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Essiel

Grammar

Orthography and Phonology

• The Alphabet and Its Corresponding Pronunciation
  • Letters

    Letter	IPA	Pronunication Guide
    p	[p]	as in "part"
    b	[b]	as in "by"
    f	[f]	as in "feel"
    v	[v]	as in "craving"
    k	[k]	as in "lack"
    t	[t]	as in "taste"
    d	[d]	as in "desire"
    s	[s]	as in "smell"
    c	[ʃ]	as "sh" in "share"
    l	[l]	as in "listen"
    r	[ɹ]	as in "or"
    m	[m]	as in "more"
    n	[n]	as in "no"
    a	[a]	as in "all"
    e	[ε]	as in "intend"
    i	[i]	as in "acting"
    u	[u]	as in "rule"

  • Diphthongs

    Diphthong	IPA	Pronunication Guide
    ai	[ai]	as "igh" in "sight"
    au	[au]	as "ou" in "sound"

• Essiel is written from left to right.
• Essiel has no native punctuation or capitalization, but such flourishes may be borrowed.
• For that matter, the use of spaces in writen Essiel is optional and their use may be left up to the writer. Because vowels in an Essiel word may not precede consonants, the word boundaries in the written language would be obvious even in the absence of spaces.

Parts of Speech

• Subject Pronouns
  • These end with -i but not -ai.
  • Not only do these words indicate the subject, but they indicate whether the sentence is a statement or a question. Why?
    • Words

      Word	Meaning	Examples
      mi	I (am) … .	mi ke da mi fle da	I experience this. I am aware of this.
      di	Do/Are you … ?	di ke da di fle da	Do you experience that? Are you aware of that?
      vi	Do/Are any of you … ?	vi ke da vi fle da	Do any of you experience that? Are any of you aware of that?

• Verbs
  • These end with -e.
  • There are only two verbs in Essiel, ke which means "experience" and fle which means "(am) aware of". Why? Since fle indicates transcendence, it is recommended that one use ke for nearly everything.
• Non-Final Nouns
  • These end with -u.
  • These nouns are always followed by other noun which narrows the meaning of the predicate.
  • Evidentials
    • These end with -au.
    • These non-final nouns give evidence of some form or another. They indicate how the speaker knows that of which he speaks or at least where his notion comes from.
    • Evidentials of Internal Events regarding Time
      • These words indicate tense, past or future (or present tense if omitted), and if future, how one predicts it, whether thru intention or anticipation. Why confuse tense with evidence?
        • Words

          Word	Meaning	Example
          smau	the memory of	mi ke smau da	I remember that.
          stau	the intention of	mi ke stau da	I intend that.
          spau	the anticipation of	mi ke spau da	I anticipate that.

    • Evidentials of other Internal Events
      • These evidentials are probably the ones which provide the least like evidence. They indicate whether the thing expressed arises in the heart, mind or body.
        • Words

          Word	Meaning	Example
          kau	the emotion of	mi ke kau da	I feel this emotionally.
          sau	the thought of	mi ke sau da	I think this.
          cau	the sensation of	mi ke cau da	I feel this physically.

    • Evidentials of External Events
      • These end with -rau.
      • These evidentials allow one to report what he perceives in the world outside of himself.
        • Words

          Word	Meaning	Example
          drau	the observation of	mi ke smau drau da	I observed it.
          frau	the sight of	mi ke smau frau da	I saw it.
          brau	the sound of	mi ke smau brau da	I heard it.
          crau	the feel by touch of	mi ke smau crau da	I felt the texture of it.
          prau	the temperature of	mi ke smau prau da	I felt the temperature of it.
          krau	the smell of	mi ke smau krau da	I smelled it.
          trau	the taste of	mi ke smau trau da	I tasted it.

          • Note that the last six words express the five senses, while the first one is a sort of catch-all which can be used when asking another what he perceived without specifying which sense he used or when one doesn't care to list each of multiple senses that he used to perceive something.
  • General Modifiers
    • Negation
      • The only negative word in Essiel is nu which means "the lack of".
      • Some words may be negated by a preceding nu, others by a following nu and yet others by either depending on the intended meaning:
        • Verbs can only be negated by a following nu, because nu is a non-final noun and thus must come after the verb. Thus verbs are effectively negated by negating the object of the verb. For example, mi ke nu da literally translates as "I experience the lack of that.", but could easily be interpretted as "I don't experience that.".
        • Evidentials of internal events may be negated by either a preceding nu or a following nu. A preceding nu indicates a lack of memory, intention, anticipation, emotion, thought or sensation itself. A following nu indicates the memory, intention, anticipation, emotion, thought or sensation of the lack of something.
        • Evidentials of external events are negated by either a preceding nu or a following nu. A preceding nu does not imply that a given event didn't occur or that a specific perceivible thing was absent, but only that it failed to be perceived. A following nu indicates that a lack of something perceivable was noticed thru the sense(s).
        • The word mu, meaning "that which is more than", is negated by a preceding nu. The resulting nu mu means "that which is no more than".
        • The word fu, meaning "the sincerity/certainty of", is negated by a preceding nu. The resulting nu fu means "the insincerity/uncertainty of".
        • The word ku, meaning "the desire for" or "an attachment to", can be negated by either a preceding nu or a following nu. The negated term, nu ku means "the lack of the desire for" or "the lack of an attachment to". The other negated form ku nu, means "a disgust for".
        • The words su and cu, meaning "an identification with" and "the action of", respectively, are negated by a preceding nu. The resulting negated terms indicate the lack of identification and action, respectively.
        • Final nouns can only be negated by a preceding nu, because final nouns cannot be followed by another noun.
        • Conjunctions themselves cannot be negated. However, by negating the operands of a conjunction may achieve the desired effect. For example, mai da da means "this and that" and nu mai da da means "neither this nor that".
    • Comparison
      • The word mu is the comparative word in the Essiel language and it means "that which is more than".
  • Miscellaneous
    • The word cu usually refers to the action of the subject, unless preceded by an evidential of an external event, in which case, it usually refers to the action of someone other than the subject. For example, mi ke smau cu pa means "I remember my action.", but mi ke smau drau cu pa means "I remember his/her/your/its action."
    • Language Borrowing
      • Because Essiel is so short on words, it may at times be necessary to borrow words from other languages. This practice is strongly discouraged, but it is made possible for those times when it is absolutely necessary. Why?
      • The word bu can be interpreted as "that which I refer to in another language as".
      • The word or phrase that is borrowed from another language serves as the final noun of the sentence.
• Final Nouns
  • These end with -a.
  • These words can only end a sentence and are the only words (other than tai) which can end a sentence. This fact in combination with the fact the only three words that can start a sentence (with simple syntax) are the only words that can start a sentence means that Essiel had no need of punctuation.
  • Objective Pronouns
    • The General Demonstrative
      • The word da may mean "that", "this", "something", "it", or may be used to refer to just about anything whatsoever.
    • The Existent Demonstrative
      • The meaning of the word ka is similar to da, but anything refered to by the word ka must be perceived somehow at the present moment. By contrast, da may refer to things unperceived, things unperceivable or things previously perceived in addition to things perceived.
      • Also by contrast, the word ka is used sparingly. Even when the thing to which the demonstrative is referring is being perceived at the current moment, the word da is used unless the speaker wants to emphasize the current existence of the something.
        • The word ka is most often used in combination with the word ku in order to express acceptance or lack thereof. The phrase ku ka means "the acceptance of that/this". The phrase ku nu ka means "the unacceptance of that/this". The phrase ku mu ka means "the desire for more than that/this". And so on…
    • The Placeholder
      • The word pa is used to transform non-final nouns in final ones and transitive verbs into intransitive ones. For example, while ku da means "the desire for something", the phrase ku pa simply means "desire". While mi ke da means "I experience something.", the sentence mi ke pa simply means "I experience.".
    • The Interrogative
      • The word va is intended for use with a 2nd person subject in order to ask more complex questions. For example, while di ke smau da means "Do you remember something?", di ke smau va means "Do you remember something? If so, what?".
      • The word va could be used to ask questions of one's self, but this is not its intended use.
• Conjunctions
  • These end with -ai.
  • The word mai, meaning "and", is intended to be used to reduce the excessive length of Essiel texts and speeches, however it may be used to mean "therefore" if the causal relationship is obvious. Why not have a separate word?
  • For clarity, the word difference between "either … or", rai, and "… and/or …", dai, is made in Essiel.
  • The use of these words is discussed more in the next section under "Complex Syntax".

