Wa Ñi Lesson 1: view article

Wa Ñi! These lessons are geared for those who wish to get an understanding of Wa Ñi without linguistic jargon.

Perhaps you are trying to make your own Ngerupic language, or you just want to learn something very different from the languages you already know! In any case, I hope you have fun while learning a lot! You are always welcome to ask me questions or make suggestions. (@[Deactivated User])

(Note: This series of lessons differs from normal language learning curricula because you may view pronunciation here and vocabulary here. So we will be going mainly through grammar and other concepts which cannot be found on the language summary page or in the dictionary.)

Let's get started!

Wa Ñi is:

an unwritten,
analytic language
spoken around 3000 BCE
by around 50,000 Bronze Age farmers
in an inland tropical region-
what is now northwestern Magali.

For these reasons, there aren't words like 'snow' or 'computer', since the speakers likely never saw freezing temperatures, and did not have modern technology.

On the other hand, Wa Ñi has a rich array of words called ideophones that describe intense sensory experiences, and a complicated kinship system.

Although Wa Ñi is a fairly simple and straightforward language, it differs greatly from English on almost every level. In order to present the entire language without becoming confusing, we will take a top-down approach. This lesson will teach an overview of noun classes, verbs and basic sentences, and later ones will cover more specific areas such as:

pronunciation,
noun phrases,
possession,
numerals,
kinship,
greetings,
and beyond.

[edit] [top]Unit 1: Noun Class Overview

You may have noticed that each noun in the dictionary has two numbers listed after the part of speech: for example, wa is [9/10]. These numbers may look intimidating at first, but we will see that they aren't so difficult.

Wa Ñi has what is known as noun class, which means that nouns are classified into arbitrary categories that function much like European gender systems: they take different pronouns, and determiners must agree with nouns in class.

Additionally, in Wa Ñi, noun classes are marked on roots by a variety of processes, such as prefixes, suffixes, and tone changes. For example, class 10 is hà- on nouns which end in vowels, class 3 is -ni on all nouns, and class 8 is low tone on first vowel.

The last piece of the puzzle you need to know is that Wa Ñi nouns each have up to two classes each: one for singular number, and one for plural. Nouns use these two classes only to indicate number: there are no special plural affixes. Some nouns take the same class in both singular and plural, which are usually nouns like kwo-ni 'the Sun, class 3' that can't be pluralized, or ones like hà-wa 'water, class 10' which don't really have number at all.

In total, there are 10 noun classes, of which the odd-numbered ones are singular, and the even-numbered ones are plural. Class 11 (the tenth class, since there's no 4) is for natural pairs, and plurals of natural pairs.

Here I will give you a handy table of noun classes with their forms and examples.

Class	Number	Affix (word ends in a consonant)	Affix (word ends in a vowel)	Example
1	singular	none	none	mañ 'mother', ŋèru 'person'
2	plural	-pa	-p	mañ-pa 'mothers', ŋèru-p 'people'
3	singular	-ni	-ni	cex-ni 'hand', kwo-ni 'sun'
5	singular	-ey	repeat last vowel with high tone	tuŋ-ey 'mountain', dukře-e 'callus'
6	plural	-re	-re	tuŋ-re 'mountains', naa-re 'fields'
7	singular	-ke	change last vowel to o, maintaining tone	tyukdìm-ke 'sugarcane', wuk-o 'word'
8	plural	first vowel gets low tone	first vowel gets low tone	tyùkdìm 'sugarcanes', wùke 'word'
9	singular	none	none	ŋyuľ 'day', dòkku 'relationship'
10	plural	hà- + -e	hà-	hà-ŋyuľ-e 'days', hà-dokku 'relationships'
11	dual/plural	-co	-co	cex-co 'hands' (either a pair of hands or more than two hands), twi-co 'ears' (either a pair of ears or more than two ears)

Now that you have the reference table, you might want to take a stab at the following questions. Note that words with a space in them always put the noun class markers only onto the first word.

