Watteeteroxo Rakkake

Setting
Wattēteroxo Rakake 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, a southern and a norther. The northern dialect dominate on most of the Original Island, and the southern 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.)

Consonants
The consonants, except for /r/, /y/ and /ɰ/, may be geminate.

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

The vowels may be long or short. There are also four diphtongs: ai, ei, oi and ui. The back vowels are usually less rounded tan in English, especially the close back vowel.

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

Orthography
Here I will use a romanized orthography, with the following letters:

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

Long vowels are marked through a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū). Geminates are marked by double consonants.

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

Ya - non-specific singular

Yu - 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 are marked through prepositions.

Prepositions
There are two kinds of prepositions in WR. Basic prepositions, and compound prepositions. Below is a list of the basic preposition. Note that there are (plural forms) of the prepositions.

Kī (kkī) - on, at, in. This is the most general locative prepositions. Depending on context, it can correspond to several different English prepositions.

Spatial location

Xe tuxu ta xaka kī ta xarū - The mam sits in the chair.

''Xe tuxu ta xōkā kī ta pūralaili. ''- The milk is in the chair.

Means of transportation

Xe xikakā ta xaka kī ya kana. - The man travels by car.

Expressions of time

Kī pāna - today

Kī ta llangi - in the weekend (the weekend to come).

Tewa (tetewa) - for. This is used to denote the person or entity that benefits from an action.

Ko xūku Yesu ttewa mma - Jesus died for us.

Moxo (mmoxo)- to. This marks the recipient of an action, and correspond to the dative case in many languages.

Ko puxu nā xī ta xākō moxo ta pūralaili. - He put the mill in the fridge.

Ko lika nā ta xaka la xeina moxo ta xenga. - The man gives the woman a flower - The man gives a flower to the woman.

Mō (mmō) - to, at, towards. This preposition marks the direction, destination or goal. ''Xe xikā nā mma mō ta toxongi. ''- We are walking to the store.

tā, (ttā) - from, of, out of, after

Nā, (nnā) - by (marks instrument, also frequently used for subject/agentive marking)

Xā (xxā) - of, by (agentive marker

Mē (mmē) - during, around, about, with, of (various uses)

Pō (ppō) - at, by, of. Often used to express the genitive.

Xū (xxū) - of. Might be used to express the genitive.

Pani (ppani) - without

Lē (llē) - with, and (marks companionship, also used for nominal conjunction)

Kē (kkē) - as, like.

Kīmu (kkīmu) - because of

The compound prepositions are made up by the general preposition ki, and some more specific (usually locational) word.

Kī ta loko xū - inside (in the inside of)

Kī ta kuima xū - outside (on the outside of)

Kī ta rele xū - near, close to

Mō ta loko xū - into (to the inside of)

Tā ta loko xū - out of (from the inside of)

Pronouns
The personal pronouns are as follows:

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

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

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

luye - 'some' (plural, specific).

nīne - '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

Xē - optative mood, also used for polite commands.

Xā - imperative mood.

Verbs must agree in number with their patients (the argument that is not marked with the agentive prepositions nā or xā, or with any preposition). Plurals are usually formed by reduplication of the first syllable.

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 xega. ''(VSO)

Xe kipe te xega xa ttaka. (VOS)

Ta xega xe kipe xa ttaka. (OVS)

The following ways, however, are ungrammatical:

Xa ttaka xe kipe ta xega. (SVO)

Xa ttaka ta xega xe kipe. (SOV)

Ta xega xa ttaka xe kipe. (OSV)

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

Ta xega xatai 

"The good woman"

Xe xatai ta xega

"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 xega xātai.

"The good women"

Xe xātai tu xega.

"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 makkā ta payā gī, nītī ta payā gā

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

Xe makkā gā ta payā gī, xe payā gā.

