Taurahe

Taurahe refers to the native languages spoken by the Tauren from the Warcraft universe. There are numerous dialects of Taurahe, as most tribes 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. Taurahe has contributed several words to other languages, such as shaman, leather, mana, feral, lava, and totem, to name a few.

Writing and Alphabet
Taurahe doesn't strictly have an alphabet, since Tauren don't write. However, the language can be transliterated using the Latin alphabet, because the sound system of Taurahe is small and fairly easy to pick up for non-native speakers. There are 21 unique sounds in the language, which can be approximated with this alphabet:

a e i o t th d p k f h v g ch sh j m n r l s

Vowels
There are 4 vowels:
 * a as in lava or father
 * e as in hey or table
 * i as in leaf or teeth
 * o, which overlaps with the vowels in cool/coal or moo/mow

Sometimes you will see the letter u, which is a contraction of the sequenceohi, and is pronounced the same as o. Furthermore, y sometimes alternates with i, and w with o when they are next to another vowel, for example: iaki > 'yaki

Consonants
There are 17 consonants.
 * t like talk
 * th like think. I sometimes write this as θ so I don't have to use 2 letters.
 * d, which is pronounced like the sound in though or leather, not like dog
 * p like pink
 * k like king
 * f like feather
 * h, which is pronounced like a harsh, forceful ha
 * v as in violet. This letter is sometimes written as b, but always pronounced as v.
 * g, which is pronounced kind of like a mix of g and w
 * ch like cheese
 * sh like sheet
 * j like measure or lesion
 * m like moon
 * n like name
 * r like red
 * l like like
 * s like saw

Word formation
Because there is no native alphabet, there are also no conventional spelling rules. Expect inconsistencies, especially when reading the language from other sources. This is especially true with words that are composed of multiple parts. For example, the word for warrior is modoli, which is formed from mo "person", and doli "warrior". This word could also be written any number of ways: mo'dolli, mo-dole, mudouli, or moudhole, to list a few.

Stress and Elision
Taurahe has a particular rhythm in which syllables are preferentially pronounced in sets of three. Most content words (nouns, adjectives, verbs) in the language are three syllables in length: hakaji, kolovi, komapa, kathatha. However, some of these words are stressed on the first vowel and some on the second vowel. The distinction is important because it affects the middle vowel: if the first vowel is stressed, the middle vowel can be reduced or deleted. So for example, the words hakaji and kolovi are stressed on their second vowels, but komapa and kathatha are stressed on their first vowels, which means they can be pronounced and written as kompa and kaththa.

Nouns
Nouns are always at least 2 syllables, but they typically aren't more than 5:


 * θalo woman
 * pehiji child
 * rochi animal
 * lavo wolf
 * maro short
 * korvi cougar
 * ormi bird
 * keliki flower
 * θavi briarthorn
 * alado feather
 * talani stick
 * kala small egg
 * mago fruit
 * tagali clear rock or gem
 * rohifa red
 * goma fat
 * niko one
 * sheni bone
 * hakaji arrow
 * kolovi earthenware object
 * akalake man
 * nosaθoki head
 * shatohihaji many
 * nohika milk
 * tawohirajo campsite

Plural
Every noun also as a plural form

Words that end in final /-a/ or /-i/ or change the final stem to /-ahe/.


 * pehiji > pehijahe child > children
 * ichi > ichahe white
 * kohidi > kohidahe shield > shields
 * tauri > taurahe story > stories
 * koravi > koravahe cougar > cougars
 * sheni > shenahe bone > bones
 * lapo > lapaho stone > stones

Words that end in /-o/ change the final stem to /-ino/.
 * alado > aladino feather > feathers
 * maro > marino short
 * θalo > θalino woman > women
 * tawohirajo > tawohirajino campsite > campsites

Words that end in a consonant add the suffix /-ahe/.


