Taurahe

Taurahe is the language spoken by the Tauren from the Warcraft universe. This article is written about ceremonial Taurahe, which is consistent among most tribes.

Orthography
Taurahe does not have a standard orthography. The spelling of words used on this page is based on the Latin alphabet and some IPA. For the most part, letters do not line up with their English equivalents.
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!Grapheme !Example !IPA !English equivalent
 * ʔ || ʔeta || [ʔ] || uh-oh
 * a || ʔalase || [ɑ̹] || between yawn and yon
 * b || boʐoce || [p] || spin
 * c || cavaʔe || [t͡ʃʼ] || (ejective ch)
 * d || dovole || [t] || steel
 * e || ʔecene || [ɪ] || pit
 * f || fulule || [f] || full
 * g || gaʔaga || [k] || scoop
 * h || haʔalo || [h] || hallow
 * k || kaŋase || [k'] || (ejective k)
 * l || lavoʐo || [ɫ] || bull
 * m || maŋama || [mˠ] || (Irish) mór
 * n || nadame || [n] || neat
 * ɲ || ɲeʔece || [ɲ] || canyon
 * ŋ || ŋamulu || [ŋ] || bang
 * o || ʔo || [ʊ] || book
 * p || pavene || [p'] || (ejective p)
 * r || bravada || [ɻ] || bread
 * s || soʔoha || [s] || seat
 * ʃ || ʃuhalo || [ʃ] || sheet
 * t || tegege || [t'] || (ejective t)
 * u || ʔululu || [ʊ̈˞] || "yerself"
 * v || vosoʐe || [v] || voice
 * w || dwovole || [w] || tweet
 * y || fyuʔa || [j] || fjord
 * ʒ || ʒeveʃa || [ʒ] || measure
 * ʐ || ʐanabe || [ʐ] || (Russian) кожа
 * }
 * ŋ || ŋamulu || [ŋ] || bang
 * o || ʔo || [ʊ] || book
 * p || pavene || [p'] || (ejective p)
 * r || bravada || [ɻ] || bread
 * s || soʔoha || [s] || seat
 * ʃ || ʃuhalo || [ʃ] || sheet
 * t || tegege || [t'] || (ejective t)
 * u || ʔululu || [ʊ̈˞] || "yerself"
 * v || vosoʐe || [v] || voice
 * w || dwovole || [w] || tweet
 * y || fyuʔa || [j] || fjord
 * ʒ || ʒeveʃa || [ʒ] || measure
 * ʐ || ʐanabe || [ʐ] || (Russian) кожа
 * }
 * u || ʔululu || [ʊ̈˞] || "yerself"
 * v || vosoʐe || [v] || voice
 * w || dwovole || [w] || tweet
 * y || fyuʔa || [j] || fjord
 * ʒ || ʒeveʃa || [ʒ] || measure
 * ʐ || ʐanabe || [ʐ] || (Russian) кожа
 * }
 * y || fyuʔa || [j] || fjord
 * ʒ || ʒeveʃa || [ʒ] || measure
 * ʐ || ʐanabe || [ʐ] || (Russian) кожа
 * }
 * ʐ || ʐanabe || [ʐ] || (Russian) кожа
 * }

Phonology
Taurahe has 4 vowels and 20 consonants.

Vowels
There are 4 phonemic vowels, /e u o a/.


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! !Front !Central !Back !High !Low
 * e [ɪ]
 * u [ʊ̈˞]
 * o [ʊ]
 * a [ɑ̹]
 * }
 * a [ɑ̹]
 * }

At the end of a word, /e/ is advanced to [i]. If an /e/ appears in a syllable before [i], it will harmonize and also become [i]. This will travel backwards until the morpheme boundary. /k'aŋase/ → [k'ɑ̹ŋɑ̹si]; /teʔeke/ → [tiʔiki]

Diphthongs
Diphthongs may appear in stressed syllables. All diphthongs are ascending, and all 12 potential diphthongs are possible.


