An Analysis of the Three Most Important Poems in the Asato Language By Ian Smith
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Introduction What follows are a group of various short works of literature written in a constructed language (conlang) called Asato. What is first presented is the work as it would sound when spoken, represented by the IPA (international phonetic alphabet), a linguistic tool meant to assign a character to any sound present in any human language. At the end of this introduction you will find a guide to pronouncing IPA hand tailored to this language, for American English speakers. Below the IPA transcription can be found the translation of each work into English. These are not direct, word for word translations, but instead have taken some license in order to sound like more natural English and to better convey underlying meaning. Because of the connection between language and people, we are stuck with an inevitable intertwining of conlangs and worldbuilding. Thanks to this connection, this language and these stories do not exist in a vacuum, but are instead a part of the literary repertoire of a small tribe of humans living in the rocky mountains in a world very different from our own. The facts of their existence shape the facts of their language, and vice versa. The analysis section of each work will provide context for it within the history and tradition of the Asato people, which is arguably equally as important as the text itself.
Section 1
E Tsai
E dʒi navla xe e kekil, me vi navla beskeo Ube e beskei ne vi, vi kʃa tsao ske dzezi Dze ki xuo e xuitsi ne vi Dze tsimaosi suo e suitsi ne vi Me dzedʒi, ube kte vivilnabeuda
Me xe dre betuai, vi nadvita e nadvitai ne kemnaidʒi Vi nadvita fre dzezi nasa vlao Vi nadvita fre dzezi ʃivisakʃa Vi nadvita fre dzezi nasa ne pjao xekʃa
Me vibenavla e xekʃa ne vi Me vibenavla e vlai
E ubi ne vi ʃi kil tsa Se kʃa tsao
"Connection"
The man lived in the mountains, alone Despite his solitude, he felt connected with everything Every rock beneath his feet Every gust of wind above his head And everyone, even though he never saw them
And in this silence, he sang the long forgotten song of fools He sang that everything was alive He sang that everything could feel He sang that everything was of one soul
And he did not live his soul And he did not live life
His dust still clings to us To feel connected
Analysis:
This piece is one of the “Ancient songs”, a group of short stories, or arguably parables that have been passed down orally by the Asato from before they recorded their history. Many of these works make points about philosophies of living one’s life, in this one, we are taught that those who seek out connection over all else, lose themselves, and forget to look within. One of the main poetic devices used in this work is ironic dualism. It is thought that this work was originally conceived at the late end of the Asato historical period, when dualism was falling out of favor as a poetic device. By using really strong examples of dualism to emphasize not the point of the work, but the exact opposite, the foolishness of the main character, the dualism becomes ironic. Most of the poem is written in what would be considered what would be fun language, with enjoyable rhythm and poetry. However, the last line drops all of those devices and returns to a more pedestrian form, in order to quickly create a somber mood for the last line. This last line is a great example of a common aspect of ancient Asato poetry, in which the most metaphorical lines are the least poetically dense.
Section 2
Uda ʒue
E dʒi kekenao nazouda ʃi fre kasja Ve e ʃepsi ne vi, vi nazouda repsi vinakamvla Me vinavla vlai nske ntozai Vinavla vlai nske bri
Mve vi nauda e piʒi E mao ne e sitsil ne ʃi ʃivinamvra rezi vibenazouda E piʒil nasa mnao, fe vi
E repsi vivilnata e dʒil fre dʒi natanvla beskeo, E dʒi kekenao natauda dre nvlai, de vibenazouda e piʒil, mve nazoa ske udatsi E piʒil nagja e dʒi nvlao Me e kekena nauda e mbri ne dzezi Me e kekena nava vla ske dre nao.
Vi natabeuda dre nvlai, fe vi natabeuda e piʒil ʃilvinagja pjao
"To Look Ahead"
The wisest man could see what would happen. From his childhood, he could see when he would die And he lived a life without mistakes, He lived a life without beauty.
Until he saw the butterfly. The movement of its wings showed him something he could not see The butterfly was a mystery to him.
one time, he told the people of the village that a man had died alone, unnoticed He could see this death, but he could not see the butterflies, until he could with his eyes The butterflies were eating the dead man
And the wisest man saw the ugliness in everything And the wisest man decided he did not want to live
He did not see this death, because he could not see the butterflies.
They ate him too.
