kawaba
the language of parts
lesson 1 - compound words
In Kawaba, each root word carries a range of meanings, but their real power shines when combined together. Compound words let you shape the language to fit your needs, turning a handful of roots into a limitless vocabulary.
vocabulary
noun
modifier
I, me, us, we
my, our, mine, ours
noun
modifier
you, you (plural)
your, yours, your (plural), yours (plural)
noun
modifier
they, them, he, him, she, her, it
their, theirs, his, her, hers, its
noun
modifier
kind, variety, sort, type
varied, various, diverse, assorted
noun
modifier
speaking, speech, communication
said, spoken, communicated
noun
modifier
part, piece, section, component
partial, in part
noun
modifier
someone, person, human, being, entity, individual
someone's, personal, human, sapient
noun
modifier
emotion, feeling, sense, experirence, perception
emotional, sensory, perceptual
noun
modifier
goodness, positivity, benefit
good, positive, beneficial, helpful
noun
modifier
badness, negativity, harm
bad, negative, harmful, unhelpful
head and modifier roots
In Kawaba, a word is made up of one or more roots. The first root in a word is the head root and carries the base meaning of the word. A head root may either be a noun or a verb depending on its position in the sentence. This can be modified by any number of subsequent modifier roots.
You can hover over examples to see the meanings of each root individually.
In the example above, ka is the head root and wa is its modifier root. This forms the compound word meaning language, a kind of speaking. This compound word can be futher modified by adding another root to the end.
This forms the name of the language, Kawaba, the language of parts.
more than the sum of their parts
Compound words in Kawaba often have a more nuanced meaning than simply the combination of their parts. The meaning of a compound word is shaped by the context and intent of the speaker.
In this example, the compound word saji can simply good person, or it can also mean a friend, an acquaintance, or an ally. If a distinction needs to be made, addition roots can be used to clarify the meaning.
Similarly, the compound word moji can be used to refer to any good feeling, such as happiness, joy, or contentment. However, it can also be used as an interjection to mean hello.
possessives
Kawaba has three pronoun words, mi, to, and la, which correspond to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person pronouns respectively. These can also be as modifiers used to indicate possession.
compound modifiers
A compound word can itself be used as a modifier by placing a hyphen before the compound in the word. This is pronounced as stress on the following syllable.
Without the hyphen, the word would be interpreted as a good human language, rather than a language of friends. It is advisable not to use more than one compound modifier in a word, as this can lead to confusion.
For example, the above sentence is ambiguous and could be interpreted as either a happy friendly language or a language of happy friends depending on the order of compounding.