Draga

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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:		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/ (voiceless bilabial trill)
t"	- /r̥/ (voiceless alveolar trill)
q"	- /ʀ̥/ (voiceless post-velar trill)
'	- /ʔ/

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, 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"
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:

Locative

Unbound	Semi-bound	Fully Bound
ie			at, in, on, to, toward, from
		-yir	toward
	yr-	-tor	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 -tor/-tar "at,in" are fairly interchangeable, but in this case it is the Bound form -tor 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-fwor = lyaña-fwor = 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").