loliya lavu - link & word list

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

Hi. It delighted me to discover that at least one person has interest in loliya lavu. (Thanks for fnording, stevo!) I have much more work to do on it to make it functional, but I decided to put my lessons together on a separate page & start a word list. So you can check it out at:

http://rocketship.pbwiki.com/loliya+lavu

Feel free to comment on what you see here by fnording below this entry.

A thousand scraggly lovebugs,
Andr.

2 tz'i

Seeing no fnords, I stopped posting loliya lavu lessons. If someone decides to care, I may continue them, or edit them for clarity, etc. Otherwise, I see no point.

In th meantime, I've started following th K'iche'-Mayan 260-day sacred calendar (tzolk'in), which involves 20 different "daysigns" (sort of like days of th week) running concurrently with th numbers 1 thru 13. Th 20 daysigns go as follows:

K'iche' - English translation (alternative English translations)

imox - Lefthanded (Dragon, Crocodile, Alligator, Waterlily, World
iq' - Wind (Breath)
aq'ab'al - Foredawn (Night, House, Darkness, Nighthouse)
k'at - Net (Seed, Corn, Lizard, Maize)
kan - Snake (Serpent)
kame - Death
kej - Deer (Hand)
q'anil - Yellowripe (Rabbit, Venus (star))
toj - Thunderpain (Water)
tz'i - Dog (Gateway)
batz - Monkey
e - Toothroad (Human, Grass, Stairway, Tooth, Road)
aj - Caneplant (Reed)
ix - Jaguarthroat (Jaguar)
tz'ikin - Birdsilver (Eagle, Knower)
ajmak - Sinner (Vulture, Wax, Owl, Soul)
n'oj - Knowhow (Incense, Quake, Earth, Movement)
tijax - Knifedge (Flint, Knife)
kawuq - Rainready (Storm, Rain)
junajpu - Marksman (Lord, Flower)

So, after 1 imox comes 2 iq', 3 ak'ab'al, 4 k'at on thru 13 aj. Then comes 1 ix, 2 tz'ikin, on thru 7 junajpu, 8 imox & so on. It takes 260 days to come back around to 1 imox (because 13 x 20 = 260).

Th K'iche consider today 2 tz'i, 2 Dog. A new 13-day period started yesterday, so I intend to watch closely how things progress from 1 to 13. I have a project cooking during this time that I may share after th period ends.

loliya lavu lesson 03 - modifiers

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

You learned in th last lesson about mode words, verbs, & pseudo-nouns. In this lesson, I'd like to tell you about modifiers, which work rather like adverbs & adjectives.

modifiers

Let's take a simple sentence:

a xalevu - I cook.

To give a little more information about how I cook, I might add another word. When we stick a few words together, th words after th first one act to modify it. So, for example:

a xalevu lavu - I energetically/divinely cook.
a xalevu baxiNa - I continuously/continue to cook.

a biNo wahimimi - I catly climb. / I climb in th manner of a cat.
a loliya cocu - I sharingly speak. / I speak in a sharing way.
a wahimimi coma - I happily cat. / I happily do as a cat does.

Thus do we modify our verbs. Th modifiers act like pseudo-adverbs in th above examples.

Similarly, we can modify our pseudo-nouns, making our modifiers act like adjectives. Let's take a simple sentence:

a biNo ki lolu - I climb a tree.

To modify our pseudo-noun, lolu, tree, we simply add modifiers immediately after it:

a biNo ki lolu maceka - I climb a fruit tree.
a biNo ki lolu xova - I climb a green tree.

a va ki wahimimi mali - I see/perceive a female cat.
a kawa ki beco vaxi - I go to an eating-house (restaurant).
aca we ki loca beku - I like this human-being.

You can use this to specify number:

maceka mu - one fruit
beco hi - some buildings

& you can use this to specify ownership/association:

wahimimi bu - your cat
beco ba - my house

This last method can cause confusion:

lolu wahimimi - cat tree or cat's tree?

I haven't decided whether or not I like this ambiguity. I certainly want ambiguity in loliya lavu, but maybe I will change th way ownership/association works. Thoughts?

Note: In English, we put our modifiers before th word they modify: "energetically cook", "happy cat", etc. In loliya lavu, we do th opposite; we put our modifiers after th word they modify. Don't let that throw you.

spelling numbers & letters

I came up with a dual system for numbers & letters. Basically, you have unique names for th numbers 0-15 which correspond perfectly with th sixteen letters in th alphabet. So we have:

yo - number 0 - letter y
mu - number 1 - letter m
xaki - number 2 - letter x
belima - number 3 - letter b
voNa - number 4 - letter v
ho - number 5 - letter h
kemiku - number 6 - letter k
li - number 7 - letter l
Naca - number 8 - letter N
cuxuve - number 9 - letter c
wi - number 10 - letter w
ama - number 11 - letter a
olo - number 12 - letter o
uNu - number 13 - letter u
ibi - number 14 - letter i
exe - number 15 - letter e

To spell numbers past 15, you speak each digit:

li Naca belima - 783
cuxuve mu yo ho kemiku xaki 910,562

You can also speak each digit to spell th numbers 10-15. They all have alternate names (mu yo or wi for 10; mu mu or ama for 11, etc); either name fits.

To spell words, you speak each letter:

li olo li ibi yo ama - loliya
kemiku exe mu ibi kemiku uNu - kemiku

I decided that some loliya lavu words other than mode words can begin with vowels. Proper Names will probably do that rather often. That area has yet to get developed.

clipping

One last thing before I go take a nap. It seems to me quite reasonable to allow speakers of loliya lavu to knowingly clip longer words to speak them quickly. For example, we can take th word maceka & clip in a few different ways:

macek'
mace'
mac'
ma'

Th apostrophe represents a glottal stop, a quick closing of th throat (think of John Lennon saying th "tt" in "bottle". Th cut words will thus sound cut. In theory, a listener shouldn't have any trouble distinguishing ma from a clipped ma'.

