Cluza

Last update: 22 October 2007

Introduction

Cluza was, along with Neriskan and Pechnar, one of the principal representatives of the Northern branch of Sunovian. It was spoken in and around the archipelago in the north-west of Sunovia and was in parts one of the most archaic of the Sunovian languages.

Phonology

Vowels

/i E a u/ occurred both short and long, while /e o/ were long only. The diphthongs consisted of six closing diphthongs /ai Ei ui/ and /au Eu iu/ and two opening diphthongs /ie uo/. The long vowels and diphthongs were bimoraic, effectively sequences of two short vowels in which one vowel was more strongly emphasised, typically with a higher pitch, than the other; this emphasis gave rise to rising and falling tones when the second and first vowels respectively were emphasised. This was similar to the intonation of Aneric, but different in many details. In practice, /a: E: Ei ie/ usually had the falling tone, while /e: o: uo/ were generally rising.

The realisations of the diphthongs, but not of the long vowels, were affected by the tones. Generally speaking, the first element of a closing diphthong was pronounced more closely when rising than when falling; thus /ai au Ei Eu/ with falling tone were [Ai Au {i {u], contrasted with [Oi Ou Ei Eu] and sometimes even [oi ou ei eu] when rising. Similarly, /iu ui ie uo/ were close to [ju wi jE wO] when rising and to [iw uj ie uo] when falling.

In phonological transcriptions hereafter, long vowels will be treated as sequences of two short vowels, and the stressed element of long vowels and diphthongs will have the acute accent, the IPA diacritic for high pitch.

Consonants

• Six stops: voiceless /p t k/, voiced /b d g/.
• Four fricatives: voiceless /f s/, voiced /v z/.
• Two nasals: /m n/.
• Two liquids: /l r/.

All consonants had palatalised allophones before front vowels. The allophony was most marked with /k g/, which were often fronted to palatals [c J\] and sometimes even to palato-alveolar affricates [tS dZ].

Transcription

/i a o u/ are represented by <i a o u>. Long /e/ and short /E/ are both transcribed <e>; long /E/ is represented by the digraph <ae>. The diphthongs are transcribed as sequences of their component vowels, with <e> standing for /e/ in /ie/ and for /E/ in the others.

Rising and falling tones are indicated with the acute and grave accents respectively; the acute accent is placed on the second vowel of a digraph and the grave on the first. <aí aé> thus represent /aí EÉ/ with rising tone, and <ài àe> are /ái ÉE/ with falling tone. Note that in the falling diphthongs, the first vowel has the acute accent in phonological transcriptions, but the grave accent in the orthography.

Phonotactics

Inherited consonant clusters could consist of the following:

• Liquid + stop, fricative, or nasal
• Fricative (most commonly /s z/) + stop
• Fricative or stop + liquid
• Liquid + fricative + stop
• Fricative + stop + liquid

Other clusters also occurred as the result of suffixing or compounding. All consonants in a cluster were either voiced or voiceless; the voicing was determined by the final obstruent in the cluster. In the interests of preserving morphological consistency, the assimilation is not always shown in the transcription.

Liaison and sandhi

Liaison occurred when the final consonant was still pronounced, whether the word was in isolation or preceded a word beginning with a consonant. For example, fretùit ólùit "wet leaves (accusative pulral)" was /frE.túi.toó.lúit/, and galsas àpè "the man hunts" was /gal.sa.sàa.pèe/.

Sandhi resembled similar processes in Athomine and Kimbar, although it was not as comprehensive; it consisted in the reappearence of a lost word-final consonant and often the modification of the final syllable:

• A long vowel, and often a diphthong, with the falling tone generated /n/ (very rarely /m/), and a long vowel was shortened: galsài àpè "the men hunt" /gal.sái.náa.pée/, pìedàe àubì "the hands hold" /píe.dE.náu.bíi/.
• Diphthongs in /i/ where not covered above, and long rising /ií/, inserted /z/ and became long vowels with the same tone: galsài àpé "from the man who is hunting" /gal.sáa.záa.peé/, leví àuskè "the river scatters" /lE.vií.záus.kée/.
• Dipthongs in /u/ (very rare) and long rising /uú/ similarly inserted /v/: ìgú uítemus "icy road" /íi.guú.vuí.tE.mus/.

