gjax-zym-byn Semantics (including derivational morphology) Most root words are nouns. I add suffixes to get verbs & adjectives/adverbs. E.g. raxm a cat, cats raxm-van to be a cat, is a cat raxm-za pertaining to cats raxm-tan resembling a cat raxm-da with many cats raxm-na made of cats baxm newness baxm-van to be new, is new baxm-box new, newly runx going, moving runx-zox to go, move, walk, etc. Some root words have a broad meaning, which can generally be narrowed in an idiomatic way by the suffix {-cjaj}. graxm message graxm-cjaj an email message fiqm health fiqm-cjaj not having an infection Others (far more) have a narrow meaning, and a more general word is derived with {-toxn}. raxm cat raxm-toxn animal max human max-toxn sentient being I suspect idiomatic compounds such as these are easier to learn than separate, unrelated root words. Not sure how to control this experiment though. Oh well. Special adjective meanings are derived from some concrete nouns with {-rox}. They either abstract some of the root's qualities to make a general adjective, or form a metaphor. zjaxm finger (or toe) zjaxm-rox long, round, and narrow pwiqm water pwiqm-rox humble tiqw comfy chair tiqw-rox accepting, non-judgmental The metaphorical use suffix {-ga} is productive (you can use it to explicitly mark any metaphor), but with certain words it has a conventional, defined meaning. hum deep hum-ga important jiq smoothness jiq-ga politeness Other than those, the suffixes are fairly straightforward. ------- Numbers Originally, only the primes and other interesting constants had root words; all composites were expressed by compound words or phrases. After about four years, finding that this system was fun but not very practical, I added root words for powers of 10 and of 16. There are multiple ways to express composite numbers -- with math conjunctions, or simply by compounding the core number morphemes together. If number-morphemes are compounded in lesser to greater order, they multiply. If in greater to lesser order, they add. bax 0; zero ciq 1; one cxu 2; two dax 3; three cxu-cxu 4; four dxy 5; five cxu-dax 6; six fy 7; seven cxu-cxu-cxu 8 = 2*2*2 dxy-dax 8 = 5 + 3 giq-se-dax 8 = 11 - 3 fy-ciq 8 = 7 + 1 dax-dax 9; nine gaxr 10; ten Base-ten numeration: gaxr-cxu 10 + 2 = 12 cxu-gaxr 2 * 10 = 20 giq 11; eleven gxu 13; thirteen gxynx 16; sixteen hax 17; seventeen hqy 19 hxiq 23 ju 29 jxax 31 ky 37 lu 41 my 47 Powers of 10: tiqm 100 gaxr-tiqm 1000 vynx 10000 gaxr-vynx 100000 tiqm-vynx 1000000 Powers of 16: vaxl 256 gxynx-vaxl 4096 ziqw 65536 Hexadecimal numbers: gxynx-dxy 15h = 21d dax-gxynx 30h = 48d 0xFFFF = dax-dxy-gxynx-vaxl-dax-dxy-vaxl-dax-dxy-gxynx-dax-dxy ceq'ku aleph-null, countable infinity zxix'ku aleph-one, first uncountable infinity cix'tu i, square root of -1 dix'ku pi (3.14159265....) ------ Derivation from numbers Ordinals are derived with {-pa}. bax-pa zeroth ciq-pa first cxu-pa second etc. Time-period ordinals are formed with {-gla}. What time-period one refers to depends on context. !hax-gla i kq o runx-zox mwe tq tu-i. seventeen-ORD.T at 1 to go-V.ACT IMP 2 AGT-at Please come at seventeen (= 5pm); or, Please come on the seventeenth (of this month) Dates are written as : year{-gla} month{-gla} day-of-month{-gla}. E.g. zxix'fu-gla dxy-gla ju-gla 1999 May 29 That day at 7:37 AM: zxix'fu-gla dxy-gla ju-gla fy-gla ky-gla 1999 May 29 7: 37 For 7:13 on an unspecified day, start with {hyr} (hour) -- otherwise it would imply July 13: hyr fy-gla gxu-gla hour seven-ORD.T thirteen-ORD.T Names of days of the week can be formed with {-nxla}. That suffix doesn't apply only to numbers, though. tix'sqax-nxla Sunday (worship-day) ciq-nxla first-day; another term for Sunday dax-nxla Tuesday (third-day) vjurm-nxla Saturday (visiting-day) Relative time is expressed with {-pa} ordinals, including negative ordinals. hyr dax-pa three hours hence (the third hour) cxeq'txax se-cxu-pa two days ago (the minus-two'th day) One forms fractions with the conjunction {dxe} (divided by). If the initial number is omitted, {ciq} (1) is assumed. dxe-cxu half fy-dxe-hax seven seventeenths dxe-bax an indeterminate quantity (division by zero) Numbers are, like other root morphemes, basically nouns. They can be made into modifiers or verbs with appropriate suffixes. graxm-zox pq dxy-box hxy-i. message-V.ACT 3 five-ADJ PAT-at I sent a message to the five of them. kq miq-i ciq-van zqoqn. 