Conlang Christmas Card Exchange 2009
December 2009
Fellow conlanger Amanda Babcock Furrow from Conlang-L suggested in November that we could write cards to each other for Christmas and the New Year. Anything was allowed to be included actually, as long as it was for a festivity, and written in the participant's constructed language. Personally I rushed to buy some cards and the bookshop I got mine in didn't yet have any appropriate Christmas cards that I liked. In an unfortunate accident however two cards got bent and tore, so I went and bought two actual christmassy Christmas cards – Mark ("Marsyan") thus got a "first edition" card, and Eugene ("Vesbandan") and Henrik ("Bayhirang") a "second edition" one each. In the first run of making cards I made a few small mistakes in the composition of my text in Ayeri as well because I could not wait to get the cards ready. If we are going to have this in 2010 as well, I'm going to take more care and plan more carefully. Here is a morphemic breakdown of what I wrote:
Litareng
Litareng
<name>
Litareng
17´
menla-itan (na)
dozen-seventh (GEN)
nineteenth (of)
Menan
Menan
<name>
First Month
6A1
myesing-malla-men
sixgross-tenty-one
nine hundred eighty-five
Litareng, 19-I-985
diyatisu!
diyat-isu
value-CAU
valued!
Valued ...!
Məningyas,
ma-ning-yas
PST-tell-1S.PAT
I have been told,
pəbriyyan
pa-briy-yan-Ø
PROXFUT-celebrate-3PM.FOC
you will soon celebrate
bekalas
bekal-as
holiday-PAT
a holiday
kapo
kapo
important
important
ranayya
ranay-ya
culture-LOC
in culture
vana.
vana
2S.GEN
your.
I have been told that you are soon going to celebrate an important holiday in your culture.
koron-koronisayang,
<REDUP>-koron-isa-yang
<again>-know-CAU-1S.AGT
I remember
adanyareng
adanya-reng
that_one-AGT.INAN
that
bahisley
bahis-ley
day-PAT.INAN
the day
siyā
si-Ø-yā
REL-PAT-LOC
on which
vəvesaya¹
va-vesa-ya
DISTPST-bear-3SM
long ago was born
pangalas
pangal-as
god-PAT
god
manga kong
manga kong
MOTION inside
into
mavayya
mavay-ya
world-LOC
the world
ku-keynamley².
ku=keynam-ley
like=human-PAT.INAN
as a human.
If I remember (correctly), that is the day when your god was born into the world as a human.
Edaya,
edaya
here
Here,
kəbriyanang
ka-briy-nang
PROXPST-celebrate-1P.AGT
we have just celebrated
perican
perican-Ø
year-FOC
the year
hiro.
hiro
new
new.
Here, we have just celebrated the new year.
Hanuyang
hanu-yang
wish-1S.AGT
I wish
ban-vā
ban=vā
good-most
the best
vayam
vayam
2S.BEN
to you
pandahayam
pandaha-yam
family-BEN
to family
soyang
soyang
or
or
ledonyeyam
ledon-ye-yam
friend-PL-BEN
to friends
vana.
vana
2SG.BEN
your.
I wish all the best to you and your family or friends.
Krisyān
Krisyān
<name>
Krisyān
Krisyān
(Sirutay
sirutay
night
night
ternu
ternu
holy
holy
mino!)
mino
happy
happy!
(Merry Christmas!)
¹) Should have been sa vəvesaya pangal ( ) since the sentence does not have a subject otherwise.
²) Should have been keynamas ( ), since people are of course animate, not inanimate!
As I said, the errata above is what you get when you can't wait to get things done. In-role, Krisyān is supposed to be a slightly ignorant inhabitant of my conworld, where Christmas is a foreign holiday he has heard of, however he does not want to be impolite. It seems that declension isn't his strongest suit however...
M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S to you, your families and your friends!