 * /e/ → /y/ [j]
 * /u/ → /r/ [ɻ]
 * /o/ → /w/ [w]


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!↱ !e !u !o !a !e !u !o
 * ye
 * yu
 * yo
 * ya
 * re
 * ru
 * ro
 * ra
 * we
 * wu
 * wo
 * wa
 * }

Consonants

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! colspan=2| ! Labial ! Alveolar ! Palatal ! Velar !Glottal ! colspan=2| Nasal ! rowspan=2| Plosive || Ejective ! Plain ! rowspan=2 | Fricative || Consonantal ! Vocalic
 * m [mˠ]
 * n [n]
 * ɲ [ɲ]
 * ŋ [ŋ]
 * p [pʼ]
 * t [tʼ]
 * c [t͡ʃʼ]
 * k [kʼ]
 * rowspan=2|ʔ [ʔ]
 * b [p]
 * d [t]
 * g [k]
 * g [k]
 * f [f]
 * s [s]
 * ʃ [ʃ]
 * l [ɫ]
 * h [h]
 * v [v]
 * ʒ [ʒ] ʐ [ʐ]
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }

The vocalic fricatives are derived from vowels, rather than as voiced variants of the voiceless fricatives or as fricated plosives.
 * /e/ → /y/ → /ʒ/
 * /u/ → /r/ → /ʐ/
 * /o/ → /w/ → /v/

Structure
Content morphemes are typically trisyllabic, following the model C(S)VCVCV. Stress is intensity-based and always falls on the first syllable of a word.

Indexes and Paradigms
Most words are built around tri-consonantal indexes which carry a general meaning, interfixed with vowel paradigms which distinguish words. For example, f-ʒ-ʐ- means "wild", m-ʒ-m- means "sad", k-m-b means "gesture". Paradigms don't carry carry specific meaning, but help to classify the indexes. Paradigms include things like verbal conjugations and adjectival inflections.

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated according to tense, aspect, and mood.
 * Tense
 * Past: The wolf chased the strider.
 * Present: The sun rises over Thunder Bluff.
 * Future: We will celebrate tonight.
 * Aspect
 * Perfective: I stumbled.
 * Imperfective: I will be sleeping when you arrive.
 * Mood
 * Declarative: This roast is delicious.
 * Mirative: Wow! This roast is delicious!
 * Interrogative: Is this roast delicious?
 * Hortative: Would you like to take this letter to my father, please?
 * Optative: I hope you get well soon.
 * Potential: It may rain tomorrow.

Certain combinations may not occur. For example, the hortative, optative, and potential moods can only occur in the future tense.

A verb is composed of 3 parts, a verb tag (which marks tense and the potential and mirative moods, and which agrees with aspect), an index (which carries meaning), and the verb paradigm (which marks aspect and the declarative, hortative/optative, and interrogative moods).

Verbal tags
There are 16 verbal tags.


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!colspan=2| !colspan=2|Declarative !colspan=2|Mirative !colspan=2| !Perfective !Imperfective !Perfective !Imperfective !colspan=2|Past !colspan=2|Present !rowspan=2|Future||Declarative !Potential
 * fuʔa
 * fyuʔa
 * fuʐaʐa
 * fyuʐaʐa
 * ʔet'a
 * t'yeʔa
 * t'eʐaʐa
 * t'yeʐaʐa
 * c'ula
 * c'yula
 * c'yuʐaʐa
 * c'yuʐaʐa
 * k'ava
 * k'yava
 * k'avaʐa
 * k'yavaʐa
 * }

Paradigms
There are 5 base paradigms for verbs, being -e-e-a, -u-u-a, -o-o-a, -a-a-a, and -a-a-e. This is the form the verb uses for the perfective declarative aspect and mood.

