Waghara

Grammar
Vowel Euphony

In Waghara there exists a lot of vowel mutation and euphony, most of which can be better understood using the following table.

NOUNS

Nouns in Waghara decline for case and number, and are divided into two genders and seven declensions. There are 6 cases: nominative (nom); accusative (acc); alienable genetive (gen1); inalienable genetive (gen2); stative (stt); and purposive (pps). The nominative case is used for the subjects of transative and intransative verbs; and the accusative for the object of a transitive verb. The alienable genetive denotes separable possession of something (like money, or a sword); while the inalienable genetive is used for things that are inseparable from something (without damaging it), such as parts of the body, blood relatives, or skills like intellect (though these vary  in what is considered 'alienable'). The stative case has a wide range of meaning, and can function as an essive ('as X'), a locative ('in X' - where X is a place), or even simply as a topic marker when beginning a sentence ('concerning/with regards to X').

The numbers are singular and plural, with a dual form in two declensions. The genders are masculine and feminine, as dictated by the final letter of the word - if the word ends in 'e','i','í','u' it is feminine, and all others are masculine.

In all declensions certain vowels are added to the noun stem depending on the final vowel or diphthong in the word. The added vowel is taken from one row left of the final vowel - namely, if a diphthong, take the Row 2 equivalent; if a long vowel, use the respective one from Row 1; and if the final vowel is short, it is repeated.

The first declension is for masculine nouns ending in vowels, and declines like so. It is one of two declensions that exhibits the dual form of nouns. The second declension is for masculine nouns ending in 'hard' consonants: 'k','g','t','d','b','p','v','f','x','gh'. The third declension is for masculine nouns ending in 'soft' consonants: 'r','s','z','l','sh','zh','n','m','w','y'. If an 'm' occurs before the 't_n' ending, it mutates into an 'n': "jem" -> "jenten" The fourth declension is for feminine nouns, ending in 'í','i','u','e'. This declension has a dual number. The fifth declension is for masculine nouns ending in a 'hard' consonant, which also have a short vowel and single consonant (not cluster) before it. In the plural the short vowel drops out, and the equivalent long vowel is added to the end of the word and is it declined as though it were singular. The sixth declension is for masculine nouns ending in a 'soft' consonant, which also have a short vowel and single consonant (not cluster) before it. The seventh declension is for masculine or feminine nouns ending in a vowel or diphthong followed by a soft consonant and another vowel or diphthong. The plural form is made by duplicating the final syllable.  PRONOUNS 

Waghara has a large number of personal pronouns numbering ten in total. There is the first person singular (1s); second person singular masculine (2sm); second person singular feminine (2sf); third person singular masculine (3sm); third person singular feminine (3sf); first person plural inclusive (1pinc); first person plural exclusive (1pex); second person plural inclusive (2pinc); second person plural exclusive (2pex); and third person plural (3p). The 1pinc is used when the 'we' being referred to includes the listener(s), and the 1pex when not. The 2pinc is used when the people addressed are present and known (or in letters as they are seen as an extension of conversaions), while the 2pex is for an absent or not fully known audience and so is sued in speeches, radio broadcasts, and 'How To' manuals. There also exists a number of other pronouns, such as relative pronouns, interogative pronouns, and so on. They are formed by and large regularly with a prefix and suffix and join to one another to form a word. For instance, 'ki' is the interogative prefix, while 'pa' is the person suffix, thus 'kipa' means 'who?'. See the table below: VERBS

Verbs in Waghara take a number of different prefixes and suffixes to denote the subject, object, tense, aspect, and the static/dynamic distinctions of the verb, and each verb can be broken down into three parts: subject/object prefixes; stem; and the aspectual suffix. For example:

narasetël

[na-ra]-[set]-[ël]

1.sub.pst-3sm.obj.pst-'do'-prf.stc

"I/we did it."

Prefixes

Waghara is unsual in that the prefixes for the subject and object also show the tense of the verb, and are as follows. Regardless of whether the subject or object is singlular or plural inclusive or plural exclusive, for the 1st and 2nd persons only a single unified prefix is used, and a full pronoun will explain clearly what is occuring if not otherwise obvious from contaxt. Verbs that are intransitive take no object prefix, but certain verbs which in English can be considered intransitive, like 'sing' and 'drink', are always transitive in Waghara and are treated as such by the addition of a generic object "ta/ra" when the object is unspecific or unstated. Some other verbs also take an obligatory object, such as 'shuk' (to think) or 'zík' (to speak).

e.g.

chara narazaikël. = "I told (it) [to] him."

