Lili/Simplified

WARNING: This project is on hiatus and will be resumed when the Fora version of Lili will be complete. Simplified Lili is an engineered language that aims to let the speaker decide how ambiguous or unambiguous to be. It offers many resources to ambiguate or disambiguate a word or a sentence.

Consonants
Simplified Lili has 25 consonants:

b: /b

c: /ʃ

d: /d

dh: /ð

f: /f

g: /ɡ

j: /ʒ

k: /k

l: /l

m: /m

n: /n

nh: /ŋ

p: /p

q: /kʼ

r: /r

rh: /ɹ

s: /s

sh: /ɬ

t: /t

th: /θ

v: /v

x: /x

y: /ɣ

z: /z

zh: /ɮ

Vowels
Simplified Lili has 5 vowels:

a: /a

e: /ɛ

i: /i

o: /ɔ

u: /u

Hyphenated words
Words like "z-ca" usually mean a thing or its opposite, depending on the vowel you put instead of the hyphen. "z-ca" means "sad-happy", and is inflected like this:

zuoca: very sad (-3)

zuec: sad (-2)

zuaca: a bit sad (-1)

zuca: neutral (0)

zoca: a bit happy (+1)

zeca: happy (+2)

zaca: very happy (+3)

Also:

zoeca: saddest (<<)

zoaca: happiest (>>)

zeuca: sadder (<)

zeoca: happier (>)

The vowels are the same for every hyphenated word, with very few exceptions, which are noted.

Syntax
Simplified Lili has a SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) word order for non-switch sentences. Ignoring "p" and "t", the elements that occupy the odd positions of a sentence are called "operands", while the elements that occupy the even positions of a sentence are called "operators". There must always be an odd number of elements (ignoring "p" and "t") in the sentence, so that a sentence always starts and ends with an operand, alternating between operands and operators. Every word is separated by an "i" or an "l", everything is lowercase and there is no punctuation. Spaces are completely arbitrary. See the following transitive sentence:

cifbadulj: I see you

c: I (operand)

fbadu: to see (operator)

j: you (operand)

This is the most basic type of sentence. Be careful, though, "cifbadu" is not a grammatically valid sentence, because it's an even number of elements. If you want to connect a subject to a verb without an object, you have to use the operator "d" between the subject and the verb. The sentence will become:

cidifbadu: I see

Please note that "I see" is meant to be taken literally, not in the sense of "I understand".

Parentheses
Consider the following sentence:

cifbaolpi cideljece: I feed my dog

c: I

fbao: to feed

p: (open parenthesis)

c: I

de: possessive

jece: dog

The same sentence without the parenthesis would have meant "the dog of the fact I feed myself", which makes no sense. That's because "deljece" ('s dog) would have referred to the whole sentence instead of just "I". A parenthesis is closed with "t", but that cannot appear at the end of a speech.

Switch
Adding an e- before any operator will switch A and B. For example:

cifbadulj: I see you

jiefbadulc: I see you

The meaning is exactly the same. Switch sentence have an OVS word order.

Verbal tenses
"z" is the operator that introduces time, while "p-f" is the operand that means "past-future". For example:

cidinak: I eat/drink (no tense)

cidinaki zipuaf: I just ate/drank (immediate past)

cidinaki zipuf: I'm eating (present)

cidinaki zipof: I'm about to eat (immediate future)

Singular and plural markers
Unmarked nouns in Simplified Lili are neither singular nor plural. To mark them as singular or plural you need to add the operator "k" after the noun, and add sn to make them singular, pn to make them plural, or gn to make a generalization. This is optional.

rend: apple

rendikisn: an apple

rendikipn: some apples

rendikign: apples in general

The generalization marker is used in sentences like these:

aboti kigni diduesm: humans are stupid

abot: human

k: (connecting operator)

gn: generalization marker

d: (connecting operator)

d-sm: dumb-smart

Genders
After the operator "k", add the operand "na" for "female" or "vu" for "male".

ci dinak: I eat/drink

ciki naldinak: I (female) eat/drink

ciki vuldinak: I (male) eat/drink

Case prepositions
There are a lot of operators that function like prepositions that function like cases. For example, "cm" is the comitative operator, that means "in company of", "with". For example:

cidi pajb icmij: I walk with you

c: I (operand)

d: (connecting operator)

pajb: to walk (operand)

cm: (comitative operator)

j: you (operand)

As another example, "ns" is the instrumental operator, that means "by the means of".

cidina kinsizhau: I eat with a fork

c: I (operand)

d: (connecting operator)

nak: to eat/drink (in this case the context is clear) (operand)

ns: (instrumental operator)

zhau: fork (operand)

Evidentiality
After the operator "av", you can insert the source of a statement. For example:

xao: experienced event

xeu: hearsay

dop: inference (when you are sure something happened but didn't experience it yourself)

zuf: speculation (when you have no idea what you're talking about, similar to the word "might" or "I suppose that...")

