Between green and decaying wood, the fairies walk in single file. These are the portals to the fairy realms. If you see a portal, avoid it, for the fairies are void of kindness to the humans, and will steal all that you hold dear. Instead, shower the fairies with gifts of honeyed treats, and they will leave you be, guaranteed.
Feel free to replace “fairy” with something more apt for your setting, and feel free to tweak the exact concepts (like switch “portal” for “door,” if there’s no honey, use some other sweet and sticky fluid, etc.)
toki pona: kasi tu li kama moli. kasi nanpa wan li kama moli lon tenpo weka. kasi nanpa tu li kama moli lon tenpo poka. kasi tu ni li pilin li kama e lupa la lupa ni li ken kama e sina lon ma pi jan wawa nasa lili. sina lukin e lupa ni la o tawa weka ona tan ni: jan lili ni li wile ala pona tawa mi tawa sina, li wile weka e ale pi olin sina. o pana e suwi tawa ona la ona li nasa ala e sina. o sona e ni: toki ni li lon.
My minimalistic clong:
Aluli viatat et maveslutat biostofitat, akaye usisasla golawali su nokapi eyatat topaitat. Tama avonesavuolaveyepaa kotuyetu akayetudi. Gomioli aulas avonesavuolave, neve nokastu enipitat, paikakus akaye neve su penasapi miyeda, et lavotutuapas nesat eta pitasas. Samane, lavotolstu akayeda ikesat sutosat lavotoloniyet, et su samavepas enisaatol, sudisa.
Direct translation (kinda):
At middle along green and dying tree material, the at mind created girls walk along one path. These are the access holes to the girls’ places of stay. At time you see an access hole, do not go through it, because the girls are not good to humans, and they will intensely into hands everything that you like. Alternatively, from your hands to the girls many sweet from hand things, and they will be apart from you, definitely.
Root words:
Middle green and [dead/alive] tree material, girl [removal/addition] head leg one path. This [inaccessible/accessible] flat home girl. Now eye [inaccessible/accessible], [not/every] leg, reason girl [not/every] [bad/good] human, and hand [not/every] that indifferent to. [different/same] hand girl moderately sized hand thing, and [different/same], [imprecise/precise].
jò e pális gàs pi mòl dà la jò e sín lòn-xɒ́ŋ nol ján bìpi li dàu lìɲa gbà-pi lúp lònínsnə́-nɒ́.
lúp nì li nàsi dàupi má-pi ján nɒ̀.
sína li lùki zònlúp la os wɛ̀knɒ́.
tan ján bìpi li ʋɛ̀-án bònpi ján ɟɒ̀cɒ-ip àle.
nik nɒ́ li gèn la gàm-án jò e nóp-sína àle.
ní nat os ɰɒ̀-nɒ́ os bàna e kóm zùwi mùt dàupi ján bìpi.
ní la nɒ́ li gʉ̀ɻsína lon.
“If there is is dead wood, where the new sits on the old, bug people go in lines through holes between them.”
“These holes lead to bug people lands.”
“If you see these holes, get away from them.”
“Because the bug people have no goodness for non-bug people.”
"And if they can, they will take everything that is good to you.
“So don’t do that; give lots of sweets to the bug people.”
“If you do this, they will leave you be, for real.”
in Mènthe, an a posteriori Romance conlang of mine:
«Endre el velde i la lleña putrigada, eus llaritos siñares caminan en fila índiana. Aquestos son les pualtes a·us llares halsos. Si verías una pualta que seguehi lluñitanu, palqué eus llaritos siñares no tianen nada bondade pa·us humanos i perderàn tod·eus colses que quide curas. Envece, sobredalis regalos de dulces amialados, i ellos llaxaran·di, quide.»
Llaritos are a house spirit, much like Spanish duendes, that inhabit active buildings and protect them from the elements. When a building is destroyed or abandoned, its llaritos either easily move into a new nearby active building or feel so betrayed by humans that they become llaritos siñares (lit. “homeless llaritos”) and live in spaces that humans do not, which include the woods. Their jaded demeanor towards people leads them to be rather malevolent, demanding treats, injuring people to respect their space, or dragging them into “llares halsos” (lit. “false homes”) which are pocket dimensions where they live during the daytime when humans may be about.
ma.( kon.ala li.( sinpin.( ta-ka.ala ata |ma ma-li-sinpin ma<-li-sinpin.ala |ma, ka suli.ala insa<.nasa |li tawa ma<-ta-tawa<-( se ata, ta-tawa.( poki tan<-ta-tawa. poki ni |li tan<-ta-tawa ma<-ta-nasa.ala-( ka ni. mi< |li sona-poki-la: |pona< tawa.ala. |tan ka suli.ala |li ma-la: ma<.ala-ta-pona.( ka li<-mi li<-mi<. |tawa< |li ma.( ta-li tan<-la: tawa.( ta-ma-pona-mi< tan<.( ta-mo<.ala-mi< li<.pona. |tan< |pona< tawa.ala, |pona< tan<.( moku< (.sona< pona.) tawa.( ka suli.ala insa<.nasa. tan<-ni |ma ka ni |li tawa.ala-mi< |ma<.
( - pi backet ) - closing bracket | - connective/particle indicator, with bracketation reset < - passive marker ta - reference to verb action (from pre-verb marker nimisin) ka - living thing (from tuki tiki) ata - past participle (nimisin that used to be on lipu Linku)
(wait, when was that word ever on Linku? if you happen to know when it was removed or have the old Linku data anywhere, that'd be cool—it's on the list of wanted words for the sandbox!)
Sorry, I can't find it. I think it was late 2023, before they purged the little-used nimisin. Or maybe it was some other online database of toki pona words or nimisin, but I felt like I was looking at obscure nimisin on Linku. I can't remember where else it could have been.
I came up with the kot wawa word "dà" earlier on, in 2022 or 2023, along with the pre-verb "àn". Later, I learnt of the pre-verb marking nimisin "ta" and later still I learnt of "ata". The etymology given was the Latin word ending "-ata".
My understanding of how to speak a tenseless language comes from Vietnamese and Mandarin. Those languages make heavy use of the past participle, so I thought I might need a word for it too. First, I tried to use "bìn" (< pini), but the sense of "finish" seemed to work against it in some cases. "dà" has turned out to be a useful word.
Are you thinking "ata" might be a good nimisin for toki pona?
I was just thinking that if it was once in Linku it should be added to the sandbox for documentation purposes. we'll see, maybe I can find it in commit history somewhere. I'll see when I'm done with final exams.
Also, yes! love tenseless languages. Japanese is theoretically the same, although the perfective (Mandarin 了) is often described as a past. Yucatec Maya (1, 2) is another great example of a language that uses solely aspect to distinguish.