Angelica translation of
(the English translation of)
W.I.T.C.H., Vol 1, Page 13
(The comic reads left to right.)
The Writing System
Angelica is written in ‘stacks’ or ‘towers.’ You start reading with the rightmost tower and move toward the left. Within a tower, you read from the bottom floor to the top. Each ‘level’ or ‘floor’ of the tower can contain from 1 to 3 letters, which stretch or shrink horizontally to fit, and are read from right to left.
The script is supposed to look like a lot of tall, unbroken (though comically wavy and off-balance) towers, ideally with one full sentence per tower. So all the squashed, horizontal word bubbles on this page make it look kind of terrible. Just like when English text has to fit in Japanese vertical bubbles! That's what you call authenticity.
Fun fact: I wanted the towers to look like totem poles, so all the letter glyphs are abstractly derived from either an eye, nose, or mouth.
Each sentence begins with a ‘base’ character, which indicates a level of intensity or volume. There is no punctuation to indicate a question; it’s contextual.
All infixes are helpfully marked by an indent to the left.
Words are separated by the hooked slash mark, called ‘break’ in the chart above.
Within a word, between every level there is an implied vowel. So, the placement of these vowels is what determines which letters squish together on the same floor and which ones get more room.
There is no implied vowel at breaks or at changes in indentation, so those are the only places where the circular ‘vowel’ mark is used. (Plus also, to stylistically extend a vowel for flavor.) As shown in the chart, there are space-saving characters which combine a break and one or two vowels into a single level.
The ‘pause’ character covers for several English punctuation marks: within a sentence it’s like a comma or semicolon, while at the end of a sentence it’s like an ellipsis.
Gloss
Notes
PST.HR = past within hour
PST.DY = past within a few days
PST.LF = past within speaker's lifetime
I put an extra row in the gloss to clarify verbs. The main row will define the root and complement individually; then the extra row will define the composite meaning of the verb, and put ‘COMP’ under the complement.
An apostrophe marks where a word would split, if it had any infixes. Parentheses mark where a word does split.
Base marks: _ quiet, . mid, ! loud
Panel 1
Irma
“Yeow!” *gnaw*
“! nyoo” *sh'ny*
As a full verb, ‘gnaw’ would be /bom( sh'ny )bom/, but for onomatopoeia it’s just the complement.
Mr. Collins
“What’s going on back there?”
“. g( m m'ndro w'l )m”
. g( m m'ndro w'l )m . INT\play( PST.HR LOC\behind what )
Here, the root is ‘play’, but the question word is taking the place of the complement. Mr. Collins doesn’t know exactly what kind of activity he’s referring to, but he feels safe to assume it’s frivolous.
/k'ndro/ (behind, back) has been conjugated to /m'ndro/
Panel 2
Irma
“Mr. Collins! Hay Lin bit me!”
“! o( koln )m ! k( m hoo lon sh'ny )lor”
! o( koln )m ! Mr( Collins )
! k( m hoo lon sh'ny )lor ! harm( PST.HR Hay Lin tooth ) bite( COMP )
The object (Irma) is left to context.
Mr. Collins
“That’s a raised hand!”
Lit: “A hand rose!”
“! nop( m dl'yo n'bw )d”
! nop( m dl'yo n'bw )d ! change( PST.HR sky hand ) raise( COMP )
“Congratulations, Irma!”
Lit: “It’s raining, Irma!”
“! k( m l'rm )m, ormo”
! k( m l'rm )m, ormo ! play( PST.HR rain ) , Irma rain( COMP )
“I needed a volunteer,”
Lit: “A volunteer was needed.”
“. k( dom'p hos'f m )m”
. k( dom'p hos'f m )m . play( wide TARGET\volunteer PST.HR ) need( COMP )
/hos'm/ (volunteer, tribute, sacrifice, intern) has been conjugated to /hos'f/
“and it looks like I’ve found one!”
Lit: “I think you stepped up!”
“! k( nodr'm w'b m h's )m”
! k( no=dr'm w'b m h's )m ! play( PERSPECTIVE=me PRN.RECENT PST.HR full ) step_up( COMP )
Using the ‘PERSPECTIVE’ conjugation of ‘me’ here is like saying ‘as far as I can see… I could be wrong, but…’
The pronoun /w'b/ targets a recently discussed person, which here is Irma.
Panel 3
Irma
“B-But that’s not fair!”
“! ( bbotw'sh )n”
! ( bo-tw'sh )n ! ( not-fair )but
Hay Lin
“Watch and learn, Taranee!”
“_ mot( torono n'ndo )n”
_ mot( torono n'ndo )n _ IMP\acquire( Taranee stream ) IMP\pay_attention;learn( COMP )
I used the ‘quiet’ base mark here even though the English had an exclamation mark, because she is whispering.
