Taurahe

Taurahe is the language spoken by the Tauren from the Warcraft universe.

Osoo Yanoretek
Taurahe has 16 letters. Osoo yanoretek is the traditional layout of the letters. The pure vowel A is on top, the fluid vowels/consonants on the next row down, the lingual consonants beneath that, and the remaining consonants on the bottom tier. Note that st and ts, while digraphs in the Latin alphabet, are single letters in the Taurahe script.

 A

YE • RØ • WO

T • D • S • TS • ST • L • N

P • F • M • K • H



Phonotactics
Most words have a length of 1, 2, or 3 vowels. Each syllable follows the form (C)V(m), where C is any consonant, V is any vowel, and m is nasalization. Every syllable must start with a consonant unless it is the first consonant of the word, or if the vowel is the same as the vowel of the previous syllable. This causes a double-length vowel. There are no triple-length vowels.
 * Single
 * V: o, it
 * CV: po, wind
 * Double
 * VV: aa, really
 * CVV: soo, child
 * CVCV: towa, slow
 * Triple
 * VCVCV: ølølø, infinite
 * CVCVCV: sehødo, knife
 * CVVCV: stooko, wheat
 * CVCVV: yakee, mist

A very few, very old words can end in a single k, such as wøfak, combat. The k may or may not be pronounced.

Consonants
This is a chart of the consonants of Ceremonial Taurahe. Consonants are formed at three sites, the lips (bilabial) the tongue (coronal) and the throat (dorsal, radical, and glottal). Note that the bilabial and coronal consonants are all velarized. This is caused by the shape of the Tauren mouth versus that of a human.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! ! Lips ! Tongue ! Throat ! Plosive ! Nasal ! Fricative ! Approximant
 * p
 * t d
 * k
 * m
 * n
 * f
 * s
 * h
 * l r  y
 * w
 * }
 * }

The Bloodhoof Taurahe dialect has a few additional phonemes.
 * in all cases
 * s: replaces
 * between vowels:
 * t: varies with
 * d: varies with
 * before the Bloodhoof-unique vowels and
 * k: replaces
 * h: replaces

Vowels
There are four vowels in Taurahe, all of which are open, low vowels. Single vowels are pronouced with regular length and double vowels are held for twice as long. Additionally, all vowels can be labially nasalized, such as [ɛ̃ʷ]. This is marked as an m after the labially nasalized vowels. Note that in the Bloodhoof dialect, the open-mid vowels are raised to close-mid vowels in addition to being held for twice as long.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! ! Front ! Back ! Close Mid ! Open Mid ! Open
 * ee [e] øø [ø]
 * oo [ɤ]
 * e [ɛ] ø [œ]
 * o [ʌ]
 * colspan=2|a [ä]
 * }

Noun Phrases
Sentences in Taurahe are subdivided into phrases. Most sentences will have at least verb phrase and one noun phrase (sometimes referred to as arguments). Noun phrases are composed of four pieces of information: the class, the role, any adjectives if applicable, and finally the noun itself.

Classes
Taurahe has six noun classes. They are not arbitrary and are typically intuitive. The majority of nouns fall into one of the first four classes, since the final two are very limited in breadth. Each of these class words can stand alone to mean him, her, it, or are sometimes untranslatable.
 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!Class !What sorts of things fall into this class?
 * lø
 * living creatures, animals, persons
 * ko
 * natural objects, trees, ores
 * o
 * constructed objects, buildings, tools, prepared food
 * ha
 * mythology and weather, fire, clouds, spirits, other intangibles
 * am
 * body parts
 * tsoo
 * locations
 * }
 * am
 * body parts
 * tsoo
 * locations
 * }
 * }

Roles
The second part of the first word in a noun phrase is the thematic role. This typically tells how it relates to the verb phrase. The two most common roles are yo and soo. Yo is only used to set up the subject of active verbs. Soo is used as the subject of stative verbs, and for other arguments relating directly to the verb. This is explained in the verb phrases section. Na is explained in the referents section.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"


