Laytal

Létal is the official language of Star City. Originally it was Germanic and Romance pidgin, but as the population became more diversified Slavic, Japanese, and most recently, Korean have had considerable effect on its vocabulary. As such, the language resembles a PIE/Japanese mix. It is now considered a creole.

The meaning of the name "Létal" is unkown, though it is cited that "kletj-tlann" ("people-among" -- "to share") could be contracted to kletjtla and then corrupted into letla.

In the far past it has been known as "LabisoGrekam" (SAMPA - /labIsogr\ekaV/ - "Hellenic Lips") - Its associated vocabulary and (almost non-existent) grammar known as ArxeLétal -- Old Létal.

The Alphabet - Te ÉlbaVotjé

• A
  • élba - /ae/
  • alba - /a/
  • ãlba - /ã/
• V
  • votjé - /v/
  • fotjé - /f/
• B
  • béte - /b/
  • péte - /p/
• K
  • kamao - /k/
    • kcamão - /ks/
  • gamao - /g/
    • gcamão - /gz/
• J
  • jamu - /dZ/
• D
  • daoletq - /d/
    • dcaoletq - /dz/
  • taoletq - /t/
    • tceta - /ts/
• E
  • ema - /@/
• Kh
  • xok - /x/
• I
  • ima - /i/
• Y
  • yi - /j/
• L
  • lamda - /l/
• M
  • mwé - /m/
• N
  • nnonn - /n/
  • nonn - /N/
• O
  • omikra - /Q/
  • ómikra - /o/
  • umikra - /u/
• R
  • ró - /r/
  • xró - /R/
• S
  • samal - /s/
  • zamal - /z/
• Sh
  • sqomol - /S/
  • zqomol - /Z/
• Th
  • tqita - /T/
  • dqita - /D/
  • tjeta - /tS/
• Tl
  • tleta - /tl/
  • pleta - /pl/
• W
  • walatq - /w/
  • whilatq - /H/

• The only dipthong is "ao".
• /e/, /I/, /V/, /h/, /F/ and the Czech /rZ/ were originally part of a more complex alphabet but are now defunct phonemes in Létal.

The "h" Modifier - Te "h" Méta

The following can be platalized by adding "h" after the initial letter: a (ai), b (bj), k (kj), j (dZj), d (dj), e (@i), x (xj), l (L), n (J), o (oi), s (sj) and t (tj).

Numbers - Rivrenn

0 ziró, 1 koz, 2 kepl, 3 trah, 4 tetra, 5 tqinkó, 6 egce, 7 zita, 8 okt, 9 nófem, 10 desimal, 11 onzann, 12 dezann, 13 trahdesi... 16 xekcidekc... 20 kepldasi.

1^1 dennz, 1^2 sennt, 1^3 kila, 1^6 miga, 1^12 giga, 1^18 tera.

Scripts - Dcinnenn

The alphabet may be written in either the Grecko-Cyrillic Script (ElennaTsrilek Dcinn) or Alexander's Land Script (wa Alexanndrosnnó-ke Dcinn) which mixes Greek, Arabic and Georgian. Diactritics allow the glot "d" to become "t" or "é" to become "a" and inform of platalization. Both scripts can function as impure abjads through other marks above each consonant, following the trend towards a syllabic notation.

Furthermore, advanced texts when capable make use of CJK Ideographs. Te Létal-Kotj (The Létal House) is in the process of reducing the syllables in words without creating a tonal language.

In the past, Létal has been written in a heavily modified Arabic script, but this was abandoned due to having to represent so many phonemes in the ÉlbaVotjé layout.

Grammar - DomSinntak

As Létal is essentially just a mature pidgin, the grammar is basic.

The angry policemen quickly apprehended the two suspect children.
Te drug-atj squ-YannzqTekemenn-ax fors-atf pe-nantra-wó te kepl tari-éga mi-itkomenn.
The anger.adj subj.crime.fight.pl.person quick.adv past.apprehend.verb the two felon.uncertain obj.child.pl

Pronouns - IzemEkcMéta

• I = Yó, Yutq = I am
• We = Nnami, Nnatq = We are
• You = Dqao (singular), Dqatq = You are
• You = Ti (plural), Titq = You are
• He = Nhes, Nhetqz = He is
• She = Nhev, Nhetqf = She is
• It = Nhu, Nhutq = It is
• They = Tqes, Tqetq = They are
• One = Unn, Unntq = One is

Conjugation - ZqlaobPrigwa

• Nouns and infinitives have no forms.
• Pronouns, however, are preceeding by "wa".
• To preserve the spelling of a foreign word, "ser-" (from sermó-language) is prefixed to it.
• Conjunctions can be suffixed with "-vek".

The vowels of pe- and se- are omitted when the succeeding phoneme is a vowel

• Present Tense: tqenntcé-ó-rat Learning
• Past Tense: pe-tqenntcé-ó Learned
• Future Tense: se-tqenntcé-ó Will Learn
• Command Form: tqenntcé-ó-dhu Go Learn

The bracketed part of the suffix is used when the preceeding phoneme is a vowel (unless it is "é")

• "-(w)ó" indicates a verb, valencies are not indicated
• "-(a)tj" indicates an adjective
• "-(a)tf" indicates an adverb
  • "-(a)tfi" and "-(a)tfu" show increasing positives (eg - happier, happiest)

• "-(*)enn" designates plurals. *- The last consonant is repeated.
• "-nnó" signifies possession.
• "-emó" shows possession by a plural (eg: "jinnemó"-"people's")
• "é-" negates (eg: the English "atheist"-'not theist')

Word Order - Zqlaobnnó Dadcu

Létal word order is variable but tends to be written in English Wikipedia:Subject Verb Object:SVO and is interpreted as such by the lack of the following prefixes which may be used to change the order:

• "squ-" marks the subject
• "we-" may be used to indicate topic should it not be the subject
• "mi-" marks the object
  • "mu-" direct object
  • "mo-" indirect object

Common Phrases - Sóval Stennzazenn

• Létal: - Létal - /lætal/
• Hello: - Kahsó - /kaiso/
• Goodbye: - Yet jatfi - /j@t dZatfi/
• Please: - ¿Ereó yó? - /@r@o jo/
• Thank you: - Yanko - /jaNko/
• Sorry: - Izqvitro - /iZvitrQ/
• That one: Ate - /at@/
• How much?: - ¿Pragc? - /pragz/
• Yes: - Ahi - /aii/
• No: - Nhi - /Ji/
• I don't understand: - Yó ékuptoh-ó - /jo ækVptoi/
• Where's the bathroom?: - ¿Donndé etq ekbraolxraom? - /dQndæ @T brawlRawm/
• Happy birthday - ¡Bhennu batqsol! - /bjenu baTsQl/
• How are you? - ¿Dqaonnó-st? - /DawnQst/
• Generic toast: - ¡Tcalu! - /tsalu/
• Do you speak English?: - ¿Dqao vókordó Angla-ser? - /Daw vokQrdo aNgla s@r/

Sample text in Létal - EkcPolhad Wem Vr Létal

Mó jinnenn etq batq-ó prijos-atf tó satcwiann-atf vr vordq tó loke.
Tqes denne whéke tó setrum-st tó zu xradóva-ó vr yóba-st.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one
another in a spirit of brotherhood.
All people are born free and equal in worth and rights.
They have reason and conscience and should act in brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)