aku'nimu 2

amisina e amisinu a apenu e apena
ah-mee-see-nah ee ah-mee-see-noo ah pay-noo ay ah-phe-nah
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls

apena ah-pen-nah girl		apenu ah-pay-noo boy		ixuka ee-shoo-kah to play (with)
atana ah-tah-na woman		atanu ah-tah-noo man		isi ee-see to see
amisina ah-mee-see-na lady		amisinu ah-mee-see-noo gentleman		alapu ah-lah-poo hat
uwe alo i apenu a apena? oo-way ah-loe ee ah-pay-noo ah ah-pay-na Is this a boy or a girl?			alo apenu. ah-loe ah-payn-noo This is a boy.
uwe apenu isi alapu? oo-way ah-pay-noo ee-see ah-lah-poo Does the boy see the hat?			inye apenu isi inye alapu. een-yay ah-pay-noo ee-see een-yay ah-lah-poo No, the boy does not see the hat.
uwe apena isi apensilu? oo-way ah-pay-nah ee-see ah-pen-see-loo Does the girl see the pencil?			awa apena isi apensilu. ah-wah ah-pay-nah ee-see ah-pen-see-loo Yes, the girl sees the pencil.

ASKING QUESTIONS: When asking a simple yes or no question the question word uwe can be placed in front of a statement. The listener then answers one way or another depending on whether that simple statement is true or false. We saw this word used in lesson one in the form uwe alo apensilu? Literally this translates to "question: this is a pencil?" which expects either a "yes" or a "no" answer. When asking the listener to choose among alternatives, a similar form is used. uwe alo atanu a atana? The word a is another of those "spoken punctuation" words in Elomi. It looks in the above example like it might mean "or", but it doesn't. It stands for a pause, or a comma, or a way to tie together a list of alternatives, or a chain of clauses in a more complex sentence. The sentence translates literally "Question: this (is) man, woman?" and expects the listener to choose from among the alternatives listed, or perhaps supply a third alternative as an answer. The word anke in a question means literally "what thing" or "which thing". We used in in lesson one without translating it for you, but you will need to know the literal translation to understand some of the questions in the excercises. There is no plural form of the noun in Elomi. If it is not clear from the context, and if it is important to indicate whether the noun is singular or plural, another word somewhere in the sentence will let us know. For now, consider nouns to be either singular or plural, or both.

ilele ee-lay-lay to run

imi ee-mee to have

axuki ah-shoe-kee toy

axuki'nata ah-shoe-kee-nah-tah doll

apalu ah-pah-loo ball

uwe apenu ixuka apalu a axuki'nata? oo-way ah-pay-noo ee-shoo-kah ah-pah-loo ah ah-shoo-kee-nah-tah Is the boy playing with the ball or the doll?	apenu ixuka apalu. ah-pay-noo ee-shu-kah ah-pah-loo The boy is playing with the ball.
uwe atanu isi aluxu a alapu? oo-way ah-tah-noo ee-see ah-loo-shoo ah ah-lah-poo Does the man see the lamp or the hat?	inye atanu isi axuki'nata. een-yay ah-tah-nuu ee-see ah-shoo-kee-nah-tah Neither, the man sees the doll.

NOTES: The word inye doesn't actually mean "neither",  in the sample sentence above. It simply means "no". But it is used idiomatically in this type of situation to emphasize that the answer is not one of the alternatives mentioned in the question. Whenever a word begins with the same letter that ended the previous word, as in the phrase ixuka apalu the two letters are verbally separated by a glottal stop, like the verbal pause at the back of the throat between the words  when you say "uh-oh". You may have noticed that the words apena, apenu and atana, atanu, among others, differ only in the last letter. This is because they are constructed from a root word by adding either the female or male noun suffix, ~na, or ~nu, to the root. For example, the word ape means "child", so naturally apenu and apena mean boy and girl. Both of these suffixes will have a completely different effect if placed at the end of a verb or preposition, but we'll get into that a little further on. For now just remember that the gender change only happens on nouns and modifiers.  See if you can find other gender pairs of nouns in the vocabulary for this lesson. You've probably noticed that verbs all begin with the letter "i". This is the rule in Elomi.

oxu oe-shoo big, large	isa ee-sah may, to be allowed to	iku ee-koo to give	ikuni ee-koo-nah to take	ipo ee-poe can, is able to
oxuni oe-shoo-nee small, little	apusa ah-poo-sah cat	akansu ah-kahn-soo dog	axa ah-shah he, she, it, living thing	ami ah-mee me, I

ami isi apenu oxu. ah-mee ee-see ah-pay-noo oe-shoo I see the big boy.	ami ipo isi apena oxuni. ah-mee ee-poe ee-see ah-pay-nah oe-shoo-nee I can see the little girl.
ami isi apenu e apena. ah-mee ee-see ah-pay-noo ay ah-pay-nah I see the boys and the girls.	apenu isa imi axuki. ah-pay-noo ee-sah ee-mee ah-shoo-kee The boy may have the toy.
uwe ami isa ikuni apusa oxuni. oo-way ah-mee ee-sah ee-koo-nah ah-poo-sah oe-shoo-nee May I take the little cat?	uwe akansu ipo isi anke? oo-way ah-kahn-soo ee-poe ee-see ahn-kay What can the dog see?

