CONJUNCTIONS

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Joining Words with c'

This co-joining "c'", is pronounced /c/ in front of consonants, and /c'/ in front of vowels. It introduces a genitival relationship between the words connected, the word following being the "owner" of the preceding word:

• i skaec'siahan = running + deer's (A deer runs)
• i sikac'pila = green + grass' (The grass is green)
• i heinayuc'batu = eating + infant's (The infant eats)
• i qakic'pai = stick + elder's (The elder's stick)
• i famac'qakic'pai = unexpected absence + stick's + elder's (The elder's stick is missing)
• i famac'laqyic'beasmoi = absence + ring's + mother's + her (Her mother's ring is missing)

c' is actually a contraction of the prepositional locative 'co-' which means "originating from". When pronunciation is difficult, c' often becomes 'ceh'. In daily speech, c' is often left unpronounced.

c' is not necessary before pronominal roots or certain other words, however, it is often inserted before 'mehi / moi', 'mak', 'fehwa', 'faho' and 'fehi', especially following perceptual attributes:

• i liaxmehi / i liaxc'moi = erotic beauty + her (She is beautiful)

Joining Ideas With 'dan'

The last two sentences above are grammatically possible, but stylistically gauche as far as draqa is concerned. There is a word 'dan', which means "about; with regards to; concerning; as far as", which is used to join ideas. This word is used quite freely:

• i fama dan qakic'pai = [absence] [with regards to] [stick + elder's] "It's missing, with regards to the elder's stick"
• i fama dan laqyic'beasmoi = "It's missing, with regards to her mother's ring"
• i taiakxan dan síacoi = [realization + my] [with regards to] [no things (abstract)] "I realize that it is lacking, empty, futile"
• i bokoxan dan liuc'fehi = [talking + my] [with regards to] [beauty + xemba's] "I talk about the beauty of xemba"
• i sokormoi dan heiduía = [high-quality + her] [with regards to] [singing] "She excels at singing"
• i fwawiax dan heikiehkya = [liking + my] [with regards to] [fish-eating] "I like to eat fish"
• i qaixan dan skae = [desire + my] [with regards to] [running] "I want to run"
• a síac'hoimehi dan piaclan = ["She has no friends"] [with regards to] [city] "She has no friends in (the) city"
• a síac'hoimoidan fama = ["She has no friends"] [with regards to] [absence] "She has no friends who are unexpectedly absent"

The last two sentences are not quite accurately translated, because context can radically alter their meanings (e.g. a síac'hoimoi dan piaclan = "She has no friendly relationships with a city") and also because English really can't provide good translations. Hopefully, however, by their presentation here, you can get a slightly better feel of the true meaning of 'dan'.

The lack of a good English translation is something to get used to with draqa, because except for the most basic sentences, there are few sentences that can be well translated in either direction. Even the word 'taiac' above (translated here as "realization") has more of a meaning that includes "searching; discovery". You may have also noticed the problems with the word 'fama'.

Connectors

Intersegmental connectors are among the most important particles in the draqa language. You have already run into 'dan' above, which indicates a very general type of relationship. As you will notice, it is typical of draqa to sequence rather short phrases whose relevance lies in the nature of their relationship to one another:

• he --- continuation of an idea, unifying connection of ideas
• miskwa'a --- "and at the same time"
• kwmaskweh --- "and then"
• bái --- directly causing, "and as a direct result ..."
• awio --- indirectly causing, "which indirectly causes ..."
• doi --- "because of this mechanism: "; also answer to "how?" ("by this method: ") *emphasis on cause
• dada --- "because of this reason: ", "so that" *emphasis on intent
• nehneh --- however, in spite of the fact
• a'peh --- however, and (introducing a surprising outcome)
• sáan --- (but) not, instead of, (rather) than

Sometimes these are used in ways that you might not expect:

• i beasmoi he pai - [mother + her] [and] [elder] = "Her mother is an elder"
• i skaexan he bukixan - [running + my] [and] [playing around + my] = "I run and play"
• i sokorc'nayu he fwaxan - [good quality + food's] [and] [liking + my] = "The food is of good quality, and I like that"
• i heinayuc'batu miska'a wiax - [eating + infant's] [simultaneously] [I] = "I do it [e.g. 'eat', etc.] while the infant eats"
• i heinayuc'batu kwmaskweh wiax - [eating + infant's] [and then] [I] = "The infant eats, and then I do it [e.g. 'eat', etc.]"
• i sokorc'nayu bái xaxan - [good quality + food's] [directly causing] [pleasure + my] = "The food is of good quality, which causes me to enjoy it"
• i wiax bái jakamehi - [I] [directly causing] [violence + your] = "I hurt you with violence" (lit. "I (do it), and it directly causes your violence")
• i wiax awio jakamehi - [I] [indirectly causing] [violence + your] = "Because of me, for some reason (intentional or unintentional), you are violenced"
• i famac'piaclan doi heixehikr - [absence + city's] [due to] [fire burning] = "The city is gone because it was burned down"
• i sfeaxan doi famamoi - [sadness + my] [due to] [absence + her] = "I am sad because she won't be here"
• i sfeaxan dada famamoi - [sadness + my] [so that] [absence + her] = "I am sad so that she won't be here"
• i popoxan nehneh sehiskae - [fear + my] [however] [not + running] = "I am afraid, but don't run anyway"
• i popoxan a'peh sehiskae - "I am afraid, but surprisingly, don't run away!"
• i heinayuc'batu a'peh pila - [eating + infant's] [however] [grass] = "The infant is eating, [and it is] surprisingly grass!"
• i sehiheimanamoi sáan heiduía - [not + dancing + her] [rather] [singing] = "She isn't dancing, but singing"

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