Difference between revisions of "Oan language"

Revision as of 15:51, 13 August 2017

The Oan language (natively called Oalanu) is widely spoken in Konoa, The Oan Isles, East Polynesia, and to a lesser degree, Asian Pacific Islands. It forms the part of the West Polynesian branch of Polynesian languages. It is the only surviving member of the Oanoana family. It spoken by 90 million people across the South Pacific Ocean, and forms one of the official languages of the Polynesian Union. Various accents and dialects of the language exist, the "core" dialect being Rokalanunyanataoalanu of the Oan capital La Rochelle. In Codexian, it is frequently referred to as Oan (which is also the Codexian demonym for the Oan Isles).

Phonology

This is the Oan National Emblem (it is not a çoat of arms as it does not contain an escutcheon). The text is in the Oan native script called Pounamu. The top text reads "Kia hoa a ro komotua" and the bottom text reads "Oareatu".

Vowels:

Consonants

Phrases

Words and morphemes, while they form the most basic units in a language, cannot be used alone in a sentence. Words and phrases must appear together in groups called phrases, in order to make sense. For example "u Manu ua pala ro u solo". The word "manu" which means "man" cannot appear alone. It must appear with a morpheme, in this "u" which indicates a singular idea.

In all Oan noun, verb and other phrases, the presence of the morpheme "a" before the actual noun or verb phrase, represents a negation. The phrase rather than the word is the simplest grammatical unit. The Oan language is, morphologically a synthetic language.

Nouns

Nouns are names of things.

Articles

Articles are neither definite nor indefinite. They indicated various things:

• The article "u" indicates a single person, eg. u loanu (boy)
• The article "ki" indicates more than one person, eg. ki loanu (boys)
• The article "i" indicates a non-person, eg. i reatu (island)
• The article "ti" indicates more than one non-person, eg. ti reatu (islands)
• The article "ku" indicates characteristics typically associated with a particular thing or person, eg. ku manu (manhood)

Locative

Discussed in the section on Prepositions.

Possessive

The word "ta" is the equivalent of the word "of" and is used for both nouns and pronouns to indicate possession. The word "ta" is placed after the word that is being possessed.

Verbs

Verbs are states of being. They hace three tenses: past, future and present. The ordinary tense is the present tense. They are simple eg. Ti manu haha (The men laugh). When the article of the subject precedes the verb, it functions like an auxiliary verb, eg. Ti manu ti tinini (The men are many). The second tense is the past tense. "-ile" is suffixed to the verb to indicate the past tense and the same article that precedes the noun, precedes the verb and functions like an auxiliary verb such as "was" or "did", eg. Ti manu ti hahaile (The men laughed). The third tense is the future tense. No suffix is attached to the verb. Instead the word "to" precedes the verb and succeeds the article, eg. Ti manu ti to haha (The men will laugh).

Infinitives

The infinitive is attached at the end of the clause. The verbal component of the infinitive is always in the present tense. The preposition "ta" indicates the beginning of the infinitive. The article that precedes the subject also precedes the infinitive indicator "ku". together they function as the Codexian "to". Eg. Ki manu ki koraile ta ki ku tanuha mali (The men worked to make money). The phrase can be transliterated as: T "The men worked for the making of money".

Prepositions

Prepositions indicate relation. There are different words to indicate different locations, but all prepository phrases must beginning with the word "ko" and the object must be suffixed by "-eni". Eg. Ki manu ki hanu ko reatueni (The men are on the island). The preposition functions as a verb. Eg. in the past tense: Ki manu ki hanuile ko reatueni (The men were on the island). Eg. in the future tense: Ki manu ki to hanu ko reatuenu (The men will be on the island).

Pronoun

Pronouns are nouns that take the place of the subject or object:

• Singular first person: au (I or me)
• Singular second person: autu (You)
• Singular third person: autuna (Him or her)
• Singular third person (non-person): lautuna (it or that)
• Plural first person: mau (we or us)
• Plural second person: mautu (you)
• Plural third person: mautuna (them or they)
• Plural third person (non person): kautuna (them or those)

Idioms

The Oan language is extremely idiomatic. For example the phrase "u manu ua pala ro u solo" literally means the man meets with the sun. In actual fact it means the man has awoken. This expression is used instead of "u manu ua (ki)tika". Which would mean, the man rises.

Questions

There are two ways to make a question. The first is to place the word alu or 'what' at the beginning of a sentence. It is often used together with a verb. For example: alu hoa is a question of manner, the equivalent of 'how' and so on. The most common combinations are alu hoa (manner), alu wayana (direction or route), alu kati (time), alu pita (frequency), alu ko (location), alu manu (person), alu tono (thing), alu paola (amount) and alu kopaola (position). For example: Alu manu u kaluile i telo? (Who ate the fruit).

The second way to form a question is to add the word na at the end of a normal clause. Au u ana na? (You are good?)

Imperative

Imperatives can be a single word eg. "Wayana!" (Go). They can also be sentences. The imperative is indicated by the word lua eg. Autu lua tena mama ta autu! (You shall/must/will see your mother).

Basic phrases