Example sentence:

reldi cafalavi zuf: he/she might be sleeping

re: he/she/it (operand)

d: (connecting operator)

cafa: to sleep (operand)

av: (evidentiality operator)

zuf: speculation (operand)

You can use normal words after "av", too. Like "keck" (school). Adding "avikeck" to a sentence means you learned it at school.

Negative and interrogative sentences
After the operator "k", "u" turns a sentence into negative, while "ba" turns it into yes/no interrogative. Example:

ji naki rendi zipedalkiu: you didn't eat any apple(s) today

ji naki rendi zipedalkiba: did you eat any apple(s) today?

j: you

nak: to eat/drink

rend: apple

z: (introduces time)

peda: the past part of today

k: (connecting operator)

u: negative; ba: interrogative

It is possible to refer to only part of the sentence, to express some nuances. For example:

jikibal naki rendi zipeda: was it you who ate the apple(s) today?

ji nakipi rendikibalti zipeda: was it an apple the thing you ate today?

ji naki rendi zipi pedalkiba: was it today that you ate the apple(s)?

Types of yes/no questions
There are 9 types of yes/no question markers, according to what the speaker thinks and hopes the answer to be.

"ba": standard

"be": the speaker hopes the answer to be "yes"

"bo": the speaker thinks the answer will be "no"

"bu": the speaker hopes the answer to be "no"

"bao": the speaker thinks the answer will be "yes"

"bau": the speaker thinks the answer will be "yes", but hopes the answer to be "no"

"beo": the speaker thinks and hopes the answer will be "yes"

"beu": the speaker thinks and hopes the answer to be "no"

"boa": the speaker thinks the answer will be "no", but hopes the answer will be "yes"

Relative pronoun
"reu" is the relative pronoun operator, that means "that/who/which". For example:

aboti reulpi kacairi xuxo: killer

---

abot: human (operand)

reu: relative pronoun (operator)

p: (open parenthesis)

kaca: to cause (operand)

r: (connective operator)

xuxo: death (operand)

---

Yes, that's the way to say "killer" in Lili, since there is no direct translation. There is no "-er" suffix like in English, so you need to say "a person who [does something]".

"Like"
There are four ways to say "like" to compare something to something else: use the operators "kak", "kek", "kok" or "kuk".

---

j: you

d: (connecting operator)

fauk: to smell (intransitive)

kak/kek/kok/kuk: like

kbac: goat

---

jidi fauki kak ikbac: you smell like a goat (you smell, and goats smell too)

jidi fauki kek ikbac: you smell like a goat (the smell is similar)

jidi fauki kok ikbac: you smell like a goat (the intensity is similar)

jidi fauki kuk ikbac: you smell like a goat (the smell and intensity are similar)

From an individual to a group
The operand "koze", after the operator "k", modifies a noun and turns, for example, "human" into "humankind".

abot: human

aboti kikoze: humankind

Everyday, a guy looks at me
shatelki voklezipi abotikivui fbadalc: everyday, a guy looks at me

---

shate: day (period from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59) (operand)

k: (connecting operator)

vok: every (operand)

ez: (switched "z") (operator)

p: (open parenthesis)

abot: human (operand)

k: (connecting operator)

vu: male (operand)

fbada: to watch, look (at) (operator)

c: I (operand)

---

This sentence is ambiguous, because we don't know if it's always the same guy or if the guy can be different everytime. There is an optional way to disambiguate this sentence, putting "dob" after the operator "k" to indicate that the guy is always the same, and "tob" to indicate that it can change.

shatelki voklezipi abotikivul kidobi fbadalc: everyday, a guy looks at me (always the same guy)

shatelki voklezipi abotikivul kitobi fbadalc: everyday, a guy looks at me (not necessarily the same guy every time)

Vocabulary
Coming soon