Ai Se Sa Nimama? Interlinear - Part 1

This is the first half of the detailed interlinear gloss of the Koa translation of Are You My Mother promised in this introductory post. For fans of the work, note that this is the abridged edition, which happens to be the one I read to my girls when they were little:

Eastman, P. D. Are You My Mother? New York: Random House Children's Books, 1988.

Note that these glosses will have a slightly different structure than is usual for my examples: here I include an additional line, italicized, containing a literal translation into English to give a clearer sense of how Koa approaches the meaning expressed in the original text excerpted in each gloss.

Ai Se Sa Ni-mama?
QU 2SG FOC 1SG-mama
Is it you who is my mama?
"Are You My Mother?"

I went for Koa's "mama" word, mama, rather than directly translating the full, formal "mother" as émae. I guess this issue exists even in English, but I just couldn't imagine a newly-hatched baby bird asking where his émae was...that and ameémae for "mother bird" is hideous. I'm pretty sure Koa uses mama for those kinds of constructions wherever they exist: molamama "mama bear," manomama "mama shark," etc.

Also perhaps worth mentioning overtly that mama most naturally takes preposed, inalienable possession marking: thus nimama "my mama" rather than ka mámani "the mama of mine."

A ame-mama vo éki-ne pe ka múna-ta.
INDEF bird-mama PRES.CL sit-LOC BEN DEF egg-3SG
Behold, a mama bird sits there with respect to her egg
"A mother bird sat on her egg."

Obviously "behold" is too strong a word here. The thing is that English doesn't have a great way of saying this kind of thing overtly: we can't say ecco like Italian or jen like Esperanto. Another approach would be "look, there's a mama bird..." or "here we have a mama bird..."

Note that the tense of ékine is translated as present "sits there" rather than past as it appears in the English text. With statives like this Koa isn't as sensitive to tense as English, so though we could have sait siékine "sat there," it wouldn't be the most natural thing to say in Koa, especially in a children's book. See here for an old but in-depth discussion of default TAM status of different types of verbs.

Ka muna i hupa.
DEF egg MAIN.CL jump
The egg jumped
"The egg jumped."

Again no tense marking on the verb, because the unmarked tense of active (i.e. non-stative) verbs defaults to past.

Ni-ki-kíi-pa la ka ame-néne-ni ko suo! — ta-sano.
1SG-DEB-get-INDEF DAT DEF bird-baby-1SG NOM.CL eat 3SG-say
I must get stuff for my baby bird to eat! She said
"I must get something for my baby bird to eat! she said."

My first translation of "I must get something" was a direct calque: Nikikii hua, literally "I have to get something." Much later I realized that hua for "something" in this context too heavy-handed, and maybe not so idiomatic in Koa. I ended up using the "indefinite object" -pa suffix (discussion here), which deemphasizes the particular nature of the "something," just leaving the sense that she needs to engage in getting stuff generally.

I also went back and forth on whether "I must get" should be translated with a pronoun as nikikíipa, or if it was enough to say simply kikíipa with no pronoun. This is something Koa can do -- pronouns aren't positively required, just available for clarity -- so leaving it out would give the sense of "Gotta get something!" rather than "I must get something!" I did end up choosing the pronoun because the English text is a little formal too, but I continue to be torn.

Laa vo ta-la-poi.
therefore PRES.CL 3SG-DAT-away
So behold, she to-awayed
"So away she went."

Ne-sala ka pesa, ka muna i hupa.
LOC-inside DEF nest DEF egg VB.CL jump
In inside of the nest, the egg jumped
"Inside the nest, the egg jumped.

I fret about "inside," wondering if just ne ka pesa "in the nest" would have been entirely sufficient. I guess it's probably not of tremendous consequence.

Hupa, hupa, hupa. Ata...
jump jump jump reach
Jump, jump, jump. Reach...
"It jumped and jumped and jumped. Until..."

...a ame-nene vo tule la-pole!
INDEF bird-baby PRES.CL come DAT-outside
behold, a baby bird came to outside!
"...out came a baby bird!"

Ne-kea sa ni-mama? — ta-sano.
LOC-what FOC 1SG-mama 3SG say
What is my mama in? he said
"Where is my mother? he said."

Ta-na-si-náe-ta ne-naa.
3SG-NEG-ANT-see-3S LOC-nothing
He didn't see her in nothing
"He did not see her anywhere."

Nope, I still don't know what should happen with strings of negative words in negative sentences; for the moment I'm not issuing a verdict, and just treating them the same way that Spanish or Polish would. But maybe tanasináeta nehua "I don't see here anywhere" is better? I'm just not sure how to make this decision.

Vo ni-vi-háke-ta, — ta-sano.
PRES.CL 1SG-IMP-search-3SG 3SG-say
Behold, let me look for her, he said
"I will go and look for her, he said."

A more literal translation of "I will go and look for here would be" Vo nicuháketa, "Behold, I will/would look for her." But cu is more about futurity or possibility, not intention as I think is going on here. The volitive lu was another possibility, but again too strong on the wanting. I ended up settling on the imperative vi as a kind of personal exhortation.

O-sala ka pesa vo ta-lahe. La-lovo, la-lovo, la-lovo! Popo!
ABL-inside DEF nest PRES.CL 3SG-leave DAT-lower DAT-lower DAT-lower plop
From inside of the nest, behold he left. To lower to lower to lower! plop
"Out of the nest he went. Down, down, down! Plop!"