Questions

Given that ŋèru is 'person' with classes 1 and 2, how would you say 'person'? (You can type ng for ŋ.)
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And how about 'people'?
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Now let's try a new word we haven't seen before: dùcut 'bat' with classes 7 and 8. How do you say 'bat'?
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And 'bats'?
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hòa 'air' is one of those words that only takes one class, which in this case is 10. How do you say 'air', then?
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How about a word with a space in it? raŋ ti ñek 'the color green' takes classes 5 and 6. Remember that the noun class affixes attach to the first word. So, how do you say 'the color green'? (You can type ŋ as ng again.)
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And 'shades of green'?
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For our last problem, we'll try kuwak 'drum', which is a 3/11 word. How do you say 'drum'?
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And 'drums'?
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Great! You're ready to tackle the next lesson now!

[edit] [top]Unit 2: Basic Sentences

Wa Ñi sentences basically follow the format:
subject pronoun - verb - subject noun - object noun/pronoun, where the subject pronoun and verb are obligatory.

For example, we have sentences such as:

N ŋerhaha. 'I laugh.' (literally: I laugh) Ri kwam pexramre. 'You eat pineapples.' (literally: you (singular) eat pineapple [gender 6]) He kwi heyèwey. 'A goat walks.' (literally: it [gender 5] walk goat [gender 5]) Ñè hay mèřawni hàpewmu. 'A cat drinks milk.' (literally: it [gender 3] drink cat [gender 3] milk [gender 10])

We see that when the subject is a plain noun, we must still put a subject pronoun agreeing in noun class before the verb. Wa Ñi pronouns have three forms each: nominative, ergative, and accusative. These terms may sound tricky, but really they just refer to:

nominative = subject of sentence with no object
ergative = subject of sentence with an object
accusative = object of sentence

Thus, nominative and ergative both count as subject pronouns, and accusative ones count as object pronouns. Also note that pronouns never take noun class markers. Here are some example sentences so that you can see when each is to be used:

N ŋwex. 'I sleep.' 1S.NOMINATIVE sleep ('I' is the subject, and there is no object, so you use nominative.) Ŋè kwam tyukdìmke. 'I eat a sugarcane.' 1S.ERGATIVE eat sugarcane ('I' is the subject, and there is an object, so you use ergative.) Òè rux n. 'It hits me.' it hit 1S.ACCUSATIVE ('I' is the object, so you use accusative. Note that the first word, 'it', is in the ergative form, since it is the subject of a sentence with an object.)

Many forms 'look the same', as you can see from the following table:

Pronouns	Nominative	Ergative	Accusative
1S (I, me)	n	ŋè	n
1I (I + you, me + you)	ma	ma	ma
1E (we (not you), us (not you)	ñu	ŋwè	ñu
2S (you singular)	ri	ri	riì
2P (you all)	i	i	iì
noun class 1 (G1)	a	hè	a
noun class 2 (G2)	pa	wè	pa
noun class 3 (G3)	ni	ñè	ni
noun class 5 (G5)	he	hè	he
noun class 6 (G6)	ři	ì	ři
noun class 7 (G7)	en	òè	en
noun class 8 (G8)	a	hè	a
noun class 9 (G9)	tu	twè	tu
noun class 10 (G10)	hà	hè	hà
noun class 11 (G11)	co	còè	co

Why don't you try to make your own Wa Ñi sentences now? Pay attention to the word order and pronoun forms, and don't forget to add noun class affixes to the nouns, but not pronouns! Finally, don't forget to always have one subject pronoun in each sentence. Questions How would you say the following sentences in Wa Ñi? (You can type ng for ŋ.) 'I cough.' (xàxay 'cough') ↺ 'The insect (class 5) squeezes coconuts (class 8).' (wyàaŋ 'insect', ñukñùk 'squeeze', kuray 'coconut') ↺ 'We (me + you) sing.' (yo 'sing') ↺ 'You all bring us (not you).' (lyoxlo 'bring') ↺ 'The shadow (class 9) enters.' (yaŋuy 'shadow', dax 'enter') ↺ Yay! Now let's tackle some ways to conjugate verbs!

