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The -wo System
Grammatical Concept: Time as Distance
Asaxi specifies relative time (how long ago or how far in the future) by treating temporal units as physical distances from the speaker (“Now”). It utilizes the Spatial Nouns derived from the proximal/directional roots hù (Behind) and pa (Front).
- hùwo (The Behind-Here): Used for “Ago” or “Back.”
- pawo (The Front-Here): Used for “From now” or “Hence.”
1. The Formula
To specify a time offset, place the Time Quantity (Number + Unit) immediately before the Directional Noun.
Past (Ago): [Number] [Unit] hùwo
- Literal: “[Number] [Unit] (is) behind.”
- Meaning: “[Number] [Unit] ago.”
Future (From now): [Number] [Unit] pawo
- Literal: “[Number] [Unit] (is) in front.”
- Meaning: “[Number] [Unit] from now / in [Number] [Unit].“
2. Generalized Application
This system applies to all standard time units (Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, Years, Decades).
| Unit (Asaxi) | Past Structure (Ago) | Future Structure (In/From now) |
|---|---|---|
| txă (Year) | să txă hùwo (1 year ago) | să txă pawo (In 1 year) |
| pxă (Month) | tam pxăa hùwo (2 months ago) | tam pxăa pawo (In 2 months) |
| xi (Day) | fă xia hùwo (3 days ago) | fă xia pawo (In 3 days) |
| åkamm (Moment) | să åkamm hùwo (A moment ago) | să åkamm pawo (In a moment) |
3. Syntactic Usage
These phrases function as Temporal Adverbs. They typically appear at the start of the sentence (Topic position) or immediately after the Subject.
Example 1 (Past): Să txă hùwo, wo zèxoxo.
- Gloss: One year behind-here, 1SG PAST-depart.
- Meaning: “One year ago, I departed.”
Example 2 (Future): Tam pxăa pawo, wo paxogă.
- Gloss: Two months front-here, 1SG FUT-arrive.
- Meaning: “In two months, I will arrive.”
Example 3 (Mixed): Să txă hùwo wo zèshěsonů dzè, să txă pawo wo panábů.
- Meaning: “One year ago I read, but one year from now I will not.”
4. Distinction from Tense Prefixes
- Tense Prefixes (
zè-,pa-): Modify the verb to indicate general tense (Past/Future). - Relative Time Phrases (
hùwo,pawo): Modify the sentence to specify the exact distance from the present.
You can combine them for precision: Să txă hùwo, wo zèxoxo.