Kílta Lexember 31: lamerun "in due course, in good time"

It's the last day of Lexember, so a time expression.

lamerun /læˈme.ɾun/ in good time, in due course, in/at the right time < lamerin round, plump, ripe + -un temporospatial suffix

The adjective lamerin covers a wide range of meaning, but one primary sense is that of culmination after a waiting period. Thus, ripe, plump, right time, etc. The suffix -un derives adverbs of place or time. It's not incredibly common.

Ton në lamerun katihëstat no re.
ton në lamerun katih-ëst-at n-o re
2SG TOP in.due.course understand-INCH-INF be-PFV PTCL
You'll understand in due course.

Here's another example of Kílta using the inchoative where English would be content with a simple verb. I could, I suppose, translate this "you'll start to understand in due course," but a lot of the time it's clunky to capture Kílta's inchoative too fastidiously in the English.

Lorátin Naram mëli rum!
Happy New Year!

Kílta Lexember 30: omulutta "earthquake"

I'm not entirely thrilled that today's word comes out looking a bit like breakfast, but these things happen sometimes.

omulutta /o.muˈlut.ta/ earthquake < om earth + lúto move + -ta nominalizer

Kílta has two entirely different stems for English move, one transitive, one intransitive. I've used the transitive one here, focusing on the effect (the earth moves things), rather than the merely describing the event in isolation.

Luikin omulutta vima si tuëmo.
heavy earthquake city ACC pound.PFV
A terrible earthquake struck the city.

This is exactly the sort of example sentence I like best, if I can pull it off — it gives two collocational usage hints. First, a bad earthquake in Kílta is luikin heavy, and second, the verb for earthquake destructive activity is tuëmo pound.

Kílta Lexember 29: tetila "joint, knuckle; inch"

I already had the word tetila with just the meaning joint. I've decided to extend the meaning to knuckle — a common enough polysemy — and through that to also mean inch (the measurement).

Tetila has no etymology. You can specify knuckle if you have to by using ol hand:

Pácha si chokët, ol vë tetilur kwalo.
table ACC hit.CVB.PFV, hand ATTR joint.PL hurt
After I hit the table my knuckles hurt.

To measure precipitation (the occasion for today's Lexember efforts), a secondary predicate construction is used:

Hëru tetilur mai mechuhítat no re.
hër-u tetil-ur mai me(ch)-uhít-at n-o re
8-PL joint-PL LAT CIS-snow-INF be-PFV PTCL
It will snow eight inches here.

Time and measurements are my hardest time learning natural languages, and not my favorite part of language invention. I'll get to the metric system eventually.

Kílta Lexember 28: oléla "gloves"

More winter weather vocabulary today.

oléla /oˈleː.la/ gloves

This is an eccentric reduplication starting from ol hand. A few pieces of paired clothing get not entirely predictable forms like this.

Samma vë oléla në vurël no?
fur ATTR gloves TOP where be.pfv
Where are the wool gloves?

Even though I've taken up weaving as a rage-absorbing hobby during The Covidities, and have added weaving vocabulary to Kílta, I hadn't yet committed to a word for wool. The polysemy I picked, from the already existing samma fur, is a common one. Two words settled with one example sentence.

Kílta Lexember 27: káhutiëha "bureaucracy"

Nearly all Kílta words are internally generated, either from derivation of existing vocabulary, or generated from scratch using my word shape generator. I do have a few borrowings, though, and those are confined to two main domains: places, especially country names; and very ancient cultivated plants and foods, with a few ancient technologies. Most of the borrowings that aren't contemporary place names come from languages of the ancient Near East, such as Sumerian via Akkadian, and some Egyptian. A few terms from from the Silk Road, for which I usually turn to Sogdian. Monta or something like it for dumplings, for example, shows up all along the silk road.

Today's word starts with káha paper, which is from Sogdian:

káhutiëha /kaː.xu.tiˈə.xa/ bureaucracy < káha paper + tiëha authority, power, rule

Tiëha is a usual compound element for -cracy words.

Iminachin káhutiëha katama si útauno.
RED-big bureaucracy workplace ACC dominate.PFV
A huge bureaucracy dominates work.

A representative of the bureaucracy is of course káhutiëhil a bureaucrat, the original word with the agent noun ending -il tacked on.

Finally there is káhutiëkkis, a piece of bureaucracy, piece of bureaucratic work, which could be paperwork or one of the many procedural rituals that warms the hearts of the process-oriented. A light verb construction with salko put, place generates the meaning assign someone a bureaucratic task:

Hiëmma si tirëtiu, nalaiku káhutiëkkisá si salko.
hiëmma si tir-ëtiu, nalaik-u káhutiëkkis-á si salk-o
revenge ACC give/1-PURP.CVB.PFV, further-PL bureaucratic.task-PL ACC put.PFV
To get revenge, he gave me more bureaucratic tasks.

