Draga
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.
Phonology
Consonants
| labial | dental | alveolar | palatal | velar | post-velar | glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plosives: | t̪ | 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 | (n̪) | (n) | ɲ | ||||
| implosives: | ɓ (ʘ) | ǃ |
Vowels
| i | ʊ | |||||||||||
| ʷɔˑ | ||||||||||||
| ə | ɚ | |||||||||||
| æ |
Orthography
Transcription 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/, /p/ |
| t | - /tʰ/ |
| t' | - /tʼ/ |
| ty | - /ʈ/ |
| c | - /cʼ/, /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/; /n̪/ before 'd': ñd /n̪ð/ |
| w | - /w/; /ʘ/ following initial syllabic 'm': mw /mʘ/ |
| l | - /l/ |
| y | - /j/ |
| d | - /t̪/ initially, /d̪/ medially, /ð/ after 'ñ': ñd /n̪ð/ |
| j | - /tz/ |
| x | - /ʃ/ |
| h | - /ʜ/, /x/ before 'l' or 'w', /ç/ before 'y' |
| g | - /ɦ/ |
| b | - /ɓ/ |
| z | - /ǃ/ |
| p" | - /ʙ̥/ |
| t" | - /r̥/ |
| q" | - /ʀ̥/ |
Vowels
| i | /i/ |
| í | /i↑/ , /i↘/ |
| ií | /i↗/ |
| a | /æ/ |
| á | /æ↑/ , /æ↘/ |
| aá | /æ↗/ |
| o | /ʊ/ |
| ú | /ʊ↑/ , /ʊ↘/ |
| uú | /ʊ↗/ |
| e | /ə/ |
| ou | /ʷɔˑ/ |
| r | /ɚ/ |
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, 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" |
| aphx.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 |
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:
