Draga

This page provides an overview of the draqa (or, "draga", pron. '/t◌̪ɚ. æ. ɦæ/' ) language, and some of its lexical items. Draga is my own personal conlang, and is in daily use by a speakership of one. It is intended to useable by human beings, but I wanted to break a few universals in the process. The phonology comes from analysis of my personal random "babbling". I also wanted to pursue ways of thinking mostly alien to my native language (English) and culture (American/Black), and create a better vehicle for expressing certain personal, perhaps "mystic" experiences in everyday speech. The "lofty" goals, however, are relatively recent. Originally, it was just something fun to do.

Introduction

draqa (draga) is a personal constructed language, "spoken" by an exile population who call their homeland Qhyra. Technically, "draqa" (with a 'q') refers to an ancient form of the language, and "draga" (with a 'g') to the modern language; however, the spelling "draqa" is often used for either. Even more ancient -.preceding draqa - is draga (pronounced /dra. ga/ and technically referred to as proto-draga), which evolved from dragat.

The history of the draga people is quite mysterious. Apparently, the civilization of Qhrya arose in the North American continent, contemporary with (but not related to) the Atlantean civilization of the second destruction (~28,000 B.C.) Within 1.000 years of that cataclysm, Qhrya was completely sacked, leaving fewer than 2,000 souls to wander for almost 200 years. Finding no respite, apparently the nation astrally projected themselves en masse into a parallel reality, where they have continued to thrive. The prophecies say that eventually the nation will reincarnate into this world in the 20th, 21st and 22nd centuries, at first scattered across the continents but eventually re-unified into a small nation again.

The draga are a dream-travelling people, whose primary mode of long-distance (as well as inter-dimensional and temporal) travel is astral-projection. Hence, culturally and linguistically, they are easily adapted to "primitive", "high-tech" and even "psychic" environments.

Phonetic Inventory

Consonants

	labial	dental	alveolar	palatal	velar	post-velar	glottal
plosives:	pʼ (p)	t_	tʼtz ʈ	cʼ(c)	kʷ kʲ	q	ʔ
aspirates:	pʰ		tʰ	cʰ		qʰ
fricative:	f (ʰɸ)	(ð)	s	ʃ (ç)	(x)		ʜ ɦ
liquids:	w		l	j
trills:	ʙ̥		r̥			ʀ̥
nasals:	m	(n_)	(n)	ɲ
implosives:	ɓ (ʘʷ)		ǃ

Vowels

i

ʊ

ʷɔˑ

ə(ʌ)

ɚ

æ

Orthography / Phonological Considerations

Transliteration of the draga language uses 25 characters of the Roman alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, w, x, y, z - and both the single-quote ( ' ) and double-quote ( " ) symbols to represent the sounds. In addition, the acute accent is used to represent pitch-accenting: á í ú. Traditionally, draga is written in a native alphabetic script that is supplemented by many logographs which are used to represent the most frequently used particles and lexemes. For some unfathomable reason, there is also a rare transliteration scheme which utilizes the Coptic alphabet.

Consonants

p	[pʼ] or [p]	ph	[pʰ]
d	[t_] initially ; [d_] or [ð] medially ; [ð] after 'ñ': ñd [n_ð]
t'	[tʼ]	t	[tʰ]	ty	[ʈ]
c	[cʼ] or [c]	ch	[cʰ]
q	[q]	qh	[qʰ]	kw	[kʷ]	ky	[kʲ]
f	[f], [ʰɸ] before 'w': fw [ʰɸw]
s	[s]	j	[tʼz] or [tz]	x	[ʃ]
m	[m]
ñ	[ɲ], [n_] before 'd': ñd [n_ð]
w	[w], [ʘʷ] (bilabial click) following initial syllabic 'm': mw [mʘʷ]
l	[l]
y	[j]
h	[ʜ], [x] before 'l' or 'w', [ç] before 'y'	g	[ɦ] (voiced /h/)
b	[ɓ] (bilabial implosive)
z	[ǃ] (alveolar implosive, i.e. click)
p"	[ʙ̥] (voiceless bilabial trill)
t"	[r̥] (voiceless alveolar trill)
q"	[ʀ̥] (voiceless post-velar trill)
'	[ʔ] ; or abbreviated spelling of certain prefixes: x'-, h'-, f'-

Vowels

There are 12 vowels in the draga language:

• ï, í, i /i/

• á, a /æ/

• ae /æeˑ/

• e /əˑ/

• ou /ʷɔˑ/

• ú / ó, o /ʊ/

• r, rr (ë) /ɚˑ/

Draga is a pitch-accented language:

• i, a, e, o, r are intoned at median pitch. They are considered unaccented.

