User:SostiMatiko
| Systematic | |
|---|---|
| Systematic Language | |
| SostiMatiko | |
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| Created by | ケナニデーᄉ イオーアンネーᄉ |
| Date | 2013 |
| Setting | a constructed language still very new, with minimal vocabulary but broad possibilities of expression in order to be used as an all-purpose international auxiliary language. |
| Native speakers | since the vocabulary and basic grammar are minimal, familiar to European culture, easy to learn and practical for expression, there is hope of gaining popularity. ({{{date}}}) |
constructed language, consisting of only 222 words vocabulary, employing 5 main and 18 optional affixes; proposed as an easy but efficient international auxiliary language
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| Sources | Greek of various different eras, up to ProtoIndoEuropean and traces of the original language of all humanity |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | (proposed) osm (proposed) |
Systematic is a constructed language meant to be an international auxiliary language, first published online in June 2013, further matured until October 2013 and “fine tuned” during November 2013. It was designed by ケナニデーᄉ イオーアンネーᄉ, who, having created the Free Greek Language since 2008, believes that the Free Greek Language is only for the Greeks or those who want or need to learn Greek, but another language is needed for all nations so as to be able to overcome all language barriers by studying only for one or several days; to construct that international language, after experimenting with material from English, Latino Sine Flexione and Japanese, he soon came to the conclusions that:
- the material for an international language must come from one source only, and the origin of words and grammatical elements must be transparent;
- the source for vocabulary and grammar must be no other language than Greek of all historical and even pre-historical periods, because Greek has shown to be the most popular, and practical too, for coining international terms. In fact, all speakers of European languages (and many non-European languages too) already know much more Greek words than the 222 words that make up the Systematic vocabulary. As of grammar, it would be hard to find elsewhere so simple and practical suffixes as the 5 main suffixes explained below, derived from Greek usage, but also from the usage of vowels in the “Language of Homo Sapiens” (where "o" showed nouns, "e" showed action, and "a" showed way).
Although much of the “Language of Homo Sapiens” is already known to the author, it was not chosen as a source of a minimal language for the present era, because the “Language of Homo Sapiens”, although using an elemental vocalism, it has a rich inventory of consonants, which is not easy for modern users to distinguish. Words for the Systematic language were chosen to be as easily distinguishable from each other as possible, and Greek language has offered a wealth of material most proper for this purpose.
- although the vocabulary and grammar should be kept elemental and as easy to learn as possible, still the language must have the means to produce words and compounds in order to express everything of human life.
- for reasons explained at great length in the description of the language, the author believes that in the ideal syntax every modifier or complement must precede its “head” or main term, therefore the ideal word order is verb-final and AN (Adjective-Noun, or Modifier-Modified), as for example in Japanese, Korean, or Turkic languages; yet for practical reasons the object may follow the verb and so, while minimizing the grammar, the word order and the succinctness of style must be rather close to classical Chinese for example. These, however, are not compulsory: it is possible to use any other word order if desired. The only compulsory in the Systematic language is not to delete, alter or add any vocabulary or grammatical elements.
Self designation and emblem
Usually artificial languages are named using their own means (vocabulary and word formation). For the Systematic language, an external word has been preferred as a name, which is internationally understood and is derived from Greek as the material for the Systematic language does. Nevertheless, it also has a name of its own means: that was originally "SostEmatiko", meaning “to correct / set right (=‘sost’) all that has to do with blood (=‘emat-ik-o’)”; this could be interpreted in many ways which are important for humanity such as: brotherhood, the physical health, the insticts, emotional health, eating of flesh, killing animals or endangering people, and the human tendency to show off and exaggerate or pretend, which is thought to constitute the primal sin of humanity symbolized in the sin of Eve and Adam. However, the vocabulary for the Systematic was subsequently "fine tuned" in the quest to make the words as close to their original forms as possible, and at the same time as short and as distinguishable from each other as possible; this "fine tuning" affected the word "emat-" (blood) too, which became "sax-", therefore the "native name" of the language changed into another name of still very profound import: SostiMatiko (sost-i mat-ik-o) meaning "correcting perception".
The Systematic language uses a very simple emblem: it is the old Chinese (seal script) character for mouth, but also resembling a vessel: a vessel seemingly small, but perfectly constructed, and capable to contain anything; (the usefulness of a container is in its empty space, according to a chapter of the Tao Te Ching); thus symbolising that the Systematic language can contain, and therefore express, all that a human mouth can say, and can provide for necessities such as drink and food: because it may also be seen as a vessel for drink or food; of course communication is not eatable, but if all people could reasonably communicate, even the necessities of life would be available to all humanity. There is also a Confucian hint: in the Han Feizi (book) it is said that a ruler is a vessel, while the subordinate people are water contained in it: the people are morally shaped according to their ruler.
