Taurahe

Taurahe refers to the native languages spoken by the Tauren from the Warcraft universe. There are numerous dialects of Taurahe, as most tribe retain their own version of the language. The most common dialect by far is Bloodhoof Taurahe, the native tongue of High Chieftain Baine. Bloodhoof Taurahe has supplanted ceremonial Taurahe in areas of trade and tribal politics.

Vowels
There are seven unique vowels.


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

!colspan=3|Vowels !Vowel !!IPA !!English Approximation
 * a || /ɑ/ || ball
 * ang || /ɑ̃/ || ankh
 * i || /i/ || meal
 * o || /o/ || coal
 * e || /ɛ/ || tell
 * eng || /ɛ̃/ || mangle
 * u || /ʉ/ || mule
 * }
 * e || /ɛ/ || tell
 * eng || /ɛ̃/ || mangle
 * u || /ʉ/ || mule
 * }
 * u || /ʉ/ || mule
 * }
 * }

There are also eight diphthongs: ya, yang, ye, yeng, wa, wang, we, weng.

Consonants
There are 14 consonants. Consonants are divided into 2 groups of 7, depending on how they pattern. The distinction is important for word formation.


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

!Classification !IPA !English Approximation !Example !Meaning
 * rowspan=7| Dry || /p/ || spot || papo || droplet
 * /t /|| stop || tati || stick
 * /k /|| skip || kakae || strider
 * /x/ || loch || roxe || powder
 * /r/|| newsroom || roxe || powder
 * /h/ || hello || homashi || hide
 * /l/ || bull || lapo || stone
 * rowspan=7|Wet ||/b /|| robot|| kolobe || jar
 * /d/ || rodeo || kodo || kodo
 * /z/ || zip || thazi || pine needle
 * /v/ || reveal || tevo || eye
 * /ð/ || soothe || etha || he or she
 * /m/ || meat || mweng || flesh
 * /n/ || neat || nostoki || head
 * }
 * rowspan=7|Wet ||/b /|| robot|| kolobe || jar
 * /d/ || rodeo || kodo || kodo
 * /z/ || zip || thazi || pine needle
 * /v/ || reveal || tevo || eye
 * /ð/ || soothe || etha || he or she
 * /m/ || meat || mweng || flesh
 * /n/ || neat || nostoki || head
 * }
 * /ð/ || soothe || etha || he or she
 * /m/ || meat || mweng || flesh
 * /n/ || neat || nostoki || head
 * }
 * /n/ || neat || nostoki || head
 * }

Phonotactics
Words are composed of morphemes. Within a morpheme, consonants and vowels alternate. The patterns (C)V, (C)VC, (C)VCV, (C)VCVC, and (C)VCVCV account for nearly all roots. Consonant clusters may only appear at morpheme boundaries.

Each morpheme may only have 1 wet consonant. If a morpheme contains more than one, the pronunciation of the additional consonants changes.
 * /b/ becomes [p], as in spot
 * /d/ becomes [t], as in stop
 * /z/ becomes [s], as in see
 * /v/ becomes [f], as in far
 * /ð/ becomes [θ], as in tooth

If a morpheme contains /m/ or /n/, all other wet consonants will change. (No morpheme contains more than 1 /m/ or /n/.) Otherwise, only the final consonant of a morpheme may be wet. All others change pronunciation.

The phonemes /t/, /d/, /z/, and /n/ palatalize in front of /i/, /u/, and diphthongs starting with [y].
 * /t/ becomes [tɕ], as in cheese
 * /d/ becomes [dʑ], as in jeep
 * /z/ becomes [ʑ], as in measure
 * [s] becomes [ɕ], as in sheep
 * /n/ becomes [ɲ], as in canyon

Basic Nouns
Nouns are formed in 3 ways:
 * 1) If the root ends in a or ang, change that vowel to e or eng.
 * 2) If the root ends in a consonant, add i to the end.
 * 3) Otherwise, the root and noun are the same.

In Taurahe, nouns are considered to fall into 4 groups: divine, animate, inanimate, and construct.

Divine nouns are the most spirited of phenomena, like magic, fire, weather, and celestial bodies.
 * ha anshi - the sun
 * ha kahi - the rain
 * ha Halo - ''the Earthmother
 * ha musha - the moon

Animate nouns refer to living persons, animals, and also some personified things like some trees and mountains.
 * etha akalake - the man
 * etha shu - the child
 * etha fithyeng - the hunter
 * etha kodo - the kodo

Inanimate nouns are objects that can be found in nature without the influence of architecture or agriculture or engineering etc.
 * ko mochi - the tree
 * ko pake - the blood
 * ko angabi - the berry
 * ko lapo - the stone
 * ko ume - the fish

Construct nouns are objects which do not occur naturally.
 * o hakaji - the arrow
 * o kude - the shield
 * o kolobi - the jar
 * o hapeng - the clothing

Note that all nouns of a particular class are preceded by the same determiner.

First- and second-person
Taurahe doesn't have a specific word for I and you. However, there are 2 determiners which carry similar meaning. The determiner ang adds a "first person" dimension to the noun, and the determiner "chi" adds a second person dimension. For example, etha akalake means "the man", while ang akalake means "the man, me" and chi akalake means "the man, you".


 * Myenki etha toli kos mweng. The warrior eats the meat.
 * Myenki ang toli kos mweng. The warrior, who is me, eats the meat.

Case
Case refers to the role nouns play in the sentence, such as whether they are the subject or object of the verb.

Pluralization
Pluralization is marked by the prefix mu-.


 * etha kodo kodo
 * etha mukodo kodos


 * o kolobi jar
 * o mukolobi jars

Pluralization is implied when numbers are used.
 * ko shyenyi bone
 * ko suha shyenyi two bones
 * ko koba shyenyi three bones
 * ko mushyenyi bones

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated for tense and aspect.

Tense
Taurahe has 3 tenses, past, present, and future. The affixes for these are fu, ki, and ni, respectively. In ceremonial Taurahe, these markers were attached before and after the verb. In modern Taurahe, the present tense is only marked with the suffix. The past tense is only marked with the prefix, but the stress is patterned as if there were a suffix. The final syllable is stressed, unlike most words wherein the second-to-last syllable is stressed.


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

!Root !Past fu- !Present -ki !Future ni- -ni walk || futowá || towaki || nitowani eat ||fumyéng || myenki || nimyenni travel to || fulúk || luki || niluni rain || fukáh || kahki || nikahni
 * towa
 * towa
 * myeng
 * myeng
 * luk
 * luk
 * kah
 * kah
 * }

Aspect
Verbs have two aspects, which indicate whether an action is viewed as a discrete event or as a continuous one. These are called the perfective and imperfective aspects. The imperfective aspect is unmarked, but the perfective aspect is marked by the suffix -ki. In the present tense, the suffix does not appear, but stress shifts to the final syllable. In the past tense, the suffix -fu appears, even though it is absent in the imperfective conjugation.


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

!Root !Past fu-fuki !Present -kí !Future ni- -niki walk || futowafuki || towakí || nitowaniki eat ||fumyengki || myenkí || nimyenniki travel to || fulufuki || lukí || niluniki rain || fukahfuki || kahkí || nikahniki
 * towa
 * towa
 * myeng
 * myeng
 * luk
 * luk
 * kah
 * kah
 * }