This lesson introduced two words of a new type, oxu and oxuni. These are called modifiers, and always begin with the letter "o". A modifier alters the meaning of the noun or verb, and in some cases, the modifier the comes before it. We saw the example above apusa oxuni for "little cat". Notice that the modifier always follows the word it modifies. This is the opposite of the way adjectives are normally positioned in English. The same modifier can be placed after either a noun or a verb, and it has a similar or related effect on each. Thus while apusa oxuni is "the little cat", ilele oxuni would be "to run a little ways", refering to a small distance run, rather than running with small steps or some other interpretation.

First translate the questions to English. Then answer the questions aloud in Elomi; then write the answers in Elomi and check them at the bottom of this page.

1. uwe atanu imi alapu? 2. uwe atanu imi apusa? 3. uwe atanu ilele?
	4. uwe apena imi apensu? 5. uwe axa ixuka? 6. uwe apena ipo isi apuka?
7. uwe apena a apenu imi apapila? 8. uwe apena oxuni imi axuki? 9. uwe atana ipo isi apenu? 10. uwe apenu imi apalu a alapu? 11. uwe atana ilele?
	12. uwe apena imi anke? 13. uwe apena isi apalu a atopa'naketa? 14. uwe axa ipo isi apafi?
15. uwe ape ixuka? 16. uwe ape ixuka anke? 17. uwe apenu e apena ixuka apalu?

Answers to questions

Translations

1. uwe atanu imi alapu? Does the man have a hat?
2. uwe atanu imi apusa? Does the man have a cat?
3. uwe atanu ilele? Does the man run? or Is the man running?
4. uwe apena imi apensu? Does the girl have a pen?
5. uwe axa ixuka? Is she playing? or Does she play?
6. uwe apena ipo isi apuka? Can the girl see the book?
7. uwe apena a apenu imi apapila? Does the girl or the boy have the paper? or Which has the paper, the girl or the boy?
8. uwe apena oxuni imi axuki? Does the little girl have a toy?
9. uwe atana ipo isi apenu? Can the woman see the boy?
10. uwe apenu imi apalu a alapu? Does the boy have a ball, or a hat? or Which does the boy have, a ball or a hat?
11. uwe atana ilele? Is the woman running?
12. uwe apena imi anke? What does the girl have? or The girl has what?
13. uwe apena isi apalu a atopa'naketa? Does the girl see a ball or a box? or What does the girl see, a ball or a box?
14. uwe axa ipo isi apafi? Can she see the floor? or Is she able to see the floor?
15. uwe ape ixuka? Do the children play? or Are the children playing?
16. uwe ape ixuka anke? What are the children playing?
17. uwe apenu e apena ixuka apalu? Are the boys and girls playing ball?

Answers

1. uwe atanu imi alapu? awa atanu imi alapu.
2. uwe atanu imi apusa? inye atana imi inye apusa.
3. uwe atanu ilele? inye atana ilele inye.
4. uwe apena imi apensu? awa apena imi apensu.
5. uwe axa ixuka? inye axa ixuka inye.
6. uwe apena ipo isi apuka? awa apena ipo isi apuka.
7. uwe apena a apenu imi apapila? apenu imi apapila.
8. uwe apena oxuni imi axuki? awa apena oxuni imi axuki.
9. uwe atana ipo isi apenu? awa itana ipo isi apenu.
10. uwe apenu imi apalu a alapu? apenu imi alapu.
11. uwe atana ilele? inye atana ilele inye.
12. uwe apena imi anke? apena imi axuki'nata.
13. uwe apena isi apalu a atopa'naketa? apena isi atopa'nateka.
14. uwe axa ipo isi apafi? awa axa ipo isi apafi.
15. uwe ape ixuka? awa ape ixuka.
16. uwe ape ixuka anke? ape ixuka apalu.
17. uwe apenu e apena ixuka apalu? awa apenu e apena ixuka apalu.

Extra Credit - The Poetry Corner

eloku - a form of Elomi poetry based on sylable counts, like Haiku, except that since Elomi words tend to be longer, the lines of eloku poetry are longer than Haiku lines. There are two forms of eloku:

elokuno - "greater eloku" has 5 lines with 9, 9, 11, 11, 9 syllables.

elokune - "lesser eloku" has 3 lines with 9, 11, 9 syllables.

asoli (elokune)

anipulu inufe alu
e atelu inonakani opi
a asoli ikoto ofi

Extra credit Vocabulary

alu - a place; this place
anipulu - rain storm; an occurance of rain
asoli - the sun
atelu - earth; the world
ikoto - to work, to labor
inonakani - to dry out; to dry up
inufe - to leave; to depart
ofi - happily; happy
opi - modifies a verb to show continuous or ongoing action

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Reference Dictionary and Concordance