Ithkuil

Ithkuil is a constructed language marked by outstanding grammatical complexity, expressed with a rich phonemic inventory or through an original, graphically structured, system of writing.

The language’s author, John Quijada, presents Ithkuil as a cross between an a priori philosophical and a logical language designed to express deeper levels of human cognition overtly and clearly, particularly in regard to human categorization, yet briefly. It also strives to minimize the ambiguities and semantic vagueness found in natural human languages.

The many examples from the original grammar book show that a message, like a meaningful phrase or a sentence, can usually be expressed in Ithkuil with fewer sounds, or lexically distinct speech-elements, than in natural human languages. J. Quijada deems his creation too complex and strictly regular a language to have developed “naturally”, but nonetheless a language suited for human conversation. No person is hitherto known to be able to speak Ithkuil fluently; Quijada, for one, does not.

In 2004 — and again in 2009 with its offshoot, Ilaksh — Ithkuil was featured in the Russian-language popular science and IT-technology magazine Computerra. In 2008 it won the Smiley Award.

The second, "definitive (or 'official')" revision of Ithkuil, also named Iţkuîl, was released in July 15, 2011; this is a major revision of the previous version. This article primarily deals with the older version of Ithkuil released in 2004.

Grammar

The lexicon of Ithkuil potentially consists of 3,600 word roots; so far, just 900 are assigned with individual translations. Each root consists of 1-5 consonants, and can derive thousands of lexemes through the use of Ithkuil’s complex rules of morphophonology, which involve both consonantal and vocal mutation, shifts in syllabic stress and tone, and affixation.

Ithkuil words can be divided into just two parts of speech, formatives and adjuncts. Formatives can function both as nouns and as verbs, depending on the morpho-semantic context. Both nominal and verbal formatives are inflected to one of the possible 3 stems, 3 patterns, 2 designations (formal or informal), 9 configurations, 4 affiliations, 4 perspectives, 6 extensions, 4 contexts, 2 essences, and 96 cases; formatives also can take on some of the 153 affixes, which are further qualified into one of 9 degrees. Verbal formatives are additionally inflected for 7 illocutions and 7 conflations.

Verbal Adjuncts work in conjunction with adjacent formatives to provide additional grammatical information. Verbal adjuncts are inflected to indicate 14 valencies, 6 versions, 8 formats, 37 derivations, 30 modalities, 4 levels, 14 validations, 9 phases, 9 sanctions, 32 aspects, 8 moods, and 24 biases.

An example of morphological analysis

(based entirely on the original Ithkuil grammar book)

The word U+iţkuîlx                 is a formative which was derived in original Ithkuil from the root k-l (broadly concerning “speech”, “voice”, or even “interpretation”) through the addition of several morphological determinants:

• The -u- vocalic infix

  kul was the holistic variety of the Stem 2 of the three other possible stems from k-l. Translating roughly as “a meaningful unit of speech,” i. e. “a word”, it gives no emphasis on the meaning or the vocal rendering of the word.

• The u → uî mutation of the infix

  Secondary, as opposed to Primary, Mode, means that the word kuîl refers not to a real-life phenomenon, but rather to a mental representation, or projection, of that phenomenon; to an imaginary or hypothetical object. Thus “a made-up word”.

• A Grade 8 mutation of the first radical consonant: k → ţk

  The Configuration of the term is Composite. Roughly corresponding to the plurality concept in Indo-European languages, it also implies the objects in question (words, kuîl) to be diverse, while forming a “coherent emergent entity” (rather than just a collection or an array of different words), thus meaning “a vocabulary/lexicon”.

• The i- vocalic prefix, one of the 24 possible for formative roots

  The Extension is Delimitive, perceiving “the vocabulary” as entire, with clearly distinguished boundaries, as opposed to it being just a local manifestationTemplate:Ndashsuch as slang or a dialectTemplate:Ndashof a broader lexicon (-ţkuîl).

  The Affiliation of the set of objects in question is Coalescent. This indicates that the individual members of the set act together toward a higher purpose by coōrdinating their complementary functions. Thus, “a vocabulary/lexicon” becomes “a language”.

• Syllabic stress on the penultimate syllable (-u-)

  The Perspective of the noun is Monadic, seeing “the language” as a single and specific entity, rather than a collection of many languages existing separately, the general phenomenon (“human languages”) or the abstract idea of language.

Thus, the approximate translation of U+iţkuîlx                 is “an idea/fantasy of a complete purposeful system of complementary speech elements”, or simply “an imaginary language”.

A compound sentence

File:Ithkuil pull uiqisx.png

Native, boustrophedon rendering of the sentence.

