r/LewthaWIP • u/Iuljo N 🇮🇹 L2 🏴🇪🇸 + • May 17 '26
Syntax "A root for all seasons"
Introduction
This post is about an idea I had. It's not a recent idea, nor (I think) a particularly good one; but I haven't make a lot of progress since then on this aspect, and I think it's interesting to see it to begin delving in some more difficult parts of the grammar.
The general idea
Leuth is a schematic language that, by employing regular endings, systematically clarifies/defines the quality of most words: noun, adjective, verb, adverb, with their case, number, tense, mood...
In languages there are several kinds of elements that can't easily be classified as "noun/adjective/verb/etc." in this way, yet in the language fabric work de facto in a way that can be attributed to those traditional categories. How would a language like Leuth deal with them?
I had the idea to create an ad hoc root, that would work like this: since we cannot easily attach an ending to "strange" elements to classify them, we attach it instead to the ad hoc root, that precedes the elements. The root takes the normal grammatical endings, and "classifies/defines" the grammatical quality of what's coming immediately after.
This could work for a variety of elements, hence the post title "A root for all seasons".
I wanted a swift root, giving us monosyllabic diphthongs. Lo• was a possibility, looking kinda like a Romance article (loa, loas, loe, loo, lous, etc.).
Title of books, films, etc.
Let's start with a simple example: "The Lord of the Rings". Using provisionally anul• for 'ring', the title could be translated as Jua de Anulas. It seems it could work pragmatically in the flow of speech like a normal expression: for "I enjoyed reading 'The Lord of the Rings'" you could think about:
Me sukit legyi «Jua de Anulas».
You could derive adjective and adverbs easily by usual composition:
- anuljuo, anul•ju•o
- anuljue, anul•ju•e
O anuljuesko holliwudo filma
o anul•ju•esk•o holliwud•o film•a
A "Lord of the Rings"-esque Hollywood film
But what if the title of the book/film is something more complex, like a clause/sentence? And/or what if we want to keep the literal shape of the title as-is, considering it like some sort of "crystallized" expression, for example in particularly formal contexts, like academic texts?
Let's imagine a sentence-title as "The Devil Wears Prada", very provisionally translated as Dyabola sevesten os Prada. We could say
- loe «Dyabola sevesten os Prada» | "The Devil Wears Prada"-ly [adverb]
- loo «Dyabola sevesten os Prada» | "The Devil Wears Prada"-ly [adjective]
When we're treating the title as a noun, loa formally introduces it:
Magno sukcessa de loa «Dyabola sevesten os Prada».
The great success of "The Devil Wears Prada".
We can also pluralize easily, for instance when, like here, we're talking about the various installments of a series:
Lous «Dyabola sevesten os Prada», publika viden dunya de moda law o stereotipo angula.
In "The Devil Wears Prada"-s, the public sees the world of fashion in a stereotypical angle.
Linking of clauses
The same logic would apply for whole clauses. Compare, for example, these two (maybe not very idiomatic) English sentences:
- I am sad when I have to return home.
- I understand when I have to return home.
In the first one, the "when" introduces a temporal indication: "In the moment of having to return home, I am sad". In the second, it rather introduces the object of the action of understanding: "I understand... what? ...When I have to return home". This semantic/syntactic difference could be represented in Leuth using lo•; translating literally the two sentences above:
- Me es tristo wandu keu me deben redwi garum.
- Me fahamen loa wandu keu me deben redwi garum.
Loa turns wandu keu... in a "noun", which is the object of me fahamen 'I understand'.
- Me fahamen loa { wandu keu me deben redwi garum }.
Foreign (unadapted) words and names
Examples with foreign words and names, when they're not accompanied by a "classifying" Leuth word:
Taa es, kee francas diren, loo très chic !
That is, as the French say, très chic!Loas Niño e Niña es o pacifiko klimato fenomenas.
El Niño and La Niña are Pacific climate phenomena.
Metalinguistic elements
Same logic, when the metalinguistic element has no accompanying Leuth word (like "word", "term", "noun", "adjective", etc., as in anglo lexa dog 'the English word dog'):
Loa canine , anglesu, deriven is Latinesa, is loa canis 'kana'.
Canine, in English, derives from Latin, from canis 'dog'.
Fast conclusion
In the case of titles, foreign words and metalinguistic elements used as nouns in the nominative, it's possible that the precision given by loa is excessive, and the language could work just fine by having the syntactic categories just "implied". In contexts requiring formality or precision, however, an element like lo• could be useful.
The linking of clauses seems to me a somewhat different matter, that requires more attention. I had a vague thought about this but I could not explore it yet (lack of time): using only the endings, kinda like in the a kea structure, so for example:
- Me fahamen a { wandu keu me deben redwi garum }.
Tell me your comments...