History of creation
As soon as ケナニデーᄉ イオーアンネーᄉ created the Free Greek Language in 2008, he prescribed a “FreeGreek level” of 222 words as the most basic and elementary level of FreeGreek, by using which a student could improvise means to express practically everything, and thereby would easily learn an intermediate level of 444 words and then a “comfortable communication” level of 888 words. The number 222 was not only chosen for its symmetry; the author, familiar with the Chinese system of the 214 radicals since 1993, found that it comprises in itself an almost complete vocabulary for expressing (by combining terms) practically everything; the same could be said of a list of about 210 words considered most basic in the study of Austronesian Languages; a number of 210 or 214 terms with a few additions could form a minimal but all purpose vocabulary: this observation led to define (already in 2008) a basic vocabulary as comprising of 222 words. Experimenting with a vocabulary of about 120 terms as the names of things thought to be depicted by the letters of ProtoLinear script, the author found that it is like putting “two feet in one shoe”: such a system can still work, but as incoveniently as a person can walk with one leg. To start defining the 222 words vocabulary with precision, the impetus was given by the disappointment felt by the author after acquainting with Toki Pona. Trying to limit a FreeGreek vocabulary to be as close to Toki Pona as possible, ケナニデーᄉ イオーアンネーᄉ defined the “FreeGreek of 137 entries”, but still feeling that it was just another “single shoe for two feet”, he started adding terms until forming an “indispensable” vocabulary of 222 words which, after much thought, experimentation, and many stages of improvement, came to be the Systematic language vocabulary.
Intelligibility
The Systematic language can by no means be called “Greek”, because in order to learn it a Greek must study it the same as any other person. Although the vocabulary and grammar were based on modern Greek, a large part of the vocabulary derives from, or is influenced by, old forms of the Greek language, in a few cases going back even to ProtoIndoEuropean; for some words and "shortcut affixes" (see below), the author, convinced that all languages have a common origin, goes even to the “Homo Sapiens” language: instead of using “hē” or /i/ for feminine suffix, which could cause confusion, he uses “-nes-o” reconstructed from Arabic nisa (women), Basque neska (girl) and Sumerian Emesal “mu-nus” (woman); Latin nurus "daughter (in law)"; Chinese Nǚ "woman"; instead of Greek “ho” or /o/ for masculine suffix, he uses -wis-o to be close to the “Homo Sapiens” root *weis (manly strength), as reconstructed from Greek ις, ισχύς, (*wis-), Turkic urı (from *wıs-ı “boy”), Japanese (雄 or 牡) osu (from *wıs-ı “male”), Sumerian “uš” (*wıs “erection; penis”). The ancient Greek daseia (i.e. h-, still kept in European languages for Greek words, e.g. halogen, hexahedron, hour, hippo, hypnotic etc.) is usually not kept in the Systematic language, but ancient Greek Ϝ (digamma) is usually kept as “w” for the sake of disambiguation or closeness to IndoEuropean forms, e.g. woxo is to remind English wagon, Latin vehiculum, Sanskrit vahana, etc. The word for “one” was chosen to be “edno”, not just to be similar to the word for “one” in Slavic and other European languages (Italian uno, German ein, Greek ÉNA, etc.), but also because similar has been the form in the Language of Homo Sapiens, as shown by comparison to old Chinese ·i̯ĕt (one). Because the vocabulary is so limited, such words were selected which to have as broad meaning as possible; Some less broad words were also employed because they are very common in international culture. In general, words are modified to be closer to their original forms, to be recognisable internationally, and to be easily distinguished from each other. As a result, words are often difficult for a Greek to recognize, but once explained, they can easily be kept in a Greek’s memory. Non-Greek speakers will easily remember the vocabulary, if they realize the connection to Greek words used internationally, for example English micro- and macro- should be connected to Systematic mikro (small) and makro (long) respectively; some times it is useful to connect to cognate IndoEuropean words, e.g. mus-o to English mouse, Latin mus, Russian мышь etc., and some times one may even connect to fortuitous similarities just to help the memory, e.g. pax-o (fatness) has probably no etymological connection to German Bauch (belly), but it may be useful to connect it for remembering the meaning; sosto (“right” etc.) is doubtful whether related to Sanskrit (सुष्टु), but the similarity can be helpful to remember the meaning.
Usage with no affixes
The Systematic language can be used without any affix at all: with -o added optionally and only to facilitate pronunciation, all words being considered as nouns with a strict word order A-N (Adjective-Noun, complementary-main) of the Chinese type, there is no affix at all, and yet the language can work satisfactorily; for example, you can start a story like this: “ten gnos antrop edno, e bor gnos panto kruf kas uko wora...” ("there was a prophet, he could know all hidden and invisible things"...); for a poem in no-affix Systematic language, see “sample texts” below.
Usage with the 5 main suffixes
Still the main way of using the Systematic language is with the 5 main suffixes: every word in the Systematic is considered basically a noun, having the suffix –o; substituting –a, an adverb is formed from that noun; suffix –i makes an active verb from that noun, and –eti makes a passive verb from that noun; dropping the final –i presents the verb action as required and not as actual. So, the 5 main suffixes are: -o makes a noun -a makes an adverb (“the ‘way’ of the noun”); -i makes an active verb (“cause that noun to be, or use [as] that noun”). -eti makes a passive verb (“become [with] that noun or be used as that noun”). (absence of the –i) turns the verb into “required” mood (mostly imperative, but also subjunctive). For example, the noun karpo =fruit (or, metaphorically, a result); karpa =regarding the fruit, or “as a result”, e.g. “to futo karpa uka xreso, termo amera skotia ewo” = “that tree, in terms of fruit, is not useful, (but) it is good for giving shade under the hot sun”. The active verb produced is karpi =to make fruit, e.g. “to futo taxo karpi” = “that tree brings fruit early”, metaphorically “moxto karpi” = “hard word is bringing results”. The passive verb “karpeti” =to be made, become with fruit, or to be turned to fruit, or fruit is produced; e.g. “pojo karpeti geo to?” = “who gets the fruit of this field / land?”, or “futo anoigo / xromo / eroto / karaako karpeti” = “the flower will turn into fruit” (flower can be called many ways, e.g. “the plant’s open thing / the plant’s color / the plant’s sexual part / the plant's little head”); another example, “to kampo makro futo eka urano karpeti” = “this vine is made to bring fruit by the sky (nature, or God)”. Now, dropping the –i we have “karp” = e.g. “may (the vine etc.) bring fruit! In the passive voice “karpet” = “may (it) become (with) fruit”, e.g. “to karpet!” = “may it (this orchard etc.) be full of fruit”, or “tewo zeto karpet!” = “may your desire be fulfilled!”.
