Roargan (Language)

This Article is about the Language "Roargan (rōgen)". If you were looking for the Planet, see Roargan.

Roargan (rōgen) Orthography with Latin Representatives.

Because of the difference in mouth structure between Roargan species, while able to understand each other, they have to speak in, relatively, different dialects.

Language Description

• Phonological Constraints - "(V) + (V) + C + V + (V)"
• VSO - Sentence Component Structure
• Isolating and Agglinuating
• Partially Analytic Sentence Composition

Phonology

See International Phonetic Alphabet for further details.

Consonants

		Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		n [n]		ŋ [ɲ ~ ŋ]
Plosive	voiceless	t [t]		c [c]	k [k]
	voiced	d [d]			g [g]
Fricative	voiceless				x [x]
	voiced	z [z]	ʒ [ʒ]		ɣ [ɣ]
Approximant		r [ɹ]		y [j]	w [ɰ]

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i [i]	u [ɯ]
Close-mid	e [e]	o [ɤ]
Open-mid		ǎ [ʌ]
Open	a [a]

Grammar

Verbs

1st Priority - Person

The person of the verb is determined by a set of three prefixes. Respectively "-ke", "-ti" and "-gu" for First, Second and Third Person.

2nd Priority - Tense

The Tenses in Roargan are primarily the tense that most terrestrial languages have, though there are other moods which can be expressed through mostly unique methods. The present tense does not have a particles that follows the words and instead is the "default" tense. The other two tenses, Past and Future, are made by placing the particles "tota" and "xino", respectively, after the verb.

3rd Priority - Negative

The negative of a verb (adding "not" to a verb) is formed by placing "una" at the start of the current verb-phrase. The Negative particle can also be used on Nouns and Pronouns to express the lack of the Noun or Pronoun.

4th Priority - Mood

Roargan's moods consist of 7 different primary forms, 5 of these moods can not be overlapped with each other; Indicative, Imperative, Evidential, Interrogative and Subjunctive. The Indicative mood is not formed by placing any particle at the start of a verb, it is instead merely the "default" mood. The Imperative mood is formed by adding "goza" to the current start of the verb-phrase, it is expressed when issuing an order. Evidential and Interrogative moods are formed from the addition of the particles "ruo" and "ʒati" to the start of the current verb-phrase, they represent the moods expressed when making an inferred observation and asking a question, respectively. The Subjunctive mood is created by placing a variety of different particles in the sentence in different places, these express at what stance the speaker, or group of, is to the statement.

5th Priority - Conditional

A conditional verb is formed by adding "ukoɣa" to the start of the current verb-phrase. The Conditional mood is similar to saying "would", before the verb.

6th Priority - Hypothetical

The Hypothetical mood is used when stating a hypothetical statement, it is expressed with the particle "nara" placed at the start of the current verb-phrase.

Nouns

Number

The numbers for the nouns are used by one of three particles after the noun. These particles are used for the dual (when there are pairs of the noun), trial (when there are three of the noun) and plural (when there are more than 3 of the nouns). Singular is the "default" number and does not require an additional particle. The particles for the other three number distinctions are "kiʒo", "xuri" and "yira", respectively for each, after the noun.

Case

The case system in Roargan is an Ergative-Absolutive system. The Ergative case is used for the subject of a Transitive verb, it uses the particle "xirǎ" before the noun. The Absolutive case is used for the subject of an Intransitive verb and the object of a Transitive verb, it uses the particle "yo" before the noun. Genitive Case is for possession and are formed with the suffix "yī".

The Instrumental, Locative and Temporative are formed with particles that occur before the noun, they are, respectively "xū", "ŋica" and "dani". Reflexive Nouns can be formed by using multiple case markers on one Noun. Case markings can be used for Non-Personal Pronouns to express multiple meanings.

Adjectives

The Adjectives agree with their Noun in case distinction but not in number. The suffixes for the cases are, for Ergative, "ɣā", Absolutive, "yi", Instrumental, "xī", Locative, "ŋǎ", Temporative, "dū". The Case markers must match the same cases of the noun they describe. The Adjectives follow the Noun they modify and each Adjective must have the Case Suffixes.

Modifiers

Modifiers can increase and decrease the intensity of an Adjective and also change Nouns and Verbs into Adjectives. The Affixes are attached to the Adjective that it applies to. The prefix "īɣa" is used to define Capability in Roargan, it attaches to words that are currently verbs but are not used as verbs. The already existing particle "una" can be used as a prefix to express Opposite, it is attached to a word that is currently an Adjective.

The suffix "akoa" Increases the Intensity of an Adjective, whereas the suffix "ieki" Decreases the Intensity of an Adjective, both affixes attach to words that are already Adjectives. The suffixes for Lack and Surfeit are "igiu" and "ǎro", respectively, they both attach to Nouns that aren't already used in the primary sentence.

Pronouns

Person

The root of a pronoun is always the person. The three person definitions are "dego" (First Person), "tuya" (Second Person) and "teco" (Third Person). Pronouns take the place of Nouns and include the Pronoun section of the Table of Correlatives.

Number

• Dual - "-za"
• Trial - "-yu"
• Plural - "-ʒo"

Case

• Ergative - "-co"
• Absolutive - "-ʒi"

Particles

Table of Correlatives

		Interrogative (go-)	Demonstrative		Quantifier
			Proximal (ʒǎ-)	Distal (xū-)	Existential (ci-)	Elective (za-)	Universal (ŋī-)
Determiner (-ni)		goni	zuni	ɣūni	cini	nani	nīno
Pronoun	Object (-ata)	kuata	ʒǎkada	xarada	kiada	zāta	ŋiota
	Out of (-uri)	ɣouri	ʒǎuri	xiri	ciuri	zauri	gīuri
Pro-Adverb	Location (-gada)	gogada	ʒǎgado	ɣūgada	cigoda	nawada	ŋigada
	Time (-ci)	ɣoci	ʒǎci	xūci	cici	zaci	ŋīci

Simple Sentences

Simple Transitive:

agārigu	tota	xirǎ	koni	yo	rǎga
Eat-3RD	PAST	ERGATIVE	Bird	ABSOLUTIVE	Worm
Ate			the Bird		the Worm.
The	bird	ate	the	worm.

Plural:

agārigu	xirǎ	koni	yira	yo	rǎga	yira.
Eat-3RD	ERGATIVE	Bird	PLURAL	ABSOLUTIVE	Worm	PLURAL
Eat		Birds			Worms.
Birds	eat	worms.

Negative:

una	agārigu	xirǎ	koni	yira	yo	kikǎ	ukioya.
NEGATIVE	Eat-3RD	ERGATIVE	Bird	PLURAL	ABSOLUTIVE	Ground	Sandy-ABSOLUTIVE
Don't	eat		Birds			the Sandy	Ground.
Birds	don't	eat	the	sandy	ground.

See Also

• Roargan Dictionary

Mouth Structures

Roaraga

Krania, Raida, Pirak

Koostie

Ramroar

Krian