• í, á, ë are intoned at high pitch - typically 3-5 whole tones above the median.

• ï is intoned at very high pitch - typically 5 - 8 whole tones above the median.

• ú is intoned with a high, falling pitch, while ó is intoned with a high pitch.

• ae is obviously a dpthong, but is treated as an invididual vowel. It is intoned at median pitch.

• ou is always intoned with a slightly long, low pitch - typically 3-5 whole tones below the median.

Rhoticization.

Some vowels can be found rhoticized:

• ír, ir, ár, ar, aer, or

Special Cases:

• ïr is intoned falling from very high pitch to median.

• úor is intoned falling from high pitch to low pitch.

• ra is intoned falling from high pitch to median.

Spelling Conventions

The following spellings are found interchangably in draga transliteration, ea and eu being the most commonly used:

• io <-> iu <-> eu

• ia <-> ea

Syllable and Word Structure

draga Syllables are formed as follows:

C1 = Any Consonsant, or †Cluster ; V = Any Vowel or Compound ; C2 = Any Final Consonant: ( f, m, w, p", s, c, x, ñ, q)

(C1) - (V) - (C2 |/ʔ/)

• V (/ʔ/).
• C2.
• C1 - V (/ʔ/).
• C1 - C2.
• C1 - V - C2.

†Allowable Consonant Clusters: pw, py, phw, phy, phl, tw, tl, jw, zw, z', qhw, qhl, xw, xl (sl), fw/hw, hl, hy, gw, gy, ml, lw, ly, bw, by

draga Words (Roots) are typically 2-4 syllables in length, and generally begin with any sound but g /ɦ/. The phone e /ə/ is thus far unattested formally as a final vowel, and the phone ' /ʔ/ never ends a word. Many Roots may also have more than one related form, which are pretty much interchangeable and are selected for by context, e.g. ftyeañ /f. ʈiæɲ/, might alternatively be pronounced 'ftyañ' /f. ʈæˑɲˑ/, or 'ftyaña' /f. ʈæ. ɲæ/. Orthographically, this phenomenon is very much up in the air: There is some debate around whether certain "standard" forms of words should be written at all times, or whether actual or intended pronunciation should be indicated.

Useful Expressions

a píawañ ciñ:	Hello, Goodbye
a jawa:	Thank you, Your welcome, Please, It's okay
mú wañ:	How are you? What's up with ya?
ía phoi:	I'm happy, doing well, in a good mood
ía phíw:	I'm not doing so well
ía xapo:	All's well, I'm chillin'
fo mae:	Excuse me, May I?, Help!
a jwae:	Yes
a sae:	No
ía meqeña:	I'm hungry
mú meqeña:	Are you hungry?
mú fwae:	Do you like it? Would you recommend it?
ía fwae:	I like it
a hleu:	How nice! Beautiful!
qhwúi! a jwae:	Let's do it!
a kyïafasae:	I don't know
íasefwae:	I don't like it
ía ñamaxa-meu:	I very much enjoy the meal
fei-ajawa:, ajawafei:	Thank You Universe! (Almost like "Thanks be to God" or "Thank (you) God")
xe'a wañ mieqs dañ...	Where can I find ...
xe'a wañ t'aí dañ...	Which way to ...
xe'a wañ dañ fou:	What's up with the cannabis - (could you pass it please?)

Grammar Notes

Preface

draga has two types of morphemes, Particles and Roots. Roots are generally "content" words, and include what would be Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives in English, even Adverbs. None of those distinctions are made in the draga language, and theoretically, any applicable Particle can be used with any Root. So, to say lyíañc "Home + My (My home)", skyaác "Running + My (I run)", and phoiac "Joyful + My (I am happy)" - the same construction is used throughout. Of course, skyaác could also mean "My running" or "My run"; and phoiac could mean "My joy" depending on context.

This context is based on a relationship between a Predicate and its Argument(s), which are the roles available to Roots in the draga language. A Predicate may or may not be modified, or juxtaposed, with one or multiple Arguments - and the relationship of these Roots (or phrases) to each other may or may not be made more explicit by some Particle. This is the general role of Particles in the draga language: to modify the meaning of a Root, or to clarify the relationships among Roots or phrases.

