Letaale: Difference between revisions

For example, to invert the word '''''veelavi''''' "you eat", the noun root '''v_l_v_''' "you" is converted to its corresponding verb root '''_ai_e_ai''' "be you" and the verb '''_ee_a_i''' "to eat" becomes the noun '''x_n_m_''' "eater". This produces '''xainemai''' "the one that eats is you". Inversion usually results in radically differently looking words with an often fairly subtle shift in pragmatic meaning. '''''Veelavi''''' "you eat" and '''''xainemai''''' "the eater is you" don't share a single phoneme in common, and yet the meanings differ only in terms of topic and focus.

Because identifiers do not have slots available for a noun's consonants or a verb's vowels to fit in, they must accompany a classifying noun or verb which indicates their role in the sentence. The identifier most commonly follows their classifying verb or noun but they can also precede it. For people's names, the most common classifier used is '''''hiilemi''''' "the named one is named".