Celabric is a constructed language that I have been working on since the year 2000. At first, as a fun way to polish up my invented country and its characteristics, it then advanced to an independent passion of mine; A two-page vocabulary grew into a full book filled with lots of grammar, pronunciation, and terrifyingly complicated script.
Although on the way I not once had to completely scratch out the whole grammar, vocabulary, or even phonology, the one thing that persevered was the tendency of the language to have a minimal set of words (in this case stems) that a learner has to memorize in order to be able to understand any text or be able to form any sentence consistently. Consequently, the complicated part fell onto grammar, and albeit not being simple, it nonetheless is well-structured. Even though the clear direction was an optimization, I didn't abandon the humanly natural and aesthetically pleasing aspects of the language. Hence, the result is some kind of chimera seeing themself as a phoenix.
Because Celabric script is not very easily comprehensible, every word, particle, or phoneme throughout the text will be written with an IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription as well. And in addition there almost everywhere will be a play button ► to listen to this particular phoneme, particle, or word.
In Celabric there are 28 consonants and 7 vowels in total.
There are 12 plosives, 10 fricatives, 2 affricates and 4 sonorants. Here are all consonants arranged by the place and manner of articulation:
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Voiceless | p /p/ | t /t/ | c /c/ | k /k/ | ||
| Voiced | b /b/ | d /d/ | j /ɟ/ | g /g/ | |||
| Voiceless Aspirated | P /pʰ/ | T /tʰ/ | C /cʰ/ | K /kʰ/ | |||
| Fricative | Voiced | v /v/ | z /z/ | Z /ʒ/ | y /ʝ/ | w /ɣ/ | |
| Voiceless | f /f/ | s /s/ | S /ʃ/ | h /ç/ | x /x/ | ||
| Affricate | q /ts/ | Q /tʃ/ | |||||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | |||||
| Tap | r /r/ | ||||||
| Lateral | l /l/ | ||||||
As you can see the plosives are represented with three distinct phonemes in each place of articulation, the fricatives are in pairs and the rest are singles.
| p | /p/ | Unaspirated voiceless bilabial plosive. As in Spanish poco. Approximately as in English spin but even less breath after p. | |
| b | /b/ | Voiced bilabial plosive. As in English boy. | |
| P | /pʰ/ | Aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive. As in Georgian ფონი or as English pin, but with slightly more breath after p. | |
| t | /t/ | Unaspirated voiceless alveolar plosive. As in Spanish tu. Approximately as in English stop but even less breath after t. | |
| d | /d/ | Voiced alveolar plosive. As in English dog. | |
| T | /tʰ/ | Aspirated voiceless alveolar plosive. As in Georgian თოკი or as in English tin, but with slightly more breath after t. | |
| c | /c/ | Unaspirated voiceless palatal plosive. As in French or Catalan qui or as in Albanian Shqip. Loosely approximately as in English ky in book year but pronounced with no breath after k and the tongue should be pressed against the hard palate (the place where the tongue is while pronouncing y in yes). | |
| j | /ɟ/ | Voiced palatal plosive. As in Hungarian magyar or as in Irish gaeilge. Loosely approximately as in English gy in dog year but tongue should be pressed against the hard palate (the place where the tongue is while pronouncing y in yes). | |
| C | /cʰ/ | Aspirated voiceless palatal plosive. Something like Irish ceist. Loosely approximately as in English ky in book year but pronounced with more breath after k and the tongue should be pressed against the hard palate (the place where the tongue is while pronouncing y in yes). | |
| k | /k/ | Unaspirated voiceless velar plosive. As in Spanish poco. Approximately as in English skin but even less breath after k. | |
| g | /g/ | Voiced velar plosive. As in English dog. | |
| K | /kʰ/ | Aspirated voiceless velar plosive. As in Georgian ქარი or as in English kin, but with slightly more breath after k. | |
| v | /v/ | Voiced labiodental fricative. As in English very. | |
| f | /f/ | Voiceless labiodental fricative. As in English four. | |
| z | /z/ | Voiced alveolar sibilant fricative. As in English zero. | |
| s | /s/ | Voiceless alveolar sibilant fricative. As in English same. | |
| Z | /ʒ/ | Voiced postalveolar sibilant fricative. As in English usual. | |
| S | /ʃ/ | Voiceless postalveolar sibilant fricative. As in English shame. | |
| y | /ʝ/ | Voiced palatal fricative. As in Spanish amarilla, as in German jacke or as in English yes with overenunciating y. | |
| h | /ç/ | Voiceless palatal fricative. As in German ich or approximately as in English hue. | |
| w | /ɣ/ | Voiced velar fricative. As in Greek γαλα or as in Icelandic saga. No English equivalent. Something like g in dog but with not touching the tongue on the soft palate. | |
| x | /x/ | Voiceless velar fricative. As in Scottish loch or as in Scouse English book. | |
| q | /ts/ | Voiceless alveolar affricate. As in English whatsoever. | |
| Q | /tʃ/ | Voiceless postalveolar affricate. As in English church. | |
| m | /m/ | Voiced bilabial nasal. As in English man. | |
| n | /n/ | Voiced alveolar nasal. As in English name. | |
| r | /r/ | Voiced alveolar tap. As in Spanish caro or as in American English better. | |
| l | /l/ | Voiced lateral alveolar approximant. As in English long. |
As you can see above, there is a phonemic distinction between unaspirated and aspirated plosives. Even though in english we do not differentiate them, there are numerous languages that treat them as distinct phonemes. An example is Icelandic and Ancient Greek. Frankly, Ancient Greek has a quite similar phonemic paradigm as Celabric, as it has a three-way distinction between plosives of each articulation place: voiced, voiceless, and aspirated voiceless; while Icelandic lacks voiced plosives.
