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.

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 (~13,500 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 6 basic vowels in the draga language: i /i/, a /æ/, e /əˑ/, ou /ʷɔˑ/, o /ʊ/, r /ɚˑ/. Draga is a pitch-accented language, the vowels i, a, and o being found either median- or high-pitched. The acute accent is used to represent a high (and/or falling) tone: í, á, ú (rather than ó). The tone of the vowel 'ou' is always low. The vowels 'e' and 'r' are always stressed, but are not pitch-accented. The vowels 'ou', 'e', and 'r' are typically semi-long in duration. The symbol 'r' following another vowel indicates Rhoticization.

i	[i]	í	[i↘]	ií	[i↗]
a	[æ]	á	[æ↘]	aá	[æ↗]
o	[ʊ]	ú	[ʊ↘]	uú	[ʊ↗]
e	[ʌ] or [ə]
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 [ʌiˑ] or [əiˑ]		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)

(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.

Additional Notes: 1. Syllabicized (C2) consonants are fully realized, and do not tend to become consonant clusters: sqa is pronounced [s. qæ], ewjo is pronounced [əˑw. tzʊ]. (The primary exception is mw in "lazy" speech: [mʘʷ]) Like the vowels i/í, a/á, and o/ú, they generally receive an even stress. 2. Unaccented (median-pitched) vowels which follow a rising or falling contour, are pronounced at the final pitch of the contour. e.g. píawañ-ciñ all vowels after í are median-pitched, fbaíyac the a after the í is high-pitched. 3. The Rhoticized vowels tend to be pronounced at a slightly lower pitch than other unaccented vowels. 4. The vowel ou is always low-pitched, and resets the median pitch to the speaker's baseline even when following a pitch contour.

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 theoretically available for modification of any Root. Aspectual concepts actually appear as individual Roots in draga (but are also often expressed using locative constructions). The primary modifications of draga Roots are locative (position / direction) and genitive (relationship), but of course there are many others:

Pronominal

Root form	Genitive suffix	Person
phaxeañ / phayac	-xeañ / -(y)ac	1st Person Exclusive
phaweax / phaweiaqs	-weax / -weiaqs	1st Person Inclusive
phamagyi	-magyi	2nd Person
phamui / phayañ	-mei / -(y)añ	*Referent (2nd or 3rd Person)
phalor	-lor	3rd Person Animate/ Abstract
phakwui	-kwui	3rd Person Inanimate
phafeas	-feas	4th Person (Obviate) Animate/ Abstract
phakwuifes	-kwuifes	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.

Examples: (fbaí "table", skyá "running", phuia "joy", siha "green")

• fbaí-xeañ "My table"
• skyá-weiaqs "Our running", "We run/ran"
• phuia-lor "His/her joy", "S/he is happy"
• siha-yañ "It's green-ness", "It is green", "Her/your green (-ness) (-ing) (thing)", etc.

N.B. fbaí literally refers to any surface, upon which (things) may rest.

Locative

Unbound	Semi-bound	Fully Bound
ie		-qor	at, in, on, to, toward, from
	yr-	-yir	toward
	fwor-, yr-	-dae	at, in, on
	hyañ-	-pyir	successfully to
	sor-	-sear	unsuccessfully toward
	jwor-	-tyui, -chou	(originating) from
		-fir	in the general direction of
		-teyou	in a general direction away from

Examples: (lyaña "home", kyíafa "understanding", phuia "joy")

• lyaña-yir (lyañ-yir) "Toward home", "Going home"
• kyíafa-sear "Try unsuccessfully to understand"
• phuia-tyui "Originating from (a place of ) joy," e.g. within one'sself, etc.

Notes:

1. Most commonly, it is the Bound form that is used.
2. The Semi-bound particles (fwor, sor, jwor) 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. 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-dae = lyaña-dae = ie yr-lyaña .
5. ie can also mean "from", in context. For example: mú jwor-wañ: ("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-

Examples: (fbaí "surface, table")

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

Genitive

(cr-), xr-, x-	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

• Note: draga constructions are head-inital, i.e. X cr-Y would mean "X of Y". There is a finalizing particle, 'dei' , which allows for the transformation of the structure: cr-Y dei X. Incidentally, the (archaic) formal word is cr-, but it is almost always pronounced xr- in modern parlance, and generally written x' . (Partially owing to the fact that the draga logograph for the particle xr- happens to look just like an x.)