There are a few arguments in the English translation that aren't explicit in the Kílta. Because the verb tiro give is only used when the recipient is a first person argument, that sets up the reasonable interpretation for the rest of the sentence.

Kílta Lexember 26: aroccha "boots"

Another seasonally appropriate word for people living in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.

aroccha /aˈɾot.tʃa/ boots, by default the full pair; no etymology

I entertained a few etymologies (relating to: foot, leg, to wrap), but nothing was satisfying, so I ultimately decided on an altogether new word.

Mechuhítirë so! Aroccha si relësti re.
me-uhít-irë so! aroccha si rel-ëst-i re
CIS-snow-IPFV ASSEV! boots ACC carry-INCH-IMP PTCL
It's snowing! Put on your boots.

The particle re is used to make imperatives less face-threatening.

Except for an attributive to maybe define the purpose or other qualities of them, there doesn't seem to be much call for special vocabulary around boots.

Kílta Lexember 25: ësta "gift"

Kílta has two separate roots for give, one when the recipient is the first person (me, us), one when the recipient is the non-first person (you, him, her, it, them). When terms are derived from a give word, though, the non-first person recipient one, ëcho, is the one used.

ësta /ˈəs.ta/ gift, present; bribe < ëcho give + -ta nominalizer (with some sound changes)

Emanur në rëtu ëstur si niëmo.
child.PL TOP much.PL gift.PL ACC receive.PFV
The children got many presents.

The usual give verbs, ëcho and tiro, can be used for giving a gift, but the light verb expression ësta si salko (lit., "put/place a gift"), is also regularly used, especially if the gift is not a physical object. With dative for recipient, ablative for the gift.

Ha në ël kë vúkur si ësta si salko.
1SG TOP 3SG DAT silver.PL ACC gift ACC put.PFV
I gave her some money (as a gift)

The adjective luikin heavy is used for a big gift that possibly incurs reciprocal social obligation, and lapin empty for a "small token," a minor gift.

Given the appropriate context, ësta also means a bribe.

Válekos në ëstur së si niëmirë hír.
sinecure-holder TOP gift.PL also ACC receive.IPFV PTCL
The sinecure-holder was of course also taking bribes.

The clause-final particle hír indicates that the statement follows naturally from what has come before.

Kílta Lexember 24: sussorë "woolgathering, abstracted, absorbed"

A simple but useful adverb today:

sussorë /susˈso.ɾə/ woolgathering, abstracted, absorbed, no etymology

This is almost always used with a posture verb (sit, stand, lie, hang), whether as a predicate or an attribute.

Ton në huchë sussorë sunko tul?
2SG TOP again wollgathering stand.PFV Q
Are you woolgathering again?

Ha në sussorë rinërin mauta si auttët, auníta si chaso.
1SG TOP wollgathering sit.PCPL.PFV cat ACC touch.CVB.PFV, startle ACC do.PFV
I touched the abstracted cat and startled him.

Kílta uses participles for things like relative clauses, "the cat that was woolgathering."

Kílta Lexember 23: lurusanil "parasite"

Another charming word today:

lurusanil /lu.ɾuˈsæ.nil/ parasite < lur breath, "energy" + sano eat + -il agent noun 

The breath, lur, in Kílta is also used idiomatically to refer to one's personal energy. Usually this is for the personal feeling, but I've grabbed it here for a more general sense.

Maras në lurusanilá si kacho tul?
kitten TOP parasite.PL ACC suffer.PFV Q
Does the kitten have parasites?

Kílta prefers kacho suffer to possession when referring to parasite infestation.

The adjective is lurusanohin parasitic.

Lurusanohin ús mácha si chuvët, akkalët, errelo.
lurusanohin ús mácha si chuv-ët, akkal-ët, er-rel-o
parasitic wasp spider ACC hunt-CVB.PFV, capture-CVB.PFV, TRANS-carry-PFV
A parasitic wasp hunted, captured, and carried away a spider.

Kílta Lexember 22: mënsekwa "restroom"

More household vocabulary today:

mënsekwa /mənˈse.kʷa/ restroom, bathroom < mënso wash, clean + -e/ikwa room/building suffix

An altogether transparent derivation.