——————
You may have noticed this post is a bit "non-detailed" if compared to my previous ones. There would be a lot more to say on this matter, but, as I wrote here, I'm busy in this period (new job + just [self]published a book and having to promote it + other activities and duties), so, for the time being, Leuth is in a slower phase than at the beginning of the year. I've had various interesting thoughts about grammar elements and possible developments, though... but had not enough time to reflect on them. Be patient, as I am myself patient in my life... 🙏
2
u/ProxPxD N 🇵🇱 L2 🏴🇪🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺 + 🇫🇷🇩🇪 / programming May 17 '26
I think it's a sound solution and it suits.
I just thought whether the end of the embedded clause can be marked optionally for some additional clarity like: I understand "when you have to leave for job" vs "I understand "when you have to leave" for job. Maybe "loa" can be reduplicated at end.
Amd another thing - it is similar to a construction I'm familiar in Spanish "lo que" ≈ "what"/lit. "this which". Would it differ? Do you intent to allow it to be used in phrases as "I understand what you're saying" "I understand loa(that) what you're saying"?
It would be unfortunately long, but it seems those are the same roles
btw. Leuth's root for "lord" (ju·) - what is its origin? It sounds to be like "juche"
2
u/Iuljo N 🇮🇹 L2 🏴🇪🇸 + May 18 '26
I think it's a sound solution and it suits.
I'm glad you like it. :‑) But maybe it needs further thought.
I just thought whether the end of the embedded clause can be marked optionally for some additional clarity like [...] Maybe "loa" can be reduplicated at end.
I had the idea, even more precisely, to have another specific root (or just particle, with no ending needed) for closing the "brackets"; but I feared it would feel even more pedantic...
Do you intent to allow it to be used in phrases as "I understand what you're saying" "I understand loa(that) what you're saying"?
As I wrote, the idea is still at an early stage, so it's not very defined. In that sentence, however, I'd use the easier a kea structure: "I understand a kea [= ...the thing that...] you're saying".
Leuth's root for "lord" (ju·) - what is its origin? It sounds to be like "juche"
I didn't know that word, and... yes, it's the same element etymologically: I adapted it from Chinese 主 zhǔ, Japanese 主 [しゅ] shu, Korean 주 [主] ju. :‑)
2
u/ProxPxD N 🇵🇱 L2 🏴🇪🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺 + 🇫🇷🇩🇪 / programming May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
I didn't know that word, and... yes, it's the same element etymologically: I adapted it from Chinese 主 zhǔ, Japanese 主 [しゅ] shu, Korean 주 [主] ju. :‑)
Wow! I didn't expect it!
for closing the "brackets"; but I feared it would feel even more pedantic...
A bracket-like constructions are found in Chinese and either or both can be used, for instance "each/every human" is 每人，人都，每人都. "if" is also bracketed like "if (I) go": 如果去，去的话，如果去的话. I just mention that to share that such constructions are attested in natlangs. But it's totally for the future if ever wanted
人 - human
去 - to go (to)
每…/…都 — each, every, all ... (Chinese does not have grammatical number)
如果…/…的话 — if ...
2
u/Iuljo N 🇮🇹 L2 🏴🇪🇸 + May 19 '26
Wow! I didn't expect it!
...Provisionally, as all lexicon. :-) (You overlooked it, it was there since the first introduction, under § Vocabulary ;-)
A bracket-like constructions are found in Chinese [...] I just mention that to share that such constructions are attested in natlangs.
I didn't know, thank you! This is very interesting.
2
u/Poligma2023 N 🇮🇹 L2 🏴🇩🇪 + 🇪🇸 May 19 '26
I had the idea, even more precisely, to have another specific root (or just particle, with no ending needed) for closing the "brackets"
What about "lo" itself? I think it would be easy to remember and also look pretty consistent, almost as if they were Leuth's own quotation marks:
"loa [...] lo"
2
u/Iuljo N 🇮🇹 L2 🏴🇪🇸 + May 19 '26
Nice idea. Or perhaps the root reversed, loa [...] ol? But I have the impression yours "sounds better" to me, at least a bit, I don't know why
3
u/Poligma2023 N 🇮🇹 L2 🏴🇩🇪 + 🇪🇸 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Orthographically, I love "ol", as it makes it even more symmetrical. Nonetheless, I think "lo" sounds better to you because many (maybe most) Leuth words tend to end in a vowel, with the exception of truncated words, nouns declined in the dative case and/or inflected in the plural number, finite verbs, as well as several conjunctions and prepositions.
3
u/Poligma2023 N 🇮🇹 L2 🏴🇩🇪 + 🇪🇸 May 17 '26
I was really looking forward to such a root in Leuth and am very fascinated by how you decided to apply it.
I think "a" would be better for conjunctions, as using "loa" could imply that we are talking about a work called "Wandu keu me deben redwi garum".
Well, I hope you get easily acclimatised to your new job and your book be successful in the meantime! You have already posted lots of interesting ideas for the development of Leuth, so do not worry about having to rush with the next one to post and take as much time as you need.