For example, "feʔeta" hunt, is comprised of the index f-ʔ-t- and the paradigm -e-e-a. "p'uvuka" hold, believe, is p'-v-k- and -u-u-a. The index/paradigm link is arbitrary.


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!colspan=2| !k-l-k'- bloom !f-t'-ʐ- fly !t-v-l- combat !c'-v-ʔ- throw !p'-v-n- success !rowspan=2|Declarative||Perfective !Imperfective !rowspan=2|Interrogative||Perfective !Imperfective !colspan=2|Hortative/Optative
 * kelek'a
 * fut'uʐa
 * tovola
 * c'avaʔa
 * p'avane
 * kyulek'a
 * fyut'uʐa
 * tyovola
 * c'yavaʔa
 * p'yavena
 * kwelek'a
 * fwut'uʐa
 * twovola
 * c'wavaʔa
 * p'wavane
 * kwelek'a
 * fwet'uʐa
 * twevola
 * c'wevaʔa
 * p'wavena
 * kelak'a
 * fut'aʐa
 * tovala
 * c'avaʔa
 * p'avane
 * }

Nouns
Every noun must have a determiner. The determiner is composed of two parts, the class and the case. Taurahe has five noun classes and fifteen cases, yielding a total of sixty different determiners.

Class
Nouns are classified as animate, magical, or inanimate. Inanimate nouns are further classified into natural and constructed. There is also a class for concepts which do not fit into such classification.


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!Determiner half !Class !Examples miscellaneous uncountables such as water, fire, and weather
 * lu
 * animate creatures or persons
 * lavoro wolf, ʃuhalo Tauren, koʔodo kodo
 * ha
 * religious, magical, mythological beings
 * ha
 * religious, magical, mythological beings
 * haʔalo Earthmother, valaʃe spirit, ʔasale knowledge, ʒagake rain
 * ko
 * natural, inanimate objects
 * ʔaŋaʐo seed, tree, baʔaba drop of water, ʐovago tail
 * ʔo
 * created, inanimate objects
 * hacaga arrow, tegege tool, ʃadace basket, vosoʐe farm
 * miscellaneous uncountables
 * buʔuga love, ʐavaʃe coldness, toʐahe language
 * }
 * miscellaneous uncountables
 * buʔuga love, ʐavaʃe coldness, toʐahe language
 * }
 * }

Case
There are fifteen cases in Taurahe. Three of the cases involve verb arguments.


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!Determiner !Case !Usage
 * ʒa
 * ergative
 * agent of active verbs
 * sa
 * absolutive
 * agent of passive verbs, patient of all verbs
 * na
 * possessive
 * used in conjunction with noʔo to denote ownership
 * }
 * possessive
 * used in conjunction with noʔo to denote ownership
 * }

A possessive construction involves two noun phrases. For example, "the Tauren's dog" involves a Tauren and a dog. "Tauren" is put into the possessive case, luna ʃuhalo, and the possessive adjective noʔo is inserted into the noun phrase for "dog", lusa kaɲaka. The word noʔo by itself only means "possessed", so the possessive case specifies whose possession.


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 * luna
 * ʃuhalo
 * luʒa
 * noʔo
 * kaɲaka


 * fyuʔa
 * myaŋama
 * it.POS
 * Tauren
 * it.ERG
 * POSSESSED
 * dog
 * PST-IMP
 * eat
 * colspan=7|The Tauren's dog was eating.
 * }
 * colspan=7|The Tauren's dog was eating.
 * }

The remaining 12 cases belong to the locatives. Taurahe considers two factors for its locative cases: the location (inside, outside, or on the surface of), and the motion (no motion, towards, away from, or past). These considerations fuse to form 12 distinct role markers.
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! !Inside !Outside !Surface !no motion !towards !from !past
 * (inside)
 * (outside)
 * (on)
 * (into)
 * (towards)
 * (onto)
 * (from)
 * (out of)
 * (off of)
 * (through)
 * (past)
 * (along)
 * }

Pronouns
Pronouns are formed by decomposing the determiner into its two parts, then moving the case before the class. Thus;


 * luʒa kaɲaka, "the dog" becomes ʒa lu, "him (i.e. the dog)"
 * kona ʔaŋaʐo, "of the seed" becomes na ko, "of it (i.e. the seed)"

Stress does not move. The class remains stressed and the case remains unstressed.

