top of page

Macik Motuyh

Word Formation 

Allamej structure is based on syllabic stems containing meanings. The union between them forms new words which enables a great lexical diversity.

Slide3.JPG

Each Allamej syllabic unit has a meaning, we can call them stem. Each of them has the following shape:

​

  • They may or may not begin with a consonant or a semivowel (w or y);

  • Its core consists of a vowel (a, e, ë, i, o, ö, u, ü) that can be preceded and / or followed by semivowels (y or w);

  • All of them end in consonant or semivowel (y or w); and

  • There are no consonant digraphs in the signosyllables.

​

This way, stems inspired in several languages ​​for the creation of the Allamej lexicon undergo changes in order to fit the syllabic shape of the this hybrid conlang. Examples:

​

  • Kal (good, well) was inspired by the Greek word kαλÏŒς / kal'os /. The masculine ending "ÏŒς " / os / was withdrawn. The sound of Kal is widely used in several Western languages ​​with the same meaning. For example, "calligraphy" has the literal meaning of "good writing."

​

  • Vol (desire) was inspired by the Latin word voluntas, in the Italian verb volere (want), French vouloir (want), as well as in German wollen (wanting).

 

  • Ved (knowledge) was based on the word वेद /veda/ (knowledge, wisdom) of Sanskrit removing the nding /a/. In devanagari alphabet the letter corresponding to the /a/ is not written anyway. The word was chosen due to the importance of the "Vedas" or "Vedic hymns" in Indian Philosophy which had links with Greek, Roman and Germanic old religions (HELLERN, NOTAKER, & GAARDER, The Book of Religions, 1998 [ 1952]).

​

  • Bayt (house) inspired in Semitic languages ​​like: modern Arabic standard بيت / bajt /, Amharic ቤት / bÄ“ti / and Hebrew בַּיִת / bajt /. The Semitic words have their stems formed by a sequence of three consonants, which hinders acoustic adaptations when transforming them them in Allamej signosilables. Since in Seitit languages, the sounds /j/ and /w/ are generally considered consonants, in many cases, such as that of bayt, the creation of the stem becomes makes it very close, if not exact to the original words.

​

  • Zay (permanence, state) coming from the Chinese word 在 in Roman alphabet zài, which can have several meanings like: "in", "to remain", "to exist" or "to be located in".

​

  • In (person) from Yoruba ènìyàn. It suffered major modifications to fit the pronominal formation scheme of Allamej. For example, with the letter m, forms mine which reminds the first person singular in several language families like: Indo-European, Turkic and Finnish. Considering different grammatical cases we have "me" in English and similar sounds in many other languages. It is worth mentioning that in Yoruba they correspond to emi, mi or mo, and in Swahili, for example, mimi reinforcing similarities.

​

  • Gyaf (letter) from Greek γραφή /grafi/. It loses the last ending and has the letter r turned into y to avoid consonant digraphs. In this type of stem, r usually becomes y and l, w. Nasal consonants, like m or n may be suppressed. In cases of major differences, the focus normally happents on the tonic syllable of the original word of inspiration.

​

  • Yum (mode). It is considered an a priori stem. When preceded by the consonant k and followed by the adjective ending ü becomes kyumü meaning "how" in questions, sounding similar to words of several Indo-European languages, like Latin quam. 

​

The union of two or more stems forms new words in a sequence in which the previous radical modifies the latter. In this way, aws, "out" before ir, "displacement", makes awsir, "way out". If we add the verbal termination i  to it we have the verb awsiri, "exit", "go out", "get out". This way, different words are formed in a process that resembles that of German, Finnish, or Turkish. Examples:

​

  • Nak: from the Japanese, "interior", "inside"

  • Nakiri: "entering"

  • Nakirem: "I enter" or "I go inside", em referring to the first person singular at the present time.

  • Nakiral: "he/ she / it will enter", al referring to the third person singular in the future tense.

 

  • Bav: of the Indian, "sentiment".

  • Kalbav: well-being

  • Kalbavëxü: causing well-being, pleasant.

  • Malbav: bad feeling, discomfort. 

  • Malbavuk: with a bad feeling, with discomfort. 

 

In addition, there are the functional or case stems, which indicate the function of the stem that precedes them. Explanations from the union with the radical ir, are:

 

  • Ëd: "provenance", ablative function. It originates in the preposition de from Latin languages ​​and den from Turkish. Irëd: "origin";

  • Ëh: "object of an action" accusative function. It is an a priori construction. Irëh: "what is moved" or "cargo";

  • Ëk: "instrument" or "company" representing the instrumental and commutative functions. It is inspired in the preposition of con of Latin languages like Spanish. Irëk: "transport" or "car";

  • Ën: "local", "place", locative function. Inspired by the Japanese postposition ni and in of Indo-European languages. Irën: "where one goes", "road" or "street";

  • Ër: "topic", delative. Inspired by the Hungarian delative case made by means of the suffix ról or rÅ‘l. Irër: "something related to movement".

  • Ës: "part" or "belonging", genitive case. Inspired in the genitive s of Germanic languages like English and German. Irës: "something that is part of or belongs to the movement".

  • Ëv: "destination" or "indirect object of an action", "dative case". Inspired in Russian в /v/ and be of Persian. Irëv: "where one is going to" or "destination".

  • Ëx: "subject of an action", "ergative function". A priori origin. Irëx: "what makes something go": "propeller" or "starter".

​​

A word can be created using more than one radical like irëxëk  meaning "fuel."​

bottom of page