Ælis

Preliminary Remarks
While this article page is being updated, feel free to read the full PDF document on the principles of the language by downloading it here.

A note on the use of the apostrophe: the author will sometimes use an apostrophe in bracketed Romanisations of Ælis words (e.g.: lA2tE  [la'ete]) to remind the reader that both sounds are to be pronounced seperately. The apostrophe is not a part of correct orthography but merely a pronunciation guideline. It can be omitted.

Ideology
hAnWnArAsAiA2tE (Welcome!) k1lISK [Ælis] is a constructed a priori language with a very particular approach on grammar. As such, it might be very interesting for aficionados of theoretical linguistics to use Ælis as a tool to start philosophizing about and exploring the boundaries of human grammar. Ælis has no nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs in a grammatical sense; verb conjugations, inflections, declensions, tenses, moods or voices; (hardly any) stress in words which is relevant; no tones, no fixed word order, (hardly any) punctuation, and no spaces to divide words or sentences from one another. Nonetheless, Ælis has a solid, very consistent and unambiguous grammar. The entire language is built on a few hundred root words. These roots are not fusional but independent, which means that every root is always a morpheme and always has the same meaning. They do not depend on the words to which they are attached.

Apart from the philosophical aspect, the language aims to be an artlang, aesthetically appealing both to the ear and the eye; as well as an auxlang, equally easy to learn for speakers with a variety of native backgrounds.

Phonemes
The table below contains all the phonemes that the Ælis language features (IPA). Bold-faced phonemes represent the preferred pronunciation, phonemes in brackets are allowed variations that will not cause ambiguity.


 * → More about this topic: Writing Ælis

Morphology
Ælis words are nearto always clusters of several roots, 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'. An interesting and possibly unique feature of the Ælis root word approach is that semantically related words are nearto always lexically similar. The following words are lexically related, which in correlation means that they have a certain amount of root words in common:
 * tEuBlE [te>uble] means 'a strong person'
 * uBlEtE [uble>te] means 'human strength'

tEnAiO [tenaio] ==> person>quality>little; a bad person --> enemy

tEnAlE  [tenale] ==> person>quality>much; a good person --> friend

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

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

nInArA  [ninara] ==> female>quality>total; a perfect woman --> female best friend / girlfriend

etc.


 * → More about this topic: /Morphology/.

Topicalization
To cover for the facts that there are no word classes; that the word order is free; and that there are no spaces to divide words and sentences, Ælis places a very big emphasis on the semantic functions that different words have within a sentence. There is a high rate of 'topicalisation', or function marking, which in this case means that each word has one or more prefixed function markers that point out the semantic function of the respective word within the sentence.

As opposed to the 'traditional' grammatical functions of subject, verb and object, it is noteworthy that none of Ælis' semantic functions must be obligatorily present in a sentence for it to be grammatically correct. Furthermore, none of the functions is restricted to one use per sentence.


 * → More about this topic: /Topicalisation/.

Vocabulary

 * → More about this topic: /Root word list and vocabulary/.

Example text: The Lord's Prayer
 Ælis 

lA2tEhAeAgWrA lAeMaNeAnArAtA hAnArAiArEAiAvW2tEtA iRaMdIlEhA1lISiRiIaNuAtA iRaNlWlA2tEhAdIiWhAaSdArAtA iRaNtEiRaNEAnArAtA iRaMdIlEiA6tEiRaSqArAdOhAqAnAlEtA hAiInAlEiAlWhAnAiOlA6tEiWlA2tEtA iAlWhAnAiOiA6tEiWlA6tEtA iA6tEhAaQrAhAvWqArAeInAiO hAvWqArAnAiOtA iRaMdIlE.

 Romanised 

la'ete haeagæra la'emaneanarata hanara iarea iavæ'eteta iramdile ha'ælis iriianuata iranlæ la'ete hadiiæ ha'asdarata irante iraneanarata iramdile iauæte irasqarado haqanaleta haiinale ialæ hanaio lauæteiæ la'eteta ialæ hanaioiauæteiæ lauæteta iauæte ha'aqra havæqaraeinaio havæqaranaiota iramdile.

 Analytic translation 

You are the father - (you) at the abstract place of perfection - the best to the name that is yours - by will, peace and eternity be in this place and at the place where you exert will - on the place of people - on the abstract place of perfection - by will, the good befall us every day - you restore that what we do bad - that what has been done bad to us, we restore - for us the biggest possible distance from improper thoughts - and from bad things (in general) - by will.

Writing Ælis on the computer
If you're interested in writing Ælis in your own text editor, you can download the ttf font and the corresponding kerning table. The keyboard keys have been assigned as follows:
 * Lowercase letters correspond to the primary case;
 * Uppercase letters correspond to the secondary case;
 * Number concept symbols have been assigned to the numbers from 0 to 9;
 * The letter [æ] has been assigned to the w-key. Lowercase 'w' for the primary case w and uppercase 'W' for the secondary case W ;
 * The rea symbols have been assigned to the k-key. Lowercase 'k' for the opening rea k and uppercase 'K' for the closing rea K.