Examples: (skyá "running", seahañ "deer", hlui "light", aqa "person, i.e. a focal perspective", fañta "wall", píoñ "stone", )

• skyá x'seahañ - "Deer's running"
• seahañ ho-skyá - "Deer which is running"
• hlui hañ-aqa - "Light-Body", "light which is also or correlates to (the) person"
• fañta mes-píoñ - "Wall made of stone"

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

The usage of the definite and indefinite articles is much different than that of Indo-European languages:

• The plural article is not used every time more than one is involved. Its use places emphasis on the fact that there are more than one, and usually indicates that in fact several, many or a group are under discussion. It usually does not refer to just two or three.

• The strong article indicates not only a specific instantiation, but also may point to the specific concept. So, given seahañ 'deer' - the word pha-seahañ can mean "That (those) deer" specifically under discussion, but it can also mean "A deer", e.g. "It is a deer" or "There's a deer"

• The weak definite article 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.

• The indefinite article generally translates to "Any", "Some" or "Whatever". Its meaning is specifically indefinite. It is never used to merely indicate singulars or hypothetical instances.

• The generic article means "In general". Given seahañ "deer", the word yeya-seahañ means "Deer in general".

Demonstrative

síaf-	-seaf	Reflexive
-	-tyigi	Reciprocal
fr-	-fir	Immediate
qhwo-	-kwo	Proximal
yelo-		Peri-Proximal
báwo-		Distal
t'ou-	-tou	Absent

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

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

Miscellaneous

Prefixes:

yíama-	Approaching / arriving at a state
sama-	Departure from a state
hi-, hieñ-	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, (-se'ao)	Done un-intentionally
-xui	Name Indicator
-hui	One associated with, Do-er of, sim. '-er'
-xa	Pleasure
-lyañ	Home, Place
-ñou	Lower
-kyeax	System
-jir	Capability, Ability
-ci	Principalia, Secret, Mystery, Foundation, Theory

Classification:

aqa-	person: human, animal, spirit, etc.
phoña-	plant
dowa-	location, situation
hayou-	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

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. 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

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
m, -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. It might be best described as head-initial, with a free word order.

• The syntactical pattern can also be described (perhaps more confusingly) 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. A Predicate may also be distributed over multiple Arguments. 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.

• Typical roles of "Agent", "Patient", "Subject", "Object", et cetera, are not grammatically marked in draga. These roles are not necessarily important in the "whole-picture"-view of the culturally draga perspective, especially since they are often apparent from context. The concepts however, can be very clearly expressed by use of locative constructions, or (even more frequently) conjunctive particles. Single-word clauses are not at all unusual in draga, since any given Root is implicitly both active and substantive.

So... for years I've tried to describe draga sentence structure in "technical" or "scientific"-type terminology, but it has been so unintuitive with regards to how the language is actually used to translate thoughts into sounds. Very little gets done this way. draga really does have quite a simple structure, probably better described in terms of its regular sentence patterns:

ía ... / mú ... This is a very basic, common and useful sentence pattern. Learn a few vocabulary words and you can begin very rudimentary draga conversation. The Speech Act Particle (SAP) ía means I experience(d) it internally or subjectively. The SAP mú is used to ask a question where you (2nd person) are the subject. Thus:

• ía sofa: I am content.
• mú phuia: Are you happy?
• mú fwae: Do you like it?
• mú yrlyaña: Are you (going) toward home?
• ía lyañadae: I am at home.
• mú skyá: Are you running? Do you run?
• ía haña: I am (a) human/person -or- I experience (that it was) a person/human. So, for further clarification:
• ía haña-tui: I experience a person.
• ía yíam-haña: I [experience(d)] becoming-a-human. i.e. I am human. But this more likely means "I am becoming a human":
• ía yíamhaña hae: I becoming-a-human have-done-it(perfective). Which fully clarifies "I am (a) human" .

The affixes -tui and yíama- are described above in Root Morphology. The word hae belongs to a class of words that are phrase-final forms of specific roots. These forms always appear only at the end of a phrase, and cannot be modified by prefix or suffix. hae is the phrase final form of haáñ which means "Something that has (already) been done or completed":

• mú haáñ: / mú hae: Have you done it (yet)? Are you done?

A couple other useful phrase finals include kyae (kyeañ) Need or want, and sae (sei) No, not

• mú sofa kyae: Do / don't you need contentment?
• ía sae: Not me. It wasn't me. It's not mine. etc.
• ía sei kyeañ: / ía kyeañ sae: I don't want/need it.

