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.