The verb nuto means impel, urge, set in motion. It's used in the detransitive form, with a middle-like sense, to express the need to visit a restroom:

Ha në mënsekwa mai nutiso.
ha në mënsekwa mai nut-is-irë
1SG TOP restroom LAT impel-DETR-IPFV
I have to go to the bathroom.

In normal daily usage, absent other context, just nutiso by itself means the same thing.

Kílta Lexember 21: kwailëmës "sadist"

Kílta has a family of derivations centered on -ëmës "caretaker, cultivator." The word for doctor (or veterinarian) is esëmës, from es health. Today's words start with that:

kwailëmës /kʷaɪ̯ˈlə.məs/ sadist < kwailo hurt + -ëmës "caretaker" derivation

Kwailëmësá útan si ontirë.
sadist.PL matter ACC conduct.IPFV
Sadists are running things.

The light verb expression útan si onto is a fixed idiom meaning "run things."

The standard adjective derivation for -ëmës nouns is -ëmarin. For both the noun and the adjective form, the intensifier word is ívin (adv. ívui) savage.

Ívui kwailëmarin íhamal si ruiso.
savagely sadistic law ACC bind.PFV
They passed a deeply sadistic law.

Kílta Lexember 20: kuima "snail"

I realized that I didn't have a word for snail, which, I'll admit, isn't a word I use a lot, but sometimes you need to translate a conlanging meme.

kuima /kuˈi.ma/ snail, no etymology

Kuimur rëtu sotur së ën tuimata nen vëcho.
snail.PL many kind.PL also this swamp LOC remain.PFV
Many kinds of snail live in this swamp.

A word I do use more often, however, is slug, which is just lapin kuima a naked snail.

Lapu kuimur në ekiccha si sanár vëcho vukai!
naked.PL snail.PL TOP cabbage ACC eat.CVB.IPFV remain.PFV PTCL
The slugs keep eating the cabbage!

A converb + vëcho is a light verb expression that means continue to, keep on, etc. The post-verbal particle vukai indicates the speaker's displeasure about the situation. 

Kílta Lexember 19: ósa "form, shape"

More from my terrible backlog:

ósa /ˈoː.sa/ shape, form < onna build, fashion + -sa a "non-productive" nominalizer

This takes the attributive/possessive particle vë to indicate a particular shape, and prefers vurpin what kind of to just plain vurin which when asking about shape.

Ën mika vë ósa në uchin no.
this stone ATTR shape TOP strange be.PFV
The shape of this stone is peculiar.

Like many attributes, it is carried rather than simply had,

Mium në vurpin ósa si relo?
toy TOP what.kind.of form ACC bear.IPFV
What's the toy's shape?

I've decided to push on the meaning a bit for a few compounds to refer to states of matter. I almost never talk about that, but since I'm here and the idea occurred to me, I might as well add them:

ahëkósa - gas ("wind-shape")
matusósa - liquid ("water-shape")
saispósa - solid ("wood-shape," where wood is often "matter")
luëkusósa - plasma ("fire-shape")

I am not going to worry about Bose-Einstein Condensates for now.

Kílta Lexember 18: válusórin "ambitious"

The English word ambitious apparently only started to take on positive senses in the 1600s. The Kílta word reflects a deep ambivalence about it, suggesting a certain aggressive, grasping quality.

válusórin /βaː.luˈsoː.ɾin/ ambitious < vál privilege, perq + -ór-in adj. derivation meaning fond of

In new derivations and compounds Kílta will make an effort to avoid sequences of heavy syllables. It's not completely precious about it — there are, after all, roots that have HH patterns — but it will try. In the case of the -ór-in suffix, the usual ligature to add a light element -ar- is too echo-y, so the noun compounding ligature -u(s)- is preferred here.

Válusórin kattëkës në avur nalaikin kata si chasëtiu máko.
ambitious boss TOP 1PL further work ACC do.PURP.CVB.PFV want.PFV
Our ambitious boss wants us to work more.

There are a few common collocations I worry about when generating new words: intensity, approval, good/bad for a purpose. There are others, but those are pretty core. A simple very is usually available, but not very interesting, and in many natural languages, not even usual for many words. Approval for this word is unlikely for Kílta, but I'm going with mákohin covetous as the main term for intense ambition (adverbialized if necessary). Using these collocations is one of the main things I try to do in my example sentences in the lexicon.

The noun is válusóras ambition. Certain actions might expose ambition, which is indicated with ráno signal, gesture, point (out).

Sím vë lár në mákohin válusóras mai ráno.
3SG ATTR word TOP covetous ambition LAT signal.PFV
What he said exposed his intense ambition.

Kílta Lexember 17: líkkis si salko "feed"

Today is another phrasal creation, made up of words that already exist.

In the existing Kílta corpus there are already a very small uses of the word sanëlo, which is just the causative of sano eat, for feed, but I don't like it. I've decided that sanëlo is confined to industrial or mechanical feeding, as well as experimental settings where we might say we're feeding (culturing) bacteria or whatnot. Force-feeding a prisoner, or as a form of torture, would also use sanëlo. For normal feeding:

líkkis si salko feed < líkkis food + salko put, place; with the dative for the recipient

Ton në ké mautur kë líkkis si salko tul?
2SG TOP already cat.PL DAT food ACC put Q
Have you fed the cats yet?

Every once in a while, you have to do this sort of lexical retconning when something that seemed like a good idea at the time turns out later to not be what you want. The light verb expression here is more in the spirit of the language.

Kílta Lexember 16: máchumórama "the middle of nowhere"

There was a recent /r/conlangs post about different language's ways of saying something like "the middle of nowhere." Some are a bit vulgar, and a lot involve animal, or the devil.

My old work office had a very boring view, but due to how the lighting worked at the building, I always had a few spider webs there, to catch the bugs attracted to the evening lighting. So, I had a very close view to the work of the spiders, and their battle with the wasps. I kept track of the spiders a bit in my conlang diary, as something to talk about other than the weather. In part because of this, Kílta has a proverb, a close translation of the Latin lupus est homo homini, man is wolf to man, that is, people prey on other people. In the Kílta, I've simply put spiders into the role of the wolf, kor në kor kë mácha no.

With spiders as wolves in mind, I decided my "middle of nowhere" phrase would involve them:

máchumórama /maː.tʃu.moːˈræ.ma/ (the) middle of nowhere < mácha spider + móro sing + -ama location derivation

So, "where the spiders sing." It is nicely alliterative.

Símur në ta si máchumórama nen vuttë onno?
3PL TOP this ACC middle.of.nowhere LOC why build.PFV
Why did they build this in the middle of nowhere?

An alternate, fuller, phrasing has even more alliteration:

Máchur mórátin ummul
spider.PL sing.PCPL.IPFV forest
the forest where the spiders sing

Kílta has contextually-oriented participles, which can take on a locative sense with place words.

Kílta Lexember 15: lapin líkkis "junk food"

A phrasal entry today, from words that already existed:

lapin líkkis junk food < lapin empty + líkkis food

Nothing too exotic here.

Ha në lapin líkkis si kwilë sanët, ichunëho hír.
1SG TOP empty food ACC too.much eat.CVB.PFV, feel.unsatisfied PTCL
I ate too much junk food and feel gross.

Ichunëho is defined as feel unsatisfied despite normal consumption. It can be used with non-food items, such as a book that didn't live up to expectations, but when used in reference to actual food it implies that not only are you not satisfied, you don't feel well.

The postverbal particle hír is used for narrative cohesion, and means something like as you'd expect. It is used more often in Kílta than I use as you'd expect in English.

Kílta Lexember 14: kiummin "spooky, eery"

And old one from my ever-growing list of words to create:

kiummin /kiˈum.min/ spooky, eery, creepy

It has no etymology.

I wanted a particular word to intensify this notion, beyond just very. Physical sensations are good place to go for this, so I went with inesui "icily."

Ummul në kinta kiummin no.
forest TOP night spooky be.PFV
At night the forest is spooky.

Eman në inesui kiummin máha si cholat máko më re.
child TOP icily creepy story ACC hear.INF want.PFV NEG PTCL
The child didn't want to hear a super creepy story.

I'm leaning toward making any statements about other people's internal state (mental or otherwise) require the particle re, which hedges it a bit.

Kiummin is a good match for topicalized infinitive clauses:

Ël tu si mítat në kiummin chaso.
3SG those ACC say.INF TOP spook do.PFV
It got spooky when she said that.

Kílta Lexember 13: issét "footpath, sidewalk"

Basic vocabulary again today:

issét /ˈis.seːt/ footpath, sidewalk < issa road, way + -ét lexical diminutive

Kílta has normal diminutives which can be used freely on anything, as well as fossilized diminutives which only occur as (non-productive) word derivation elements, sometimes without the non-diminutive root being used in the language at all.

Avur në issét nen erniënto.
avur në issét nen er-niënt-o
1PL TOP footpath nen TRANS-depart-PFV
We left on the footpath.

Uhítot si issét li úri avësso.
snow ACC sidewalk ABL just.now remove.PFV
I just removed snow from the sidewalk.

Kílta Lexember 12: chítas "regret, remorse"

Today's word has a modestly interesting etymology, but it kicked off a bunch of new polysemy for some adjectives:

chítas /ˈtʃiː․tas/ regret, remorse < chíto bite, chew + -as abstract nominalizer

Part of the motivation for this is that chíto also means sting when insects do it.

As is normal with emotion nouns, the verb relo bear, carry is used when one's experiencing it. I use the ablative li for the matter about which one has regrets, and the dative kë for a person who has been wronged.

Mannur në nirika li chítas si relo më.
3PL TOP war ABL regret ACC carry.PFV NEG
They don't regret the war.

Ëlá në atta kë chítas si relo.
3PL TOP father DAT regret ACC carry.PFV
They have regrets about their father.

Regrets have standard lexical collocations, generally adjectives, like: sincere, deep, etc., so I needed to cover that a bit. For a sincere regret, I just chose tásin true. That word is also used to mean something like equal to the task, which is more the sense I was drawing on here.

For other intensity terms I went back to the original meaning of chíto bite, and went with nútokin strong for deep regrets. Kwimin weak can mean mild regret, but more carries the sense of insincere regret. I'm not going to give examples of all of them, but one should give the flavor:

Nútokin chítas ël si sikwa mai nuto.
strong regret 3SG ACC house LAT impel.PFV
Deep regret(s) sent him home.

Nuto covers urge, set in motion, impel, etc.

Kílta Lexember 11: insen - "sink, basin"

More basic household vocabulary today:

insen /ˈin․sen/ sink, basin < in- augmentative + sen cup, bowl

This derivation is pretty transparent.

Insen mai manur si salki re.
sink LAT vegetable.PL ACC place.IMP PTCL
Put the vegetables in(to) the sink.

Imperatives are moderated with the particle re.

Insen si këspin mata li riëlainat no.
sink ACC hot water ABL fill.INF be.PFV
I'll fill the sink with hot water.

The simple future, INF + no, is practically confined to first person subjects, so the subject is unambiguous here. Also Kílta has separate temperature words for water and food. Mahin hot would be used for things or the weather.

Kílta Lexember 10: válekwa "sinecure"

Today I'm going a bit more specialized for Kílta, but still using the derivation I've used a previous post, the -i/ekwa room and building suffix:

válekwa /βaːˈle․kʷa/ sinecure < vál perquisite, privilege + -i/ekwa room, building suffix 

Here I'm using a common enough metonymy of a place for the things that go on there. In this case, it's referring to some sort of official position (possibly governmental, but it could be business, and probably organized crime) that someone has but for which they aren't expected to accomplish much if any work. The position exists to confer wealth and power.

Because it's derived from a location term, expressions with will tend to refer to that origin.

Sím në ronin válekwa nen úri vëchësto.
sím në ronin válekwa nen úri vëch-ëst-o
3SG TOP high sinecure LOC just.now remain-INCH-PFV
He just got a valuable sinecure.

The adjective ronin high is often associated with positions of power (again, a common enough conceptual metaphor). The verb vëcho means remain at the core, but is used for expressions meaning live, dwell.

One might also get kutta vë válekwa a vassal's sinecure, a valuable position that requires the continued patronage of some powerful figure. Any sinecure might be like this, but in this expression the position is precarious.

I still need to work out some nice phrasing for when someone is evicted from a sinecure.

Kílta Lexember 9: okwama "kitchen"

Yet another fairly basic term I should have invented for Kílta years ago:

okwama /oˈkʷæ.ma/ kitchen < okwa hearth, fireplace + -ama location and time derivation

I don't use the ("non-productive") -e/ikwa room derivation here to avoid the doubled /kʷ/.

Kolán okwama nen vuttë sunko?
everyone kitchen LOC why stand.PFV
Why is everyone in the kitchen?

I spend a certain amount of time thinking about lexical collocation. You could say that someone was "very mistaken," but a more idiomatic turn of phrase is "sorely mistaken." You cannot, however, be "sorely correct." A high degree of attention is close. And so on. Intensifiers often come in for special treatment.

Kitchens don't usually get intensifiers, but you do sometimes want to talk about a kitchen (or any workspace) that is well suited or well prepared for the work that goes on there. So, I've decided to add a polysemy to the already existing adjective kinochin, normally used of people to mean ready, prepared. When referring to places where work takes place, it now also means well or fully equipped. If you were trying to sell it, I suppose you could say well-appointed.

Ël vë kinochin okwama nen tëlpár surílo.
3SG ATTR well.equipped kitchen LOC cook.CVB.IPFV enjoy.PFV
I enjoy cooking in their well-equipped kitchen.

