Classical Oqolaawak

## Oqolaawak

**Classical Oqolaawak** is the most thoroughly explored version of Oqolaawak.

## Real-World Information

Biblaridion began work on Oqolaawak in 2015, and is currently his oldest conlang that remains up to his standards. It was the second conlang featured in a Conlang Showcase.

## Summary

Oqolaawak is spoken by the Oqolaayo people, native to the Oqolaam region. Within the Refugium, it is commonly associated with the arts, exoticism and beauty.

## Example Text

Here is the example shown in the showcase video:

*Ao Oqolaawak etew Oqolaayok ezooa Imaqaayu she maweilomanko makipiiyamanku hlakhamak tsulikhim. Qumi ache kikwi fakhiiyu peypeytek mafi hamaat shikhawanna, sache palquuaw pe esooao she mihlaawi, imi niya tsaaquy maatete niya etew tsotsonwa, qoyteewa, ihlatunwa, tatajwe.*

Gloss: IMPRF.COP-ETH Oqolaawak EX.-to.speak-ETH. Oqolaayo-DEF EX-out.of. EX.POSS-path-sun and EL.POSS-shore-EL.PL. EL.SING.POSS-island-EL.PL. sea-EL-DEF Indigo-EL Since LOC.COP-PERF.EX hear initially find-EX.PL.-DEF EL-upon territory-PL. central-EL CAUS- LOC.COP-PERF.EX PASS-know-ETH as exotic-ETH and beautiful-ETH conj. COP.-IMPRF.EX think-EX Person-EX.PL-Many IMPERF.COP-EX EX-to.speak-ETH art-ETH, poetry-ETH, music-ETH, and passion-ETH.

Translation: "Oqolaawak is the language of the Oqolaayo people of the Imaqaayu River and the coasts and islands of the Indigo Sea. Since it was heard by explorers from more central regions, it has developed a reputation of exoticism and beauty, and is considered by many to be the tongue of art, poetry, music, and passion."

## Phonology

### Phonotactics

Classical Oqolaawak has a simple vowel harmony system and consonant harmony system. High (i ii u uu) and low (e ee o oo) vowels cannot co-occur in the same word. "a aa" is considered neutral and can occur with either. Alveolar sibilants (ts s) cannot co-occur with palatal sibilants (ch sh). Exceptions primarily occur in loanwords and in compounds. Most affixes have two realizations for words with high and low vowel roots. Sibilants undergo voicing between voiced segments (/s ʃ/ → [z ʒ]) and the romanization reflexes said allophony. Classical Oqolaawak allows for codas, a small increase in complexity from Proto-Oqolaawak.

### Stress

Stress in Oqolaawak always falls on the syllable containing the third-to-last mora of the word.

* 1 mora: Open syllable with short vowel (Ex: qo, hla)
* 2 mora: Open syllable with long vowel/dipthong, closed syllable with short vowel (Ex: kak, qoi)
* 3 mora: Closed syllable with long vowel/dipthong (Ex: taan)

## Writing System

Oqolaawak uses the *iilwa* script, which was adapted from the Ts'ap'u-K'ama abjad. Classified by Biblaridion as "an alphabet with an inherent vowel", the *iilwa* script is closest in real-world systems to an abugida: consonant glyphs are assumed to be followed by "a" unless followed by a different vowel character. The sole exception is for when "a" occurs at the beginning of words, in which case a special glyph is used.

*Iilwa* also features a number of characters for punctuation.

## Grammar

### Noun Classes

Classical Oqolaawak has five noun classes, which form a loose animacy hierarchy.

* Ethereal (ETH): abstract nouns, conceptions, verbal nouns
* Elemental (EL): inanimate, natural objects, places
* Material (MAT): animate natural phenomena, body parts, instruments, very low animacy animals
* Kinetic (KIN): animals (note that not all animals are considered kinetic nouns)
* Exalted (EX): humans, deities, certain culturally important animals

The class a noun belongs to affects the type of numbers it can take.

 Dual
 Paucal
 Plural

### Word Order

The default word order of Oqolaawak is VSO (verb-subject-object). Arguments in a sentence are expected to come in order of descending animacy: for example, the sentence "The coconut hit the warrior in the face" would be more naturally translated into Oqolaawak as "The warrior was struck across the face with the coconut." However, less animate nouns can be fronted for emphasis.

Oqolaawak is strongly head-initial: nouns follow prepositions but precede adjectives, possessors, and relative clauses, while verbs are preceded by auxiliary verbs.

### Tense

For simple tense-aspect encodings, a verb stem can be appended with one of a number of suffixes. These suffixes, in addition to communicating temporal information, also indicate the verb’s subject.

In addition, the verb also takes an object suffix, which is included only if the object is not overtly stated in the sentence.

 1st pers. plural inclusive
 1st pers. plural exclusive
 2nd pers. singular
 2nd pers. plural
 3rd pers. ethereal
 3rd pers. elemental
 3rd pers. material
 3rd pers. kinetic
 3rd pers. exalted

For more nuanced encodings, Oqolaawak makes frequent use of three auxiliary verbs: the copula, the locative copula, and a word that originally meant “to leave,” but that has since lost its ability to exist as a standalone verb. The auxiliary takes all the subject and tense marking, while the following lexical verb is rendered in its unmarked “simple” form by default. The meaning conveyed by one of these auxiliary verbs- depends on what tense it’s rendered in, as shown below:

 *a* “to exist, be at” (Locative Copula)
 *oma* “\*to leave”

### Pragmatics

Oqolaawak is highly sensitive to formality, using six different levels of speech:

* Plain/Casual
	+ Used to address colleagues and most non-immediate family members
* Polite
	+ Used in friendly situations with strangers, especially to begin conversations
* Familiar
	+ Used between close friends
* Affectionate
	+ Used by parents to address children, expresses endearment
* Subordinate
	+ Used to address those of lower station, especially one’s employees, may have undertone of condescension or disapproval
* Formal
	+ Used to address those of higher station and authority figures

Each formality level has a set of special second-person pronouns associated with it:

### Animal Registers

The animal registers are speech patterns derived from Oqolaayo mythology: prominent recurring characters within the folklore are associated with characteristic patterns of speech, which carry with them associations of personality traits. Mimicking a speech pattern implies that the referent shares personality traits of the respective animal.

Shown below is a list of some of the most commonly used registers, along with their associations. If possible, each entry will also feature an example translation of the sentence, “He/she said, “I will give you the book.”:

* Plain/Default:

*Tenye, “Suuquhi chilpuk.”*

* Khaazwai: the king of beasts, proud, regal, sometimes haughty or supercilious

*Tenye, “Khaa suuqukhi safi chiilpukh.”*

* Creodont: powerful, intimidating, quick to anger, irritable, frequently portrayed as envious of Khaazwai

* Monkey: mischievous, reckless, fool-hardy, often winds up as the victim of his own schemes

* Terror bird: cunning, intelligent, greedy, often depicted as a trickster

* Chalicothere: simple-minded, sluggish, gullible, often taken advantage of

*Tenye, “Naa suuhhii chillpu.”*

* Achulkha: vulgar, malicious, disgusting, craven

*Tenye, “Hluuquq chilpuq yokh.”*

### Discourse Particles

There are discourse particles Biblaridion likes to view as "verbal punctuation".

 lele
 chalaa
 lei
 tullo

## Lexicon

### Nouns

* aalum: city
* akam: tree
* chelai: woman
* chihlik: large arthropod
* chilpu: book
* essooao: exoticism
* etew: language
* fozok: creodont
* fozokalaajim: seal, pinniped
* hampo: house
* hlakham: sea
* hlitssoolwa: temperature
* hlitwa: heat
* hliwaltuu: a musical instrument, considered symbolic of Oqolaayo culture
* iffahim: destination, goal
* ihlaa: wind instrument
* ihlao: singing
* ihlatumpu: musical instrument
* ihlatunwa: music
* ihlatunyu: musician
* ihlwa: love
* iilwa: the Oqolaawak writing system
* illakhaa: jellyfish
* kalwa: walking, ambulation
* keppam: a drink made of coconut water steeped in the leaves of a rose-like plant
* khaazwai: a mythological creature, culturally equivalent to dragons in the real world
* kiinim: earth, soil
* kimak: animal
* kipiiyam: island
* lajii: stream, flow, current
* laajim: water
* likwa: happiness
* maai: person, human
* mafuunim: depression, stagnation, doldrums
* makahuk: storm
* mihlaao: beauty
* molai: mother
* molpaahii: parent
* naji: door
* oassham: sail
* paahii: father
* pachuu: boat
* pachuy: sailor
* palei: boy
* palquuao: reputation
* palquujuy: hero
* palquuquujuy: divine being
* passham: sail
* peipeiwa: watching
* peipeyyo: explorer
* piilpu: face
* qaalwa: fighting
* qaalyu: warrior
* qaaiwa: day
* qoyteew: rhythm
* qoozwe: new
* qulka: labyrinthodont
* quujwa: praise
* sheqaa: knife, blade
* sheqai: butcher
* sheqak: leaf-cutter bug
* sheqam: slice, cut, piece
* sheqwa: cutting
* suqim: nettle, thorn
* tatajwe: passion
* tiihoo: obsidian-tipped javelin
* tolpo: hand
* toutom: coconut
* toutuk: bird
* tunwa: drumming
* tuuzwa: roundness
* tsoolwa: cold
* tsotsonwa: art
* tsulikhim: indigo
* uteeyam: obelisk
* weilom: beach

### Verbs

Verbs in Classical Oqolaawak are highly fusional with a single affix conveying one of a combination of three tenses and 11 persons. There are also direct object markers. Oqolaawak also uses a set of three auxiliary verbs to convey more precise tense/aspect encodings.

* ihlu: to love
* khaji: to strike, hit
* maha: to have, own
* mala: to swim
* mamaha: to keep, retain
* pei: to see
* peipei: to look at, watch
* poqaalwa: to fight
* qaale: to fight
* qoqoye: to quantify, measure
* qoye: to count
* quua: to know
* quuju: to praise
* sheqa: to cut
* te: to speak, say
* wihl: to float

### Other

* fakhiiyu: initially
* imi: (conjunction)
* pe: as
* qumi: since
* she: and
* yaqaai: toward the sun
* etanqaai: away from the sun

### Ideophones

* pun-pun: the sound of dripping, rain
* hakki-hikka: in a confused or haphazard manner
* tsitsi: sound of a monkey’s screeching, laughing
	+ Almost exclusively used in Monkey register
* hlilili: shining, bright light, shimmering
* khaa: the sound of roaring, especially of a large predatory animal
	+ Typical of Khaazwai register
* tun: a heavy thud, especially of a drum
* tun-tun: drumbeat, heartbeat

### Numbers

Oqolaawak uses a decimal system. There are words for numbers as well as powers of ten. Numbers like 5,132 (five thousand one hundred thirty-two) are best known as "kele haai hla wichi qu kipu ma" (lit. five thousand one hundred three ten two). They're transcribed in the iilwa script using the consonant glyph for the first sound of the word for the number (minus the vowel deletion diacritic), and preceded by a numerical marker. Though there are some exceptions.

## Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUf7GnJcyhA

1. ↑ At the beginning of a word