Other instances of sandhi originated in the elimination of vowel hiatus within words. It was somewhat sporadic between words, and the actual details were complicated, but broadly speaking the hiatus was resolved into a long vowel or diphthong:

• séze askè "they (fem) understand" /seé.zEÉs.kée/
• meve utevè "they (tang) freeze" /meé.vÉu.tE.vée/

Intonation and stress

A common phenomenon in speech was the shortening of a long vowel (but not a diphthong) when the weaker element of the vowel was next to a short vowel or the weaker element of a long vowel or diphthong. The effect of the shortening was that the weaker element of the long vowel was lost, leaving behind a short vowel with a high pitch; for example fretós "two leaves" and zàsta "you (pl) drink", formally /frE.toós/ and /záas.ta/, became /frE.tós/ and /zás.ta/, and spìerós was often /spíe.rós/.

When a long vowel with a falling tone was followed by one with a rising tone, either vowel could be shortened; thus ìgú "road, path" could be either /íi.gú/ or /í.guú/. Sometimes a short vowel could cause the shortening of long vowels on either side, as in ìguvé "to the road", with /íi.gu.veé/ becoming /í.gu.vé/.

Ablaut and umlaut

Umlaut proper occurred only in light syllables - those which contained a short vowel followed by a single consonant - and consisted in the alternation of /i E a u/ with /ií eí aí uí/ (i-umlaut) or /iú eú aú uú/ (u-umlaut). The effect on heavy syllables of the conditions which gave rise to umlaut was to suffix /-iz-/ or /-uv-/.

Grammar

Nouns

The dual was more frequent in Cluza than in any other Sunovian language. It was used in place of the plural when referring to two objects which formed a natural pair, such as paired body parts, paired garments like shoes, river banks, and the two sides of a coin. It was also used when speaking of parents, the two guards who stood one on each side of a door, and of ceremonial objects which were used in twos.

There were nine distinct declensions of nouns, the typical singulars and plurals of which are shown in full below. The duals all took the same endings, for which reason only the full dual of "man" and the nominative duals of the others are shown.

Note the following:

• In first declension neuters, the vowel before the /r/ was lost in many cases and in the dual.
• The partitive, genitive, and dual of the second and third declensions all underwent i-umlaut if the stem ended in a light syllable, but suffixed -iz- otherwise. For example, the genitive singulars of zàudes "girl" and fóstes "seed" were zàudizés and fóstizes, and the duals were zàudizós and fóstizós.
• The duals of the fourth and sixth declensions were sometimes extended with -av- by analogy with the longer dual of the seventh declension, for example fretavós spìeravós.
• Some neuter nouns, typically those denoting mass nouns, had plurals, had plurals like neuter singulars of the first; for example zìenuó "grain of sand", plural zìenar "sand".
• Fifth declension nouns all declined alike, regardless of gender.

Adjectives

Attributive adjectives could appear either before or after their nouns, with differences in meaning. For example, in sleírus slakis "white snow", the adjective preceded the noun, implying that the whiteness was an inherent quality of the snow; slakis sleírus, with the adjective following the noun, would be more usual in contrasting the white snow with, for example, slakis zevus "green snow". zevus slakis, like green snow in general, would be unusual.

Comparisons

The corresponding particle for the comparitive of inferiority was dés, as in dés zàesas "less large, smaller". The equative particle was sàp, thus sàp zàesas "as large as".

The superlatives added -u to the comparitive particles: ìsu zàeses dures "largest tree", désu zàeses dures "smallest tree".

Demonstratives

There were no definite or indefinite articles in Cluza.

Pronouns

The final -a was often dropped from the nominative and accusative plurals of the first and second persons.

The genitives and partitives were syntactically adjectives and declined accordingly. The genitive expressed alienable possession, the partitive inalienable; thus amuó zàulis "my ear", with the partitive, but aímus levis "my river", with the genitive. Familial relations were always inalienable, so "to my mother" was thus amé sèulisé, with the partitive; aímé sèulisé, with the genitive, would only be used when referring to, for example, a priestess. The distinction was not made with the neuter and tangible third-person pronouns, which referred to entities not capable of possession.

Usually, as here, the noun followed a possessive adjective; the noun preceded if the adjective was emphasised, thus zàulis amuó "*my* ear".

Three other personal pronouns were used in the singular only:

• The indefinite declined like the first person singular, but began with k- in all cases.
• The reflexive began with v- and declined like the second person singular.
• The switch reference began with z- and declined like the first person singular.

Non-personal pronouns

Prepositions and other function words

Grammatical prepositions could govern any case aside from the nominative or accusative, although the genitive and partitive were commonest. For example, iltì "instead of" was followed by the partitive, mat "without" took the ablative, and uk "with" giverned the allative.

