Ælis/Morphology

The oligosynthetic identity of the language means that its vocabulary is constructed from a relatively small set of root words. These roots are strung together into big clusters to create more complex words. The approach basically urges speakers to 'create' their own vocabulary while speaking. To achieve consistency, there are very strict rules for morphology. This page will give you an overview of important morphological elements of the language, and how they fit together.

Basic word structure


The morphological approach is strictly head-initial: the first root of a compound word is nominal, which means it behaves like a noun. The roots attached behind the first behave like adjectives. By joining roots and turning them into compound words, more complex words can be created from basic concepts.

The word order can also be played with to change the relationship of the roots. After all, since the first root is described by the ones that follow, different combinations can be made with the same roots. These will then have different meanings. An example:  tE [te] means 'human/person'. uB3rA [ubira] means 'strong'.
 * tEuB3rA [te>ubira] means 'a strong person'
 * uB3rAtE [ubira>te] means 'human strength'

As a consequence of the root word approach, semantically related words will also be lexically similar. Consider the following words:

Number concepts


Along with the 21 common letters of the alphabet, Ælis uses a set of ten additional symbols called number concepts, from now on referred to as "Lisqa". Lisqa are proper root words which all have a numeric value:

Lisqa are a noteworthy aspect of the languages' morphology, mainly because the underlying idea doesn't share any common ground with concepts found in the English grammar (or probably most human languages' grammar, for that matter). A first important remark is that these number concepts are not the same as cardinal numbers. Instead, they are present in words where the corresponding numeric value is somehow conceptually present. The most illustrative lisqa example can be found in the very name of the language: 1lIS [Ælis] consists of 1 [æ] (1) and lIS [lis] (concept, idea), the concept of one meaning as much as 'peace' or 'harmony', or of course ' uni ty'.

Counting


Ælis does not have individual words for numbers, nor has it any separate symbols for ciphers. But as you might have guessed, the number concepts are used to express numbers: all numbers end with the fixed root word qA [qa], which can mean 'number', 'amount', 'countable' or 'unit'; with number concepts preceding it. As such, the first ten cardinal numbers are:

For all positive numbers 10 and up, multiple number concepts are combined as if they were digits. E.g.:

The word "lisqa", by the way, is our first illustration of the root word approach explained in the first paragraph. We now know that [lis] means concept, and that [qa] means number. Since [qa] is the latter of the two syllables, it comes to mean "numeric" rather than number. Thefore: [lis+qa] means "numeric concept". The other way around, [qa+lis] would mean "conceptual number".

Simple math
The root word [qa] always dilineates different numbers. For instance, while 12qA [æ'eqa] is the number 12, a formulation like 1qA2qA [æqa'eqa] could be used for enumerating lottery numbers, for the results of a sports game, etc.

Operators for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are formed with the root word qE [qe] in combination with one of four suffixes called qualifiers (which will be elaborated on later):
 * qE3rA [qeira] = addition
 * qE1rA [qeæra] = subtraction
 * qE4rA [qeora] = multiplication
 * qE0rA [qeara] = fraction/division

The formula for "equals", rW4rA [ræora], is optional. It may be inserted for clarity purposes. Simple operations are expressed thus:
 * 1qAqE3rA1qA ( rW4rA ) 2qA [æqa-qeira-æqa-(ræora-)eqa]: 1+1=2
 * 1qAqE1rA1qA ( rW4rA ) 0qA [æqa-qeæra-æqa-(ræora-)aqa]: 1-1=0
 * 2qAqE4rA2qA ( rW4rA ) 4qA [eqa-qeora-eqa-(ræora-)oqa]: 2x2=4
 * 4qAqE0rA2qA ( rW4rA ) 2qA [oqa-qeara-eqa-(ræora-)eqa]: 4/2=2

Personal pronouns
The number concepts also play a role in the construction of personal pronouns. If you look at them as 'the first/second/third person', the idea becomes more tangible. Personal pronouns exist in three grammatical persons, two numbers, and three genders, which creates a total of 18 personal pronouns. The genders are purely semantical, so they don't govern the declension of nouns or the like! Note that the category of undefined pronouns is not the same as the neuter grammatical gender; they are used only if a speaker is either unaware of the gender, doesn't wish to specify, or, in plurals, for referring to a group where both sexes are present. Furthermore, the personal pronouns are only used for arguments that can be interpreted as having a character: people, or sometimes animals, anthropomorphized objects (in literature), ect. They are never used for referring to objects (as opposed to the English use of it).