In the fast speech, the y /ʝ/ could be realized as an approximant j /j/ especially at the word-final position. The r /r/ could be realized as a voiceless alveolar tap /r̥/ before a voiceless consonant or at the word-final position, or as a voiceless aspirated alveolar tap /r̥ʰ/ before an aspirated voiceless consonant.
The voiced alveolar nasal n /n/ before palatal consonants c /c/ , j /ɟ/ , C /cʰ/ , y /ʝ/ and h /ç/ could be realized as voiced alveolar palatalized nasal /nʲ/ as in English new, or even as voiced palatal nasal /ɲ/ as in Hungarian nyár. The same n /n/ before velar consonants k /k/ , g /g/ , K /kʰ/ , w /ɣ/ and x /x/ could be realized as voiced velar nasal /ŋ/ as in English sing.
The plosives before nasal consonants tend to change pronunciation if both of them are pronounced at the same articulation place. pm /pm/ becomes /ʔm/ where /ʔ/ is a glottal stop (a consonant between the vowels of "uh-oh"). tn /tn/ becomes /ʔn/ ; bm /bm/ becomes /ʔ̮m/ where / ̮/ denotes that /m/ is pre-voiced; dn /dn/ becomes /ʔ̮n/ ; Pm /pʰm/ becomes /ʔʰm/ meaning that /m/ is pre-aspirated; and Tn /tʰn/ becomes /ʔʰn/ .
There are 7 vowels in total and here are they arranged by the manner and place of articulation:
| Front | Near-front | Near-back | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | U /y/ | |||
| Near-close | i /ɪ/ | u /ʊ/ | o /o/ | |
| Mid | O /ø/ | |||
| Near-open | e /æ/ | a /ɑ/ |
| i | /ɪ/ | Near-close front unrounded vowel almost as in English bit, but in the case of English, this vowel is more centralized (less emphasized). The more accurate analog would be yet in a general Scottish accent. More precisely it could be transcribed as /ɪ̟/, /e̝/, or /i̞/. | |
| e | /æ/ | Near-open front unrounded vowel as in British English cat. | |
| a | /ɑ/ | Near-open back unrounded vowel as in General American English hot or Received Pronunciation bath. Can be slightly more rounded (pronounced with round lips) than front vowels. More precisely it could be transcribed as /ɑ̝/ or /ʌ̞/ | |
| o | /o/ | Near-close back rounded vowel as in something between English yawn and Spanish puro. Or more exactly as in all as spoken by Stephen Fry or Queen Elizabeth II. More precisely it could be transcribed as /o̝/ or /u̞/ | |
| u | /ʊ/ | Near-close near-back semi-rounded vowel as in English hook. More precisely it could be transcribed as /ʊ̜/. | |
| U | /y/ | Close near-front rounded vowel as in German über. More precisely it could be transcribed as /y̠/ or /ʉ̟/. | |
| O | /ø/ | Front mid rounded vowel as in Danish høne or something in between the French peu and jeune. More precisely it could be transcribed as /ø̞/ or /œ̝/. |
There are no diphthongs in Celabric, each of any adjacent vowels forms an independent syllable core.
Neither stress nor intonation is phonemic in Celabric, meaning that stress on a wrong syllable or a different intonation doesn't change the meaning (except for the question clauses). Stress in Celabric speech always falls on the first syllable of the word. On the other hand, the intonation is quite melodic. The usual intonation pattern for any word except for the last word of the sentence is falling from the relatively middle pitch to the relatively low pitch and then ending the last syllable on the relatively high pitch. In the case of the last word of the sentence, the last syllable is somewhat in between the relatively mid and low pitches. The closest analog of this intonational pattern could be found in standard Swedish.
The most basic building blocks for verbs are stems, which can be consisting of two or three phonemes. The stems are split into six major categories, where the first three have two-phoneme stems and the other three have three-phoneme ones. Except for the stems from the first category, all others are grouped into pairs (2nd and 3rd categories) or triplets (4th, 5th, and 6th categories). The relation logic between the members of each pair or triplet precisely defines the categories within which these stems are put.
In the first category, all the stems are completely unrelated to each other (even though now only one stem is in this category, theoretically if some other stems were here, they wouldn't form any logical relations with each other).
In the second category, stems are grouped into pairs, from where the first one corresponds to the same action as the second one but has to do with non-living instead of living things; for example, such pair is 'to create' and 'to give birth'.
In the third category the second member of the pair corresponds to more general action than the first one; for example: 'to say' and 'to talk'.
The fourth category has triplets of stems, which correspond to three states of matter. The first should be the action that has to do something with a solid state of matter, the second is similar action but with liquid and the third one is about gas. For example: 'to eat', 'to drink' and 'to breathe'; or 'to walk', 'to swim' and 'to fly'.
The stems in the fifth category are also triplets which relate to each other by the strength of the action. The first one is the strongest and the third is the weakest. For example: 'to burn', 'to heat', and 'to warm up'.
Even though there is only one triplet in the sixth category, it could theoretically host other triplets as well. The logic in this category is that all three stems denote actions that together form the whole set of some meaningful process or state. The example is 'to stand', 'to sit', and 'to lie down'.
The logical relations between stems are expressed in their phonology as well. The first phoneme of any stem is necessarily consonant, the second one is a vowel, and if the stem is three-phoneme one than the last one is a consonant. In the first category, the first phoneme could be only a nasal one. In the second and third categories, the first phoneme should be a voiceless fricative and the second member of the pair will be different from the first only with the first phoneme being a voiced fricative of the same kind. For example, if the first stem is fe [fæ], the second one would be ve [væ]. The last three categories all have three-phoneme stems and all of them should start with a plosive consonant and end with either r /r/ or l /l/. Each triplet will have an almost similar phonemic composition, except for the airflow manner of the first consonants: The first stem should have voiceless plosive, the second one should have voiced plosive and the third one should have aspirated voiceless plosive. For example kUr [kyr], gUr [gyr] and KUr [kʰyr] form a correct triplet.
Here are all the stems that are being currently used in deriving almost every other Celabric word (The small minority of words are being derived from the other morphological units which are used in the formation of grammatical forms themselves, but more on them later):
| Category | # | Stems | Translation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | II | III | I | II | III | ||
| 1 | 2 | ne [næ] | to be | ||||
| 2 | 1 | fe [fæ] | ve [væ] | to have (something) | to have (someone) | ||
| 2 | hU [çy] | yU [ʝy] | to create | to give birth | |||
| 3 | 1 | So [ʃo] | Zo [ʒo] | to do | to work | ||
| 2 | sa [sɑ] | za [zɑ] | to say | to talk | |||
| 4 | 1 | tir [tɪr] | dir [dɪr] | Tir [tʰɪr] | to solidify | to liquidify, to melt | to gasify, to vaporize |
| 2 | tUr [tyr] | dUr [dyr] | TUr [tʰyr] | to hail | to rain | to blow a wind | |
| 3 | tar [tɑr] | dar [dɑr] | Tar [tʰɑr] | to drop | to pour | to blow | |
| 4 | tOr [tør] | dOr [dør] | TOr [tʰør] | to eat | to drink | to breathe | |
| 5 | ter [tær] | der [dær] | Ter [tʰær] | to walk | to swim | to fly | |
| 5 | 1 | kar [kɑr] | gar [gɑr] | Kar [kʰɑr] | to burn | to heat | to warm |
| 2 | kUr [kyr] | gUr [gyr] | KUr [kʰyr] | to freeze | to make cold | to cool | |
| 3 | kol [kol] | gol [gol] | Kol [kʰol] | to punch, to strike, to kick | to move something | to touch | |
| 4 | cer [cær] | jer [ɟær] | Cer [cʰær] | to comprehend | to remember | to see | |
| 5 | cOr [cør] | jOr [ɟør] | COr [cʰør] | to be enlightened | to be educated | to learn | |
| 6 | ker [kær] | ger [gær] | Ker [kʰær] | to shine | to have color | to be visible | |
| 7 | pUl [pyl] | bUl [byl] | PUl [pʰyl] | to be musical | to have sound | to be heard | |
| 6 | 1 | pal [pɑl] | bal [bɑl] | Pal [pʰɑl] | to stand | to sit | to lie down |
With the addition of specific suffixes on the stems, different verb forms are produced that are called themes. The derived verb forms correspond to distinct lexical units, meaning that this suffixation is not grammatical, rather it is derivational. These kinds of verb forms can be found in almost all Semitic languages, where different verbs (or even nouns and adjectives) are formed from the three-consonantal roots. Here are all 10 themes of Celabric language using the example of stem tOr [tør] - 'to eat':
| Theme | Meaning of the theme | Suffix | Example | Example translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Main action | tOr [tør] | to eat | |
| 2 | Intensified action | fra [frɑ] | tOrfra [tørfrɑ] | to devour |
| 3 | Weakened, diminished action | fri [frɪ] | tOrfri [tørfrɪ] | to nibble |
| 4 | Collective, mass action | fla [flɑ] | tOrfla [tørflɑ] | to feast |
| 5 | Partitioned action | fli [flɪ] | tOrfli [tørflɪ] | to take a bite now and then |
| 6 | Consequent action | fna [fnɑ] | tOrfna [tørfnɑ] | to digest |
| 7 | Wrong consequent action | fnU [fny] | tOrfnU [tørfny] | to have indigestion |
| 8 | Wrong main action | fU [fy] | tOrfU [tørfy] | to eat in a wrong way |
| 9 | Opposite action | fi [fɪ] | tOrfi [tørfɪ] | to defecate |
| 10 | Wrong opposite action | fO [fø] | tOrfO [tørfø] | to have defecation problems |
Some stems can not produce meaningful verbs in all themes by themselves, but if the logic is preserved, they may still be used to derive other words with additional morphological elements.
The negative form of verbs is formed with the addition of the prefix vowel that is the same one as the root vowel. For example if 'to eat' is tOr [tør] 'not to eat' will be OtOr [øtør] . Although you can produce the negation of all 10 themes, it is very important to remember the order of composing the verb to get a correct meaning - first, the themes are applied and then the negation and not vice versa. For example, OtOrfla [øtørflɑ] is the negation of the fourth theme and not the fourth theme of the negation. Respectively, it means 'to eat alone' (negation of collective action) and not 'not to eat collectively'.
If you put r [r] vowel in verbs with two-phoneme roots, you will get a causative form; which means that to the action will be added another actor which will become a subject. For example, if tOr [tør] is 'to eat', trOr [trør] will be 'to feed'. Hence, the avalent verbs (e.g. it rains) will become monovalent (to make it rain), monovalent verbs (to sleep) will become divalent (to make someone sleep), divalent verbs (to see someone) will become trivalent (to make someone to see someone) and so on.
In order to get the reflexive forms, we have to add i [ɪ] before the root vowel and after the causative infix r [r] (if present). For example, 'to eat themself' is tiOr [tɪør] , and 'to feed themself' will be triOr [trɪør] .
Because tense, aspect, and mood are interconnected for defining the exact relation of the action in the time, I am writing about them together. There are 6 tenses: present, general, past, indefinite past, future, and indefinite future. Aspect can be simple or continuous and the moods are indicative, subjunctive, and conditional. Only present tense does not have a continuous aspect, every other combination is possible. Make sure to notice that these categories do not translate into English corresponding categories straightforwardly, for example, the best translation to the Celabric present simple would be 'is doing' and not 'does', because 'does' is the best translation for the Celabric general simple tense.
