2.0

Formatives, Part I

This chapter will cover basic word formation in Ithkuil.

2.1

Functionalities of Formatives

Formatives, in Ithkuil, are a class of word equivalent to both nouns and verbs in English. Verbal formatives translate roughly to English as "There is X" or "X is happening". Nouns translate roughly as "An instance of X". Nouns require a verb in order to form a proper sentence, but verbs may stand alone in a statement*.

The differentiation between nouns and verbs is indicated by stress, or the emphasis of a particular syllable within a word. Nouns have default, unmarked stress, while verbs are stressed on the final syllable (e.g., "banana" is a noun, "bananá" is a verb). This consequently means that nouns must have, at minimum, two syllables.

=

2.1.1

Standard Structure of a Formative

The standard structure, or "template", of a formative is as follows:

(C_C + V_V) + C_R + V_R + (C_SV_X ...) + C_A + (V_XC_S ...) + (V_NC_N) + (V_C / V_K) + [stress]

...where C and V indicate clusters of consonants and vowels, respectively. Parentheses indicate that the clusters within are are optional or removable, while ellipses indicate that a cluster is infinitely repeatable.

Each of these clusters, hereafter known as "slots", entail certain mandatory grammatical categories. Mandatory grammatical categories are grammatical features (e.g., in English, number, tense, and mood) that must be morphologically indicated, as not doing so results in grammatically impermissible or semantically awkward sentences. Which slots convey which categories are shown below:

For added linguistic precision, each of these 23 grammatical features follow a specific hierarchy in which certain grammatical categories have semantic scope over one another.

An analogy to English is as follows: the agglutinative English word “unbelievers” means “multiple people who do not hold a belief” because of its scoping hierarchy, which is structured as follows:

As demonstrated, English morphological affixes follow a (quasi–)predictable hierarchy in which prefixes scope over suffixes, which in turn scopes over number. This ranking of categories gives words, like the above, intuitive definitions, instead of something random like "not a person who holds multiple beliefs". This hierarchy can be mapped into a flowchart as follows:

Ithkuil follows a similar concrete featural hierarchy, shown below:

Users of Ithkuil will find it useful to return to this diagram when constructing formatives.

2.2

Slots II & III & IV: Root + Stem + Specification

The Root-Stem Complex, along with Specification, is the basis as to which a formative's overall meaning is derived.

=

2.2.1

The Root

The root of a formative is the core element of meaning in Ithkuil. Without a root, an Ithkuil formative is semantically nonsensical.

=

2.2.2

Stem

Because of how broad the meanings of roots are, a semantic demarcator called "stem" is used to divide the definition of a root into three smaller concepts.

If the speaker wishes to refer to the root concept as a whole without any semantic division, they may use a specialized "Stem Zero", which encompasses all three stems at once. For example:

Note that the -ala present at the end of each formative represents the default values for Slots IV, VI, and IX. These slots' morphologies will be addressed in the following sections.

=

2.2.3

Specification

Similarly to how Stem trisects the definition of a given root, Specification also further curtails the meaning of a root-stem into 4 parts. However, the manner in which it does so much less arbitrary than Stem. The general pattern of the four Specifications are:

The following are some examples of formatives with Specification in use:

Since specifications of stems are still selected somewhat arbitrarily, all specifications are listed on the lexicon.

=

2.2.4

Slot II & III & IV Morphology

(C_C + V_V) + C_R + V_R + (C_SV_X ...) + C_A + (V_XC_S ...) + (V_NC_N) + (V_C / V_K) + [stress]

C_R: All roots, stems, and specifications are listed in the lexicon.

V_V:

V_R:

Note that if the value of Slot II is (a), then as long as it is phonotactically permissible, Slot II may be elided (e.g., atala -> tala).

2.3

Slot VI: Configuration + Affiliation + Extension + Perspective + Essence

Slot VI comprises the grammatical categories of Configuration, Affiliation, Extension, Perspective, and Essence. These categories are alien to natural languages.

=

2.3.1

Configuration

Configuration is a category which elevates root–stems into collectives or series, approximately translatable into English as “a group of X” in nouns or “to X repeatedly” in verbs. Two examples have been provided below.

To further specify the nature of the collective at hand, Configuration comprises a combination of three grammatical subcategories, which are Plexity, Similarity, and Separability. Their functions are described below.

Specific arrangements of Configuration are abbreviated by taking the first letter of the selected subcategory of each of the above factors (e.g., DUPLEX / DISSIMILAR / FUSED would be shortened to DDF).

Additionally, if the Duplex plexity is used alone without Similarity or Separability (to indicate pairs in which similarity and separability are unknown, inferrable, or irrelevant), it is abbreviated as DPX. This is inapplicable to the Multiplex plexity.

Below are more examples of Configuration in use.

Note that as demonstrated above, the usage of Configuration implies that the relationship between its members constitutes a singular whole greater than the sum of its parts (i.e., a gestalt), usually requiring an entirely new word to accurately translate into Western languages. Likewise, using Configuration on the root–stem “room” would not merely pluralize to “rooms”, but instead as “a group of rooms that form a tacit gestalt”, or “a house”.

Furthermore, the specific gestalt being referred to may be ambiguous. For example, the MSS Configuration applied to “paper” can mean both “sheaf” or “book”, which must be inferred from context.

