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 (~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 12 vowels in the draga language:

ï, í, i /i/

á, a /æ/

ae /æeˑ/

e /əˑ/

ei /əiˑ/

ou /ʷɔˑ/

ú, o /ʊ/

r /ɚˑ/

Draga is a pitch-accented language:

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

í, á, r 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.

ae, ei are obviously dpthongs, but are treated as invididual vowels. They are both intoned at median pitch.

ou is always intoned with a slightly long, low pitch

Rhoticization.

Some vowels can be found rhoticized. The r here is intoned at median pitch:

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.

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 of the sentence in and of 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."

• fwoia Indicates that "I witness(ed) this personally": fwoia phoiada: "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 phoiada: "S/he was happy", "They say that s/he is happy."

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

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

Definite Articles

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

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

The weak (or Iconic) 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:

• xían-pa

• syú-pa

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.

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.

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-	-tyíar	at, in, on
	hyañ-	-pyír	successfully to
	swor-	-síar	unsuccessfully toward
	jwor-	-tyoi, -chou	(originating) from
		-fir	in the general direction of
		-teyou	in a general direction away from

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

• yor-lyíañ "Toward home", "Going home"
• kyïafa-síar "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 phoia-teyou-da: "I see that s/he is becoming less joyful."

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:

xor-, x'-	Of (generic)
cor-	Of (explicit) Agent ...
háñ-	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
tañ-	(Of) Benificiary
táyañ-	(Of) Benefactor

Examples: (skyaá "running", síaha "deer", qhowa "writing, book", sohui "student", fañta "wall", peuñ "stone", ñama "food, meal" )

• skyaá x'síaha - "Deer's running"
• síaha ho-skyaá - "Deer which is/are running"
• qhowa háñ-sohui - "Book for students, i.e. which is associated with students / studenthood"
• fañta mes-peuñ - "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"

You may have noticed, from the last three examples above - that when using the Pronominal forms combined with Genitives, the Root or the Particle form might be used, with or without Agency - depending on the Genitive:

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 Predicate or Argument is a source of debate. In any case, the phrase-final Root forms are used quite frequently and regularly.

Root	Phrase-final form	Meaning	Example
kyíañ	kyae	want. need
haán	hae	something finished, done, completed
fwaí	fwae'	like
mïa	mae	let, allow, help, give
'seia	sae	no, not

Conjunctions

Root Level

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

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:

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

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

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... "

Other Useful Particles

Negative

sei, sei-

Negative Article

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"

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)"

Classification:

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

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
fawo	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	'

Ordinals:

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

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:

Sentence Patterns

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 illustrated 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 wui haña: / ía haña wui: I experience that there/it was a person. (wui means Manifestation, instantiation)
• ía haña-tui: I experience (some) people/person.
• ía phahaña-tui: I (viscerally) experience a/the person. The strong definite article is needed here, because a specific person is being referred to.
• 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" . Despite this clarification, the ambiguous original (ía haña) is the most likely off the cuff usage.

The affixes -tui (strong visceral experience) and yíama- (becoming, arriving at a state) are listed above under 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 yrlyaña / mú wañ haña yrlyaña: 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 lyañyir x'haña: (I see) a person going home,i.e. lyañayir (Going) toward home, x'haña Of (a) person
• fwuia lyañyir 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 lagyi: = a kyíomei dañ lagyi: S/he gives (someone) a ring:
• a kyíomei lagyi tañxeañ: He gives (kyío) me (the beneficiary) a/the ring (lagyi).
• a kyíomei tañxeañ dañ lagyi: His gift to me was a ring, or The ring was his gift to me.
• a kyíomei lagyi tañxeañ dañ haxa: He gives me a ring, (with regards to) love (haxa Deep Affection, or Romantic love).

• íase fwae dañ lyeaq: I don't like that smell (lyeaq).

a... h' ...

The word hei is often pronounced /ʜə/, and usually spelled h' . It is a conjunctive particle that can often be translated as "and (also), in addition" - it indicates a concatenation or continuation of the preceding idea, or a compounding of the information:

The word hei takes variant forms when used as continuance of certain SAPs:

fo ... ( a ... )

The SAP fo indicates that the following statement is hypothetical. It begins if/then statements, but also commands and wishes:

xe'a wañ ... ( dañ ... )

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

a... ou ...

a ...

Brief Examples Using Other SAPs

• huia
• awo skyá x'seahañ lalyañ-deqtou: I hear deer running through the forest.
• skyea kwou-weiaqs: I dreamt that we were going (someplace).
• skyea-tae teia x'pía dañ paá: I know from my dream, that my mother will find it.
• ámiña
• ámiñ-tae
• px.a
• px.a-tae
• mpaha jwae: I think so (too).
• sempa
• xweña hae: I expect that it will be done. (There is no future tense, but xweña will often express a similar idea)
• qhwui! a ñayo: Let's eat!

Links

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