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 "Létal" is though to be a contracted corruption of "kletj-tlann" ("among people") -> kletjtla -> letla -> létal - roughly shared language. Before this it was known as Hellenic Lip (LabisoGrekam - SAMPA /labIsogr\ekaV/). 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
  • Qok - /qx/
  • 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 and so on.

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

Once, twice, thrice... can be expressed by taking the number and suffixing -pla to it.

Scripts

Dcinnenn

There are two alphabets (or impure abjads) which may be used to write Létal words:

• Grecko-Cyrillic Script (ElennaTsrilek Dcinn) which is written left to right.
• Alexander's Land Script which mixes Greek, Arabic and Georgian (wa Alexanndrosnnó-ke Dcinn) which is written right to left.

Grammatical particles are written in an adapted Japanese Hiragana whilst advanced texts, when capable, use Kanji ideographs marked with Furigana appropriate to the alphabet in use. Through the efforts of The Létal House regulatory body, the syllables in single words are now decreasing.

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, though pronouns are preceeded by wa. If one wishes to preserve the spelling and sound of a foreign word, it is prefixed with ser-.

Present, past and future tense are fixed with -rat, p(e)- and s(e)- respectively - where bracketed letters are ommitted if the succeeding sound is a vowel. The command form is -dhu.

-(w)ó shows that the word is a verb and -est and -etq are the second and third persons. -(a)tj is used for adjectives and -(a)tf for adverbs. Furthermore, adverbs of increasing positivity or negativity are indicated by suffixing -i or the higher -u to the adverb form. Again, the bracketed letters are ommited when preceeded by a vowel other than "é".

Plurality is marked by -(c)enn where c is the last consonant if the preceeding sound was a vowel. Possession has two forms: -nnó for a singular and -emó for a plural body. As with Greek, one can negate a word by prefixing "é-" to it (eg - atheist).

-ax, from the German macht, means a person who does something - eg, tekem-ax is a fighter. Other specific suffixes include:

• -é/tr = in/animate thing
• -bahó = organic or anatomical
• -tn = process
• -ahtj = tool
• -ke = place of
• -éga = uncertainty
• -st = state of
• -tab = chemical element
• -tlann = among
• -intr = between

Word Order

Zqlaobnnó Dadcu

Sentences tend to be written in the English Wikipedia:Subject Verb Object:SVO order. If one wishes to change the order, perhaps for poetry or music, the following prefixes are to be used:

• "squ-" marking the subject
• "we-" to indicate the topic, should it not be the subject
• "mi-" marking 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 - /jaNkQ/
• 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 ækVptQio/
• Where's the bathroom?: - ¿Donndé etq gutjxraom? - /dQndæ @T gutSRawm/
• Happy birthday - ¡Bhennu batqsol! - /bjenu baTsQl/
• How are you? - ¿Dqaonnó-st? - /Dawnost/
• 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)