| Tense | Aspect | Mood | Suffix | Example | Example translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | simple | indicative | tOr [tør] | (s)he is eating | |
| Present | simple | subjunctive | i [ɪ] | tOri [tørɪ] | if (s)he is eating |
| Present | simple | conditional | a [ɑ] | tOra [tørɑ] | (s)he would be eating now |
| General | simple | indicative | t [t] | tOrt [tørt] | (s)he eats |
| General | simple | subjunctive | Qi [tʃɪ] | tOrQi [tørtʃɪ] | if (s)he would eat |
| General | simple | conditional | na [nɑ] | tOrna [tørnɑ] | (s)he would eat |
| General | continuous | indicative | e [æ] | tOre [tøræ] | (s)he eats habitually |
| General | continuous | subjunctive | ey [æʝ] | tOrey [tøræʝ] | if (s)he would eat habitually |
| General | continuous | conditional | en [æn] | tOren [tøræn] | (s)he would eat habitually |
| Past | simple | indicative | xt [xt] | tOrxt [tørxt] | (s)he ate |
| Past | simple | subjunctive | xQi [xtʃɪ] | tOrxQi [tørxtʃɪ] | if (s)he ate |
| Past | simple | conditional | kna [knɑ] | tOrkna [tørknɑ] | (s)he would have eaten |
| Past | continuous | indicative | we [ɣæ] | tOrwe [tørɣæ] | (s)he was eating |
| Past | continuous | subjunctive | yi [ʝɪ] | tOryi [tørʝɪ] | if (s)he has been eating |
| Past | continuous | conditional | gen [gæn] | tOrgen [tørgæn] | (s)he would have been eating |
| Indefinite past | simple | indicative | St [ʃt] | tOrSt [tørʃt] | (s)he had eaten |
| Indefinite past | simple | subjunctive | SQi [ʃtʃɪ] | tOrSQi [tørʃtʃɪ] | if (s)he had eaten |
| Indefinite past | simple | conditional | cna [cnɑ] | tOrcna [tørcnɑ] | (s)he would have had eaten |
| Indefinite past | continuous | indicative | Ze [ʒæ] | tOrZe [tørʒæ] | (s)he had been eating |
| Indefinite past | continuous | subjunctive | Zi [ʒɪ] | tOrZi [tørʒɪ] | if (s)he had been eating |
| Indefinite past | continuous | conditional | jen [ɟæn] | tOrjen [tørɟæn] | (s)he would have been eating in the indefinite past |
| Future | simple | indicative | ft [ft] | tOrft [tørft] | (s)he will eat |
| Future | simple | subjunctive | fQi [ftʃɪ] | tOrfQi [tørftʃɪ] | if (s)he will eat |
| Future | simple | conditional | pna [pnɑ] | tOrpna [tørpnɑ] | (s)he would eat in the future |
| Future | continuous | indicative | ve [væ] | tOrve [tørvæ] | (s)he will be eating |
| Future | continuous | subjunctive | vi [vɪ] | tOrvi [tørvɪ] | if (s)he will be eating |
| Future | continuous | conditional | ben [bæn] | tOrben [tørbæn] | (s)he would be eating in the future |
| Indefinite future | simple | indicative | st [st] | tOrst [tørst] | (s)he will eat in the indefinite future |
| Indefinite future | simple | subjunctive | sqi [stsɪ] | tOrsqi [tørstsɪ] | if (s)he will eat in the indefinite future |
| Indefinite future | simple | conditional | tna [tnɑ] | tOrtna [tørtnɑ] | (s)he would eat in the indefinite future |
| Indefinite future | continuous | indicative | ze [zæ] | tOrze [tørzæ] | (s)he will be eating in the indefinite future |
| Indefinite future | continuous | subjunctive | zi [zɪ] | tOrzi [tørzɪ] | if (s)he will be eating in the indefinite future |
| Indefinite future | continuous | conditional | den [dæn] | tOrden [tørdæn] | (s)he would be eating in the indefinite future |
The morphemes discussed in the last chapters are arranged in the following order:
From these parts, the verb should definitely include the 2nd and the 5th and the others are not mandatory. The verb OtriOrflaxt [øtrɪørflɑxt] (fed themself alone) includes all 8 parts.
The other grammatical categories, such as person, number, and voice are not the morphological units of the verbs, they are expressed by the other parts of speech or by syntax.
The majority of nouns are formed from the verb forms. They can be formed not only directly from verb stems, but from any theme in negation, reflexive, causative, and tense forms. The mood and aspect are not used to form nouns, and because tenses, moods, and aspects are formed with the same suffixes, for derivation the tenses have different suffixes:
| Tense | Suffix |
|---|---|
| Present | |
| General | t [t] |
| Past | K [kʰ] |
| Indefinite past | C [cʰ] |
| Future | P [pʰ] |
| Indefinite future | T [tʰ] |
From each verb form the nouns can be formed in 4 different ways: 1. Gerund verbal noun; 2. Subject verbal noun; 3. Direct object verbal noun; 4. Indirect object verbal noun. Here is the table including all 4 types of verbal nouns with the examples:
| Suffix | Example | Example translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gerund | ne [næ] | trOrne [trørnæ] | Feeding |
| Subject | r [r] , er [ær] | trOrer [trørær] | Feeder |
| Direct object | me [mæ] | trOrme [trørmæ] | Feedee (who is being fed) |
| Indirect object | mi [mɪ] | trOrmi [trørmɪ] | Food |
er [ær] suffix instead of r [r] is only used if another r [r] is right before it.