=

2.3.2

Affiliation

Affiliation refers to the functional relationship between a formative’s components. If Configuration is in use, the "components" are assumed to be individual members of the configurational set. In Uniplex verbs, "components" are assumed to be the circumstances or intentions behind the state, action, or event.

=

2.3.3

Extension

Extension indicates the spatiotemporal portion of a root–stem that a formative is being referred to as.

=

2.3.4

Perspective

Perspective determines how a configurational set is bounded over spacetime.

Examples of Perspective in use:

=

2.3.5

Essence

Essence distinguishes real-world actualities from their imaginary representative counterparts. The latter and former are marked as the Normal and Representative, respectively.

To clarify, entities or occurrences must be marked with the Representative if the real–world, tangible instance or manifestation of the root-stem being referred to does not exist or may not exist. This can occur under a multitude of conditions, most usually being if a formative is:

If the exact nature of how a formative in the Representative is unreal is unspecified, then the addressee will have to deduce it from context. For example:

=

2.3.6

Slot VI Morphology

(C_C + V_V) + C_R + V_R + (C_SV_X ...) + C_A + (V_XC_S ...) + (V_NC_N) + (V_C / V_K) + [stress]

The C_A complex is formed by agglutinating several consonants together, each of which represent an individual morphological category. These values are:

Example of Slot VI in use:

Note that some C_A forms may result in phonotactically prohibited consonant clusters. Replace these with the following:

pp → mp, tt → nt, kk → nk, ll → pļ, rr → ns, řř → ňš, kg → ng, pb → mb, çy → nd, rř → nš, řr → ňs

[C]bm → [C]v, [C]gm → [C]x, [C]bn → [C]d, [C]gn → [C]ň

...where [C] represents any consonant.

However, applying some of the above substitution methods results in yet another awkward or indifferentiable cluster (e.g., fbm = [C]bm → (fv) [indistinguishable from ff]). As such, further elaborations to the directly previous substitutions must be made, which are provided below:

fbm → (fv) → vw, çgm → (çx) → xw, ţbn → (ţd) → dy, kgn → (ngn) → (nň) → ňn

2.4

Slots V & VII: Affixes

Affixes, much like prefixes and suffixes in English, provide optional morphological information regarding formatives. They may be inserted in Slots V (C_SV_X) or VII (V_XC_S).

All affixes and their abbreviations can be found on the List of Affixes.

=

2.4.1

Affix Usage

Affixes are constructed with a consonant (C_S) and vowel (V_X) form. C_S indicates the topic of the affix, or how it modifies the formative, and V_X indicates the degree to which it does. For example:

If Slot V affixes are in use, then in order to prevent confusion with Slot VI (C_A), C_A must be geminated, or doubled in phonemic length (the guidelines for this process are shown in § 2.4.3). If two or more Slot V affixes are in use, a glottal stop must be inserted immediately succeeding Slot II (e.g., aggwala → aggwaxolla → a'ggwaskixolla).

Affixes within the same slot scope over one another by order. For example:

Furthermore, Slot VII affixes scope over both Slot IV affixes and Slot V (Configuration, Affiliation, Extension, Perspective, Essence), while Slot IV affixes only modify the root-stem.

Lastly, similarly to stem, each affix has a specialized “Degree Zero” that refers to a deliberately ambiguated amalgamation of all existing degrees, if ambiguity is required.

anzvervaerrá

S1-"play.game"-CSV-TD1₁/0-G-OBS

Play a game that will take an unknown/irrelevant* amount of time from a few seconds to a day

2.4.2

Affix Types

There are additionally three affix “types” that dictate how an affix is semantically bound. These types are circumstantial, derivational, and hierarchical.

Circumstantial affixes (Type-1) imply that the affixual relationship with the formative is merely happenstance, exceptive, or temporary, best translatable as an adjective or adjectival phrase. On the other hand, derivational affixes (Type-2) imply that the relationship is permanent, intrinsic, or necessary to the root–stem’s final meaning, usually requiring an entirely new word for accurate translation. For example:

Modificative affixes (Type-3) are different in that they modify the immediately succeeding affix instead of the root–stem (unless the suffix is the last of its slot, in which case it modifies the immediately preceding affix). An analogy of its functionality to English would be that in the phrase “a quickly learnable skill”, “quick” is modifying “learnable” instead of “skill”.

Examples of more elaborate formatives formed with several affixes have been provided below for reference.

anthwerçweizvaivża

S1-"variable"-CSV-COA.MDF.N-KBP₂/3:'scientific field'-PSA₂/1:'one whose vocation involves'-THM

an algebraist

e'mzäfřeuţkoičveilla

S2-"memory"-CTE-SHP₂/4:'2D stamp of X'-MAK₂/7:'the making of X'-TDM₂/3:'handheld tool for X'-{C_A}-THM

a handheld camera

o'rhexäčhiafřuižvouçkaišpeaţţüšta

S0-"bear"-CSV-SIZ₁/2:'miniscule'-AFT₃/1:'too cute'-SHP₂/9:'3-D model of'-STF₂/6:'gelatinous'-FMM₂/1:'edible'-VSR₂/0:'varying color'-MDS-MCD₁/8:'pouch of'-THM

a bag of gummy bears

=

2.4.3Affix Morphology

(C_C + V_V) + C_R + V_R + (C_SV_X ...) + C_A + (V_XC_S ...) + (V_NC_N) + (V_C / V_K) + [stress]

C_S: Refer to the List of Affixes.

V_X:

Guidelines for C_A gemination in the event of Slot V affixes are as follows: