Kot Wawa

Kot Wawa is a personal conlang I've developed to experiment with grammatical mechanisms to make it easier to communicate clearly, and express a lot of ideas from a small amount of words and grammar rules.

This article is here to give an idea of how it works.

kót wàwa/Wordlist.

kót wàwa/Short texts

Style

It's currently a mostly analytic language, with a little bit of inflection. Nouns are not inflected for number or case. Verbs are not inflected for tense, aspect or mood.

Speech is mostly about saying the words the words you want in the right order.

The design is built around the idea of getting as much power out of verbs as possible. There are five classes of word:

1. structure word,
2. verb,
3. noun,
4. question-option, and
5. connective.

Structure words tie the other words together and mark parts of speech. Verbs are used to assert the presence of actions, and also to refer to them hypothetically. The functions of adjectives and adverbs are performed by verbs. Every verb, noun, question-option and connective word is a content word. A content word of any type can be converted to any other type by inflection.

The core vocabulary, and some of the grammar rules, come from Toki Pona, making Kot Wawa a tokiponido. The name, "Kót Wàwa", is derived from the words "toki wawa", to mean "strong speech".

Phonology

The phonology is based on looking at the structure of the space of sounds people can say and using it to enable sound changes to be applied to words to inflect them. Symmetries play a large role in the choice of sounds. It has 26 consonants, 11 vowels, and 3 tones.

Consonants

p	t	[ʈ]	c	k	[k͡p]
b	d	[ɖ]	ɟ	g	[ɡ͡b]
	s			x
m	n		ɲ	ŋ
ʋ	l	[ɻ]	j	ɰ	[w]

Some of these sounds are allophones of sequences of sounds:

	at start of word	at end of word
[ʈ]	/təc/	/cət/
[ɖ]	/dəɟ/	/ɟəd/
[ɻ]	/ləj/	/jəl/
[k͡p]	/kəp/	/pək/
[ɡ͡b]	/gəb/	/bəg/
[w]	/ɰəʋ/	/ʋəɰ/

[w] is spelt "u" when it appears just after a vowel.

/j/ is spelt "i" when it appears just after a vowel.

Vowels

i	ʉ	u
e		o
ɛ	ə	ɔ
æ	a	ɒ

Tones

á	high
a	mid
à	low

Word structure

Native unit word: (C*V)*C*VC*

Permissible unit loan word: (C|V)*

Compound word: (unit word)(unit word)

The combination of sounds into words is based on an alphabetic principle followed by a “unit word” principle. The alphabetic principle: first you allow any string of consonants and vowels, and then insert schwas after consonants or glottal stops between vowels wherever required to make the word pronounceable, or just easier to say. Then the unit word principle: Every utterance to be used is grouped into unit words, which each have a beginning and an end, and contain a sequence of syllables (at least one). Any unit word beginning with a vowel is equivalent to the same word with a glottal stop prefixed to it. The final syllable is the main syllable of the word. Every syllable before it is a minor syllable. For the end, if the last sound is a vowel, it is said long (a → a:). Syllable stress is on the final syllable, or evenly spread across the syllables. It is less important than tone and vowel length.

In a transition from one word to another, where the second word begins with a vowel, or the first word ends with a vowel, the division must be made clear. This can be done via the extra length of a final vowel, a tone change, an inserted glottal stop, creaky voice on the vowel starting the second word, a stop consonant on the end of the first word not being released etc.

The native words do not have long vowels before the end, and only ever carry a non-mid tone on the first syllable. The equivalent rules for loanwords are a bit more flexible, and will be described later.

Due to these rules, the rhythm of Kot Wawa sentences can end up quite different to Toki Pona.

Writing

Default romanisation

The default representation of Kot Wawa is an IPA phonemic transcription, which covers everything except some of the changes applied for word boundaries (such as lengthening of final vowels).

Typist-friendly romanisation

There is also an ASCII-only form, for easy typing:

Consonants

p	t	tr	c	k	kp
b	d	dr	dj	g	gb
	s			x
m	n		nj	ng
v	l	r	j / i	wg	w / u

j after a vowel is spelt "i" , w after a vowel is spelt "u".

Vowels

i	ue	u
e		o
ea	'	oa
ae	a	ao

Tones

a'	high
a	mid
a`	low

Sitelen Pona

Kot Wawa can also also be written in a variant of the Sitelen Pona script used for Toki Pona.

Grammar

Rule #1 – Verbs

V.

A verb said on its own says it’s happening.

dòk.

