Scellan

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Fia sfir dy Sgewlib (This page in Skellan)

Scellan
Λ ỺⱵꝨѴ ꞰꞰⳘΔ a brits Eevo
Pronunciation	[/ə ˈprits ˈɛivɔ/]
Created by	IlL
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Language family	Quihum Talmic Thensaric Tigolic Scellan
Official status
Official language in	Sgewla, Fyxoom, ...
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qee

Skellan /skɛlən/ SKEL-uhn (Sgewlib /ˈskɛ̃ʟip/), in-universe often called Eevo /ˈeɪvoʊ/ AY-voh (in the native script, ꞰꞰⳘΔ /ˈɛivɔ/; from Tigol é- 'common' + bó 'language'), is a Talmic language belonging to the Tigolic branch. Skellan is modern Tricin's lingua franca, the third-most spoken language (after Hetomic and Sjowaazhéñ) and the second-most spoken Quihum language (after Sjowaazhéñ).

The beginning of the modern Skellan language, dated to ca. fT 1150dd (fT 1932), is often credited to the Sgewlan philosopher and poet ????, who wrote his works in the new phonetic, Clofabic-based orthography of his invention, instead of the old Talmic orthography largely based on Tigol pronunciation. Skellan lexicon has been heavily influenced by Windermere, Talman Clofabic and Phormatolide. [The Clofabic orthography is still sensitive to etymology to some extent, as it reflects the original spelling in Windermere or Proto-Clofabic loanwords.] The name Eevo refers to the fact that it had its origins as a Sgewlan koiné. Modern Skellan has been a living language for about 360 years, approximately 1932-2292 (1150dd-13b0dd).

Skellan is official in the Talman nation of Sgewla [ˈskɛ̃ʟə] SKELL-uh. It is also de facto official in Fyxoom [fəˈʃoʊm] fuh-SHOME, Barca [ˈpaɾkʰə] and many other countries. In real life, it is one of the official languages of the Facebook group The Pitcairns, Also Bhutan, And Also Possibly Tannara Mòr.

Skellan is inspired by Icelandic, Welsh, Hmong (orthography-wise), English (especially Philadelphian English), and Gaelic.

Lexember 2017

Day 2

• çewr (n): bag
• frais X: minus X
• sosáwl (v): to add
• ocbẃan (v): to subtract
• astýr (v): to multiply
• robýð (v): to divide
• fwastýr (v): to exponentiate
• þíndas (n): logarithm
• byhív: modulo

Day 3

• þwmyŋéed (v) = confirm, check
• crawþ (v) = feel
• iantgon (adj) = sleepy
• bail (adj) = slow
• huð (n) = brain
• maint (v) = to please
• ŋwasid (n) = bracelet
• almáði (n) = daisy
• socálah (n) = annoyance, nuisance (socál 'to bother')
• goltíŋ (v) = get up
• ascónd (v) = pick something off of
• ar wiþl (adv) = suddenly
• hlwg (v) = run
• psaþ (adj) = pink
• raga (prep, adv) = past

Day 9

• cyvymlóod (adj) = remarkable, unusual
• golçíalon (ad) = strange
• ohbáje (intj) = egads! heaven forbid! (dated)

Todo

• Goal: Duolingo courses
• "Reason, Compassion and Action"
  • Symbolized by Borromean rings?
• might have more talmic than expected
• Clofabic prefixes and suffixes (e.g. for -logy, -ism)
• suffix for halogens, suffix for noble gases, suffixes for radioactive elts
  • metals: -cis
• sgv/plv/col can be a feature of modern talma but not ancient talma
• How much are adjectives like verbs? What tense markers can they take?
• OEe sngl-, sngr- > sml-, smr-

• The "21 accents" of Skellan
• (Sometimes misleading) nationality descriptors - like french fries or English horn in English
• Vowel changes before /χ/
• Skellan word from a cognate of cathair 'flower' (can't use caþr because of th-fronting)
• øl~øøl merger?
• positive anymore
• -mh > -b, not -v

TODO words

• Some way to say 'the X associated with each' or 'their respective X'