Ka ame-nene i na-voi ko lehu.
DEF bird-baby VB.CL NEG-able NOM.CL fly
The baby bird can't fly
"The baby bird could not fly."

Ala ko kave, ta-voi.
but NOM.CL walk 3SG-able
But walking, he is able
"But he could walk."

I'd just like to say I'm proud of this one. It's not anything like the English structure, but feels like it's getting at the meaning in a solidly Koa way.

He-sena ni-lu-luta ni-mama, — ta-sano.
TEMP-now 1SG-VOL-find 1SG-mama 3SG-say
At now I will/would find my mama, he said
"Now I will go and find my mother, he said."

Here I went with the volitive niluluta "I want/intend to find," but I have some anxiety that I messed it up and should again have chosen the imperative niviluta "let me find" instead. I'm counting on lu for as much "I mean to do this" energy as it can give me here.

Ai se sa ni-mama? — ka ame-nene i kusu a séne-to.
QU 2SG FOC 1SG-mama DEF bird-baby VB.CL ask INDEF cat-CHILD
Is it you who is my mama? the baby bird asked a kitten
"Are you my mother? the baby bird asked a kitten."

Ka séne-to i ie-nae, nae. Naa sa ta-sano.
DEF cat-CHILD VB.CL JUST-see see nothing FOC 3SG-say
The kitten just sees, sees. nothing is what it said
"The kitten just looked and looked. It did not say a thing."

Ie "just" is a more recent addition to Koa, inspired/informed by Nahuatl a couple years ago. The full form of "only," mono, would have been okay here too -- Ka séneto i nae, nae i mono -- but ie is quicker and I think a better fit to the intended semantics.

Ai se sa ni-mama? — ka ame-nene i kusu a móa-he.
QU 2SG FOC 1SG-mama DEF bird-baby VB.CL ask INDEF chicken-FEM
Is it you who is my mama? the baby bird asked a hen
"Are you my mother? the baby bird asked a hen."

Na, — ka móa-he i sano.
NEG DEF chicken-FEM VB.CL say
No, the hen said
"No, said the hen."

Ai se sa ni-mama? — ka ame-nene i kusu a kunu.
QU 2SG FOC 1SG-mama DEF bird-baby VB.CL ask INDEF dog
Is it you who is my mama? the baby bird asked a dog
"Are you my mother? the baby bird asked a dog."

Na se-mama sa ni.
NEG 2SG-mama FOC 1SG
It is not your mama that I am
"I am not your mother."

Kunu sa, — ka kunu i sano.
dog FOC DEF dog VB.CL say
It is a dog, the dog said
"I am a dog, said the dog."

Idiomatic pronoun omission again...

Ai se sa ni-mama? — ka ame-nene i kusu a léma-e.
QU 2SG FOC 1SG-mama DEF bird-baby VB.CL ask INDEF cow-FEM
Is it you who is my mama? the baby bird asked a cow
"Are you my mother? the baby bird asked a cow."

Ni mo-kea sa ni-cu-te-imi se-mama?
1SG SIM-what FOC 1SG-IRR-ABIL-self 2SG-mama
Me how is it that I could equal your mama?
"How could I be your mother?"

There's a bunch going on here. First of all, there's the very odd-to-English imi, which means "self" but also "identity" in a mathematical sense, an equals sign (more about that here). Theoretically I think nisemama could mean "I'm your mom," so one could pile that whole clause into a single verb phrase nicutesemama "I could be your mom, but...I'm a little uncertain and therefore uncomfortable with statements of identification as VP's in general, which may merit its own post to figure out. Basically, can definite phrases themselves be predicates? Is "she's the woman of my dreams" takamina ka móeni or does it have to be taimi ka mina ka móeni? The syntax of the former is breaking all kinds of rules and I don't at all care for it, so maybe this is an open and shut case. We had to use imi in the translation above, because semama, the predicate, is definite -- voilà. [Update a week later: on further reflection I came to a different conclusion with regard to verbs with pronominal subjects, but I'll let this stand as part of the process.]

...and that means that the title of the story could never have been Ai Se Nimama? like I was saying yesterday even if there had been no formal focus: it would have to have been Ai Seimi Nimama? (And the final title, Ai Se Sa Nimama?, is in fact a shortening of an underlying ai se sa nimama i imi? "is it you that my mama equals?")

Secondly, I think this may be the first recorded example of both topicalization and focalization in the same sentence. Ni out front there is establishing itself as topic: "Me? If we're talking about me, I can't be your mother..." That's followed by a typical fronted/focalized question word, and then the VP which still has a 1SG pronoun. The topicalization was necessary because from a pragmatically sensitive standpoint, the question isn't just "How could I be your mother?", it's "How could I be your mother?" As such, it's necessary to emphasize the topicality of "I." I'm glad a sentence like this happened to turn up, and rather chuffed with how well the Koa syntax ended up handling it.

ka léma-e i sano. — Léma-e sa ni.
DEF cow-FEM VB.CL say cow-FEM FOC 1SG
The cow said. Cow is what I am
"said the cow. I am a cow."

All for today -- second half coming soon. I'm not sure what's going on but I appear to have suddenly been hit by a full-speed Koa train; I must have spent four hours today writing, and probably that many yesterday too. I hope it sticks around for a while! I'm going to have to fire up my vocab database and refresh my memory, I'm getting pretty rusty on my newer vocabulary.