Clipping creates ambiguity. Does macek' stand for maceka or something else, like maceki or maceku? Ma' could stand in for many, many words. I like this kind of ambiguity. A loliya lavu poet can use it for puns & riddles. Hooray!

But exercise caution when clipping, because it assumes that th listener can read your mind & guess what letters you cut out. In context, it should usually make sense, but watch out.

Let's clip th phrase loliya lavu. First, loliya

loliy' (I don't think this one sounds different from loli', so I'd avoid it.)
loli'
lol'
lo'

Now, lavu

lav'
la'

& let's combine them:

loli' lav'
lol' lav'
lo' lav'
loli' la'
lol' la'
lo' la'

Th phrase on th top would confuse th least. After that, it gets more ambiguous. Just using th very few words I've already got, I can see that lo' la' can mean:

loliya lavu - energy language
loca lavu - energy person
lolu lavu - energy tree

When & if a more workable vocabulary of some thousand words gets created, lo' la' would become nearly indecipherable.

I like that.

By th way, clippings help greatly with counting. To count quickly, you could clip all th words of two or more syllables:

mu xak' bel' voN' ho kem' li Nac' cux' wi. . . .

loliya lavu lesson 02 - basic sentence structure

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:

1. 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.
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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").
   
4. 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.
   
5. 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).
   
6. 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.
   
7. 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.
   
8. 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.
   
9. e - indicates a question. This & ece work differently from th other mode words. We'll get into them later.
   
10. 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:

1. 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.
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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:

1. 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.
   
2. 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".))
   
3. 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.
   
4. 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

loliya lavu lesson 01 - sounding, wording, verbing

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

I've started constructing a wee mighty language! Mostly for th fun & challenge, really, but also, potentially, for songwriting. I've made an effort to make this language reflect my current agnostic & increasingly-animistic philosophical leanings. At this point, I have only just begun, & every single element could change, if I need it to.

So I will start telling you about it here, on my blog, & I graciously & humbly welcome you to send me "fnords" (comments) thru this page with suggestions, comments, ideas - whatever comes to you as you explore!

As this language changes, these lessons will change to reflect it. I intend to keep updated links to each lesson on th left of my blog (under "featured entries"), so you can easily navigate thru them at any time, regardless of when I originally posted them.

& so let's begin at th beginning.

loliya lavu

I call this language loliya lavu (LOH-lee-ah LAH-voo), which means language of energy. Loliya means language (or, since most words function by default as verbs, languaging, as in using a language); lavu means energy. Lavu bridges th semantic gap between words like "electricity", "chi", "life force", "electromagnetic", "divine", "Tao", etc. It allows for science & mysticism together.

Sounding

I considered putting sounds in loliya lavu not found in English, but decided instead to keep th phonology relatively familiar to English-speakers. It has some important pronunciation quirks to note, but once you learn them, you needn't worry about exceptions. Every letter stands for one sound & one sound only, every time you see it.

Loliya lavu uses th following alphabet (not yet in any intentional order):

consonants: b c h k l m N v w x y
vowels: a e i o u

Some of th consonants you pronounce like in English:

h as in hug
l as in lanky
m as in moo
w as in wishy-washy (but never like caw)
y as in yam (but never like joy)

Some of th consonants you pronounce like in English, except that you can pronounce them voiced or unvoiced:

b as in bit OR pit
k as in tack OR tag
v as in van OR fan

Finally, a few of th consonants represent a sound in English usually represented with two letters, but in loliya lavu, you only use one:

c sounds like sh as in shuck
N sounds like ng as in gong
x sounds like ts as in oats or tsetse

Vowels sound much like they do in Spanish, Esperanto, & toki pona. I decided to make them really simple.

a as in father
e as in get
i as in machine
o as in more
u as in food

Wording

Words in loliya lavu consist of any number of syllables within reason; each syllable consists of one consonant & one vowel. Stress always falls on th first syllable of th word.

Examples:
loliya
lavu
wahimimi
ko
xoxolo
biNo

Verbing

With th exception of basic structure words, all words in loliya lavu work primarily as verbs. We can also use them as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc, but when we do so, we must remember how they work as verbs. We do something like this in English when we call someone who cooks "a cook" (one that cooks) or someone who gives "a giver" (one that gives). Loliya lavu does it that way every time.

For example, th word xova means, more or less, "to green," or "to register as green to an observer." So, instead of saying, It is green, we say something akin to, It greens.

Another example: loca (don't forget, c sounds like sh) means, more or less, "to act as a human being," or "to demonstrate human being-ness". So instead of saying, She is a human being, we say She human beings.

We can use those words like non-verbs; however, th meaning of loca as a pseudo-noun doesn't mean, "human being," but rather, "entity which human beings".

So, to show you how this might work, here we have a full sentence: a biNo ki lolu bo wahimimi which we could translate literally as, That which cats (acts as a cat) climbs that which trees (acts as a tree). But, in standard English, we'd more likely say, A cat climbs a tree.

What difference does that make? First, by thinking in terms of verbs, we infuse all our words with activity, energy, life. Second, it tells more honestly what we really see. Do we actually see a cat climb a tree? Or do we see an entity which acts as a cat climb an entity that acts as a tree? After all, maybe we say a squirrel. Maybe somebody painted a very realistic-looking tree on th side of a house. But, if we see a squirrel "acting as a cat" & th side of a house "acting as a tree," we have still accurately described this event: a biNo ki lolu bo wahimimi: That which cats climbs that which trees.