 * Løyo
 * taloha
 * te
 * føyee
 * emke
 * nomke
 * lømsoo
 * madam
 * soom.
 * it.ACT
 * mother
 * PRS
 * want
 * REL
 * find
 * it.pl.STV
 * REFER-ACT.pl
 * child.pl
 * colspan="9"|The mother wants to find her children.
 * }
 * colspan="9"|The mother wants to find her children.
 * }


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"


 * Løyo
 * masaranatse
 * løsoo
 * resolo
 * feete
 * fø
 * sekada.
 * it.ACT
 * Mazzranache
 * it.STV
 * gentle
 * hunter
 * REM
 * chase
 * colspan=7| Mazzranache chased the gentle hunter.
 * }
 * colspan=7| Mazzranache chased the gentle hunter.
 * }

Location and Motion
Additionally, there are three locative tags, corresponding to inside, outside, and touching surface. There are also three motion tags, describing motion towards, away from, and along. These fuse to form twelve basic tags describing location and motion.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! !Inside !Outside !Surface !no motion !towards !from !past
 * -da (inside)
 * -fo (outside)
 * -ka (on)
 * -dom (into)
 * -fom (towards)
 * -kom (onto)
 * -dø (from)
 * -fø (out of)
 * -kø (off of)
 * -dato (through)
 * -foto (past)
 * -kato (along)
 * }


 * {| class="wikitable"


 * Hayo
 * po
 * emke
 * we
 * amkom
 * noo
 * soopo
 * na
 * tsee.
 * it.ACT
 * wind
 * HAB
 * be
 * it.onto
 * REFER-POS
 * back
 * POS
 * you
 * colspan=7|May the wind be at your back.
 * }
 * colspan=7|May the wind be at your back.
 * }

Referents
There are three adjectives known as referents: mada, royoma, and noo. Each one acts as a possessive (his, her, its, their, our) for the corresponding noun phrase. Mada refers to the yo phrase, royoma to a nearby soo phrase, and noo to a nearby na phrase.


 * {| class="wikitable"


 * løna
 * soohalo
 * amsoo
 * noo
 * nostoka
 * it.POS
 * Tauren
 * it.STV
 * REFER-POS
 * face
 * colspan=5|The Tauren's face.
 * }
 * colspan=5|The Tauren's face.
 * }

In this example, noo acts as the word "its", where "it" refers to soohalo, the head noun of the noun phrase løna soohalo, "the Tauren".

Pronomial Phrases
Class tags can stand on their own, acting as the English word he, she, it, or they, if they are preceded by the appropriate case tag. The two words ana and tsee are also used in this way.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"


 * Løyo
 * doole
 * lømsoo
 * kaakam
 * te
 * feete.
 * Yo
 * lø
 * soo
 * løm
 * emke
 * maama.
 * it.AGT
 * warrior
 * it.PAT.PL
 * strider.PL
 * PRS
 * hunt.
 * AGT
 * it
 * PAT.PL
 * it.PL
 * REL
 * eat.
 * colspan=12|The warrior hunts the striders, and he eats them.
 * }
 * colspan=12|The warrior hunts the striders, and he eats them.
 * }


 * {|class="wikitable"


 * Hayo
 * køømke
 * moosa
 * ya
 * pawene
 * nastemde
 * soo
 * ana.
 * it.AGT
 * great
 * moon
 * HAB
 * always
 * wake
 * it.PAT
 * I.
 * colspan=8|The full moon always wakes me up.
 * }
 * colspan=8|The full moon always wakes me up.
 * }

Verb Phrases
Perhaps the most important part of the sentence is the verb phrase, and every proper sentence will have at least one. Like noun phrases, the verb phrase follows a pattern: tense marker, any adverbs as desired, and the verb proper.

Tense markers
The tense markers are short, standalone words that indicate the tense of the verb. Remote past refers to events that happened a long time ago and/or whose consequences can no longer be changed. Recent past refers to more tangible dates and times in the past. Events in the immediate present are happening as the phrase is being said, while gnomic and habitual present just refer to generic truths or habits. The near future refers to events that are about to happen. The remote future contrasts with the predictive future in that they refer to certain and uncertain events, respectively. The relative tense is more complicated and will be discussed later on.
 * {|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!colspan=2|Past !colspan=2|Present !colspan=3|Future !rowspan=2|Relative !Remote !Recent !Immediate !Gnomic/ Habitual !Near !Remote !Predictive
 * fø
 * pa
 * te
 * ya
 * tede
 * tsøla
 * kowa
 * emke
 * }
 * }

Active versus Stative
Verbs are either active or stative. Active verbs typical involve voluntary effort, such as running, hunting, or eating. Stative verbs involve less voluntary actions, such as sleeping, being seen, falling in love, or having a quality.