1 TOP-at one-V.STATE merely There's only one of me. twax-cu hxy-i keq'gxu-zox ciq-pa. sentence-system PAT-at hide-V.ACT one-ORD The book I hid first. ------- Math cxu pe dxy txe fy miq-i saxm-van. two plus five as seven TOP-at same-V.STATE 2 + 5 = 7 fy txe dax miq-i nxix'biq-sra. seven than three TOP-at number-COMP 7 > 3 cxu me dxy txe jxax-pe-ciq miq-i saxm-van. two raise.to.power five as thirty.one-plus-one TOP-at same-V.STATE 2^5 = 31 + 1 se-cxu txe se-dax miq-i nxix'biq-sra. minus-two than minus-three TOP-at number-COMP -2 > -3 ----------------------------------- Comparison of suffixes and clitics with Esperanto equivalents Suffixes in gzb are different from most affixes in Esperanto. Mostly they don't have a meaning of their own, but a pattern for changing something else's meaning. So they can't stand on their own like E-o affixes can. These don't change the grammatical category of a word. hqa fi-, -acx; disapproval attitude suffix la -cxj, -nj; affectionate attitude suffix kxa mosxta, sankta; respectful attitude suffix ma indirect relationship; meta, recursive, self-referencing sra more; comparative suffix (v, adj, adv) sra-cox less With verbs, without an explicit contrast, {sra(-cox)} contrasts with the previous state of the patient or topic. gxiq-sra-van to grow baxm-sra-cox-van to age, get older (lit. less young) toxn generalized class cjaj specialized class Idiomatic, like E-o {-um}. Zipf's law -- more-often talked about stuff should have shorter names. For some categories the specifics are talked about more often, for others the genera. For instance, raxm -> raxm-toxn. If one lives with a cat, or has friends who do, one talks/thinks more about cats than about animals in general. graxm -> graxm-cjaj One often talks about sending a message to someone; less often one has to specifically state that one sent an email. txox -et; diminution of the root's meaning zxa -eg; augmentation of the root's meaning These don't correspond exactly to E-o "-eg, -et" as in "domego, dometo". With substantial roots, their use resembles the use of "-et" and "-eg" in "rideto", "pordego". E.g., E-o "hometo", a small human; but gzb {max-txox}, subhuman, Homo habilis. But {max-gxiq-cox}, a little human. With quality and action roots their meaning is more straightforward. These suffixes make the resultant word an adjective. box quality-noun -> adjective tan -eca; vaguely similar to root za pri~a - having to do with root gox -enda, -inda; ought to have ~ done to it faj -ebla; able to have ~ done to it fwa -ig; inducing a state of ~, causing to do ~ hoxw -ig; attempting to induce or cause ~ kwa the color of [root] da full of [root], saturated or covered with it na made of [root] zqa having [root] ta lacking [root] Here is a good place to explain what I meant earlier. If this were Esperanto, {kwa} by itself would just mean "color". (gzb: {fu-txy}, light-element.) But, consider: zym-zox fu-txy miq-i. think-V.ACT light-element TOP-at I think about color. (lame example, but...) If I said: zym-zox kwa miq-i * it would mean: color-of-thinking [topic]. Poetical, but not a complete sentence. {-kwa} holds a pattern for forming meaning from meaning, not a meaning of its own. sox ema; tending to do ~ frequently, habitually sxra ema; likely to do ~ soon The root takes on a verbish sense even if not an action root -- one doesn't need to insert {zox} or whatever. E.g., {vlym-sox}, tending to wear clothes, having a nudity taboo. {pliq-sox}, tending to take pills. (Compare "gastema, librema, orema" in Esperanto.) rox eca; characteristic quality of (tangible noun -> adjective) Another "um"-type suffix. It forms adjectives by picking out an interesting quality of the root concrete noun. {raxm-rox}, independent. It can be metaphorical: {pwiqm-rox}, humble. All these suffixes that form adjectives can also be used as adverbs. Really there's no distinction in form in gzb; if it comes after a noun or pronoun it's an adjective, if after a verb, an adverb. These clitics are similar to the Esperanto correlatives, and form demonstratives, question- and relative-pronouns. (See the detailed treatment in the grammar document.) loq kiu, kio (ligvorto); who, which... noq kiu, kio (demando); who, what, which? koq tiu, tio (cxe mi); this here toq tiu, tio (cxe vi); this, that poq tiu, tio (for de ni); that yonder These correspond to {mal} or {ne} in Esperanto. (Also compare {henx} (not), {zxoq} (please, no!), {bax} (zero), and {-ta} (without).) cox reverse, contradictory quality fja minimal nonzero degree of quality txaj other member of assymetrical relationship; complement of pair {cox} is used for scales that extend (for practical purposes) indefinitely in both directions. {fja} if there's an absolute zero, or a non-arbitrary zero point at the middle. Sometimes both can be used for different senses, e.g. hum profunda, deep hum-fja malprofunda, neprofunda, malmultprofunda, shallow hum-cox alta, high jaxln varmo, warmth, heat jaxln-cox cold (on human tolerances scale) jaxln-fja at, near absolute zero; superfluid temperatures {txaj} is used for reversing actions, & for complementary, assymetric relationships. req'jxy wife req'jxy-txaj husband fru child fru-txaj parent bly-zox throw bly-zox-txaj catch niqm name niqm-txaj meaning, reference riqm see riqm-txaj be seen twaxl interior angle twaxl-txaj exterior angle These are applied only to numbers and quantity-words. gla Nth time-period (year, hour, etc. by context) pa ordinal, spatial/priority series position These form nouns. toqj eco; v, adj, adv -> noun suffix cxa ilo; tool with which on does something ha substance with which one does something, with a certain effect Also the suffixoid root {nxiqw}, a body part; between them these break up the polysemous {-ilo} terrain. tla -isto (professional ~er, ~ist) pja -isto, -anto (amateur, hobbyist, volunteer ~ist) lox -ano, -ism-ano, -isto (follower of a leader, religion, philosophy) jxwa -ejo; place with lots of ~ sqiqm-cxa-jxwa komputilejo; computer lab kox -ejo; place where one does ~ dxurm-kox laborejo; workplace Also the normal root word {tyn}, a place. Comparable to the plural ending and collective suffix "-j" and "-ar" in Esperanto, I have: daj group of similar things or mass of the same stuff in one place zla the whole set of similar things, not necessarily of common place or function Also the suffixoid roots {cu}, a system, and {kwiq}, a sequence; the clitic quantifiers {sroq} (several), {renx} (many), {pen} (all), and of course many specific number morphemes. max-daj crowd max-zla the human race max-cu company, church, club, etc. max-kwiq a queue of people These suffixes form verbs, and are discussed in detail in the grammar document. ca reflexive verb van state/becoming verb zox active verb moxj reciprocal verb The Esperanto {-ig, -igx} functions are fulfilled in gzb by: 1. {ca} / {van} / {zox} distinction - e.g., sqyj-van puri; be clean sqyj-zox purigi; make clean vlym-ca vesti sin; get dressed vlym-zox vestigi iun; dress someone 2. {jax-i, jax-o, jax-rq}, esp. topic/comment sentences pq miq-i sqyj-box jax-i. 3 TOP-at clean-ADJ state-at He's clean. pq miq-i sqyj-box jax-o. 3 TOP-at clean-ADJ state-to He gets clean req'tax hxy-i zunq-cox-box jax-o raxm tu-i rat PAT-at life-OPP2-ADJ state-to cat AGT-at The cat kills the rat. 3. {-fwa} and {-hoxw} {-fwa} by itself corresponds to adjectival "-iga"; it is also commonly used with {-zox}, = "-igi". {-hoxw} has no Esperanto equivalent. This slight variation on {-fwa} allows me to derive compounds for several concepts that Esperanto needs separate roots for. For instance, instrui != lernigi, kuraci != sanigi; but: hyw knowledge hyw-hoxw-zox teach (attempt to make someone learn) fiqm health fiqm-hoxw-zox treat (attempt to make someone healthy) These gzb suffixes have no Esperanto equivalent. jqa rotate 90 degrees around axis perpendicular to the direction of gravity hum deep hum-jqa long/wide laxn floor laxn-jqa wall su stand su-jqa lie down ma meta, recursive, indirect kyn parent kyn-ma grandparent tax sibling tax-ma cousin gyn shape, especially polygon gyn-ma fractal pxa thing, stuff that's a result of action described by root nxox chemical that's