Paiwan Every Day 51: aljak

Pastor Ljumeg now serves as the Resident Pastor of Tava Tavan Kiukai. A winner of multiple literary awards, she speaks and writes excellent Paiwan, which she also shares in her eponymous blog “Ljumeg”.

When I was working at ILRDC, I invited her to work on the translation of Little Prince and President Tsai Ying-Wen’s “Apology to Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan”. It was in Talai Tawan Kiukai last Sunday that I finally had the chance to listen to her speaking our language Paiwan. She sounds even more powerful than on paper.

namaya amen tjai timuti a maqacuvucuvung,

kedri a kinljangan.

ljakua, su papungadan ni amen tu su aljak.

In English:

Like Timothy, we are young and ignorant. But you call us your children.

Glossary:

1. namaya: the same as
2. amen: we, 1st person plural nominative (NOM)
3. tjai: oblique (OBL) case marker
4. timuti: Timothy, Apostle Paul’s mentee
5. ma-qa-cuvu-cuvung: young people or youth. The root is qacuvung 'adult, complete'.
6. kedri: small
7. k<in>ljang-an: knowledge, undergoer voice (UV). The root is keljan 'know, understand'.
8. ljakua: but
9. pa-pu-ngadan: to name. The root is ngadan 'name'.
10. su: your, 2nd person singular genitive (GEN)
11. aljak: children

Reading: