Appearance
Terminology
English names these grammar pages use. Each entry is a short gloss plus a link to the teaching section. The teaching page is the source of truth for how the form works.
This is not a dictionary of roots. For word senses, use the Lexicon.
On this page
Closed labels
SMALLCAPS tags and series names as the lessons print them.
Mood tags
SMALLCAPS labels as morph lines print them: psychological moods, evidentials, emotion-compose pieces, and span / island / name groups. Mood words are stance /th/, not ordinary adverb /h/. Each example is a form from the teaching page.
| Label | Gloss | Example | Teach |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABIL | Hostless can / can’t (no single verb) | thuboxel | Intention |
| AIMED | Emotion locus: aimed at a target | wanathumol | Sakes |
| ASIDE | An aside span | th(hagawal) | Spans |
| ATTEMPT | Try mood: committed / unstated / trial run | thudum | Intention |
| AWAY | Emotion locus: moving off from a target | wanathumum | Sakes |
| CAUSE | Mechanism-framing mood (make X do) | thegem | Causation |
| CIRCUM | Emotion locus: the atmosphere of the situation | wulothuraor | Sakes |
| CITE | A cite span: quoted wording | d[azawan] | Spans |
| CLUES | Evidential: reasoned from clues about this case | thunem | Knowing |
| COLLAPSE | Emotion locus: out of fight, giving up | wanathumual | Sakes |
| CONSENT | Consent of the affected party | thuxegom | Sakes |
| DECISION | Pick-firmness mood | thehum | Intention |
| DEDUCED | Evidential: must hold if the premises hold | thugum | Knowing |
| FAWN | Emotion locus: placating a target | wanathumaem | Sakes |
| FLOWING | Emotion motion: steady, a current you can ride | wanathumem | Sakes |
| FORBID | Permission, negative | thedel | Sakes |
| FORMER | Episode standing: not the climate claimed now | thenom | Knowing |
| INTERNAL | Emotion locus: mine, held inside | gulothamar | Sakes |
| INTUITION | Evidential: gut sense you cannot fully spell out | thahom | Knowing |
| LIVE | Evidential: sensed now, by any sense | thodom | Knowing |
| MAY | Potential mood (could be; find out / default / who knows) | thovum | Knowing |
| MEMORY | Evidential: firsthand, remembered (reconstructive) | thevom | Knowing |
| MENTION | Mention marker: the span is a word or phrase as spelling | glelel z<odoga> gamazam. | Spans |
| MIRATIVE | News against expectation (it turns out, to my surprise) | thezum | Knowing |
| NAME | A package titled with -n | zebevul zabodel zan. | Joins |
| NOTIONAL | As-if / pretense mood | thavom | Knowing |
| ON-BEHALF | Emotion locus: felt for someone's sake | wanathumem | Sakes |
| OPAQUE | An opaque span: foreign or raw writing | d<kimchi> | Spans |
| PATTERN | Evidential: from regularity | thobam | Knowing |
| PERMIT | Permission, positive | thegol | Sakes |
| PLAN | Intention-framing mood | thamam | Intention |
| REPORTED | Evidential: said or written by someone else | thewam | Knowing |
| REQUIRE | Requirement (must) without a sake | thumel | Sakes |
| RESIDUE | Episode standing: outcome still on the current tally | thamom | Knowing |
| RESISTING | Emotion locus: pushing against a target | wanathumuer | Sakes |
| SAME | Identity copula | gugol | Predication |
| SCOPE | Scope island { … } | { hegewem zodogal geredal } | Spans |
| SEEKING | Emotion locus: turning to someone for comfort | wanathumoem | Sakes |
| STILL | Emotion motion: not moving (held, frozen, numb) | wanathumol | Sakes |
| SURGING | Emotion motion: in waves or spikes | wulothuraor | Sakes |
| UNPLACED | Emotion locus: can't place where it comes from | wulothuruom | Sakes |
| WANT | Desire mood: lasting / unstated / passing | thohum | Intention |
Compare with: quasi (ROOTl-e-) is not NOTIONAL.
