From The Languages of David J. Peterson
Revision as of 03:39, 3 April 2020 by Djp (talk | contribs) (Changed the words to links.)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Méníshè

Etymology

From Proto-Méníshè *pan.

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /ba˩/

Postposition

  1. about, regarding, concerning
  2. with respect to
  3. for (when used for topicalization)
    t'akálà jùrìmé kat'énjì t'amwè.
    Perhaps it is time for some new leadership.
    -General Sharma (Motherland: Fort Salem)

Creation and Usage Notes

It's such a little word, but the experience of creating was a moment of beauty for me. We needed to translate General Sharma's line above ("Perhaps it is time for some new leadership"), which seems simple enough, right? But when you break it down and think about what meaning is provided by each phrase, it's actually quite complex to translate. As we tackled potential translations, one of the things we focused on was how to express the meaning of the phrase "for some new leadership," and our discussions led to , a postposition originating from the verbal root *pan (meaning "to think about, to consider"). In a more literal translation of the Méníshè line, Sharma is saying something like "Considering a new leader" or "In thinking about a new leader," which I still find very linguistically elegant.

-Jessie Sams 12:12, 2 April 2020 (PDT)