Ælis

Preliminary Remarks
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General information
hAnWnArAsAiA2tE k1lISK [Ælis] is a language with the aim to rule out as many grammatical aspects as possible. Nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs do not exist in a grammatical sense, neither do verb conjugations, tenses, moods or voices. The stress in words and sentences is virtually irrelevant, there are no tones, and word order is free. There is hardly any punctuation, nor are there spaces to divide words or sentences from one another. Nonetheless, Ælis has a solid, very consistent grammar which mainly draws from semantical functions such as agent, patient, action, state, and a few other functions inherent to the language. The word "Ælis", in Ælis, means 'peace'. "egælis" means 'harmonic' or 'peaceful language'. It is an aesthetical language with the aim to perhaps someday serve as an IAL, but also a language with a refreshing approach on language and grammar, which can be used by aficionados of theoretical linguistics to explore the boundaries of human grammar.

Alphabet
The alphabet has 21 letters, of which 5 vowels, 15 consonants and 1 diphthong which is regarded as a vowel. It is written with proper symbols:

Syllabic writing
The two bottom rows of the foregoing alphabetic table represent the so called primary and secondary case. Ælis is written in an alternation of these two cases in order for the different root words (which in Ælis equal syllables) to be visually distinguishable. The writing style follows this pattern: the first phoneme of every root word is written in the primary case, every other letter is written in the secondary case. They have been designed so that the secondary case letters appear to the top-right of the primary case letters. For example:


 * aM = [am]
 * mA = [ma]

Root word structure
Apart from proper names and loaned words, only certain root word patterns are admissible:

Two letter root words: Three letter root words:
 * CV:  tW  [tæ] (colour)
 * VC:  aR  [ar] (reason, causality)
 * VV:  uA  [ua] (centre, half)
 * CVC:  lIS  [lis] (concept, notion)
 * CVV:  rEA  [rea] (name)

Structure of words
Words are constructed with one simple but fundamental guideline: the head of the root word cluster has a nominal value; the tail of the root word cluster is dependent, adjectival or adverbial. An example:  tE [te] means 'human/person'. uBlE [uble] means 'strong'. Words that are conceptually related will mostly be lexically similar too. Some examples of words that are lexically and semantically related:
 * tEuBlE [te-uble] means 'a strong person'
 * uBlEtE [uble-te] means 'human strength'

tEnAlE [tenale] ==> person-quality-much --> friend

mAnAlE  [manale] ==> male-quality-much --> a male friend

nInAlE [ninale] ==> female-quality-much --> a female friend

nInAiO  [ninaio] ==> female-quality-little --> a female enemy

mAnAiO  [manaio] ==> male-quality-little --> a male enemy

tEnAiO  [tenaio] ==> person-quality-little --> an enemy

iItEnAlE  [iitenale] ==> target-person-quality-much --> to become friends with

lItEnAlE  [litenale] ==> origin-person-quality-much --> to stop being friends with

etc.

Personal pronouns
All personal pronouns exist in three genders: male, female, and undefined (not neutral!). The undefined pronouns are used when a speaker is unaware of the gender, or when they don't wish to specify. Personal pronouns are only used for objects that are interpreted as having a personality: people, sporadically animals or anthropomorphized objects,...

Syntax
The grammar strongly focuses on syntactic functions. There are 4 basic functions, which each have a proper root word that will be prefixed to the lexical roots: An example phrase:
 * The topic is usually a description of an action or a state. It is essive, which means that it expresses a form of 'to be', 'to exist'. The corresponding morpheme is  hA.
 * The agent is from whom or what the topic originates. The corresponding morpheme is lA . Usually, this is the initiator of an action or a sender of a message.
 * The patient is at whom or what the topic is targeted. The corresponding morpheme is  iA . Usually, this is the (passive) object of an action or the receiver of a message, but also the subject of a state.
 * The modifier is an additional piece of information to the utterance. The corresponding morpheme is  iA . Ususally, modifiers translate to adverbial constituents of space, time, manner, reason, etc. The equivalent of time tenses is harboured in this category, as verbs cannot convey this aspect.

hAeLeAnAlElA1mAiA2nIiRaSdAiO [ Ha eleanale  la æma  ia eni  ir asdaio]

Analytically, the sentence can be understood as follows:


 * the love (=topic)


 * by me (=agent)


 * for you (=patient)

which means "I loved you".
 * in the past (=modifier of time).

Because all words are marked with functions, word order is completely free and no spacing is necessary. Note: spaces are still used for clarity purposes, especially in Romanisations.

Ælis formally doesn't have word classes, but can implicitly convey them through syntactical functions. E.g.: according to context, the word word  dOE (doe) can mean 'fire', 'a bonfire', 'a flame', 'to burn' (both transitive and intransitive), 'ignite', 'to set fire', 'scorch', 'roast', etc. Therefore, translations to other languages greatly depend on the presence or absence of certain functions in a sentence. The following words will be used in an example: Now, look at the associations of these words with the syntactical functions, and look at how the translation changes as words are gradually added to the sentence:
 * dOE = fire
 * aNoWsI = residence
 * aPrA = completion
 * aSdAlE = future
 * 1mA = me
 * hAdOE = action/state:fire
 * ==> 'there is fire'


 * hAdOEiAaNoWsI = action/state:fire + patient:residence
 * ==> there is fire, done to the house


 * --> the house is on fire'


 * hAdOEiAaNoWsIiRaPrA = action/state:fire + patient:residence + modifier:completion
 * ==> there is fire, affecting the house, with completion


 * --> 'the house is burning down'


 * hAdOEiAaNoWsIiRaPrAiRaSdAlE = action/state:fire + patient:residence + modifier:completion + modifier:future
 * ==> there is fire, affecting the house, with completion, in the future


 * --> 'the house will burn down'


 * hAdOEiAaNoWsIiRaPrAiRaSdAlElA1mA = action/state:fire + patient:residence + modifier:completion + modifier:future + agent:me
 * ==> there is fire, affecting the house, with completion, in the future, by me


 * --> 'I will burn down the house'

etc.

Example text


The Lord's Prayer