Text of the song: Chorus: Kíraj tektúriu í Kíraj tektúriu í Úma kajársu 'mpi tírva he Kíraj tektúriu í! Táv'n enunúma ka tíkan tisúver Kíraj etís, etúam erumáv Kíu naína vikúra vus súrteku Kínsat urníram esámati háv! (Chorus) Ástavi nívum, ki túsam ekvássi Rúntan ekíru kenáhaten uspán Túhanu kájasmu sívaj etúturna Sákastin tákir i, hísti ruám! (Chorus) Táv teman úrasi ánsi tetúri Kéruastírvan, kástitis ukúr Ínma tijíkutu súm uhtisúvrat jus Kíu kerámat kesúnim han ká! (Chorus) NB: I've placed accents in the text to show where emphasis falls in the song, and thus to give a sense of a the rhythm. The accents are not grammatically relevant and can be ignored when translating. The word "Chorus", to be 100% clear, is in English. Grammar: Basic word order tends toward SVO or VSO, but this cannot be relied upon, especially in poetic language. There are several instances in this text where an object comes before the verb. Prefixes you will encounter in this text: t- 1sg k- 2sg uh- 1pl inclusive e- 3sg subject vi- 3sg obviate object Ø- 3sg object ur- impersonal sa- imperative Both the subject and object are marked on the verb. If both are present, the subject marker comes first; an epenthetic _-e-_ is sometimes inserted to prevent syllables more complex than CVC. Note that the 3sg subject marker _e-_ is often omitted when a verb is relativized or if the root begins with a vowel. Used with a noun, the prefixes listed above indicate a possessor. The rare 3sg obviate subject marker _vi-_ is used when both the subject and object of a verb are in the 3rd person, and the topic (marked with _-(e)n_, or, in the absence of a marked topic or any contextually salient topic mentioned in a previous clause, the first noun you encounter) is not the subject. *Negation* of verbs is accomplished with the infix _-ru-_, which is placed after any prefix and before the root or volitional marker _-as-_. *Reduplication* is also a productive process in this language; while it can be used in a variety of ways, in this text it is used to indicate continuous or frequentative aspect. There is exactly one verbal *Suffix* in this text: _-u_, which forms causatives. There are two noun suffixes in the text: the topic marker _-(e)n_ and the Locative/Adverbial marker _-at_. *Relative Clauses* are formed by simple juxtaposition of a noun and a verb to be relativized, usually (but not 100% obligatorily) with the verb second. The verb must agree with the noun, although (as mentioned above) the _e-_ prefix is usually omitted. In this text, only subjects are ever relativized. A *Serial Construction* is possible, in which a conjugated verb and any associated adverbs or directionals is immediately followed by a second verb with no prefix (which may in turn be followed by its own adverbs and/or object). The two verbs share the same subject. This construction is used to express both actions happening in sequence and actions happening at the same time and/or together (roughly equivalent to "and then" and "and" in English). Similarly, two complete sentences can be juxtaposed to express that the second occurs simultaneously with or immediately after the first, and two fully conjugated verbs sharing a common object (usually placed after the serial construction) can be juxtaposed with a similar meaning. *Directoinal Adverbs* are frequently paired with verbs. These can be interpreted either literally or figuratively, and often change a stative verb into an expression indicating a change of state. As this is a song, there are several cases in which a vowel has been elided, marked with an apostrophe (<'>) as expected. Additionally, a vowel /e/ present in the dictionary form of a word may disappear when certain affixes are added, as it is usually only there for epenthetic purposes. There is also quite a bit of figurative and/or poetic language, so not everything should be taken entirely literally. Vocabulary: ansi (adv) with pleasure, gladly; expresses liking something arsu (v) to horse around, be rambunctious asmu (v) to imagine (actively) astavi (v) to be far away empi (adv) all over, all around han (conj) if (placed after first word of clause (usually the verb)) hav (adv) into an open state, open he (adv) out, outwards, towards the outside histi (n) a cute term for a small child i (adv) into a closed state, closed ikut (v) to be hidden inma (n) treasure, valuable item, something precious jus (v) to be shared, held in common ka (adv) in, inwards, towards the inside kastin (v) (with i) to close ki (conj.) nevertheless, but kinsat (adv) in the morning kiraj (adv) now kiru (v) to return (from a long journey) kiu (pron) each, every, all kura (v) to look at man (v) to be mav (v) to lack, be without naina (n) nursing parent, grandparent, adult of nursing age niram (v) to be white; (of sky) to be bright/light nivum (n) birthing parent, mother, (young) woman numa (v) to walk ramat (v) to find ruam (v) to be dear, darling, beloved runtan (adv) someday, at some unspecified point in the future samati (v) to be awake sivaj (n) a small, mischevious, but benevolent mythical creature sum (adv) scattered, to many places, all around sunim (v) to look for, search for, seek surteku (v) to protect, make/keep safe takir (n) eyes, sight tav (n) baby, small child tikan (v) to explore, study, examine tirva (v) to laugh tirvan (v) to stay up, be awake, not sleep tis (v) to dream tuam (n) friend, companion, company turi (v) to sleep turna (v) to play (as a child with toys/friends) tusam (adv) never uhanu (v) to tell (a story, narrative, etc.) ukur (adv) frequently, all the time uma (adv) tomorrow urasi (adv) long ago uspan (v) to be kind, nice uver (n) land, country, place vassi (v) to forget vus (adv) downwards Cultural Notes: The speakers of this language are very very similar to humans, but there are a couple of important biological and cultural differences. Of these, the most important one for this text is their family structure: entire extended families living together under one roof is the rule, with children being cared for primarily by their grandparents and great-grandparents while their birth parents are off finding themselves and taking risks. The appellation "nursing parent" for a grandparent is quite literal — the grandparent and great-grandparent generations, who are no longer of reproductive age, are the only ones able to nurse. To the extent that any sexual dimorphism exists, it disappears once a person reaches _naina_ age, at which point social gender also stops applying.