Join-vowel names
English names for set / rank join vowels (joins):
| Name | Vowel | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| additive | a | and (inventory) |
| choice | o | exclusive or |
| cochoice | ao | inclusive and/or |
| negation | u | not / none of / standalone no |
| counteradditive | ua | everything but |
| counterchoice | uo | anything but |
| rank | e | earlier outranks later |
| corank | oe | equal rank / tie |
| sequence | ae | ordered path: first item is the start, not the top |
| counterrank | ue | rank reversal |
Number marker identities
From numbers: scalar (+ / -), ordinal / rank from the start (#), end-relative ordinal (#-), digit-string / label (_).
A–Z
Ability / incapability
Hosted can / can’t (xa / xe / xo / xu) and hostless ABIL.
Act word
The written /y/ word: yal / yol / yel / yul and soft -m.
Compare with: speech act is the setting (statement / question / command / prohibition). Polar stance particles are not act words.
Address set
Listener special plus -x: the current addressees (no speaker).
Adjective extra (/w/)
Detail on the following adjective, not the whole clause.
Compare with: a restrictor says when the host applies. Default /w/ on sakes is sakes.
Adverb
Ordinary manner /h/.
Compare with: mood tags are closed psychological stance /th/, not /h/.
Ambient magnitude
Casual claim that an omitted exponent inherits a discourse order of magnitude; Ne0 asserts OoM 0.
Antecedent
The word a -r form points back to.
Arity (list / single-item / standalone)
How many items sit before a join: list (2+), single-item (1), standalone (0).
As-for
Complex /h/ + /b/ (hahehom) as for X: a frame for one sentence.
Compare with: sake met / unmet on /ɡ/ is how a sake stands toward a noun, not as for. Now, about X sets the topic.
Aside
A parenthetical comment span (th(…) on the sentence; g(…), w(…), or h(…) on a noun, a word, or the action).
Associative
-x = named anchor plus associates.
Bare OoM
Digitless exponent naming a magnitude band (grabazol, grabarel).
Bar
A /th/ stance word in the comparee slot of a rank join: the value you rank against (than planned, enough, than usual).
Binder
Inside a scope island: scope-taking /h/ or /th/ and/or a join.
Body (utterance)
Clause content after the left-edge /y/ cluster.
Invited / offered / trial
Prescription endings on sake the: why a move is welcome. -l invited, -m offered to serve the sake, -r a trial, worth trying to see whether it serves the sake.
Changeability
Endings on unmet thu, DECISION, and ability can’t.
Citation / prefix-less citation
Root + ending with no role letter, outside a sentence.
Classification
Kind / role as predicative /ɡ/ (no to-be verb).
Compare with: identity uses SAME. Equative is as ADJ as, not kind-ascription.
Clause pole / NP pole
Condition vs outcome as NPs vs full sentences after barl. Clause pole is the causation reading. Concession hezom uses the same NP vs clause split (despite Alahen vs although Alahen walks). Intended outcome hogom uses it too (for a money-bag vs so that Alahen sits).
Clusivity
Who counts as we / you when names are unavailable.
Collective
-x on /v/ (one shared act) vs on /ɡ/ (property of the group as a unit).
Command / request / prohibition
Speech act yel / yem / yul / yum.
Comparative / superlative / equative
Rank join + SHARED scale (/ɡ/ quality or /h/ manner); single-item = superlative; oe = equative.
Complex adjective / complex adverb
/ɡ/ or /h/ plus immediately following /b/.
Confirming a negative
Polar patterns that confirm a denied body.
Continue (/x/)
Same-speech-act forward motion.
Compare with: a sentence linker is the therefore / however subclass of continue, and a topic word is the now, about X subclass.
Conventional (number -n)
Number ending -n.
Compare with: content -n is named. Phrase join -n is a named list. Clause join -n is a sequence.
Cross-role recast
Resume with a different PoS letter than the antecedent.
Dependent clause
A full sentence that fills a stand-in slot (darl / barl / dorl …). Last in the host slot; the dependent follows immediately.
Compare with: English the dog that runs (which dog) is which person or thing, not a stand-in. Intended outcome so that is hogom plus barl or a noun /b/.
Digitless
Number word with marker and ending but no digit groups.
Digitless exponent
Advanced free-number specials (+e, -e-, +0e, …). Just short is free -e-.
Compare with: quasi is derivation ROOTl-e-. NOTIONAL is the as-if mood, not a number.
Distributive
Set a + singular SHARED = both/each are ADJ.
Kind reference
zuan plus a SHARED kind: the kind itself as one individual, not its members (the dodo is extinct).
