Tuska Tak - an Introduction

Wi Tuska, wi nat Daakspia, en wi gat aua on chradishanz, aua on hischri, aua on wei tak. Hia Ai descraib aua Tak. Dis hau mai perenz en deiz perenz wen tak om. Bat doz jenreishanz wen get las fram da reidz. Aua weps wen get skaetta. Mos dem wen stei reiz bai autsaidaz, o kanstenli saraun bai autsaidaz, en dei memba onli lito a da Tak. Onli fu as memba om gud. Bat wen dei kam baek as, wi gon tiich dem, en wi gon get Tuska gen, en wi gon get schran gen. Wi gon get Chraib gen! - Kewohan, Loa Elda a Tuska Chriab.

We are Tooska, we are not Darkspear, and we have our own traditions, our own history, our own way of speaking. Here I describe our Talk. This is how my parents and grandparents would have spoken it. But those generations were lost to the raids. Our whelps were scattered. Most of them have been raised by outsiders, or constantly surrounded by outsiders, and they remember only a little of the Tak. Only a few of us do. But when they come back to us, we will teach them, and we will become Tooska again, and we will become strong again. We will again be a tribe. - Kewohan, Loa Elder of TooSka Tribe.

Which is to say, don't worry too much about getting this perfect. Just do your best, and we'll help, and that's good enough.

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1. Vocabulary

A. pronouns

It looks like alot of pronouns here, but really many of them are just Standard pronouns with the spelling changes which are described below.

Singular

Ai - I	mi – me	mai – my
yu – you	yu - you	yuz/yua – your
hi – he	om – him/her/it	hiz – his
shi – she		ha – her
om – it		omz – its

Notice when the third person is the object of the sentence, there is no gender distinction; they all go to "om"

Another note: Many people's impulse for tribal-esque dialects is to use "me" for all first person pronouns, dropping the "I/me" distinction. Tuska Tak does not do this.

Plural

wi as-gaiz (us guys) - we	as as-gaiz – us	aua - our
yu yu-gaiz – you (plural)		yua yu-gaiz'z – your (plural)
dei dem-gaiz – they	dem dem-gaiz – them	deiz dem-gaiz'z - their

Other vocab

(Suggestions for gaps are welcomed!)

• kain: "kind", "thing", "whatchamacallit". Used instead of "thing" in compounds: "enikain", "samkain".
• maki: "fight", "kill", "dead"
• weop/wep: "whelp", "child", "young troll"
• moi: "nap", "daydream", "AFK"
• moimoi: "sleep", "offline"
• lolo: "crazy", as in "Wi lolo chrooz."
• pau: "finished", "done"
• Hei/Hei dea: "hey there". Standard greeting.
• keden: ("okay then") "All right", "sounds good"
• Yu gud: ("You('re) good") "No problem" "Don't worry about it" Used when someone apologizes to you and you don't think they need to.
• Man/Mahn/Mon: Mostly, a Darkspear term, we don't use it as much as they do. In fact, we consider it to be a bit disrespectful to use to tribe mates. "Brada" or "Sista" should be used instead to tribemates.
• Rururuh: onamatopeia for "purr".
• Kitta: onamatopoeia for "clatter".

Battle Cry

Haiaiai

This is the battle cry of the TooSka, and also the general exclamation of excitement. This is one of the very few things it is appropriate to use /yell for. It can be extended with as many more "-ai"s as you like.

Races

Da Chrooz - The Trolls

• Jungle Trolls - Gurubashi
  • TooSka - Tuska
  • Darkspear - Daakspia
  • Bloodscalp - Bludhedz
  • Skullsplitter - ?
  • Gurubashi - ?
  • Atal'ai - ?
• Dark Trolls
• Forest Trolls - Amani
• Ice Trolls

Da Hoad - Other Horde Races

• Ork - Uak
  • Shadowclan - Sheidi. For teasing those grumpy Shadowclan Orcs
• Tauren - Kau or Kauman. "To-ren" if trying to be polite.
• Undead - Zombi or Dedman
  • Undead, Forsaken - "Dedman" is marginally more polite, more likely to be used for the Forsaken.
  • Undead, The Scourge - The Scourge are more likely to be "Zombi"

Da 'Lainz Skam - Alliance Races

• Human - Yuman
• Night Elf
• Dwarf - Stunti?
• Gnome

Other Races

• Goblin
• Blood Elf
• Quillboar - Pigman?

