Wawa-pakekeke-wawa
The language spoken by the Bwap race.
Handy Phrases[edit]
The pilot started up our starship (nervous). | Ekebkapwe baa-absaepas. |
You didn't fill out your paperwork (angry). | Se-baba etesbob ba. |
Also I will not fill it out tomorrow (irritated). | Oe pawat-wes etestas. |
I thank [you] (exclamatory). | Sakesar [ko]. |
[Irony] Carry your starship in a sealed container. | Oatateb kowaaabsaepas atawwebpatta! |
@#$@! (irritated). | Kasawates. |
@#$@! (exclamatory or urgent). | Bekesser. |
@#$@! (angry). | Bataabbeb. |
Description (Specifications)[edit]
Wawa-pakekeke-wawa, also known as Wapawab-kebwapefeab, is the language used ritually -- and in everyday speech, since they're much the same thing to this culture -- by the Bwaps (or to use their full name, the Bawapakerwa-a-a-awapawab).
This language is used across much of Charted Space, in former territories of the Vilani First Imperium, the Ziru Sirka. It is particularly common in the coreward and central territories of the Third Imperium, in the Julian Protectorate, and in the Third Empire of Gashikan.
The language of the most-famed and skilled bookkeepers of Charted Space, it is a language of intense organization, order, logic, codes, ciphers, and functional hierarchies. Almost all governments of means would hire a few Bwap bookkeepers if at all possible -- and while almost all Bwaps are talented linguists, where they go, so does Wawa-pakekeke-wawa and its many shorthand and coded variants.
Structure[edit]
Its sentence structure is of the form Verb – Object – Subject. The verb itself encodes the subject pronoun and state or emotion, so a simple transitive sentence could simply consist of an inflected verb and an object.
Verb Morphology[edit]
Verbs are suffixed with one or two syllables that carry the subject and the speaker’s state of being or emotional reaction. The consonants of this syllable carry the state, while the vowel carries the pronoun. Please note however that in real life Bwaps have some complications to this scheme.
Suffix | Emotion/State | Suffix | Emotion/State |
---|---|---|---|
bab, pab | Anger | ta- | Joking or Light |
bwa-, pwa- | Bewildered, surprise, interjection | tas | Irritation |
-ak | Apologetic, Conciliatory, Open | sab | Lamentation, Sad |
(a)wab | Conspiratorial | bat, pat | Negativity, Moody |
(a)wat | Defensive | bwas, pwas | Persuasive |
tab | Exhaustion | bwath, pwath | Questioning |
(a)wa- | Fear | (a)wath | Rational, Calm |
tak | Greed, Hunger | bwa, pwa | Tentative, Cautious or Nervous |
fab | Happy | sar | Urgency or Exclamatory |
For example, the first-person conjugation of the verb ada “I run” is:
Adabab I run (angrily). Adabwa- I run (surprised). Ada-ak I run (apologetic). Adawab I run (conspiratorial). Adawat I run (defensive). Adatab I run (exhaustion). Adawa- I run (fear). Adatak I run (hungry or greed). Adafab I run (happy). Adata- I run (joking). Adatas I run (irritated). Adasab I run (sad). Adapat I run (moody). Adapwas I run (persuasive). Adapwath I run (questioning). Adawath I run (calm). Adapwa I run (cautious). Adasar I run (urgency).
As mentioned before, the vowel of the “emotional suffix” changes based on the subject:
A I AA We O You OE You dual OA You plural E He/She/It
So for example, the conjugation of “to run (calmly)” is:
Adawath I run calmly. Adawaath We run calmly. Adawoth You run calmly. Adawoeth You two run calmly. Adawoath You-all run calmly. Adaweth He runs calmly. Adaweath They run calmly.
With the subject fused into the manner or state suffix, the verb can deliver a compact stand-alone sentence.
Kebwapewoeb. “You two are talking (conspiratorially).”
Tense, Aspect, and Negation[edit]
These are carried on a separate word, e.g. "yesterday", "in the past", "tomorrow", etc. They typically have positive and negative forms.
Did/didn’t (in the past) waa/se-baba Did/didn’t (yesterday). ebaa/ko-tabeth Doesn’t or isn’t. sepaoa Will/wont (tomorrow). ateka/pawat-wes Will/won’t. watses/eta-wapa
Conjunctions[edit]
Conjunctions are tiny words, used like we do in Anglic or English.
And, but ke- Either/Or e Also oe
Examples
Se-baba kapa-ak ke-kapa-ak eta-wapa.