“It says it.”

< tok toki, ultimately < en talk

The translation could also be given as “I’m talking.” “You said it.” “They speak.” “I will speak.” etc

mòk.	“It eats it.”	< tok moku. It also means to “drink”.
bòn.	“It is good to it.”	< tok pona. It also means “It’s simple.” ult. < la bona

“bòn” is an example of a word with a lot of use in as an adjective. “bòn,” can mean “It’s good to it,” or “It’s good.” The result depends on the current context. In an empty context, it asserts that something is good to something. This is equivalent to saying something is good or there is goodness about. Every verb in Kot Wawa is defined as a transitive verb. The intransitive meaning is the same except it leaves the object unspecified. This is how adjectival senses can be derived from them.

Every verb begins with a low tone and a voiced sound e.g. a vowel or a voiced consonant.

Every content word in Kot Wawa is defined via its verb sense.

Question

Based on this info, how could I say?:

“I’m talking.”
“It was good.”

Rule #2 – Adverbs

V V.

A verb said after the first verb says that first verb does the second one.

More exactly, an action fitting the class defined for the first verb is asserted to happen, and that action does an action of the type referred to by the second verb.

This is how adverbs are applied in Kot Wawa.

mòk bòn.	“It eats well.”
zùl.	“It’s big (to it).”	< tok suli
lìli.	“It’s small (to it).”	< tok lili, ult. < en little
mòk zùl.	“It eats a lot (of it).”
bòn zùl.	“It’s very good (to it).”
bòn lìli.	“It’s a little bit good (to it).”
zùl zùl.	“It’s very big.”	lit. “it’s big and its bigness is big”

Corollary – Adverb sequences

Multiple adverbs all apply to the first verb.

dòk zùl bòn.

“It says it loudly and clearly.”

Question

Based on this information, how could I say?

“It says it well.”

“It’s a little bit big.”

Rule #3 – Nouns

N.

A noun said on its own mentions it. It doesn’t assert that anything is happening. It can just be used to put concepts into the current context, or answer a question.

ján.	“a person”	< ꜛjàn < tok jan, ult. < zh 人
pón.	“a good thing”	< ꜛbòn
súl.	“a big thing”	< ꜛzùl
tók.	“a speaker, one that says it”	< ꜛdòk

Every noun is a verb, spoken with a high tone, and if it begins with a stop consonant or fricative (e.g. p, t, tr, c, k, kp, s or x), that consonant is said voicelessly.

The meaning of every noun is “something that does V”, where V is the verb form.

As a result of this, every verb means to “be a N”, where N is its noun form.

Kot Wawa doesn’t draw a distinction between being, doing or happening. “Being a doer of x” is the same as “doing x” in Kot Wawa.

Whether a noun is definite (the) or indefinite (a) depends on context. In an empty context, they are indefinite. Nouns also don’t specify whether they are singular or plural.

Question

Based on this info, how could I say?:

“A little thing.”

“One that is eating.”

Rule #4 – Immediate objects

(V|N) N.

A noun said immediately after a verb or noun is the object of its action. When an object is specified this way, it is an immediate object. The preceding verb or noun is said to be loaded.

lùki.	“it looks at it; it sees it.”	< tok lukin, ult. < en look
bìpi.	“it’s a bug (insect, spider or other invertebrate) (to it).”	< tok pipi
pípi.	“A bug.”	< ꜛbìpi
lùki pípi.	“It looks at a bug.”
gàl.	“It’s a sea creature (fish, mollusc, marine mammal, turtle) (to it).”	< tok kala
kál.	“A sea creature.”	< ꜛgàl
mòk kál.	“It eats a a sea creature.” (e.g. “It’s eating fish.”)

One of the possible senses of “bìpi” is “There’s a bug.” In the same way, “gàl” can mean “There’s a fish.” All verbs can be used this way to establish the presence of something that does it.

A noun followed by a noun refers to something that does the first noun’s verb sense to the second noun.

wàs.	“It’s a bird (to it).”	< tok waso < fr oiseau
lúki wás.	“One that looks at a bird.” e.g. “Birdwatcher.”

Question

How could I say?:

“It eats a bug.”
“I saw a bug.”		Tense and subject can be inferred from context.

Corollary – Object chains

(V|N) N N.

When there are more than one noun objects in a row, they are each the object of the word immediately before it.

lúki tók pón.	“One that watches someone saying good things.”
lúki tók mók pón.	“One that watches one that describes (says) an eater of good things.”

Question

How could I say?:

“One that describes things that eat bugs.”

dòk = “describe”, mòk = “eat”, pípi = “bug”

Corollary – Prepositions

V V N.

Another thing that can be done with immediate objects is supply them to adverbs, turning them into prepositions.

dàu.	“It goes to it.”
bàna.	“It gives it.”
bàna dàu ján.	“It gives it to a person.”

In this example, the action of giving goes to the person, which follows the rule that adverbs are things that verbs do.

Question

How could I say?:

“It says it to a bird.”
“It talks to a bird.”		Verbs without objects can be viewed as either intransitive or acting on an inferred object.

Notation – Compound words

(V|N)-N.

The application of immediate objects is the tightest way to combine words in Kot Wawa. It is acceptable to write a word an its object as one word, so long as the boundary between the unit words is clear. The result is a compound word. You can use a hyphen, or when it’s clear, a space.

lùki-pípi.	“It looks at a bug.”
mòkkál.	“It eats a sea creature.”
lùki-wás.	“It looks at a bird.”
lúki-tókpón.	“Watcher of sayer of goot things.”
lúki-tókmókpón.	“Watcher of describer of good-thing-eater.”

In terms of pronunciation and meaning, it is the same as if you wrote the unit words separately. It’s an option to more clearly show the grouping of words that arises from the grammar.

Question

Using compound words, how could I write:

“It eats a bug.”
“It sees one eating a bug.”

Rule #5 – Adjectives

N V.

When a noun appears at the start of the sentence, it begins a noun phrase. The noun phrase contains everything from then until the next structure word or connective that ends it, or else the end of the sentence.

Within a noun phrase, any verb that appears after the noun that started it specifies something that noun does. It narrows down the concept mentioned by the noun to things that also do that verb. The result is still just mentioned rather than said to be happening.

When a verb is applied this way, it’s said to be working as an adjective.

zòn.	“It knows it.”	< tok sona
gùt.	“It listens to it.”	< tok kute
gàlam.	“It is a sound (made by it).”	< tok kalama
kálam gùt.	“A sound that is listened to.”

Question

How could I say?:

“A big bird.”
“A listener.”
“A good listener.”

Rule #6 – Introduced objects

V e NP.

When a sentence starts with a verb, if you say “e” afterwards and then a noun phrase, that noun phrase is an object of the verb.

kás.	“A plant.”	< tok kasi. It can be any kind of plant or tree.
lòn.	“It’s at/in/on it.”	< tok lon. The general word for specifying the location of something. ult. < en along
lùki e pípi.	“It looks at a bug.”
gùt e wás.	“It listens to a bird.”
lùki e pípi zùl.	“It looks at a big bug.”
lùki e wás lòn kás.	“It looks at a bird in a tree.”	where the bird is in the tree.

If you say “e” again, it ends that noun phrase and starts another one. That extra noun phrase is another object of the verb.

lùki e pípi e wás.	“It looks at a bug and a bird.”
lùki e wás lòn kás.	“It looks at a bug in a tree.”
lùki e pípi zùl e wás lìli.	“It looks at a big bug and a little bird.”

Question

How could I say?:

“It listens to a person and a bug.”
“It looks at a big tree.”

Rule #7 – One verb sentence after another

VP. VP.

When a sentence starts with a verb. It starts a verb phrase. The verb phrase continues until the next structure word or connective that ends it or else until the end of the sentence. All adverbs and introduced objects applied to that verb are part of its verb phrase.

If you say one verb phrase as a sentence and then another, what it means is

1. The first verb happens, subject to all the things you said after it in its verb phrase,
2. That verb phrase is now part of the context of the conversation,
3. The second verb happens, subject to the context, and all the things you say afterwards within its verb phrase.

gàs. zùl.	“There’s a tree. It’s big.”
lùki pípi. lùki wás.	“It looks at a bug. It looks at a bird.”
mòk e kál. bòn.	“It eats fish. It’s good.”

In these cases, the second verb phrase is likely to be related to the first. The nature of the relation isn’t specified. The second verb phrase might be done by the doer of the first one, the object of the first one, or the verb phrase itself. Telling which it is all about what seems to make the most sense. If it’s not clear enough, the speaker can add more information using the grammatical rules in this document. If it’s obvious what the second verb should mean, they can leave all that out. The ways it should be interpreted and how clear it is depend on the situation being discussed, the knowledge that the speaker and listener have of it, and what has been said already. The rule of thumb is play around with it when you can afford to, be specific when the detail matters, and get a sense for what needs to be said and what doesn’t. As long as you’re clear, everything’s good.

gàm.	“It comes.”, “It approaches.”, “It arrives (to it).”	< tok kama, ult. < en come
jò.	“It has it.”	< tok jo, ult. < zh 有
gàm. lùki. jò.	“Something comes to something. It sees it. It has it.”

Rule #7 – Verb-phrase sequences

VP li VP.

If you say the word “li” after the start of a verb phrase, it ends it. You can then say another verb phrase after it. The result says that

1. both those verb phrases happen, and
2. they are both done by the same thing.

dàu li dòk.	“It walks and talks.”
lùki-wás li mòkkál	“They look at birds and eat fish.”
jàn li dòk zùl.	“There’s a person and they’re talking loudly.”
dòk zùl.	“Someone’s talking loudly.”
dòk li zùl.	“Someone’s talking and they’re big.”

You can have more than one “li VP” combination in a sentence.

mùt.	“They are many.”, “There’s a lot of them.”	< tok mute, ult. < la multus
bìpi li lìli li mùt.	“There are bugs and they’re small and there’s a lot of them.”

You can say it as one sentence or as two. If a sentence starts with “li”, it’s done by whatever did the last one.

bàl.	“It works (on it).”, “It makes it.”	< tok pali, ult. < la facere
gàl! li zùl.	“There’s a fish! It’s a big one.”
jàn li bàl zùl. li bàl bòn.	“There’s a person and they’re working hard. They’re doing a good job.”
gàm. li lùki. li jò.	“Something comes to something. It sees it. It has it.”	In this case, it’s definite that the looking and having are done by the one that arrived.

Question

How could I say?:

“There’s a tree and it’s big.”
“There’s a person. They’re going to the tree.”

Rule #8 – Subjects

NP li VP.

If you say a noun phrase and then “li”, the “li” ends that noun phrase. If you then say a verb phrase, that noun phrase does that verb phrase. The noun phrase is then said to be the subject of the sentence.

With this rule, you can mention something and say what it’s doing.

màlak.	“It’s makes a sound.”
ján li màlak.	“A person makes a sound.”
kálam li zùl.	“The sound is loud.”
ján li màlak zùl.	“A person makes a loud noise.”
kál li mùt.	“The fish are many.”, “I’m talking about a lot of fish.”
wás li zòn.	“The bird knows.”
wás li lòn kás.	“The bird is in a tree.”, “There are birds in the trees.”

This “NP li VP” sentence structure is taken from Toki Pona.

Question

How could I say?:

“Someone is talking.”		as in “A person is talking.”
“The tree is big.”
“The bird is going.”		dàu = “go”

If you add an extra “li VP”, the subject does that verb phrase too.

ján li dàu li dòk.	“The person is walking and talking.”
wàs li dàu li mòk pípi.	“The bird is going and eating insects.”	e.g. It might be flying and eating them out of the air.
mì.	“It’s me.”	< tok mi, ult. < en me
mí li dàu.	“I go.”
mí li gàm. li lùki. li jò.	“I come. I see. I have it.”
zìna.	“It’s you.”	< tok sina
sína li bòn.	“You’re good.”

A point of difference from Toki Pona is that Kot Wawa requires mí and sína to be used with li when either of them is used alone as a subject, whereas in Toki Pona doesn’t. e.g. tok “mi tawa,” is equivalent to Kot Wawa “mí li dàu.”

Question

How could I say?:

“The fish is big and noisy.”

màlak can be used for “noisy”

Rule #9 – Subject sequences

NP en NP li VP

If start a sentence with a noun phrase and then “en” and then another noun phrase, the result is a pair of subjects. If you then say “li” and then a verb phrase, both the noun phrases do the verb phrase.

You can have many “en NP”s and many “li VP”s. The result is that every noun phrase mentioned does every verb phrase.

zòwel.	“It’s a beast.”	< tok soweli. Refers to any non-human land mammal, or more loosely, any mammal or more loosely, any animal.
wás en pípi en sówel li lònkás.	“There are birds and bugs and beasts in the tree.”
kás li jò e wás e pípi e sówel.	“The tree has birds and bugs and beasts.”

Rule #10 – Passivisation

◁CW

Any content word said backwards is its passive form. The passive form has the same meaning except the subject and the object are swapped.

To say a word backwards, you put its sounds in reverse order, leaving out any schwas or glottal stops that were added to ease pronunciation, and then add schwas or glottal stops if needed to make the new form easy to say. If the new form starts with a vowel, that vowel is short. If the new form ends in a vowel, that vowel is long. Sounds that are voiced for the verb form are unvoiced, and then verb initial voicing is done to reversed version.

gòm.	“It gets eaten.”	< ◁mòk
kót	“that which is eaten”, “food”	< ꜛgòm
nòp.	“It has it be good (to it).”, “It finds it to be good.”, “It improves it.”	< ◁bòn
lùs.	“It has it be big (to it).”	< ◁zùl
ìkul.	“It is looked at by it.”	< ◁lùki
ìpip.	“It has it be a bug/bugs to it.”, “It is infested by it.”	< ◁bìpi
wàt.	“It has it come to it.”	< ◁dàu
ànap.	“It is given (to it).”	< ◁bàna
ánap	“gift”	< ꜛànap
màlak.	“It makes a sound.”	< ◁gàlam
nòl.	“It has it there (at itself).”	< ◁lòn
nól	“location”	< ꜛnòl
òi.	“It is had by it.”	< ◁jò
òi	“is had by”, “of”
làp.	“It is made/done/worked on by it.”	< ◁bàl
láp	“product”

This inflection is used in the name of the language.

wàwa.	“It is strong.”	< tok wawa. incl. “confident”, “powerful”
gòt.	“It is said by it.”	< ◁dòk
kót	“something that is said”, “utterance”, “speech”, “language”	< ꜛgòt
kót wàwa	“strong speech”, “Kot Wawa”
kót bòn	“good speech”, “simple speech”, “Toki Pona”

Rule #11 – Negation

¬CW

If any content word has all its sounds inverted, the result is the negation of it.

To see how to invert the sounds you can look in the sound mirror.

consonants			vowels
b p	c ɟ		i	ɒ
d t	k g		e	ɔ
ɖ ʈ	kp gb		ɛ	o
z s	x ɣ		æ	u
m	ɲ		a	ʉ
n	ŋ
-ʋ ʋ	j -i		ə	ə
l	ɰ
-ɻ ɻ	w -u

ɲɛ̀t.	“It doesn’t eat it.”	< ¬mòk. ɲ is like the “ni” in “onion”. æ, the “a” in “cat”.
ɰæ̀tɒ.	“It doesn’t look at it.”, “It doesn’t see it.”	< ¬lùki. “ɰ” is like a “g” except the tongue and roof of the mouth don’t touch.
ɣɛ̀ŋ.	“It doesn’t know it.”	< ¬zòn
xɛ́ŋ.	“One who doesn’t know.”	< ꜛɣɛ̀ŋ
ʋʉ̀ŋ.	“It’s not a person.”, “It’s not human.”	< ¬jàn. “ʋ” is like a “b” except the lips don’t touch.
ɟɛ̀ŋ.	“It’s not good.”	< ¬bòn
mí li ɲɛ̀t kál.	“I don’t eat the fish.”
gʉ̀ɻ.	“It doesn’t go it it.”, “It stays.”	< ¬dàu
mí li gʉ̀ɻ.	“I don’t go.”, “I’m not going.”
ʋʉ́ŋ	“non-human”, “one that isn’t human”	< ꜛʋʉ̀ŋ
kʉ́ɻ.	“One that doesn’t go.”, “A stayer.”	< ꜛgʉ̀ɻ

As a result, denying something doesn’t have to involve mentioning it. Instead, you use a different, complementary word.

For verbs, this mechanism works the same as the “ala” modifier in Toki Pona.

For nouns, it works differently, referring to some thing or things that don’t do the original verb, rather than negating the whole sentence.

Using “àle”, you can make sweeping negations.

àle.	“It’s all of them.”, “It everything.”	< tok ale, cf. en all
ále.	“Every one.”, “Everything.”	< ◁àle
ján àle.	“Everyone.”
táu àle.	“Every traveller.”
dàu ále.	“It goes everywhere.”
mí li ɲɛ̀t e kál àle.	“I don’t eat any fish.”, “I don’t eat fish.”
mí li ɰæ̀tɒ.	“I don’t see it.”
mí li ɰæ̀tɒ-ále.	“I don’t see anything.”, “I’m blind.”, “I’m not looking at anything.”
ján àle li ɰæ̀tɒ.	“No-one sees it.”
ʋʉ́ŋ li lùki.	“Something that’s not human sees it.”

Rule #12 – Yes/no questions

(V|N) ¬Alt

You can ask whether a sentence is true by following one the words in it with its negation with a mid tone.

wìl.	“It wants/needs it.”	< tok wile, cf. en will
gìl.	“It’s a fruit/vegetable/mushroom.”	< tok kili
dèlo.	“It’s water/liquid.”, “It wets/washes it.”	< tok telo
gɔ̀ɰɛ.	“It isn’t water.”	< ¬dèlo
mí li wìl-kíl.	“I want some fruit.”
mí li wìl-télo.	“I want some water.”
sína li wìl ɻɒɯ-télo.	“Do you want some water?”
sína li wìl-télo-kɔɰɔ.	“Is it water you want?”
kíl li bòn cɛŋ?	“Is the fruit good?”
sína li bòn cɛŋ?	“Are you good?”, “How are you?”

Answering

To answer, you pick the correct word, and say it in the verb or noun form, in the same form as the word that was questioned.

A: sína li bòn cɛŋ? B: bòn.	A: “Are you well?” B: “Yes.”, A: “How are you?” B: “Good.”
A: sína li bòn cɛŋ? B: ɟɛ̀ŋ.	A: “Are you well?” B: “No.”, A: “How are you?” B: “Not good.”
A: sína li wìl-télo-kɔɰɔ. B: télo.	A: “Is it water you want?” B: “Yes.”
A: sína li wìl-télo-kɔɰɔ. B: kɔ́ɰɔ. mí li wìl-kíl.	A: “Is it water you want?” B: “No. I want fruit.”

Rule #13 – Wh-questions

sem

The content word “sem”, in any of its forms, asks what belongs where it is. It is equivalent to the word “what” from English.

zèm	“What is happening?”, “What is it doing (to it)?”	< tok seme, ult. < zh 什么／什麼
sém.	“What are you talking about?”
ján li zèm.	“What is the person doing?”
nì.	“It’s this.” “It does this to it.”	< tok ni < zh 呢
ní li zèm.	“What is this?”, “What is this doing?”
sína li bàl-sém?	“What are you making?”
sína li bàl zèm?	“How are you making it?”
bìli.	“It feels it.”	< tok pilin, ult. < en feel
sína li bìli zèm?	“How do you feel?”

Rule #14 – unu

(V|N) unu (V|N)

The word “unu” means “or”. It can be used on verbs or on nouns. It goes after the first option, where an adverb or adjective would go.

unu	“or”	< tok anu
wèn.	“It stays (at it).”	< tok awen
mí li dàu unu wèn.	“I will go or stay.”
wás unu sówel li lòn-kás.	“There’s a bird or a beast in the tree.”

Rule #15 – unu questions

(V|N) unu QO

The word “unu” can also be used with a question-option word to form a question asking which of its arguments the sentence is true for. A question-option word is a noun or verb without tone or verb-voicing on the first sound, that is used as an option for the listener to choose from. The choice is between the word before “unu” and the question option word afterwards.

Like for yes/no questions, answering is done by saying the option that applies, in the form that was questioned.

sína li wìl e télo unu kil?	“Do you want water or fruit?”
kíl.	“Fruit.”	< tok kili
wás li wèn unu tau?	“Is the bird staying or going?”
dàu.	“It’s going.”	< tok tawa < en towards

You can combine this type of question with “sem” to create a question where you propose an idea and invite alternatives.

sína li dàu unu sem?	“Are you going?”	lit. “are you going or what?” though not intended to convey annoyance
sína li wìl télo unu sem?	“What would you like? Water?”

Rule #16 – pre-verbs

PV VP

Most verbs in Kot Wawa take a noun as an object. There are two verbs that don’t. They instead take a verb phrase as immediate object. You say them just before the verb you apply them to. They are called pre-verbs.

àn x.	“It’s an instance of doing x.”	< a common Germanic verb ending - nl -an and en -en
ʉ̀ŋ x.	“It’s not an instance of doing x.”
ní li án zòn.	“This is knowledge.”
ní li àn bàl bòn.	“This is good work.”
ní li ʉ̀ŋ bàl bàna dàu-sína.	“This is not work for you.”, “This is not being done for you.”

“ʉ̀ŋ” is the negative form of “àn” created by Rule #11 – Negation.

The pre-verbs can also be inflected into nouns. The pre-verb noun “án” allows you to refer the action performed by a verb phrase in any place where a noun would go.

án x.	“An instance of doing x.”, “The instance of doing x.”
ŋʉ́ x.	“Something other than an instance of doing x.”
mí li wìl-án zòn.	“I want the knowing.”,“I want to know.”
mí li dàu-án màlak.	“I go to the noise making.”, “I’m going to the concert.”, “I’m going to make some noise.”
mí li zòn-án màlak.	“I know the noise making.”, “I know how to make noise.”

These can be interpreted as acting on an event that is happening outside the subject, or one that is done by the subject itself. The sense where it is the speaker doing the action, is very productive.

gèn.	“It can do it.”	< tok ken, ult. < en can
ján li gèn-ní.	“The person can do this.”
ján li gèn-án bàl-kóm.	“The person can make food/drink.”
kíl li wèn.	“Some fruit stays.”
gèu-kíl.	“Some fruit stays.”, “The fruit is kept.”
sówel li gèu-kíl.	“The beast keeps fruit.”
sówel li gèu-án mòk.	“The beast keeps eating.”
làpe.	“It sleeps.”, “It rests.”, “It lazes.”	< tok lape cf. en sleep
mí li làpe.	“I sleep.”, “I’m asleep.”
mí li wìl-án gèu-án làpe.	“I want to keep sleeping.”
èpo.	“It begins.”, “It starts.”, “It opens up.”	< ◁òpe
òpe.	“It starts it.”, “It opens it.”	< tok open < en open
mí li òpe-ní.	“I’m opening this.”, “I’m starting this.”
mí li òpe-án lùki.	“I’m starting the looking.”, “I’m starting to look.”
sówel li gàm.	“A beast is coming.”
sówel li gàm-án zùl.	“A beast is approaching largeness.”, “The beast is growing.”

“án” effectively provides another way to turn verbs into nouns. It can be seen as an infinitive, action nominalisation, or -ness suffix for adjectives.

Rule #17 – Connectives

sentence Cn; sentence Cn sentence

You can describe or connect entire sentences with connectives.

Connectives are a form of content word. They have a mid tone and no verb-voicing on the first sound. Connectives have the same meanings as their verb forms except they apply those meanings to sentences instead of nouns.

òs.	“I want it to do it.”, “Can you please make it do it?”	< tok o. imperative construction. polite by default.
dàs.	“It’s the only one.”, “It’s here despite it.”	< tok taso.
à.	“It’s amazing.”, “It’s special.”, “I just want to mention it.”	< tok a. general emotion marker, can be tagged onto words to highlight them or colour them through the way you say it.
là-ní.	“In the context of it, this is here.”, “In the context of it, this is true.”	The concept of context here is very broad, and roughly equivalent to the effect that a sentence has on the one that follows it.
lòn-ní.	“It’s here.”, “It’s now.”, “It’s at this thing.”
nɔ̀.	“It’s that thing.”, “That is happening.”	< vi nó “that”, apparently descended from the same word pair as ni.
sína os bàna-télo dàu-mí.	“Can you please give me some water?”
os bàna gàm.	“Can you please bring it?”
mí li jò e kíl dàs.	“I only have fruit.”
mí li dàu dàs.	“I’m just going.”, “All I’m doing is going/walking/moving.”
mí li dàu dàs sówel.	“I’m going despite the beast.”
dùsnom.	“It’s scared (of it).”	< ◁mònsut
mí li dùsnom.	“I’m scared.”
mí li dàu dàs-án dùsnom.	“I’m going despite my fear.”
mí li dùsnom zàt-án dàu.	“I’m scared but I’m going.”
mí li dùsnom sat mí li dàu.	“I’m scared but I’m going.”
mí li dàu. mí li bìli bòn.	“I’m going. I feel good.”
mí li dàu là-án bìli bòn.	“I’m going and in that, I feel good.”
mí li dàu la mí li bìli bòn.	“If I go I feel good.”, “If I go, I’ll be happy.”
ní li bòn à.	“This is great.”
ní li bòn a!	“This is great!”
mà.	“It’s a place.”, “There’s land.”, “It’s the land of it.”	< tok ma
má nì li nòl-án wàt-wás.	“This place has birds going.”, “This place has birds going to it.”, “There are birds flying here.”
má nì nol wás li dàu.	“This place has birds going.”, “There are birds flying here.”
ján o!	“Hey you, person there!”	< tok o. Used to let someone know you’re talking to them.

About “la”

When a connective joins two sentences together, the first sentence is not necessarily asserted as true. With the connective “la”, this can be used to couch a second sentence within a context set by the first without having to claim that that first sentence is true. This can be used to create “if-then” statements.

zèu.	“It’s above it.”, “It’s high up.”, “It’s divine.”
séu li bàna-télo la mí li wèn lòn-ní.	“If the above gives water, I’ll stay here.”, “If it rains then I’ll stay here.”
kóm li bòn la sówel li mòk.	“If the food is good, the beast will eat.”

