Watteeteroxo Rakkake

Setting
Watteeteroxo Rakkake is one of the many languages of the Mureke [mu'rɛkɛ] planet. It is spoken by the Teroxo [t̪ɛr'ɔʔɔ] people. From their original Island, they have spread around the coastal area, and established communities in various nations and cities. The number of speakers is not known for sure, but it estimated to be between 700000 and 800000, about half of them live on their original Island, and about a quarter in the Northeastern provinces on the Southern Island, just south of their original Island. They are politically divided. A part of their original Island forms an independent state, a constitutional monarchy. The provinces on the Southern Island have some degree of self-government. Generally, the Teroxo tend to have pragmatic attitude towards politics.

The Teroxo people have traditionally been involved in trade. They have followed various religions, but today many of them are worshippers of the triumphant God-man. Many are missionaries, and they have often established schools and hospitals in various nations. There is an independent academy, originally created through a royal grant, which has a kind of "de facto" authority over the Watteeteroxo Rakkake language.

There are two main dialects, and eastern and a western. The eastern dialect dominate on most of the Original Island, and the western in the northeast provinces of the Southern Island (and also on many smaller Islands, in coastal communities on the main continent, and in some areas on the Original Island.)

Vowels
There are four diftings: ai, ei, oi, ui.

M, n, ng, p, t, k and l may be geminate, also in the beginning of words.

R might be a flap/tap or an approximant in the eastern dialects, and either a flap/tap or a trill in the western dialects.

The pronunciation of the coronal consonants tend to be dental in the western dialects, and alveolar in the estearn dialects.

The vowels may be long or short. Long a is often pronounce [ɑ:]. There are also four diphtongs: ai, ei, oi and ui. The diphtong ai is often pronounced [æ:] in contemporary WR.

Phonotactics
A syllable must consist of exactly one consonant, followed by exactly one vowel. The consonant may be a geminate, and the vowel may be a long vowel or a diftong.

Two identical short syllables cannot stand next to each other in a word. For example, *tata would not be permissible. This rule apply also to articles. For example, ta taka ('the man') becomes ttaka.

A E I O U H K L M N NG P R T W X Y

Nouns
Nouns are not inflected. Number and definiteness are indicated by articles. There are six articles:

Ta - definite singular.

Tu - definite plural

La - indefinite specific singular.

Lu - indefinite specific plural

Ha - non-specific singular

Hu - non-specific plural

Plural is not marked on the nouns. Instead, plural is marked by:


 * The article.


 * Plural forms of verbs and prepositions.

There are no genders. Case relations is marked through prepositions.

Prepositions
There are two kind of prepositions in WR. Basic prepositions, and compound prepositions.

Below is a list of the basic preposition. Note that the prepositions have (plural forms).

Ki, (kii) - on, at, in, to

Tewa, (teewa) for

Moxo (mooxo- to (marks recipient)

Moo, (Mmoo) - to, at, towards (marks destination)

taa, (ttaa) - from, of, out of, after

Na, (naa) - by (marks instrument, also frequently used for subject/agentive marking)

Mee (mmee) - during, around, about, with, of (various uses)

Po (poo) - at, by, of. Often used to express the genitive.

Xu (xuu) - of. Might be used to express the genitive.

Hiini (no plural form) - without

Le (lee) - with, and (marks companionship, also used for nominal conjunction)

Kee (kkee) - as, like.

Kiimu (kkiimu) - for, for the sake of, because of

The compound prepositions are made up by the general preposition ki, and some more specific (usually locational) word. Compound prepositions don't inflect for the plural.

Pronouns
The personal pronouns are as follows:

hane - 'some', 'something', 'someone' (non-specific)

hunu - 'some' (plural, non-specific)

lahe - 'some', 'something', 'someone' (specific)

luhe - 'some' (plural, specific).

niine - 'no', 'none', 'nothing', etc.

Verbs
Tense, aspect and mood are indicated by preceding particles.

Xe - present tense.

Me - imperfective aspect

Ko - perfective aspect

Ma - future tense.

Ke - stative or resultative aspect

Xee - optative mood, also used for polite commands.

Xaa - imperative mood.

Verbs must agree in number with their patients (the argument that is not marked with the agentive prepositions na or xa.) Plural is marked by lengthening the first syllable, either the vowel, or (if the vowel is already long) the consonant. This is a remnant of reduplication of the first syllable, which is still apparent in some rural dialects.

Syntax
Word order is relatively free. VSO is often considered to be the default word order. VOS and OVS are also possible. The subject, however, can not precede the verb.