primary/active incredient of root substance I think more often of tea ({teqn'ju}) than of caffeine {teqn'ju-nxox}, etc. Zipf's law again. vox name of glyph representing root cxu-vox the numeral "2" i-vox the at "@" sign cu-vox the letter "c" All proper names are marked with a suffix indicating the kind of thing named. ram personal name tag sqam family name tag kxam title lam language name wam place name gam any other kind of name, e.g. company or product brand name Mostly these apply to foreign names and titles, however, they could apply to gjax-zym-byn words which are used as names or titles, e.g. if a foreign name or title is translated rather than merely transliterated. For instance, gxiqm-ram hiqn'rij-sqam Jim Henry suomen-wam Finland suomen-lam Finnish language hxrist-kxam Christ (after deleting the case ending from Greek "Xristos") hxy-lyl-kxam Christ (translating: annointed-one-TITLE) These Esperanto affixes have equivalents that in gjax-zym-byn are regular root morphemes (or compounds). But in E-o there's not such a sharp distinction between suffix & root. ulo max anto, into, onto tu ato, ito, oto hxy ajxo sxiqw ejo tyn (but see {-jxwa, -kox}) ero txy (atypical root morpheme, almost suffixoid) ujo, ingo mrax "container", kyl "box" etc. -ar cu (also -daj, -zla) -id fru cxef- cy -estr gym -ism zym-cu -in sxy -iv sunx "know-how", dxu "ability" -ologio zxiq eks- sqy, daxn ----------------- Attitudinal suffixes These correspond roughly to -cxj- -nj- & -acx- in Esperanto. They are suffixed to a word to show the speaker's attitude towards it. They bind more weakly than other suffixes except the verb endings, so they would follow any other suffixes applied. gym-tla-kxa honorable leader req'jxy-la my dear wife zxy-ba a dream both good and bad max-hqa scoundrel, rascal ------------ "To be" Several languages use a verb "to be" to signify a variety of conditions and relationships. I want to avoid that polysemy here. Existence raxm miq-i biqnx-van. cat TOP-at existence-V.STATE There is a cat. or: raxm goq. cat behold Look, a cat! Description, state, situation: twax-cu poq miq-i pym-fwa nxiqn-i sentence-system DEM3 TOP-at amusement-CAUS CMT-at That book is funny. sqiqm-tla jax-i. algorithm-professional state-at I'm a programmer. gxor'gxeq-wam miq-i tiqn'eq'sij-wam hq-i-n tyn-van. Georgia-NAME.P TOP-at Tennessee-NAME.P south-at-contact place-V.STATE Georgia is [directly] south of Tennessee. Subset: pxeq'hxu-toxn muw-i leq'pax miq-i. elephant-GNR subset-in bat TOP-at A bat is a mammal. Equality: cxu pe dxy txe fy miq-i saxm-van. 2 plus 5 as 7 TOP-at same-V.STATE 2 + 5 = 7 -------------------- Miscellaneous notes on semantic fields 1. "To know" (to wit, to ken) / savoir, connai^tre / wissen, kennen / scii, koni, sperti ktp... English tends to bundle these meanings together in one word of broad meaning. Esperanto follows other western European languages in distinguishing acquaintance with persons etc. from knowledge of facts and sciences. {gzb} makes a different kind of distinction in its three main "know" verbs. hyw-van dejv-ram kax-i. know.experience-V.STATE Dave-NAME ATT-at I know (am well acquainted with) Dave. kun-van tam-ram kax-i. know.indirectly-V.STATE Tom-NAME ATT-at I've heard of (but haven't met, or if so only casually) Tom. hyw-van zxiq-sqiqm miq-i. know.experience-V.STATE science-algorithm TOP-at I know (have real working knowledge of) computer science. kun-van ljaxw-gjax miq-i. know.indirectly-V.STATE observational.science TOP-at I know something about (but haven't practiced) field linguistics. The difference in {hyw} vs. {kun} is directness or depth of knowledge. I make a further distinction between {hyw} & {sunx}, the latter implying more practical competence: kun-van suomen-lam gjax-i. know.indirectly-V.STATE Finnish-NAME.L language-at I've studied, but never much used, Finnish. hyw-van franqs-lam gjax-i. know.experience-V.STATE French-NAME.L language-at I've studied & used (but am not perfectly fluent in) French. sunx-van esperanto-lam gjax-i. know.how-V.STATE Esperanto-NAME.L language-at I know (am fluent in) Esperanto. {hyw-van} can also mean "to remember", and {hyw-nxiqw} mainly means "memory". ---------- 