Draga

This wiki provides an overview of the draqa (or, "draga", pron. '/t◌̪ɚ. æ. ɦæ/' ) language, and some of its lexical items. There won't be many examples provided here, however. For more information on the draga language or culture, feel free to visit the website:

• draqa homepage
• The Tower of Babel in draga
• Sample of Written draqa | Sample 2

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.

The history of 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 (~13,500 B.C.) Within 1000 years of that cataclysm, Qhrya was completely sacked, leaving fewer than 2000 to wander for close to 200 years. Finding no respite, apparently the nation astrally projected themselves en mass into a parallel reality, where they have continued to thrive. The prophecies say that eventually the nation will reincarnate into this world in the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd centuries, at first scattered across the continents but eventually re-unified into a small nation again.

draqa Homepage

Phonology

Consonants

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

Vowels

i

ʊ

ʷɔˑ

ə(ʌ)

ɚ

æ

Orthography

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.

Consonants

p	- /pʼ/, or /p/
t	- /tʰ/
t'	- /tʼ/
ty	- /ʈ/
c	- /cʼ/, or /c/
q	- /q/
kw	- /kʷ/
ky	- /kʲ/
ph	- /pʰ/
ch	- /cʰ/
qh	- /qʰ/
f	- /f/; /ʰɸ/ before 'w': fw /ʰɸw/
s	- /s/
m	- /m/
ñ	- /ɲ/; /n◌̪/ before 'd': ñd /n◌̪ð/
w	- /w/; /ʘ/ following initial syllabic 'm': mw /mʘ/
l	- /l/
y	- /j/
d	- /t◌̪/ initially, /d◌̪/ medially, /ð/ after 'ñ': ñd /n◌̪ð/
j	- /tz/
x	- /ʃ/
h	- /ʜ/, /x/ before 'l' or 'w', /ç/ before 'y'
g	- /ɦ/
b	- /ɓ/
z	- /ǃ/
p"	- /ʙ̥/ (voiceless bilabial trill)
t"	- /r̥/ (voiceless alveolar trill)
q"	- /ʀ̥/ (voiceless post-velar trill)
'	- /ʔ/

Vowels

i	/i/
í	/i↘/
ií	/i↗/
a	/æ/
á	/æ↘/
aá	/æ↗/
o	/ʊ/
ú	/ʊ↘/
uú	/ʊ↗/
e	/ə/ or /ʌ/
ou	/ʷɔˑ/
r	/ɚ/

Rhoticization:

The vowels 'a,i,o' can also be found rhoticized: ar, ár, aár, ir, ír, iír, or

ar	/æʳ/
ár	/æʳ↘/
aár	/æʳ↗/
ir	/iʳ/
ír	/iʳ↘/
iír	/iʳ↗/
or	/ʊʳ/

Combinations:

ea, eu, ae are spelled irregularly, to contrast with ía, iá, ío, iú, ái and aí.

ea	/ iæ/
eu	/iʊː/
ae	/æeˑ/
aer	/æeʳː/

Other dipthongs include:

ie /iə/		íe /i↘ə/
ei /əiˑ/ or /ʌiˑ/		ui /ʊi/
úi /ʊ↘i/		uí /ʊ↗i/
ái /æ↘i/		aí / æ↗i/
ía /i↘æ/		iá /i↗æ/
ío /i↘ɔˑ/		iú /i↗ʊ/

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)

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

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

Sentence Structure

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. A complete sentence often may consist of nothing but a Speech Act Particle:

Evidentials

huia	1st Person Objective, i.e. "I experienced it (external perception)"
fwuia	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
xweña	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
-magyi	Indicates a 2nd Person Referent

Syntax

draga makes no noun-verb distinction, so its syntactical pattern cannot be accurately described in terms of VSO, VOS, etc. The syntactical pattern of draga is best described as a linkage of Predicate - (Relationship Particle) - Argument constructions, which are themselves linked by meta-Relationship Particles. A Predicate will necessarily be present in any construction. The Argument modifies the idea established by a Predicate, and is optional but usual. The Relator (relationship particle) explicates the relationship between the Predicate and its Argument, and is also optional in many cases. Often, the relationship may be implied from context. The relationship particles themselves fall into two categories: Genitives and Conjunctions.