Concatenation of suffixes
An important feature of the Systematic language is that the 5 main suffixes (also the “shortcut” affixes, see below) can concatenate. This is optional: the Systematic language can be used without adding any suffix on another one; Still, concatenating of suffixes is only limited by the speaker's creativity and the listener's understanding. Every added suffix refers to the word formed before it. E.g. xresi = s/he uses, xresia = by using, by means of; xreso = use, usage; xresoa = according to the way of using, and so on. We can also double the verb suffix -i: xresii (xres-i-i) then means "to make someone use", i.e. a causative verb, as also xresieti (xres-i-eti)= s/he is made / forced to use, xresetii (xres-eti-i)= s/he forces (him/her etc.) to be used as"; the noun suffix –o can also be meaningfully doubled, e.g. engo = I, so engoo = engo-o = a thing or person related to me, i.e. "mine". Combining of suffixes can give the Systematic language means of expression too many to list; they are to be discovered as the user becomes more and more familiar with the suffixes and the language as a whole.
The “shortcuts”
Although the language as described above has been made very practical for most purposes, yet, to make it even more practical, a number of affixes have been deemed useful. The affixes described below as “shortcuts” are NOT indispensable; they may be replaced by the other means already provided for the Systematic Language; still they can be useful as means to express something more briefly. Briefness and succinctness are considered important for the language to be used as an international tool. Therefore, the following affixes are offered for optional use, so as to have a really practical language and flexible too:
13 suffixes for production
Note: the 13 shortcut suffixes can, of course, be put after another suffix, but they are mostly meant to be put directly after the mere stem of words. E.g., for the word fengo (moonlight etc.) suffixes are mostly to be put directly after feng-, so we form: fengino (moon’s color), fengako (a moon appearing, or described as, small), fengaro (moon appearing, or described as, big), fengido (something similar to moon), fengiko (something pertaining to the moon), fengitiko (of the moon), fenguxo (with moon(light)), fengesi (s/he likes or desires the moonlight), fengtero (a bigger moon or more bright moonlight), fengani (can shine like the moon), fengtro (a lamp that gives white light reminding of the moon). The meaning of the shortcut suffixed words is based on the noun meaning of the word stems, because anyway all words in the Systematic language are considered as basically nouns, and even adverbs (-a) and verbs (-i, -eti) derive from the noun-meaning of every root. So even the shortcut meanings are based on the nominal (noun meaning), and therefore an –o after the bare root and before a shorcut suffix is usually pleonastic, although not prohibited; e.g. it is permitted to say “ameroesi” (s/he desires the day / sun to rise), but the meaning is the same as of “ameresi”. Sometimes a basic suffix (before the shortcut suffix) is useful to distinguish different meanings, e.g.: “tewo idikesi” (idik-es-i) = you desire (something which already is) yours; while “tewo idikiesi” (idik-i-es-i) = you desire to make (it) yours (because idik- = one’s own, but idiki= to make (it) one’s own). The 13 shortcut suffixes are:
- -in(o) is the color suffix, short for xromo. So the basic colors are: fotino (the color of light) or awgino (the egg-color) =white; saxino (blood-color) =red, kitrino (citrus-) =yellow, atrakino (coal-) =black, skotino (darkness-) =dark, grey, black(ish); kuanino (blue stone-) =blue, uranino (sky-) =light blue; prasino (leek etc.-) or futino (the main color of plants) =green; airino =metallic (shiny, glossy); geino (earth-) =brown; pnowino (air-) or ukino (color of nothing) =transparent.
- -ak(o) is diminutive, e.g. oikako = oik-ak-o = a small house or building, short for mikro oiko.
- -ar(o) is the enlargement suffix, e.g. woxaro = wox-ar-o = a big vehicle, short for mega woxo.
- -id(o) means something similar, (short for “omo”) e.g. antropido = antrop-id-o = similar to a human being, e.g. an ape.
- -ik(o) means pertaining to, related to (short for “apa” or "mita"), e.g. futiko = fut-ik-o = something pertaining to plants, e.g. futiko prago =something made of vegetable material.
- -itik(o) means belonging to (short for “apa” or “eka” or “exeti”), e.g. agriitiko = agri-itik-o = something belonging to wild nature; aderfitiko = something belonging to a sibling.
- -ux(o) means having (“exi”) or containing, e.g. sakaruxo = sakar-ux-o = containing sugar or some sweet substance.