However, there is a special type of Particle in draga which is always essential. This is the Speech Act Particle (SAP), which is always the beginning of a sentence. The SAP may contain evidential, or mood information - or it may indicate that a question is being asked, a command given, etc. Often, an SAP may be the whole sentence all by itself.

Some basic SAPs that will be useful right away:

• ía Introduces a subjective personal 1st person (me, my) experience: ía phoia: "I am happy, i.e. I experience joy."

• fwoia Indicates that "I witness(ed) this personally": fwoia phoiaña: "I see that s/he is happy."

• mú Is used to asked a 2nd person (you) question: mú phoia: "Are you happy?"

• eia Is used when telling stories, or relating information one has overheard at some point, but not having experience it personally: eia phoiaña: "S/he was happy", "They say that s/he is happy."

• es Is used to express a negative sentence: es phoiaña: "S/he is not happy

BTW, the punctuation mark ' : ' indicates the end of a draga sentence.

Demonstratives

Definite Particles

There are two Definite Particles in draga, the weak and the strong definite particles. The weak particle acts like "the", "some", "this", etc. in referring to a specific instance of what you're talking about:

• pha-lyíañ, lyíañ-paá Home, the home, this home, my home, etc.
• pha-haña, haña-paá This / that / the human being
• pha-síaha, síaha-paá The deer, etc.
• pha-laex, laex-paá The drinking water
• pha-skyaá, skyaá-paá Running, The run, this running, etc.

The weak (or Iconic) definite particle creates a word referencing an iconic or essential form of the concept at hand. Examples of this kind of thing in English would be: "The MAN", "Big Government", "Justice", "The Law", "God", "They", etc. Fittingly, of course, none of those particular examples are concepts that actually exist in the draga language:

• xían-pa

• syú-pa

• hloiso-pa

Count Particles

Any draga Root can be prefixed with one of the number particles to indicate a count of up to six:

• f'- one
• ñ'- two
• d'- three
• w'- four
• m'- five
• xw'- six
• teu- several, many
• fm- very many, a multitude

Examples:

• f'síaha "a single deer"
• w'skyaá "four runs"
• fmphoia "many joys, joyous occasions, etc."

The Particle sei negates any Root it precedes:

• sei síaha "not a deer"
• sei skyaá "not running"
• sei phoia "not happy"

Distal Particles

sáyaf-	-seaf	Reflexive
tyïgí -	-tyigi	Reciprocal
fir-, fr-	-fír	Immediate ("Right here")
qhwú-	-kwo	Proximal ("Next to, nearby)
yálo-	-yalo	Peri-Proximal ("Right over there, close by")
báo-	-bao	Distal ("Over there, in the distance")
t'ou-	-tou	Absent ("Not here, out of view / earshot")

Examples: (aqa "person", phoia "joy")

• aqa-seaf / sáyaf-aqa "The person her/himself"
• phoia-seaf / sáyaf-phoia "Self-joy, enjoy one's self"
• aqa-tyigi / tyïgí-aqa "Those reciprocating each other"
• phoia-tyigi / tyïgí-phoia "Enjoy each other, Give each other joy"
• fr-aqa / aqa-fír "This person here, me"
• phoia-fír / fir-phoia "This (immediate) joy"
• t'ou-aqa / aqa-tou "Person who is not here"
• phoia-tou / t'ou-phoia "Joy which is (perhaps figuratively) absent"

Pronominals

Personal Pronominal forms come in two flavors: Generic and Agency. The Generic form does not specify anything about the relationship between the pronominal (i.e. the "person") and the Predicate it is related to. The Agency form specifically indicates that the "person" has acted in some way with regard to the concept described by the Predicate. This agency is not necessarily volitional (intentional) or even animate.