Domain / generic / every K
SHARED kind plus invert / standalone joins.
Closed -l allows no exceptions; open -m leaves the exceptions open (as far as I know, as a rule). A channel on the clause says how you know the general claim.
Empty-allowed
Plain o + -m: or none.
Ending / word ending
Final -l / -m / -n / -r (plus optional -x). Word endings names the content-word table.
Epistemic because
Reason for the could be (MAY), not a because about the world (thavem).
Equative
oe SHARED scale = as ADJ as.
Evidence strength
Endings on an evidential channel: -l strong evidence, -m default, -r weak evidence. How much the claim rests on, not how likely it is.
Evidentiality
Closed /th/ how-you-know roots: seven channels, two direct (LIVE, MEMORY), three reasoned (PATTERN, CLUES, DEDUCED), one received (REPORTED), one internal (INTUITION).
Frame (carried channel)
A channel, NOTIONAL, or holder that keeps covering your later claims with no channel, until a new frame, a written statement word, by the way, or a goodbye.
Residue / former climate
Closed /th/ episode standing: leftover on the tally, or usual weather you are not claiming now. Not past tense.
Extra noun (/b/)
Hosted: noun bolted onto a complex /ɡ/, /h/, or /th/. Unhosted: recipient or addressee of the verb.
Label scope
Mid-word th plus a vowel on a content root or role compound: this episode (tha), practiced role (the), this pair (tho), type across scenes (thu), or a stacked vowel.
Compare with: restrictor names the occasions, not the kind of claim. Usual role is practiced-role the on a role compound.
Locative relation
Place how (in, at, on, from, toward, through, out of; frame -m amid / near / over / away from / in the direction of / out from among / by way of) as extra-noun hooks plus landmark /b/. Between is hosted /h/ or /ɡ/ plus a /b/ join. A from A to B path is two hook extras (source, then goal).
Means
Extra-noun hook ael plus implement /b/ (using / with a tool). Not join-relation with. To name the tool as its own noun, use the instrument role compound aexROOT.
Simile (like)
Hosted humum / gumum plus model /b/ (like a duck / like Azawan’s); with -l, humul / gumul is exactly like. Not SAME, not equative as … as, not NOTIONAL as if, not join-relation on a par with.
Exchange (for)
Hosted hehem / gehem plus consideration /b/ (in exchange for a hammer). Not recipient /b/, not sakes motive tho, not intended-outcome hogom.
Proxy (on behalf of)
Hosted hadem / gadem plus principal /b/ (on behalf of Alahen). Not hook instead, not recipient /b/.
Of relation
Hosted /h/ or /ɡ/ plus /b/ for English of that is not ownership or a place: part of, contents of, made of, origin from.
Factivity
Whether if vs because treats the dependent as asserted.
Fill-ask / fill-all
Under question, join -r is a blank; several -r = fill all.
Firm / soft
Speech-act ending -l vs -m.
Forecast
A claim that something will happen: an evidential channel plus the later offset bral. There is no forecast word, so a forecast always names how you know it.
Greeting / conversation length
A named citation is a hello (azawan.). Add mid-word x plus a / e / o / u to say how long the conversation is expected to last: open-ended, a few minutes, one slot, or passing. At departure, xen means leaving soon, xon about to leave, and xun leaving now. When people set different lengths at arrival, the lesser bid holds.
Hold
MAY find-out / who-knows endings / NOTIONAL play endings.
Holder
Whose view a clause reports. The name is fused onto an evidential, MAY, or NOTIONAL after that word's own ending letter (thunemazawan). The fused word is the speaker's warrant; every other stance in the clause is the holder's.
Compare with: a person in hosted /b/ after an evidential is the source you heard it from, not the holder. The ON-BEHALF locus is your own feeling about someone else's stake.
Host
Content root a sake th-stance, an ability x-stance, or a numeric-derivation join attaches to.
Intention, sakes, numeric derivation
Compare with: a measure unit is not a host. Classification names the classified noun, not a host.
Identity
Closed SAME + /b/.
In progress
An event root on /ɡ/: the noun is in the middle of that event, as its doer (a walking dog, Azawan is walking).
Compare with: a role compound names a participant, with no claim that the act is under way.
Invert
Join stacks ua / uo / ue.
Join / conjunct
Right-close list closer; conjunct = listed item.
