/r/Ithkuil

Photograph via snooOG

A community for people interested in Ithkuil and the work-in-progress successor language!

This is the subreddit for those interested in studying and learning the Ithkuil language.


Relevent External Links

Ithkuil.net

Wikipedia

Livejournal Russian

facebook.com

VK.com Russian


Live chat in ##ithkuil on Freenode IRC

Ithkuil Discord server Invite Link


Here are other subreddits related to constructed languages and related communities.

/r/enochian

/r/ido

/r/Quenya

/r/mondlango

/r/learnDothraki

/r/Ithkuil

/r/solresol

/r/vulcan

/r/tlhInganHol

/r/hylian

/r/TokiPona

/r/Lojban

/r/Interlingua

/r/Esperanto

/r/Sambahsa

/r/AsianLanguage

/r/Conlangs

/r/queerconlangers


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/r/Ithkuil

3,598 Subscribers

9

First Sentence Attempt

https://preview.redd.it/wkhkpvf438ee1.png?width=844&format=png&auto=webp&s=9b4ded133369d08e8418989f0523bcb7f0592e42

Hello. Before jumping into something more serious, I wanted to try constructing a sentence for fun along the lines of "I spent six months studying Ithkuil and all I got was this stupid t-shirt" (though the final formulation turned out slightly differently). My thought process was as follows:

  • Concessive Case for "studying" (indicating "a noun/situation/circumstance which gives rise to an expectation of a certain result which, in fact, does not occur"), since the speakers of such phrases usually imply that they expected a different outcome considering the efforts they made.
  • Periodic Case for "six months" ("the span of time / time frame at some point(s) during which separate events, repetitions, or durationally segmented acts or state take place").
  • 3rd Degree of Quality, Effectiveness or Adequacy Affix for "received", suggesting inadequacy or lacking. I also didn't include a time marker here, since I assumed it was implied from context.
  • Dative Case for "I" (the receiver / indirect object)
  • Thematic Case for "shirt" (I couldn't find which case to use for a direct inanimate object that wasn't being used to perform some action).
  • Descriptive Case for "stupid" (for hopefully intuitive reasons)

It later occurred to me that I couldn't find a way of adding a determiner ("this") other than a vague reference in the manual to adjuncts. I also feel that I'm missing something related to case framing, but I've no idea what.
My aim is to transliterate this after checking the grammar, but I wanted to share what I had so far. Enjoy(?)

7 Comments
2025/01/20
22:21 UTC

3

Question

I think I'm stupid but what if I put a phrase from the Îndarna song and put it in the new writing of the Ithkuil?

3 Comments
2025/01/14
21:54 UTC

11

Why doesn't Glottolog recognize Ithkuil?

Seriously, what? Why not Ithkuil? It is a very famous conlang, and some obscure ones like Palawa Kani are in Glottolog, but not Ithkuil? WHY!?

6 Comments
2025/01/12
09:27 UTC

9

Ithkuil 2004 (V1)

I know everyone has always said "learn TNIL, it's the best, it's simpler, it's less vague, the Ca slot has been fixed" etc... but, leaving aside the arduousness of V1, that's comparable to not even an ancient language but a pre-human language: is it advisable? Can you express anything? Are there no flaws? Even if I don't learn it but look at the tables on the website every time, would I do well? Or is it all to be thrown away and TNIL reigns supreme? If so, are there any dictionaries and the like for the 2004 lexicon?

7 Comments
2025/01/11
14:18 UTC

9

How would an Ithkuil version of La Sociolekta Triopo look like?

For those who don't know, La Sociolekta Triopo is three conlangs based on esperanto which attempt to give it the nuances of a natural language. It consists of:

- Arcaicam Esperantom: An "old esperanto" of sorts. It has four cases just to give it a more "classical language" (like greek or latin) feel

Compare ye olde englishe, with a lot of thou's and thy's

- Popido: A vernacular dialect of less prestige.

Compare AAVE for english

- Gavaro: A slang

Compare literally every slang ever.

How would an "Old Ithkuil", "Vernacular Ithkui." and "Ithkuil Slang" look like?

2 Comments
2025/01/06
12:45 UTC

8

(IV) My first (somewhat implementable) Ithkuil phrase

First off I want to say apart from a couple of memes I don't really have much experience with Ithkuil.

Anyways, I've created a phrase using Ithkuil (and for context) that is commonly heard in the hobby of SpeedCubing, mainly in a formal competition setting, and in that setting you have to announce to the judge at your table "I'm ready" or "ready" before the judge lifts up the cover and you can inspect and then solve your puzzle. My translation into New Ithkuil is down below, and I want to know if this can be identified correct or not because I have a Ithkuil user friend who is willing to use it in competition in about 2 weeks (for amusement purposes).

