Tibetan to Swahili: keep an inventory’s objects separate from its owners
A Tibetan list can encode more than a sequence of objects
Garrett and Hill’s Classical Tibetan noun-phrase study distinguishes cardinal numerals, plural expressions, demonstratives and other modifiers. When an inventory or handover message groups items under a person’s name, determine which expressions form each complete reference. The study concerns written Classical Tibetan materials, so its analysis should not be imposed unchanged on every spoken source variety.
A list mentioning one person and several objects does not describe several owners. Similarly, two named people can share one item. Mark the relationship intended by each entry before translating the list into Swahili: the object, its quantity and its owner are three separate pieces of information. A readable target list can still be wrong if it preserves the objects but redistributes them among the people.
Pay particular attention when the Tibetan source alternates a full name with a shorter reference. Establish whether the shorter expression continues the same owner or introduces someone else. Repeating a name in a working note can clarify the analysis without requiring that repetition in the final Swahili prose.
Swahili possessive forms keep two number decisions apart
The University of Kansas lesson contrasts kalamu yako with kalamu zako for one listener’s pen versus pens. Separately, it contrasts the possessive material used for one listener with that used for several listeners. These examples show why a target possessive cannot be chosen from a single undifferentiated idea of plural.
The same lesson gives jina lake and majina yake for a third-person owner’s name and names, while its third-person possessive gloss covers both his and her. A changed agreement prefix can therefore concern the possessed noun rather than a new owner. The possessive by itself also does not decide whether that owner is male or female.
When a Tibetan handover note changes from one category of item to another, inspect the Swahili possessive alongside the new noun. Do not retain a prefix merely because the owner’s name remains unchanged. Conversely, do not infer a change of owner from an agreement change required by the item. These decisions need to remain connected to the actual source relationships.
Check the transfer, not just the list’s grammar
Suppose a source note assigns several objects to one visitor and a single object jointly to two others. A useful review asks who should receive each item after reading the Swahili version. If that practical allocation differs from the Tibetan note, correct reference and ownership before polishing the wording. Agreement alone cannot establish the intended allocation.
Then review each noun phrase locally, using the intended object and owner as the reference points. Check quantities against the source, keep names identifiable and confirm any unfamiliar noun-class form with a Swahili resource. Finally, read the entries consecutively: an omitted repeated owner should remain recoverable, and a new owner should not be mistaken for a continuation. This makes the translated inventory useful for the actual handover rather than merely a collection of plausible possessive phrases.
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