Generic Root	Agency Root	Generic Particle	Agency Particle	Person
phayac	phaxían	-(w)(e)c	-xían, -xi	1st Person Exclusive
phawix	phawaqs	-wix	-weaqs, -waqs	1st Person Inclusive
phameí	phamagyi	-mei	-magyi	2nd Person
phayañ	phalor	-ña	-lor	*Referent (2nd or 3rd Person)
phayañ	phadae	-da	-dae	3rd Person Animate/ Abstract
phakwoi	phakwoi	-kwoi	-kwoi	3rd Person Inanimate
phafeas	phafeas	-feas	-feas	4th Person (Obviate) Animate/ Abstract
phakwoiaf	phakwoiaf	-kwoiaf	-kwoiaf	4th Person (Obviate) Inanimate

• The Referent is the "person" under discussion, or the "main character", per se. In classic draga there was no specific Pronominal form for 2p direct address, and it's use is still relatively infrequent - primarily for clarity, emphasis or endearment. The Referent is a 3rd person form (animate, abstract or inanimate), whose reference can be "switched" to indicate a 2nd person, i.e. "S/he (which is you)." The referent switches include: mú, m and añmagyi. Generally, if the 2p ("you") is the topic, -ña/-lor refer to "you" - while -da/-dae would refer to the next character who comes into the picture (3p), and -feas would refer to the following person to come into the picture(4p). If someone or something besides "you" (2p) is the topic, then -ña/-lor refers to that person (3p), and -da/-dae would refer to the next person to enter the picture (4p), Any other person in this case could be referred to by -feas, which literally mean "other, another", as seen in other contexts.

Examples: (fbaí "surface, table", skyaá "running", phoia "joy", siha "green")

• fbaí-c "My table" (That I own, or is related to me in some way)
• fbaí-xïañ "My table" (That I act upon in some way)
• skyaá-wíx "Our running", "We run/ran¨ or even ¨We were run¨
• skyaá-waqs "Running that we do/did/are doing"
• phoia-da "His/her joy", "S/he is happy"
• siha-ña "It's green-ness", "It is green", "Her/your green (-ness) (-ing) (thing)", etc.
• siha-lor ¨The greening/greenness/etc. that s/he (or you) influence/act-upon¨, etc.

wañ

wañ is a Pronominal which is used in Interrogative statements, and means "which? what? where? how?,who? why?" etc. Its use will be discussed further on.

phawoi, paá

These particles are similar to Spanish "lo" , and refer to "the one under discussion" - often translatable to "that one, this one, him, her, it, etc." Its usage will also be explicated further on.

Locatives

The Locatives are Particles that indicate location, motion and direction. However, their broad usage allows for simple creation of useful sentences:

Unbound	Semi-bound	Fully Bound
ie		-qor	at, in, on, to, toward, from
	yor-	-yir	toward
	fwor-, yor-	-tyear	at, in, on
	hyañ-	-pyír	successfully to
	swor-	-sear	unsuccessfully toward
	júor-	-tyoi, -chou	(originating) from
		-fir	in the general direction of
		-teyou	in a general direction away from

Examples: (lyíañ "home", kyïafa "understanding", phuia "joy")

• yor-lyíañ "Toward home", "Going home"
• kyïafa-sear "Try unsuccessfully to understand"
• phoia-tyoi "Originating from (a place of ) joy," e.g. within one'sself, etc.

Example Sentences:

• ía yor-lyíañ: "I am going home."
• mú hyañ-kyïafa: "Were you able to finally understand?"
• fwoia phoi-teyou-ña: "I see that s/he is becoming less joyful."

Locatives with Pronominals

• yor-phayac, yor-xíañ, yor-phawix, yor-weaqs, yor-meí, yor-maqyi, yor-phayañ, yor-phalor, yor-phadae, yor-phawkoi, yor-feas, yor-kwoiaf
• ie, fwor-, hyañ-, swor- all follow the same pattern as yor-
• júor-phayac, júor-xíañ, júor-phawix, júor-weaqs, júor-meí, júor-magyi, júor-ña, júor-lor, júor-dae, júor-phakwoi, júor-feas, júor-kwoiaf

Additional Locatives

Some other locative particles inlude:

• hamor-, Inside of
• wosa- On the border, surface, edge, at the entrace, etc.
• sdáña- Outside of
• -jïila Through
• -de'tew Throughout
• -mieqs "At a particular location
• -míesq "At a particular set of circumstance, situation, or place-time"

Compound Locatives

This set of locatives express relative position rather direction. They are combined forms of 2 parts:

1. Heads: fwía- "Above", jeuq- "Below", daea- "Level with", qhow- "In front of", qhaw- "Behind", doia- "Next to"'

1. Codas: -da- "Located", -ha- "Touching, Connected or Attached", -soi- "Not touching or attached, disconnected, separate from"