äksgagärbá.

or

lo äksgagärbá.

-ksg- stem 1: alert, senses-at-the-ready

7 Comments
2025/01/04
11:47 UTC

7

Direct quotes

Does anyone here know how direct quotes work in Ithkuil? I know there is a punctuation mark, but how would I handle them grammar-wise?

4 Comments
2025/01/03
18:35 UTC

7

Question about the evolution of Ithkuil

Hi everyone,

I'm very new to Ithkuil, and I noticed that between versions cut down its cases from 96 to 68. I was wondering what the design choice was, because it seems to contradict the philosphy of being as compact as possible.

Thank you!

4 Comments
2024/12/24
18:14 UTC

7

I need to know how to construct a sentence properly

I want to be able to construct a sentence, 'The concept of multiple snow leopards with various function converging to an ultimate goal, said concept being of by a man in a red jacket walking down a street, being caused to do so by a manifestation of said group of snow leopards'. I have absolutely no idea how to do any sort of advanced conjugation unless it's very simple. Like, 'Erryařţliaa', The concept of a rag-tag group of snow leopards with various functions not necessarily beneficial to themselves but definitely beneficial to the speaker'. Please correct me if I conjugated that sentence wrong. I also used a generator for the last one.

15 Comments
2024/12/22
16:14 UTC

4

Translation

I am trying to translate this sentence into Ithkuil III. Could someone check my translation?

Original: Morgarath looked out over his domain.

My attempt: N-naxát opul Morgaraț embuisìöq.

I had a few specific questions:

  1. Is the inducive case correct here (if he is actively looking)?

  2. Is stative ok for the verb N-naxát?

  3. Is the first n in n-naxát also syllabic as it starts the word here, or just the second one?

Thanks in advance!

9 Comments
2024/12/21
11:08 UTC

5

How many slots need to be used for concatenated formatives?

I've read that section a couple times and can't figure it out - one of the examples looks like just Slots 1-2-3-9, but then others have full Ca complexes attached. Is it a difference between Type 1 and Type 2 concatenation? Is it a difference between noun concatenation and verb/technically-not-an-adjective concatenation? Would really like to figure this out, being able to compound would make things so much easier.

3 Comments
2024/12/19
17:01 UTC

9

“Double” roots

I am trying to translate a text and some roots seem to have a kind of “double meaning”. As an example, the root -X- “VISION/SIGHT” in pattern 1 and stem 1 has the translation “to sight (see + thing seen); sight” whereas pattern 2 has the meaning of “see; eyesight”. How should I interpret the double meaning of P1S1 and how do I know which to use?

2 Comments
2024/12/18
20:36 UTC

4

Syllable structure (Ithkuil III)

I am looking a little more into Ithkuil III syllable structure, and the words “permissible cluster” are used a few times, but I can’t seem to find the rules for what constitutes a permissible cluster, outside of what consonants are allowed to be geminated where. Can anyone help me?

7 Comments
2024/12/15
11:13 UTC

7

How many slots are 100% required to create a formative that's a noun?

https://preview.redd.it/xiltwpvulh6e1.png?width=1222&format=png&auto=webp&s=6bf35184be2aab200dbc661fb45a7cdc51d503e9

I know some of them are required and some optional but I don't know the specifics

2 Comments
2024/12/12
21:39 UTC

7

Is it possible to achieve fluency?

Or are is the language so complicated that we can’t process it fast enough to maintain a conversation?

9 Comments
2024/12/07
17:07 UTC

12

Replacing all reduplicative roots

The TNIL (version 4) lexicon document contains certain reduplicative roots, which have caused some inconvenience and confusion among learners. To address this issue, I have proposed an initiative to replace these roots, as discussed in detail in the Lexicon-JSON GitHub repository. We invite you to participate in this important conversation on the topic of replacing all reduplicative roots. Your suggestions and insights are highly valued, and we encourage you to contribute to the discussion by following the link provided: Replacing all reduplicative roots. Thank you for your attention and participation.

3 Comments
2024/12/01
10:17 UTC

10

Section 3.10, I spotted a typo/mistake in the "Slot IV/VI shortcut table" and need your help to solve it

Context: as a lover of Ithkuil, I'm currently coding a tiny web-app to help with building formatives. As you can imagine, it requires a careful reading and understanding of every information available on ithkuil.net

Given the complexity of the language, it is inevitable that a few mistakes sneak in. There is one, particularly, that is driving me nuts. You can find it in a table found in section 3.10, regarding "shortcut" forms. Specifically, look at the last column of the first row: it mentions "PRX Perspective". That's the problem. the abbreviation PRX refers to Extension, while Perspective refers to either M, G, N, or A abbreviations.

