Kugzogak

Kugzogak is a simplistic language, relatively speaking. Phonologically, there are four main consonants, t, k, s and g, which mutate under certain circumstances to d, ch, z and ng. More about this later. The vowels are also simple: a, u and o. The a sound is like English 'cat', the u in 'boot' and o (or oe) like 'uh', a grunt or even unvoiced 'ur'. (capitals: T, K, S, G, D, CH, Z, NG, A, U and O. Where vowels meet in compounds, for ease of reading, put in an apostrophe, as in Ku’ukog (the Up-hunt).

Stress: last syllable if any.

Nouns: simple! No article and plurals double the word itself tosag "weapon", tosag-tosag "weapons". Thus, tosag would also be "a weapon" & "the weapon". Compound nouns are simply joined together, with the most important element last.

Verbs: Always end in -og. Three tenses are used in combination with simple verb dog (postposition) to give more complex tenses. In Kugzogak, there is no copula. See "Adjectives" for more information. Present/Continuative/Aorist/Infinitive/Active Participle: simple verb root takog "sleep, heal, die", "to sleep, heal, die", "is sleeping, healing, dying", "sleeps, heals, dies" Past/Passive Participle: takogza "slept, healed, died, dead" Future/Imperative: takognguk "will/shall sleep, will heal, will die", "sleep! heal! die!" In the instances of suffixes (-za, -nguk), the initial letter becomes mutated (-za representing sa "done!" and -nguk representing gukugaz "more". Remember, if the passive or active participles are being used adjectively, then they need to be prefixed too. More complex tenses: takogdogza "was sleeping, healing, dying" takogzadogza "had slept, healed, died" takogzadognguk "will be healed, rested, dead". These extra tenses are very rarely used - usually the simple will suffice. Doer of the Verb: just add -chug, which is kug “person”, mutated.

Pronouns: none. Use the full noun. Kug gogza chag kugchus otogza chag "The person killed the human after he fought the human". Usually, a Kug will use his/her own name as the first person single pronoun.

Adjectives: prefix the adjective and force mutation. These usually end in -gaz, the one instance of mutation happening at the end of the word. Adjectives are used the same way for adverbs, simply prefixed to the front of the verb as in ukugazdakog "sleep deeply, etc." and utokugazdosag "weak/small weapon". When a noun is prefixed in such a way, only the nounal part of the adj-noun is repeated for plurals, unmutated: utokugazdosag-tosag "weak/small weapons". Comparatives are formed from a suffix, -nguk, which is affixed after -gaz. Superlatives add -chukut, "king", in the same position.

Conjunctions and prepositions: I had originally thought that Kugzogak would use prepositions, but now I think there will be suffixes instead. Words like ok, kus and sug are suffixed to the nouns they describe, like cases. Tu'ok tu'os "on (the/a) wing of (the/a) bird", gogza dog gag kagzo "(the/a) head of (the/a) human was destroyed"

Mutation: Where an adjective or adverb is prefixed to the noun or verb, the initial consonant of the word of the root mutates, k > ch, t > d, s > z and g > ng. Mutation also occurs when a noun is the object, either direct or indirect, of a verb. Words starting in a vowel do not undergo change: otognguk os agzo chagazchag-kag "(the) hand of pain will conquer stupid humans". Suffixes are also mutated, as in agzo "of pain".

For a dictionary of basic Kugzogak words, see click this link.