LINGUIST List 11.2531

Fri Nov 24 2000

Qs: Quechua Pronominal Plural Markers,Translation

Editor for this issue: James Yuells <jameslinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Masha Vassilieva, Quechua Pronominal Plural Markers
2. Selma Hichri, Translating from English into French

Hello!

Does anybody know anything about the distribution of
pronominal plural affixes in Chechua? I know that most
pronouns take -kuna as their plural marker, while the
1st Inclusive takes -nchi:. 
Question: Are these suffixes used outside of the
pronominal system? Are they used with nouns? Are there
any restrictions (e.g. animacy?) What is the etymology
of -nchi? Is it used anywhere else in the grammar? 

Thank you very much,
Masha Vassilieva
State University of New York at Stony Brook

the source text is:

Through human history, weather has altered the march of events and caused
some mighty cataclysme. Since Columbus did not know where he was going or
where he had arrived when he got there, the winds truly deser nearly as much
credit as he for the discovery of America. Ugly westerlies helped turn the
1588 Spanish Armada away from England in a limping panic. No wonder, then
that man's great dream has been some day to control the weather. The first
step towards control, of course, is knowledge, and scientists have been hard
at work for years trying to keep track of the weather.
The very idea of control, in fact, raises enormous and troublesome
questions. Who would decide what weather to program? Since weather patterns
are interrelated, would interference through cloud seeding, for exemple,
caus harmful imbalances? Is weather that appears beneficial to man also
beneficial to nature? The vision of scheduled weather also raises ambiguous
feelings among the world's billions of weather fans, and poses at least one
irresistible question : if weather were as predictible as holidays and
eclipses, what in the world everyone talk about?

My work/my translation is:

Tout au long de l'Histoire, le climat a modifi� le court des �v�nements et a
caus� de puissants cataclismes. Puisque Christophe Colombe ne savait pas ou
il allait ni ou il �tait arriv�/ n'a pas su o� il allait ou o� il �tait
arriv� quand il y est arriv�, les vents m�ritent donc autant d'honneur que
lui pour la d�couverte de l'Am�rique. En 1588, de mena�ants vents d'ouest
ont permis de repousser l'armada espagnole des cotes anglaises dans une
panique hyst�rique*. Alors cela n'avait rien d'�tonnant que le r�ve de cet
homme �tait de pouvoir un jour maitriser le temps. Bien sur, la premiere
�tape � l'egard de ce projet repose sur les connaissances, et les
scientifiques se sont acharn�s au travail pendant des ann�es en essayant de
cerner le climat*/ essayant de maintenir le temps.
En effet, l'id�e m�me de maitrise* soul�ve des questions colossales et
g�nantes*/ d'�normes et ennuyeuses questions. Qui pourraient d�cider de quel
temps choisir/ Qui d�ciderait quel temps au programme . Depuis que les types
de climat sont interreli�s/ Puisque des configurations de temps sont
interli�es, est- ce-que les parasites � travers les pr�cipitations
artificielles pourraient par exemple causer de nuisibles d�s�quilibres/
d�s�quilibres nocifs?
Le climat qui semble �tre salutaire �/pour l'homme est il de m�me �/pour la
nature? La vision du temps programm� soul�ve �gallement des sentiments
ambigus parmi les milliards de fans du temps et pose au moins une question
in�vitable : si le temps �tait aussi pr�visible que des vacances et des
�clipses, de quoi pourait-on alors parler?

* and / are used for my main issues.
can someone help me findind the best translation for my english text?
tank you
Selma Hichri
sehitunhotmail.com