Adverbs of place

• emé emù emi "hither, here, hence"
• aké akù aki "thither, there, thence"
• aré arù ari "to yonder, yonder, from yonder"
• gazé gazù gazi "whither? where? whence?"
• azé azù azi "whither, where, whence"
• lazé lazù lazi "to nowhere, nowhere, from nowhere"

Interrogative adverbs

Numbers

The ordinals were adjectives and always preceded their nouns; the neuter and tangible ordinals from "third" upwards had -am- in place of -es-. Thus díreses funes "the fifth seamstress", but díramus askus "the fifth egg".

Intermediate numbers were expressed with the first syllable of the unit, ìs "and", and the tens: eliskàitis "13", farislùkìs "78".

Verbs

For example, here are the unmarked forms (simple indicative) of the athematic verbs "to write" and "to drink", with the thematic verbs "to carry" and "to hit, strike" given for comparison.

The third person singular of athematc verbs was usually -ì, as in zanì above; the zero ending of àu was an exceptional form, and this form was sometimes regularised to avì. The ending for the switch reference was often reduced to -s.

Dual pronominal subjects took the endings of the corresponding plural; for example ginó zàges "I and he/she/it are drinking". Nominal subjects, regardless of number, always took the endings of the third person singular: zàudizè zanì "the girls are drinking" (not *zàudizè zaná).

In general, all forms in a particular paradigm can be derived from the first persons singular and inclusive plural. For this reason, these two forms only will be given below, except where necessary.

Allomorphy in athematic stems

Not all stems in /v/ or /z/ alternated in this way; "I fly" was flavài, but "we fly" was simply flavdes.

Moods

The imperative mood was used only in the second person singular and plural, and the first persons plural, of the simple aspect. It was formed in the second persons by changing the final -ìe -et -a to -e and in the first persons plural by dropping the final -s; thus ave! "write! (2 sing)", zàge! "let us drink (1 exc pl)", ladede! "let us carry (1 inc pl)", daleste! "strike! (2 pl)".

The subjunctive was characterised by the suffix -tìe, which became -ti- in the plural; both of these took the thematic endings. This suffix was added directly to the stem in athematic verbs; the subjunctives of "write" were thus àu-tìe-r àu-ti-des. The /t/ was preceded by /e/ in thematic verbs, except if the stem ended in /l r s z v/; stems in /z v/ often alternated wih /-i -u/ as in athematic verbs. Thus the subjunctives of "carry" were lad-e-tìe-r lad-e-ti-des, those of zerar zeredes "slip, slide" were zer-tìe-r zer-ti-des, and those of slazar slazedes "ignore" were slài-tìe-r slài-ti-des.

The /t/ of the subjunctive devoiced a preceding consonant; thus the subjunctive of flavài was flavtìer, promounced /flaf.tíer/.

The dubitative, like the subjunctive, always took the thematic verbal endings. It suffixed -u- in the plural and -àu- otherwise to stems of athematic verbs; the dubitatives of "write" were thus av-àu-r av-u-des. The thematic dubitative inserted -uv- in the plural and -av- otherwise before the thematic vowel; thus lad-av-a-r lad-uv-e-des for "carry".

Aspects

The durative aspect was formed by adding a thematic vowel; it was thus the thematic counterpart of athematic verbs and the long-vowel counterpart of thematic verbs, as shown below.

The long thematic vowel corresponding to /a/ was /uó/ in the first person exclusive plural and indefinite, but /oó/ otherwise; the durative of ladages was ladóges. avavar was often shortened to ávar.

The stems of the athematic perfective were different from those of the simple and durative aspects. The relationship between the stems was often obscure, due partly to Cluza inheriting several formations from Sunovian and partly to the subsequent effects of sound-change. The inherited formations were the following.

1. Ablaut; an original /a/ in the stem changed to /e/. Aside from causing /ái/ to alternate with /íe/, there were few surprises.
2. As above, with a further /s/ suffixed to the stem. Inherited intervocalic /s/ was lost in Cluza, which resulted in many divergences from the stem of the simple and durative aspects. An /i/ was inserted before the /s/ if it appeared between two consonants.
3. /-su-/ was suffixed to the stem, which underwent a different change. Historical linguists will note that this was cognate with the derivational suffix -su- in Athomine.
4. /n/ was inserted into the stem, with yet another stem change. This formation was unproductive and limited to about twenty verbs.

The perfective aspect of thematic verbs changed the thematic vowel from /a E/ to /áu Éu/ in all moods.

Examples of all these are shown below.

The unbounded aspect, which was used in the indicative mood only, was formed with reduplication; the results of which were often not obviously related to the other aspects. The unbounded aspects of the above verbs are shown below.

Participles

The active action participle described someone or something which was performing the verbal action. It was formed with the suffix -tam-as; the stems of athematic verbs changed /a/ to /E/ as in some perfective forms, and thematic perfective stems in /l r s z v/ assimilated as for the subjunctive (for example neútamas "killing", slàitamas "ignoring").

The active state participle changed the stem and added -en-as; it described entities which had performed the verbal action.

The passive action participle referred to entities which were experiencing the verbal action or having it done to them. It simply added -ik-as to athematic verbs and -ìek-as to thematic verbs.

The passive state participle, which corresponded to the English past participle, added -z-as to athematic verbs and -eís-as to thematic verbs.

The participles of "write" and "carry" are shown below.

galsas hèutamas thus meant "a/the man who is writing", and galsas zìenas was "a/the man which has eaten". "An eaten egg" was askus zìezus, and "an egg which is being eaten" was askus zìemikus.

Defective verbs

The simple subjunctive was formed on the stem estièr estides, the dubitative on iésavài iésudes, and the unbounded on iésài iézdes.

Another common defective verb was "to go", which had no durative:

The unbounded was enìgài enìdes.

Two special classes of derived verbs were inceptive and stative, which inflected in the simple aspects only. Inceptive verbs were characterised by the suffixes -ev- -u-, and stative verbs by -é- -ez- -i-; all of these took the thematic endings. The principal forms of the inceptive "to freeze" and the stative "to lie, be lying" are shown below.

Conjunctions

Derivation

Nominal suffixes

• baitài "I ask" -> bàitis "question"
• sólài "I set out" -> suólis "departure"
• leskar "I stab" -> lesketis "stab"
• daler "I strike, I hit" -> daltis "blow"
• névar "I kill" -> néutis "kill, victim"

Masculine nominae agentis were commonly formed with -esas plus i-umlaut and -ìesas; the second of these was found only after heavy stems. The feminines suffixed -ises, sometimes -eses, with no umlaut.

• ladar "I carry" -> laídesas "servant", feminine ladises
• bélài "I sing" -> bélìesas "singer", feminine bélises
• avài "I write" -> àusas "scribe", feminine àuses (this is an exception)

These suffixes could also be added to participles to make a noun denoting a person currently temporarily engaged in an action, and to adjectives to turn them into personal nouns:

• ladetamesas "the man who is currently carrying"
• ladenises "the woman who has carried"
• zàesesas "a large man"
• sleírises "a blonde woman"

Some feminine nominae agentis, typically those derived from actions usually (in Cluzax society) performed by women, were formed with plain -es, as with funes "seamstress" from funar "I sew".

Tools, nominae actionis, and so on were usually derived from athematic verbs with -amuó and from thematic verbs with -(a)kis:

• pàilài "I split" -> pàilamuó "axe"
• funar "I sew" -> funakis "darning needle", also fùkis with loss of the vowel

Qualities were derived from nouns with -mí added to the partitive singular after removing the final -s:

• galsas "man" -> galsómí "manliness, virtue (in the classical sense)"
• kàises "woman" -> kàisémí "femininity"

A common suffix making abstract nouns from verbs was -ú, of the eighth declension:

• lékar "I smell" -> lékú "smell, odour"
• nuópài "I sleep" -> nípú "sleep, rest" (in the general sense, contrasted with nípis "a rest")

Abstract nouns were derived from adjectives with -àemú:

• zàesas "large" -> zàesàemú "size"
• zàuzas "heavy" -> zàuzàemú "weight"

Adjectival suffixes

• paskar "I bite" -> paskuvas "bitter"
• slabar "I squeeze" (obsolete) -> slaúbas "thin"

Adjectives of quality were formed with -mas. In nouns of the first five declensions, this was preceded by a vowel specific to the declension; in the sixth and eighth it was preceded by -ize- and -uve- respectively, and similarly in the seventh and ninth, except for light stems which changed and inserted -e-:

• galsas "man" -> galsémas "manly, masculine"
• kàises "woman" -> kàisémas "feminine"
• lastuó "bird" -> lastàimas "avian"
• ilar "water" -> ilremas "watery"
• utis "ice" -> uítemas "icy"

"Having" and "lacking" were expressed with -stas and -las. Again, the intervening vowel depended on the declension:

