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The Lovers :: Фармер Филип Хосе
Страница: 53 из 127When he had heard Hal's explanation, he blinked his large round eyes (a weird and at first unnerving sight because the lower eyelid made the motion), and he said, 'I have neverthought of it! It does seem to be more efficient and less tiring on the handler of the gun, does it not?'
'Obvious to me,' said Hal. 'But then, I am an Earthman and think like one. I have noticed the not unsurprising fact that you Ozagens do not always think as we do.'
He handed the gun back to Fobo, and he said, 'I am sorry I can't take it. But I am forbidden to carry firearms.'
Fobo looked puzzled, but evidently he did not think it politic to inquire why not. Or else he was too tired.
He said, 'Very well. Shalom, aloha, good dreaming, Sigmen visit you.'
'Shalom to you, too,' said Hal. He watched the broad back of the wog disappear into the shadows, and he felt a strange warmth for the creature. Despite his utterly alien and unhuman appearance, Fobo appealed to Hal.
Hal turned and walked toward the statue of the Great Mother. When he got to the shadows at its base, he saw the woman slipping into the darkness cast by a three-story heap of rubble. He followed her to the rubble only to see her several stone-throws ahead, leaning against a monolith. Beyond was the lake, silvery and black in the moonlight.
Hal walked toward her and was about five meters from her when she spoke in a low and throaty voice. 'Baw sfa, soo Yarrow.'
' Baw sfa ,' he echoed, knowing that it must be a greeting in her language.
' Baw sfa ,' she repeated, and then, obviously translating the phrase for his benefit, she said, in Siddo, ' Abhu'umaigeitsi'i .'
Which meant, very roughly, 'Good evening.'
He gasped.
8
Of course! Now he knew why the words had sound vaguely familiar and the rhythm of her speech remind him so strongly of a not too unrecent experience. Som thing about it stirred up a memory of his research in tiny community of the last of the French speakers in Hudson Bay Preserve.
Baw sfa. Baw sfa was bon soir.
Even though her speech was, linguistically speaking, very decayed form, it could not disguise its ancestry. Baw sfa. And those other words he had heard through the window. Wuhfvayfvoo. That would be levez-vous, French for 'get up.'
Soo Yarrow. Could that be, must be, Monsieur Yarrow? The initial m dropped, the French eu evolved to something resembling the American и sound? Must be. And there were other changes to this degenerate French. Development of aspiration. The abandonment of nasalization. Vowel shift. Replacement of к before a vowel by a glottal stop. Change of d to t; l to w; f shifted to a sound between v and f; w changed to f.
'Obvious to me,' said Hal. 'But then, I am an Earthman and think like one. I have noticed the not unsurprising fact that you Ozagens do not always think as we do.'
He handed the gun back to Fobo, and he said, 'I am sorry I can't take it. But I am forbidden to carry firearms.'
Fobo looked puzzled, but evidently he did not think it politic to inquire why not. Or else he was too tired.
He said, 'Very well. Shalom, aloha, good dreaming, Sigmen visit you.'
'Shalom to you, too,' said Hal. He watched the broad back of the wog disappear into the shadows, and he felt a strange warmth for the creature. Despite his utterly alien and unhuman appearance, Fobo appealed to Hal.
Hal turned and walked toward the statue of the Great Mother. When he got to the shadows at its base, he saw the woman slipping into the darkness cast by a three-story heap of rubble. He followed her to the rubble only to see her several stone-throws ahead, leaning against a monolith. Beyond was the lake, silvery and black in the moonlight.
Hal walked toward her and was about five meters from her when she spoke in a low and throaty voice. 'Baw sfa, soo Yarrow.'
' Baw sfa ,' he echoed, knowing that it must be a greeting in her language.
' Baw sfa ,' she repeated, and then, obviously translating the phrase for his benefit, she said, in Siddo, ' Abhu'umaigeitsi'i .'
Which meant, very roughly, 'Good evening.'
He gasped.
8
Of course! Now he knew why the words had sound vaguely familiar and the rhythm of her speech remind him so strongly of a not too unrecent experience. Som thing about it stirred up a memory of his research in tiny community of the last of the French speakers in Hudson Bay Preserve.
Baw sfa. Baw sfa was bon soir.
Even though her speech was, linguistically speaking, very decayed form, it could not disguise its ancestry. Baw sfa. And those other words he had heard through the window. Wuhfvayfvoo. That would be levez-vous, French for 'get up.'
Soo Yarrow. Could that be, must be, Monsieur Yarrow? The initial m dropped, the French eu evolved to something resembling the American и sound? Must be. And there were other changes to this degenerate French. Development of aspiration. The abandonment of nasalization. Vowel shift. Replacement of к before a vowel by a glottal stop. Change of d to t; l to w; f shifted to a sound between v and f; w changed to f.