Sleepy and tired

The main Kazujisha word for "sleepy" or "tired" is jinsyta. It's actually a compound, jinsya "to sleep" + take "to want", literally "to sleep-want". Even though you would expect it to behave like a verb, it only does that to an extent. It's a mix of an adjective and a verb. See: Me jinsyta can mean both "I am tired" and "I sleep-want" because they basically mean the same; also Jinsyta me "the sleepy I", not "* sleep-wants me" as you would assume as me occupies object position. All -ta (< -take) derivations behave like that, like esita "hungry" from esin "to eat" + take, kirbita "thirsty" (kirbi "to drink").

I haven't got a Kazujisha grammar book, but I would assume that -ta derivations are always intransitive and cannot take an object; instead, if it precedes a noun, it behaves like an adjective, not a verb. Does this mean that you cannot use -ta derivations for things like "I want to drink water"? In a way, yes, and it's pretty logical. "I drink-want water" is quite odd. It's easier to say me take kirbi tihental "I want [to] drink water".

But! Oddly enough, they can be used with objects in a te "to do" construction: me te tihental kirbita "I want to drink water (lit. I do water drink-want)", me te kedeki esita "I want to eat bread".

So, now I've written a bit about language for you language-learners. Hopefully you've learned something! Nesh ja!

Arikea

Months; zipeven

Ira jo!

So! A month since last! And no, I haven't forgotten this at all. I've just... been out of things to write, as usual.

I met my cousin yesterday. It was fun. We talked about her new date. He's Zhytjetji. Zhytjetji is the ethnic minority group of Kazujisha. Most of them live to the west of Rahean. I know quite a few, though most have been so assimilated into the Kazujisha society they barely talk about themselves as Zhytjetji. Whereas I understand why they do so - there is discrimination against them - the old ancestry-worshiper in me still thinks of it as sad, because when a culture is no longer practiced by those born it, it dies. I celebrate religious events just because my ancestors did. It simply feels right to do so.

Anyways my cousin's date seems pretty Zhytjetji - he speaks the language, and if you haven't heard it before I suggest you try to listen to some Tjakir tsälvee ("Spirit world"). It's a great Zhytjetji folk band, and Zhytjetji is really a beautiful language. I'd like to learn it, but even though it is an officially recognized minority language, it's hard to find people speaking it and courses in it! The Library of Rahean has got two course books in it, though. Maybe I should check them out when I've got time.

Arikea

Eleven days since contact

Mou ira.

I haven't written for eleven days now and that's pretty terrible. Truth be told, I haven't forgotten about you all, I just haven't had much to say.

Hm... to find a subject... oh, right. Next year, in 2008, elections in Kazujisha. Here, we vote for different parties. I can remember at least 5 of them on top of my head (there are some more, but I'm not a politics expert!). The one with the most votes gets to rule, basically... or, it's not that simple, but I'm somewhat tired and I'll pretend it is.

Currently, the ruling ones are a coalition between three parties: Tihenkádan (The Water Party), Máfeikádan (The People's Party) and Neshtikádan (The Rising Sun Party). They represent somewhat left-wing~libertarian politics. The Prime Minister of Kazujisha is Kotaeivha Aruhikesa, a woman who seems pretty nice for being a politician. A woman, you might ask? Yes, it isn't that odd to Kazujishans. We have always been somewhat more matriarchal than most other places. After all, the Talevalean religion clearly states that women are holier than men :-)

So next year, voting. I have no clue what I will vote for... these left-wingers are pretty tough and conservative. Parts of that, I don't like. Many groups in Kazujisha still have a pretty hard time, which they haven't managed to do much about. Still I'm not a fan of the right-wingers either. Oh well, still a lot of time for decisions.

I need to read up on what good the EU would be for Kazujisha. We aren't allowed to be in it yet because we have death penalty - it's very rare and I've only seen it mentioned four-five times, because it may only be ordered if you commit serious crime (murder) at least twice. But it's still death penalty, and as far as I know it is not planned to remove it... personally, well... it's certainly not humane, but in extreme cases where no therapy can help, perhaps it is the best... it is a hard question!

Anyways, I'll go read for now. See you all later, don't get death penalized.
Arikea, law-abiding citizen

Monju and all that

Ira-ira. こんにちは.

Today I'm feeling much better. I'm listening to monju. Monju is a Kazujisha music genre which is much like the Japanese enka. Actually they're very much the same thing. My favorite monju singer is Shijaota Iljunmageitr, who is actually not that known, even though she's been singing for a very long time. Another good one is Asetarja Anarketa, probably one of the most well-known ones. There are a few performances by them at YouTube.
Also, check out Sayuri Ishikawa, a very good Japanese enka singer.

Arikea

Freedom and all that

Eshala.

The title is highly misleading today. Lately I've been all but free - I caught a nasty cold. Very typically me to get ill in warm weather... I'm feeling a bit better now, though. I owe it all to Elakou who has been a lot together with me during these headache days. Though I guess I shouldn't be that happy about it... did you read about that cat Oscar (Wikipedia) that slept in the elderlies' beds when they were going to die? A bit scary.

Anyways, I better rest some more now...
Arikea

Ran Tsiekoda #1

Ira!

Today, I have nothing to write. I'm listening to Ran Tsiekoda, which is probably the best Kazujisha band there is. They play "flamboyant euphoric rock", according to themselves, and I and tons of others like it. Check them out, if you have the opportunity to. I highly recommend the song Taepeka da lanje ja me se teha ras me va nepa se nãei aspekali ("Space is black and I know that because I've seen it") from the album Nya'! Negai seteragi!, whose title is nonsense, as is many of their other titles.

Arikea

My name is Arikea

'Ja ira.

My last post was about family names. This follow-up is about first names. Kazujishans usually have one first name. Examples could be Tabetalat, Rigu Vajata, Verahi... but, there's no John Smith in Kazujisha. Why?

An important thing regarding Kazujisha families is that no two people currently alive may share the same first name. As such, I'm the only Arikea Hargiutamá in the entire world, but I know for sure that there is at least another Arikea in Kazujisha. Another consequence is that it is very common for names to not have any special meaning, other than sounding nice! I'm an exception as arikea means "air". A negative aspect is that it is sometimes hard to remember nonsense names because they are all different! Personally I believe that is a contributing reason why we highly prefer calling people their family names instead of first names in Kazujisha... :-)

It's pretty common for families to have naming traditions. There's a quite well-known branch of the family Imnitega where all females have a double-name starting with Val (Val Marin Imnitega is a quite known physicist from it, look her up on Wikipedia). My families don't.

What else? I really can't come up with anything...
I guess I'll call it a post. Nãei!

Arikea