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