Romanization: U+Pull̀ uíqišx ma’wałg eřyaufënienˉ päţwïç auxë’yaļt xne’wïļta’şui tua kit öllá yaqazmuiv li’yïrzişka’ p’amḿ aìlo’wëčča šu’yehtaşx                

IPA: [ˈpʊ́l̪l̩̪̀ ʊˈɪ́qɪ̀ʃx ˈmáʔwàɫ̪ɡ ɛʁjaʊ̯fɤˈn̪ɪ́ɛ́n̪ ˈpǽθwɯ̀ç aʊ̯ˈxɤ́ʔjàɬt xn̪ɛʔwiɬˈtáʔʂʊ̀ɪ̯ ˈt̪ʊ́à kɪ̂t̪ œl̪ˈːâ jaˈqázmʊ̀ɪ̯v l̪ɪʔjɯɾˈzɪ́ʂkàʔ pʼamˈm̩̂ aɪl̪ɔʔˈwɤ́tʃːà ʃʊʔˈjɛ́ɸt̪àʂ]

Translation: As our vehicle leaves the ground and plunges over the edge of the cliff toward the valley floor, I ponder whether it is possible that one might allege I am guilty of an act of moral failure, having failed to maintain a proper course along the roadway.

Numeral system

Ithkuil uses a numeral system of base 100 and of superbase 10,000. There are roots for the numbers 1 to 10 (l-s, k-s, š-s, p-s, ţ-s, t-s, n-s, x-s, f-s, and m-s), and the stem-specific derivative affix is used with a root to add a multiple of 10, providing the numerals up to 99. Ithkuil doesn’t use the concept of zero. Numbers greater than 100 are expressed periphrastically in speech, while Içtaîl has logograms for the numbers 1 to 100 and for even powers of 100.

Phonology

Ithkuil (2004)

Ithkuil’s original phonological system had 65 consonants and 17 vowels. The consonants were as follows:

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Retro- flex	Post- alveolar	Palatal		Velar	Uvular	Pharyn- geal	Glottal
				central	lateral			central	lateral
Nasal		m	n̪							ŋ
Plosive	voiced	b	d̪					ɟ		ɡ	ɢ
	voiceless	p	t̪					c		k	q		ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	t̪ʰ					cʰ		kʰ	qʰ
	ejective	pʼ	t̪ʼ					cʼ		kʼ	qʼ
Affricate	voiced			d͡z		ɖ͡ʐ	d͡ʒ
	voiceless			t͡s		ʈ͡ʂ	t͡ʃ
	aspirated			t͡sʰ		ʈ͡ʂʰ	t͡ʃʰ		cʎ̥˔ʰ
	ejective			t͡sʼ		ʈ͡ʂʼ	t͡ʃʼ	c͡çʼ		k͡xʼ	q͡χʼ
Fricative	voiced	v	ð	z		ʐ	ʒ	ʝ		ɣ
	voiceless	f	θ	s	ɬ	ʂ	ʃ	ç		x	χ	ħ	h
Approximant			l̪, ɫ̪			ɭ˞		j		w	ʁ̞
Flap						ɽ

/m n̪ ŋ l ɫ ɭ˞/ could be syllabic. /h/ was pronounced [ɸ] when preceded by a vowel and followed by another consonant. [cʎ̥˔ʰ] was in free variation with [cʎ̥˔ʼ]; the latter is more common at the beginning of a word. All consonants except /j w/ could be geminated; when geminated, /h/ was pronounced as a bidental fricative and /ɽ/ was pronounced as an alveolar trill.

The vowels were as follows:

	front	central	back
Close	i y	ʉ	ɯ u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e ø		ɤ o
Open-mid	ɛ œ		ɔ
Open	æ	a	ɑ

The diphthongs in Ithkuil were /ai̯/, /æi̯/, /ei̯/, /ɤi̯/, /øi̯/, /oi̯/, /ʊi̯/, /au̯/, /æu̯/, /eu̯/, /ɤu̯/, /ɪu̯/, /ou̯/, /øu̯/, /aɯ̯/, /eɯ̯/, /ɤɯ̯/, /ʊɯ̯/, /oɯ̯/, /ɪɯ̯/, /æɯ̯/, /øɯ̯/, /ʉɯ̯/, /ae̯/. All other sequences of vowels were pronounced as separate syllables.

Ithkuil (2011)

The newly revised Ithkuil has 45 consonants and 13 vowels. The consonants are as follows:

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Alveolar-retroflex	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal	Labio-velar	Labiodental
Nasal		m	n̪						ŋ
Plosive	voiced	b	d̪						ɡ
	voiceless	p	t̪						k	q		ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	t̪ʰ						kʰ	qʰ
	ejective	pʼ	t̪ʼ						kʼ	qʼ
Affricate	voiced			d͡z			d͡ʒ
	voiceless			t͡s			t͡ʃ
	aspirated			t͡sʰ			t͡ʃʰ
	ejective			t͡sʼ			t͡ʃʼ
Fricative	voiced		ð	z			ʒ							v
	voiceless		θ	s	ɬ		ʃ	ç	x	χ		h		f
Approximant					l			j		ʁ̞			w
Flap						ɽ

/m n̪ ŋ l ɽ/ can be syllabic. All consonants except /j w/ can be geminated; when geminated /ɽ/ is pronounced as an alveolar trill.

