Hies Loricoda language guide

Alphabet
The alphabet of Hies Loricoda was the first written script on Gaedera, developed by humans at the start of the Elin era. It has twenty-four graphemes. It is not written in any particular direction, but has additional symbols marking the starting and ending point of reading (represented by an opened and closed eye respectively). The absence of a prescribed writing direction might be attributed to the fact that writing was often carved or inscribed for ritual and magical purposes.

In the standard Belan conversion, Hies Loricoda makes use of only nineteen letters: a, b, c, d, e, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, and x. The last five are translated as digraphs: rr, gh, ei, ia and iu. All other sequences of two vowels (such as in the word hies) are to be pronounced as two syllables separated by a short pause.

Syllables are generally characterised by a consonant onset, a vowel peak and a consonant coda (l, m, n, r, s, t, rr or gh). Of these, only the vowel is necessary.

Pronunciation
Of these, only ⟨r⟩ and ⟨x⟩ are pronounced differently from how they are in Belan [and English]: ⟨r⟩ is lightly trilled, while ⟨x⟩ is a different sound: it is an aspirated k, a k pronounced with a burst of air. ⟨rr⟩ is pronounced like the English r.

Punctuation
Hies Loricoda has a number of punctuation that correspond directly to punctuation in Belan. These punctuation marks are rotated or reflected in the direction of reading.
 * The start-of-text marker (·)· indicates the start of the text. The symbol derives its appearance from that of an open eye.
 * The end-of-text marker ·) indicates the end of the text. The symbol is derived from a closed eye.
 * The clause marker <·>· indicates the boundary between two clauses. This marks the end of a full concept, and translates to both comma and full stop in English.
 * The word marker >· indicates the boundary between two words.

Hies Loricoda also has alternate forms of three of these punctuation marks indicating an honorific tone to the associated text, such as when it concerns deities.

Dictionary
The dictionary can be found at the page Hies Loricoda dictionary. It is still being populated.

Articles
Hies Loricoda has three articles: These can be omitted if meaning is clear without them. If there is no noun associated with these articles, they are modified to indicate plurality in the same manner as nouns and verbs: Otherwise, if a noun is present, it is legal to leave the articles unmodified.
 * i: definite, selected/focused/newly-introduced, i.e. "this"
 * ei: definite, unselected/unfocused/known/generic, i.e. "that"/"the"
 * lei: indefinite article, i.e. "a", "some"
 * lei elin xa mirototixela; a person has not been planting the crops
 * iral: i + plural modifier ral, "these"
 *  iral  se xor; these are bad
 * eiral: ei + plural modifier ral, "those"
 * eiral se xor; those are bad
 * leiral: lei + plural modifier ral, "some [several]"
 * ei colta: this potato vs. ei coltaral: these potatoes

Pronouns
Hies Loricoda does not differentiate between subject and object with pronouns: word order always marks the distinction. Once again, pronouns are modified to their plural forms in the same manner as nouns:
 * tei: I/me
 * tiu: you
 * ha: it, for inanimate entities
 * hei: they/them (singular), for animate entities
 * teiral: we/us
 * tiural: you (plural)
 * haral: they/them (plural)

Linking verbs
A few linking verbs exist in the Hies Loricoda language--they act primarily to mark the relationships between the nouns and verbs in a sentence.
 * se: affirmative simple present, "is"/"does", a statement of the existence or definiteness of the verb that follows; this word is also used as an interjection that means "yes" or "can do." It is also used by itself as the verb "is."
 * mei, meida colta  se  coreten: I did eat my potato
 * tei  se : I am. I exist.
 * sen: affirmative simple past, "was", definite statement of a verb that occurred in the past. It is also used by itself as the verb "was."
 * lei elin, ei mirca  sen  dexa: a person destroyed that nest.
 * ei mirca  sen : the nest existed. the nest was.

When these linking verbs are omitted, the verb that follows is often taken to be an adjective modifying the object, and the resulting phrase is not a grammatical sentence. For instance:
 * siun: affirmative simple future, like "will", it indicates a definite future event, independent of agents to act upon it
 * i haloce siun cenit: this bird will (by its nature) sing.
 * compare with i haloce se  cenitiun : this bird will (intends to) sing.
 * ei lisot  siun : the child will be. The child will exist.
 * xe...xa: negative, "is not"/"do not", a statement of nonexistence/definite negation of the verb or noun that follows. xe is placed before the object, and in the "N1 is not N2" pattern, xa is appended after the object. [This is similar, in some ways, to the French ne...pas.]
 * mirotal  xe  coral  xa : seedlings are not food
 * ei haloce  xe  secana a ocatano xadia : that bird cannot escape from the cage
 * xe..xan: negative, "was not"/"did not"
 * xe...xiun: negative, "will not"
 * i cor sen xeheten: this food has rotted.
 * i cor xeheten: the food that rotted