“When Irma’s quizzed,”
“_ w( k[ yond'kl ]lor ormo )nk”
_ w( k[ yond'kl ]lor ormo )nk _ when( harm[ block ] Irma )then quiz[ COMP ]
“first she gets angry,”
“( mot[ nd br'kno ]n )tso”
( mot[ nd br'kno ]n )tso ( meet[ PST.LF frog ] )happens get_mad[ COMP ]
“then she gets desperate…”
“( mot[ nd l'l ]n )tso…”
( mot[ nd l'l ]n )tso ... ( meet[ PST.LF wound ] )happens... be_desperate[ COMP ]
Hay Lin is using the cause-effect wrapper /w'nk'tso/, and is repeating the final chunk to add more effects. /w( cause )nk( effect )tso( effect )tso( effect )tso/, etc.
Panel 4
Irma
“Shut up!”
Lit: “Don’t try!”
“_ bom( b )o”
_ bom( b )o _ IMP\try( not )
“I didn’t study at all!”
“_ m( br bl[ bl'd ]d b dl'yo )nto”
_ m( br bl[ bl'd ]d b dl'yo )nto _ know( PST.DY totally[ totally ] not sky ) study( COMP )
“All I know is a little about Charles the Great…”
“_ t( m[ br y{ t'nk w( tshorlo )o }m ]nto )nk…”
_ t( m[ br _ only( know[ PST.DY y{ t'nk w( tshorlo )o }m ]nto )nk... TOPIC\info{ little King( Charles ) } ] ) ...
/m'm/ (info, idea, thought) has been conjugated to /y'm/
Hay Lin
“…Then she shuts her eyes tight,”
“( m[ t'rt nd b b'r ]nto )tso”
( m[ t'rt nd b b'r ]nto )tso ( know[ tight PST.LF not eye ] )happens shut_eyes[ NEG COMP ]
“clasps her hands…”
“( mot[ nd n'bw ]n w'b )tso…”
( mot[ nd n'bw ]n w'b )tso ... ( meet[ PST.LF hand ] PRN.RECENT )happens... hold_hands[ COMP ]
We put the recency pronoun /w'b/ as the object of ‘hold hands’ to specify that Irma holds hands with herself.
Panel 5
Irma
“AskmeaboutCharlestheGreat! Pleaseohpleaseohplease…”
“_ gy( gy[ gy{ bom( y[ tshorlo ]o o'tr )o }m ]m )m…”
_ gy( gy[ gy{ bom( _ pls( pls[ pls{ IMP\try( IMP\ask( y[ tshorlo ]o o'tr )o }m ]m )m... TOPIC\King[ Charles ] flower ) } ] ) ... COMP )
/w'o/ (royal honorific) has been conjugated to /y'o/
It would be acceptable to pronounce the ending stack of /m/ as one long consonant, but because Irma is using an exaggerated tone, I imagine her saying it ‘muhmuhmuh’
Hay Lin
“…And if there’s only one thing she studied, that’s what they’re gonna ask her about!”
“( w[ t{ m( br y[ nog ]m dl'yo )nto }nk ]nk[ bom{ y( nog )m o'tr }bom ]tso )tso”
( w[ t{ m( br y[ nog ]m ( if[ only{ know( PAST.DY TOPIC\info[ one ] study( dl'yo )nto }nk ]nk [ bom{ y( nog )m sky ) } ]then[ try{ TOPIC\info( one ) COMP ) ask{ o'tr }bom ]tso )tso flower } ] ) COMP }
Hay Lin begins another /w'nk'tso/ within the ongoing one. She closes them both out at the end.
“I don’t know how she does it!”
Lit: “How does she do it?”
“_ gl( pon[ low'l w'b nd ]d )sh”
_ gl( pon[ lo=w'l _ RHETORICAL( INT\change[ METHOD=what w'b nd ]d )sh PRN.RECENT PAST.LF ] )
“All I know for sure… is it works every time!”
“_ t( m[ dr'm br t'ng yo… { bom( olo )bom }t ]nto )nk”
_ t( m[ dr'm br t'ng y=o{ _ only( know[ I PST.DY sure TOPIC=that{ bom( olo )bom }t ]nto )nk try( clear ) } ] ) succeed( COMP )
‘succeed’ is left without a tense word, putting it in the default ancient past (and ongoing through the present). This is enough to emphasize that the trick always works.
Panel 6
Mr. Collins
“Hmmm… Let’s see here…”
Lit: “Hmmm… Tryyy…”
“. oo… bom'booom…”
Panel 7
Mr. Collins
“Irma Lair… Why don’t you tell us about Charles the Great?”
“. lor ormo… gl( p[ n'ndo y{ tshorlo }o ]ndo )l”
. lor ormo... gl( p[ . Lair Irma... INVITE( IMP\change[ IMP\tell[ n'ndo y{ tshorlo }o ]ndo )l stream TOPIC\King{ Charles } ] ) COMP ]
Hay Lin
“YUS!”
“! OLO”