Valency
Verb phrases may be directly related to 0, 1, or 2 noun phrases (arguments). This is referred to as valency.

Avalent verbs have 0 arguments, and can stand alone as sentences.
 * {|class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"


 * Te
 * kahee.
 * PRS
 * snow
 * colspan="2"|It is snowing.
 * }
 * colspan="2"|It is snowing.
 * }

Monovalent verbs have a single argument. The verb type, active or stative, is important now because it determines whether the argument uses yo or soo. Active verbs use yo. Stative verbs use soo.
 * {|class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"


 * Løyo
 * laworo
 * te
 * maama.
 * it.ACT
 * wolf
 * PRS
 * eat
 * colspan=4|The wolf is eating.
 * }
 * colspan=4|The wolf is eating.
 * }


 * {|class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"


 * Soo
 * lø
 * te
 * tsootsa.
 * STV
 * it
 * PRS
 * sleep.
 * colspan=4|He is sleeping.
 * }
 * colspan=4|He is sleeping.
 * }

Some active verbs can be made passive by using soo instead of yo. Compare the wolf example above with:


 * {|class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"


 * Kosoo
 * stooko
 * te
 * maama.
 * it.STV
 * wheat
 * PRS
 * eat
 * colspan=4|The wheat is being eaten.
 * }
 * colspan=4|The wheat is being eaten.
 * }

Multivalent verbs take two or more arguments: active verbs take one yo and soo, while stative verbs take multiple soo. For stative verbs, this sometimes causes ambiguity, which can be resolved by word order. Typically the first noun phrase should be regarded as the one performing the action to the following phrases.


 * {|class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"


 * Løyo
 * laworo
 * fø
 * sekada
 * løsoo
 * køsødø.
 * it.ACT
 * wolf
 * RCT
 * chase
 * it.STV
 * deer.
 * colspan=6|The wolf chased the deer.
 * }
 * colspan=6|The wolf chased the deer.
 * }

The following example is a typical case of multivalent stative ambiguity.


 * {|class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"


 * Soo
 * ana
 * soo
 * tsee
 * ya
 * pooka.
 * STV
 * I
 * STV
 * you
 * HAB
 * love.
 * }
 * }

This sentences essentially states, "I, you, love." The verb pooka uses soo for both parties regardless of who loves whom. By placing both noun phrases ana and tsee before the verb phrases, neither takes precedence so the meaning could be "I love you", "You love me", or even "We love each other." There are several ways to resolve this ambiguity.


 * Word order
 * Soo ana ya pooka soo tsee.
 * Still somewhat ambiguous, but seems to say "I love you."
 * Stress
 * Soo aa ana soo tsee ya pooka.
 * Here, aa moves stress towards the ana phrase. Would be interpreted as "I love you."
 * Rephrase
 * Soo tsee te towe soo lø emke pooka soo ana.
 * Literally "You are it what I love." The meaning here is certain.

Phrases

 * moo: hello (used only between Tauren)
 * soo tsee ya kyo we: how are you?
 * soo ana _____ ya towe: I am ____.
 * løsoo samaam: a shaman (or, a mage)
 * løsoo halo samaam: a priest, lit. a light shaman
 * løsoo tsenowa samaam: a warlock, lit. an evil shaman
 * løsoo ramolø: a druid
 * løsoo feete: a hunter
 * løsoo doole: a warrior
 * ''løsoo tsenowa doole: a death knight, lit. an evil warrior
 * ''løsoo pekeye doole: a rogue, lit. a swift warrior
 * løsoo noo doole hana amsee: a paladin, lit. a warrior of the sun. More likely, you would say something like o ana ya teke hafom amsee/halo, "I walk towards the sun/light."