You can derive nouns not only from the present tense of the verb. For example, tOrKr [tørkʰr] is 'the one who has eaten'.
Nouns can be derived from other parts of speech as well. With the addition of suffix ne [næ] any adjective can be turned into a noun. For example, yUfnaiS [ʝyfnɑɪʃ] is 'tall' and yUfnaiSne [ʝyfnɑɪʃnæ] will be 'something that is tall', or 'mountain' ( yU [ʝy] - 'to give birth' in the sixth theme (consequent action) will be yUfna [ʝyfnɑ] - 'to grow' and adjective derived from it yUfnaiS [ʝyfnɑɪʃ] will be 'tall').
With the prefix aZ [ɑʒ] the nouns of profession are made. For example, aZdrOrPr [ɑʒdrørpʰr] is 'cowherd' ( drOrPr [drørpʰr] - 'cow'; dOr [dør] - 'to drink'; drOr [drør] - 'to let someone drink'; drOrPr [drørpʰr] - 'the one that will let someone drink (milk)', or 'cow').
With the prefix oS [oʃ] the nouns of purpose are made. For example, oSCrertr [oʃcʰrærtr] is '(reading) glasses' ( Crertr [cʰrærtr] - 'eye'; Cer [cʰær] - 'to see'; Crer [cʰrær] - 'to let someone see'; Crertr [cʰrærtr] - 'the thing that lets someone see', or 'eye').
With the prefix uf [ʊf] the nouns of origin are made. For example, ufyUfnaiSne [ʊfʝyfnɑɪʃnæ] is 'mountaineer (a person from mountains)' ( yUfnaiSne [ʝyfnɑɪʃnæ] - 'mountain').
With the prefix uZ [ʊʒ] the general concepts are derived. For example, uZyUfnaiS [ʊʒʝyfnɑɪʃ] is 'height' ( yUfnaiS [ʝyfnɑɪʃ] - 'tall').
Using the prefix li [lɪ] are derived nouns that have some physical characteristic or property. For example, litrerfratr [lɪtrærfrɑtr] is 'horseman' ( ter [tær] - 'to walk'; terfra [tærfrɑ] - 'to run'; trerfra [trærfrɑ] - 'to make someone run'; trerfratr [trærfrɑtr] - 'Someone that makes someone else run (with them)', or 'horse).
With the suffix i [ɪ] the nouns of places are made. For example, nefrai [næfrɑɪ] is 'house' ( ne [næ] - 'to be'; nefra [næfrɑ] - 'to live'; nefrai [næfrɑɪ] - 'a place for living', or 'house').
For the derivation of nouns, we can use the ten verb themes as suffixes as well. For example, drOrPrfla [drørpʰrflɑ] is 'herd' ( drOrPr [drørpʰr] - 'cow'; fla [flɑ] - the suffix of the 4th theme, marker of collectivity).
In Celabric there are 5 cases, from which the article is set before the 3 of them and the case marker is set at the end of the remaining two as a suffix.
| Case | Article | Suffix | Example | Example translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | hUl [çyl] | hUl yUKme Sotrli trOr ya yUKrU trerfratr yUn trOrPmi [çyl ʝykʰmæ ʃotrlɪ trør ʝɑ ʝykʰry trærfrɑtr ʝyn trørpʰmɪ] | A human is feeding their mother's horse food with a hand. | |
| Accusative (in divalent clause) Dative (in trivalent clause) |
ya [ʝɑ] | |||
| Accusative (in trivalent clause) | yUn [ʝyn] | |||
| Instrumental | li [lɪ] | |||
| Genitive | U [y] |
The case marker for the instrumental case is the same as the li [lɪ] prefix that we had encountered earlier while describing the nouns of physical characteristics or property. This is not surprising because they express very similar things. If we write li [lɪ] as a suffix to the noun litrerfratr [lɪtrærfrɑtr] 'horseman' as a suffix, it will become trerfratrli [trærfrɑtrlɪ] - 'with horse'.