The combined forms appear as prefixes:

fwíada-	jeuqda-	daeada-	qhowda-	qhawda-	doiada-
fwíaha-	jeuqha-	daeaha-	qhowha-	qhawha-	doiaha-
fwíasoi-	jeuqsoi-	daeasoi-	qhowsoi-	qhawsoi-	doiasoi-

Examples: (fbaí "surface, table")

• fwíada-fbaí - "(Somewhere) above the top the table"
• fwíaha-fbaí - "On top of the table"
• fwíasoi-fbaí - "Above the table (not touching it)"

Genitives

The Genitives are the Particles that clarify the relationship between Roots. The structure used is Predicate - Genitive - Argument - where the Predicate is a Root, of which further information about it is given by the Argument , which is also a Root. The meaning would translate to "The X (Predicate) OF Y (Argument)". The Genitive, then, clarifies what type of OF is being referred to:

Primary Form	Embedded Form	Meaning
xr-	dei	Of (generic)
cor-	cír-	Of (explicit) Agent ...
hañ-	z-	Associated with, Correlated with, Identified with
em-	ám-	Portion, part of
ho-	húa-	Attributed with, Filled with
máxe-	mes-	Composed of
war-	wár-	Functioning as, In the role of
tañ-	táañ-	(Of) Benificiary
táyañ-	tayañ-	(Of) Benefactor

Examples: (skyaá "running", síaha "deer", qhowa "writing, book", sohoi "student", tiñtá "wall (freestanding)", píoñ "stone", ñama "food, meal" )

• skyaá xr-síaha - "Deer's running"
• síaha ho-skyaá - "Deer which is/are running"
• qhowa háñ-sohoi - "A/the suden'ts book"
• píoñ em-tintá - "Stone from a/the wall, Stone part of the wall"
• tiñtá máxe-píoñ - "Wall made of stone"
• ñama tañ-ec - "Meal for me "
• ñama táyañ-magyi - "Meal that you (2p) prepared (for someone)"
• ñama tañec táyañmagyi - "Meal that you prepare for me"

xr'- / cor-

These Generic forms are often the basis for complete sentences:

• fwoia skyaá corsíaha: "I see deer running."
• eia phoia xrsíaha: "(They say) the deer are happy."
• mú sohui xr'phayañ: "Is that your student?"

When a Root ends with a "-c", the "-c" becomes "-q" in front of the Generic Genetive Particle "x'-". Also notice the distinction in meaning (as well as form) when using the non-Agency form of Generic Genetive as compared to the Agency form. This is the distinction that applies to Agency vs. Non-Agency across the board in the draga language:

(míac means "aid, facillitate, allow, give, etc.")

• ía míac: "I help, etc. or, am helped, etc."
• ía míaq xr'sohoi: "I help (a/the) student." or, "A/the student helps me" literally, "I experience aiding of student."
• ía míac cor'sohoi: "The student helps me." i.e. the student is the Agency of the aid

In case you might be wondering how to specify that it is "I" who helps the student, the best way to go would probabaly be: "ía míac tañsohoi:"

war-

This Particle means "(used) in the role of" or "as". However, its broad usage allows for a good deal of information to be expressed in a compact way:

• ía tiñtá warhióc: "I use the wall as a seat."
• eia píoñ warqhowa: "They say it's written on a stone.", literally, stone as book (i.e. any written media)
• fwoia síaha warñamaña: "I saw [them] making a meal of the deer.", i.e. deer as [referent's] meal

Embedded Forms

This set of Particles is used to embed Genitive phrases within other Genitive phrases.:

1. qhowa háñ-sohoi, ho-tiñtátyear "Student's book, which is at the wall"
2. qhowa háñ-sohoi húa-tiñtátyear "Book of the student who is at the wall"
3. qhowa háñsohoi húa-tiñtátyear, warñama-dei síaha "Book of the sudent who is at the wall, which the deer makes a meal of (the book)"
4. qhowa háñsohoi húa-tiñtátyear dei ho-qsompi "Book of the student who is at the wall which collapsed (qsompi)"
5. qhowa háñsohoi húa-tiñtátyear húa-qsompi, warñama-dei síaha "Book of the student who was at the wall and fell down, which the deer makes a meal of"

In Example #1 both háñsohoi (student's) and hotiñtátyear (at the wall) refer to qhowa.