Ælis attaches great value to the correct use of genders in personal pronouns. In correlation, addressing someone face to face with 2tE [ete] (you, undef.) can be considered offensive.

Addressing someone is often also done by merging a personal pronoun with a noun. Compare:
 * nIuE3rA [niueira] = "mother" (when speaking about someone's mother);
 * 2nIuE3rA [eniueira] = "(you,) mother" (when addressing your own mother).

Qualifiers


Qualifiers are a set of five roots used as suffixes to nearly any other morpheme which express a certain amount, degree, extent or quality of something. Qualifiers are essential building stones of the Ælis morphology, and you'll see why in a minute. The qualifiers are formed by prefixing Lisqa from 0 to 4 to the fixed root word [-ra]. Therefore, there are five qualifiers 'levels':

 0rA [ara] (nothing) - 1rA [æra] (little) - 2rA [era] (moderate/middle/half) - 3rA [ira] (much) - 4rA [ora] (all/total) The qualifier word construction pattern can be applied to numerous root words to create a fivefold of words. As such, qualifiers are a very important aspect of the language's morphology. Below are a few example words. Look at which nuance the qualifiers add to the roots:

Axial paradigm of time and space


The linguistic continuum of time and space in Ælis is shaped by 'dimensional' axes. The key root word in this domain is dA [da].

Let's discuss the spatial axes first. The words for spatial indications consist of 4 parts:
 * The root word aN [an], which means 'location';
 * A Lisqa, to identify the axis;
 * The root word dA [da], which means 'axis';
 * A qualifier that determines one of 5 points on the axis.

The first spatial axis is the mathematical x-axis or horizontal axis, which ranges from left to right:

The second spatial axis is the y-axis or vertical axis. It ranges from bottom to top.

The third spatial axis ranges from back to front:

The final spatial axis ranges from inside to outside:

The temporal axis is marked with aSdA [asda]. It contains [as], meaning 'time', and lacks the middle Lisqa as there is only one temporal axis. The temporal axis ranges from past to future:

Pluralization


Nearly every root word in Ælis is principally ambiguous as long as it isn't specified. For instance, '[te]' can mean both 'person', 'people', and 'human'; '[ma]' can mean both 'man', 'men', 'manly', 'manliness', etc. E.g.:

lA mA hAaNdA2rA [la ma ha'anda'era]

==> There is a man here

==> There are men here

==> There is male presence here.

By adding the root qA [qa], with either a number concept or one of the qualifiers, these roots transform into precise (countable) and imprecise (non-countable) amounts, respectively. Compare:

...
 * 1qAmA [æqama] (one man)
 * 2qAmA [eqama] (two men)
 * qA1rAmA [qa'ærama] (a few men)
 * qA3rAmA [qairama] (many men)
 * qA4rAmA [qaorama] (all men)
 * etc.

Moreover, [qa] can be combined with a number concept and a qualifier at the same time, by which both nuances will be incorporated:

[lauoqa'ærama ha'anda'era] (nine (not much) men are here) There are only nine men here.
 * lA 9qA1rAmA hAaNdA2rA

Target and origin
Two other morphemes that are fairly important to the language's morphology are the target and origin morphemes, respectively iI [ii], and lI [li]. Although these root words can literally mean 'target/goal/end' and 'origin/beginning', they are most frequently used as prefixes to express change or figurative movement. In these cases, [ii] expresses that something becomes more like X or moves toward X; while [li] expresses becoming less like X, moving away from X. Below are some examples: