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Ta'agra is the language spoken by most of the Khajiit, inhabitants of Elsweyr.
| Name: Ta'agra
Type: Agglutinative Alignment: Nominative-Accusative Head Direction: Final Number of genders: 0 Declensions: Yes Conjugations: Yes
| ||||||||||||||
General Information[]
| Gender | Cases | Numbers | Tenses | Persons | Moods | Voices | Aspects | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verb | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Nouns | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Adjectives | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Numbers | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Participles | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Adverb | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Pronouns | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Adpositions | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Article | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Particle | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Phonology[]
Consonants[]
| Bilabial | Labio-Dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-Alveolar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Voiceless | p ‹p› | t ‹t› | k ‹k› | q ‹q› | ʔ ‹'› | |||
| Voiced | b ‹b› | d ‹d› | g ‹g› | ||||||
| Nasal | m ‹m› | n ‹n› | |||||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | f ‹f› | θ ‹th› | s ‹s› | ʃ ‹sh› | x ‹kh› | h ‹h› | ||
| Voiced | v ‹v› | z ‹z› | ʒ ‹j› | ||||||
| Liquid | r ‹r›, l ‹l› | ||||||||
| Approximant | w ‹w› |
Glottal /h/ may be realized as pharyngeal [ħ]. In word-initial position, /ʒ/ is realized as [dʒ]. Consonants have phonemic length in simple coda position.
Vowels[]
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a | ||
Vowel length is phonemic.
When diphthongs are formed by affixation, they tend to be separated with a glottal stop ‹ˈ›, though glottal stops may be omitted from the language in casual speech and those diphthongs may be allowed to form. They do not seem to appear in isolated morphemes.
/e:/ may be written ‹ay› or ‹ey›, and /e/ word-finally written ‹ei›, to avoid confusion.
Grammar[]
Morphology[]
Nouns[]
Nouns are inflected for possession and case.
Possession[]
Possession is bizarre. There are two apparent prefixes: aa and ro. Aa seems to be the only one which can refer to the first person, but may also refer to the second. Ro may refer to the second, but also the third.
Case[]
| Case | Prefix |
|---|---|
| Locative | in |
| Dative | wo |
| Instrumental | ja |
Ta'agra has no genitive case: genitive constructs are formed simply by preceding a noun with its owner (a pronoun or another noun).
Adjectives are affixed to the beginnings of nouns but, like honorifics, especially archaically, may be hyphenated and suffixed. As free morphemes they are likely treated as verbs.
Verbs[]
Verbs are inflected for person and tense (past and nonpast).
| Person | Affix |
|---|---|
| 2 | (ko-) |
| 3 | (-ba) |
The only apparent tense conjugation is the past-tense prefix wo-.
There is also the suffix -oh that marks negation.
Verbs may be inflected for mood, ie what may be a desiderative suffix -kasash, or potential -t.
An attached pronoun may also take the form -iss, meaning "people" (objective).
Derivation[]
Noun/Verb > Active Person: -iit
Noun/Verb > means: -iitay
Noun > Adjective: -i
Noun > Verb: -ith
Noun > Respected: -ra
Verb > Noun: -'do
Honorifics[]
Honorifics are attached to names, usually to the beginning with a glottal stop, but sometimes hyphenated and attached to the end.
| Denotation | Honorific |
|---|---|
| Dar | thief, cunning individual |
| Do | warrior |
| Dro | grandfather, respected |
| J, Ji, Ja | bachelor, young adult |
| Jo | wizard |
| M, Ma | child, apprentice |
| Ra, Ri | high status |
| S | adult (default) |
Syntax[]
Ta'agra has a moderately flexible V2 SOV word order and is by and large pre-specifying (head-final). The language is pro-drop in reference to subject.
Subjunctive is formed with the SVO word order.
Lexicon[]
Pronouns[]
Unlike nouns, pronouns reflect number.
