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"

!Phoneme !! Phonetic !! Spelling !! Notes ! colspan=4 | Vowels ! colspan= 4 |Voiced Stops ! colspan=4 |Voiceless Stops !colspan=4| Continuants
 * /a/ || [ɑ] || a ||
 * /ã/ || [ɑ̃] || an, ang || The  is used to distinguish from  +  when ambiguous.
 * /e/ || [ɛ] || e ||
 * /ẽ/ || [ɛ̃] || en, eng || The  is used to distinguish from  +  when ambiguous.
 * rowspan=2| /i/ || [i] || i ||
 * [j] || y || Non-syllabic form of /i/, occurs in diphthongs: /iaki/ >
 * rowspan=2 | /o/ || [o] || o ||
 * [w] || w || Non-syllabic form of /o/, occurs in diphthongs: /oasita/ >
 * /u/ || [ʉ] || u ||
 * rowspan=2| /i/ || [i] || i ||
 * [j] || y || Non-syllabic form of /i/, occurs in diphthongs: /iaki/ >
 * rowspan=2 | /o/ || [o] || o ||
 * [w] || w || Non-syllabic form of /o/, occurs in diphthongs: /oasita/ >
 * /u/ || [ʉ] || u ||
 * [w] || w || Non-syllabic form of /o/, occurs in diphthongs: /oasita/ >
 * /u/ || [ʉ] || u ||
 * /u/ || [ʉ] || u ||
 * /u/ || [ʉ] || u ||
 * /m/ || || m ||
 * /b/ || || b ||
 * /n/ || || n ||
 * rowspan=2| /d/ || [d] || d ||
 * [d͡ʝ] || j || Palatalized.
 * /n/ || || n ||
 * rowspan=2| /d/ || [d] || d ||
 * [d͡ʝ] || j || Palatalized.
 * [d͡ʝ] || j || Palatalized.
 * [d͡ʝ] || j || Palatalized.
 * /p/ || || p ||
 * rowspan=2| /t/ || [t] || t||
 * [t͡ç] || ch || Palatalized.
 * /k/ || || k ||
 * [t͡ç] || ch || Palatalized.
 * /k/ || || k ||
 * /k/ || || k ||
 * /k/ || || k ||
 * rowspan=2 | /v/ || [v] || v ||
 * [f] || f ||
 * rowspan=2 | /ð/ || [ð] ||rowspan=2| th ||
 * [θ] ||
 * rowspan=4 | /z/ || [z] || z ||
 * [s] || s ||
 * [d͡ʝ] || j || Palatalized.
 * [ç] || sh || Palatalized.
 * /lˠ/ || || l ||
 * /ʐ̞/ || || r ||
 * /h/ || || h ||
 * }
 * [d͡ʝ] || j || Palatalized.
 * [ç] || sh || Palatalized.
 * /lˠ/ || || l ||
 * /ʐ̞/ || || r ||
 * /h/ || || h ||
 * }
 * /ʐ̞/ || || r ||
 * /h/ || || h ||
 * }
 * /h/ || || h ||
 * }

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
 * }

There are ten diphthongs: [jɑ], [jɑ̃], [jɛ], [jɛ̃], [wɑ], [wɑ̃], [wɛ], [wɛ̃], [ɑw], and [ɑ̃w].

Consonants
There are 19 consonants. Thirteen (bolded) are phonemic and the remaining six 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 || || tç dʝ || k ||
 * f v || θ ð || s z || || ç || || h
 * || || lˠ || ʐ̞ || || ||
 * }

Alternations
The phonemes /t/ and /d/ are palatalized before [+high] segments.
 * /moti/ > [mot͡çi] mochi
 * /ðodia/ > [θod͡ʝɑ] thoja

The continuants /v ð z/ are unvoiced [f θ s] in 3 morphological environments:

1. When they occur in the same morpheme as a nasal.
 * /tumava/ > [t͡çʉmɑfɑ] chumafa
 * /maði/ > [mɑθi] mathi
 * /zaone/ > [sɑwne] sane

2. When they precede /p t k v ð z h r/ in a morpheme.
 * /zuha/ > [sʉhɑ] suha
 * /vira/ > [fiʐ̞ɑ] fira
 * /vata/ > [fɑtɑ] fata
 * /vizu/ > [fid͡ʝʉ] fiju
 * /ðodia/ > [θod͡ʝɑ] thoja
 * /zazoba/ > [sɑsobɑ] sasoba

[j] is elided when it follows [+palatal] segments.
 * /ðodia/ > *[θod͡ʝjɑ] >[θod͡ʝɑ] thoja
 * /muzia/ > *[mʉçjɑ] > [mʉçɑ] musha

The phoneme /z/ has four phonetic realizations in moderately free variation. While they are not contrastive, some segments are more common than others on an individual basis.