Examples: (P=Predicate, R=Relator, A=Argument, RR=meta-Relator)

fwuia	phyala
[EVID:1pVis]	"grass" (P)

• "I see (the) grass", "I see it is grass", etc.

fwuia	siha
[EVID:1pVis]	"green" (P)

• "I see (the) green", "I see it is green", etc.

fwuia	siha	cr-	phyala
[EVID:1pVis]	"green" (P)	GEN:"of" (R)	"grass" (A)

• "I see the green (of the) grass", "I see the grass is green"

fwuia	siha	phyala
[EVID:1pVis]	"green" (P)	"grass" (A)

• "I see the green (of the) grass", "I see the grass is green"

fwuia	phyala	siha
[EVID:1pVis]	"grass" (P)	"green" (A)

• "I see green grass"

fwuia	siha	dañ	phyala
[EVID:1pVis]	"green" (P)	[CONJ:"with respect to"](R)	"grass" (A)

• "I see the grass is green", i.e. "It is green, with respect to the grass"

ía	phyala-tiar
[EVID:1pSubj]	"grass"+[Loc] (P)

• "I am at/on (the) grass"

a	phyala-tiar	cr-	woha
[SA:NonObj]	"grass"+[Loc] (P)	[GEN:"of"] (R)	"dog" (A)

• "(The/a) dog (is) in the grass",

a	woha	hei	phyala-tiar
[SA:NonObj]	"dog" (P)	[CONJ:"And"] (RR)	"grass"+[Loc] (A:P)

• "(The/a) dog is in the grass", i.e. "It's a dog, and (it's) in the grass"

ía	woha	phyala-tiar	hei	pogi-weiaqs
[EVID:1pSubj]	"dog"	"grass"+[Loc] (P)	[CONJ:"And"] (RR)	"playing"+1pIncl (A:P)

• "I played with dog on the grass"

ía	woha	phyala-tiar	hei	kyío-mei
[EVID:1pSubj]	"dog"	"grass"+[Loc] (P)	[CONJ:"And"] (RR)	"giving"+3p (A:P)

• "The dog in the grass gave it (something) to me"

ía	woha	phyala-tiar	hei	kyío	cr-	laqa
[EVID:1pSubj]	"dog"	"grass"+[Loc] (P)	[CONJ:"And"] (RR)	"giving" (A:P)	[GEN:"of"] (A:R)	"stick" (A:A)

• "The dog in the grass gave me a stick"
• "I gave a stick to the dog in the grass"

ía	woha	phyala-tiar	hei	laqa	kyío-c
[EVID:1pSubj]	"dog"	"grass"+[Loc] (P)	[CONJ:"And"] (RR)	"stick" (P)	"giving"+1pExcl (A)

• "I gave a stick to the dog in the grass"

The above translations are not quite exact - as you can see from the inter-linears, but it is important to realize that translation between draga and English is not at all simple or a 1-to-1 affair. In fact, however, that indeed was part of the point in constructing this language!

Meta-Relators (Conjunctive Particles)

As discussed above, there are two types Relator particles, Genitive and Conjunctive. A list of Genitive particles can be found in the Root Morphology section below. Some of the Conjuctive Particles include:

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... "

Root Morphology

draga Roots fall into a single category, i.e. there is no noun-verb distinction. Neither are there adjectives nor adverbs. All morphological functions are available for modification of any Root. Aspectual concepts actually appear as individual Roots in draga. The primary modifications of draga Roots are locative (position / direction) and genitive (relationship), but of course there are many others:

Pronominal

-xeañ / -(y)ac	1st Person Exclusive
-weax / -weiaqs	1st Person Inclusive
-mei / -(y)añ	*Referent (2nd or 3rd Person)
-lor	3rd Person
-feas	4th Person (Obviate)

• The Referent is the "person" under discussion, or the "main character", per se. There is no specific Pronominal form for 2p direct address - draga goes to great lengths to avoid this. The Referent is a 3rd person form, whose reference can be "switched" to indicate a 2nd person, i.e. "S/he (which is you)." The referent switches include: mú, -magyi and añmagyi

Locative

Unbound	Semi-bound	Fully Bound
ie			at, in, on, to, toward, from
		-yir	toward
	yr-	-tiar	at, in, on
	wíar-	-wir	successfully to
	síar-	-swor	unsuccessfully toward
	jor-	-chou	(originating) from
		-fir	in the general direction of
		-teyou	in a general direction away from