I’m sorry: I did not travel, and travel I will not.
Ateka sa-ak e sa-ok.
I’m sorry: [either] tomorrow I go, or you go.
Pronouns[edit]
1p Ba 1p plural Baa- 2p Ko 2p dual Koe 2p plural Kowa 3p Se 3p plural Sewa
Possessives[edit]
Nouns are marked for possession (via a pronoun) and number. The pronoun is prefixed to the head noun.
Absaepas The ship (ownership unknown) Baabsaepas My ship Baa-absaepas Our ship Koabsaepas Your ship Koeabsaepas Your (dual) ship Kowaabsaepas Y’all’s ship Seabsaepas His ship Sewaabsaepas Their ship
Number[edit]
Nouns are typically ambiguous in number; when a specific number is needed, it is prefixed with a dash to the head noun:
Dapab-absaepas Five ships
With possessive nouns, the number is inserted with dashes in between the possessive pronoun and the head noun.
Ba-dapab-absaepas My five ships
Using Verbs to Describe Nouns[edit]
Inflect a verb in the third person, then chain it using a dash (-) and attach it to the noun to be described. Thus Wapawab-kebwapefeab “happily talking trees” (literally “Tree(s) they-talk-happily”), the Bwap word for the Bwap language.
Of-The (Genitive)[edit]
-a-a+. This noun prefix literally means “of the”. So a-awapawab means “of the tree”. This is usually tacked to the end of a head noun, as in Kabbabset-a-awapawab “knowledge of the tree”.
Deriving Words[edit]
Properly called “derivational morphology”, here are prefixes and suffixes which let you derive new words from others.
Affix | Meaning | Type | Example |
---|---|---|---|
+sat | Process or State | noun | kabbabsat knowledge |
ta- | Associated Person | noun | ta-weka fighter |
-a | Place | noun | bada-a book-place (library) |
da+ | Collection | noun | dawapawab jungle |
ka+ | Plural | noun | kawapawab many jungles |
pe+ | Nicely humid | noun | pekawapawab steamy jungles |
? | Tool | noun | cutter (knife) |
? | Diminutive | noun | doggie |
ke- | Augmentative | noun | ke-kattar “honorable” rights |
? | Inhabitant | noun | Reginan |
? | Negative (un-, a-) | adj | un-known |
? | Characteristic | adj | stellar |
+pas | Characteristic | noun | saepas star |
ab+ | Vehicle | noun | absaepas starship |
+ate | Associated Action | verb | kaabwate shoot |
Letters may change when deriving new words. For example, /bp/ changes to /pp/, so Tebpas “vehicle”, formed from Teb “carry” and Pas “characteristic”, changes to “Teppas”.
ea => a kaabwe + ate = kaabwate bp => pp teb + pas = teppas
Phonology[edit]
Outsiders might conclude that the language is overly simplistic and highly repetitive. While it has only 3 vowels and 12 consonants (including a click represented by “-”) in the standard alphabetic transliteration to Galanglic -- which is known as Bawewa-bawap -- Wawa-pakekeke-wawa is highly tonal, meaning that each syllable can be spoken in one of five different tones. Tonal variations are sometimes represented by subscripts following each syllable; thus the word for “Tree of Life’ -- Wapawab -- can be written as Wa3pa1wab5, which is a totally different word from Wa3pa1wab4 or Wa3pa1wab3.
Bwap speech has been described as “talking under mud”. The words flow and bubble; the language isn't easy for Humans to master, but isn't unpleasant to listen to.
Lexicon[edit]
A[edit]
• Ada: Run (v)
• Ao: Talk (v)
• Asa-wakaba-atewa: "New urban place for those dry creatures from the stars"
• Asa-wakaba Wath-po: "To meet those dry creatures from the stars", a starport
• Asa-wakaba: Non-Bwap, "those dry creatures from the stars"
• Atewa: "Place for, new place for". Found in many city names.
• Atkaseb: Kaftan-like robe interwoven with thin pipes filled with water
• Atapas-atta-wapawab: Grand Council of Crèches, the governing body within Bwap culture that presides over the formation and continued existence of Bwap crèches. Most Imperial authorities view the Atapas-atta-wapawab more as an administrative department within Bwap culture than an actual political entity, and so haven't acted against its influence. Media typically use the term to refer to Bwap-dominated worlds within twenty parsecs of Marhaban. Students of Bwap culture recognize that the Grand Council presides over all Bwap crèches, not just those fairly close to the Bwap homeworld.