Kílta Lexember 8: konekwa "bedroom"

Very basic vocabulary for Kílta today:

konekwa /koˈne.kʷa/ bedroom < kono sleep -(e/i)kwa room, building

The suffix -(e/i)kwa is yet another of those "non-productive" suffixes. 

Mautur në konekwa nen nulo tul?
cats TOP bedroom LOC lie.PFV Q
Are the cats in the bedroom?

Not a whole lot of room (sorry) for polysemy with this one.

Kílta Lexember 7: hënnëtukës "charismatic leader"

A somewhat more obscure term for Kílta today, but a matter that sometimes grabs my attention.

hënnëtukës /xən.nəˈtu.kəs/ charismatic leader < hënno tame, control + tuka eye + -ës agent and instr. nmnl

In Kílta the word tuka eye has strong connotations of nosiness, extending to surveillance. I wanted for this word to capture the role of the rather nosy techniques of group control that tend to accompany organizations headed by charismatic figures. Also, what the leader turns their eye to tends to become the interest of everyone in such a group.

Hënnëtukës luël si chasët në, nahësá luël si inachëlo.
hünnëtukës luël si chas-ët në, nahës-á luël si inach-ël-o
charismatic.leader error ACC do-CVB.PFV TOP follower-PL error ACC big-CAUS-PFV
When a charismatic leader makes a mistake, the followers amplify the mistake.

A general converb clause can be topicalized, and it has a mixed conditional and temporal sense. My translation uses when, which captures the more conditional sense here.

Hënnëtukës në pairun no.
chairsmatic.leader TOP disaster be.PFV
A charistmatic leader is a catastrophe.

Kílta distinguishes pairun, a disaster that is more man-made, from sauna, a disaster over which people have no control.

Kílta Lexember 6: rutta "tool"

Today's Kílta word is an unexpected oversight. I have several derivations that can create words for tools, but no general term. This is using another one of those hidden derivations.

rutta /ˈɾut.ta/ tool, instrument < ruto take, grab + -ta nominalizer

In this derivation the verb ruto should be taken as referring more generally to handling.

Vurpin rutta si ikko?
what.kind? tool ACC lack.PFV
What (kind of) tool do you need?

Kílta somewhat prefers to use vurpin what kind of in some places where English is content with what or which. It also drops arguments a lot, as here.

Ta rutta në súchat níko më.
that tool TOP dig.INF be.like.PFV NEG
That tool isn't suitable for digging.

The verb níko resemble, be like with an infinitive is used to describe fitness for a purpose.

Kílta Lexember 5: haimavo "disappear, fade from view"

Kílta already has the verb tëníto go/be away which I've sometimes used to mean disappear. But that refers to a physical absence. Today's word is visual.

haimavo /xaɪ̯ˈma.βo/ disappear, fade from view (new root, no etymology)

Nama asíkár, Ótahwa haimavësto.
nama asík-ár ótahwa haimav-ëst-o
sun rise-CVB.IPFV mars fade.from.view-INCH-PFV
As the sun rose, Mars faded from view.

Kílta uses the inchoative/inceptive more often than English will say "start to, get" with verbs.

You can even use haimavo and tëníto together:

Luëkëlva në úkár haimavët tëníto.
train TOP go.CVB.IPFV fade.CVB.PFV go.away.PFV
As the train went it faded from view and was gone.

Kílta Lexember 4: mukélës "symbiote"

Another fairly straightforward word for Kílta today, but with a few obvious and related derivations in the mix:

mukélës /muˈkeː.ləs/ symbiote < muko live + -él- co-, con- + -ës agent nominalizer

This is a straight-up calque of symbiote, but the derivation is fairly obvious and I couldn't think of anything else that wasn't torturously clever.

To state relationships, the postposition is tin (together) with.

Lita në kiva tin vë mukélës no.
mushroom TOP tree with ATTR symbiote be.PFV
Mushrooms are symbiotes with trees.

In Kílta, generic nouns are in the singular.

Probably a more natural way to express this is with an adjective, which is mukélarin symbiotic, again using tin with for the relationship.

Lita në kiva tin mukélarin no.
mushroom TOP tree with symbiotic be.PFV
Mushrooms are symbotic with trees.

Because I spend a certain time worrying about how systems interact and influence things, Kílta has a nominal derivation just to mean systems. So, mukéluista symbiosis, system of symbiosis.

Mukéluista në ummul vë muër no.
symbiosis TOP forest ATTR interconnectedness be.PFV
Systems of symbiosis are the interconnectedness of the forest.