1. Most commonly, it is the Bound form that is used.
2. The Semi-bound particles (wíar, síar, jor) usually add emphasis when used to modify a Root. Pronoun-like Roots, however, tend to prefer the semi-bound particles - and the interrogative pronominal 'wañ' ("where?") never takes a bound locative. The semi-bound Locatives are also used to modify whole clauses.
3. Locatives yr and -tiar "at,in" are fairly interchangeable, but in this case it is the Bound form -tiar that is also used for emphasis, rather than the semi-bound particle. Ordinal numbers (7.1) are typically formed with the semi-bound yr, e.g. 'yr-yifa' = "at-1" (i.e. "first").
4. The unbound Locative 'ie' is a very casual particle that basically conveys the general idea of location or direction. It can also be used in combination with the other locatives for emphasis, specification or re-inforcement: e.g.' ie lyaña-yir = lyaña-yir || ie lyaña-teyou = lyaña-teyou || ie lyaña-tiar = lyaña-tiar = ie yr-lyaña .
5. ie can also mean "from", in context. For example: mú jor-wañ kwae: ("Where are you coming from?") → (ía) ie lyaña ("From home").

Compound Locatives

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

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

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

The combined forms appear as prefixes:

fwíada-	jeuqda-	daeada-	qhowda-	qhawda-	duiada-
fwíaha-	jeuqha-	daeaha-	qhowha-	qhawha-	duiaha-
fwíasui-	jeuqsui-	daeasui-	qhowsui-	qhawsui-	duiasui-

Genitive

cr-	Of (generic)
hañ-	Associated with, Correlated with, Identified with
em-	Portion, part of
ho-, húa-	Attributed with, Filled with
mes-	Composed of
war-	Functioning as, In the role of

Articles

Negative

sei, sei-

Negative Article

Definite

fae-	Plural Definite Article
pha-	Strong (Direct) Definite Article
-pa	Weak (Iconic) Definite Article

Indefinite

híewa-	Indefinite Article
yeya-	Generic Article

Demonstrative

-síaf	Reflexive
-tyigi	Reciprocal
-fíar	Immediate
-qho	Proximal
-yelo	Peri-Proximal
-bawo	Distal
-t'ou	Absent

Miscellaneous

Prefixes:

yíama-	Approaching / arriving at a state
sama-	Departure from a state
hi-, hiem-	Associated action or result
yñ-	Individual instance or part of normally grouped items
fía-	Multiple manifestations grouped as a single instance; Done totally, completely, to the fullest extent
heu-	Using
fi-	Upper

Suffixes:

-meu	Strongly postive experience
-tui	Strongly visceral experience
-phíw	Strongly negative experience
-far	Similarity
-sieñ	Without, Lacking
-kwae	One, Thing
-lae	Liquid
-jw'áo	Done intentionally
-se'ago	Done un-intentionally
-xui	Name Indicator
-hui	One associated with, Do-er of, sim. '-er'
-xa	Pleasure
-lyañ	Home, Place
-ñou	Lower

Classification:

aqa-	person: human, animal, spirit, etc.
phoña-	plant
dowa-	location, situation
hyayou-	action, process, occurrence, state
hío-	Tool
sbor-	spatial area; integral portion, body part
tfuio- (tfoyo-)	flat discrete object
xwalo-	mass object
peda-	long, narrow object
xigi-	round object
hyoci-	open sided structure
quiyo-	box-shaped object
kwú-	type, class; ethnic group
sakyií-	flying thing
o'ya-	container, ceramic, dish
phesqa-	textile, clothing
tíeqma-	machine

Special Roots

There are many Roots in draga whose meanings are often grammaticized in other languages. These include Roots that are Pronomial, Aspectual, that indicate Number, Intensity, Frequency, Consistency and even words with meanings like 1p acting on 2p ("I do to you"), 3p acting on 1p ("S/he does to me"), etc.

Pronominal

phaxeañ	1st person exclusive
phaweiqs	1st person inclusive
phamei	Referrent
phafías	Obviate
phawui	Demonstrative
híewui	Indefinite
wañ	Interrogative