| Person | Word |
|---|---|
| 1s | ahziss |
| 1p | ahzirr |
| 2s | jer |
| 2p | baliji |
Open Class[]
| English | Ta'agra |
|---|---|
| After | iko |
| be Alike | aratataami |
| All | hat, raj |
| And | an |
| Anyhow | ashlik |
| Be | va (negative: naba) |
| Becoming (n) | vabazeri |
| Beneath, Under | vasa |
| be Brave | shurh |
| Camel | slarjei |
| Cause | ka |
| Chieftain* | t'har |
| Concerned | orikah |
| Copy, Mimic | yajira |
| Concept | zrini |
| Contradict | vano |
| Clan* | shir |
| Clan Mother* | shir-fado |
| Day | pal |
| Desert (n) | khaj |
| Disappearance | dek |
| Do, Go | khi |
| Everything | skra'iv |
| Excuse | wakay |
| Family | epako |
| Far | valah |
| Farmer | famer |
| Father* | ahnurr |
| Fix | eks |
| Foolish | thjiz |
| Footpad | rajhin |
| Force (n) | zeri |
| Full | teko'i |
| Game | zahb |
| Girl | iiliten |
| Good | do' |
| Grandfather | dro |
| Have | rabi |
| Heavy | hokoh |
| Important | irat |
| Joking, Without regret | fusozay |
| Keep | sri |
| Kill | var dar |
| King* | aran |
| Knight | pelin |
| Know | kor |
| Laugh, Smile | krin |
| Live, Life, Sugar, Flow | var |
| Mane | rid |
| Mane (leader) | rid-t'har |
| Martyr | ri'sallidad |
| Mention (v) | bek |
| Mercenary | renrij |
| Moon | kha'jay |
| Mother* | fado |
| Name | nak |
| Necessary, Necessity | maaszi |
| Night | tenurr |
| Oneself | no |
| Owe | velk |
| Passage | avek |
| Plant, Tree | shanjijri |
| Poor | po |
| Port | teport |
| Price | ra |
| Prince* | ja'aran |
| Rain (n) | rawl |
| Rain (v) | rawlith |
| Return to | derad |
| Root, Tuber | shanvasajijri |
| Run away | lhajiito |
| Search for | akudarr |
| Seem | boshei |
| Sellsword (perjorative) | jihatt |
| Shawl | budi |
| Shudder | oodurr |
| Sibling | liter |
| Sit | shijoh |
| Smile | krimir |
| Steal | dar |
| Speak, Tell | pur |
| Take away | trajir |
| Tell the truth | thzina ualizz |
| That (one) | jajo |
| This (one) | jaji |
| Tower | fasiiri |
| Virgin | ma |
| Water | da'khe |
| What kind | kakadarr |
| When | q'zi |
| Why | kador |
| Wife | tok |
| Wish to be | vakasash |
| Wonderful | ajo |
| World | nirni |
| Worry about | mok |
| Writing utensil | durrarr |
| Yellow | zwintho |
| Young | ja' |
Samples[]
Official[]
Jobasha[]
Zwinthodurrarr rabi.
yellow-writing^utensil have
I have a yellow writing utensil.
Ahziss liter ajo'iiliten rabiba.
1s sibling wonderful-girl have-3
My brother has a wonderful girl.
Ahziss aaliter vakasash.
1s 1/3-sibling be-DES
I wish I was my brother.
S'ratha (Hammerfell Intro)[]
Krimir, Cyrus.
Smile, Cyrus.
Etofor wakay jer akudarr.
here excuse 2s search^for
Here's the excuse you've been looking for.
Baliji hat aratataami.
2p all be^the^same
You're all the same.
Shijoh.
Sit.
Renrij intenurr,
mercenary LOC-night
Ruffians in the night,
Hokoh wo'Imperialjah,
heavy DAT-Imperial-coin
Heavy with Imperial coin,
Iko pofamer rotok velk.
after poor-farmer 2-wife owe
After some poor farmer who owes [the kingdom] his wife.
An trajir.
and take^away
And takes away.
S'rathra kor koderadoh Hammerfell,
S'rathra know 2-return^to-NEG Hammerfell,
S'rathra knows you will not return to Hammerfell,
Boshei irat.
seem important
[But this] seems important.
S'rathra woorikah
S'rathra PST-be^concerned
S'rathra was concerned.
Mokoh Duadeen.
worry^about-NEG Duadeen
Don't worry about Duadeen.
S'rathra eks.
S'rathra fix.
S'rathra eks skra'iv.
S'rathra fix everything.
Roliter dek ka oodurr.
2-sibling disappearance invoke shudder
Your sister's disappearance draws a shudder.
Teport teko'i
port full
The port is full [of them].
S'rathra nak avek wora valah khi
S'rathra name passage DAT-price far go
S'rathra's name goes far towards the price of passage.
Sri Duadeen jah.
keep Duadeen coin
Keep Duadeen's money.
Epako jah ashlik.
family coin anyhow
It is family coin after all.
Pur S'rathra kador aaliter bekoh.
tell S'rathra why POS-sister mention-NEG
Tell S'rathra why [you] don't mention your sister.
Kakadarr
What kind?