Note: Th version of loliya lavu that you see here I have decided not to continue past a very early stage. But, I have every intention of starting a new language based on it, hopefully soon! Check back at this blog in a few months, perhaps. Much love. updated: 2008-7-23

Ok, now that I've refried some pinto beans & cleaned up a bit, I'll add some meat to th bone I just threw you called loliya lavu.

basic sentence structure

Basic sentences unfold in th following order:

MODE WORD; VERB; ki RECEIVING ENTITY; bo GIVING ENTITY; ce 3RD ENTITY

"Receiving Entity" sort of means "Object," but not exactly. "Giving Entity" sort of means "Subject," but not exactly. I'll explain th "3rd Entity" when we get to it. When you come across ki, bo, & ce those words tell you that th word that follows functions as either a receiving entity, a giving entity, or a 3rd entity, respectively.

using mode words

What do I mean by mode word? Basically, a mode word tells how th speaker knows what he or she claims to know. I have devised ten mode words for ten modes of knowing information. Every sentence must contain a mode word; thus, every sentence must contain information about th speaker's mode of knowing.

Each mode word begins with a vowel; no other words do so. Therefore, you can easily recognize beginnings of sentences, because they will always start with a vowel. One tiny mode word, one or three letters long, can give much information.

Th complete (as of 2008-2-7, 9:41 PM Central) list of mode words, with one sample sentence for each, follows. Don't worry about correctly pronouncing th sentences yet. I have to explain parts of speech more before you can do it correctly. As you go, note how much information each tiny mode word gives:

a - knowing by means of th "5 senses"; knowing from seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, or smelling. a xalevu bo loca ce maceka - I know this by means of my 5 senses: Someone (or "a human being") cooks fruit.
aca - knowing by means of a "6th sense"; knowing from intuition; knowing from direct emotional experience. aca we ki maceka - I feel this way: I like fruit.
o - knowing by assuming; knowing by guessing; knowing by estimating. o we ki mali bo voli - I assume/guess he (or "th man") likes her (or "th woman").
oco - knowing by logical reasoning; knowing by deduction; knowing by applying th scientific method. oco biNo ki lolu beku bo voli - I have reasoned thus: He (or "th man") climbs/climbed this tree.
u - knowing by hearsay, but from a questionable source (by th judgement of th speaker). u moxiba ki loca bo bu ce wahimimi - I have heard you give people cats (but I don't necessarily trust my source).
ucu - knowing by hearsay, but from a relatively reliable source (by th judgement of th speaker). ucu moxiba ki loca bo bu ce wahimimi - I have heard from a reliable source that you give people cats.
i - actively imagining, but not claiming th event actually happens. i cocu ki ba bo bu ce xoxolo bu - I imagine this: You share your bodymind with me.
ici - dreaming, daydreaming, having a vision, but not claiming th event actually happens. ici cocu ki ba bo bu ce xoxolo bu - I dream this: You share your bodymind with me.
e - indicates a question. This & ece work differently from th other mode words. We'll get into them later.
ece - indicates a command. More on this in a future lesson.

sentencing

After th mode word comes a verb. All sentences (except occasionally answers to questions) will contain at least one verb following th mode word. Th simplest possible sentence consists of one mode word & one verb:

a cocu - I know this by means of my five senses: I share.

Cocu means to share. But where did th "I" come from in that sentence? Well, now I'll tell you a rule about meaning in loliya lavu that I really like. Whenever you don't specify who or what does something (th "giving entity"), it automatically means th speaker, so, in English, "I". This sentence means th same as th one above:

a cocu bo ba - I know this by means of my five senses: I share.

Bo indicates that th word that follows it functions as th "giving entity," that which "does something". Ba means I or me.

But let's flesh this out. Who do I share with? Let's say a cat. Wahimimi means cat (or, more accurately, to act as a cat). To make wahimimi th "receiving entity" we put it after ki, & we put ki after th verb. Ki indicates that th word that follows it functions as th "receiving entity".

a cocu ki wahimimi bo ba - I share with a cat.

Remember, we could have left out bo ba & this sentence would have meant th same thing.

Ok, let's add one more entity, th "3rd entity". Th "3rd entity" helps out when we need to talk about one more entity. In th case of cocu (to share), th third entity tells us what gets shared. Let's say that th cat & I share a tree. Lolu means tree (or to act as a tree). So we have:

a cocu ki wahimimi bo ba ce lolu - I share a tree with a cat, or, more literally, I know this by means of my five senses: That which acts as "I" share that which acts as a tree with that which acts as a cat.

Note that not every verb uses all three places: giving entity, receiving entity, 3rd entity.

emphasis within sentences

We've already mentioned in lesson 01 that you accent th first syllable in every word in loliya lavu. I'll mention one more thing. Within a sentence, you should never accent one-syllable structure words. We know a few of those already: a, o, u, i, e, ki, bo, ce. All other words receive accent on their first syllable. This includes: verbs like cocu & wahimimi; pronouns like ba (I, me, mine) & bu (you, your); two-syllable mode words: aca, oco, ucu, ici, ece. Some examples:

ici cocu ki ba bo bu ce xoxolo bu - Ici COcu ki BA bo BU ce XOxolo BU

u moxiba ki loca bo bu ce wahimimi - u MOxiba ki LOca bo BU ce WAhimimi

what sentences assume & don't

Ok, one last thing. What do sentences assume & not assume?

Sentences assume:

one actual event - by default, a sentence refers to one actual event, not a habitual event, not a hypothetical event, but one actual event. We have to add other words for those kinds of meanings.
physical entities - by default, th nouns in a sentence refer to physical entities, & specific ones, not generic ones. Cats climb trees refers to real cats climbing real trees, not just a figurative cat. To refer to th set of "normal" cats or th set of "normal" trees, for example, we'd need more words.
nowish tense: by default, th events occur in th relatively near past. Perhaps you mean this morning. Perhaps you mean five minutes ago. Perhaps you mean half a second ago. We don't talk about th "present" because by th time we make a statement about th present, it has become th relatively near past. We can become more specific than this with more words.

Sentences do not assume:

continuation - sentences don't tell you whether th event continues now or has come to completion. It could still go on, or it could have already finished.
number - wahimimi may mean one or a thousand cats. However, in context, th listener will usually know about how many you mean, & you can always specify "one" (wahimimi mu) or "some" (wahimimi hi). ((Note: you cannot say "always", "every", or "all". Those words don't exist in loliya lavu because one can never know what happens "always" or to "every" or to "all". One can only know about "some".))
sex - to refer to a person without giving th person's gender, just say loca, human being. That can function th same as "he/she." If you want to specify, you have a word for female (mali) & a word for male (voli). You also have words for androgynous (cili) & sexless/asexual (huli). However, most of th time, you needn't refer to sex at all.
animacy - you needn't make a distinction between so-called living & non-living things. In English, we often divide our universe into people & things. We objectify our environment, th animals we live with, th tools we work with, & even th people outside of our circle of empathy. In loliya lavu, I want to get away from that kind of thinking. Instead of thinking of people versus animals versus things, think instead of entities. Everything & everyone that manifests in our universe deserves some appreciation for what it/she/he does. So, I propose th word ko, which as a verb means to manifest in th speaker's subjective reality & as a pseudo-noun means entity. Everything & everyone that has some sort of physical reality (rather than completely abstract, like an unspoken thought) we can call ko. Ko acknowledges th personhood that all things deserve.

How do you like that for a rambling introduction to something I've only just begun to make sense of myself? Please please please, ask questions, offer suggestions, tell me what you think! Good, bad, responses, concerns, give it to me! I want to know how you respond to this.

Much love,
Andrew