A common shortened form of ía sei... is íase:

• íase yrlyaña kyae: I don't want to go home.

mú wañ ... ( dañ ... )

The word wañ is the interrogative pronominal root. It means Who? What? Which? etc.. It is used in conjunction with the interrogative SAP's mú and xe'a :

• mú wañ: What's up with you? How are you? What are you doing? Etc. A short colloquialism for this common sentence is múañ:
• mú lyaña wan: / mú wañ lyaña: Which home is yours?
• mú míeqs wañ: / mú wañ míeqs: Where are you? (míeqs means Place, location)
• mú fwae wañ: / mú wañ fwae: What do you like?
• mú haña wañ ielyaña / mú wañ haña ielyaña: What person/people are at your home.

The word dañ is a Conjunctive particle meaning About, Concerning, With regards to, etc.. It is the most commonly used and productive conjunctive particle in draga usage:

• mú wañ dañ tyouñ: What are you thinking? (tyoun means Immediate, conscious thoughts)
• mú míeqs wañ dañ kwou: Where are you going? (kwou means Movement in a direction)

fwuia ...

This is another very important basic sentence pattern. The word fwuia indicates that I (1st Person) personally witness this with my own eyes. It specifically refers to direct visual evidence without inference:

• fwuia: I see. I witness it. etc.
• fwuia hae: I saw what happened.
• fwuia jwae: I see that it is indeed the case. The word jwae is the phrase-final form of jweia "Yes, Affirmative"
• fwuia siha x'phyala: (I see) the grass is green, i.e. siha Green, x'phyala Of grass
• fwuia skyá x'seahañ: (I see) the deer run, i.e. skyá Running, x'seahañ Of deer
• fwuia lyañayir x'haña: (I see) a person going home,i.e. lyañayir (Going) toward home, x'haña Of (a) person
• fwuia lyañayir x'phayañ: (I see) her/him going home.

The word phayañ illustrates how pronominal roots are formed, from the definite article + genitive suffix. The list being: phaxeañ / phayac, phaweiaqs, phamui / phayañ, phamagyi, phalor, phakwui, phafeas, phakwuifes. These have already been listed above in Root Morphology.

a ... dañ ... The SAP a indicates an indeterminate truth or evidence value of the information that follows. The following pattern can be used with most any SAP. What is important here is the role of dañ, which as mentioned above is the most productive conjunctive particle in draga, and means About, concerning, with regards to, etc.

• ía phui dañ kyíafa: I am happy to understand. (phui is a variation of phuia Joy, kyíafa means Recognize, realise, understand, "know", etc.)
• a phuiamei dañ kyíafa: S/he is happy to understand.
• a phuiamei dañ kyíafaxeañ: S/he is happy that I understand.
• a píomei dañ tyouñ: He talks (pío) about what he is thinking.
• a phaxeañ píomei dañ tyouñ: He talks (to) me about what he is thinking.
• a kyíomei phaxeañ dañ lagyi: He gives (kyío) me a/the ring (lagyi).
• a phaxeañ kyíomei dañ lagyi: He give me the ring.
• a kyíomei lagyi dañ phaxeañ: To me, he gives a ring.
• íase fwae dañ lyeaq: I don't like that smell (lyeaq).

a... h' ...

fo ... ( a ... )

xe'a wañ ... ( dañ ... )

xe'a ... ( dao ... )

a ...

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 above. 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... "

Other Conjunctions

kyá	And; And / Or (Inclusive 'Or')
s.ña	Exclusive 'or'; Negative 'Or' ("nor")
ñaña	Interrogative 'Or' (Inclusive)
ñeya	Interrogative 'Or' (Exclusive)
xweu	Together with (inclusive emphasis)
xwui	Along with (exclusive emphasis)

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.

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, paí	Mother, Mama
paya	Mother, Mother's sibling
fi-pea, fipaí	Mother's younger sibling
pea-ñou, paí-ño	Mother's older sibling
fía-fi-paí	Mother's youngest sibling
fía-paí-ño	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
tíowa	Cousin
fitíowa	Younger cousin
tíowa-ñou	Older cousin
twí	Offspring, Sibling's offspring
------------
figwi	Primary partner
pwouxi	"Soul" friend or partner
swae	Lover, 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
	Temporary immediate friend
fago	Stranger
xamtií	Suitor, Person of mutual interest
twiís	Classmate, Fellow, Group member
q"aña	Friendly client or customer
q"om	Regular client or customer
t'aám	Business partner; Co-worker
chakyi	Rival
jáo	Adversary