The translation for that is a bit of a mouthful, but is a good example of one of the main functions of a personal conlang. It allows the language creator to express things they find interesting or important concisely.

Of course, now I've had to add parasite to my ever-growing backlog of vocabulary to create.

Kílta Lexember 3: tavëlár "slang"

Today's is a simple word:

tavëlár /taˈβə.laːɾ/ slang < tavo run + lár speech, utterance, word

The verb tavo run is used in various derivations to mean "fast, quick."  Here I'm not referring to speed of enunciation, but lifetime. The -ë- ligature is normal for verb-initial compounds.

Kattëkës kë mítarpe, tavëlár si míti hómë re.
boss DAT speak.COND.CVB.IPFV, slang ACC speak.IMP PROH PTCL
If you're talking to the boss, don't use slang.

Note that Kílta prefers the verb míto speak to anything meaning "use" here, even if that means the verb is repeated. The particle re is here to soften the imperative a bit.

Kílta Lexember 2: ísama "grave"

One funny feature of the Kílta grammar is that in the derivational section I describe some affixes as productive and others as nonproductive. On first glance, this is a bit absurd. It's my language, I can derive words however the hell I want. But even though Kílta doesn't have a deep historical process in its development, I do use historical thinking as an esthetic choice, and so I have layers of history in various places, including the word derivation system. And, I have a friend learning Kílta, an unusual circumstance for most conlangs. The productivity notes have turned out to be useful there.

Today's word has layers of derivation involved.

ísama /iːˈsæ.ma/ grave < ímo hide + -sa nominalizer + -ama place/time nominalizer

The -sa is an "older" nominalizer covering instrument, agent, and abstractions. It's not even documented in the public Kílta grammar, though it does have a long comment in the LaTeX sources. I should probably include it in a footnote or something. 

At any rate, in some parts of Kílta grammar nasal+s eliminates the nasal and lengthens the previous vowel, so there was an intervening *ísa. However, that conflicts with another *ísa exile described here. So it got the location derivation, resulting in ísama (opening the door for a possible *-sama variation for location derivations).

Though the plain verb ímo does mean hide, it is used in derivations meaning other things, especially relating to covering. If you look at the CLICS³ graph centered on hide, you find both cover and bury as common polysemies with hide.

Intentionally in keeping with using salko put, place, for planting in a garden, that'll be the verb for burial:

Avur në atta si ísama nen salko.
1PL TOP father ACC grave LOC put.PFV
We buried our father.

For location, naturally one lies there:

Ël në ísama nen ké nulo më.
3SG TOP grave LOC already lie.PFV NEG
She's not yet in the grave.

It is an interesting accident of development that the word for grave, ísama, looks related to ísui in the manner of an exile, and ína exile, outcast itself. There's a possibility for wordplay here I might explore later.

Kílta Lexember 1: këllekunaima "cave"

The Lexember 2020 Season is upon us! I have no particular theme for this season, apart from the ever-growing backlog of words I want to create for Kílta.

Today's word is cave. I was briefly tempted to coin a unique root for it, but to be honest my interaction with caves is not frequent. Since this is a personal language I do try to take into consideration just how often I'm going to use a word. I thought about various compounds, and settled on naima mouth for the final element, since that is already used as an entrance to places.

Këllekunaima /kəl.le.kuˈnaɪ̯.ma/ cave < këlleka hill, mountain + naima mouth

It's not enough just to coin the word for me most of the time. I want to spend some time thinking about prototypical usage. The normal motion in a cave is generally downward, so hímo go down, descend is the main verb for wandering a cave. For entering the cave, just use the inchoative.

Ilivëstët, útan li këllekunaima si tëtti hímësto.
iliv-ëst-ët útan li këllekunaima si tëtti hím-ëst-o
rain-INCH-PFV.CVB matter ABL cave ACC a.bit descend-INCH-PFV
It started to rain so they went in the cave a bit.

The expression útan li "from (that) matter" is an idiom for so, therefore.

I'll need to think more about how to express a cave-in.

Culture and a Point of Word Usage in Kílta

One of the things I have tried to do with Kílta, though it is a personal language intended for use in the here-and-now, is to assemble an invented legendarium I can use to expand the range of expression beyond the nakedly literal. Stones, for example, are associated with a (completely undefined) oracle system, allowing the creation of idioms like ëkin mika si autto she touched another stone, to refer to someone altering their fate in a notable way.

Within this legendarium are váchur, semi-personified representations of certain forces and entities in the world, not gods, but certainly beyond the human. Perhaps like genius loci but expanded beyond just locations.

