KUTOKOPO


Compound Words


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Sample Text


oEma: kay a kyu byudani mabodago e kya?
oDani: bay i soy hay e byudani mabodago.
oEma: kyu i subi hay e man.
oDani: taykobu... a moybay kwekoy masumabo mabodago.
oEma: e tay kwekoy masumabo mabodago.
oDani: lay.

Vocabulary:


Compound Words


In Dasopya, compound words are easily formed just by attaching the words together. This is differentiated in speech by the stress, which is always at the very end of the compound word. Compound words are different from described words since they usually imply that the word is defined by the quality. It's the difference between a fisherman (a man who fishes for a living) and a fishing man (a man who just happens to be fishing at the moment).

"kwe" is a very important prefix that inverts whatever word comes directly after it. "lay" means yes, "kwelay" means no. "koy" means far, "kwekoy" means close. Note "kwe" is a special cause, because when other words are used as a prefix, they all transfer to the base word (think of the big fat grey cat). If you want to say that something is "not far" as opposed to "close," use "soy" ("soykoy" literally translates to "zero-far").

Compounding can also help make things less ambiguous if the particles don't already do the job. For example, "mabogoy" (food-thing) can make it clear that you are talking about food itself, rather than eating (which would be "mabosyu", food-do).