Interpersonal Action

xweiam, xwemi	1p Excl. → 2p	"I do it to you", "What I did to you"
xweiar, xir	1p Excl. → 3p	"I do it to her/him", "What I did to her/him"
xweiaf	1p Excl. → 4p	"I do it to the other one", "What I did to the other one"
------------
phweiañ	1p Incl. → 3p	"We do it to her/him", "What we did to them"
phweiaf	1p Incl. → 4p	"You do it to the other one", "What we did to the other one"
------------
mweiax, mwexi	2p → 1p	"You do it to me/us", "What you did to me/us"
mweiar, mir	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, lwix	3p → 1p	"S/he does it to me/us", "What s/he did to me/us"
lweiañ, lwim	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/us", "What the other one did to me/us"
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"
íowiw		"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
phwíawo	Good, or "right" consistency, About the same consistency as
ajíawo	Of varying/ modulating/ oscillating consistency

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
yifa	01 * pinky	1	ñe-xwae waer (ñxwaewar)	24	16
yeña	02 * add ring	2	ñe-xwae mawo (ñxwaemo)	25	17
dowx(a)	03 * add middle	3	dowx-xwae	30	18
waer	04 * add pointer	4	waer-xwae	40	24
mawo	05 * add thumb	5	mawo-xwae	50	30
xweilo	10 * close fist	6	xwae-xwae / welo	1,00	36
hyawo	11	7	welo-yifa	1,01	37
fawo	12	8	welo-xwae	1,10	42
pií	13	9	yeña-welo	2,00	72
qhowei	14	10	dowxa-welo	3,00	108
amwae	15	11	waer-welo	4,00	144
ñe-xwae	20	12	mago-welo (magwelo)	5,00	180
ñe-xwae yifa (ñxwaefa)	21	13	xwae-welo	10,00	216
ñe-xwae yeña (ñxwaeña)	22	14	welo-welo / wegwelo	1,00,00	1,296
ñe-xwae dowx (ñxwaedow)	23	15	áwolo	1,00,00,00	46,656

The ancient numbers 1-30 are still in use, but are not productive - slightly altered - beyond the number 36, (which is 1,00 in base-6):

1 fe-	11 fada	21 chor
2 ña-	12 faw	22 chomwax
3 da-	13 fm	23 chox
4 wa-	14 fax	24 choiax
5 mye-	15 ofo	25 mema
6 xe-	16 fiáñ	26 fmña
7 hyaá	17 chofañ	27 bada
8 fwuí	18 ñabwi	28 hyawa
9 bií	19 miñaqoei	29 xomi
10 qúi	20 choda	30 xwoufa

Useful Expressions

a píawañ ciñ:	Hello, Goodbye
a cawa:	Thank you, Your welcome, Please, It's okay
mú wañ:	How are you? What's up with ya?
ía phuia:	I'm happy
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 seiañ:	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!
kyeafasae:	I don't know
íasefwae:	I don't like it
ía ñamaxa-meu:	I very much enjoy the meal
fei-acawa:, acawafei:	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?)

añ dañ phíacaxou-papeloxui ("The Tower of Babel") | .mp3

a phawui pei -

eia fe'alatew dañ pígwokyeax ho-feañsieñ dirxeñamesis:

eia cada x'kyíeñewapa, hei hyañ-doasbaí húahamorxiñdarxui, hei yíamphalyaña-mei:

eia pígwotyigi, báwa - "qhwui! a xígwo, hei heuxaeq dañ phawui, hei píoñ war quiokwae, hei lofoña war cwae":

eia pígwotyigi, báwa - "qhwui! a pehwo, hei xígwo dañ phíacalyañ xwui phaphíaca húa-úaloxou":

h'báwa - "yíamhíesda-skwaer dañ xeñaweiaqs: h'xweña, fo phawuisieñ ou yamargya-daqtew yíamxqaweipaweiaqs":

eia fwíatyui YaHWaHoxui, dada yíamkyeafalor dañ xígwo-phahaña, hei phíacalyañ xwui phíaca-xou:

eia pígwo YaHWaHoxui, báwa - "qoei! a-wui dañ haña":

h'báwa - "añfe'alatew fwuia dañ phakyíeñewa: añfe'alatew fwuia dañ hyiírxñ:

fwuia añpehwo hokwihayom, ou phyáoqo sei jiwa dañ híewajorga-mei":

báwa - "fo jeuqyir-xeañ, hei phapígwomei xqemi x'phayac, dada kyíafasieñtyigi hañpígwo-mei":

eia wui YaHWaHoxui, pái fíaxqaweipa-fñmei yamargya-daqtew,

he'eia sehae x'phíacalyañ hopapoloxui-dirxeña, dasi ie yr-mieqspa xqemi-YaHWaHoxui dirpígwo,

ou mieqspachou yíámfíaxqaweipa-hañapa, hei yarmargya-daqtew:

Links

• draqa Lessons
• Sample of Written draqa | Sample 2
• Listen to the Babel Text in mp3 format
• draga Lexicon