Kílta already has a word for plague, epidemic: vós [ˈβoːs]. But it entered my mind that a vácha for that might be useful. After a bit of percolation my brain, the vácha Hësas [ˈxə.sas] has entered the legendarium. It is represented by flies, who in Kílta already have associations with the more remorselessly brutal parts of the natural lifecycle.

In Kílta, many things that move in the air tunáko hang there. Because Hësas is represented by flies, I have decided that when expressions of location are used with the plain old word vós epidemic tunáko will be used.

Vós në méka nen metúnakësto.
vós në méka nen me-túnak-ëst-o
plague TOP America LOC CIS-hang-INCH-PFV
The plague is now in America.

Normally using a posture verb for location is confined to people and animals, but I've extended it to vós because of the association with Hësas and flies. This is probably the most subtle result of using the legendarium to drive Kílta expression to date — a single usage note in the lexicon entry for vós.

Words of Immiseration

You never know what's going to lead your conlang to new grammar.

More than a month ago I was reading a bit by and about Hannah Arendt, and I realized Kílta was lacking a few bits of vocabulary I'd need if I wanted to convey some thoughts on my reading. In particular, I was looking to be able to describe ways in which communities and societies immiserate and even kill people. In particular, I was struck by the notion of entire populations being essentially ignored to death (refugees, mostly, come in for this sort of treatment).

But to say someone has been ignored to death is actually a fairly complex bit of grammar. The to death part here is a resultative secondary predicate. I had been considering secondary predicates ("I painted the wall red," for example) in Kílta for a while, and had some notes from a little research I had done on the topic, but hadn't committed to anything yet. If I wanted my immiserable expressions, I'd need to make a decision, to go with secondary predication, or pick some other method. Not all languages use secondary predication, after all.

In the end, I decided to use secondary predication, and picked a slightly unusual (but attested) way to do this: an adverb immediately before the verb can be interpreted either as a manner adverb or as a secondary predicate. Given Kílta's love of argument dropping, some ambiguity is possible, but I try not to let potential ambiguity stop me, especially if I can convince myself context will clear things up (most of human communication is context, anyway). At any rate, here's an example:

Tërta si mámui tëlpo.
meat ACC soft.ADV cook.PFV
They cooked the meat (until) soft.

The secondary predicate here is the adverb form of the adjective mámin soft.

Postpositional expressions in the shape [N mai] (the lative), can also be used preverbally as secondary predicates:

Këchar në vós mai këkíno.
government TOP plague LAT ignore.PFV
The government ignored its way into a plague.

Note here that, while in standard English secondary predicates can only refer to the object, in Kílta the subject (or topic, as here) can also take secondary predication. For more possibilities and subtleties of Kílta secondary predicates, see the grammar (section 10.6, as of July 2020).

So now I had constructions for secondary predication, but I did not just create a schematic way to handle all these expressions of immiseration. While Kílta is not a rigorously naturalistic conlang, I do consider plausibility an important part of its esthetics. A too tidy chart always makes me wince a bit. In any case, in a few places result converbs are used rather than secondary predication. That said, I did concoct a small number of rather specific adverbs for use as secondary predicates.

For example, I already had the word ína outcast, exile, pariah. I needed an adverb for this, and decided to use an "archaic" derivation to produce an unused intermediary form *ísa which was then turned into the adverb ísui in the way of an exile, outcast, and as a secondary predicate, into exile:

Ámatulásilur si ísui pëcho.
refugee.PL ACC into.exile oppress.PFV
They oppressed the refugees into exile.

On the other hand, I simply conconcted a new root adverb, méstë, which means something like harming the household or family. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to find uses for this outside secondary predicates.

Vós në méstë memúlo.
plague TOP harming.family CIS.arrive.PFV
The plague reached us, harming the household.

As a secondary predicate:

Símur në mélá si méstë túkwilo.
3PL TOP parent.PL ACC harming.family humiliate.PFV
They humiliated the parents until the family took harm.

Finally, I needed to death. I did not simply want to use the verb die or some expression too like English here. Kílta already has a strong association in other expressions of os dust with the entropic effects of time, and it was only a little stretch to push this into dying territory. I used a special locative adverbial derivation, which means down(ward) to, giving ostorë:

Avur në ámatulásilur si ostorë këkíno.
1PL TOP refugee.PL ACC to.death ignore.PFV
We ignored the refugees to death.

Not the lightest topic, to be sure, but I've now filled out a parts of a sadly useful semantic field, and acquired a useful piece of new grammar as part of the bargain. On my phone I have a document that's just an ever-growing list of expressions I want to add to Kílta. Most of the time I get new words out of this, but once in a while a whole new corner of grammar appears.