• kàinas "fish" -> kàinàustas "full of fish", kàinólas "fish-free"
• dures "tree" -> durèustas "covered with trees", durélas "treeless"
• enuó "grass" -> enàustas "grassy", enuólas "bare" (of ground)
• slakis "snow" -> slaíkustas "snowy", more usually slakìustas, slakílas "with no snow"
• vaspus "salt" -> vaspústas "salty", vaspúlas "salt-free"

Adjectives denoting passive ability were formed with -teísas added to verbs, with the same changes as in the subjunctive:

• zàimài "I eat" -> zàiteísas "edible"
• fàikar "I break" -> fàikteísas "breakable, fragile"

Verbal suffixes

• vaspus "salt" -> vaspizar "I season with salt"
• fóstes "seed" -> fóstizar "I sow"
• peles "flower" -> peílar "I bloom, I flourish"
• and note also skaúras "fire" -> skaírar "I burn"

-ir- with stem changes formed athematic intensive verbs, which often denoted repetition:

• ladar "I carry" -> ildirài "I transport goods"
• zanái "I drink" -> inirài "I suck" and zanirài "I drink in large quantities"

These verbs formed their perfectives with -su-, for example ildirsuvài ildirudes.

Stative and inceptive verbs were mostly derived directly from verbs, nouns, and adjectives, although the relationships were sometimes obscured by sound-change:

• àimài "I lie down" -> ímér "I am lying down"
• davài "I sit down" -> duzér "I am sitting down"
• iltài "I stand up" -> iltér "I am standing up"
• aubài "I take" -> uíbér "I hold"
• muízas "red" -> muízevar "I blush"
• zàesas "large" -> zàesevar "I increase, swell"

Diminutives and augmentatives

• kóras "boy" -> kórekas "lad" (mildly affectionate)
• zàudes "girl" -> zàudeles "sweetheart" (endearing)
• leví "river" -> leveklí "rivulet" (neutral)
• traskuó "horn" -> traskeíluó "small horn" (pejorative)

When attached to verbs, the results were always thematic:

• zàimài "I eat" -> zàimeklar "I nibble"
• trapar "I throw" -> trapaílar "I throw without enthusiasm"; note the change from -eí- to -aí- in thematic verbs with this suffix

There were two augmentative suffixes, both of which had two forms depending on the weight of the stem. -às- -ìs- was neutral in tone, -um- -úm- pejorative; the first of each of these caused i- and u-umlaut respectively:

• slakis "snow" -> slàikàsis "blizzard"
• dures "tree" -> duíràsis "large tree"
• àigas "wind" -> àigizàsis "gale" (also àigìsis)
• kalas "dog" -> kaúlumas "cur"
• galsas "man" -> galsúmas "brute"
• taíluó "tongue" -> taìlúmuó "gossip"

Adverbs

Syntax

Word-order

Uses of the cases

The genitive and partitive expressed the relations of alienable and inalienable possession between nouns and pronouns. For example, compare galsós zàudes and galsó zàudes, both of which could be translated "the man's daughter"; the first, with the partitive indicating inalienable possession, would be used if the man was the girl's natural father, whereas the second, where the genitive indicated alienable possession, would imply that the girl was adopted or that the relationship was in some way not strictly familial.

Nouns of the tangible and neuter genders used the partitive with concrete nouns and the genitive with nouns denoting properties and characteristics, for example fóstè spìerazas "the seeds of the fruit" with partitive and zàesàemú spìeraza "the size of the fruit".

The partitive was always used after adjectives and nouns denoting quantity: màulas fretuí "many leaves". Cluza used the quantity adjective sinas "some" where other Sunovian languages would prefer a partitive subject or object.

The directive cases - allative, locative, and ablative - were typically used with prepositions, as explained above, or when simple motion or location were implicit. They were also used idiosyncratically for the objects of certain verbs; for example ìemizar zàudémi "I am afraid of girls" (with ablative), darse tàirtìet amóde spìeróde "stop looking at my breasts" (hi Del!, with the allative). Sometimes the case of the object expressed a difference in meaning; tàirài levír, with the accusative, was "I see a river", but tàirài levizé, with the allative, was "I look at a river".

Impersonal, reflexive, and switch reference

The reflexive pronoun referred to the subject of the verb, as in zàudes vek nàulizè "the girl is washing herself". As in Liotan, use of the reflexive pronoun as the subject indicated an involuntary or accidental action: "I slide on the ice" was utì zerar vek when intentional, but utì zerave am when accidental.