"The man looks at the woman" might be expressed in the following ways:

''Xe kipe xa ttaka ta xenga. ''(VSO)

Xe kipe te xenga xa ttaka. (VOS)

Ta xenga xe kipe xa ttaka. (OVS)

The following ways, however, are ungrammatical:

Xa ttaka xe kipe ta xenga. (SVO)

Xa ttaka ta xenga xe kipe. (SOV)

Ta xenga xa ttaka xe kipe. (OSV)

Adjectives
In Watteeteroo, there is no clear-cut distinction between adjectives and verbs. In fact, when adjectives are used as predicatively, they behave like verbs.

Ta xenga xatai 

"The good woman"

Xe xatai ta xenga

"The woman is good" ("Litterally, we might translated it like "the woman goods").

Note that the adjectives don't need any copula (like the English "is"), when they are used predicatively).

Like verbs, adjectives are inflected for number.

Tu xenga xaatai.

"The good women"

Xe xaatai tu xenga.

"The women are good"

To say "X is bigger than Y", one might used conjoined phrases, like "X is big, Y is small", or "X is big, Y is not".

Xe makkaa ta ppahaa lii, niitii ta makkaa laa

"This stone is bigger than that stone." (Lit. "is big the stone this, not-so the stone that.")

Xe makkaa laa te ppahaa lii, xe ppahaa laa.

"This stone is as big as that stone" ("Is that big this stone and that stone")

Numerals
0 - Xeke

1 - Teki

2 - Roxa

3 - Toro

4 - Xappa

5 - Xikka

6 - Tainu

7 - Kiitai

8 - Paalo

9 - Xuikka

10 - Tengeena

11 - Tengeena teki

12 - Tengeena roxa

20 - Roxa tengeena

30 - Toro tengeena

100 Laipoo

1000 Tengeena laipoo

1000 Tengaipoo

2000 Roxa tengeena laipoo

2000 Roxa tengaipoo

10000 Laipoo Laipoo

10000 Tengeena tengaipoo

100000 Laipoo tengaipoo

1000000 Tengatengaipoo

Numerals comes after the nouns:

Me taka toro - 'three men'

Ordinals

To form ordinal numerals, one use the particle pa.

Ttaka pa toro - 'the third man'.

This is sometimes omitted in casual speech:

Ttaka toro - 'the third man'

Distributive numerals:

To express the meaning 'each' or 'every', one must use the word 'kiila'

Ttaka kiila - every man

Kiila might be used pronominally:

Xe ttee naa kiila - everybody is working.

It might also be used adnominaly:

Xe ttee naa ttaka kiila - Every man is working.

It might also be used like this:

Xe ttee naa tu taka paala, kiila. - All the men are working, each of them.

To say "five percent", one might say:

Xippa pohe laipoo

Such epxpressiona are mostly used with mass nouns.

To say "one fifth", "one of five", or similar, one may use a preposition:

Teki poo xippa "one in five"

Teki ttaa xippa "one of five"

Questions
Wai - where?

Nge wai - for whom/to whom?

Nu wai - whereto?

Taa wai? - wherefrom?

Na wii? - Does who? By whom?

Wei - how?

Wii - who, what, which?

Wangi? When?

Waarui? Why?

Xe paxuu xii wai?

Where does she live?

Xe llaka xii nu wai?

Where is he going?

Ma xatta mmaxa wangi?

When will we leave?

Yes/no questions might be formed in two ways. One might put the word for "or" (koo or koono) at the end of the sentence. This is the common way in everyday language.

One might also put the question particle ho before the verb. This is typically used in more formal language.

Negation
The word ni (with varieties nni, nii, and nnii) can be translated approximately as 'not'

Ko ni kipe naa ttaka ta xenga.

'The man did not see the woman.'

Especially in spoken language, one might use double negation for emphasis:

Ko ni kipe naa ttaka ni ta xenga 

Ni pe taka ki ta kana.

'There are no people in the car.'

In colloquial language, one might also use the word xeke ('zero', see the numerals above).

Pe taka xeke ki ta kana.

'There are no ('zero') people in the car.'

Xe kipe xeke naa mai

'I see nothing ('zero')', 'I don't see anything'.

Note: xeke don't go together with ni:

*Xe kipe xeke naa mai.

Relative Clauses
There are no relative pronouns in Watteeteroxo. For maximal clarity, one can write the relative clause as a full clause, with subject and object.

Xe kinni mai ta xenga hilla xii naa mai

'I see the woman that I love.'

Or, 'See I the woman, love the woman I.'

But it is often practical to omit either the subject or the object, when no practical ambiguity might arise:

''Xe kinni mai ta xenga hilla xii. ''

'See I the woman, love her.'

