Waa

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

Waa is a constructed language. A large part of its vocabulary is derived from English, or a selection of other languages.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar or glottal
Voiceless stops	p	t		k
Voiced stops	b	d
Voiceless fricatives		s		h
Nasals	m	n		ŋ
Taps/flaps/trills		r~l
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

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.

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

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

Adjectives and other modifying expressions follow the noun:

kat wit - a/the white cat(s)

cat white

hun maka - a/the large dog(s)

dog large

Pronouns

mi I

yu you (singular)

te he, she, it

tenaa that one

tenei thisone

miera we

yuera you (plural)

teera they

teeranaa those ones

teeranei these ones

ei tiaoka - somebody (lit. 'one person')

ei mea - something (lit. 'one thing')

ei osa - some amount (lit. 'one part')

Simple clauses

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

Kat sewa. The cat is sleeping

cat sleep

Kat ta sewa. - The cat slept

cat PST sleep

Mi kopa kat I'm buying the cat

1 buy cat

Mi ta kopa kat. - I bought a cat.

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

Kat wit. Or: Kat nea wit - The cat is white.

cat white cat be white

Nea can also introduce prepositional phrases as predicates:

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

cat be LOC table

Nea is optional when it comes to nominal predicates:

Kia tiatis. - He is a teacher.

3s person:teach

Kia nea tiatis. - He is a teacher.

3s be person:teach

The copula

The copula nea can typically be left out. An adjective, verb, noun, or prepositional phrase following the verb may be interpreted as either a predicate or a modifier, depending on the context. The copula is used when one needs to make unambiguous that the following phrase is a predicate.

Kat wit - the cat is white, or: the white cat.

Kat nea wit - The cat is white.

Hun i hus - The dog in the house, or: the dog is on the house.

Hun nea i hus - The dog is in the house.

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.

kat i tebo - the cat on the table

cat LOC table

rum i hus - the room(s) in the house

room LOC house

tebo i rumit - the table in the dining room

table LOC room:eat

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

table be LOC room:eat

Tuku mele i kapikur. - Put the milk in the fridge.

put milk DAT box:cool

Kiwe buk i mi. - Give me the book.

give book DAT 1s

Teera kou i paiboa. - They went to the village

1:PL go DAT place:live

The genitive/instrumental/ablative

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

Te ta kee a paiboa. - He came from the village.

3s PST come ABL place:live

Te ta paded kat a korokut. - He killed the cat with a knife.

3 PST cause:dead cat INSTR tool:cut

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

Hun nea maka a kat. - The dog is bigger than the cat.'

dog be big ABL cat

Compound prepositions

The simple prepositions i and a can be combined with other words to indicate more precise relationships, with i usually indicating location or destination, and a departing point or path.

i apo - 'on', 'above'

i roka - 'inside', 'into'

i puri - 'under', 'beneath'

a apo - 'from above', 'through above'

a roka - 'from inside', 'through the inside of'

a puri - 'from beneath', 'passing under'

Negations and questions

A clause is negated by ku:

Kat ku sewa. - The cat is not sleeping

cat NEG sleep

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

Kat sewa? - Is the cat sleeping?

cat sleep

Ye. Kat sewa. - Yes. The cat is sleeping.

agree cat sleep

Ku. Kat ku sewa. - No. The cat isn't sleeping.

NEG cat NEG sleep

Kuye. Kat ku sewa.

NEG:agree cat NEG sleep

Kat ku sewa? - Isn't the cat sleeping?

cat NEG sleep

Ye. Kat ku sewa. - No. The cat isn't sleeping.

agree cat NEG sleep

Ku. Kat sewa. - Yes. The cat is sleeping.

NEG cat sleep

Kuye. Kat sewa. - Yes. The cat is sleeping.

NEG.agree cat sleep

Ku can also be used with adjectives or nouns:

ku bon - no good, not good

NEG good

ku kat - no cat(s)

NEG cat

ku men - no one, nobody (lit. 'no person')

NEG person

Adjectives

Adjectives go after the words they modify:

Kat miti - a/the small cat

cat small

Hun maka - a/the large dog

dog large

Adjectives as predicates are optionally introduced by the copula nea:

Kat (nea) miti - The cat is small.

cat (be) small

Note that katu miti may be ambiguous, it can mean either 'the small cat' or 'the cat is small'. Without the copula, one must often rely on context to determine the intended meaning.

