Molaskes: Paving and Leading the Way

Mission and Expertise Besides my various other projects (see P Projects Overview), I'm developing an a-priori constructed world language with the goal of the best possible, i.e. perfect, solution. I base this work on a profound study of linguistics, psychology, semiotics/semiology, philosophy, epistemology, cybernetics and information science. Over the decades, I've studied at least the fundamentals of many natural languages (including, but not limited to, Albanian, Armenian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Mandarin Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino/Tagalog, Finnish, French, German, Georgian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Sioux Dakota/Lakota, Castilian Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese) and constructed languages (including, but not limited to, American Sign Language, Esperanto, Eurixa/Eurish, Lojban, Toki Pona, and Volapük). A major source of inspiration and information was Rick Morneau's long monograph "Lexical Semantics", including all of Rick Morneau's addenda. Status of the Project This page here only shows those parts to the public which are most likely final. There is much more already in development, including an interactive learner's and refernce/translation website. However, other of my projects are more urgent and therefore I can only advance it slowly. Alphabet The alphabet has only 12 letters: 3 vowels: I A U 3 plosives: K T P 6 continuants: M V S C L Y Uppercase characters should only be used for emphasis or illustration, otherwise use lowercase characters. Pronunciation Most letters can be pronounced flexibly, as the speaker prefers for comfort and ease. Each letter should however have its own clearly distinct phoneme (sound), regardless of the speaker's accent. The word "kati" for instance may sound like "kedi", "kodi", "gote", but not like "kete". The preferred pronunciation is given first in the following list: I = see / sit / lay / bed A = ah / hut / warn / lay / bed U = shoe / foot / oh / rod K = k / g T = t / d P = p / b M = m / n V = v / w / f S = z (voiced s) / s (unvoiced/sharp) C = shoe / zh (voiced sh) / chip (tsh) / j (dzh) L = l / r (Japanese) Y = y / h Further variants and in-between sounds are okay. Alternative Transliteration Because of the pronunciation freedom, speakers of a particular accent may wish to, and are free to, use an altered transliteration. Also for other reasons, such as mnemonics, you may choose some of the below variations. I / E A (no alternatives) U / O K / G T / D P / B M / N V / W / F S / Z C / X / SH / ZH / CH / J / TSH / DZH L / R Y / H Script The following characters are used as the actual script of the language, where you're not bound to the Latin transliteration: = I = A = U = K = T = P = M = V = S = C = L = Y = / Instead of a period, the language uses a slash to end sentences. Reading To repeat the pronunciation of C and the vowels: = ci = shee = ca = shah = cu = shoo Phonotactics and Syllables Only four syllable types are used by the language: IAU = 3 vowel syllables KTP⋅IAU = 3×3 = 9 plosive syllables MVSCL⋅IAU = 5×3=15 continuant syllables Y⋅AU = 1×2 = 2 yau syllables This yields the following 29 syllables: i a u ki ka ku ti ta tu pi pa pu mi ma mu vi va vu si sa su ci ca cu li la lu ya yu Y is never followed by an I, and vowel syllables can only appear at the beginning of a word. Root Word Structures The language uses only distinct lexemes (root words) which never change their form. And only these then are chained to build compound words, phrases and sentences. In the structures, I stands for a vowel syllable, K stands for a plosive syllable, M stands for a continuant syllable, V stands for a continuant syllable that does not start with M, and Y stands for a yau syllable. The following word types are valid as lexemes of the language: M : 15 monosyllabic mi-type lexemes V×2 : 12 doubled monosyllabic vivi-type lexemes IY : 3×2 = 6 iya-type lexemes KY : 9×2 = 18 kiya-type lexemes MY : 15x2 = 30 miya-type lexemes IK : 3×9 = 18 iki-type lexemes IM : 3×15 = 45 imi-type lexemes KK : 9×9 = 81 kiki-type lexemes KM : 9x15 = 135 kimi-type lexemes KKY : 9×9×2 = 162 kikiya-type lexemes KMY : 9×15×2 = 270 kimiya-type lexemes Altogether these are 15 monosyllabic lexemes, 345 disyllabic lexemes, and 432 trisyllabic lexemes, yielding so far a total of 792 lexemes. But the language also has a special grammar for numbers, where the K and M syllables each bear a unique meaning, which adds further 24 monosyllabic lexemes, so there are in fact 39 of them, yielding a grand total of 816 lexemes. Stressing The second-to-last syllable is stressed. For instance: áki túma piláya Branching The language is right-branching, which modifies or adds to the meaning of compound words and phrases as you go, rather than "pre-loading" abstractions and only at the end revealing the basic idea. English is left-branching: the green ... (talking about the color?) the green house ... (talking about a house?) the green house door (oh, it's about a door!) In the world language the phrase would be: that door ... (so we're talking about a door!) that door house ... (ah, and it's of a house!) that door house green (and it's also green!) Quantification The three