Babelingua Language!!
last updated on
Not lexicon
Adjectives are clearly after nouns
The title "Mwa we ngu" may mean that mwa and the land (ngu) is nearby and has an unmarked "and." However, "ti" seems to have no other meaning
"Giwe mwa bodo?" shows that question words are at the beginning of sentences.
"Mwa yedune we gube" means the word order is likely SOV; (mwa (yedune))S (we)O (gube)V?
/b/ and /d/ may be allophones, as gabagu-e and bo-o have variable pronunciation and bo-o has variable spelling
The language isn't isolating and is at least a little bit synthetic due to "yedune."
ngu ti wa (here and there) and wa ti ngu (there and here) are likely synonyms for everywhere but could be different, as death is wa ti ngu and ngu ti wa is above.
Translation and Transcription of Giwe wa ti ngu on May 24th
Copied and modified from Caffeinepirate's comment on the video
mwa we | mwa ground | how are you?
jedune ngu. mwa we | sad here. mwa land. | sad here. how are you?
jegube ngu. mwa kawagube. dudu ge gube? | happy here. hat mwa. you(dubious) name(dubious) up/above | happy here. (i am) hat mwa. name up bro.
mwa jedune. dudu jedune. giwa/e wa ti ngu? | sad/frown mwa. sad/frown you(dubious). what(dubious) far and near? | (i am) sad mwa. you (are) sad. what is far and near (everywhere)?
swi wa ti ngu (chimi chimi chimi labialized palatal fricative x3), we wa ti ngu (chiwa chiwa labialized retroflex click x3), jawa wa ti ngu (fishi fishi epiglottal plosive/tap(?) x3). giwe wa ti ngu? | sky far and near (birds x3), ground far and near (footsteps x3), water far and near (fish x3). what far and near? | sky (is) everywhere, ground (is) everywhere, (and) water (is) everywhere, what('s) everywhere? (as in the answer to the riddle)
def | death
giwe/a? | what?
def. def wa ti ngu | death far and near | death (is) everywhere
... giwe/a? | what?
dudu ngu ti wa. dudu ngu ti wa. | you near and far x2 | you (are) everywhere x2
chiwas to the edge of the screen
ngu ti wa gube. kapu gube | near and far up/above. [kapu] up/above | everywhere (is) above. bye. [or everywhere is away, go away. even though we know gube is up, it could also mean away]
chiwas offscreen
a... ngu ti wa gube | oh... near and far up | oh... everywhere (is) above. [or everywhere is away]
chiwas up the hill. vid ends
Lexicon
Mwa - (noun) could be the creatures in the videos, could be some sort of pronoun referring to them, either way I leave it untranslated in transcriptions :3
Ngu - (adjective) most likely this/here, or something close in proximity; ngutingu implies close
Wa - (adjective) most likely that/there, or something far away; "ma kawa wa" implies there is more correct
We - (noun) land/ground
Bodo/Bobo - (adjective) big/round
Tunel/Tonel - (adjective) short/wide
Kawa - (adjective) tall/thin
Giwe - where/what
(Giwa may be separate and means what but the voice is too silly and I can't tell)
Ngutingu - very close, close and close
Gugu - unknown, only sentence is "gugu mwa bodo/bobo"
Swi - (noun) sky
Gube - above/up, possibly also away
Dune - below/down
Yawo - body of water/river/pond
Du - eye
Ye - mouth
Gabagube - hat/top hat
Chiwa - leg/foot/footstep sound (onomotopoeia)
Yedune - frown/sad, literally mouth-below/down
Yegube - smile/happy, mouth-up
Mwa we - how are you? (Ground/land mwa?)
Dudu - you?
Ge - name?
Def - death
Kapu - unknown, mwa yedune said this before leaving, possibly go or goodbye?
Ti - and, but sometimes unmarked
Fishi - fish
Chimi - bird