Ta'agra

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!!- Ta'agra, Tamriel, Elsweyr, Khajiit, The Elder Scrolls, and other terms are property of Bethesda Softworks. Original work will be marked with an asterisk (*).  This article is an attempt at reconstructing from the pieces of Ta'agra made available to the public by Bethesda Softworks through the Elder Scrolls franchise and to further develop it into a working constructed language. -!!


Ta'agra is the language spoken by most of the Khajiit, inhabitants of Elsweyr.

*Script

Ta'agra uses an abjad, based on the work by my partners found here, meaning the short vowels are not typically written. For example, "Vaba Maaszi Lhajiito" would be written in Ta'agra script as vb masz lhjit. The vowels may be written, particularly in books for cubs, but are typically omitted in most documents.

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial Labio-Dental Dental Alveolar Post-Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive Voiceless p ‹p› t ‹t› k ‹k› q ‹q› ʔ ‹'›
Voiced b ‹b› d ‹d› g ‹g›
Nasal m ‹m› n ‹n›
Fricative Voiceless f ‹f› θ ‹th› s ‹s› ʃ ‹sh› h ‹h›
Voiced v ‹v› z ‹z› ʒ ‹j›
Approximant w ‹w› r ‹r› j ‹y›
Lateral l ‹l›
  • Glottal /h/ may be realized as pharyngeal [ħ]. In word-initial position, /ʒ/ is realized as [dʒ].  Consonants have phonemic length in simple coda position.
  • Aspiration is prominent and phonemic throughout the language and may occur with any non-alveolar obstruent as indicated with ‹h›.

Vowels

Front Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Vowel length is phonemic.

Three diphthongs, two rising (/aʊ/ ‹au› and /aɪ/ ‹ai›) and one falling (/ʊa/ ‹ua›) have thusfar been attested. When other diphthongs are formed by affixation, they tend to be separated with a glottal stop ‹ˈ›, though glottal stops may be omitted from the language in casual speech and those diphthongs may be allowed to form. They do not seem to appear in isolated morphemes.

/e:/ may be written ‹ay›, ‹ae› or ‹ey›, and /e/ word-finally written ‹ei›, to avoid confusion.

Grammar

If we can presume it has remained largely unchanged over the eras, Ta'agra grammar is quite nuanced, particularly in marking of person. The first person does not exist, which leads to some verbal gymnastics in ensuring clarity in to whom the speaker is referring. Some speakers speak in SVO largely in what would otherwise be considered an irrealis, making their speech sound very tentative or hypothetical, whether ironically or not. The sometimes-lack of verbal affixes to mark person (ko- and -ba) seems linked to this "indicative irrealis".

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns are inflected for case.

Case

Case Prefix
Locative in-
Dative da-
Instrumental wo-

Ta'agra has no genitive case: genitive constructs are formed simply by preceding a noun with its owner (a pronoun or another noun).

Adjectives are affixed to the beginnings of nouns but, like honorifics, especially archaically, may be hyphenated and suffixed. As free morphemes they are likely treated as verbs.

Verbs

Verbs are inflected for person, aspect (perfective and imperfective), and mood (olitive, potential, energetic).

Person

Person Affix
2 ko-
3 –ba

Aspect

Aspect Affix
Perfective –ka
Imperfective –r

Mood

Mood Affix
Volitive –kasash
Potential –t
Energetic –zeri
  • The suffix -oh marks negation. *-kho following -o.
  • An attached pronoun may also take the form -iss, meaning "people" (objective).

Derivation

Noun/Verb > Active Person: -iit
Noun/Verb > means: -iitay
Noun > Adjective: -i
Noun > Verb: -ith
Noun > Respected: -ra
Verb > Noun: -'do

Honorifics

Honorifics are attached to names, usually to the beginning with a glottal stop, but sometimes hyphenated and attached to the end.

Denotation Honorific
Dar thief, cunning individual
Do warrior (archaic)
Dro grandfather, respected
J, Ji, Ja bachelor, young adult
Jo wizard
M, Ma child, apprentice
Ra, Ri high status
S adult

Syntax

Ta'agra has a moderately flexible (usually) SOV word order and is by and large pre-specifying (head-final).  The language is pro-drop in reference to subject.

Irrealis (imperative, subjunctive, questions, etc.) is formed with the SVO word order.

Lexicon

Pronouns

Unlike nouns, pronouns reflect number. Note that the 3rd person is likely identical with the first, as Khajiit tend to refer to themselves in third person even when speaking other languages.

Person Word
2s jer
2p baliji
3s ahziss
3p ahzirr

Open Class

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-0wdcq8FB1CQevIG83sp3b5hmP_rjprh1u0g0Kistnc/edit#gid=0

Samples

Official

Ahzirr Traajijazeri

Q'zi no vano thzina ualizz
When self contradict tell the truth
When I contradict myself, I am telling the truth.

Vaba Do'Shurh'do
Be-3s good-be^brave
It is good to be brave.

Vaba Maaszi Lhajiito
Be-3s necessary run^away.
It is necessary to run away.

Fusozay Var Var
Without^regret life live
Enjoy life.

Fusozay Var Dar
Without^regret life end
Kill without qualm.

Ahzirr Durrarriss
3p give-PRO
We give freely to the people.

Ahzirr Traajijazeri
3p take^forcibly-EMP
We justly take by force.

Jobasha

Zwinthodurrarr rabi.
yellow-writing^utensil have
I have a yellow writing utensil.

Ahziss liter ajo'iiliten rabiba.
3s brother wonderful-girl have-3
My brother has a wonderful girl.

Ahziss aaliter vakasash.
3s sibling be-DES
I wish I was my brother.

S'ratha (Hammerfell Intro)

Krimir, Cyrus.
Smile, Cyrus.

Etofor wakay jer akudarr.
here excuse 2s search^for
Here's the excuse you've been looking for.

Baliji hat aratataami.
2p all be^the^same
You're all the same.

Shijoh.
Sit.

Renrij in'tenurr,
mercenary LOC-night
Ruffians in the night,

Hokoh wo'Imperialjah,
heavy INS-Imperial-coin
Heavy with Imperial coin,

Iko pofamer rotok velk.
after poor-farmer wife owe
After some poor farmer who owes [the kingdom] his wife.

An trajir.
and take^away
And takes away.

S'rathra kor koderadoh Hammerfell,
S'rathra know 2-return^to-NEG Hammerfell,
S'rathra knows you will not return to Hammerfell,

Boshei irat.
seem important
[But this] seems important.

S'rathra wohrikah
S'rathra worry-PST
S'rathra was concerned.

Mokoh Duadeen.
worry^about-NEG Duadeen
Don't worry about Duadeen.

S'rathra eks.
S'rathra fix.

S'rathra eks skra'iv.
S'rathra fix everything.

Roliter dek ka udurr.
Sister disappearance invoke shudder
[Your] sister's disappearance draws a shudder.

Teport teko'i
port full
The port is full [of them].

S'rathra nak avek wo'ra valah khi
S'rathra name passage INS-price far go
S'rathra's name goes far towards the price of passage.

Sri Duadeen jah.
keep Duadeen coin
Keep Duadeen's money.

Epako jah ashlik.
family coin anyhow
It is family coin after all.

Pur S'rathra kador aaliter bekoh.
tell S'rathra why sibling mention-NEG
Tell S'rathra why [you] don't mention your sibling.

Kakadarr
What kind?

Unattested

Raj pal tohei da'khe iit.
Raj every day DAT-water walk
Every day I walk for water.