Diachronics

Phonological history

• Voicing becomes aspiration.
• a > a
• á > aw
• ae, ái > ai
• aei > ee
• ao, aoi > øø
• e, ei > e
• é > ee
• éi > oi > wa
• eó, éu > ew
• ai, i, io > y
• í, oí, uí > i
• iu > y
• iú > iw
• o > o
• oi > ø
• ó > oo
• ói, ua > wa
• u > w
• ui > ø
• ú > u /y/
• úi > wi
• rb, rd, rg > /rv, rð, rj/
• -n > -m after aw, ew, iw, oo, øø w, u
  • -ng > -m too
• aw > o in unstressed syllables or before clusters

Grammatical history

Many of the most drastic grammatical changes from Old Skellan are a result of rapid "creolization" as a result of second-language speakers learning the language.

• Tigol nouns, verbs and adjectives were drastically simplified. Nouns and verbs no longer inflect for person; adjectives no longer agree with nouns.
• Loss of grammatical gender
• A new sgv-plv-col system arises, marked by determiners. Definiteness is lost.
• Old Skellan mutations were lost under the influence of Windermere.
• Development of split ergativity.

Background

See also: Talmic languages, Thensarian, Tigol, Middle Skellan

Phonology

Consonants

Skellan has a slightly larger-than-average consonant inventory of about 26 consonants.

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/		ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive	unaspirated	b /p/	d /t/		g /k/
	aspirated	p /pʰ/	t /tʰ/		c /kʰ/
Affricate			ts /ts/	tx, tsj /tʃ/
Non-sibilant	unvoiced	f /f/	þ /θ/	ç /ç/		ll /χ/	h /h/
	voiced	v /v/	ð /ð/	j /j/
Sibilant	unvoiced		s /s/	x, sj /ʃ/
	voiced		z /z/	zj [ʒ]
Resonant	unvoiced		rr /r̥/
	voiced	ł /w/	r /r/			l /ʟ/

Notes

• ŋ is the official transcription for /ŋ/, however ņ may be used for typing on Android keyboards.
• If not word-final, the unaspirated plosives /p t k/ are most likely to be fully voiced in the clusters /mp nt ŋk/, then after vowels, and never voiced after obstruents.
• Aspiration is neutralized in coda; all plosives are unvoiced or all plosives are voiced, depending on the accent.
• /r/ may be a trill [r] or a tap [ɾ].
• /ʟ r/ become their devoiced counterparts /χ r̥/ after aspirates and /s/.
• The liquid transcribed /ʟ/ for convenience may be pronounced [ʀ], [ʁ] or [ɴ̆]. The allophone [ɴ̆] is somewhat more common intervocalically. The allophone [ɫ] occurs in classical singing and in some conservative dialects.
  • The reason L is a uvular consonant in most modern Talman languages is that uvular L started to be used in the prestige language Rhythoed, though Qazhrian was the first Talman language to develop uvular L.
• /n ʟ r/ can be syllabic in some accents.
• Coda /ç/ is disallowed; /ç/ > /h/ after a vowel.
• /h/ is often elided after a voiced consonant.
• /θ/ is often pronounced as [f] after a stressed vowel.

/Cj/ sequences

• /sj, tsj/ become /ʃ tʃ/ in standard Skellan: Slysjon /ˈsχəʃɔn/ 'April'.
  • In addition, zj dzj /ʒ dʒ(devoiced)/ is used in loanwords.
• /ʟj/ is reduced to /j/ among younger speakers: e.g. çaljad 'window' /çaʟjət/ is pronounced [çajət], [çaːjət], or [çãjət].

Vowels

The vowel inventory of Skellan is also fairly large. Skellan also has phonemic nasal vowels (in "lambdic" accents, so called since these vowels are written with an L in the Skellan orthography) and many diphthongs.

Oral vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded
Close	i, iaj /i/	u /y/	y /ə/	w /u/
Open	e /ɛ/	ø /œ/	a /a/	o /ɔ/
Diphthongs	/ai ui au ɛu iu yu ɛi œy ɔu iə yə uə/

Nasal vowels (in lambdic accents)

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded
Close	ĩ	ỹ		ũ
Mid	ẽ	ø̃	ə̃	õ
Open	ɛ̃		ã	ɔ̃

Diaereses can be used on the second member of a vowel cluster to distinguish them from diphthongs.

