Wawa-pakekeke-wawa

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The language spoken by the Bwap race.

Handy Phrases

Handy Phrases
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)

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

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

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.

Verbal Suffixes
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

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

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

 1p      	Ba
 1p plural	Baa-
 2p      	Ko
 2p dual	Koe
 2p plural	Kowa
 3p     	Se
 3p plural	Sewa


Possessives

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

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

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)

-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

Properly called “derivational morphology”, here are prefixes and suffixes which let you derive new words from others.

Derivational Affixes
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

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

A

• 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

• 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

• Dawa-daw: Bamboo-like swamp plant

• Dawapawab: Jungle

• Debsakwortab: A food

• Depwethawa: A predatory animal native to Marhaban

E-J

• 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

• 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

• Obebsaek: Local currency in Bwap communities on Sashar; the amount of water, food and power an adult Bwap used daily

P

• 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

• Reepa-reep: Winged reptile native to Marhaban, often kept as pets

S

• 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

• 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

• 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

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)

No information yet available.

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

This language is primarily in use in the following areas:

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
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