but this is used in clauses with a (null) copula

VERB FORMS

Finite - a sentence may only have one Finite verb in it, and it comes at the end; it alone is inflected for tense (the choices being Past or Non-Past, and it alone is inflected to show agreement, and most other categories)
Non-Finite - verbs that come before the final verb in the sentence are Non-Finite; tense must be inferred from context (such as the tense of the final verb); agreement is shown; various mood-type distinctions also must be inferred from inflections on the final, Finite verb
Static - the verb refers to a state (e.g. "know")
Dynamic - the verb refers to an action (which for some verbs can be described as entrance into a state, being in the state, and exit from the state)
Inchoative - built upon the dynamic form, this refers only to entrance into the state/action

WORD ORDER

The basic order in a Finite clause (containing a Finite verb) is Object-Verb-Subject.
In a Non-Finite clause, the verb must come at the end, so the order becomes Object-Subject-Verb.
A noun phrase's status as a subject or object is determined by its syntactic position; the noun phrase furthest to the right in a clause is the subject, the next one to the left is the direct object. Because of this, Subjects and Objects can have roles that they would never have in most languages. (This may all sound circular, so I'll just mention that word order is determined by case; this isn't relevant to the translation though.)

NOUN PHRASES

Nouns are inflected to show whether they are specific or general:

If the identity of whoever or whatever is referred to by the noun is known by the speaker and felt to matter, the noun is specific.
If the identity is not known by the speaker and/or is unimportant/irrelevant, it is general.

This information, along with animacy, is shown in case affixes. If the noun happens to be in the Patient/Unmarked form, neither will be shown (except for pronouns).
Number is never indicated on the noun itself (agin, excepting pronouns), but is indicated on verbal agreement affixes, when they occur.

Nouns are conjoined simply by placing them next to each other; there is no word for "and". Only the last noun in a sequence of conjoined nouns will take overt case inflections, but they are assumed to apply to all the previous ones as well. However, case is always indicated on a pronoun, conjoined or not.

Adjectives are linked to nouns by splitting in two, and having the first part precede the noun as a separate word, and the second part act as a suffix. One adjective can cover multiple conjoined nouns, if the first part precedes them all, and the second attaches to the final noun in the sequence.

The term "adjective" itself does not refer to exactly the same type of class in Kar Marinam as in English. While it does include some convential descriptive terms, it also includes what are in English grouped separately as prepositions, and several other types of modifiers.

RELATIVE CLAUSES

These precede or follow the noun, or can do both at once. The verb in a preceding relative clause must be in a Non-Finite form. Part of it however, can be moved to a position following the head noun (to create a pseudo-internally headed relative clause). Any relative clause, partial relative clause, or other modifier following the head noun must be linked to it by the construct marker.

OTHER

The copula is null as long as it is static; again, there is no marking of tense for any static verbs, and therefore for the copula as well.

Clauses and verb phrases are joined in the same way as noun phrases - that is, without an overt word for "and", though that meaning, or something similar (there's a bit wider range of interpretation) is assumed. Sometimes a non-finite clause joined in this basic way can function as a complement clause in English.

Smooth English translation

Winter is a wolf that takes the elderly, not healthy people or children.
Winter is a rock that cannot take hold on plant life.
Winter is a cruel beak and sharp claws.

You, exuberant boy, and I, let us pray.
May summer dance on the earth,
May the sun, your mother, look upon us,
And may flowers begin to grow beneath your footsteps.