Waa
 | |
|---|---|
| Waa | |
| Pronounced: | waː, wɑ: |
| Typology | |
| Morphological type: | analytic |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | neutral |
| Basic word order: | SVO |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | |
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.
1s PST buy 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 ta 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:
kat a mi - my cat
cat GEN 1s
hun a ota - (the) father's dog
dog GEN father
kat a ota a mi my father's cat
cat GEN father GEN 1s
Predicative possession
Kat naa nea a mi. That cat is mine
cat that be GEN 1s
Nea kat a mi. I have a cat. ('There is a cat of mine')
be cat GEN 1s
Relative clauses
Relative clauses are introduced with the particle ae:
Man ae kopa kat. - The man that bought the cat.
man REL buy cat
Kat 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:
Korokut ae kia paded kat a kia. - The knife that he killed the cat with.
tool:cut REL 3s cause:dead cat INSTR 3s
Man ae mi kiwe kat i kia. - The man that I gave the cat to.
man REL 1s give cat DAT 3s
Prepositional stranding is not allowed:
*Man ae mi kiwe kat i.
man REL 1s give cat DAT
Complement clauses
Complement clauses are introduced by the conjunction ge 'that':
Mi ta siu ge kia kopa kat. - I saw that he bought the cat.
1s PST see CONJ 3s buy cat
Mi ta ku wita ge kia redi sel kat. - I didn't know he had (already) sold the cat.
1s PST 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 kat. - I want to by a cat.
1s want buy cat
Mi kae kopa kat. - I can buy a cat
1s can buy cat
Mi nae kopa kat. - I must/have to buy a cat
1s must buy cat
Mi mae kopa kat. - I may (am permitted to) buy a cat.
1s may buy cat
Mi sae kopa kat - 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 + wit ('white') -> pawit 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 ruk i se - He looked at himself.
3s PST look DAT REFL
Teera ta ruk 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 ruk i se. - I looked at myself.
1s PST look DAT REFL
The reciprocal pronoun is seoa:
Teera ta ruk i seoa. - They looked at each other.
3.PL PST look DAT RECP
Lexicon
Colours
kara - colour
goko or rau - black
wit - white
rei - grey
beu - blue
rin - green
red - red
yero - yellow
runo - brown
beuoko - dark blue, black-blue
beuwit - 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 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
