Watteeteroxo Rakkake

Setting
Watteeteroxo Rakkake is spoken by about 500000 people or so, far away in some imaginary country. There are two main dialects, an eastern and western, differing in the pronunciation of some letters.

Phonology
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.

Basic Grammar
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, used only infrequently in the eastern dialect)

Ka - non-specific plural, also frequently used for mass nouns. Used when denoting kind or quality rather than specific individuals.

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.

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

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

Nge, (Ngee - to, for (marks recipient)

Nu, (Nuu) - 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.

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.

Adjectives

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". This is the most common way of forming comparative expression, especially in standard written or formal language.

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")

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.

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)

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 papoko xaa 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" nge ta hiilai, ko wekai xa Ta Waata nge 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.