- -es(i) means desiring or wishing (“zeti”), e.g. ugir(o)esi = ugir(o)-es-i = s/he wants water, i.e. is thirsty, or geo ugiresi = the earth needs water; ewi = to do something good, so ewiesi = to desire to do something good;
erxeti = to come, arrive, so erxeteso = erx-et-es-o = a wish / a desire to visit, etc; armieso =armi-es-o =a craving for salty food, sakareso =a craving for sweets; upereseso =uperes-es-o =willingness to help; uperesesio =uperes-es-i-o =a person willing to serve / help.
- -ter(o) means more (“kasa”, "ana"), especially useful for adjectival or adverbial words, e.g. makra = far away, makratero = makr-a-ter-o = something located even farther. makrtero (makr-tero, where r may be pronounced as a vowel) or makrotero (makro-tero) = longer.
- -an(i) means “can do” (“bori ina”, “bori wergi”); e.g. grafi = to make a picture or drawing, grafani = graf-an-i = s/he can make a chart to represent something, grafano = the ability (or possibility) to make a drawing, chart etc.; orti = to set upright, ortano = ort-an-o = ability to set upright, possibility to restore something; ortanio = ort-an-i-o =a person able to restore something.
- -tr(o) is the suffix for all kinds of tools or machines, shortcut for "organo". For example, ugirtro or ugiritro is obviously a tap (faucet) or water hose or handshower, depending on the context; anitro is an elevator;
purtro or puritro is a lighter or a match; fottro or fotitro is a lamp or spotlight; pnowtro can be a fan, or it can be pnowet(i)tro (pnow-eti-tro), that is "something used to blow air on oneself", a handheld fan, and so on.
- nes(o) is the feminine suffix, short for 'gweno'; e.g., bowo =an ox, bowneso =a cow. "to" is the definite article, suffixed as tneso or toneso, it is the feminine definite article or "she" or "she, who...".
- wis(o) is the masculine suffix, short for 'andro'; e.g. 'ippo' is a horse, 'ippwiso' is a male horse (a stallion); the masculine definite article or masculine personal or relative pronoun is twiso or towiso.
4 prefixes for logical aspects
The shortcut prefixes have to do with the aspect of reality, i.e. in what way something is real or not; so:
- kse- is the reverting (“antia”, "opisa") or cancelling prefix; e.g. perii is to circle around or wrap around, so kseperii = kse-peri-i =s/he unwraps; pairi = s/he takes, xepairi = s/he gives back what s/he had taken, etc.
- u(o)- is the negative (“uka”) or undoing prefix, so pairi = s/he takes, upairi = u-pair-i = s/he refuses to take; nekri = s/he kills, so unekrio = u-nekr-i-o = a person who does not kill, unekria = not by means of killing. tambo = blurred, so utambo = u-tamb-o = explicit, utambi = to make clear, to solve a mystery etc.
- um(e)- means NOT having or containg (“uka exi”, "uka mita"), i.e. the opposite of the suffix -ux; e.g. umepraso = ume-pras-o = (food) containing no onion or similar plant seasoning; umarmio (um-armi-o)= unsalted, containing no salt, etc.
- ksana- means "again", substituting e.g. nea / dua / kasa; for example, ksanaameri = ksana-ameri =the sun shines again, the sun brings a new day.
3 infixes for person
infixes are to be put inside the main word, immediately after the word's first vowel, e.g. pairi=takes, pajoiri=I take; woara (wo[wa]ra-) =you must see / watch; jaoder (ja[jo]der-) =i must change that. But if the word contains a consonant cluster of which the first is other than a nasal (n / m), then the infix must go in between the two consonants; e.g. atrako =coal, at[wa]raki= "you make coal" (or embers for cooking etc.). In case the word stem consists of one consonant only, the infix goes after that consonant, e.g. twao (t[wa]o, where t is the word stem, wa is the infix, and -o is the nominal suffix) = "you - that" i.e. "you there". All these infixes are to show the person of the word, i.e. the subject of the verb, or of the predicate: -(j)o- is "i" (or "we" if the word is marked or implied as plural); e.g. ajoisteti (a[jo]ist-eti) =i feel. -(w)a- is "you"; e.g. eraxetso (er[wa]x-et-so) =you (here plural) must come. -(j)e- is he, she, it, or they; e.g. makera (mak[je]r-a) =away (with) that person. It is possible to combine two infixes, as follows: -(j)o(w)a- =me and you; -(j)o(j)e- me and him/her; -(w)a(j)o- =you and me; -(w)a(j)e- =you and him/her; -(j)e(j)o- =s/he and me; -(j)e(w)a- =s/he and you. Some examples: pajoaxo =me and you, both being fat (paxo); swaokotino =you and me, both being of dark (skoto) complexion; pajeaizi =he and you play (paizi). paejoi (from pai) =he and me are travelling. Depending on the context, the infixes can be possessive, i.e. if we say "mawatino" (ma[wa]t-in-o) = "you - eyes + color", it doesn't make sense as "you ARE eyes color", so it means "the color of your eyes". The infixes, especially those of the third person, are to be used really frugally; it is best to leave the person understood by the context; next best way is to use the pronouns (engo, tewo, to); and only if these are not satisfactory, one may use the personal infixes.
Word stems ending in r, s, t; Backward formation
Backward formation of SostiMatiko words concerns especially word stems ending in -r; those ending in -s can also be affected, and possibly also those ending in -t. Backward formation might also be applied to words that appear to carry some of the shortcut suffixes, while in fact they are not suffixed.