Diphthongs

The diphthongs are written as follows:

Phoneme	Spellings
/ai/	ai, aj
/ui/	wi, wj, oj, waj
/au/	aw, ał
/ɛu/	ew, eł, eeł
/iu/	iw, ił, iał
/yu/	uł, uał
/ɛɪ/	ee, ej, eej
/œy/	øø
/ɔu/	oo, oł
/iə/	ia
/yə/	ua
/uə/	wa

L-colored vowels

The nasal vowels /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ œ̃ ã ɔ̃/ arose from historical V + /l/ sequences. In many accents they are also pharyngealized (/ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃/ = [ĩˤ ỹˤ ũˤ ẽˤ ø̃ˤ ʌ̃ˤ õˤ ɛ̃ˤ ãˤ ɔ̃ˤ]) or diphthongized (say, /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ ɛ̃ ã/ = [iw̃ yw̃ uɔ̃ ew̃ øw̃ əw̃ ɛw̃ œw̃]). Certain, "non-lambdic" accents realize them as long vowels (with no nasalization) - these accents may have "linked" and "intrusive L" realized as [ʁ] or [ɴ̆] analogous to linked and intrusive R in non-rhotic English accents. A handful of remote dialects pronounce them as pharyngealized vowels or vowels followed by [ɫ].

/õ/ may merge with either /ũ/ or /ɔ̃/ depending on the accent.

In unstressed syllables, /ə̃/ and /ɔ̃/ often merge to [ɔ̃].

This is how nasal vowels are written in the orthography:

Phoneme	Spellings
/ã/	al, ail
/ɛ̃/	el, ewl
/ẽ/	eel
/ĩ/	il, ial, iwl
/ø̃/	øl, øøl
/ỹ/	ul, ual
/ɔ̃/	ol, awl
/õ/	ool, wil
/ũ/	wl, wal
/ə̃/	yl, syllabic l

After stressed syllables, unstressed /a/ and unstressed /ə/ are merged to /ə/.

Stress

Stress is not marked in the native orthography. Talmic and Clofabic words usually have initial stress, but prefixed verbs are usually not stressed on the prefix. Windermere loans have final stress.

The romanization used in this article and related material will mark non-initial stress with an acute accent.

Phonotactics

• /z/ devoices to [s] before a stop (plosive or affricate).
• In native (Talmic) words, the non-English initial clusters are hm, hn, hŋ, mn, ml, mr, vn, vl, vr, sr, sŋ, sgl, sgr, tŋ, tl, dl, þŋ, þl, ðl, cn, ŋr, sml, smr, hml, hmr. Many more initial clusters are allowed in Windermere loanwords.
• Final/post-tonic combinations are a bit more restricted - the allowed post-tonic combinations are generally similar to Germanic or Greek.

Accents

Main article: Skellan/Accents

Pronouncing Skellan words in English

• An epenthetic schwa may be inserted for Skellan clusters that English lacks.
• Voiceless resonants may be pronounced as their voiced counterparts: /hm hn hŋ r̥/ → /m n ŋ r/.
  • /χ, ç/ should be rendered [h] or [x].
• /ʀ~ʁ/ → /l/
• Coda /h/ should be deleted.
• /p t k/ → /b d g/, but:
  • /sp st sk/ → /sp st sk/
  • /hp ht hk/ ⟨hb hd hg⟩ → /p t k/
  • Word-finally, pronounce ⟨b d g⟩ as /p t k/.
• /pʰ tʰ kʰ/ → /p t k/
• Vowels: /i y ə u ɛ œ a ɔ ai au ɛu iu ei øy ou iə yə uə ui/ → /iː uː ʌ~ə uː ɛ ə æ~ɑː ɑ~ɔ aɪ aʊ oʊ juː eɪ oʊ oʊ iːə uːə uːə wiː~ɔɪ/
• Vowels before r
• vowels before l
  • Note that w is always a vowel!

Orthography

In-universe, Skellan uses the Clofabic script, unlike other Talmic languages (except Roshterian).

