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Pig Latin/Lessons/5:Basic Nouns
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Main Concept
Important things this Main Concept! Just like every Main Concept. Not sure why
I brought it up, if the importance is implied. No matter! Look at the second
word of the first sentence of this Main Concept. No, there's no subliminal
messaging (that you should be aware of-- you know, by the very nature of
subliminal messaging)-- that word is, believe it or not, a plural!
In NAPL, plurals are much like English-- they end in s. Take any noun, just
add an s, and you're good to go. Here's one, for example: "āmrādkays" is
perfect NAPL for "comrades." Simple, huh? Just wait, it gets better:
Some languages require adjectives and nouns agree when it comes to plurality.
NAPL is not one of them. I.E. "udgey omhays" is totally valid, "udgeys omhays"
sounds ridiculous. Don't sound ridiculous, don't "plural" your adjectives!
In English, when you're negating things, you generally just add a "not" to the
front. Every time you've got to negate something, you need to insert an entire
word in the middle of the sentence-- for most people, you probably only use it
a few times a day. For a debby-downer, though, the word-total can compound
rather quickly.
NAPL doesn't have a word for negation, just a prefix. In front of any word--
noun, adjective, adverb, verb... anything-- just add a "ny". Modifying the
example from earlier, "nyāmrādkays" would mean "not-comrades." Here's a verb
example: Let's say you're a monk and you often have to say, "do not want;" in
NAPL, you'd just say "nyōuantō," and everyone would understand. "Nyōuantō,"
after all, is the infinitive form of "to not want" (ny + ōuantō).
We can even do that stupid thing where people use double or triple negations
(I don't not-not want that): "Ī nynynyōuantaya." Does it work? Yes. Will
anyone understand a single thing you have to say? God no.
Alright, time to shift gears back to verbs. ("Verbs?! In a noun
lesson?!" Well, yes. You'll manage.) In particular, we're harking back to
the most dreaded part about verbs, conjugations. We've already covered all
of the possible conjugations, but there is one more thing to cover: The
only irregular verb in Pig Latin. The word? To be.
Actor NAPL English I ām am You ār are He/She/They īs is They ār are We ār are
Well, there you have it. Congratulations! You just survived your first and only
irregular NAPL conjugation, and seemed to have made it with minimal injury!
Truly an achievement.
Now, it's time to reflect upon this conjugation. Does it remind you of
anything? Well, frankly, I'd hope so. I made it painfully obvious with that
"English" column and all. The English and NAPL forms are the same. Isn't
that crazy? Literally zero modification necessary, they're interchangable.
Do you happen to remember my "English-is-derived-from-NAPL" hypothesis from
chapter 2? Well, I believe this is yet more concrete evidence in that
direction. But, again, that's enough speculation. How about some vocabulary
instead?
Vocabulary
īmteay: time
rsunpay: person
ēngťay: thing
laspay: place
uvlay: love
ādgay: god
ōuay: way
ōumunay: woman
ānmay: man
rlgay: girl
oibay: boy
ōurld: world
tatsay: state
untrēkay: country
ārtpay: part
ēspay: piece
āgbay: bag
upkay: cup
ōdfay: food
rēnkday: drink
and: ānd
angōijlay: language
Ēngliŝ: English
Nō Anglāy Igpāy Atinlay: New Anglo Pig Latin
No cohesive theme with these ones, other than that they're very common and are
all nouns. This is obviously sane lesson-planning at its finest. Now onto
what is obviously sane exercise-writing at its finest. :-)
Exercises
English to NAPL
Exercise 5.1 1) A woman fights me in this state. 2) I fight a man in English, he fights me in Pig Latin. 3) We eat this food and drink. 4) I won't write "god" in that state. 5) You don't write in English, you hate English!
Answers 5.1 1) A ōumunay ītfayi mē in isťāy tatsay. 2) Ītfayu a ānmay in Ēngliŝ, ītfayi in Igpāy Atinlay. 3) Ētayo isťāy ōdfay ānd rēnkday. 4) Nyōuritiya "ādgay" in ātťāy tatsay 5) Ēō nyōuritayā in Ēngliŝ, athayā Ēngliŝ!
NAPL to English
Exercise 5.2 1) Ēdnayu ātťāy ēspay uf ōdfay! 2) Ītfō in Igpāy Atinlay, is uvlō. 3) Kukōyu ōdfay Ī ētiyu, rendfay! 4) Ōuritayu rēkōentfāy umdāy ēngťays. 5) Ēō ōuritayā īgbāy ānd uvlāy Igpāy Atinlay.
Answers 5.2 1) I need that piece of food! 2) To fight in Pig Latin is to love. 3) Cook food I will eat, friend! 4) I frequently write dumb things. 5) You write big & lovely Pig Latin.