Phrase order
Sentences are composed of phrases, discrete noun and verb phrases which move together. The phrase order is VSO, but there is quite a bit of movement that obscures the order. There is a strong tendency to separate the noun phrases via topicalization.

Verb Phrases
Perhaps the most important part of the sentence is the verb phrase, and every proper sentence will have at least one. Like noun phrases, the verb phrase follows a pattern: tense marker, any adverbs as desired, and the verb proper.

Active versus Stative
Verbs are either active or stative. Active verbs typical involve voluntary effort, such as running, hunting, or eating. Stative verbs involve less voluntary actions, such as sleeping, being seen, falling in love, or having a quality.

Valency
Every verb must have at least one argument, which is typically the subject, or the object in passive constructions.

Monovalent verbs have a single argument. The verb type, active or stative, is important now because it determines whether the argument uses yo or so. Active verbs use yo. Stative verbs use so.


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


 * Te
 * omse
 * lawyo
 * laworo.
 * PRS
 * hide
 * it.ACT
 * wolf
 * colspan=4|The wolf is hiding.
 * }
 * colspan=4|The wolf is hiding.
 * }


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


 * Te
 * tsootsa
 * lawso
 * køsødø
 * tsawda
 * dengoke.
 * PRS
 * sleep
 * it.STV
 * deer
 * it.in.STATIC
 * night
 * colspan=6|The deer sleeps at night.
 * }
 * colspan=6|The deer sleeps at night.
 * }

In passive sentences, in which the subject is deleted, the object phrase (which will always be a so phrase) moves before the verb.


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


 * Koso
 * stawko
 * te
 * maama.
 * it.STV
 * wheat
 * PRS
 * eat
 * colspan=4|The wheat is being eaten.
 * }
 * colspan=4|The wheat is being eaten.
 * }

Multivalent verbs take two or more arguments: active verbs take one yo and so, while stative verbs take multiple so. In simple sentences containing multivalent verbs, the subject will move before the verb.


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


 * Lawyo
 * laworo
 * fø
 * sekada
 * lawso
 * køsødø.
 * it.ACT
 * wolf
 * RCT
 * chase
 * it.STV
 * deer.
 * colspan=6|The wolf chased the deer.
 * }
 * colspan=6|The wolf chased the deer.
 * }

The following example illustrates the semantic value of fronting the subject phrase.


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


 * Te
 * pooka
 * so
 * anga
 * so
 * tsay.
 * PRS
 * love
 * STV
 * me
 * STV
 * you.
 * }
 * }

This ungrammatical sentence states, "Love me you". The verb pooka is stative thus uses so for both parties regardless of who loves whom. In a grammatical sentence, one of the noun phrases would move before the verb, identifying is as the subject (as does lawyo laworo in the preceding example). Leaving both noun phrases anga and tsay after the verb phrase implies that both are the subject, since no movement takes place if the verb has no object (like Te omse lawyo laworo.). This leaves us with a sentence "we love...". However, pooka must always take an object. To fix the sentence, we can do several things:
 * Move one of the noun phrases to the front, marking it as the subject and the other one as the object.
 * So anga te pooka so tsay: I love you.
 * So tsay te pooka so anga: You love me.
 * Move both noun phrases to the front. We are left with no subject so the sentence becomes passive. While multivalent verbs must have an explicit object, they are allowed to have a null subject.
 * So anga so tsay te pooka: We are loved.
 * Or simply insert a different subject.
 * Lawso royoma pøøse te pooka so anga so tsay.: My/your/our friend loves us.