Adpositions
Adpositions typically indicate spatial and temporal relations between nouns. In English, these are usually prepositions, but in these are either be placed in between the two relevant nouns, or after the relevant noun (if only one is found in the clause).
 * van: before
 * lei coma  van  Loricoda: A time before the First Coming
 * ien: in, at, upon, right at the point
 * haloce  ien  lei secana sen xedanoren: The bird died in a cage.
 * Can be rewritten as lei secana  ien , haloce sen xedanoren: In a cage, the bird died. In this inverted order. note that the adposition is still placed between the subject and the adposition’s complement.
 * eren: somewhere within a span (imprecise)
 * sei: in between, in the middle (more precise)
 * ei haloce, ei itli i ei calmen sei, se. The bird is between
 * nava: after


 * asce: because, due to
 * mue: despite, even though
 * esca: therefore


 * a: of, from, that, which
 *  a  Bel: from Bel. Hei a Bel se asaren: They came from Bel.
 * When inverted, the sentence becomes Bel a, hei se asaren. Sometimes this is contracted to Bela, hei se asaren.
 * e: for, towards
 *  e  elin: for the person

Conjunctions
There are many conjunctions in Hies Loricoda. These are quite flexible in terms of positioning, but they are often placed at the starts of the sentences or phrases they pertain to.
 * taro: also


 * tae: but
 * ti: and

Inflections
Hies Loricoda is a highly synthetic language in which the vast majority of inflections take the form of affixes. A word may have multiple (concatenated) affixes, appended to the stem in a particular order dictated by convention. Consider an example: An idiosyncratic feature of Hies Loricoda is the negator affix xa and its derivatives, which generally modify a word to its opposite. Though there are multiple ways to introduce xa into a word's concatenated suffix, There can only be one negator in the entire word, and it is usually found in the first appended suffix.
 * elot: "devotion to spirituality"
 * elota: elot + a (pertinence suffix), "pertaining to devotion to spirituality"
 * elotalin: elota + lin (membership suffix), "priest", literally "a person who devotes themself completely to spirituality"
 * elotaline: elotalin + e (adjective suffix), "priestlike"
 * elotalinei: elotaline + i (adverb suffix), "in a priestlike manner"
 * and so on and so forth...

Often, words are inflected differently depending on whether they end in a vowel or a consonant, but the rules are otherwise fairly consistent across all words.

Almost all exceptions occur in order to avoid a repeated consonant--these exceptions are noted in all the relevant sections.

Plural suffix
The plural suffix indicates that there are more than one of the given noun.

Pertinence suffix
The pertinence suffix modifies the noun X to an adjective that generally means "of or pertaining to X". This becomes a noun suffix (modifies a verb to a noun) when applied to a verb.

Verb suffix
Ambiguity often abounds as to what "perform an action relating to [noun]" might mean, but the meanings are normally established culturally and in common usage for different words.

Membership suffix
A more uncommon usage: other such suffixes can be formed for other species (or more creatively, objects) in a similar manner, creating compound words. If the second word starts with a vowel, the vowel is elided. Typically, this format is only used when the modifier (the first word in the compound) is intrinsic to the nature of the head (the second word in the compound), as in a formal title. Otherwise, it is more common to simply use the [noun] [pertinence adjective] format, such as cana hileda which also means "monarch of the north," but tends to hve a much broader referent, i.e. any monarch living in a place that could be referred to as "the north."
 * las'hir: swan of the sea, from las: ocean, and ihir: swan
 * hilecana: monarch of the north

Generalisation suffix
The generalisation suffix is a fairly unique feature of Hies Loricoda. It modifies the noun X to a noun meaning "the group of things related to X", similar in a way to the -alia suffix in Latin and English.

Adverb suffix
This suffix modifies the noun X to an adverb meaning "in the manner of X."

Adjectives as prefixes to nouns
Typically in names, but also for brevity or as a form of contraction, adjectives are used as suffixes, affixed to nouns to alter their meaning. If both the last letter of the adjective and first letter of the noun are vowels, the adjective’s final vowel is usually deleted when it is used as a prefix.

For example:
 * las: ocean
 * irlas: ir + las, "lesser ocean" or "sea"
 * peta: red
 * petira: pet(a) + ira, “red coat/patina”

Possession suffix
Attached to the noun X to form an adjective meaning "belonging to X." Pronouns are modified in the same manner, for example, hei (they, singular) becomes heis (their); ha (it) becomes hais (its).

When such a possessive adjective is present, the article normally present before the subject can be omitted.
 * ei lavel hesair: the ships float
 * lavel heis hesair: their ships float

Verbs
A vast array of suffixes, in various combinations, are possible for verbs. These are given below in the typical order of appendage.