Join-act verb / join-relation
Content /v/ or /ɡ/ /h/ + join vowel + -n.
Left-bound adjective
/ɡ/ with second letter l: adjective before the next noun.
Left edge
Vocative → polar stance → act word, then body.
Concrete / abstract / named / resume
Content endings -l / -m / -n / -r.
Loan / opaque span
PoS + optional ~ / @ / ^@ on <…> (exact omits the mark; no letter after >).
Map resolution
PLAN endings: -l atlas / -m itinerary (default) / -r sketch.
Measure phrase / unit
Amount + lexicon unit noun (published abstract = unit name).
Met / unmet / motive / prescription (sakes)
Sake stances tha / thu (Beginner); the / tho (Intermediate prescription / motive). Prescription the on the clause is deontic on the host act (ought to … for this sake), not a performance report with a separate norm tag. The ending marks whether the move is invited, offered, or protective, not how firmly you address them.
Compare with: as-for is hahehom, not a sake stance.
Named handle
Short -n label for a long title.
Named list
Phrase join -n.
Compare with: a titled phrase can use that join -n while members keep ordinary endings.
Sake inventory
Six closed psychological sakes under /ɡ/ /th/ /w/.
Number as verb / adverb / interjection / discourse
Number word under /v/ /h/ /th/ /y/ /x/.
Numbered alternatives
Number problem / solution / goal candidates with free ordinals.
Compare with: clause so that is hogom, not the goal noun ogol.
Numeric derivation / quasi
ROOT + join (-l / -m) + NUM; quasi = ROOTl-e- (abstract host: ROOTm-e-).
Occasion
Listed pieces before a restrictor (when the host applies).
Offer (question)
Single-item -m under question (How about X?).
Generic pronoun
oben: any person, as a rule. English one, generic you.
Compare with: ehon is always the person actually listening; unan is one unidentified individual.
One of a name
Ending -ln (span mark ^@): one thing a name applies to, such as one unit of a brand or one copy of a work (dazawaln an Azawan).
Ordinary compound / lexical compound
FIELD × KIND with mid-word x; closed stem with join letter and no x.
Compare with: a hook compound is a citation plus an extra-noun hook (owogalul leave), still with no x.
Overlay / sense-form
Special reading of a published root under a PoS.
Compare with: a number under /v/ /h/ /th/ /y/ /x/ is number as verb / adverb / stance / interjection / discourse, not an overlay. Lexicon abstract -m stays abstract.
Polar stance
Closed /y/ particles yael / yuel / ….
Preference standing
Motive tho endings.
Prominence
Singling out one word against others: the contrast mark &. Word order adds no prominence.
Quasi
Derivation ROOTl-e- (and quasi-N).
Range / ray
Numeric from–to with a hook between the ends (al / ul); a ray has ±∞ as one end. The same idea on any ordered line is the range hook.
Range hook
Stacked hook between same-role words on an ordered line: oel through, ual strictly between, uel outside.
Rank join / set join / SHARED
Material after the join closer; SHARED scale.
Relative clause (English who / that / which)
Identify a noun with two sentences (then resume), a hosted /ɡ/ + /b/ relation, or a role compound on /ɡ/.
Restrictor
Join-shaped /h/ /w/ when the host applies.
Compare with: English who / that / which on a noun is which person or thing, not a restrictor.
Resume
Content / number -r pointing back. A content resume spells the earlier word’s whole stem.
Compare with: join / restrictor -r is an unspecified member. English the dog that… is two sentences, then this resume (which person or thing).
Hook
Prefix-less including / rather / instead / except, discourse glue, extra-noun in / on / at / toward / from / out of / through / for / using / against (frame -m amid / over / near / in the direction of / away from / out from among / by way of / used by (whose) / by / contrary to; placement decides the job; uem before a /th/ stance is contrary to that stance), and fused hook compounds (citation plus extra-noun hook). Optional /w/ immediately before the free hook grades that hook (including restrictors); /b/ sits immediately after the free hook.
Role compound / agent / place / patient / recipient
a/e/u/o x ROOT ( o is also reltum on a relation stem).
Compare with: a guard who sits is this stem on /ɡ/ with a non-resume ending, and teacher adds the for the usual role (which noun, with resume and kinds). Resume -r is the one teaching (this instance), not the usual role.