 * tokan > tokanahe object > objects
 * soham > sohamahe two
 * kakam > kakamahe strider > striders
 * totem > totemahe totem > totems

Numerals
Tauren take an interesting approach to counting. For everyday counting, Tauren count based on groups rather than individuals. The important numbers in this system are 3, 12, and 36. So for example, to count 20 arrows, a hunter will mentally split them into groups of three and count 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 20 minus 1. When asked how many arrows he has, he would say he had one group of 12 and 3 groups of 3, minus one. Large numbers are counted more roughly, so a tailor who needed to count 100 feathers for a headdress. Would likely count 12, 24, 36, note the size of the pile, and then note 72 and 108, being satisfied that 108 is close enough to 100. For very precise counting, such as in mathematics, economics, and engineering, Tauren will count the discrete members within each group, so to count precisely to 15, for example, they would say 1, 2, 3, (4, 2, 3), (7, 2, 3), (10, 2, 3), 12+1, 12+2, 12+3.
 * niko one
 * soham two
 * kompa three
 * done 4, 5, 6
 * koide 7, 8, 9
 * shatohaji 10, 11, 12

Verbs
The citation form of a verb is in the past tense. All past tense verbs end with /o/.
 * tékio walked
 * tifo saw
 * kaθθo gathered
 * diloko went
 * ogro ate, drank
 * sirno believed
 * servo knew

Plural
There is a plural particle /an/ that can follow the verb.

If the object in the sentence is plural, then the verb will be plural. ogra ma an magino   a   sfiti eat PRS PL fruit.PL NOM hunter The hunter eats the fruits.

kaθθo      an go sohama lapaho collect.PST PL 1s two   stone.PL I collected two stones.

If the sentence doesn't have an object, but the subject is plural, then the verb will be plural. tekya ma pisxa walk PRS girl The girl walks.

tekya ma an pisxai walk PRS PL girl.PL The girls walk.

Tense
Every verb has 2 forms, usually very closely related. For regular verbs, the past tense ends in /-o/ and the non-past form, used for present and future tenses, ends in /-a/.

Past tense verbs, the /-o/ verb is used. ogro     peji  a   galo drink.PST juice NOM boy The boy drank juice.

tekio   pisxa walk.PRS girl The girl walks.

For present tense verbs, the particle /ma/ follows the /-a/ verb. ogra ma  peji  a   galo drink PRS juice NOM boy The boy drinks juice.

tekia ma pisxa walk PRS girl The girl walks.

For future tense verbs, the particle /mo/ follows the /-a/ verb. ogra mo  peji  a   galo drink FUT juice NOM boy The boy will drink juice.

tekia mo pisxa walk FUT girl The girl will walk.

Syntax
Taurahe syntax is somewhat more complicated than English syntax. The most basic structure is VOS, but the order of constituents changes to indicate different focuses.

When both object and subject and definite, then they follow the standard VOS order. ogra ma tavra a   korsxi eat PRS bark  NOM deer The deer eats the bark.

However, if the subject is a pronoun, the subject precedes the object. (Surface VSO order.) ragno    ana moja climb.PST 1p tree We climbed the tree.

roo          go ticho interpret.PRS 1s sign I interpret the sign.

If either subject or object is indefinite, however, it will be promoted to in front of the verb. (Surface SVO or OVS order.) korsxi ogra ma tavra deer  eat  PRS bark A deer eats the bark.

If the object is promoted, it requires the object particle /an/. moja an ragno     go tree OBJ climb.PST 1s I climbed a tree.

Taurahe doesn't allow both subject and object to be indefinite, nor does it allow intransitive verbs to have an indefinite argument. Expressions parallel "a dog barks" and "a man hears a dog" are ungrammatical.

Kinship
To make sense of kinship terms in Taurahe, it is useful to understand how Tauren families are organized. Tauren society is strongly patrilineal and patrilocal, meaning that people trace their bloodline through their father and live in their father's household. After marriage, a woman leaves her family and joins her husband with his father. As a result, there is a lot of focus on the paternal bloodline and very little on the maternal bloodline.

Tribe: smahi
 * paternal grandfather: gorata
 * paternal grandmother: agam
 * father: sahakanagi
 * brother: chiro
 * sister: kosidi
 * self: go
 * son/nephew: galo
 * daughter/niece: pisxa
 * grandson: pirogalo
 * granddaughter:piropisxa
 * uncle: kanagi
 * male cousin: chiro
 * female cousin: kosidi
 * aunt/uncle's wife: sxraja


 * mother: agam

These family members are not part of someone's household but they are blood-relatives through the mother. There in incest taboo against these people, and therefore unpaired men and women are strongly discouraged from interacting with these people.


 * maternal grandfather: jagiro
 * maternal grandmother: mathi
 * any male descendant: jagiro
 * any female descendant:mathi

Colors
There are only three color terms: 'iche' white, 'orkwa' black, and 'rofa' red.