• Atapas: "Council", or "great council" since it carries connotations of grandeur and respect.
• Atta: "Womb"
• Atta-wapawab: "Life Tree Womb", Crèche. Nursery, boarding school and government facility.
• Awahallapah: Large aquatic predator native to Marhaban.
• Awak: A plant sap that forms a rubber-like substance when treated with a mild acid solution.
• Awapabaw: "Swamp"
• Awapabaw-a-pawa-a: "Ocean"
• Awapawab: "Limbs of the Tree of Life"
• Awe-wa: "Vilani"
B[edit]
• Ba: Leaf; Paper
• Bada: Book
• Bada-a: Library
• Bapawa-a-a-bap: Thick trunked tree with blue leaves. It bears a large edible purple fruit.
• Bawapakerwa-a-a-awapawab: Bwaps; the dwellers in the limbs of the Tree of Life
• Bawapakerwa-a-awapa: A female Bwap. Traditionally "life giver".
• Bawapakerwa-a-bawpa: A male Bwap. Traditionally "not life giver".
• Bawabkaerwa-paaba-a: Humaniti, also any sophont that isn't Bwap.
• Bawewa-bawap: Informal alphabet
• Bwarabawap: Marhaban
D[edit]
• Dawa-daw: Bamboo-like swamp plant
• Dawapawab: Jungle
• Debsakwortab: A food
• Depwethawa: A predatory animal native to Marhaban
E-J[edit]
• Ekebka: Ignite, start (v)
• Esawawab: "Port". From a term referring to a nexus point in the wapawab.
• Etes: Fill (v)
• Fathpebwewa-bwapawep: Formal alphabet
• Fewab-a-wewaka: Ceremonial staff
K[edit]
• Kaabwate: Shoot (v)
• Kabapa-kapa-wapapab: A spherical grub
• Kabbab: Know (v)
• Kabbabset: Knowledge
• Kabkowekabkade-akasteb: "Mental illness". A criminal. "Chaos".
• Kabwadath-a-fepeab: "Mountain"
• Kapa-bawabaw: Herbivorous mollusc native to Marhaban
• Kapkatabwas: Dignity
• Kapsebe: "Vargr", also a pirate
• Kasepbewa-atta-wapawab: Planetary Council of Crèches
• Ke-kattar: Rights
• Kebwape: Talk (v)
• Kekepabweke-a: A shrub-like plant with blue leaves that bears an edible seed pod
• Kewabta-apab-wa: Armour. Traditionally the ceremonial armour worn by the Tap-a-wewaka-atapas.
O[edit]
• Obebsaek: Local currency in Bwap communities on Sashar; the amount of water, food and power an adult Bwap used daily
P[edit]
• Pa-a-bewsa: A hatchling, also a naïve individual
• Pabath: A food
• Paesab: A clutch or group of Bwap eggs
• Paesab-webab: A mud bath
• Pakekeke: "Sounds"
• Pannawa-aa-naa: Literally "old wise ones", or Elders
• Pawab: "Tree"
• Parawba: Domesticated riding and beast of burden native to Marhaban
• Pawbawa-a-pawa: Marsh grass with long tangled leaves that grow below the water
• Pawbawepka: Domesticated predator native to Marhaban
• Pawathe-a-webab-paesab: The ritual of mud bathing
• Pe-wapawab: Patterns in the tree of life
• Pe-wapawab-pefoba: Constellations, traditionally the 'patterns in the night sky'
• Pefoba: "Stars", "night sky", referencing to the visual of small lights in darkness
• Peka: "Beloved and small"
• Peka-wapakat: Sun, the star Glowl; the word begins with the component for “beloved and small” -- certainly it was small when viewed from the planet.
• Peka-wapawab: Informal name for the Bwap homeworld.
• Pepasa-babbaba: "Rain"
• Pesta-wasakeswasa: Weather control installation
• Pewakwa: The time alone a pair of Bwaps spend before mating
R[edit]
• Reepa-reep: Winged reptile native to Marhaban, often kept as pets
S[edit]
• Sa: Go (v)
• Saba-a-wabwabwa: A game, a little like chess
• Sae: Shine (v)
• Saepas: Star
• Sake: Thank (v)
• Satha-a-atta-wapawab: "Elder of the Crèche". The Satha-a-atta-wapawab serve their crèche combining aspects of mentors, seekers, diplomats and priests.