In Example #2 háñsohoi refers to qhowa, and húatiñtátyear refers to sohoi

In Example #3 háñsohoi' and warñama (acting as a meal) refer to qhowa. húatiñtátyear refers to sohoi, and -dei síaha refers to ñama.

In Example #4 only háñsohoi refers to qhowa. The word húátiñtátyear refers to sohoi, and dei hoqsompi refers to húatiñtátyear. Notice that in this third level of embedding, the Primary form is used, preceded by dei. This is the deepest level of embedding handled grammatically - deeper levels would continue to use dei + Primary Form, and would only be disambiguated by context and timing (i.e. pauses between phrases) .

The Embedded forms are also used to form idiomatic, pre-set, stock compounds:

• qhowa hañsohoi - A/the student's book
• qhowa z.sohoi - Schoolbook

Genitive and Locative transformation with dei

Examples:

Genitive

• (pha-) ho-skyaá dei síaha <== síaha ho-skyaá
• (pha-) war-ñama dei síaha <== síaha war-ñama
• (pha-) háñ-sohoi dei qhowa <== qhowa háñ -sohoi

Locative

• (pha-) yor-lyíañ dei sohoi <== sohoi (ho-) yor-lyíañ
• (pha-) swor-kyïafa dei sohoi <== sohoi (ho-) swor-kyïafa
• (pha) lyían-teyou dei xíañ <== phaxíañ (ho-) lyíán-teyou

From these examples, you can also see that any complete Genitive or Locative construction may be treated as a Root in its own right - which can then also serve as either Predicate or Argument.

pha- + Particle

The Definite Particle pha- can be prefixed to of the above Particles to obtain a Root. You may have noticed that the Root forms of the Pronominals were formed this way (pha-yac, pha-xíán, pha-meí, pha-magyi, pha-yañ, pha-lor, pha-dae, pha-feas, pha-kwoi, pha-kwoiaf):

• pha-seaf
• pha-tyigi
• pha-fír
• pha-kwo
• pha-yalo
• pha-bao
• pha-tou
• pha-qor
• pha-yir
• pha-tyear
• pha-sear
• pha-tyoi, pha-chou
• pha-fir
• pha-teyou
• pha-mieqs
• pha-míesq

• pha-wosa-kwae
• pha-hamor-kwae
• pha-sdáña-kwae
• pha-jeuqda-kwae
• pha-qhawsoi-kwae

et cetera

Active Particles

There are several Particles which can be used to modify the meanings of Roots to make them refer to various manners of activity or action:

• ïama- Approaching / arriving at a state
• sama- Departure from a state
• hi-, hieñ- Associated action or result
• fía- Multiple manifestations grouped as a single instance; Done totally, completely, to the fullest extent
• hío- Using

Examples:

• ïamaskyaá Starting to run, Coming into a state of running, etc.
• ïamapíoñ Turn into stone
• ïamakyïafa Coming to understand, know, etc.
• samaphoia, samphoia Becoming unhappy
• samasohoi Quitting being a student
• hiqhowa Read a book; write a boot, etc.
• hiskyaá Run, really running, etc.
• hiñama Eat a meal; Prepare a meal
• fíañama Banquet, huge meal; A group of meals; Meals (we had together, etc.)
• fíakyïafa Completely, thoroughly understand
• fía-hi-ñama Totally devour
• hío-pha-chaeq Using this/ that cutting implement
• ía híokyïafa: "I [do it by] using [my] understanding / knowledge."

Phrase-Final Root Forms

There are certain Roots which are used commonly in a nearly auxiliary function, and are often pushed to the end of a phrase. Whether their roles would or could be analyzed as displaced Predicates or, instead, as Particles is a source of debate. In any case, the phrase-final Root forms are used quite frequently and regularly. These forms never take a suffix, but may occassionally be used with certain prefixes.

Root	Phrase-final form	Meaning	Example
kyíañ	kyae	want. need	ía phoia kyae: "I want to be happy."
haán	hae	something finished, done, completed	ía phoia hae: "I was happy, I enjoyed, I achieved joy, etc."
fwaí	fwae	like	ía phoia fwae: "I like happiness, like to be joyful."
mïac	mae	let, allow, help, give	ía phoia mae: "I give joy, permit enjoyment, aid happiness, cause joy. etc."
seia	sae	no, not	ía phoia sae: "I did not experience joy, am not happy."
jweya	jwae	"yes, certainly"	ía phoia jwae: "I am definitely happy!"