Syntax

• Simple Syntax (without conjunctions)
  • A simple sentence is formed with a single subject pronoun followed by a single verb followed by an optional string of non-final nouns followed a single final noun.
• Complex Syntax (with conjunctions)
  • The word mai, meaning "and", was added to the Essiel language in order to reduce some of the excessive verbage that the simplicity of the language creates. The word mai is a conjunction with prefix notation, that is, instead of being put in the middle of the two sentence fragments that it joins, it is put before the first of the two. The word mai may be put anywhere in the sentence, except at the end. Even tho' it is almost worthless at the beginning of the sentence, it may go there too. For clarity, the word tai exists to mark the end of the fragments joined by mai. However, tai is omitted in all cases except two: First, when the end of the fragments joined by mai are not final nouns. Second, when the end of a sentence fragment is a borrowing from another language.
  • Examples

    Simple Syntax	Complex Syntax
    mi ke da di ke da	mai mi ke da di ke da
    mi ke fla mi fle da	mi mai ke fla fle da
    mi ke ku pa mi ke kau da	mi ke mai ku pa kau da
    mi ke ku da mi ke ku fa	mi ke ku mai da fa
    mi ke frau nu mu cu da mi ke brau nu mu cu da	mi ke mai frau tai brau tai nu mu cu da
    mi ke bu altruism mi ke nu spau pa	mi ke mai bu altruism tai nu spau pa
    mi fle sau pa mi fle kau pa mi fle cau pa	mi fle mai mai sau pa kau pa cau pa

  • The words rai, "either/or", and dai, "and/or", function grammatically just as mai does, but with differently meanings.

• Transcendence
  • Words which indicate transcendence are marked with an -l- in the word.
  • These are words that signify Enlightenment or an experience which has characteristics of Enlightenment. Given the significance of these words, one should not use them casually. There are only three of them and, in order to prevent their abuse, all three of them have non-transcendent equivalents which may be used freely.
    • The verb fle is translated as "(am) aware of". It refers to that type of Enlightened experience in which one seems to watch his experience instead of living it. If one says mi ke kau da, "I experience the emotion of this.", he indicates that the emotion, if negative, has the power to disturb him, and if positive, that it contributes to his contentment. However, if one says mi fle kau da, "I am aware of the emotion of this.", then he is indicating that his emotion doesn't affect his serenity and has no impact on him, regardless of its intensity and of whether it's positive or negative; he is merely aware of its existence. The word fle is the only one of the transcendent words that continues to indicate transcendence when it is negated. Use ke, "experience", or ke drau, "experience the observation of", in order to avoid using fle.
    • The final noun fla is translated as "awareness". It refers to that state of consciousness which is as far beyond wakefulness as wakefulness is beyond sleep. In this state of consciousness, one seems to watch his own life being lived instead of seeming to live it himself. One in such an Enlightened state one can appropriately start his sentences with mi fle. When the word fla is preceded by words like ku, nu, sau, spau, etc., it loses its transcendent significance. Thus it may be used in sentences which don't indicate transcendence. However, in order to avoid abuse of this word, use nu fa, "wakefulness", when the word fla is not necessary for the current expression.
    • The final noun kla is translated as just "contentment", but it refers specifically to that sort of invincible contentment that continues even when one's external reality changes for the worse. If one says mi ke kla, "I experience contentment.", he indicates that no negative emotion, no great loss, no change in circumstance has the power to make him discontent. However, if one says mi ke ku ka, "I experience the desire for that which is.", then he still indicates that he is content, but he acknowledges that if things weren't they way they were, then he might be discontent. When the word kla is preceded by words like ku, nu, sau, spau, etc., it loses its transcendent significance. Thus it may be used in sentences which don't indicate transcendence. However, in order to avoid abuse of this word, use ku ka, "the desire for that which is" when the word kla is not necessary for the current expression.
• The Mental s- and such
  • In an effort to highlight excessive mental activity, the words which start with s- are those which signify purely mental activity.
  • Similarly, but less significantly, k- words often indicate emotion and c- words relate to the body. This was established more for the ease of learning the vocabulary than because of Essiel's raison d'être.

Last Updated: 2009-05-02

The author, Marq Thompson, wished the content of this website to be uncopyrighted after his death.