The switch reference pronoun referred to any noun other than the subject of the verb. In zàudes kórar dalàu ìs rèpsàu "the girl hit the boy and she fell", rèpsàu "fell" was in the third person singular and thus referred to the girl, but zàudes kórar dalàu ìs rèpsa it had the switch reference inflection and thus referred to the boy: "the girl hit the boy and he fell".

Uses of the aspects

The simple of "to be" expressed momentary or temporary states, the unbounded permanent ones. It would thus be usual to say slakis sì zevus for "the snow is green"; slakis ìesì zevus, with the unbounded, would imply that greenness was inherent in snow. By contrast, slakis ìesì sleírus for "snow is white" was unexceptional; slakis sì sleírus implied that the snow could be another colour, for example when dirty.

Uses of the moods

Sometimes the choice of mood in dependent clauses affected the meaning of the verb in the main clause; vékài àutìer with the subjunctive was "I want to write", whereas vékài avàur with the dubitative was closer to "I need to write".

Relative clauses

Negatives, interrogatives, and responses

• avài "I write" -> laévài
• eslar "I pull" -> laéslar
• irdar "I push" -> lèirdar
• uíber "I hold" -> levíber

The dubitative, when used in a main clause, indicated a question expecting a yes/no reply: ses bélàu "is she singing?" The reponse to a question was typically just the verb for "yes" and the negated verb for "no", thus bélì, le bélì respectively.

Babel text

1. ìs ràidì binè maluó tàiluó ìs leùras pásài suvetì.
2. ìs u àinatìe kastuvi galsài, Shimarì màirená àimír, ìs ivuná akù.
3. ìs maísas pastà méikade, "dúnede skilùit ìs skaírede mùit dirsuvé". ìs àubená iltì àbrós skilùit ìs iltì lìekrós zizarur.
4. ìs pastená, "fítede keítar ìs fetír uk muvé èuré u milù, ìs stidene veké malser, ré tìegù suvetizas drita lé-àusavak."
5. ìs God àegì ilfi ré to tàirtìe keítar ìs fetír imuvór saítesài galsaí fítàu.
6. ìs God pasté, "tàire! sná zanì maluó iskí, ìs mimus imavas dúná sì zadì nivú, ìs leímus imur vékná ledùteísus sì."
7. "ìde ilfi ìs rìdede sàizuór taíluór, ré le-asketiná meíkàit."
8. ìs God àuskàu sàu tìegù suvetizas, ìs esàuná fítetiná fetír.
9. ìs írì muves malses Babel, tut arù God rìdèu tàiluór iskizas, ìs arù sas sàu tìegù suvetizas àuskèutìe.

Analysis

1. And then exist-DUR-3sing one tongue and few words-PART world-LOC. Note the use of binè "existed"; the defective "to be" could not be used with this meaning.
2. And in come-DUR-SUBJ east-ABL men, Shimar-LOC find-3pl plain-ACC, and live-INCEP-3pl there. "In" with the subjunctive was used for "while".
3. And each-one say-3sing others-ALL, "make-1iIMP bricks-ACC and burn-1iIMP them end-ALL". And hold-DUR-3pl instead-of stone-PART bricks-ACC and instead-of mortar-PART clay-ACC. This is actually quite straightforward.
4. And said-3pl, "build-1iIMP city-ACC and tower-ACC with its-NEUT head in sky-LOC, and give-1iIMP self-ALL name, to surface-LOC world-PART us not-scatter-IMPERS-DUB." Here, ré "to" plus the negative dubitative is equivalent to English "lest". The subjunctive would add certainty to the result, "so that we will not be scattered".
5. And God went down to see-3sing-SUBJ city-ACC and tower-ACC which(tang dual)-ACC sons men-PART build-PERF. Conversely, the dubitative of "to see" would imply "in the hope of seeing", with no certainty about the outcome.
6. And God said, "look! are-3pl only one people, and this what-PART do-3pl is only start, and nothing which want-3pl impossible is." le-dù-teísus "impossible" was the negative of the adjective of ability from dúnài. Note the change in tone due to loss of the nasal.
7. "Go-1iIMP down and confuse-1inc their language to not-understand-3pl-SUBJ others." There is nothing complicated hereafter.
8. And God scatter-PERF them surface-LOC world-PART, and forsook-PERF-3pl build-3pl-SUBJ tower-ACC.
9. And became its name Babel, from there God confused-SUBJ language-ACC people-PART, and from there he them surface-LOC world-PART scattered-SUBJ.

Vocabulary