2. Sounds

A. Consonants

a. Spell phonetically

1. Write how you say it, not how you spell it.
2. Drop silent letters. I sometimes make exceptions for clarity, such as using "kno" for "know", even though the 'k' is silent.
3. Don't use 'c', use 'k' or 's' as is appropriate. Use 'kw' for 'qu' and 'ks' for 'x' (though 'c' does appear in 'ch')
4. The 's' in many plurals and possesives is really pronounced 'z', write it with a z!
   • So, "kets en dagz" = "cats and dogs"

b. No 'th' sounds

English has two 'th' sounds: the one in "thin" and the one in "then"

• Replace them with "t" and "d".
  • "Ai tink dem-gaiz oke." = "I think they (are) okay."

c. Simplify consonant clusters

In particular, after vowels/at the end of syllables

1. 'ng', 'nt' and 'nd' go to just 'n'.
2. 'st' and 'pt' goes to 's' and 'p', etc.
3. 'nk' stays 'nk'

d. Dropped sounds: 'r' and 'l'

1. This is a "non-rhotic" dialect, which is to say after vowels 'r's are dropped, like in Standard British, Bostonian, Australian or South African English
2. Do the same thing with 'l's. Single syllable words ending in double 'l' are sometimes exceptions (i.e. when it would be impossible to tell what you were saying if you dropped the 'l's), such as in "well" and "tell". Just drop one 'l': "wel" and "tel".
3. More acuurately, these sonds are not dropped, they become vowel-like. Mostly, 'r' can be replaced with 'a' and 'l' can be replaced with 'o'.
4. Remember this is only at the end of syllables! But sometimes Standard spelling doesn't reflect the order of sounds: in words like "people", the 'l' is the end of that syllable (or even is the whole syllable by itself, probably)
   • "pipo" - "people"
   • "fa-o" - "fall"
   • "Uak" - "Orc"
   • "we-a" - "where"
   • "wanda" - "wander"
   • (I use dashes here to give clues in cases that would look confusing. You could leave them out, or use apostrophes, instead.)

e. 't', 'd', 's' before 'r'

When they occur before 'r':

'T' becomes 'Ch'

"Chroo" - "Troll"

"Chraib" - "Tribe"

'D' becomes 'J'

"Jra" - "Draw"

'S' becomes 'Sh'

"Hishchri" - "History"

B. Vowels

Vowels are a bit more tricky, but easier if you know Spanish, Italian, Japanese, or other langauges that are more faithful to the original vowel sounds of the Roman alphabet.

"Ah" sounds as in "walk", "dog", "caught", etc. are written 'a'.

"wak", "dag", "kat"

"A" sounds as in "cat", "nap", "and" are written 'ae' (or merged to "eh")

"kaet", "naep", "aen" ("ket", "nep", "en")

"Eye" sounds as in "fly", "guy", "die" are written 'ai'

"flai", "gai", "dai"

"Ow" sounds as in "cow", "about" are written 'au' or 'ao'

"kau", "'baut"

"Eh" sounds as in "get", went", "English" are written 'e'

"get", "wen", "English"

"Ay" sounds as in "hay", "bait", "whale" are written 'ei'

"hei", "beit", "wei-o"

"Ih" sounds as in "bit", "bin", "been", are written 'i'

"bit", "bin", "bin"

"Ee" sounds as in "feet", "bean" are also written 'i', or 'ii' if you want to distinguish the sounds

:"fit"/"fiit", "bin"/"biin"

"Oh" sounds as in "oat", "broke", "know" are written 'o'

"ot", "brok", "no"

"Oo" sounds as in "boot", "moon", "jewel" are written 'u'

"but", "mun", "jul"

"You" sounds as in "yule", "mule", are written 'yu'

"yu-o", "myu-o" (I show the 'l' going to 'o' here

"Uh" sounds as in "about", "cut", "some" can be dropped, or written as 'a'

"'baut", "cat", "sam"

Feel free to drop initial vowels that aren't stressed, like "baut" for "about", "Lainz" for "Alliance", etc. This happens plenty in spoken English anyway, so trust your intuition. In cases when you're worried about misunderstanding, this can be marked with an apostrophe: 'baut, 'Lainz, but is generally not necessary.