Kinship / Relationship

More commonly than Pronominal Roots, especially when talking in the Second person, it is preferable and considered much more sociable to use kinship or other personal-relationship terms:

pea	Mother, Mama
peaya	Mother, Mother's sibling
fi-pea	Mother's younger sibling
pea-ñou	Mother's older sibling
fía-fi-pi	Mother's youngest sibling
fía-pi-ñou	Mother's oldest sibling
mae	Grandma
maya	Grandmother, Grandmother's sibling
fi-mae	Grandmother's younger sibling
mae-ño	Grandmother's older sibling
fía-fimae	Grandmother's youngest sibling
fía-mae-ñou	Grandmother's oldest sibling
wica	Younger sibling
wiwica	Youngest sibling
píwi	Older sibling
pipíwi	Oldest sibling
tyíowa	Cousin
fityíowa	Younger cousin
tyíowa-ñou	Older cousin
twíi	Offspring, Sibling's offspring
------------
figwi	Primary partner
pwouxi	"Soul" friend or partner
swae	Sexual friend or partner
xaf	Survival, domestic friend or partner
sehwiñ	Mother's partner
sepaxi	Mother's romantic / sexual partner at the time of pregnancy
se'alo	Mother's friend
------------
hiñda	Acquaintance
hiña	Friendly Acquaintance
hui	Friend
haxa	Very close friend
fago	Stranger
xamti	Suitor, Person of mutual interest
twís	Classmate, Fellow, Group member
q"aña	Friendly client or customer
q"om	Regular client or customer
t'am	Business partner; Co-worker
chakyi	Rival
jauú	Adversary

Interpersonal Action

xweiañ, xweiam	1p → 2p	"I do it to you", "What I did to you"
xweiar	1p → 3p	"I do it to her/him", "What I did to her/him"
xweiaf, xweias	1p → 4p	"I do it to the other one", "What I did to the other one"
mweiax	2p → 1p	"You do it to me", "What you did to me"
mweiar	2p → 3p	"You do it to her/him", "What you did to her/him"
mweiaf	1p → 4p	"You do it to the other one", "What you did to the other one"
lweiax	3p → 1p	"S/he does it to me", "What s/he did to me"
lweiañ, lweiam	3p → 2p	"S/he does it to you", "What s/he did to you"
lweiaf	1p → 3p	"S/he does it to the other one", "What s/he did to the other one"
feiax	4p → 1p	"The other one does it to me", "What the other one did to me"
feiañ, feiam	4p → 2p	"The other one does it to you", "What the other one did to you"
feiar	4p → 3p	"The other one does it to her/him", "What the other one did to her/him"

Aspectual

yom	Progressive	"Right now", "Doing it right now"
hae	Perfective	"[Something that] Has/had/will have been done or completed"
seu	Discontinuous	"Used to do / was doing, but no longer"
pyío	Continuous	"Still doing, Keep on doing"
kyila	Habitual	"Done regularly", "Habit"
------------
kwiha		"Not yet", "Something not yet happened", before
kyaha		"Already", "Something already completed", after
yom-kwiha		"About to begin"
kwiha-yom		"Just starting"
yom-kyaha		"Finishing up"
kyaha-yom		"Just finished"
------------
sya'a		"A short time"
íoyo		"A long time"
trwa		"Ending abruptly, suddenly"
wíwa		"Ending gradually"
sya'atr		"Short and suddenly ending"
sya'awíw		"Short and gradually ending"
íotr		"Lengthy and suddenly endling"
euwíw		"Lengthy and gradually ending"

Others

Intensity

úalo , úgalo, lawor	Extreme intensity, "Very, very"
skwui	High intensity,"Very"
skwaer	Moderate intensity, "Moderately"
skwala	Mild intensity, "Mildly"
skwemya	Low intensity, "Very slightly"
fewa / kyeu	Overly-intense, Too (much)
sasa	Under-intense, Too little
phweilo	Good, "right" intensity or level
áwei(kya)	More, More intense
weiwa(kya), wiwi	Less, Less intense
ajíawa	Of varying/ modulating/ oscillating intensity

Number

fía-fikwo	All, every, each
fikwo	Most
fíañ	Many
kyíeca	Some
tío	A few
síama	Very few
síama-fiq	None
fewei	Too many
míewei	Too few
phweawei	Good or "right" number
ajíawei	Of varying/ modulating/ oscillating degrees of number
áwei	More
wiwi	Fewer, Less
zewetya	Usual, Quite Often
sbaelo	Half the time, Somewhat often or common
sfíoña, safíoñ	Infrequent, Unlikely
sfeudiñ	Rare, Highly unusual / unlikely

Constistency

wáowo	Extremely consistent
íwo	Highly consistent
pomwo	Moderately consistent
eswo	Mildly inconsistent
p"ckya	Highly inconsistent
fewo	Overly-consistent
síawo	Under-consistent
áweiwo	More consistent
weiwo	Less consistent
phweawawo	Good, or "right" consistency, About the same consistency as
ajíawo	Of varying/ modulating/ oscillating consistency

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