Waa

Waa
Pronounced:	waː, wɑ:
Typology
Morphological type:	analytic
Morphosyntactic alignment:	ergative
Basic word order:	VSO, OVS, 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
Trills		r
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.

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)

cat white

huno 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 'neutral' word-order is usually VS or VSO.

E sewa katu. The cat is sleeping

NPST sleep cat

Ta sewa katu. - The cat slept

PST sleep cat

E kopa a mi kat I'm buying the cat

NPST buy ERG 1 cat

Ta kopa a mi katu. - I bought a cat.

PST buy ERG 1 cat

Adjectives can serve as predicates together with the copula nea:

E nea rei katu. - The cat is grey.

NPST be grey cat

Ta nea runo huno. - The dog was brown.

PST be brown dog

The copula can also introduce a prepositional predicate:

E nea i tebo katu. - The cat is on the table. be LOC table cat

Non verb-initial sentences

Something other than a verb or predicate may begin the sentence:

Deikee e kopa a mi katu. - Tomorrow I'll buy a cat.

tomorrow NPST buy ERG 1s cat

Katu e kopa a mi. - I'll buy the cat.

cat NPST buy ERG 1s

Mi e kopa katu. - I'll buy a cat.

1s NPST buy cat

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

cat LOC table

mane i huso - the man in the house

man LOC house

tebo i rumoitu - the table in the dining room

table LOC room:eat

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

table be LOC room:eat

Tuko mele i kapikuro. - Put the milk in the fridge.

put milk DAT box:cool

Kiwe buko i mi. - Give me the book.

give book DAT 1s

Teera ta kou i paiboa. - They went to the village

1:PL go DAT place:live

Huno e sewa i roo. - The dog is sleeping on the floor.

The genitive/instrumental/ablative

A indicates the genitive, indicating ownership, part-whole relationships, etc.

katu a teera - their cat

cat GEN 3:PL

kemaka a huno - the size of the dog

size GEN dog

muro a huso - the walls of the house

wall GEN house

osa a dei - a part of the day

part GEN day

A can also 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 padedu katu a korokuto. - He killed the cat with a knife.

3 PST cause:dead cat INSTR tool:cut

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, which is placed right before the verb:

E ku sewa katu. - The cat is not sleeping

NPST NEG sleep cat

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

E sewa katu? - Is the cat sleeping?

sleep cat

Ai. E sewa katu. - Yes. The cat is sleeping.

agree NPST sleep cat

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

NEG:agree NPST NEG sleep cat

E ku sewa katu? - Isn't the cat sleeping?

NPST NEG sleep cat

Ai. E ku sewa katu. - No. The cat isn't sleeping.

agree NPST NEG sleep cat

Kuai. E sewa katu. - Yes. The cat is sleeping.

NEG.agree NPST sleep cat

Ku can also be used with adjectives or nouns:

ku bono - no good, not good

NEG good

ku katu - no cat(s)

NEG cat

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

NEG person

Ta siu a ku mene mi. - Nobody saw me.

PST see ERG NEG person 1s

Ta siu a mi ku mene. - I haven't seen anybody.

PST see ERG 1s NEG person

Ku+ene or kuene is 'never':

Ko ta kopa ene a mi katu. - I've never bought a cat.

PST NEG buy ever ERG 1s cat

Ta kopa kuene a mi katu. - I've never bought a cat.

PST buy NEG:ever ERG 1s cat

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

E nea a mi katu naa. That cat is mine

NPST be GEN 1s cat DIST

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

NPST be cat GEN 1s

Conjunctions

e - and

eo - or

teya - but

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 te kopa. - The cat that he bought.

cat REL 3s buy

The past tense particle ta need not be used in the relative clause.

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

Korokuto 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 te. - 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':

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

PST see 1s CONJ 3s buy cat

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

PST NEG know 1s CONJ 2s PRF sell cat

Note that you don't need the ergatve marker when the subject is followed by a complement clause.

Adverbial clauses

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

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

PST come 3s before 1s go

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

PST come 3s after 1s leave

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

PST come 3s while 1s eat

Auxiliary verbs

Wae mi kopa katu. - I want to by a cat.

want 1s buy cat

Kae mi kopa katu. - I can buy a cat

can 1s buy cat

Nae mi kopa katu. - I must/have to buy a cat

must 1s buy cat

Mae mi kopa katu. - I may (am permitted to) buy a cat.

may 1s buy cat

Sae mi kopa katu. - I must (am morally obligted to) buy a cat.

must 1s buy cat

Adverbs of frequemcy

oha often

orutima always

Adverbs of frequency are usually placed after the verb:

Mi e kopa oha katu niu.

1s NPST buy often cat new

Katu e sewa orutima i roo. The cat always sleeps on the floor.

cat NPST sleep alwas LOC floor

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') -> pawitu 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 + tiga ('to think') -> ketiga 'thought'

It can form passive participles:

tiki kerai - fried chicken

chicken PASS.fry

tiki e nea kerai - the chicken is/was fried

chicken be PASS.fry

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

chicken be PASS.fry man

The prefix kei-

Kei- can be attached to adjectives to form abstract nouns:

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

kei + bono -> keibono - goodness

Reflexive clauses

The reflexive pronoun is se:

Te ta ruko i se - He looked at himself.

3s PST look DAT REFL

Teera ta ruko 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 ruko i se. - I looked at myself.

1s PST look DAT REFL

The reciprocal pronoun is seoa:

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

3.PL PST look DAT RECP

Lexicon

Colours

kara - colour

raku - black

witu - white

rei - grey

beu - blue

rinu - green

redu - red

yero - yellow

runo - brown

beuraku - dark blue, black-blue

beuwitu - light blue

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 oa - the second person

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

kat ei - the first cat

kat mua - the first cat

Fractionals are formed with osa 'part' + numeral:

osakore - (a) third

ei osakore - one third

oa osakore - two thirds

ei osatega - one tenth

Family

hami - family

hamiaka - extended family, kin

aba - father, uncle

ama - mother, aunt

bote - brother, male cousin

siso - sister, female cousin

See also

Waa-English dictionary