Gaaziketti: Lexicon

Comment

This started out as a completely random sample from the lexicon. But I've started deliberately adding some of the more useful words to it and hope to add more over time.

Almost all morphemes are disyllabic, with a long syllable followed by a short syllable, though some very common words are monosyllabic, or even consist of only one phoneme (e.g. l meaning 'the' (singular)).

You can form compound words by juxtaposition, head word last. E.g. a moogimotti is an ant-egg. Kossakaidu means 'jeweller' - literally "jewel-worker".

Frequently used words

Demonstratives

• taa that, those. N. B. you need to add a (case-inflected) article. As adjective, comes after noun, before article (rather than before the noun like most adjectives). As a pronoun, just add the article. E.g.: Kooba taa le, that jacket (nom.). Taa le, that (as pronoun). Taa ke, those (nom.). Kooba taa se, one of those jackets (nom.).
• nii this, these. You need to add an article: same rules as for taa, that.
• paa to be (as copula linking two noun phrases)

Postpositions

• baa (governs genitive) with, using, via, by means of.
• bii (governs dative) in, at
• nuuta (governs dative) on

Articles

These are placed after their nouns, and declined for case (-e, -o, -ai for nominative, accusative/genitive, and dative, respectively.)

• le, lo, lai the (singular)
• ke, ko, hai the (plural)
• se, so, sai (indefinite singular article)
• me, mo, mai (indefinite plural article)

Less frequently used words

• beetu garden
• booru to drown (intrans.)
• cainu mustard
• cecca soldier
• ceeza army
• cooqi to be silent
• cuuku wife
• daubu organ (of body)
• deela enemy
• gooma referee, umpire
• haiga movie
• hauka curtain
• kaidu worker
• kauna populace
• kooba jacket
• kossa jewel
• kuubu slave
• luudi goat
• luuli pan, frying pan
• mennu name (n.)
• moogi ant
• motti egg
• naapa cotton
• nauzu to be original
• paumu person
• pauqa sign (as in a streetsign or public notice)
• qassi to have
• qeetu mirror
• qocci beard
• raalu arrow
• raazu to criticise
• raucu wealthy, rich
• riigu scale (as in measuring device)
• sombi to run
• tiicu pig
• tuuza helmet