To produce plural you only have to prescribe the collectivity theme marker fla [flɑ] to any article. For example, 'the horses are running' will be fla hUl trerfratr terfra [flɑ çyl trærfrɑtr tærfrɑ]
The adjectives are derived from the verbs or nouns directly by adding the suffix iS [ɪʃ] (they can be derived from other parts of speech, but much rarely). For example, yUfnaiS [ʝyfnɑɪʃ] is 'tall' ( yUfna [ʝyfnɑ] - 'to grow'). tUrflineiS [tyrflɪnæɪʃ] - 'white' ( tUrfline [tyrflɪnæ] - 'snow'). Furthermore, just like the noun, the adjective can be of purpose, origin, or of property; they are derived using the same prefixes as the nouns. For example, ufnefraflaiiS [ʊfnæfrɑflɑɪɪʃ] - 'urban' ( nefraflai [næfrɑflɑɪ] - 'city'), lioSCrertriS [lɪoʃcʰrærtrɪʃ] - 'bespectacled' (wearing glasses).
There exist adjectives that are not derived from either verbs or nouns. These are for example: UiS [yɪʃ] - 'other', flafraiS [flɑfrɑɪʃ] - 'all', ZOiS [ʒøɪʃ] - 'some'. Though even these adjectives are not derived from a thin air, for example, flafraiS [flɑfrɑɪʃ] is built from the collectivity and intensity theme markers; The derivation of the other two (as well as lots of other things mentioned above) will be clear after describing the prepositions.
The adjective does not decline in different cases or number like the nouns do, they are just put before the noun and after the article.
Celabric adjectives have 5 degrees: negative, diminutive, positive, comparative, and superlative. These degrees are formed by adding prefixes at the beginning. The positive degree doesn't require a prefix, because it is a basic form of an adjective.
| Degree | Prefix | Example | Example translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Negative | Un [yn] | UngarfraiS [yngɑrfrɑɪʃ] | Not red / without red |
| Diminutive | on [on] | ongarfraiS [ongɑrfrɑɪʃ] | Reddish |
| Positive | garfraiS [gɑrfrɑɪʃ] | Red | |
| Comparative | an [ɑn] | angarfraiS [ɑngɑrfrɑɪʃ] | Redder |
| Superlative | anhir [ɑnçɪr] | anhirgarfraiS [ɑnçɪrgɑrfrɑɪʃ] | Reddest |
The prepositions and preverbs are the same parts of speech in Celabric language. We have encountered them in the last chapters, but haven't paid a lot of attention. The prefixes that were used to derive nouns or adjectives, including the degree prefixes, were indeed prepositions that were incorporated into words. Now let's discuss prepositions as distinct lexical units.
In contrast with the languages that I am familiar with, Celabric has much more variety of prepositions that indicate static relations. And, most importantly, they are not atomic words, but rather they can be composed of semantic units. In the table below all the units are given that any static preposition can be built from and after that, it will be described which prepositions are composed and how.
| Unit | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| a [ɑ] | root | On |
| o [o] | root | Under |
| e [æ] | root | In front of |
| u [ʊ] | root | Behind |
| i [ɪ] | root | In |
| U [y] | root | Outside of |
| O [ø] | root | Beside |
| n [n] | numerator | Singular subject, singular object |
| l [l] | numerator | Singular subject, plural object |
| m [m] | numerator | Plural subject, singular object |
| r [r] | numerator | Plural subject, plural object |
| her [çær] | distance | Beyond |
| hir [çɪr] | distance | On the surface of some other object |
| har [çɑr] | distance | On the surface of the given object |
| SO [ʃø] | number | Only one satisfies out of many |
| ZO [ʒø] | number | Some satisfy out of many |
| ve [væ] | side | On the right |
| fe [fæ] | side | On the left |
| ya [ʝɑ] | subject form | Linear |
| yo [ʝo] | subject form | Planar |
| yu [ʝʊ] | subject form | Spatial |
| ye [ʝæ] | subject form | Circular |
| yi [ʝɪ] | subject form | Spherical |
| yO [ʝø] | subject form | Chaotic |
| yU [ʝy] | subject form | Orderly |
| ay [ɑʝ] | object form | Linear |
| oy [oʝ] | object form | Planar |
| uy [ʊʝ] | object form | Spatial |
| ey [æʝ] | object form | Circular |
| iy [ɪʝ] | object form | Spherical |
| Oy [øʝ] | object form | Chaotic |
| Uy [yʝ] | object form | Orderly |
With these units we can construct the prepositions, where the different types of units are set in a fixed order:
root - numerator - side - number - distance - object form - subject form
From these unit types may be present only first two or even all of them. Let us consider some examples:
Let's take two arbitrary nouns: 'book' - COrKnei [cʰørkʰnæɪ] as a subject and 'table' - oStarfri [oʃtɑrfrɪ] as an object. In this situation, since we are going to use prepositions, the object 'table' will be just a prepositional complement in the structure of the sentence not an object in its classical meaning, therefore, no article or case marker suffix should be used with this word here.