1. Listed above, /z/ can be devoiced to [s] in certain environments. However, /z/ is typically voiceless in some other words without being conditioned.
 * /zɑ̃/ > [sɑ̃] sang
 * /ɑ̃zi/ > *[ɑ̃si] > [ɑ̃çi] anshi
 * /zu/ > *[sʉ] > [çʉ] shu

2a. /z/ can be palatalized before [+high] segments.
 * /muzia/ > [mʉçɑ]
 * /hakazi/ > [hɑkɑd͡ʝi]
 * /vizu/ > [fid͡ʝʉ] fiju

2b. But sometimes it is not palatalized.
 * /zuha/ > [sʉhɑ] suha
 * /zizoã/ > [sizwɑ̃] sizwang

Morphology
A distinctive word-formation rule of Taurahe is its long-distance voice disharmony. The affected phonemes are /m b n d v ð z/. Each morpheme may have, at maximum, one voiced consonant. A morpheme may only contain one voiced stop (/m b n d/). Words like */mena/, */bodu/, and */dama/ are impossible. Continuants are voiceless in morphemes with voiced stops. Continuants are also only voiced if they are the final consonant segment of a morpheme.

The phoneme /l/ is transparent to voice disharmony. It neither triggers nor blocks devoicing.

Grammar
Most words in Taurahe are assembled from roots. Roots can never appear without affixes, however, which give them real meaning.
 * fir- wild or a wild thing or place
 * fithi- a hunter or like a hunter
 * sizwang- idea of toppling or undoing something that was assembled carefully

Noun Phrase
Most nouns are an unmarked form of the root. There are two exceptions: (1) words that end in a consonant receive the suffix /-i/ and (2) words that end in a or ang change to e or eng.


 * The noun kodo is the same as the root kodo-.
 * The noun lapu is the same as the root lapu-.
 * The noun kahi derives from the root kah- + -i.
 * The noun hakaji derives from the root hakaz- + -i. The z becomes j due to the presence of the i.
 * The noun akalake derives from the root akalaka- and the final a becomes e.
 * The noun mweng derives from the root mwang- and the final ang becomes eng.
 * The noun musha is the same as the root musha-. It is an exception.

Gender
In Taurahe, gender doesn't actually have to do with biological sex. Instead it involves the animacy and spirit of an object. 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 musha - 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

All nouns of a particular class are preceded by the same determiner.

Person
The four determiners, ha etha ko and o, refer to the third person. There are also determiners for the first and second person. They are ang me and chi you. Unlike English, these words only replace the determiner, rather than the entire noun phrase.

For example, consider the sentence
 * The old woman eats the meat.

This can be transformed into
 * I eat the meat.

Thus, the word I replaces the phrase The old woman.

In Taurahe, the change would be different.
 * Ki myenki setha riva thalu ko mweng. The old woman eats the meat.
 * Ki myenki zang riva thalu ko mweng. I, the old woman, eat the meat.

Only the determiner setha changes. The adjectives and nouns are unaffected.

Case
Taurahe has a few case markers. Only one case involves morphosyntax. Since the VSO word order already demonstrates which noun is the subject and which noun is the object, it is redundant, but Taurahe further marks the subject with the prefix /z/ > [s] when both a subject and an object appear.


 * He ade futumafa etha akalake niko la homastome. Yesterday the man must have slept in his tent.
 * Since only the subject, etha akalake, appears, there is no marker.
 * Ki ade fuhacha ko lapu. Yesterday a stone was thrown.
 * Since only the object, ko lapu, appears, there is no marker.
 * He ade fuhacha setha akalake ko lapu neko la homastome. Yesterday the man must have thrown a stone inside his tent.
 * Both phrases, etha akalake and ko lapu, appear, so the subject, etha akalake, receives the prefix s-.

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 sheni a bone
 * ko suha sheni two bones
 * ko koba sheni three bones
 * ko musheni bones

Verb Phrase
The verb phrase consists of, at minimum, two parts: the modal particle and the inflected verb root.

Modality
There are 3 modal particles, ki, he, and do.

The particle ki is used to mark the realis mood.
 * Ki lalotaki etha mufiju. The children are playing.
 * Ki fumyeng setha akalake ko mweng. The man ate the fruit.

He marks the epistemic mood.
 * He lalotaki etha mufiju. The children might be playing.
 * He fumyeng setha akalake ko mweng. The man may have eaten the fruit.

Do marks the deontic mood.
 * Do lalotaki etha mufiju. The children ought to be playing.
 * Do fumyeng setha akalake ko mweng. The man ought to have eaten the fruit.

Imperatives are marked with either the epistemic or deontic mood.

Tense-Aspect
There are 3 tenses: past, present, and future. In the past and future tense, there is a further distinction between perfective and imperfective aspect. The markers for tense and aspect have mutated and thus there are no distinguishable tense affixes or aspect affixes. Rather, there are 5 tense-aspect affixes.


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

! !Perfective !Imperfective !Past !Present !Future
 * + Conjugation for regular verbs
 * fu-
 * -kiki
 * colspan=2|-ki
 * -ni
 * -niki
 * }


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

! !Perfective !Imperfective !Past !Present !Future
 * +towa- walk
 * futowa
 * towakiki
 * colspan=2| towaki
 * towani
 * towaniki
 * }


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

! !Perfective !Imperfective !Past !Present !Future
 * +kah- rain
 * fukah
 * kahkiki
 * colspan=2|kahki
 * kahni
 * kahniki
 * }

Adverbs
Adverbs function similarly to adjectives. They are marked with the suffix -e.


 * Do peke sinoki chi shu nang thalu. Child, come quickly to your mother.
 * Ki pawene halimashiniki ha anshi. The sun will always shine.