Analysis
Another of the ancient songs, this one tells the story of a man who could read the world well enough that he could predict the future. It’s moral is usually interpreted as “everything good, and everything bad in life are the result of uncertainty, and the only outcome of certainty is boredom. However, this interpretation seems to ignore what happens after the man discovers the truth about the butterflies. Another, more recent interpretation is that the story is more of an expression of bitterness at the world, and that the moral was applied after, once it was incorporated into the ancient songs. This text is considered one of the most unique of the ancient songs because of it’s almost complete lack of poetic devices. The only example of dualism in the work occurs when we are told the focus of the text has decided to stop living. By only applying poetics in this moment, The author puts this moment forward as the most important of the work, which supports the theory that this entire text is the emotional outpouring of someone in a lot of pain. The choice to use butterflies as the “unpredictable animal” in this story has been the focus of a lot of discussion. Very few butterflies live at the altitude where the Asato reside, and the ones that do are not particularly interesting. It’s possible that the only reason butterflies were chosen is because of their tendency to flock and scavenge on recently deceased bodies. Another thought is that the sharp movements in varying directions that butterflies make in the air seem more unpredictable than those of any other creature. Either way, the work has colored the Asato’s view of butterflies through to the present day.
Section 3
(Untitled)
Tjato Kinama Me E matsui ʃiʃisva Me E bri ne e gdipsipi tla Fre vi ŋka
Kinaŋka briuʒi Briuʒi fre dzedʒi betaudi Briuʒi ske tai Pja e dvitai Ne maosi ne kevi
Briuʒi fre gia Pya e θemβasi Pya dze tsi ne kixi Fre uma xuo
E matsui kibetamvra De ʃi sa ŋkaxao ʃi sa fe e ntsui tlao
(Untitled)
I walked decisively And I lost my way And The beauty of the darkness gives What one lacks
I lacked a flower A flower that no one had seen A flower with a voice Like the song Of the wind on the sea
A flower that shines, like the moon and the sun Like every drop of magma That sleeps below
I have not found the path But It is forgotten It is given to the void
Analysis: This poem describes how the speaker, instead of following the path laid out for them in life, chose to follow their heart. It is generally agreed upon that the flower referenced refers to a person, the speaker’s beloved. The end of the first stanza is considered the first example of the Asato trope known as the “poetic crisis”, in which the end of the beginning of a work is marked by some event that sends the subject into sadness or depression, and causes them to reevaluate their life. In this work, the crisis is caused by the speaker losing their way on path that they had previously been confident in (the Asato phrase for this is “lenamatsuio ntozai” usually translated as “surefooted blunder”), and as a result of this mistake they find that what was missing from their life was love. The way the speaker describes their love has influenced Asato romantic culture in a very visible way. First, despite the Asato homeland being hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean, the metaphor of the sea features prominently in modern Asato romantic literature. It is unclear exactly why the sea was on the mind of the author of this poem, especially in a time where Asato contact with other peoples was extremely limited. One theory is that the author was also an explorer, who traveled west and saw the sea with their own eyes, and, struck by its beauty, decided it as an appropriate descriptor of their love. The third stanza highlights a very interesting difference between Asato culture and the majority of other cultures. In most cultures describing positive aspects of something through the metaphor of light is very common; we call things brilliant, and we say they shine to simply represent them as good. However, the Asato assign no positive or negative connotation to light and dark. By describing their love using light, they are actually providing insight into the personality of the one they are describing, as an open, optimistic, friendly person. On the other hand, this interpretation is slightly undercut by the use of the term “θemβasi” which, although translated above as simply “the sun and the moon”, really represents a coalescence, or a conjunction of the two. The term is meant to describe something that embodies aspects of both the day and the night, being open and happy, while also being introspective and perhaps melancholy. In fact, all three of the metaphors used to describe the speaker’s beloved (the song of the wind on the sea, the sun and the moon, and the magma sleeping below) would seem to say somewhat different and sometimes contradictory things. It’s likely that the contrary metaphors are meant to represent the beloved as someone indescribable, or someone who can be many things at once. In other more recent Asato works, there are examples of people being described in contradictory ways in order to give them a sense of complexity, a trope probably based off of this poem. The final stanza, which describes how the speaker gave up on their previous path and no longer cares about it, is unique because of a quirk of Asato language. Despite not being a religious people, in Asato, when a noun is given to an abstract concept, in this case the void, there is a connotation that the noun is an offering, like to a deity. This stanza would seem to suggest that the speaker is offering their path as a tribute to the void. It is unclear whether this is meant as a small bit of dry humor, or it is meant to say that by giving up their previous life, the speaker has somehow done service to the void, perhaps by going against societal order, and by experiencing in the inherently chaotic emotion of love.
The untitled poem, written in a decorative version of the Asato script