Taurahe

Taurahe refers to the native languages spoken by the Tauren from the Warcraft universe. There are numerous dialects of Taurahe, as most tribe 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.

Orthography
Taurahe doesn't have a native orthography and there is no official standard transcription. For the sake of simplicity, the spelling system on this page attempts to apply the English alphabet to Taurahe.


 * {| class="wikitable"

!Letter !! Pronunciation !! Notes
 * a || ɑ
 * an(g) || ɑ̃ || The  is used to distinguish from  +  when ambiguous.
 * b || b
 * ch || tɕ || Allophone of /t/.
 * d || d
 * dh || ð
 * e || ɛ
 * en(g) || ɛ̃ || The  is used to distinguish from  +  when ambiguous.
 * f || f || Allophone of /v/.
 * h || h
 * i || i
 * j || dʑ|| Allophone of /d/.
 * k || k
 * l || lˠ
 * m || m
 * n || n
 * o || o
 * p || p
 * r || ʐ̞
 * s || s || Allophone of /z/.
 * sh || ɕ || Allophone of /z/.
 * t || t
 * th || θ || Allophone of /ð/.
 * u || ʉ
 * v || v
 * w || w || Allophone of /o/.
 * y || j || Allophone of /i/.
 * z || z ||
 * zh || ʑ || Allophone of /z/.
 * }
 * n || n
 * o || o
 * p || p
 * r || ʐ̞
 * s || s || Allophone of /z/.
 * sh || ɕ || Allophone of /z/.
 * t || t
 * th || θ || Allophone of /ð/.
 * u || ʉ
 * v || v
 * w || w || Allophone of /o/.
 * y || j || Allophone of /i/.
 * z || z ||
 * zh || ʑ || Allophone of /z/.
 * }
 * th || θ || Allophone of /ð/.
 * u || ʉ
 * v || v
 * w || w || Allophone of /o/.
 * y || j || Allophone of /i/.
 * z || z ||
 * zh || ʑ || Allophone of /z/.
 * }
 * y || j || Allophone of /i/.
 * z || z ||
 * zh || ʑ || Allophone of /z/.
 * }
 * zh || ʑ || Allophone of /z/.
 * }

Vowels
There are seven vowels.
 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! !!Front!!Mid!!Back !High !Mid !Low
 * i || ʉ ||
 * ɛ ɛ̃ || || o
 * ||colspan=2| ɑ ɑ̃
 * }

In ceremonial Taurahe, there are only four vowel sounds: [ɑ], [ɑ̃], [i], and [o]. The sounds [ɛ], [ɛ̃], and [ʉ] developed from the diphthongs [ɑi], [ɑ̃i] and [oi].

Consonants
There are 20 consonants. Thirteen (bolded) are phonemic and the remaining seven are allophones.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! !! Labial!! Dental !! Alveolar !! Retroflex !! Palatal !! Velar !! Glottal !Nasal !Plosive !Fricative !Approximant
 * m || || n || || || ||
 * p b || || t d || || tɕ dʑ || k ||
 * f v || θ ð || s z || || ɕ ʑ || || h
 * || || lˠ || ʐ̞ || || ||
 * }

Allophony
The phonemes /t/, /d/, and /z/ are palatalized before high vowels.

The voiced obstruents /b d v ð z/ are sometimes devoiced in accordance with complicated word-formation rules. In short,

1. /b d v ð z/ become unvoiced when they occur in the same morpheme as a nasal.
 * *nibu, *done, *kivani, *madhi, *zume
 * nipu, tone, kifani, mathi, sume

2. When a morpheme contains more than one instance of /b d v ð z/, only the final one will be voiced. All others lose voicing.
 * *bado, *dovadhi, *zaji, *huvadi
 * pado, tofadhi, saji, hufadi

3. /b d v ð z/ are devoiced when they precede /p t k h r/ in a morpheme.
 * *daku, *wajichi, *zuha, *baro
 * taku, wachichi, suha, paro

Basic Nouns
Nouns are marked in 3 ways:
 * 1) If the root ends in a or ang, change that vowel to e or eng.
 * 2) If the root ends in a consonant, add i to the end.
 * 3) Otherwise, the root and noun are the same.

In Taurahe, nouns are considered to fall into 4 groups: divine, animate, inanimate, and construct.

Divine nouns are the most spirited of phenomena, like magic, fire, weather, and celestial bodies.
 * ha anshi - the sun
 * ha kahi - the rain
 * ha Halo - ''the Earthmother
 * ha mushya - the moon

Animate nouns refer to living persons, animals, and also some personified things like some trees and mountains.
 * etha akalake - the man
 * etha shu - the child
 * etha fithyeng - the hunter
 * etha kodo - the kodo

Inanimate nouns are objects that can be found in nature without the influence of architecture or agriculture or engineering etc.
 * ko mochi - the tree
 * ko pake - the blood
 * ko angavi - the berry
 * ko lapo - the stone
 * ko ume - the fish

Construct nouns are objects which do not occur naturally.
 * o hakaji - the arrow
 * o kude - the shield
 * o kolobi - the jar
 * o hapeng - the clothing

Note that all nouns of a particular class are preceded by the same determiner.

First- and second-person
Taurahe doesn't have a specific word for I and you. However, there are 2 determiners which carry similar meaning. The determiner ang adds a "first person" dimension to the noun, and the determiner "chi" adds a second person dimension. For example, etha akalake means "the man", while ang akalake means "the man, me" and chi akalake means "the man, you".


 * Myenki etha toli kos mweng. The warrior eats the meat.
 * Myenki ang toli kos mweng. The warrior, who is me, eats the meat.

Case
Case refers to the role nouns play in the sentence, such as whether they are the subject or object of the verb.

Pluralization
Pluralization is marked by the prefix mu-.


 * etha kodo kodo
 * etha mukodo kodos


 * o kolobi jar
 * o mukolobi jars

Pluralization is implied when numbers are used.
 * ko shyenyi bone
 * ko suha shyenyi two bones
 * ko koba shyenyi three bones
 * ko mushyenyi bones

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated for tense and aspect.

Tense
Taurahe has 3 tenses, past, present, and future. The affixes for these are fu, ki, and ni, respectively. In ceremonial Taurahe, these markers were attached before and after the verb. In modern Taurahe, the present tense is only marked with the suffix. The past tense is only marked with the prefix, but the stress is patterned as if there were a suffix. The final syllable is stressed, unlike most words wherein the second-to-last syllable is stressed.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!Root !Past fu- !Present -ki !Future ni- -ni walk || futowá || towaki || nitowani eat ||fumyéng || myenki || nimyenni travel to || fulúk || luki || niluni rain || fukáh || kahki || nikahni
 * towa
 * towa
 * myeng
 * myeng
 * luk
 * luk
 * kah
 * kah
 * }

Aspect
Verbs have two aspects, which indicate whether an action is viewed as a discrete event or as a continuous one. These are called the perfective and imperfective aspects. The imperfective aspect is unmarked, but the perfective aspect is marked by the suffix -ki. In the present tense, the suffix does not appear, but stress shifts to the final syllable. In the past tense, the suffix -fu appears, even though it is absent in the imperfective conjugation.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!Root !Past fu-fuki !Present -kí !Future ni- -niki walk || futowafuki || towakí || nitowaniki eat ||fumyenfuki || myenkí || nimyenniki travel to || fulufuki || lukí || niluniki rain || fukahfuki || kahkí || nikahniki
 * towa
 * towa
 * myeng
 * myeng
 * luk
 * luk
 * kah
 * kah
 * }