• Satha-a-wewaka-atapas: "Elder Guardian", from (and referring to) Tap-a-wewaka-atapas
• Satha: Associated to the Pannawa-aa-naa (the Elders)
T[edit]
• Ta-kaabwe: Gunner
• Ta-teppas: Pilot
• Ta-wase: Engineer
• Ta-weka: Fighter
• Tabbap: Be free (v)
• Tabbe-e-a: "Lighting"
• Taesweb: Ceremonial staff-like weapon used by the Tap-a-wewaka-atapas
• Talaa: Extended crèche line, an aspect of the Bwap kinship system
• Tap-a-wewaka-atapas: "Guardians of (the Council of) Order". The Tap-a-wewaka-atapas preserve and enforce the Bwap philosophy of Wapawab.
• Tapapath-a-a-pawatapas: Whip sword
• Taswa: Be fruitful (v)
• Taswabwapeaspa: Professional or business term for the Bwap homeworld. Loosely, "fruitful branch of the great tree".
• Tatwawa: A food
• Te-wekath: Webbing worn on the body to carry or store personal items
• Teb: Carry (v)
• Teppas: Vehicle
• Tho-esawawab: "Downport"
W[edit]
• Wa-bawapakerwa-a-a-a-awa-pawabawabawaba: Formal name for the Bwap homeworld. "Small branch of the great tree that floats in the vast ocean."
A tonal shift could make it "even smaller branch", meaning there are ships named Wa-bawapakerwa-a-a-a-awa-pawabawabawaba operating out of Wa-bawapakerwa-a-a-a-awa-pawabawabawaba, which confuses Humans to no end.
• Wabak: A food
• Wabwe-ebta-paseb: Swamp ambush predator native to Marhaban.
• Waebpo-sas-a-a-pase: "Knowledge not found in Wapawab."
• Wak-a-wekapak: A sprawling vine with deep green leaves. It bears an edible fruit.
• Wapawab: Often translated as “the Tree of Life”, Wapawab is the philosophy that dominates Bwap culture. The central core of the Wapawab philosophy is that every individual serves a specific duty and fulfils a specific role within their pawab (literally, tree, but now used to refer to one’s immediate social organization.)
• Wapawab-kebwapefeab: "Happily talking trees", another name for the Bwap language
• Wapawab-wea-fe: A scroll holding the writings of the Bwap philosophy
• Wase: Push, Drive (v)
• Wawa: Knowledge; Wisdom
• Wawa-ewa: A superstition. Traditionally an evil spirit that stole the knowledge of the Wapawab from sleeping Bwaps.
• Wawa-pakekeke-wawa: "Sounds of knowledge". A common name for the Bwap language.
• Wea-fe: "Book". Traditionally a scroll; not to be confused with bada.
• Webebta: Loss of focus. Traditionally an evil spirit that took one's attention from the Wapawab.
• Weka: Fight (v)
• Wepasab: Ceremonial armour
• Wewaka: "Correct order". Things as they should be, providing a structure that Bwaps find comforting. Other translations include "seemly order".
• Wewaka-atapas: "Council of Seemly Order", the overseeing body of accountants
• Wawathwa-pabessab: "Ritual". The proper way of doing things in an ordered manner.
• Waweta: "Nonsense"; Not making sense
Written Form[edit]
The language uses two different alphabets. The first is called Fathpebwewa-bwapawepa; a highly ornate and decorative alphabet with over 4,000 characters, which represent individual letters, words, emotions and concepts. The alphabet is used exclusively for formal occasions or official documents. The second alphabet is called Bawewa-bawap. It has a far more utilitarian form and contains only 15 letters. This alphabet is used on a day-to-day basis and is easily learned by other races.
History & Background (Historical Linguistics)[edit]
No information yet available.
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)[edit]
This language is primarily in use in the following areas:
References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
- Loren Wiseman. "Contact! Newts." Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 11 (1982): 12-16.
- Timothy B. Brown. Aliens Archive (Imperium Games, 1996), 69-78.
- Steve Jackson, Loren Wiseman. Alien Races 4 (Steve Jackson Games, 2001), 22-37.
- Jason Kemp. "The Bwaps, a minor race of the Imperium for T20." Stellar Reaches 01 (2005): 4-5.
- Paul Drye, Loren Wiseman, Jon F. Zeigler. Interstellar Wars (Steve Jackson Games, 2006), 82-83,144.
- Jae Campbell. Encyclopaedia Dagudashaag (Signal-GK, 2017), 57.
- Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), 60.
- Darren Bulmer. Aliens of Charted Space: Volume 3 (Mongoose Publishing, 2022), 228.