“la” is the general purpose connective for combining two sentences. Sometimes, it’s possible to use a more specific one.

án bàl li bàna-án zòn.	“Work brings knowledge.”
bàl la zòn.	“If one works, one will know.”
bàl pana zòn.	“If one works, this will give knowledge.”, “Work brings knowledge.”
zùn.	“It shines.”, “It’s the sun.”	< tok suno, ult. < en sun
séu li zùn lòn-má.	“On the land, the sky is bright.”, “On the land, it’s sunny.”
má la séu li zùn.	“On the land, it’s sunny.”
má nol séu li zùn.	“On the land, it’s sunny.”

Any verb can be turned into a connective and used as one. However, most of Kot Wawa’s features for refining meaning are based around verbs, so if you have trouble being clear using a connective, you might want to use it as a verb instead.

Hypotheticals with “an”

If you want to be clear that you’re stating a sentence as a hypothetical, you can prefix it with the connective “an”.

an mí li dàu.	“Suppose I went.”
an mí li dàu la mí li bìli bòn.	“If I went, I’d feel good.”

The boundary between question-option words and connectives

Question-option words and connectives have the same form as each other, so telling which form a word is being used as depends on how it’s being used.

If it follows a negative version of itself or the word “unu”, it’s a question-option. Otherwise, it is to be seen as a connective.

If happen to find a case where it would make more sense to deviate from this rule, you can try it, but you must make sure you are clear enough for what needs to be said.

Rule #18 – pi

(V|N) pi (VP|NP)

You can use a whole phrase instead of a single word with the structure word “pi”.

dòm.	“it’s a building.”, “it’s a house.”, “it’s the home of it.”	< tok tomo, ult. < PIE *dṓm “house”, “home”
tóm	“building”, “house”, “home of it”
mí li dòk lòn-tóm.	“I talk in the house.”
mí li dòk lon tóm nì.	“If I talk, it’s in this house.”
mí li dòk lòn-pi tóm nì.	“I talk in this house.”
zìk.	“It’s a circle.”, “It goes around it.”, “It’s round.”
kíl zìk.	“A round fruit.”
mí li mòk e kíl zìk zùl.	“I’m eating a big round fruit.”
mí li mòk e kíl pi zìk zùl.	“I’m eating a very round fruit.”

In writing compound words, “pi” is joined to the word before it when the word after it is a noun, but written separately when the word after it is a verb. “pi” is never joined to the next word after it, since what follows is not an object chain but rather a full phrase.

“pi” phrases can also be nested.

mí li dòk lòn-pi tóm pi zìk zùl.

“I talk in a very round building.”

By default, they all run to the end of the phrase they are in.

“pi” can be very useful when using prepositions.

dèm.	“It’s a time.”, “It’s the time when it happens.”, “It’s the time for it.”	< tok tenpo, cf. fr temps, en tempo
tém zùn.	“A shining time.”, “A day.”
tém zùn nì.	“Today.”
mí li dàu lòn-pi tém zùn nì.	“I’m going today.”

Rule #19 – ip and na

(V|P) (e|pi) (VP|NP) ip (VP|NP).(PV|PN) VP na VP.

If you are in a “pi”-phrase or an introduced object and you want to apply a word to the head word of the phrase that contains it, you can do so by first saying “ip”.

mí li dòk e wás zùl lòn-kás ip-lòn-tóm.	“I describe a big bird that’s in the tree while I’m in the house.”
mí li dòk lòn-pi tóm pi zìk zùl ip lìli.	“I talk in a very round little building.”
mí li bàna e kíl mùt ip-dàu-pi ján nɔ̀ ip-lòn-pi tém zùn nì.	“I’m giving a lot of fruit to that person today.”

A pre-verb, or pre-verbal noun, takes an entire verb phrase as its argument. If you want to apply a word to it instead of its argument, you can, by fixing the word with “na”.

ján nɔ̀ li wìl-án bòn zùl.	“They want to be very good.”
ján nɔ̀ li wìl-án bòn na-zùl.	“They really want to be good.”

One way to look at it is to see “e”, “pi” and “an” as opening brackets, and “ip”, and “na” as their corresponding closing brackets.

This grammatically allows a lot of nesting of phrases. However, if you or your listener find it hard to keep track of, you might want to break up your sentence instead.