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

Numerals
0 - Xekke

1 - Teki

2 - Koxa

3 - Ngure

4 - Xappa

5 - Xeuna

6 - Tainu

7 - Kītai

8 - Pōla

9 - Xuika

10 - Tengēna

11 - Tengēna teki

12 - Tengēna roxa

20 - Koxa tengēna

30 - Ngure tengēna

100 Laipō

1000 Tengēna laipō

1000 Tengaipō

2000 Koxa tengēna laipō

2000 Koxa tengaipō

10000 LaipōLaipō

10000 Tengēna tengaipō

100000 Laipō tengaipō

1000000 Tengatengaipō

Numerals comes after the nouns:

Mu taka ngure - 'three men'

Ordinals

To form ordinal numerals, one use the particle pa.

Ttaka pa ngure - 'the third man'.

This is sometimes omitted in casual speech:

Ttaka ngure - 'the third man'

Distributive numerals:

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

Ta taka kīla - every man

Kīla might be used pronominally:

Xe ttē nā kīla - everybody is working.

It might also be used adnominaly:

Xe ttē nā ttaka kīla - Every man is working.

It might also be used like this:

Xe tetē nā tu taka pāla, kīla. - All the men are working, each of them.

To say "five percent", one might say:

Xippa pohe laipō

Such expressiona are mostly used with mass nouns.

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

Teki pō xippa "one in five"

Teki tā xippa "one of five"

Questions
Wai - where?

Tewa wai - for whom/to whom?

Mō wai - whereto?

Tā wai? - wherefrom?

Nā wī? - Does who? By whom?

Wei - how?

Wī - who, what, which?

Wangi? When?

Wārui? Why?

Xe paxū xī wai?

Where does she live?

Xe laka xīmō wai?

Where is he going?

Ma xaxata mamai 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, nī, and nnī) can be translated approximately as 'not'

Ko ni kipe nā ta taka ta xenga.

'The man did not see the woman.'

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

Ko ni kipe nā ta taka ni ta xenga 

Nī ya taka kī ta kana.

'There are no people in the car.'

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

Ya taka xeke kī ta kana.

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

Xe kipe xeke nā mai

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

Note: xeke don't go together with ni:

*Xe kipe xekke nā 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 kipe nā mai ta xega xilla xī nā 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 kipe nā mai ta xega xilla xii. ''

'See I the woman, love her.'

Xe kipe nā mai ta xega xilla nā mai.

'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 kipe nā mai ta xega xe xilla xī nā mai.

'I saw the woman that I love'.

Conjunctions
In wattēteroxo, 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 kipe nā 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 kipe nā mai ttaka, ko kipe nā 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 kipe nā 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 pākekere ta taka nā rei.

The man washes himself.

Xe ppākekere tui taka nā rei.

The men wash themselvers

There is a reciprocal pronoun ''rāxā. ''

Xe ppākekere ta xenga nanā rāxā.

The women are washing each other.

Xe pākekere nā ta taka rei

Xe pākeere nā rei ttaka.

Xe pākere rei nā ta taka.

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, prepositions, and the agentive particle must be in the plural.

Dictionary

tūni - beginning

poko - create ('cause to become', when transitive) become (when intransitive)

Ta Wāta - God

ngōxa - heaven

tawa - earth

rakipi - void, empty, deserted

moti - void, formless, disordered, insubstantial

ngotto - darkness

xapo - over, above

pūre - deep

llapāle - hover

kimu - spirit

nire - surface

manō - water

kenei - say

poko - become

xīlai - light

kipe - see

nge - that (conj.)

xatai - good

kirahe - separate (transitive), be separate (intransitive)

wekai - to call

wāna - day

nuru - night

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

nikku - evening

pinā - morning

teki - one

Example text
Ki ta tūni ko ppāpoko xā Ta Wāta ta ngoxa lē ttawa. Me rakipi me moti ttawa, me ngotto ki xapo ta pāre, me llapāle ta kimu xū Ta Wāta ki ta xapo xū ta nire pō ta manō. Ko kenei Ta Wāta "xē poko ma xīlai", ko poko ma xīlai. Ko kipe xā Ta Wāta nge me xatai ta hīlai, ko kiraxe xā Ta Wāta ta xīlai tā ta ngotto. Ko wekai xā Ta Wāta "wāna" tewa ta xīlai, ko wekai xā Ta Wāta tewa ta ngotto "nuru". Ko tomo ma nikku, ko tomo ma pinā, ta wāna 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.)