ítashuk Jim riskean. = "I think (it) Jim is girly."

Suffixes

The verbal suffixes are used for marking the aspect of the verb - perfect, imperfect, and repetitive - and whether it is static or dynamic. The perect aspect is used for completed actions, the imperfect for ongoing ones, and the repetitive aspect for things that occur regularly. Verbs fall into two categories: Type 1 verbs exhibit no change in transitivity between their static and dynamic forms, while Type 2 verbs do. The difference between 'static' and 'dynamic' verbs varies quite widely among Wagharan verbs, but generally follows these rules.

1. If the verb is an unconcious action, the dynamic form will be its concious counterpart with the feeling of added intention, such as 'hear' vs. 'listen' (zhi), 'see' vs. 'watch' (ok), or 'know' vs. 'investigate' (ral).

2. If the verb is absolutely intransitive, its dynamic form will be transitive. For instance, 'float' vs. 'buoy', or 'swell' vs. 'make swell'.

3. Otherwise you just have to learn the irregulars: 'eat' vs. 'feed' (bokh), 'hit/punch' vs. 'fight/struggle' (dra).

Lastly, to negate a verb, the ending 'nai' is added after the aspect suffix.

Bvoto kasofnai. = Bvoto is not clean.

Stems

The stem of the verb contains the main meaning of the verb. For basic verbs, the stems are all monosyllables, but base stems can combine with each other or with adjectives and even nouns to form new stems. Nouns alone can function as verbal stems as well, which exhibit great productivity, both in informal spoken contexts and in liturature, but little in formal writing. The overwhelming majority of stems never change regardless of use (except vowel shifts in the past participles), but there are a handful of archaic irregular which entertain vowel mutations, such as 'to say': 'zík' -> 'zaik' in the past tense.

Tenses

The past and present tenses are explicitely marked with the verbal prefixes, while the future tense can be formed in two ways. The first is to use the verb 'no' (to come) with a generic 'ka' prefix, followed by the subject in the purposive case, followed by the verb in question with the necessary prefixes in the present tense.

kano shor tëdoz ítabokh.

lit. "It comes to me to eat the salt."

I will eat the salt.

The second way to form the future is to use the present prefixes with a perfect suffix. Because actions happening presently cannot be complete, this generate a semantic disjunct and so such verbs are considered to be in the future.

ítasetël. = "I will do it."

Example text
A translation of the Tower of Babel story:

 Budör jo zazugh wyana zakzhana yaní meokani zakzhani.2 Zídör kízesasa meko rëdar jodash, gleyush Shinartan jorínökël yaní azíköpo joëfal. 3Jorazaikël yolzor, “No, kríkshíninish ítosetël yaní daghubnuv ítochaxël.” Kríkshíninish tuílzum joroploël yaní ghupsesh gonidír.4Ífne jorazaikël, “No, bíshir gheeltañaz ítaupël, zyanat dzëmo gvëano ëlëzek, shekfa bíshir pshikeiz ítaset. Abzaiznai, kano nu bzíx ghubnanut zazut kozheildyawd.5Sechi Ghapso jakghenoël shekfa gheeltañaz kataok yaní dzëmoz zyanoz kízesasa joraup.6Ghapso jarazaikël, “Abzaiz wyanapa kízesasapa zakozapa wyanaz zakzhanaz aznidízh jorabosetël, kano joro nainíd, zínidízh kotashesset, welnayan.7No, íkghedashël yaní kol zakzhanaz ítalemshukël shekfa kano joro yolzoz kotozhishuknai.”8Ëk azplëzem Ghapso drööd adíkor nu ghubnanur zazur jaroildyawdël, yaní gheeltañaz joranefupël.9Ëk adplëzem Babel jotapshik, koknol Ghapso zakzhanaz ghubnanugh zazugh jaralemshukël. Drööd adíkor Ghapso nu bzíx ghubnanut zazut jaroildyawdël.