Conjunctions

Root Level

hya	And; And / Or (Inclusive 'Or')
sái	Exclusive 'or'; Negative 'Or' ("nor")
xwío	Together with (inclusive emphasis)
xwoi	Along with (exclusive emphasis)

• fwoia síaha hya wúha: "I see deer and/or dogs. (wúha)"
• fwoia síáha sái wúha: "I see either a deer or a dog."
• es síaha sái wúha: "It's neither a deer nor a dog."
• fwoia síaha xwío wúha: "I see a deer and dog together.
• fwoia síaha xwoi wúha: "I see a deer as well as a dog."

Phrasals: h' (hei) and dañ

The phrasal Conjunctions h' and dañ are extremely important in creating lengthier and more complex sentences in draga. They are used to join one phrase to another.

h' has the meaning of "In addition, and also, etc." and continues to add information to the idea expressed in the previous phrase:

• eia ca'wo yorxamalyañ, h' ïamasohoi:
• fwoia qhowa háñsohoidei tiñtátyear, h' warñama corsíaha:
• ía ïamapa'o, h' ïamaca'wo, h' ïamamadr, h' ïamaphaex, h' ïamaxoq, h' ïamapa'o:

dañ has the meaning of "With regards to, about, concerning, etc.":

• ía phoia dañ kyïafamagyi:
• fwoia tañañ táyañsohui dañ qhowa hoteiaqxíañ:

Speech Act Particles

Any draqa sentence begins with a Speech Act Particle (SAP), often used in conjunction with a Qualifier. The SAPs fall into three types: Evidentials, Mood Indicators, and Speech Act Indicators. More than one SAP can also be used sometimes at the beginning of a sentence. A complete sentence often may consist of nothing but the Speech Act Particle:

Evidentials

hoia

1st Person Objective, i.e. "I experienced it (external perception)"

fwoia

1st Person Visual. i.e. "I witnessed it"

awo

1st Person Auditory, i.e. "It sounds to me like"

ía

1st Person Subjective, i.e. "I experienced it (internal perception)"

skyea-tae

1st Person Psionic i.e. "I know it from a dream, vision, intuition, etc."

ámiña

,i.e. "I heard from someone who said s/he experienced it"

ámiñ-tae

i.e. "I heard from someone who said s/he witnessed it"

(a') phx-a

,i.e. "I heard from someone unreliable who said s/he experienced it"

phx.a-tae

,i.e. "I heard from someone unreliable who said s/he witnessed it"

Mood Indicators

mpaha

Opiniative (Probable) Mood

sempa

Opiniative (Negative Probability) Mood

xweiña

Expectant Mood

qhwui-a

1st Person Imperative Mood

fo

Irrealis Mood

(a)skyea

Dreaming (Psionic) Mood

Speech Act Indicators

eia

Narrative Speech Act

a

Subjective (Non-Realis) Speech Act

xe'a

Interrogative Speech Act

mú

2nd Person Interrogative Speech Act

sei, es

Negative Statement or Negative Imperative Speech Act

Qualifiers

ido-

Indicates the Evidential source

añ-

Topicalizing Particle

Phrase Level Conjunctions

dañ	"About, Regarding, With respect to, Concerning..."
ou	"And correspondingly / correlatedly / provoking..."
pái	"Intentionally provoking..."
la.qs.a	"Unintentionally provoking..."
z'ou	"And of increasing correlation... "
dasi	"In response to...", "Motivated by... "
dada	"Intending (that)...", "In order to..."
he'ae	"And surprisingly..."
chúmae	"And unsurprisingly..."
kwmaskwa, msqa	"And then / simultaneously / simulfactively..."
m.yamwa	"Otherwise... "
saáñ	"Rather / Instead / But not... "
ñáwa	"However..."
ñúwi	"Although / Despite..."
m.miema	"Except... "
haf	"In comparison to... "

Numbers

The draga number system is base-6. During the material height of the draga civilization, a base-30 system was devised and used for hundreds of years alongside the original base-6, and some vestiges can still be found, especially in the writing system and the calendar.