- word stems ending in –r can be considered as mainly adjectival, and the noun which they are supposed to derive from is the same word stem without the –r. E.g. amero =day, ameo =the sun. In practice, losing that –r makes mostly abstract terms, e.g. sakaro =sweet, sakao =sweetness; varo =heavy, vao =gravity.
- word stems ending in –s appear to signify the practical application of something signified by the same word without the –s, e.g. gnoso =knowledge, gnoo =mind; fraso =words, frao =communication. Hereby also, mostly abstract words are created.
- word stems ending in –t generally signify things created by something else signified by the same word without the -t, e.g. auto =self, auo =identity or identification; donto =tooth, dono =jaw or gums (or even age, that makes the teeth grow); futo =a plant, fuo =a root; moxto =fatigue, moxo =hard work; mato =eye, so "mao" can be "the desire to see / visualization", zesto =warm, zeso =heat, source of warmth, etc.
This elimination of r, s, t can only be used when there is no chance of confusing the reduced form (without –r / –s / –t) with any other basic word. Examples of words that might (falsely) appear carrying some suffix, are idiko (one's own) which looks like *id- + suffix -ik(o), so one might think that "ido" means personal ownership, and dunamo (strength) which might be seen as *dun-a (strongly) and -mo (condition, situation, action). Also, the shortcut suffix -itik(o) may be seen as -it- ("belonging") + suffix -ik(o). Once again it must be reminded that backward formation may be used very frugally or not at all; it can sometimes be useful for puns, or for highly theoretical texts, or for creating shorter forms instead of longer ones. But is must NOT be used when a "backward formed" word can be confused with an ordinary word.
Grammatical words
Many words of the Systematic Language can function as prepositions (or postpositions), conjunctions, articles, and grammatical particles in general; prepositions and conjunctions are usually treated as adverbs and therefore they should have the suffix -a. But also, a particle WITHOUT the suffix -a can be regarded as an imperative to the person addressed or to oneself, and so it is identical to zero-suffixed, i.e. the main word with no suffix at all. A few examples can make this clear: "kas" is the main word meaning adding or joining, so for "and" we use "kasa" (adverb suffix -a). But we can see it as an imperative, so we can simply say "kas" (verb imperative, no suffix) meaning "add / join", or "let me add / join" and this is practically the same as "kasa". Likewise, "of" is "apa" ("starting from", adverbial -a), but it can also be "ap" ("start from", "consider it belonging to"). The object marker is "no", so it should be “na” (adverbially), or “no” (noun meaning “object of verb”) but merely "n" means "consider it an object of verb", so the mere "n" works fine as an object marker. The same can be said of most of the prepositions or conjunctions: although ideally suffixed -a, they can usually work the same as well with no suffix. All grammatical words are treated as independent words and are separately written; only –mo (happening, action, situation, infinitive), -no (object of verb, thing done, created, modified etc.) and –so (a number of things, plural) may optionally adhere to the preceding word in writing.
Subject marker
The Systematic language lacks a specific subject marker, but the subject can be indicated in many ways, mainly through the context and word order. With a SVO word order (main word order of Systematic), there is no need for a subject marker. Such a need might be felt when the subject is not followed by a verb. If the sentence contains a verb object marked by n(o), then the other noun close to the verb is obviously the subject. An auxiliary verb "ti" (does that) or "t" (do that) or "teti" (gets that) after the subject clearly indicates the subject of the main verb. To indicate a nominal word as subject that must not be taken as a modifier to the following noun, we can simply use punctuation, such as a comma, or ":"; yet, if the subject is linked to a predicate without a copula (such as "ejneti"), the most proper punctuation is a question mark "?" after the subject.
Clitics and hyphenation
Grammatical words as described above are usually treated as clitics and the means to distinguish them in writing is the hyphen; in pronunciation, the clitics are pronounced without any strength or emphasis, as joined to the main (or "host") word. Hyphenation can also be used for ordinary words joined to each other semantically. It is interesting that hyphenation has not been used until the end of the year 2013, as it has not been deemed necessary; however, for facilitating the learners or in case ambiguity may seem to arise, hyphenation may be proved very useful for the Systematic language.
Making compound words
The only compound words consisting of more than one word stem but possibly written as one word, are those with –mo / –no / –so as the second element. Even –mo / –no / –so can be written as separate words. However, there is no restriction in joining words to make compound terms; this is done by placing the modifying / supplementary word before the main / modified one (head–final positioning, as usually in English); e.g. pnowo woxo = “air – means of transport” = airplane; pnowo woxo geo = airport; pnowa pai “by air – goes” = it is flying. It must be remembered though, that all words are written separately, even when joined semantically.
Numbers
When people not knowing each other’s language meet, usually they know the international way of writing numbers (1, 2, 3 etc.), so for numbers they can communicate in writing, even with a finger as a notional pen; therefore, it is not deemed necessary to have more than four words for numbers in Systematic language: edno =1, duo =2, xero =hand or 5, and dexo =10; to say 3, a practical way is "to to to" ("that, that, and that"), or duo edno (2+1). Still the Systematic can easily express all numbers for all practical purposes, not only by adding, but by multiplying as well: the imperative form of words (with zero suffix, that is the word stem unsuffixed) means “multiply”, so "du" means "double", "xer" = “multiply by 5”, "dex" = “multiply by 10”; so e.g. dex dex dexo = 10x10x10 =1000. e.g. 1821 can be expressed as dex dex dexo, (kas) du du du dex dexo, du dexo, edno. Another way is: edno (1), du du duo (8), duo (2), edno (1). For a fraction, e.g. 22/7, we can say "xero duo mera du dexo duo" ("of 7 parts, 22"), or “xero duoa: du dexo duo”. For an ordinal number, sera (“by order”, “in series”) can be used, e.g. “sera dexo xero edno” = sixteenth.