2. Buying, selling, commercial things The main root words for this field are {sxaxj} (possession of goods), {wunx} (ownership), {kaxj} (exchange), and {vxaxwn} (lending). kajx-zox twax-cu-vuj hxy-i kq sxaxj-o. exchange-V.ACT sentence-system-concrete PAT-at 1 possession-to I buy a book. twax-cu renx miq-i kq sxaxj-i. sentence-system many TOP-at 1 possession-at I have many books. kaxj-zox twax-cu-vuj hxy-i kq sxaxj-rq. exchange-V.ACT sentence-system-concrete PAT-at 1 possession-from I sell a book. {wunx} is not often used except when it is in contrast to {sxaxj}, when someone owns something but doesn't have it in their possession: kaj'sar-kxam sxaxj-o kaj'sar-kxam wunx-i gax hxy-i vxaxwn-cox-zox mwe, Caesar-NAME.T possession-to Caesar-NAME.T ownership-at thing PAT-at lend-OPP2-V.ACT IMP kinq txeq'ku sxaxj-o txeq'ku wunx-i gax hxy-i. and God possession-to God ownership-at thing PAT-at Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Other useful derivations: kaxj-tla salesman, trader, sales-clerk kaxj-twax-cu-tla publisher or bookman kaxj-kox store, market kaxj-twax-cu-kox bookstore sxaxj-o-zox to acquire sxaxj-o-sox acquisitive kaxj-ha money kaxj-cxa a credit card, among other things vxaxwn-txaj borrowing vxaxwn-cox returning borrowed money or goods ---------- 3. "Maybe": sqe / be Both these modifiers are glossed as "maybe". Their usage differs. mq-cxu miq-i gxiq-zxa-van sqe. 3-two TOP-at big-AUG-V.STATE maybe.fact They might be giants. pq miq-i ty i tyn-van sqe. 3 TOP-at home at place-V.STATE maybe.fact Maybe he is at home. kaxj-kox o runx-zox be. exchange-place to go-V.ACT maybe.intention I might go to the store. {sqe} mainly relates to uncertainty in knowledge, or of descriptions. {be} focuses on uncertainty of one's plans and intentions. ---------- 4. mje / sqy / daxn All these refer to things past. {mje} refers to a past aspect of something that may (or mayn't) still be around. Most often it forms a "past tense" for verbs. But it can clitic onto a (pro)noun & emphasize its past versions, as in kq mje me awhile ago gjax-koq mje an earlier form of this language {sqy} describes something formerly in some role or state, as in English "ex-wife", "former president". {daxn} describes something no longer existing or alive or effective. It's more polite (& terse) than {zunq-cox-box}, "dead". gym-tla-sqy our former leader gym-tla-daxn our late leader max-cu tyrn-sqy the previous administration (the group of people formerly in power) tyrn daxn-box l'ancien regime (the system of government that doesn't exist any more) Sometimes all are appropriate to the same object, of course, but with different meanings. req'jxy-sqy ex-wife (emphasis that she isn't your wife now) req'jxy-daxn late wife (emphasis that she isn't alive now) req'jxy mje wife awhile ago (the phase of her worldline when she was your wife) ---------- 5. Prayer There's no one root word (or single cusomary compound) corresponding to the English "prayer" (or E-o 'pregxi'). One can use the same root words and compounds that refer to talking with (or at) other physically present humans (etc.) to describle talking with God and the saints. gju-zox talk twax-zox say twax-prym-zox praise, express appreciation of beauty twax-sax-zox praise, express approval lax-zox request twax-sjum-zox thank *raxm-toxn kyw-zqa pen hoq, paxnx nxaxw-o twax-prym-zox mwe. cat-GNR lung-having all VOC lord call-to say-appreciation.of.beauty-V.ACT IMP Everything that has breath, praise the Lord. ---------- 6. Geography In {gzb} the directions are named by bound morphemes that occur only in postpositions ({bi, gi, hqi, zxi} north, east, south, west). One can't use these plainly as nominals or adjectives to describe regions or people; one must explicitly state "region in the north of ~", "person from the south of ~", etc. E.g., gxor'gxeq-wam b-i-nx squn Georgia-NAME.P north-at-inside region north Georgia usa-wam geq-hq-rq-nx max U.S.A.-NAME.P east-south-from-inside person a Southerner Other useful terms: mrunq mountain cxeq'my slope pwiqm-daj body of water siq river, creek vleq'tax water bounded by land squn region squn-tyrn nation squn-kaxj market max-jxwa city, densely populated area peq'hiq road jxiq-vuj sign