[edit] [top]Unit 3: Mood

Verbs in Wa Ñi have three forms which express whether a sentence is true, false/uncertain, or is assumed to be true (like 'if'). These are called realis, irrealis, and conditional respectively. We abbreviate them as REAL, IRR, and COND. How do the verbs change to reflect these three forms? Let's take a look.

Realis: the form of the verb listed in the dictionary- you don't have to do anything.
Irrealis: change the tone of the first vowel to low tone. If it's already low, you don't have to change it.
Conditional: if the verb only has one vowel, add the suffix -àwa. Otherwise, add a copy of the last vowel to the end, with the old final vowel in the low tone, and the new one in the high tone.

Examples: pel 'say': pel REAL, pèl IRR, pelàwa COND (only one vowel) kyaxŋi 'notice': kyaxŋi REAL, kyàxŋi IRR, kyaxŋìi COND lùyat 'stand': lùyat REAL, lùyat IRR, lùyàta COND (first vowel is inherently low, final vowel is a) welwè 'wipe': welwè REAL, wèlwè IRR, welwèe COND (final vowel of stem is inherently low)

Note also that if a verb has a space in it, you change only the first word through the rules we've just seen. The number of syllables in the verb is just those in the first word, so dax lep 'care' in the conditional is daxàwa lep. Questions Irrealis: how would you make the following verbs false or uncertain? (You can type rr for ř.) kep 'split'? ↺ tuxye 'spill'? ↺ řihñaa 'be left over'? ↺ Conditional: how would you make the following verbs conditional, with an 'if' meaning? atyìma 'itch'? ↺ mit ñi 'be loud'? ↺ taxcux 'escape'? ↺ Now let's move on to building more different types of sentences.

[edit] [top]Unit 4: Negation

Negation in Wa Ñi takes three main forms, depending first on whether there is an object in the sentence, and second on whether the verb ends in a vowel or consonant. To determine what form to use, you can ask yourself the following questions:

Is there an object? If there is an object: use the word tì immediately before the object.
If there is no object, what sound does the verb end in? If it ends in a vowel: add the suffix -mpa to the verb.
If there is no object, and the verb ends in a consonant, add the suffix -pa to the verb.

Additionally, negative verbs can't be in realis mood, because if a verb is negated, you are saying that it is not real. So we always use either irrealis or conditional mood for verbs in negative sentences. Why don't we look at some examples now?

Sentence with object (tì): Ŋè kwam tyukdìmke. → Ŋè kwàm tì tyukdìmke. 'I eat a sugarcane.' → 'I do not eat a sugarcane.' I.ERG eat.REAL sugarcane.G7 → I.ERG eat.IRR not sugarcane.G7 Sentence without object, vowel-final verb (-mpa): N yo. → N yòmpa. 'I sing.' → 'I do not sing.' I.NOM sing.REAL → I.NOM sing.IRR-mpa Sentence without object, consonant-final verb (-pa): N ey. → N èypa. 'I go.' → 'I do not go.' I.NOM go.REAL → I.NOM go.IRR-pa

Note that, as with the previous section, verbs with a space in them only inflect the first word, so cux ŋyaxka 'be born' becomes cùxpa ŋyaxka in the negative. Questions (Again, you can type ŋ as ng, ř as rr, Ŋ as Ng, and Ř as Rr.) Negate the following sentences: Pa řwa. 'They play.' ↺ Ři ŋirìŋ ŋehŋore. 'The knives are sharp.' ↺ Ŋè dřo ořù y řadew. 'I weave a pillowcase.' ↺

[edit] [top]Unit 5: Questions and Answers

There are two main types of questions in Wa Ñi, and in English: yes-no and content. Yes-no questions are things like 'Did you see it?' or 'It moved, right?' They seek an answer about the truth of a whole sentence. Content questions are those which look for a more specific piece of information, such as 'Who did it?' or 'Where did it go?' In Wa Ñi, just as in English, these questions have different forms from normal statements, and additionally, yes-no questions are formed differently from content questions. However, unlike English, the answers to both types of questions are also formed differently from normal statements, and from each other. We will first learn how to construct question-answer pairs for yes-no questions, and then for content questions. Yes-no questions are formed by putting the word ki before the subject pronoun and moving ki, the subject pronoun, and the verb to the end of the sentence. The verb also changes to irrealis mood in all yes-no questions. Note that verbs with a space in them do not separate, but move together with the subject pronoun. For example:

Ri ey. → Ki ri èy? 'You went.' → 'Did you go?' 2S.NOM go.REAL → yes-no 2S.NOM go.IRR Since the only parts of the sentence are the subject pronoun and verb, there is nothing else to move them behind. But note that the verb mood still changes. Hè kwam mañ yòmi. → Mañ yòmi ki hè kwàm? 'Mom ate fish.' → 'Did Mom eat fish?' G1.ERG eat.REAL mom.G1 fish.G8 → mom.G1 fish.G8 yes-no G1.ERG eat.IRR Here we can see the subject pronoun and verb moving to the end of the sentence, with the verb mood changing.

Now how do we answer the questions we're asking? It depends if we're saying wè 'yes' or pèlpa 'no'. Positive answers to yes-no questions have ki before the subject pronoun, but with no movement of words like in the questions, and the verb mood is realis, since the event did happen.

Ki ri èy? → Wè, ki n ey. 'Did you go?' → 'Yes, I went.' yes-no 2S.NOM go.IRR → yes, yes-no 1S.NOM go.REAL Don't forget to switch second person to first person in the answer, and to change the verb mood to realis. Mañ yòmi ki hè kwàm? → Wè, ki hè kwam mañ yòmi. 'Did Mom eat fish?' → 'Yes, Mom ate fish.' mom.G1 fish.G8 yes-no G1.ERG eat.IRR → yes, yes-no G1.ERG eat.REAL mom.G1 fish.G8 Here we see the word order switching back to normal in the answer.

But what if we want to say no? Negative answers have ni before the negated element, and if the negated element is an object, the negative particle tì may either precede or follow ni. Basically, if the question is 'Did she eat it?' then if someone ate it, but not her, you would negate 'she' as the subject pronoun. If she ate something, but not 'it', then we negate the subject noun, if any, or the subject pronoun if there is no subject noun. If nobody ate anything, then we negate the subject ('she') by default. And once again, like all other negative sentences, the verb must be in irrealis mood.

Ki ri èy? → Pèlpa, ni n èy-pa. 'Did you go?' → 'No, I did not go.' yes-no 2S.NOM go.IRR → no, ni 1S.NOM go.IRR-NEG We negate the subject by default. Mañ yòmi ki hè kwàm? → Pèlpa, ni hè kwàm mañ tì yòmi. 'Did Mom eat fish?' → 'No, Mom did not eat fish.' mom.G1 fish.G8 yes-no G1.ERG eat.IRR → no, ni G1.ERG eat.IRR mom.G1 NEG fish.G8 The negation word tì goes before an object, if any. Here we are saying that nobody ate anything, because the negative answer word ni goes just before the subject pronoun. Mañ yòmi ki hè kwàm? → Pèlpa, hè kwàm ni mañ tì yòmi. 'Did Mom eat fish?' → 'No, it wasn't Mom that ate fish.' mom.G1 fish.G8 yes-no G1.ERG eat.IRR → no, G1.ERG eat.IRR ni mom.G1 NEG fish.G8 We negate 'Mom' by putting the negative answer word ni just before the subject noun 'Mom'. Mañ yòmi ki hè kwàm? → Pèlpa, hè kwàm mañ tì ni yòmi. 'Did Mom eat fish?' → 'No, it was not fish that Mom ate.' mom.G1 fish.G8 yes-no G1.ERG eat.IRR → no, G1.ERG eat.IRR mom.G1 NEG ni fish.G8 Here we are negating 'fish', which takes both the negative word tì and the negative answer word ni.

Don't worry if all this seems a bit tricky at first- it works very differently from English. But let's move onto other questions for now. Content questions are formed with content question words ('what', 'who', 'where', 'when', 'why'...) in the place where you'd expect their answers to be in the sentence; there is no movement as with English questions, so you get things like 'He ate what?', 'It goes where?' The answers take the form of normal sentences but with the word ni before the 'new information', similar to the negative yes-no answers we saw in the last section.