	base-6	base-10		base-6	base-10
ifa	01 * pinky	1	íwa ñaxwae	24	16
aña	02 * add ring	2	amwa ñaxwae	25	17
dows	03 * add middle	3	doxwae	30	18
íwa	04 * add pointer	4	íxwae	40	24
amwa	05 * add thumb	5	maxwae	50	30
ihoa	10 * close fist	6	walo	1,00	36
hyawo	11	7	ifa walo	1,01	37
ofwo	12	8	ihoa walo	1,10	42
bií	13	9	walo aña	2,00	72
qhowei	14	10	walo dows	3,00	108
amwae	15	11	walo íwa	4,00	144
ñaxwae	20	12	walo amwa	5,00	180
ifa ñaxwae	21	13	walo ihoa	10,00	216
aña ñaxwae	22	14	wegwalo	1,00,00	1,296
dows ñaxwae	23	15	'

Although the numbers are essentially base 6, you will notice that the counting numbers run from 1-12 (1-20, base 6), and once the count has arrived past 36 (100 base 6) - it continues to use the 1 -12 count, and it uses groupings of 36's rather than 6's:

• ifa walo (37), aña walo (38), dows walo (39), íwa walo (40), amwa walo (41), ihoa walo (42), ...
• hyawo walo (43), ofwo walo (44), bií walo (45), qhowei walo (46), amwae walo (47), ñaxwae walo (48) ...
• ifa ñaxwalo (=ñaxwae walo) (49) , ..., *amwamaxwalo (=amwamaxwae walo) (71) , walo aña (72)

• note: mamaxwalo is generally preferred to amwamaxwalo

Numbers with Roots

Examples:

• síaha-ifa One deer
• sohoi-ifa ñaxwalo Forty-nine (36+12+1) students
• qhowa-walo aña Seventy-rwo (2*36) books
• phoia-bií Nine joys, joyous occasions, etc.

Ordinals

Ordinals are formed with a Locative construction, so that "first" is literally "at one", "fourth" is literally "at four", etc.:

• síaha (ho-) yor-ifa - First deer
• síaha (ho-) ifa-tyear - First deer
• yor-ifa dei síaha - ' 'First deer
• ifa-tyear dei síaha ' - ' First deer

Basic numeric sentences

• fwoia bií dañ síaha: I see nine deer.
• a walo wui: There are thirty-six."
• ía íwa dañ phoia: I was pleased on (those) four occaions, I have four pleasures, etc.

ala is a Root meaning "iterations, repitions, counts, occurrences, times, etc":

• eia f'ala dañ síaha: There was (exactly) one deer."
• ía pha-ala íwa dañ phoia: I was pleased on those four occassions.

añ dañ phïacaxou-papeloxoi ("The Tower of Babel")

a phawoi peí -

eia fe'alatew dañ pïokyíax hosacatío dirxeñamesis:

eia cada xr'kyïeñewapaá, hei hyañdoafbaí hohamorxiñdarxoi, h' ïamaphalyíañña:

eia pïotyigi, baí - "qhwúi! a xígwo, hei híoxaeq dañ phawoi, hei híopíoñ jwae, hei lofoña war cwae":

eia pïotyigi, baí - "qhwúi! a pehwo, hei xígwo dañ phïacalyañ xwoi phïaca ho-úaloxou":

h'baí - "ïamahíesda-skwaer dañ xeñaweiaqs: h'xweiña, fo phawoisieñ ou yamargya-de'tew ïamaxpíw-wix":

eia fwíatyoi YaHWaHoxoi, dada ïamakyïafadae dañ xígwo-phahaña hañ phïacalyañ hya phïaca-xou:

eia pïo YaHWaHoxoi, baí- "qoei! a-woi dañ haña":

h'baí - "añfe'alatew fwoia dañ phakyïeñewa: h' añfe'alatew fwoia dañ hyírxñ:

fwoia añpehwo hokwihayom, ou phyáoqo sei jïiwa dañ híewaphajorgaña":

baí - "fo yorjeuqdeixíañ, hei phapïoña xqemi, dada kyïafasieñ hañpïotyigi":

eia woi YaHWaHoxoi, pái fíaxpíwña yamargya-de'tew,

he'eia sehaáñ xr'phïacalyañ hopapoloxoi-xñaq, dasi ie yormieqspa xqemi-YaHWaHoxui dirhyírxñ,

ou mieqspachou ïamafíaxpíw xr'hañapa dei yarmargya-de'tew:

Links

• Sample of Written draqa | Sample 2
• draga Lexicon