monosyllabic words mi, ma and mu serve as a unique new lexical grammar device to simplify and unify talking about degrees. Depending on the word or phrase they modify, their meaning could be translated for instance as: mi = much / very / high / positive ma = medium / moderately / middle / neutral mu = little / slightly / low / negative Thus the language needs far less lexemes. Some examples, using English roots for illustration: size mi = big/tall size ma = medium-sized size mu = small/little temperature mi = warm or hot temperature ma = neither warm nor cold temperature mu = cool or cold weight mi = heavy weight ma = medium weight weight mu = lightweight affirmation mi = yes/true affirmation ma = somewhat true affirmation mu = no/false A second level of quantification yields nine finer grades: size mi mi = very big / huge size mi ma = pretty big size mi mu = quite big size ma mi = a little over average-sized size ma ma = pretty average-sized size ma mu = a little less than average-sized size mu mi = quite small size mu ma = pretty small size mu mu = very small / tiny A third level can be used for exaggerations: size mi mi mi = gigantic size ma ma ma = exactly average-sized size mu mu mu = microscopic Color Lexemes The human eye normally has receptors for red, green and blue light. Every color can be defined as a mix of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) levels. While this order follows from physics (red having the lowest and blue the highest wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum), the world language uses the GRB order instead, since for the human eye, by resolution depth, green is twice as significant than red, and red is thrice as significant than blue. All colors are of the KY lexeme type, and all KY lexemes deal with colors. kuyu = black The plosive toggles the green channel: puyu = green The first vowel toggles the red channel: kayu = red The second vowel toggles the blue channel: kuya = blue Thus the two-channel basic colors are: payu = yellow (green+red) puya = cyan (green+blue) kaya = magenta (red+blue) And all three channels together yield: paya = white (green+red+blue) There are four more KY-type lexemes, those starting with T. The first two are: taya = color/colorful/colorize tuyu = grey (the opposite of colorful) In the language's alphabet, the plosives are given as KTP, and just as T lies between K and P, orange lies between red (kayu) and yellow (payu): tayu = orange The last color lexeme is used for: tuya = brown Shaded Colors By themselves, the color words (except taya) stand for any shade or tint of the given color. Add a quantifier to specify its tint: kuya mi = light blue puyu ma = intense green (neither light nor dark) tayu mu = dark orange Tinted Colors To specify a color tint, add the tinting color: kuya puyu = greenish blue tayu kayu = reddish orange puya tuyu = greyish cyan Very Light or Dark Colors Very light or very dark colors can be expressed as tinted white/black: paya puyu = greenish white kuyu kuya = blueish black Pure Colors To express the purity of a color, "tint" it with itself: tuya = any tint of brown tuya tuya = untinted pure brown Finely Tinted or Purified Colors To finely tint or purify, add a quantifier: kaya kuya mu = slightly blue magenta kaya kuya ma = moderately blue magenta kaya kuya mi = very blue magenta A very tinted color can be considered identical to its reverse, so kaya kuya mi would be the same as kuya kaya mi = very magenta blue. kayu kayu mi = very pure red (really untinted) kayu kayu ma = pretty pure red (hardly tinted) kayu kayu mu = quite pure red (only slightly tinted) Shading Tinted or Pure Colors Insert a quantifier after the first color to shade a tinted or pure color: puyu mi payu = yellowish light green puyu mi payu mu = slightly yellowish light green puyu mi puyu ma = pretty pure light green Basic Numbers The lexeme "sasa" stands for "number". All numbers start and end with the number marker lexeme "sa". Between the two sa lexemes, the plosive syllables stand for the digits 1-9, here given together with the language's glyphs: = ku = 1 = ka = 2 = ki = 3 = tu = 4 = ta = 5 = ti = 6 = pu = 7 = pa = 8 = pi = 9 With these digits and the number start/end marker, the actual numbers 1-9 are formed: sakusa = one sakasa = two sakisa = three satusa = four satasa = five satisa = six sapusa = seven sapasa = eight sapisa = nine In counting, it is ok to use just the digits and count ku ... ka ... ki ... tu ... ta ... and so on, but in a sentence or phrase, use the full format. The digit 0 is expressed by: = va = 0 Digits are simply chained to form numbers: sakuvasa = 10 = ten sakukusa = 11 = eleven sakitasa = 25 = twenty-five To structure large numbers, make short pauses, stressing the first digit of each group. sa-ku-kákita-túpupi-sa = 1,235,479 = one million two hundred thirty-five thousand four hundred seventy-nine Negative numbers start with: = vu = - (minus) The decimal point is expressed by: = vi = . (point) A mere 0 before vi is optional: savikasa = saku-vika-sa = 0.2 A second vi signals a repeating fraction: savika-viti-sa = 0.1666666... (1/6) savivi-kisa = 0.333333... (1/3) sata-vipa-vi-kututu-sa = 5.8144144144... (3227/555) Ordinal Numbers Numbers after a noun phrase are ordinal: house 3 = the third house