Tu ey ŋèèn? → A ey ni mañ. 'Who went?' → 'Mom went.' G9.NOM go.REAL who.G9 → G1.NOM go.REAL ni mom.G1 We can see that 'who' has a noun class, like all other nouns. A ey mañ řyàn? → A ey mañ ni pitràamni. 'When did Mom go?' → 'Mom went yesterday.' G1.NOM go.REAL mom.G1 when → G1.NOM go.REAL mom.G1 ni yesterday.G3 'When' is an adverb and does not have a noun class. However, 'yesterday' does even though it is used as an adverb here. The dictionary will always list part of speech and class for a word.

Questions

Part 1: Form questions from the sentences.
N kedùy. 'I was right.'
'Was I right?'
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Ri hay hàlàhte. 'You drink tea.'
'Do you drink tea?'
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Pa lat lep dyèedpa. 'The children worry.'
'Do the children worry?'
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Part 2: Translate the questions into Wa Ñi. As before, you can type ŋ as ng. You may also type ľ as rl.
'Who sees you?' (Note: o 'see')
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'Who does the baby see?' (Note: iŋe 'baby' [class 1/2])
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'Where did the tapir come from?' (Note: ľàa 'come (from)', ñùmakwuhaò 'tapir' [class 7/8], tyaàn 'where')
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Part 3: Answer the questions. You can type rr instead of ř and rl instead of ľ. Also, please don't use commas in your answers— just spaces.
Paà ki a rù? 'Is Grandmother sitting?' (Answer no, someone is sitting but not Grandmother.)
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Paà ki a lùyat? 'Is Grandmother standing?' (Answer yes.)
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Kwòko řòľax ki òè kwàm? 'Is the frog eating flies?' (Answer no, nothing is being eaten.)
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Kwòko řòľax ki òè kwàm? 'Is the frog eating flies?' (Answer no, the frog is eating something else.)
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Òè kwam kwòko nìi? 'What is the frog eating?' (The frog is eating kàmatyaku 'dragonflies' [class 7/8].)
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[edit] [top]Summary

Unit 1:
Wa Ñi has ten noun classes which have arbitrary meaning and indicate differences in number (singular/plural). These noun classes are marked on nouns, and take different pronouns.

Unit 2:
Basic sentence order is P V S O, where P is an obligatory subject pronoun, S is an optional subject noun, and O is an optional object noun or pronoun.

Wa Ñi pronouns have three forms each: nominative, or subject of a sentence with no object; ergative, or subject of a sentence with an object; and accusative, or object of a sentence.

Unit 3:
Verbs may take three forms which express different values for what is called 'mood'. These values are realis, for real events; irrealis, for unreal or uncertain events; and conditional, similar to English 'if'. Realis is the plain form, and irrealis is marked by low tone on the first syllable of the verb. If the verb is one syllable, suffix -àwa to the realis form to get the conditional. If the verb is longer than one syllable, from the realis form, change the final tone to the low tone and then suffix a copy of the last vowel in the high tone.

Unit 4:
If there is an object, negative sentences put the word tì immediately before the object. Otherwise, suffix -pa if the verb ends in a consonant, and -mpa if it ends in a vowel. Verbs in negative sentences must always be in irrealis or conditional mood.

Unit 5:
Yes-no questions are formed by putting the word ki before the subject pronoun and moving ki, the subject pronoun, and the verb to the end of the sentence. The verb mood in all yes-no questions is irrealis. Positive answers to these questions have ki before the subject pronoun, but with no movement of words like in the questions, and the mood is realis. Negative answers have ni before the negated element, and if the negated element is an object, the negative particle tì may either precede or follow ni. Additionally, verb mood is irrealis, as with all other negative sentences.

Content questions are formed with content question words in the place where you'd expect their answers to be in the sentence; there is no movement as with English questions. The answers take the form of normal sentences but with the word ni before the 'new information'.

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