The 13 vowels of Ithkuil are as follows:

	front	central	back
Close	i	ʉ	u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	ø
Mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a	ɑ

The diphthongs in Ithkuil are /aɪ̯/, /εɪ̯, /əɪ̯/, /ɔɪ̯/, /œɪ̯/, /øɪ̯/, /ʊɪ̯/, /aʊ̯/, /εʊ̯/, /əʊ̯/, /ɪʊ̯/, /ɔʊ̯/, /œʊ̯/, /øʊ̯/. All other sequences of vowels are pronounced as separate syllables.

Orthography

Ithkuil's native script is called Içtaîl, the Ithkuil word for 'hypothetical writing system'. It is a morphophonemic script as characters convey both phonetic and morphological information. Its use is closely tied to Ithkuil’s grammatical system, which allows much of the phonological aspect of words to be morpho-syntactically inferred. Those parts of an Ithkuil word whose pronunciation is predictable are not written, while the characters used to indicate the pronunciation of the unpredictable parts of a word also convey the grammatical information necessary to reconstruct the implicit phonetics. Words are thus written in a highly abbreviated manner, particularly useful for the highly inflected, occasionally elongated words of the Ithkuil language. The script is also used alphabetically for transliterating foreign words.

Influences

For his influences, Quijada cites the “morpho-phonology of Abkhaz verb complexes, the moods of verbs of certain American Indian languages, the aspectual system of Niger–Kordofanian languages, the nominal case systems of Basque and Dagestanian languages, the enclitic system of the Wakashan languages, the positional orientation systems Tzeltal and Guugu Yimidhirr, the Semitic triliteral root morphology, and the hearsay and possessive categories of Suzette Elgin's Láadan language”.

Possible advantages

The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis postulates that a person’s language defines their perceptions and cognitive patterns. Stanislav Kozlovsky proposed, in the Russian popular-scientific magazine Computerra, that a fluent speaker of Ithkuil, accordingly, would think “about five or six times as fast” as a speaker of a typical natural language. One may also argue that, Ithkuil being an extremely precise and synthetic language, its speaker would, under the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, have a more discerning, deeper understanding both of everyday situations and of broader phenomena, and of abstract philosophical categories.

Along these lines, Kozlovsky likened Ithkuil to the fictional Speedtalk from Robert A. Heinlein’s novella Gulf, and contrasted both languages with the Newspeak of the communicationally restricted society of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Ithkuil is by far the most complete language of the three. John Quijada acknowledged the similarity of Ithkuil’s design goals to those of Speedtalk, remarking that, “[h]owever, Heinlein’s Speedtalk appears to focus only on the morpho-phonological component of language[, whereas] Ithkuil has been designed with an equal focus on [morphology, lexico-morphology, or lexico-semantics]. Additionally, the apparent purpose of Heinlein's language is simple rapidity/brevity of speech and thought, while Ithkuil is focused on maximal communication in the most efficient manner, a somewhat different purpose, in which brevity per se is irrelevant.”

==

Ilaksh: the first revision of Ithkuil==

Template:Infobox language Since the mentioning of Ithkuil in the Russian magazine Computerra, several speakers of Russian contacted Quijada and expressed enthusiasm to learn the language, with several complaining of its difficulty in pronunciation. Quijada remade the language’s morphophonology and published the revision on 10 June 2007, as Ilaksh. The innovation featured other amendments to grammar, like some additional Levels or a slight shuffling of noun cases.

The Ilaksh script was redesigned. It has two forms, a sequential “informal” system suitable for handwriting or compact typesetting, and a “formal” logographic system with artistic possibilities resembling Maya scripts.

In the “informal” writing system, several parallel sets of lines are shaped to correspond sequentially to the different parallel sets of lexemes and inflections. It is directly pronounceable. The author designed it with reserve for convenient handwriting. The overall design would permit compact, clear, black-and-white rendering.

In the colorful “formal” script, a single complex glyph represents an entire sentence. Diversely shaped, shaded and superimposed “cartouches” represent the syntactic relations of the verb and noun phrases of a sentence. The edges of the cartouches have particular shapes describing one set of inflections, while the colors describe another set of inflexions, and the textures yet another set. On the cartouches, “letters” of hexagonal outline spell out the shapes of particular lexemes. The cartouches form phrases, with primary phrases overlapping subordinate phrases. The coloring system utilizes different color densities and texturing for different colors in order to be usable by color-blind people. These density conventions also allow the formal system to be inexpensively printed in black-and-white, or inscribed or imprinted on stone or other materials.

As of July 2011, Quijada plans to adopt the formal script "for use as an alternative, 'ornamental' writing system for artistic purposes" to the 2011 revision of Ithkuil, which was made to be morphologically similar to Ilaksh.

External links

• Ithkuil official site, now presenting the version as of July 2011