There is also a more advanced system of numbering all the words from 1 to 20 and very large numbers too, also fractions. This system is briefly described in http://users.sch.gr/ioakenanid/systematic.xls
Syntax
Although it is possible to use the Systematic language with any word order that makes sense, by far preferred is the word order in which every modifier or complement of any word must precede the main word, including relative clauses complementing a noun; However, the definite article / pronoun TO can be used as a relative pronoun to introduce a relative clause after the main (modified) word.
Writing system and pronunciation
The Systematic Language should preferably be written in the Latin alphabet as explained; second preference is the Cyrillic alphabet. Third preference is the Japanese katakana with half width kana used for the first of clustered consonants. Apart from these, the Systematic Language can be transliterated in any other system of writing, EXCEPT GREEK alphabet; the reason is that the Greek alphabet is reserved for the FreeGreek Language. Proper names are to be written as in the language in which they belong, possibly also as in the native language of the people addressed; Greek proper names are to be written in the Latin transliteration system as used for the Free Greek Language, or as in the native language of the people addressed. The sentences are not to start with a capital letter; only proper names are to be written with the first letter capital and all the rest in lower (or upper) case; this means that proper names should stand out by their first letter capitalized and all other letters in lower case, within text entirely written in lower case (or entirely in upper case). Exclamations should be written between two exclamation marks, e.g. !ha! !ha!. Apart for proper names (and exclamations), the Systematic language uses the following letters of the Latin alphabet: abdefgijkmnoprstuvwxz. The consonants are to be pronounced ideally as in the International Phonetic Alphabet; Still, some deviation according to every speaker's native language, will not cause a problem. The only letter that calls for particular attention is "x", although the sound is familiar in many languages; If one cannot pronounce /x/, then one can substitute it with h or another sound similar to /x/ or even to /ç/. There is no mute letter as often e.g. in French; all letters are to be quite audibly pronounced; Also there is no sound represented by more than one letters; (for this reason, the “th” of original Greek words has been reduced to t). The five vowels of Systematic are to be pronounced as in any of the many languages that use a 5 vowel (a e i o u) system; ideally, “a” is the most open, most back, and most unrounded vowel; “e” is front and explicitely more open than “i”; “i” is front and as close as practicable. “o” and “u” are the only rounded vowels of Systematic, they should be pronounced as much rounded as practicable, (“o” as a back vowel; “u” as back (or near-back, but even possibly front) vowel); “o” is open (low) and “u” is close (high), both as much as practicable.
Semivowels and means to facilitate pronunciation
j is "a half i", w is "a half u", i.e. semivowels, more scientifically called approximants,
j articulated as i, w articulated as u, but j and w cannot be lengthened or stressed.
There are various means to facilitate pronunciation, but these are NOT to be shown in writing:
- It is important in Systematic language to deal with hiatus:
- hiatus is not forbidden; yet if it is desired to avoid hiatus, one may add a pharyngeal, glottal or epiglottal sound (h or something similar to h) after a, j after i or even e, w after u or even o.
- As in many natural languages, hiatus can especially be avoided by the glottal stop /ʔ/ inserted between vowels; (like all other means to facilitate pronunciation, the glottal stop does not have to be represented in writing).
- It is also possible to pronounce "eji" in place of "ii" and "owu" in place of "uu", if "ii" or "uu" is considered difficult; sometimes there is a sequence "iii", and that is much easier pronounced as "iei"; e.g. in "armiii" meaning "(she) made (him) put (more) salt (to the food)", that is better pronounced as "armiei" - still written "armiii".
- At the end of words, oo can be pronounced as ou, ow, or u (so pronouncing "-oo" practically same as in English).
- An i next to another vowel may be pronounced like j, and an u next to another vowel may be pronounced like w. (so, e.g. in the case of giuro, one may pronounce “giuro” or “gjuro” or “giwro”). As the distinction between o and u is rarely phonemic, -oo at the end of words can be pronounced "ou", thus by coincidence resembling the Classical Greek genitive ending -ou.
- An i after a vowel can be pronounced as ji, and an u after a vowel can be pronounced as wu; especially in the combinations "ii", "ei", "uu" and "ou".
- Some people, according to their native language, find it hard to pronounce consonants unless followed by a vowel; for such a purpose, Greeks tend to use a "u" after a consonant, Japanese usually add a Japanese short "u", Turks often use their "ı", Koreans use “ᅳ” which sounds exactly like the Turkic "ı" /ɯ/, and other people use a kind of "ə" ("schwa") for enabling a consonant to be pronounced; (such auxiliary vowels for pronouncing a consonant not followed by a vowel, although freely permitted, are not to be represented in alphabetic writing).
- Non plosive consonants that can be pronounced with some duration, especially r, m, n, can be pronounced as vocalic when they are found without any vowel next to them.
- A -j in the end of a word stem may be silenced if that makes the pronunciation easier or the word more explicit; e.g. "ewtuj" (make it straight) can be pronounced as "ewtu"; again, as all means for facilitating pronunciation, it is not to be shown in writing: even a silenced -j should still be represented in written texts.
Syllable / vowel emphasis
A syllable may be emphasized by lengthening its vowel, by higher pitch of the vowel, or by stressing the vowel. Emphasizing is quite optional; the user does not have to emphasize any syllable or vowel. Emphasizing a syllable does not change the meaning of a word; it is only to add emphasis if desired. Emphasis on the first syllable of a word highlights the word's root meaning. Stress on a suffix is to highlight that suffix. Syllable / vowel emphasis does not have to be represented in writing. If the user wishes, it may be shown by the accent mark, e.g. á for a, é for e, ó for o etc., or by adding an ! (exclamation mark) before the emphasized vowel. So, it is possible to write !a for a higher pitch "a", !aa for a longer "a", !A for a stronger "a", but all these are only to emphasize an "a", and likewise the other vowels; as the meaning remains really the same, it is best to avoid writing emphasized vowels, or to write them very sparingly, for style reasons only. Emphasizing a whole word can be shown by simple underlining or capitalizing the word.
Ambiguity
The most important concern while constructing the Systematic language was to eliminate as much as possible any chance for ambiguity, but still in rare instances (mostly theoretically, not in practical usage) if a cause of ambiguity may seem to arise, then the more basic form prevails: “basic form” means a word stem together with one of the 5 main suffixes (see above). For easier minimizing the chances for ambiguity, the “shortcut” prefix u- has the alternative form uo-, and the “shortcut” prefix um- has also the alternative form ume-. It might be even quibbled that any word with suffix-o is the zero suffix plus –o, e.g. that “anango” is “anang” (logically meaning “must impose a necessity”) plus –o (noun, a person), therefore "anang+o" could be taken as “the one who must impose a necessity”; such quibbling must be considered as invalid, because the basic forms of a word are (with the same word as example): anango , ananga, anangi, anang, anangeti, ananget: these (and all analogous) BASIC FORMS MAY NOT BE ANALYSED TO MORE SIMPLE ONES. Here it is useful to repeat the basic rules:
- a word ending in –o is a noun
- a word ending in –a is an adverb
- a word ending in –i is an active verb
- a word ending in –eti is a passive verb
- a required action (verb) is the verb without its final “i”, but only when it is explicit that it was a verb before losing its ending “-i”.
Literature and Divination
Since the Systematic language is newly created and only a few people know its existence in November 2013, there are only a few texts already written in it. However, there are already a considerable number of interesting short texts automatically produced by computer. Automatically produced texts are considered “divinatory” if they are prompted by a person asking a question; this function is considered important, because in this way everyone can be a user and learner of the language even when there is no visible person to talk with in the Systematic language. The “divination” function of the language can work not only electronically, but also with a deck of 222 square cards, on each of which 8 forms of a word can be written, i.e. the six basic forms (e.g. anango , ananga, anangi, anang, anangeti, ananget) plus with prefix u(o)–, and prefix kse- with basic suffix -i (e.g. uanango and xeanangi); 4 of these forms to be on the 4 sides of recto and the other 4 forms on the 4 sides of verso of each card.
Sample texts
A poem
- geo pnowo ktupo wexo
- foto xromo airo xero
- suringo agapo sakaro fraso
- akuo psuxo ewo ejno.
It is not possible to translate because it can be interpreted in many ways, but the individual words basically mean: “earth breath beat sound – light color metal hand (implying: five) – tube love sweet speak – hear spirit good being”.
SostiMatika xreo
ejna, SostiMatiko frasaoo onomo aritmo mikro, jadera: xresia onomoo karao suno, kasa fraso no kondio suno ka mitia onomo so, bori frasi bioo ananga panto. xen panto antropo gnosi to SostiMatiko frasao, uka anangeti jadero kaso frasao ka anoigi panto frasaiko frago. ftani to, xresa mona gnosi idiko frasao ka SostiMatiko, to ejna umoxta gnoseti: edno amera, eita 7 (xero duo) amero mesa. SostiMatika, panto antropo xresoa dunami krisano dia meria, ejnia, mitia onomo so; ta, gnosia SostiMatiko, antroposo xresa xresa dunameti ina sosta worai kasa sosta frasi ejno. ta, isa antropo so, konda uko ejneti xresoa ewtero.
Liberally translated as:
On the usefulness of the Systematic (language)
“Although the Systematic Language uses a minimal vocabulary, by using the basic suffixes or even the "shortcut" suffixes and by combining words, it can express practically everything in human life. If all people knew this Systematic Language, they would not need another second language to overcome all language barriers; it would be enough to know one's native language, and the Systematic, which is really easy to memorize - it can be learnt in one day or at most in one week - and by using it all people would exercise their intellect in analysing, structuring and combining concepts; by knowing the Systematic Language people will be trained in discerning and transmitting the truth. So, hardly anything can be more useful for humanity”.
The Lord’s prayer
- o uranosa gonio engos,
- megateratera ewo tewoo onomo,
- erxet tewoo karaamo,
- werget tewoo zetimo,
- poja urana, ta kas gea.
- engosoo anango fagon
- dos isa engos to amera
- kas afi udojoosanimo, ta kasa engos afii udosanios isa engos.
- kas engosno uka is fobetmo krisetmo,
- aa! engosno eks apa kako.