Skellan alphabet

Grapheme	X	Ⱶ	Ŧ	Ꙟ	ᖵ	Π	L	Σ	H	Ш	И	Ⳙ	Ꝟ	Ỻ	Ǝ	Џ	Ɥ	Γ	Ӿ	Ɨ	Ꜭ	Ꝩ	ᒣ	Ʞ	Ʇ	Λ	Δ	Է	Ξ
Name	do	re	mi	fa	sol	la	ti	go	çe	pe	nar	vi	þa	ba	ce	zw	xw	ðo	łe	ha	je	i	u	e	y	a	o	ø	w
Transliteration	d	r	m	f	s	l	t	g	ç	p	n	v	þ	b	c	z	x	ð	ł	h	j	i	u	e	y	a	o	ø	w

Stress accent is not marked. (However, in materials for English speakers we will mark stress.)

The sequences çm, çn, çŋ, çl, çr are pronounced identically to hm, hn, hŋ, ll, rr in most modern Skellan dialects, except that çm, çn, çŋ, çr are [xm, xn, xŋ, xr] in dialects that have [x] for ç.

In native Talmic words, final /p t k/ tend to be spelled b d g, but the future tense suffix is always spelled -t.

Punctuation

• | = period
• . = comma
• ₂ = strong comma
• ᑉ = question mark
• + = exclamation point
• - = hyphen
• ~ = ellipsis
• ⸗ = semicolon
• ᕑ = colon
• ⟨ ⟩ = parentheses
• : = hyphen (for affixes in linguistics)

Numerals

Skellan uses a base-12 positional numeral system. The digits are as follows:

ɔ ı ʎ ɺ ħ ʕ ʑ ɛ ɴ κ ə ʋ = 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X E

duodecimal point: :

1728's separator: · (optional)

Examples:

2017 = 1,201dd = ı·ʎɔı

π = 3.184809493b918...dd = ɺ:ıɴħ·ɴɔк·ħкɺ·кʋı·ɴ... or ɺ:ıɴħɴɔкħкɺкʋıɴ...

Morphology

Skellan inflectional morphology tends to be simpler than most other Talmic languages; for example, it has no grammatical gender and no construct state.

Verbs

Verbs have little inflection, and the bulk of verbs are completely regular.

Imperative

The imperative is formed with im [VERB] (from "now VERB"). The im is not used when the verb is preceded by ðelláws 'please'.

Cohortative: [VERB] gwm, [VERB] wm (from "VERB with us.EXC")

Tar gwm hellt na llawm rreem.

go COH plant DET.PL seed today

Let's go plant the seeds today.

Present

The present uses the unmarked form of the verb followed by the subject. For example, Duvwŋ, mol naw tlaw means "Teacher, I thank you".

This is often replaced by the progressive in casual speech.

Archaic Skellan (still used in historical fiction) uses the following personal endings in the present tense:

I	you (sg.)	he	she	(inanimate)	we (exc.)	we (inc.)	you (pl.)	they (animate)	you (polite)	impersonal
-an	-ir	-ab	-e	-0	-em	-ad	-ah	-að	-ah	-av

Conditional

The conditional uses the suffix -ð. It continues the Old Skellan past subjunctive.

Imperfect

The imperfect uses the particle go.

Progressive/Stative

To form the progressive, the particle dy is used before the verb.

Verbs referring to emotional states also use the progressive. For example, Dy ell naw'r means "I love you."

Preterite

The preterite uses the ergative particle w. This particle is conflated with ry in some nonstandard dialects, which often use ergative syntax in all tenses.

• Iantin naw. = I slept.
• Vesin w naw na ahdyn. = I painted the pictures.

Perfect

The perfect, formed by placing tynd 'after' before the verb (often shortened to tyn or tn'), is used for:

• an event in the immediate past
• an event that occurred in the past and is relevant to the present
  • an event that occurred regularly in the past with a cumulative effect on the present

The perfect is being used more and more commonly for any past event, especially in Fyxoomian Eevo.

Example: Tynd iant naw sdawb pug. = I have slept for 6 [Trician] hours. (sdawb pug = 6 hours continuously?)

Syntax

Perfect: tynd VERB SUBJECT

Perfect progressive: tynd fa dy VERB SUBJECT

Pluperfect: go tynd VERB SUBJECT

Future imperfective

The future imperfective uses the -t affix inherited from Old Skellan. It is used for:

• events that will happen regularly or continually over a period of time in the future
• events that will happen some time in the future, but whose time or outcome is not yet known or determined.

Future perfective

The future perfective tense is formed with hly + VERB. It is used for:

• a future event that has a definite ending point or occurs once
• future events with a known definite time point
• outcomes which are likely or certain to occur.

Jussive

The jussive is high-register and is formed with the suffix -or. It can be used in conditional statements expressing a generally true rule.

cehnor dy car

if one wishes (fixed expression)

Fohor a cliam slahah Ⅎ, coþ...

be-JUSS number counting [variable], then

Let n be/If n is a natural number, then...

Copula

The copula is the most irregular verb in Skellan. In the present tense, zero copula is used.

Nouns

Skellan uses a collective-singulative-plurative system. Number is marked with determiners, not by affixes:

• a(ð) for singulative
• na for plurative
• bo for collective

When no determiner is used, it signifies collective by default.

Singulative and plurative (called "singular" and "plural" below for convenience) refer to one resp. more than one specific instances of the noun. A noun in the collective form refers to "[noun] in general" or "the set of all [noun]". This distinction also applies to abstract nouns (which often use unmarked collectives). The collective of an abstract noun refers to the quality in general, and the singulative and plurative refer to one or more specific instances or manifestations of the abstraction. For example, the collective bo fosgu means 'valor (in general)'; the singulative a fosgu means 'a valiant deed'; the plurative na fosgu means 'valiant deeds'.

Collective nouns are referred to with singular pronouns, not plural.

Pronouns

	I	you (sg.)	he	she	it	we (exc.)	we (inc.)	you (pl.)	they	impersonal
Direct	naw, no	(h)iar, jar, 'r	(h)ab	(h)ee	(h)e	awb	gwad	swad	(h)awr	car
Genitive	ryn	res	reb	ree	ryŋ	rib	reg	red	rer	ry çar
Genitive (emphatic)	rynda	resda	rebda	reeda	ryŋda	ribda	refda	rehda	reða	ry bewmav
Dative	llyn	lles	lleb	llee	llyŋ	llib	lleg	lled	ller	lly çar

The forms no and ir, 'r are casual forms.

Demonstratives

Skellan has a 4-way contrast in demonstratives:

1. near me, but not near you
2. near us (inclusive)
3. near you, but not near me
4. distal: far from both you and me

	Near 1	Near 1+2	Near 2	Distal	Interrogative	Negative	Every/All	Some	Any	Other
Adjective	mi	fi	ce	ŋe	ti (preposed)	-	baw (preposed)		xens (preposed)
Thing	mes	fes	ces	ŋes	taw	twm satn			xens satn
Person	-	-	-		tua	twm lias	-	-	nilltua
Place	mah	enah	cah	ŋah	þlawd				nillawd
Source
Destination	mahd	enahd	cahd	ŋahd	tahd				nilltahd
Time	sada		ŋyv		tin	fuat	tŋiv		nilltin
Manner/Kind	miar	siar	ciar	ŋiar	tiar				nilltiar
Quantity					tic (how many); ticar (how many-th)
Reason					tin

Demonstratives with number

The demonstrative adjectives mi, fi, ce, ŋe combine with number markers a/að, na as follows:

• mia/mið, min
• fia/fið, fin
• cee/ceð, cin
• ŋee/ŋeð, ŋin

Adjectives

Adjectives behave like verbs in that they can take tense clitics. However, they can take degree inflection unlike adjectives and imperative constructions must use fa + ADJECTIVE.

Adjectives usually follow nouns; they may precede nouns in poetry.

Degree:

• -ta = comparative (compared to others)
• -ws = superlative
• llaw = very
• jal X = too X
• -am = comparative (compared to past self)

Adverbs can be formed from both verbs adjectives by adding dy before the verb or adjective. However, often adverbs are unmarked.

Construct adjectives

An adjective may be placed in the construct state by suffixing -að. Construct adjectives are chiefly used in literary Skellan; it also survives in some fixed expressions and prepositions. For example, deljað is a preposition meaning 'worth; worthy of', and is the construct form of an adjective *deli ('worthy').

Construct adjectives are also used in constructions like tnoosað ers 'easy to learn'.

Derivational morphology

Noun-noun compounds are head-final; however, head-initial "noun noun" juxtaposition is preferred. "Noun verb" juxtaposition is also common.

The table below lists selected derivational suffixes.

		From...
		Noun	Verb	Adjective	Adverb
To...	Noun	-wŋ (agentive) -os (instrument) -id (diminutive) -óm (augmentative; Clofabic) -fen (agentive; Clofabic) -emb (female suffix) ni- (non-) ir- (un-) bah- (sub-) ŋal- 'before' tynd- 'after'	-ah (verbal noun) -ev (verbal noun) -wŋ (agentive) -os (instrument)	-vih (abstract noun) hal-(abstract noun) -u (abstract noun) -igi (one characterized by X)
	Verb	so- (verbing nouns)	ar- (applicative) as- (telic) ee- (co-, with) for- (causative) fw- (back, re-) gol- (up) oc- (from, out) ro- (down) so- (towards) sen- (well) mi- (mis-)
	Adjective	-ahd -on -ib -ín (Netagin) -ol (Clofabic) -flen	-i -in (-ee) -go, (-able, but ergative)	zi- (non-) er- (un-)
	Adverb				-

Nouns

• -id is a diminutive suffix but is often used discursively, somewhat like "a nice X".
• -óm is a Clofabic augmentative suffix.
• -wr is a native Talmic augmentative suffix.
• mi- is used in some nouns where it is a prefix meaning 'bad', 'mis-' or sometimes 'pseudo-'.
• hyłviar- is a prefix meaning 'study of X'. Stress falls on the word which the prefix attaches to.
  • hylłiarclíam means 'number theory'.
• -óm is a noun suffix of unclear meaning, historically an augmentative.
• -wŋ is a suffix meaning "a person associated with [noun] or who does [verb]" (unknown origin).
  • britswŋ means 'speaker (a person who speaks)', from brits 'to speak; speech'.
  • trovihwŋ means 'vegetarian' (from trovih 'vegetarianism').
  • sbwiþwŋ means 'sbwiþ player'. (A sbwiþ is a plucked string instrument with 18-22 sympathetic strings.)
• -fen is another "agent" suffix, like -wŋ, but of Clofabic origin.
• nw- is a Windermere agentive suffix.
• -u (collective) is a common native affix used to form abstract nouns.
• -lan is another abstract noun suffix.
• -ad is a common noun suffix, from Thensarian -sdos.

Phrasal nouns

Skellan also has phrasal nouns: these are noun-preposition combinations that are stressed on the preposition.

• beð ry (part of) = component
• hmawg dy (word at) = subject of the conversation
• hmawg lly (word for) = support, endorsememt

Verbs

Old Skellan prefixes remain productive in Modern Skellan. Among them is the causative affix for- (from a preposition meaning "through"), which was formerly only found in some frozen "causative" verbs but is gaining productivity in modern Skellan.

• mi- is an affix similar to 'mis-, mal-' in English, also sometimes 'pseudo-'.
• rru- is a Clofabic affix meaning 'too much, over-'.

Phrasal verbs

Skellan has phrasal verbs like English does.

Adjectives

• er- is a negating suffix of Talmic origin; it is most commonly used with Talmic adjectives.
• -flen /-fʟɛn/ is an adjectival suffix with the same meaning as Korean -tapta and Japanese -rashii: it means 'like an X is supposed to be' or 'like a typical X'. The suffix comes from Old Skellan compound adjectives of the form X-fheileán (from feil 'name' + -án adjectivizer; i.e. 'like the name X' or 'worthy of the name X'). Some words with the suffix have undergone semantic shifts, e.g. carflen /ˈkʰarfʟɛn/ 'humane, moral, ethical' (from Old Skellan car "human" + -flen).
• -gom is similar to '-able', but it is ergative in that it can also be used for "able to [intransitive verb]". ex. feŋggom 'mortal, human (flowery)' < feŋg 'die'.
• jy- (jyn- before C) is a Windermere adjectival suffix.
• -ol /-ɔ̃/ is an adjectival suffix of Clofabic origin; it is cognate with Clofabosin -ol. It is used mainly in loanwords from Proto-Clofabic or Phormatolide, or to derive adjectives from Clofabic loanwords; however, it is sometimes used with other words as well.
• -on is a Talmic adjectival suffix, from Old Skellan -án (itself from Thensarian -aħnam, Proto-Talmic *-aʁnəm).
• -vað is another Talmic adjectival suffix.
• -wd = from Tigol -óid
• -wid = from Tigol -óid via Rhythoed -oyd
• mee- = multi-
• do- = uni-, mono-

Syntax

Main article: Skellan/Syntax

Vocabulary

Skellan's basic vocabulary is largely Talmic. However, a large portion of Skellan vocabulary (comparable to English) is borrowed, for example from Windermere, Clofabic languages (Proto-Clofabic, Phormatolide and Χrycolidh) or other Talman languages. This gives Skellan a rich array of synonyms.

Sample texts

RWBY opening monologue

Hulafa.

legend

Legends.

Vønd forllóþin pes hiŋg.

story scatter-PST.PART across time

Stories scattered through time.

Nwab damol a huðas am dy entsybytsẃal na fosgu ry øøl as llypsid, as gønd ab ŋwar dy ciar noos, emb dyb solltyn gwad, odosméd ry ymdáł røsandin.

quite wont SG species human in recount PL story PL deed of hero and villain, and lose 3SG.M thought ADV so easy, that is_a remnant 1PL.INC, byproduct, of past forget-PST.PART

Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past.

Am – sŋøøin ab gyl a Si – go cleðn, øøvr, as esginað ŋadl ab.

human be.born-PST.PART 3SG.M from SG Dust IMPF strong, wise, and rich-CST ability 3SG.M

Man, born from Dust, was strong, wise and resourceful.

Ah dy smøøh erlóhyn a go sŋøøin reb.

but in world pitiless A IMPF be.born-PST.PART RY.3SG.M

But he was born into an unforgiving world.

A maslan eróbasgon, bo mocnía ry bimblasóoð, mocnía Grim, sohaðin w hawr fiah ar Am as baw blygasu reb.

SG darkness inevitable, COL creature of destruction, creature G. fix-PST.PART ERG 3PL eye on man and all creation 3SG.M

An inevitable darkness, creatures of destruction, the creatures of Grimm, set their sights on Man and all of his creations.

These forces clashed and it seemed that darkness was intent on returning Man's brief existence to the Void.

Dyb tuahad, oos a nert cellws ry þus a solyŋ lly odyŋẃd a roféelah, as ...

[however], even SG spark small-SUP of hope A enough to ignite SG change, and

However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change, and in time, Man's passion, resourcefulness and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds.

Mia ras a go fial a dy paloþreh "a Si". Nai þi a devrað a mozíav, rwv Am øþ meŋ a maslan, as [...] ysli, [...], arm.

This power was appropriately named "Dust". Nature's wrath in hand, Man lit their way through the darkness and in the shadow's absence came strength, civilization and, most importantly, life.

Ah oos bar ennynéelws a cregad as feŋg dy lawðah.

but even light brilliant-SUP A flicker and die [eventually]

But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die.

As tev octlúast awr, a maslan a forrit.

and when vanish-FUT 3PL, darkness A return-FUT

And when they are gone, darkness will return.

Ŋyv im simynd na nwfiðlóŋ red, im dyvían plesit llia smøøh red ŋi maint red, ah im broos fiah... dy lleed a twm sobt swad a huv.

thus IMP prepare PL defender RY.2PL, IMP raise monument for.SG world RY.2PL as pleasure RY.2PL, but IMP put eye... in strength A not find-FUT 2PL SG victory

So you may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called free world, but take heed... there will be no victory in strength.

Methavir nalaminyl mekerylide ester axoram

Dy brits naw çyŋ ell as jyvad.

PROG speak 1SG about love and hate

I am speaking of love and hate.

