Waa
 | |
|---|---|
| Waa | |
| Pronounced: | waː, wɑ: |
| Typology | |
| Morphological type: | analytic |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | ergative |
| Basic word order: | VSO, OVS, 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 | |
| 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
Nea tebo i rumoitu. - The table is in the dining room.
table be LOC room:eat
Tuko meku 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
Ta kou teera i paiboa. - They went to the village
PSR go 3:PL DAT place:live
E sewa huno i roo. - The dog is sleeping on the floor.
NPST sleep dog LOC 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
menitima often
orutima always
Adverbs of frequency are usually placed after the verb:
E kopa a mi memitima katu niu.
1s NPST buy often cat new
E sewa katu 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:
Ta ruko te i se - He looked at himself.
3s PST look DAT REFL
Ta ruko teera i se - They looked at themselves.
PST look 3..PL 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:
Ta ruko mi i se. - I looked at myself.
PST look 1s DAT REFL
The reciprocal pronoun is seoa:
Ta ruko teera 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