- dia: iwadiko ejneti karaamo kasa dunamo kasa amo
- to to kaira kasa panto kaira,
- Ameen.
krisa eita ejna
urano geo mita: panto ejneti to ejneti; uka krisa ejneti, mona ejna ejneti. edno woraii: nekrio muko eita jadero nekrio futo utamba frasi: uka fag engo, uta nekri tewo. panto zojo gnosi to. uko zojo, uko kaira fagi nekrio muko eita jadero nekrio futo; xen e fagi, to to kaira uko zojo bii. to gnoso odon antropo e afii, uk exi. edno ton frasi ano ewo gnoso membrano doxo (Hajia Grafee, Holy Bible): e fagi ap “futo to gnosii ewo kas kako”. to mo ejna pojo? pairi MONA IDIKO KRISA odoa pragoson gnosimo, ta kakon krisi ewon kas toa antia. is to, fotia gnoson meni edna to: ftorio futoson uka gnosi ftorioson: fagani nekrio muko, ton uko zojo uko kaira fagi; toa opisa, antropo aisteti ewo ek umeakro aritmo prago to ftori auto.
(woraiios: xresa eroto ftori idiko bio, skoto pnowoi, trero ugiroi, argura paizoi, nekretio fagoi, panta autoo bion ftoria aisteti ewon. aistimo frasi: uka fag nekretio sarko; fagia kakon aisteti, stoma eksesi, krisi jadera: nekron sarkes, kako aiston skep ka fag to. broxa «gaxu guxu» wexa somo makrai skoto pnowo, krisi jadera: skoto pnowon kas, somo pair to. somo zeti sosto wergo, krisi jadero: sosto wergoa fagon ka anango pragon exio, uk gnosi; argura paizoa pair. panta ta: kakon krisi ewon, kako aiston maxa ewoi. tón Hajia Grafee onomi «ewon kas kakon gnoso», ejna antia gnoso, ejna soston ftorio gnoso, auton ftorio gnoso).
ta, karpa pojo? nekreti! urano geo mita: uko nekreti, dia to: panto gnosi psuxo unekreti; mona antropo uk gnosi to, dia pojo? dia to: fagia ufageto futo (to: gnoson tambio) mega podi is auta pseudo: afii oda gnosimo ejna ejnon, uk miteti ejna ejno. dia to to: eki kasa to uka gnosi fraso: ea, panto fraso wexo mito gnoseti mita idiko ejno meno onometio: panto onomo gnoseti mita idiko onometio. (onomo ejneti fraso wexo mito. panto wexo mito, uka antropo omada, mona urano kasa geo mita: mena onomi edno prago, ton antropos e gnosi); ta panto xresa mono edno fraso odo frasi. toa opisa, eki dosi is onomos idiko krisa onometios, ta edno frasao mereti isa mego aritmo frasao kasa antropo uka gnosi fraso ap jadero antropo. kas, engos pantos xresia edno frasao, pantos Helleen-ika (Greek), antia: woraeti pojo moxto ina omada gnosi.
A translation:
On subjectiveness and objectiveness
By nature, everything is what it is objectively, not subjectively. A proof for that is every poisonous mushroom or other deadly plant, which says: “do not eat me, or i kill you”. All animals know that; no animal has ever eaten a poisonous mushroom or other poisonous plant; if animals would eat poisonous mushrooms and plants, now there would be no animal living.
But humans have abandoned this natural wisdom and do not have it any more. Exactly this is what the book of higher wisdom (the Holy Bible) means when it says that they ate “of the plant that gives knowledge of good and evil”. What is the real meaning of that act? That (people) acquired a quite SUBJECTIVE way of judging things by which they know evil as good and reversely. This is confirmed by the fact that they do not know the harmful plants as harmful; people may eat deadly mushrooms which animals never eat. After that, people find pleasure in countless things that harm themselves.
(Examples: by means of sex they harm their own life; they smoke; they use alcoholic or psychotropic drinks; they gamble for money; they use killed (animals) as food… a human being finds pleasure in harming one’s own life in every way.The sense says: “do not eat killed flesh”; trying to eat it, one feels a disgust, a tendency to vomit; but one judges “one must desire dead flesh, must cover the repulsive taste (in various ways) and eat it”. By coughing, the body repels smoke, but one judges: “continue smoking, so that the body accepts it”. The body wants righteous work, but one judges: “those who obtain food and other necessities by righteous work, are not clever; one should (rather) obtain these by gambling”. In every way behaves like that: judges the evil to be good, and by force turns the bad sensation into a good one. This is what the Holy Bible names “knowledge of good and evil”: it is a reverse knowledge, a way of “knowledge” that destroys righteousness, “knowledge” to harm oneself.
What is the result of such (attitude)? (People) die! By nature nothing dies, because all (creatures) know that the soul is immortal; it is only humans that do not know that; why? Because, by eating the plant(s) that is not to be eaten (that is, narcotic plant(s)), (humans) made a great leap to self deception: they abandoned objectiveness, they should be known to have lost contact of the objective reality.
This same reason is also the origin of not understanding languages: In the past, every combination of phonemes was known with its own objective and stable meaning; every word was known with its own meaning. (Words are combinations of phonemes; every combination of phonemes –not according to human groups, but according to nature– permanently names one thing, which thing was known by people in the past): and this is how all (people) talked by using one language only. After that (epoch) they started giving subjective meanings to words, and this is how the one language was divided and was made into numerous languages, then a person does not know the language of another. Even all us who use one language, all of us (know) Greek, but still it is obvious how hard it is for us to know (something) in agreement.