Lower Sorbian to Malay: denying a role differs from correcting a description
A source noun phrase contains more than one possible claim
Pankau illustrates the colloquial Lower Sorbian sequence ta nowa naša fararka, identifying our new female parson. The expression combines a definite article, a descriptive adjective, possession and a role noun. His spoken-variety analysis should not be extended automatically to every written-standard construction.
If a surrounding Lower Sorbian statement denies that someone holds the role, the target must deny the noun-based identification. If it denies that the person is new, the denied content is instead a quality. Those alternatives involve the same person and may share most vocabulary, but they make different claims.
An original correction meaning she is our parson, but she is not new must therefore retain the role while rejecting the description. Replacing it with a denial that she is the parson would reverse the point. The source adjective cannot simply be removed from its noun phrase without tracking what the sentence asserts about it.
Malay negation depends on the target construction
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka’s discussion contrasts Dia bukan guru, denying that someone is a teacher, with Dia tidak malas, denying laziness. Its basic distinction places bukan with noun and prepositional phrases, and tidak with verbal and adjectival phrases. These are not two interchangeable spellings of one general negative.
For a Lower Sorbian correction involving the role noun above, build the Malay predicate from the intended identification. A source sentence denying a property requires a different target analysis. Selecting one negative expression simply because it worked elsewhere with the same person would ignore the type of claim now being denied.
The source article also needs interpretation: Pankau distinguishes an article from explicitly pointing demonstratives. Definite reference to our parson does not itself require a Malay expression meaning this particular parson here. Whether the person is identifiable and whether the statement rejects her role are separate decisions.
An explicit contrast changes what a simple rule predicts
The DBP article additionally shows bukan in a correction contrasting one activity with another. Its account therefore goes beyond an absolute rule that verbal material must always take tidak. The discourse relation matters: rejecting one proposed account in favour of another differs from simply saying that an activity does not occur.
Pankau’s Lower Sorbian examples also show that a descriptive element can appear separated from its noun. Such positioning should prompt the translator to recover the complete claim, rather than assign negation solely according to the nearest visible word. A fronted description may remain semantically connected to a later noun.
For an original source contrast meaning not our new parson, but our previous one, determine whether the rejected element is the identity or the quality new. The Malay wording should expose the intended alternative. Preserving every source word while placing the negative over the wrong constituent would deliver the opposite correction, even if each individual dictionary choice looked plausible.
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