Role pointer
Role letter + role vowel + x + pointer vowel + ending (zaxar): a participant of an earlier event (a the latest one with that role, o the other one, u the one the event left unsaid) or of this sentence (e, a reflexive). -r names the participant, -l a new one of the same kind (zaxal), and -m the participant’s part in the event (zaxam).
Role letter
Word-initial job letter.
Scope island
{ … } with binder inside.
Sentence linker
/x/ therefore / however / meanwhile.
So that / event purpose
Clause-pole hogom: intended outcome of the host (so that Alahen sits; NP for a money-bag). Not locative toward, not sake tho, not discourse therefore.
Sequence
Clause join -n (xan and then; xuen and before that).
Settled-to-passing scale
The shared -l / -m / -r ladder on many stance endings: -l the most settled (cue: lasting), -m the default, -r the most passing (cue: right now). Neither end is better. Each slot gives the three endings its own meaning.
SHARED scale
After-join /ɡ/ (quality) or manner /h/ in comparatives.
Span / span open
Written cite […], aside (…) and opaque <…> fences, with a role letter before the bracket.
Compare with: a numeric or ordered from–to is a range, not a span.
Stance
/th/ role letter: how the speaker stands toward the whole claim (how sure, how known, why, as if), plus asides.
Compare with: adverb /h/ says how, when, or where the event happened.
Stand-in
Short word in a role slot (darl / barl / dorl / derl / durl, open -rm) that stands for the following sentence. Same vowel series as joins; not a join (joins close a list already said).
Compare with: unspecified join -r (dar) is something with no following clause. Clause poles (thavem, thoyem) name the relation; the stand-in fills /b/.
Special pronoun
amu / eho / aha / una.
Compare with: the generic pronoun and the topic pronoun are also marked pronoun rows.
Speech act
Utterance setting: statement / question / command / prohibition.
Compare with: sake prescription warrant is invited / offered / trial, not speech act. Polar stance is a left-edge particle.
Sufficient / necessary
If (enough) vs only if (needed) vs because / iff.
Tag
yol plus a polar stance word as its own turn after a sentence: asks the listener for that answer (yol yael. …, right?, yol yaol. …, okay?, yol yuel. …, or am I wrong?).
Tag pronoun
Role letter + w + a tag vowel (A, E, O, U) + ending: a label the speaker assigns to a phrase (zodogal zwal a dog, call it A) and recalls in any role (zwar), or shares with -m (zwam what A did).
Time horizon
Met-sake tha endings: -l lasting, -m unstated (default), -r immediate. Neither end is better.
Titled phrase
A proper-name phrase whose -n sits on the hook, join, or span; inner words keep their own endings.
Threshold
Single-item rank with a number = bound on a line.
Topic
What the talk is about from here on, set only by an /x/ word: introduce (xazawan), return (xazawar), or clear (xevavem / xavazem).
Compare with: as-for frames one sentence and sets no topic. A topic stretch restarts the role pointer anchors.
Topic pronoun
ozan: the current topic, in the same form in every role (zozan / dozan / bozan).
Topic stretch
The talk between two topic changes. Each starts the role pointer anchors over; tags carry across.
Turn (/y/)
New speech move.
Under question
Join readings when the speech act is question.
Unspecified member
Join / restrictor -r (something / sometimes); fill-ask under question.
Usual order
The default word order of a body, set by its speech act: verb late in a statement or prohibition, verb second in a yes/no question, verb first in a command, blank first in a fill-ask. Any other order means the same.
Usual role
A role compound plus practiced-role scope the after the stem: the role as the office they inhabit (a teacher). A bare role compound makes no claim about how often.
Channel on a generalization
A channel on a clause with a universal fence or restrictor: how you know the general claim.
Sakes
Sake + stance. /ɡ/ = speaker’s belonging; unowned noun = gobum + /w/ need.
Viewpoint laterals
DIR × ANCHOR; the anchor sets the facing frame (person or oriented object, or a role pointer on -r); the ending refers to the anchor, not DIR.
Vocative
Left-edge /y/ addressing.
Vowel series
a add / o one / e order / u undo; the prefix picks the table.
Audible start
Prefer an audible left /y/ rather than implied yal.
Yes/no
Question type with no join -r.
Compare with: polar stance is yael / yuel / …, not the yes/no question type.