Justin B Rye 1995–2001
glossary sounds numbers nouns adjuncts pronouns verbs phrases syntax coinages examples lexicon

SECTION X: COINAGES

Xa – Compounding

New words can be derived from existing dictionary entries either by adding specialised word-endings (see suffixing, below) or by merging together whole words in the process called compounding.  This is the mechanism that produces such somewhat arbitrary English words as waterfall, beachfront, or babysit.

The rules governing this language's compounding system are similarly flexible: words which occur as a set phrase can simply merge together into a single longer word, often dropping grammatical endings and/or introducing -a- to avoid illegal strings of consonants:

barin ach·es a fish's egg → barinach fishegg(s)

apas reisen·es a cat's eye → apasareisen cat's-eye

nuchar ana go with → nucharana accompany

ji epa cause to become king → jiepa crown

Placement of stress in these compounds is usually regular, ignoring the stress of the constituent words; jí plus epá is jiépa.

Demonstrative adverbs like nullu (here – see VId) and unhyphenated number-words like sachasoikh (ninety – see IIIc) are also examples of compounding.

Xb – Suffixing

Many special endings are available to turn existing words into related concepts, often changing word categories (turning verbs into nouns or the like):

-(u)ru

Meaning: associative adjective – -al, -ish

Form: -ru after any vowel, -uru after any consonant

Converts: postposition or noun to adjective

entich air → entichuru aerial, of the air

naithin after → naithinuru latter (also as adverb, afterwards)

ómme mother → ómmeru maternal

-(a)ga, –(o)khá

Meaning: characteristic adjective – -ful, -y, -ous

Form: unpredictable – often both are possible

Converts: verb or noun to adjective

entich air → entichaga airy, supplied with air

ulasu know → ulasuga knowing, knowledgable

taís water → taisokhá watery, water-filled

-e, -é

Meaning: abstract noun – -ness, -ity, -ation

Form: steals stress in short words

Converts: verb or adjective to noun

sifulu die → sifulué death

chargi white → chargie white(ness)

nutuekh poor → nutuekhe poverty

-(a)gé

Meaning: degree noun – -ness, -th

Form: itself a compound of ·aga·e

Converts: adjective to noun

rasek strong → rasekagé strength

molnie tall → molniegé height

karegon heavy → karegongé weight

-(a)t, -ot

Meaning: result noun – -age, -ture

Form: ot commoner near o or u

Converts: verb to noun

karthek write → karthekat scripture, writings

sifulu die → sifuluot a corpse

dortila break → dortilat fracture, fragments

-ién, -én

Meaning: agent noun – -er, -or, -ist

Form: én used after i; n.b. irregular (IVd)

Converts: verb to noun

karthek write → karthekién writer

eota trade → eotaién trader

ortothi command → ortothién commander

Xc – The Syllabificator

This is the random-syllable-generator I used to fill out the lexicon; I include it in this package because that's simpler than trying to describe the full set of abstract phonotactic constraints, and because it's as near as I can get to releasing the source code.

DICE

Each randomly generated syllable needs five dicerolls (using standard six-sided dice) – call the results A, B, C, D, and E and go through the tables below.  Normal words should go through the system three to five times; very common words may have fewer syllables, and perhaps irregular stress.

INITIAL CONSONANT

Plug the first two dicerolls into the following table:

	A=1	A=2	A=3	A=4	A=5	A=6
B=1	m	n	n	r	l	—
B=2	p	t	t	ch	k	—
B=3	p	d	t	j	g	—
B=4	b	d	s	s	s	—
B=5	f	f	th	th	kh	—
B=6	—	—	—	—	—	—

The dashes of course indicate no initial consonant, though if a previous syllable ended in a consonant, that can be a stand-in initial letter for this syllable.

VOWEL

A simpler table:

	C=1	C=2	C=3	C=4	C=5	C=6
–––	i	e	a	a	o	u

If this vowel creates a string of two identical vowels (e.g. aa, ii) or if it creates a string of three open vowels (e.g. eae, oea) then go back and insert an n at the start of the current syllable.

FINAL CONSONANT

For a provisional syllable-final consonant, use the last two dicerolls:

	D=1	D=2	D=3	D=4	D=5	D=6
E=1	m	n	n	r	r	l
E=2	m	n	n	r	r	l
E=3	p	t	t	ch	k	k
E=4	f	th	s	s	s	kh
E=5	—	—	—	—	—	—
E=6	—	—	—	—	—	—

If this is the last syllable of the word, then that's it finished.  On the other hand if there's a following syllable then some of the above results are modified:

RULE ONE (for E=1 or E=2):

The consonants m, n, r, l are modified before a following consonant:

m becomes n before n, t, d, ch, j, or th

n becomes m before m, p, b, or f

r becomes l before l

l becomes r before r

RULE TWO (for E=3 or E=4):

The consonants p, t, ch, k, f, th, s, kh are dropped completely unless they're word-final.

MONOSYLLABIC EXAMPLE:

Single-syllable word with dicerolls A–B–C–D–E = 3–6–4–4–3:

initial —, vowel a, final ch unmodified: result ach (egg)

POLYSYLLABIC EXAMPLE:

Four-syllable word, rolling 1–1–5–4–2 ⁄ 2–1–5–2–3 ⁄ 2–6–1–2–1 ⁄ 1–5–3–2–5:

first syllable m–o–r

second syllable n–o–t (but the t is thrown out)

third syllable —–i–n (but the n becomes m)

fourth syllable f–a–—

which makes the full word mornoimfa (mor-NOYM-fa), available for use as a random vocabulary item.

SECTION XI: Examples