All verbs, when used as verbs, should be accompanied by a linker, se, sen, siun, xa, xan or'' xiun. ''If this is omitted, the verb is to be read as an adjective modifying the noun preceding it: This usage follows the structure of a phrase with an adjective, e.g. ei elin  dei , the  large  person. The verb occupies the same position and function as an adjective.
 * ei haloce  se hier : the bird flies. A grammatical sentence.
 * ei haloce  hier : the bird that flies. This is a phrase, not a full sentence, wherein hier becomes an adjective meaning "which flies."
 * ei elin, coltal  xe coretexadier : The person cannot eat potatoes.
 * ei elin  coltal coretexadier : The person who cannot eat potatoes. Here, coltal coretexadier is used as an adjective phrase, hence the lack of a conjunction.

Negator suffix
Occurs together with negator particle xe.
 * Ha, xe hierexa: It failed to fly.
 * Mei, xe ei haloce ocatexa: I did not release the bird.

This suffix only indicates the absence of an action, not the performance of the opposite. e.g. secaxa, to fail to entrap, is not the same as ocat, to release. In suffix order, the negative suffix generally has the highest priority and frequently gets further modified by other classes of suffixes, seen below.

Intent suffix
This modifies a verb X to the verb that means "will X". When said without a subject, it may also double as the imperative form (as in, "you will do X"), for example as a command, an instruction or a suggestion.

Gerund (noun)/generalisation suffix
The gerund suffix turns the verb X in to a noun meaning "doing X" or, in passive voice, "being X". Example sentence: i sagho, coretanora a xamireunen: The bread was saddened by its '''being eaten. '''Literal translation: (this) (bread), (the fact of being eaten) (by/following from) (became sad)

Ability suffix
The ability suffix forms the adjective "can X" or "can be Xed" from the verb X. One unusual example of this is in the name of the Las Hocorexadier. Its name would translate literally to "ocean that cannot cross" rather than the more grammatical "Las Hocorexandier." This name emerged through cultural forces (i.e. people referring to it as such) fossilising this usage despite it not being grammatical.

Ability pertinence suffix
Modifies the verb X to an adjective that means "that which can/cannot X."

Adverb suffix
This suffix modifies the verb X to an adverb meaning "in the manner of X." It is essentially the same as the nounal adverb suffix, but the usage tends to be rarer simply by nature of the words formed.

Pertinence/generalisation suffix
Similar to the nounal pertinence and generalisation suffixes, this modifies the adjective X to a noun meaning "that which is X" or "that which relates to X things".

Negator suffix
The same negator suffixes are used for verbs and adjectives. It would occur with the negator particle xe.

Stative verb suffixes
Stative verb suffixes modify the adjective X into the stative verbs "was X" and "will be X". In present tense ("is X"), no modification is performed. Compare these:
 * ei elin noa: the person who is happy (phrase, not a sentence)
 * ei elin se noa: the person is happy. (a full sentence)
 * ei elin noan: the person who was happy
 * ei elin sen noan: the person was happy.

Adverb suffix
This suffix modifies the adjective X to an adverb meaning "in an X manner." It is essentially the same as the nounal and verbal adverb suffixes.

Adjectives as prefixes
See the section under nouns.

Syntax and word order
The word order in Hies Loricoda follows the following rules:
 * Subject Object Verb (SOV) order: Subject and object in a sentence are indicated from the order of words. A clause marker often separates subject from object, to avoid ambiguity.
 * i  ihir ,  mirca heis  se caderen: the swan built its nest. Here, ihir (swan) is the subject and mirca heis (its nest) is the object, while caderen (built) is a transitive verb.
 * Without the clause marker, i ihir mirca heis se caderen risks being read as "their swan nest builds" (though this is not strictly grammatical--ihir mirca should be written as mirca ihira, "nest of swans" or mirca ihires, swan's nest)
 * Adjectives are postpositive--that is, they are placed immediately after the noun being modified.
 * ei tore  hexen : the incomplete book
 * Conjunctions appear at the end of the dependent clause.
 * desnal heis sen hexen  asce : because its wings were broken
 * Adpositions are always placed between the two relevant nouns.
 * ei haloce  ien  lei secana se eses: The bird sleeps  in  a cage.
 * A sentence made up of just an adposition and its object is fully grammatical in Hies Loricoda. In such a sentence (or clause), the adposition comes after the object. ei tirana  van : (It is)  before  the dance.
 * Through such a clause, the structure of the first sentence can be reversed: lei secana  ien , ei haloce se eses:  in  a cage, the bird sleeps.
 * Note the addition of the clause marker (represented by a comma) separating the sentence into two clauses to avoid ambiguity. Without it, the sentence, lei secana  ien  ei haloce se eses, would more likely be read as "a cage sleeps in the bird."
 * Though less common, this order also works: ei haloce se eses, lei secana  ien . It emphasises the bird and its act of sleeping.
 * Adverbs are always placed directly after the word they modify.
 * tei, i lisot mirer  dein : I like this child a lot (modifying a verb)
 * tei, se otco  sein  a Gaedera se nesa: I am moderately sure that Gaedera is flat (modifying an adjective)