Xe kinni mai ta xenga hilla naa ngai.

'See I the woman, love I.'

Note that no tense or aspect marker is needed i the relative clause.

Often the boundary between relative clauses and adjectives is very fuzzy.

If the verb in the relative clause has the same tense as the verb in the main clause, one may omit the tense marker. Of the verbs have different tenses/aspects, one must use tense markers with both verbs.

Ko kinni mai ta xenga xe hilla xii naa mai.

'I saw the woman that I love'.

Conjunctions
In watteeteroxo, there is a difference between nominal and verbal conjunctions. For nominal conjunctions, one use the word "le", which might mean either "and" or "with".

Ko niinnu naa mai ta xenga le ttaka.

I saw the woman and the man. (Note the plural inflection of the verb, since there are two objects!)

For verbal conjunctions, one repeats the tense marker.

''Ko ninnu naa mei ttaka, ko ninni naa ttaka mai. ''

I saw the man, and the man saw me.

Sometimes, one might use both construnctions in otherwise similar sentences, giving them a slightly different meaning.

''Ko ninnu naa mai ta xenga lo ttaka. ''

I saw the woman, and I saw the man. (Note the singular inflection of the verb. Even if it refers to two events, each event has only one object!)

I you use 'le', you indicate that you saw the man and the woman together, in a single event. If you use 'lo' you indicate that it was actually two different events.

Disjunctions
The word for 'or' i s koo or koono

Ta xenga koo ttaka.

The man or the woman.

There is no word corresponding to the English 'neither'.

Ni ta xenga, ni ttaka.

Not the woman, not the man.

To form an exclusive disjunction (either… or), one might use one of the followng expressions:

''Ta xenga koo ttaka, ni tu lukka. ''

'The woman or the man, not the both of them'

''Ta xenga koo ttaka, ttepa teki. ''

The man or the woman, only one.

Xe paakeere ttaka naa rei.

Reflexive and Reciprocal Constructions
Xe paakeere ttaka na rei.

The man washes himself.

Xe paakeere tui taka na rei.

The men wash themselvers

There is a reciprocal pronoun ''raaxaa. ''

Xe pakeere ta xenga naa raaxaa.

The women are washing each other.

Xe paakeere naa ttaka rei

Xe pakeere naa rei ttaka.

Xe ppakere rei nnaa ttaka.

In Watteetereiti, a reflexive clause is much like a transitive clause, it's just that the agent and the patient happen to be identical. Therefore, all the constructions above are grammatical, the differences are pragmatic and stylistic.

NOTE: rei is a 'singular pronoun', even when referring to more than one person. Neither the verb nor the agentive particle inflect for the plural. Raxaa is always a plural pronoun; verbs and the agentive particle must be in the plural.

Dictionary

ttuuni - beginning

papoko - create ('cause to become')

Ta Waata - God

ngooxa - heaven

tawa - earth

rakipi - void, empty, deserted

moti - void, formless, disordered, insubstantial

ngotto - darkness

xapo - over, above

puure - deep

llapaale - hover

kimu - spirit

nire - surface

manoo - water

kenei - say

poko - become

hiilai - light

kipe - see

we - that (conj.)

atai - good

pakirahe - separate

wekai - to call

waana - day

nnuru - night

tomo - to come, to be, to become, to turn into

nikku - evening

pinaa - morning

teki - one

Example text
Ki ta ttuuni ko paapoko xa Ta Waata ta ngooxa le ttawa. Me rakipi me moti ttawa, me ngotto ki xapo ta puure, me llapaale ta kimu xu Ta Waata ki xapo ta nire po ta manoo. Ko kenei Ta Waata "xee poko ha hiilai", ko poko ha hiilai. Ko kipe xa Ta Waata we me xatai ta hiilai, ko pakirahe xa Ta Waata ta hiilai taa ta ngotto. Ko wekai xa Ta Waata "waana" tewa ta hiilai, ko wekai xa Ta Waata tewa ta ngotte "nnuru". Ko tomo ka nikku, ko tomo ka pinaa, ta waana pa teki.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was void and formless, and the Spirit of God was hovering upon the face of the waters. And God said, "let there be light". And there was light. And God saw, that the light was good, and God separated the the light from the dark. And God called the light "day", and the darkness he called "night". And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

(Unsure if Bible texts are known on Mureke. I put this here mostly to give people a "taste" of how the language might look in written form. Strangely however, it seems like many legends and stories bear a striking resemblance to those found in the Bible, or in various forms of "Earthly" mythology.)