Waa

Waa
Pronounced:	waː, wɑ:
Typology
Morphological type:	analytic
Morphosyntactic alignment:	neutral
Basic word order:	SVO
Credits
Creator:	Xing

Waais a constructed language.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Voiceless stops	p	t		k
Voiced stops	b	d
Nasals	m	n		ŋ
Taps/flaps/trills		r~ɾ
Glides	w		j

/j/ is written y, and /ŋ/ g. Otherwise, the phonemes follow their 'expected' spelling according to the IPA.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a~ɑ

Waa has essentially a five-vowel system. On a phonological level, all vowels could be analysed as short monophthongs. In connected speech, however, adjacent vowels may be realized as diphthings on a phonetic level, and two identical vowels next to each other as a single, long vowel. Stress falls on the second-to-last mora, or second to last phonological vowel.

Basic Phrases

There is no distinction between singular and plural, or between definite and indefinite forms, nor are there any other inflections of the noun.

katu - a cat, the cat, (some) cats, the cat,s etc.

huno - a dog, the dog, (some) dogs, the dogs, etc.

Adjectives and other modifying expressions follow the noun:

katu witu - a/the white cat(s)

huno laka - a/the large dog(s)

Pronouns

mi I

yu you (singular)

kia he, she, it

miera we

yuera you (plural)

kiaera or kiakia they

A pronoun placed right after a noun can serve as a possessive pronoun:

katu mi - my cat

huno kia - her/his dog

Simple clauses

The basic word-order is SVO, or just SV in intransitive clauses:

Katu sewa. The cat is sleeping

Mi kopa katu I'm buying the cat

Adjectives can serve as predicates. There are optionally introduced by the copula nea 'to be':

Katu witu. Or: Katu nea witu - The cat is white.

Nea can also introduce prepositional phrases as predicates:

Katu nea i tebo. - The cat is on the table

There is a past tense particle ko:

Katu ko sewa. - The cat slept.

Mi ko kopa katu. - I bought the cat.

Katu ko nea witu. - The cat was white.

Katu ko nea i tebo. - The cat was on the table.

Prepositions

There are two main prepositions in Waa: the dative/locative i, and the ablative/instrumental a. They can have a variety of meanings, depending on the context.

The dative/locative

I can be used to indicate various form of (spatial) location, as well as goal, destination or recipient.

katu i tebo - the cat on the table

rumo i huso - the room(s) in the house

tebo i rumoitu - the table in the dining room

Tebo nea i rumoitu. - The table is in the dining room.

Tuku meku i kapikulu. - Put the milk in the fridge.

Kiwe buku i mi. - Give me the book.

The instrumental/ablative

A can be used to indicate source, means, etc.

Kia ko kee a paiboa. - He came from the village.

Kia padedu katu a korokutu. - He killed the cat with a knife.

A can be used to mark the standard in a comparison:

Huno nea maka a katu. - The dog is bigger than the cat.'

Negations and questions

A clause is negated by kuo:

Katu kuo sewa. - The cat is not sleeping

A yes/no-question may be formed by rising intonation. To respond to a question, you use soo for agreement, and kuo soo or just kuo for disagreement.

Katu sewa? - Is the cat sleeping?

Soo. Katu sewa. - Yes. The cat is sleeping.

Kuo soo. Katu kuo sewa. - No. The cat isn't sleeping.

Katu kuo sewa? - Isn't the cat sleeping?

Soo. Katu kuo sewa. - No. The cat isn't sleeping.

Kuo soo. Katu sewa. - Yes. The cat is sleeping.