Invitational round | 15 points | N/A | Problem statement | Official solution | Tags: Phrase translationMorphology
Unlike typical semantic matching problems where we struggle to find a starting point (an existing correspondence), here we are given too many starting points! We try to identify a few individual morphemes by comparing the known words.
So likely "dene tthí dhéth" = "person skull container" = "scalp", "dene sųłiné" = "person true", and "tsąba dhéth" = "money container" = "wallet".
If "dene" = "person", then 3, 4, 5, 6 are 4 person terms. Anything involving body parts, bodily feelings, etc. may be relevant. We find: F. fingerprint, L. my hair, M. my hand, O. person’s shoe, and...? Not sure. Even if we find all person terms, we don't recognize the other halves of these words, so we can't be sure which is which. This is tabled for later.
If "dhéth" = "container", then 11 should be another container term, while 10 is the thing inside the container. We find P. pod and B. beans, respectively. Now compare the words starting with "jíe": "jíe-tthoghé" = "corn", "jíe-gaié" = "beans". So "jíe" = "fruit". So 9. "jíaze" should be the other fruit term: R. raisin.
If "tsąba" = "money", then 21, 22, 23 should be three other money-related terms. We find A. bank (business), G. gold (metal), S. silver (metal). Since 23 contains the known morpheme "kǫ́ę" as in "dzół-kǫę" billiards hall, this morpheme means "building", while 23 = A. bank (business). This leaves "dzół" to mean "billiards", so 7 "dzół-aze" matches the other billiards term: J. marble.
Finally there's one more lead: if "tu-chogh" = "ocean", where "chogh" is an adjective modifier, then "tu" should be general "water". We see 24. "tu-k’é", which must therefore be the only water-related term, W. water well. So "k’é" = "well" or "hole". This connects to "ya-k’é" = "window". Similarly, if "chíze-chogh" = "lion", then "chíze" should be general "cat". So 1. "chizaze" = D. cat. We've seen a few "-aze" words now:
My own explanation is that "-aze" is a diminutive suffix. So 6. "dene-tthí-aze" = person-skull-small = Q. postage stamp. (This is the least apparent of these all, but there's really nothing else that has to do with "small head".)
Using the "chogh" morpheme, we find the interesting pair 18. "tł’uk’etį" and 19. "tł’uk’etį-chogh", so there's something and the "fierce/large" version of it. The only thing matching this description is V. violin and H. guitar. So "chogh" = "large". By this logic, 17. "tł’izi tthoghé-chogh" contains "tł’izi" = "fly" and "chogh" = "large"; "large fly" is closest to I. hornet. We've seen "tthoghé" a few times now:
The most likely meaning is "yellow", so 22. "tsąba del-tthoghi" = "yellow money" = G. gold (metal), and 21. "tsąba delgai" = S. silver (metal). Probably, "gai" = "white". In "jíegaié", are beans "white fruits"...? I'm not sure.
We have another group involving "chogh": 3. "dene ké", 12. "ké sųłiné", 13. "ké-chogh", which are "person X", "true X", "large X". Among the remaining things, the only group of three related things are: O. person's shoe, K. moccasin ("true shoe"), C. boot ("large shoe"). So "ké" = "shoe".
5 involves "dene tthí" = person-skull, which might be E. fever or L. my hair. 5 also contains "nédheli", which we've seen in "tu nédheli" = "soup", where "nédheli" turns "water" into "soup". This matches with E. fever, where "nédheli" means "hot".
"erihtł’ístué" = "ink". The "tué" is probably "water", so "erihtł’ís" has to do with "write". Therefore 8. "erihtł’ís chené" = N. pen.
"sįchéné" = "my arm", and "erihtł’ís chené" = "pen", so "chené" = "arm" and "sį" = "my" ("writing arm" = "pen"). In the remaining words, we only have 16. "sįla" that contains "sį", while we have two words that contain "my": L. my hair and M. my hand. The only way out is to also consider 15. "se-tthí-ghá" as another "my" word where "sį" has changed to "se". Now, it contains "tthí" = "skull", so it must be L. my hair, and 16. "sįla" = M. my hand, so "la" = "hand".
Now we know that 4. "dene láké" = person-hand-shoe. I don't know how, but the only word remotely close is F. fingerprint.
Here are the remaining words:
2. dechen-kálé
14. sa tł’ulé
20. tł’ule-kálé
And the translations:
T. strap
U. sunbeam
X. wooden board
We have a word containing "kálé", a word containing "tł’ulé", and a word containing both. We don't know what any of these morphemes mean. I think there are way to many ways to make this work, but per the answer: "sunbeam" is a "linear" thing, "wooden board" is a "flat" thing, and "strap" is a flat and linear thing, so 20. "tł’ule-kálé" = "flat linear" = T. strap, 14. "sa tł’ulé" = "sun linear" = U. sunbeam, and 2. "dechen-kálé" = "wood flat" = X. wooden board. I don't know how you can correctly match 14 and 2 because we don't know what either "sa" or "dechen" means, and "strap" doesn't have a clear head morpheme. Even including K2 doesn't help, because "clock" can be related to both "sun" and "wood".
Anyway, if "sa" = "sun", then that's the answer for K2, which makes sense because the sun can be used to tell time.
As for K3:
For K4, we need to do it via process of elimination, because there are some morphemes we still don't recognize.