With the hope to make things visually clearer, I created a variant of the table found in 3.10, which you will find bellow.

https://preview.redd.it/99ia1du0av2e1.png?width=2246&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c8918a7a927b89db61fc444900ed1dbc7e668c4

I would be delighted if someone could help me resolve this apparent ambiguity.

In advance, thank you!

6 Comments
2024/11/24
15:30 UTC

7

Looking for Ithkuil resources

I'm currently working on reading through Ithkuil.net but I was wondering if there are any other resources out there I can use to learn Ithkuil v4.

2 Comments
2024/11/22
21:33 UTC

30

ithkuil utility kit: a glosser, scriptifier, root,affix finder, and word builder, all in one

hey all!

i made a utility kit for ithkuil text. it supports glossing words, viewing them in calligraphic and handwritting script, and searching for roots and affixes, all in a single interface. check it out!

https://v8.zsnout.com/ithkuil/kit

a long word glossed and scriptified

most everything from the script generator is supported, but registers will not work completely as expected. works best on desktop.

the tl;dr of how to use it is:

  • type an ithkuil word to get a gloss and script version of it
  • type a gloss-like thing to turn it into a word
    • separate gloss items with hyphens -
    • put a word in double quotes to search for a root
    • put a word in single quotes to search for an affix
    • you can also use three-letter abbreviations for affixes
    • join Ca segments with dots (MSS.PRX.G)
    • for a shortcut formative, put the Ca before the root

several words created using the \"unglossing\" feature

for more help on writing "unglosses", see https://github.com/zsakowitz/umpharesemsa?tab=readme-ov-file#generating-words. only read "Generating Words"; the rest of the page is intended to be used with a now-extinct discord bot. it does not cover root & affix searching.

more help text is included in the sidebar.

enjoy!

2 Comments
2024/11/16
01:33 UTC

15

how to say "hello how are you doing today?" in ithkuil?

6 Comments
2024/11/01
23:27 UTC

10

ULTIMATE CHALLENGE: Can YOU translate the Conlang Syntax Test Cases to Ithkuil?

For those who don't know, the CSTC is a list of 218 sample sentences which serve to describe the grammar of any language ever, this includes both morphology and syntax.

Now, Ithkuil is as we know utterly infernal, so I sincerely won't expect anyone here to acheive this (neither am I capable), but if you consider yourself an Ithkuil pro, here are the 218 sample sentences It would be awesome if you provided interlineal glosses to each sentence, but anyway it'll suffice

2 Comments
2024/10/29
00:28 UTC

4

Ithkuil script learning

Has anyone created a stack or series in some learning app for Ithkuil Script elements? I became curious because it seems better to plug in Examples displayed in the New Ithkuil grammar book. John Q often does not list ALL the grammar elements in an example word or sentence. its helpful to get the more complete picture.

Maybe he is thinking this is a way for people to investigate ithkuil further. Maybe not so well thought out, but I found it might make it a bit 'easier' to understand ithkuil in its associated script.

But that leaves one to understand the script and what grammar or letters it represents. I thought of creating a quiz on some app, but if someone already has done that, its all the better, why duplicate what has been done?

1 Comment
2024/10/27
21:48 UTC

10

What do verbs mean on their own when the root is a noun?

A simple example of a verb is:

zval
"dog"-OBS

Ithkuil docs say that "OBS" is meant as "I see / I perceive / I know", but it's not clear to me that "I" is literal here. What does "zval" mean as a sentence, or is it maybe not even a valid sentence? Would it be "there is a dog (a statement made by the speaker of the sentence based on their own perceptions)", or is it literally "I see a dog", or something else?

7 Comments
2024/10/16
21:24 UTC

4

Should AI hype-posting be banned?

As it stands, there is a prohibition on machine generated Ithkuil content on this sub, and an exception for human glossed ML content. I believe there is broad agreement that this rule and exception prevents low-effort and low-quality posts, while allowing machine generated content that has been vetted by a competent person.

That rule and exception will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

However, a surprising number of posts in this sub are purely AI hype and speculation. I personally think that there are other subs more suited to that kind of content. Furthermore these posts are repetitive and for the most part exhibit a poor understanding of both Ithkuil and machine learning.

My inclination is to forbid hype-posting altogether, with an analogous exception to the ML content rule. That is, AI hype-posts would be permitted only if they contain a demonstration of an LLM that has been trained, prompted, or fine-tuned to produce well-formed Ithkuil.

View Poll

2 Comments
2024/10/11
19:44 UTC

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