UDHR, Article 1

Rygéen's þar nai hyltlás as xin gyl sŋøø bo am. Sodláwmin nai hylfyðín as [biðçǿøryn] av, ŋyþ beð roo a [þalnǿøv] hið velc dy heeb eeðagu.

free and equal INS dignity-COL and right-COL from be_born DET human-COL. bestow-PST.PART INS rationality-COL and conscience-COL 3SG.M, therefore part GEN.3SG.AN DET act towards one_another in spirit brotherhood

All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Að øøm Depanjẃn (Making Anisole)

NileRed: Making Anisole

Depanjẃn, ry givolín pnaþafol tamyr tlaméni e, að øømt riav hreem.

Today we're making anisole which is a somewhat nice-smelling organic liquid.

Twm øør bo bintxynób tamẃx depanjẃn hnoh, as gøørws ŋi bannẃts lly bisçǿð as efataþol að txynób car e.

Anisole itself doesn't have many direct applications and it's mostly used as a precursor to perfumes and pharmaceuticals.

Eenand naw nai møø a depaniẃn lly øøm tawtn arbóin cosgarjẃn, ry cnee ciab tyr navta raw agl vallib e.

I plan to use the anisole to make something called anethole, which is 13 times sweeter than regular sugar.

The reaction that we'll be doing to make the anisole is called the Williamson ether synthesis, and I'll cover the mechanism later on in the video. In terms of chemicals, we have four major reagents: sodium metal, methyl iodide, phenol and methanol. We'll also need some sodium hydroxide, some dry calcium chloride, and some dichloromethane for the workup. To start things off, I added 150 mL of dry methanol to a round bottom flask. Once I'm done adding the methanol, I then move on to preparing the sodium metal. Before the sodium metal can be used, we first have to clean off the mineral oil that it was stored in, and then we have to chop it up into smaller pieces. Using a knife I took out a reasonably-sized chunk, and I tried to wipe away as much oil as I could using a paper towel. When I felt like most of the oil had been removed, I dropped the sodium into a beaker. I fill the beaker with toluene until the sodium is covered. Mineral oil is soluble in toluene, so this is just an added step to get rid of as much of the oil as possible. Using my very rusted knife, I try to agitate things as best as I can. After something like a minute, I felt like it had been washed decently enough, so I took it out and placed it on some paper towel. Now for the slightly more fun part where we get to cut the sodium and weigh out about 8 grams. Using my knife, I cut away some moderately-sized pieces and I place them on the scale. The freshly cut sodium is nice and silver, but it very quickly tarnishes. Once about 8 grams are weighted out, I put the sodium to the side and remove the scale. The sodium metal that is left over that we don't need is placed back under mineral oil for storage. Coming back to the round-bottom flask with the methanol in it, I go ahead and dump in all of the sodium. You can see that the sodium reacts quite vigorously immediately after being added. The reaction is going to heat the methanol to its boiling point, and a lot is going to boil off, so it's very important to have a high-efficiency condenser.

From a manifesto

Ys dy bo hŋyl mawr savísi, bo fehd øølyb, as bo jys hwrþol a heðál bo slawb?

Q in DET.COL trunk tree towering, DET.COL lake heaven and DET.COL mountain craggy DET reside goodness

Does good reside in the towering tree trunks, the heavenly lakes, the cragged peaks?

Ia, dy lwm fiar res a sdeevi ryŋ.

nay in interior 2SG GEN.2SG DET dwell GEN.it

Nay, it dwells within thyself.

Tower of Babel

1. Go ciab jawþ as ciab brits dy smøøh aðyr.

PST.IPFV one language and one speech in world throughout.

2. Ah arw go rrohda na am biaha lly tneeb, samin awr a dooméxa dy Xinlar as inosin awr cah.

but when IPFV move people-COL residence to east, find-PFV 3PL DET plain in Shinar and settle-PFV there.

3. Coþ tavin awr lly [ciab sdair]: "Ai, øøm gwm atsenar, lly gollt heeg." As ytsén a þŋojétin llyr ngi nyldar, as llwh a ngi wpet.

then say-PRET 3PL DAT each_other VOC make COH brick-PL DAT bake hard and brick-PL DET serve DAT.3PL as stone-PL and tar DET as cement

Miscellany

Poetry

Skellan poetry traditionally uses rhyme. In modern poetry, alliteration is often used instead (cf. Tsjoen poetry).

• Stress based meters
• Piyyut meters