Ta'agra

!!- Ta'agra, Tamriel, Elsweyr, Khajiit, The Elder Scrolls, and other terms are property of Bethesda Softworks. Original work will be marked with an asterisk (*). This article is an attempt at reconstructing from the pieces of Ta'agra made available to the public by Bethesda Softworks through the Elder Scrolls franchise and to further develop it into a working conceptualized language. -!!

Ta'agra is the language spoken by most of the Khajiit, inhabitants of Elsweyr.

=General Information=

=Phonology=

Consonants
Glottal /h/ may be realized as pharyngeal [ħ]. In word-initial position, /ʒ/ is realized as [dʒ]. Consonants have phonemic length in simple coda position.

Vowels
Vowel length is phonemic.

When diphthongs are formed by affixation, they tend to be separated with a glottal stop ‹ˈ›, though glottal stops may be omitted from the language in casual speech and those diphthongs may be allowed to form. They do not seem to appear in isolated morphemes.

/e:/ may be written ‹ay› or ‹ey›, and /e/ word-finally written ‹ei›, to avoid confusion.

=Grammar=

Nouns
Nouns are inflected for possession and case.

Possession
Possession is bizarre. There are two apparent prefixes: aa and ro. Aa seems to be the only one which can refer to the first person, but may also refer to the second. Ro may refer to the second, but also the third.

Case
Ta'agra has no genitive case: genitive constructs are formed simply by preceding a noun with its owner (a pronoun or another noun).

Adjectives are affixed to the beginnings of nouns but, like honorifics, especially archaically, may be hyphenated and suffixed. As free morphemes they are likely treated as verbs.

Verbs
Verbs are inflected for person and tense (past and nonpast).

The only apparent tense conjugation is the past-tense prefix wo-.

There is also the suffix -oh that marks negation.

Verbs may be inflected for mood, ie what may be a desiderative suffix -kasash, or potential -t.

An attached pronoun may also take the form -iss, meaning "people" (objective).

Derivation
Noun/Verb > Active Person: -iit

Noun/Verb > means: -iitay

Noun > Adjective: -i

Noun > Verb: -ith

Noun > Respected: -ra

Verb > Noun: -'do

Honorifics
Honorifics are attached to names, usually to the beginning with a glottal stop, but sometimes hyphenated and attached to the end.

Syntax
Ta'agra has a moderately flexible V2 SOV word order and is by and large pre-specifying (head-final). The language is pro-drop in reference to subject.

Subjunctive is formed with the SVO word order.

=Lexicon=

Pronouns
Unlike nouns, pronouns reflect number.

Open Class
=Samples=

Jobasha
Zwinthodurrarr rabi.

yellow-writing^utensil have

I have a yellow writing utensil.

Ahziss liter ajo'iiliten rabiba.

1s sibling wonderful-girl have-3

My brother has a wonderful girl.

Ahziss aaliter vakasash.

1s 1/3-sibling be-DES

I wish I was my brother.

S'ratha (Hammerfell Intro)
Krimir, Cyrus. Smile, Cyrus.

Etofor wakay jer akudarr.

here excuse 2s search^for

Here's the excuse you've been looking for.

Baliji hat aratataami.

2p all be^the^same

You're all the same.

Shijoh. Sit.

Renrij intenurr,

mercenary LOC-night Ruffians in the night,

Hokoh wo'Imperialjah,

heavy DAT-Imperial-coin Heavy with Imperial coin,

Iko pofamer rotok velk.

after poor-farmer 2-wife owe After some poor farmer who owes [the kingdom] his wife.

An trajir.

and take^away

And takes away.

S'rathra kor koderadoh Hammerfell,

S'rathra know 2-return^to-NEG Hammerfell,

S'rathra knows you will not return to Hammerfell,

Boshei irat.

seem important

[But this] seems important.

S'rathra woorikah

S'rathra PST-be^concerned S'rathra was concerned.

Mokoh Duadeen.

worry^about-NEG Duadeen

Don't worry about Duadeen.

S'rathra eks.

S'rathra fix.

S'rathra eks skra'iv.

S'rathra fix everything.

Roliter dek ka oodurr.

2-sibling disappearance invoke shudder

Your sister's disappearance draws a shudder.

Teport teko'i

port full

The port is full [of them].

S'rathra nak avek wora valah khi

S'rathra name passage DAT-price far go

S'rathra's name goes far towards the price of passage.

Sri Duadeen jah.

keep Duadeen coin

Keep Duadeen's money.

Epako jah ashlik.

family coin anyhow

It is family coin after all.

Pur S'rathra kador aaliter bekoh.

tell S'rathra why POS-sister mention-NEG

Tell S'rathra why [you] don't mention your sister.

Kakadarr

What kind?