Numbers before a noun phrase are cardinal: 3 house = three houses Negative ordinal numbers count from the end: song -1 = the last song song -2 = the second-to-last song Large and Tiny Numbers After a number, an exponent of thousands can be specified for large or tiny numbers: si = ×1000^ A mere 1 before or after it is optional. sasisa = a thousand saku-sisa = saku-siku-sa = one thousand sa-tipa-sika-sa = fifty-eight million saki-siki-sa = three billion With a negative factor, you get tiny numbers: sati-sivu-sa = sati-sivuku-sa = 0.006 = six milli-... sapu-sivuka-sa = 0.000,007 = seven micro-... sapa-sivuki-sa = eight nano-... After a second si, you can express a number to be simply added to what you got before: saka-sika-si-tupi-sa = 2,000,049 = two million and forty-nine Fraction Numbers With cu and optionally ca, fractions can be expressed: sapi-ca-kicutu-sa = 9 ca 3 cu 4 = 9¾ A mere 1 before them, as well as a mere 2 after cu, are optional: sacusa = saku-cuka-sa = ½ sacukisa = saku-cuki-sa = ⅓ sacacusa = saku-ca-kucuka-sa = 1½ Rounded Numbers With ci, you can explicitly specify the exactness of rounded numbers: satakavu-cisa = 520 (rounded) saki-vikutuka-cisa = 3.142 (rounded, possibly 𝜋) satakavu-ci-tasa = 520 (rounded to multiples of 5) satakavu-ci-vivaka-sa = 520 (exact to 0.02) Base-X Numbers The language can natively handle base-X numbers with bases between 2 and 16. The following digits can be used for bases 11-16: = lu = 0xA = 10 = la = 0xB = 11 = li = 0xC = 12 = mu = 0xD = 13 = ma = 0xE = 14 = mi = 0xF = 15 Note: The digit glyphs for mu, ma, mi can also be used as symbols for the quantifier lexemes: = = mu = e.g. empty = = ma = e.g. in-between = = mi = e.g. full Start a number with the lexeme su followed by the highest digit of the base: sasuku...sa = base-2 = binary (0 1) sasuta...sa = base-6 = senary (0-5) sasupu...sa = base-8 = octal (0-7) sasupi...sa = base-10 = decimal (0-9) sasumi...sa = base-16 = hexadecimal (0-15) Note that all the numbers grammar of above applies equally to any base-X numbers. Even the si operator works in the given base: sasumi-kala-sisa = ₁₆2B×1000 = 43×4096 = 176,128 = ₁₆2B,000 sasuku-kuvaku-sika-sa = ₂101×1000¹⁰ = 5×8² = 320 = ₂101,000,000 A su not starting a number always stands for decimal ×1024^ and allows to express unambiguously kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes etc: sasusa = saku-susa = saku-suku-sa = 1 K = 1024 sasukasa = saku-suka-sa = 1 M = 1024² = 1,048,576 sasumi-li-sutu-sa = ₁₆C×400⁴ = 12×1024⁴ = 12 Tera-... Number Ranges The vu minus lexeme can be used within a sa...sa group to express a range: sakuvukisa = 1-3 (one to three) It starts a whole new number, just as an opening sa would, with the only exception that by default the base-X continues from the opening sa, if any such was given: sasumi-vulipa-vu-vukuvu-sa = ₁₆-C8...₁₆-10 = -200...-16 Talking about Numbers With the sasa doubled monosyllable for "number", you can talk about a number given after it: sasa satukasa = "the number 42" Other useful words about numbers are created from otherwise meaningless syntax or with the particle ca, where not part of the fractions syntax, when it could be translated as "this-part". sasumisa = hexadecimal (base-16) sasupisa = decimal (base-10) sasupusa = octal (base-8) sasutasa = senary (base-6) sasukusa = binary (base-2) sasucasa = the max-digit of a base-X number (X-1) sasususa = base-X number sasuca-casa = the part after the max-digit sacasa = integer savisa = real sacavisa = the part before the decimal point savicasa = the part after the decimal point savivisa = a number with a repeating fraction sa-vivica-sa = the repeating fraction part sacasisa = the part before a ×1000^ or ×1024^factor sasicasa = the ×1000^ factor sacasusa = the ×1024^ factor (sasucasa is for base-X!) savusa = negative savuvusa = positive savucasa = the absolute value (the non-negative) sacisa = rounded sacicasa = rounded to, precise to sacusa = fraction number sacacusa = the divident of a fraction sacucasa = the divisor of a fraction sa-cucu-sa = two-part fraction number (a/b) sa-cacucu-sa = three-part fraction number (a+b/c) saca-cacusa = the whole number before a fraction Next Steps I have already developed working versions of a hand alphabet and many parts of the word-compounding, phrasal, sentence and even discourse grammar, and use in my development work preliminary definitions for many more lexemes than given here as final. But all that is still a work in progress and may thus still undergo major changes, and many parts of the grammar are yet incomplete. I also use an interactive dictionary and translator, but it makes no sense to publish it before the list of lexemes has been fully defined. To complete the lexemes dictionary will require a lot of work, which will probably be facilitated by Ogden's Basic English inventory and two different similar inveotories of Chinese. The final step will be the development of a full dictionary that covers all of the meanings that are used in everyday and professions-specific language of a sensibly widely chosen public. This will most likely be a work in continous progress that needs the devotion of a number of people, working in succession, some possibly also together.

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