3. Grammar

A. Verbs and Tense

Don't change the form of the verb. English has sets of verbs like "walk, walks, walking, walked", but we just use "wak". Otherwise the verb system is not too different from English except both the past and the future work the same as the future does in Standard, with a separate word:

1. "wen" = "-ed" form or "did". The past (actually the anterior, but close enough).
2. "gon" = "will". The future tense
3. "stei" = "is __ -ing". The progressive.

You can use any combination of none, some or all of these:

• Hi wak. - He walks.
• Hi wen wak. - He walked.
• Hi gon wak. - He will walk.
• Hi stei wak. - He is walking.
• Hi wen gon wak. - He was going to walk.
• Hi wen stei wak. - He was walking.
• Hi gon stei wak. - He will be walking.
• Hi wen gon stei wak. - He was going to be walking.

You can use the "-ing" (or rather the "-in") form with "stei" if you want:

• Hi stei wakin.

Standard English has sentences with helper-verb "have" in them, marking the "perfect" tenses. Tuska Tak doesn't:

• I have walked. - Ai wen wak.
• I will have walked. - Ai gon wak.
• I have been walking _ Ai stei wak.

If you want to emphasize the ''finishedness'' which this kind of sentence sometimes means in English, add a word meaning "finish" at the end: "dan" - "done", or the word "pau" - "finish":

• I have walked (and now I'm done). - Ai wen wak, pau.
• I will have walked (and then I'll have arrived). - Ai gon wak, pau(, get deir).
• I had been walking, then something happened. - Ai wen stei wak, pau, samting hapan.

B. Drop "a"

Drop the indefinite article, "a"/"an". Things shouldn't be too confusing without.

C. Drop "be"

a. Simple Drops

Don't use "be" in any of its forms: "am, are, is, be, was, were", etc.

• When "is" would be followed by a noun or adjective, drop "is" (that is, there will be no verb)

  Ai Kewohan. Ai chroo a da Tuska Chraib

  I (am) Kewohan. I (am) (a) troll of the Tuska Tribe

  Da Uaks oke.

  The Orcs (are) okay.

• To give a location, use "stei"

  Ai stei Senjin Vilaj.

  I am in Senjin Village (doesn't mean permanently, like "stay" would in Standard.)

b. Advanced Drops

For "there is/are" use "get"

Get mach pigz.

There are much (a lot of) pigs (here).

For "there was/were" use "haed" (had)

Haed dis yuman.

There was a/this human (here).

For "to be"/"to become", use "get"

Hi gon get mach schran.

He's going to be(come) very strong.

Ai hop get gud Tuska.

I hope to be(come) (a) good Tuska.

This is a little ambiguous since it is also how you would describe recruiting hopes! Clarification would come from context.

D. Don't use "to"

• To talk about a location (I walk _to_ someplace), just drop "to"

  Ai wak Senjin Vilaj

  I walk (to) Senjin Village

• For complex verbs ("want to do, ask to do, have to do"), us "fo" ("for") instead:" wan fo du, aks fo du, haev fo du".
• To talk about a reason, just drop "to" and use a comma:

  I niid fo wak Senjin Vilaj, get kwest.

• The only place "to" exists is in "yustu", "used to".
• Also try to avoid other prepositions besides "fo" and "wit".

E. Negation

Basically, put "no" in front of a verb, or "nat" in front of an adjective or noun:

Ai no stei Senjin Vilaj

I'm not in Senjin Village

Ai no ken wak Schrengothoan.

I can't walk to Stranglethorn.

Ai no stei wak.

I'm not walking.

Da Uaks nat bed.

The Orcs aren't bad.

Ai nat Uak.

I'm not an Orc.

Ai nat tai-ad

I'm not tired.

To negate in the past, use "neva"

Ai neva wak Ogrema.

I didn't walk to Ogrimmar (not neccesarily "never", just not in the time in question)

Ai neva du om.

I didn't do it.

To negate "get" ("there is/are, use "nomo")

Nomo pigz in da faam

They aren't any pigs in(/at) the farm.

This is heavily based on Hawai'ian Creole English, and on this description of HCE. Check out that site, too, in case their description makes more sense to you than mine. They've also got a sound clip!