NACLO 2024 - Problem HEvidentially, My Dear Tariana

Open round | 15 points | 40.74% | Problem statement | Official solution | Tags: Phrase translationSemantics

Note how the same English translation can correspond to different Tariana sentences, because of the different evidentiality markers. Obviously Diha/Mayẽ are "He" and "Ismael", while Juse/Naha are "José" and "They", so we just focus on the third words.

Word	Evidentiality
diiɾaka, dimanikaka, namanikaka	see directly
diiɾanihka, dimanikanihka, namanikanihka	see clues
diiɾamahka	hear/smell clues
diiɾasika, dimanikasika	reasoning
diiɾapidaka, namanikapidaka	be told

The suffixes are very apparent: -ka, -nihka, -mahka, -sika, and -pidaka. Therefore, for H1:

a. If "Duha duayhamahka" is "She was swimming (hear clues)", then the equivalent with "see clues" would be "Duha duayhanihka".
b. If "Óli kawhi-nuku dunimahka" is "Olívia was making manioc-flour (smell clues)", and we need to replace "Olívia" with "She" and "smell clues" with "be told", then the result is "Duha kawhi-nuku dunipidaka".

In H2, we need a pronoun that means "you". We already know that "He" = "Diha", "She" = "Duha", "They" = "Naha". Furthermore, note how the verb is "diiɾa" when the subject is Mayẽ/José/Diha, "namanika" when the subject is Naha, and "dukwa/duayha/duni/dumeyuta" when the subject is Óli/Duha. All this suggests that the verb prefix agrees with the subject, so if the verb used in H2 is "piinunihka", then "You" would be "Piha".

Now in H3:

1. "duayhaka" uses "-ka", so it's "see directly": B.
2. "dimeyutasika" uses "-sika", so it's "reasoning": A.
3. "dimeyutamahka" uses "-mahka", so it's "hear/smell clues": A or B.
4. "dikwanihka" uses "-nihka", so it's "see clues": B or C.

Before doing H4, summarize the grammar so far:

[Subject] [object] [subject agreement][verb][evidentiality]

• Subject: Mayẽ = Ismael, Juse = José, Óli = Olívia, Leó = Leonardo
• Subject pronouns: Piha = You, Diha = He, Duha = She, Naha = They
• Object-verb:
  • drank manioc-flour = kawhi-nuku -iɾa-
  • was playing soccer = iɾida -manika-
  • was sleeping in the hammock = -kwa-
  • was swimming = -ayha-
  • was making manioc-flour = kawhi-nuku -ni-
  • was raking the garden = hinipuku -meyuta-
• Evidentiality: see directly = -ka, see clues = -nihka, hear/smell clues = -mahka, reasoning = -sika, be told = -pidaka

Now we can translate H4:

d. You were swimming (be told) = Piha piayhapidaka
e. He was raking the garden (see clues) = Diha hinipuku dimeyutanihka
f. Leonardo was sleeping in the hammock (reasoning) = Leó dikwasika
g. You drank manioc-flour (see clues) = Piha kawhi-nuku piiɾanihka
h. They were playing soccer (hear clues) = Naha iɾida namanikamahka