Comparisons are formed with the preposition i meso a:

Kat nea miti i meso a hun. - The cat is smaller than the dog.

cat be small DAT measure GEN dog

Possession

The possessor is placed after the possessum:

katu a mi - my cat

cat GEN 1s

huno a ota - (the) father's dog

dog GEN father

katu a ota a mi my father's cat

cat GEN father GEN 1s

Predicative possession

Katu naa nea a mi. That cat is mine

cat that be GEN 1s

Nea katu a mi. I have a cat. ('There is a cat of mine')

be cat GEN ø1s

Relative clauses

Relative clauses are introduced with the particle ae:

Mane ae kopa katu. - The man that bought the cat.

man REL buy cat

Katu ae kia kopa. - The cat that he bought.

cat REL 3s buy

If the relativized noun is introduced by a preposition - i or a - it must be represented by a pronoun in the relative clause:

Korokutu ae kia padedu katu a kia. - The knife that he killed the cat with.

tool:cut REL 3s cause:dead cat INSTR 3s

Mane ae mi kiwe katu i kia. - The man that I gave the cat to.

man REL 1s give cat DAT 3s

Prepositional stranding is not allowed:

*Mane ae mi kiwe katu i.

man REL 1s give cat DAT

Complement clauses

Complement clauses are introduced by the conjunction ge 'that':

Mi siu ge kia kopa katu. - I saw that he bought the cat.

1s see CONJ 3s buy cat

Mi ku wita ge kia redi selu katu. - I didn't know he had (already) sold the cat.

1s NEG know CONJ 2s PRF sell cat

Adverbial clauses

Temporal adverbial clauses can bi introduced by beo 'before', ata 'after' and sima 'while', 'when', 'at the same time as':

Kia kee beo mi kou. - 'He arrived before I left.

3s come before 1 go

Kia kee ata mi kou. - 'He arrived after I had left.'

3s come after 1s leave

Kia kee sima mi itu. - 'He arrived when I was eating'

3s come while 1s eat

Auxiliary verbs

Mi wae kopa katu. - I want to by a cat.

1s want buy cat

Mi kae kopa katu. - I can buy a cat

1s can buy cat

Mi nae kopa katu. - I must/have to buy a cat

1s must buy cat

Mi mae kopa katu. - I may (am permitted to) buy a cat.

1s may buy cat

Mi sae kopa katu. - I must (am morally obligted to) buy a cat.

1s must buy cat

The prefix pa-

The prefix pa- can be attached to certain verbs to render a causative meaning. It can turn an intransitive verb into a transitive one:

pa + kou ('to go') -> pakou - to lead

pa + rera ('to learn') -> parera - to teach

It can be attached to adjectives:

pa + witu ('white') -> to make white, to bleach

The prefix ke-

The prefix ke- has a couple of functions. It can be added to verbs, to form nouns indicating what would typically be the result of the event described by the verb:

ke + rita ('to write') -> kerita - letter, (piece of) writing.

ke + rima ('to dream') -> kerima - dream

ke + tigu ('to think') -> ketigu 'thought'

It can form passive participles:

tiki kerai - fried chicken

chicken PASS.fry

tiki nea kerai - the chicken is/was fried

chicken be PASS.fry

Tiki nea kerai a mane - The chicken is being fried by the man.

chicken be PASS.fry man

It can be attached to adjectives to form abstract nouns:

ke + biu (beautiful, good-looking) -> kebiu - beauty (in the sense of an abstract quality, rather than 'a beautiful person', which would be tiabiu or tiaoka biu)

Reflexive clauses

The reflexive pronoun is se:

Te ta ruku i se - He looked at himself.

3s PST look DAT REFL

Teera ta ruku i se - They looked at themselves.

3:PL PST look DAT REFL

Se need not refer to a third person subject. It can just as well refer back to a first or second person subject, corresponding to 'myself', 'ourselves', 'yourself', or 'yourselves' in English:

Mi ta ruku i se. - I looked at myself.

1s PST look DAT REFL

The reciprocal pronoun is seoa:

Teera ta ruku i seoa. - They looked at each other.

3.PL PST look DAT RECP

Lexicon

Colours

kara - colour

goko or raku - black

witu - white

rei - grey

buro - blue

rinu - green

redu - red

yero - yellow

runo - brown

burogoko - dark blue, black-blue

burowitu - light blue

reduburo, buroredu - purple/violet

reduyero, yeroredu - orange

reduwitu - light red, pink

Numerals

ei - one

oa - two

kore - three

apa - four

lima - five

sesu - six

sewe - seven

eto - eight

niu - nine

tega - ten

tegaei - eleven (ten one)

tegaoa - twelve (ten two)

etc.

oa tega - twenty (two ten)

kore tega - thirty (three ten)

etc.

apa tegaei - forty-one (four ten one)

apa tegarao - forty-two (four ten two)

etc.

(ei) huna - (one) hundred

(ei) tusa - (one) thousand

(ei) mirione - (one) million

(ei) birione (one) billion (short scale, like English)

(ei) tirione (one) trillion

Cardinal numerals are placed before the noun:

lima tiaoka - five people

sesu katu - six cats

Ordinal numerals are placed after the noun:

katu kore - the third cat

tiaoka roa - the second person

For 'first', You can use either the numeral ei, or the special word mura:

katu ei - the first cat

katu mura - the first cat

Fractionals are formed with osa 'part' + numeral:

osakore - (a) third

ei osakore - one third

roa osakore - two thirds

ei osatega - one tenth

Family

hami - family

hamiaka - extended family, kin

ota - father, uncle

oma - mother, aunt

bote - brother, male cousin

siso - sister, female cousin

See also

Waa-English dictionary