hUl COrKnei ne an oStarfri [çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɑn oʃtɑrfrɪ] - 'The book is on the table'. Here the preposition is an [ɑn] , which expresses the state of the subject being above the object when both subject and object are singular or their plurality is not important. For example, fla hUl COrKnei ne an oStarfri [flɑ çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɑn oʃtɑrfrɪ] - 'The books are on the table'; In this case even though the books are plural, but the relationship remained the same: Each book is above the table and the noun 'books' is in the plural, thus the meaning is not lost. However, there are cases, when the preposition should express plurality as well. If the sentence would have been fla hUl COrKnei ne am oStarfri [flɑ çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɑm oʃtɑrfrɪ] , it would mean that the books are on the table in plurality, that more precisely means that each book is on top of each other on the table. In this case, all other books other than the topmost one serve as an object, and we know about it from the prepositional unit m [m] . If in this sentence the book had been singular and the tables plural, and respectively preposition had been al [ɑl] , it would mean that the tables are on top of each other and the one book is on top of the topmost table. The same principle applies to the prepositions with other roots. For example, if hUl COrKnei ne in oStarfri [çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɪn oʃtɑrfrɪ] is 'The book is in the table', then fla hUl COrKnei ne im oStarfri [flɑ çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɪm oʃtɑrfrɪ] will be 'The books are in the table, where each book is in another book (like matryoshkas)'.
In addition to the prepositional units of types root and numerator discussed above, you can add the units of type side, and a more precise location will be defined to the subject (or subjects). For example, hUl COrKnei ne anfe oStarfri [çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɑnfæ oʃtɑrfrɪ] - 'The book is on the left side of the table'.
Even though we were saying in the above examples, that the book is on top of the table, or the tables are on top of each other, there was no exact definition of whether these objects were touching each other or not. To define this characteristic we can add units of type distance to the prepositions. her [çær] indicates that the subject is beyond the object, which means that it does not touch the object. hUl COrKnei ne anher oStarfri [çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɑnçær oʃtɑrfrɪ] - 'The book is above the table, but it doesn't touch it' (it levitates above the table). hUl COrKnei ne inher oStarfri [çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɪnçær oʃtɑrfrɪ] - 'The book is inside the table, but doesn't touch it from inside'. On the contrary, har [çɑr] indicates exactly that the subject is touching the object. And hir [çɪr] indicates that the subject is touching another object which is in the exact direction from the primary object, that the prepositional root shows. For example, hUl COrKnei ne anhir oStarfri [çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɑnçɪr oʃtɑrfrɪ] - 'The book is above the table touching the ceiling above (or some other object that is right above the table)'.
The units of type number are set before the above-described distance ones. These units indicate how many subjects or objects satisfy the conditions defined by the other units of a preposition. If this type of unit is absent, then this means that all subjects and objects satisfy the conditions (as was the case with all the sentences given above); if unit SO [ʃø] is present, then only one subject or object satisfies the conditions; and if the unit is ZO [ʒø] , then some subjects or objects satisfy given conditions. For example, fla hUl COrKnei ne amZOhar oStarfri [flɑ çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ɑmʒøçɑr oʃtɑrfrɪ] means 'From the books some are on top of each other on the table'. fla hUl COrKnei ne unSO oStarfri [flɑ çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ʊnʃø oʃtɑrfrɪ] - 'Out of several tables, behind the only one are the books'.
The last two types of units mean almost the same with only one distinction: the one that is set before describes the object and the one at the end describes the subject. These units describe what physical form the subjects or objects take. For example, fla hUl COrKnei ne emya oStarfri [flɑ çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ æmʝɑ oʃtɑrfrɪ] - 'The books are in front of the table aligned on the line'; hUl COrKnei ne OnSOharey fla oStarfri [çyl cʰørkʰnæɪ næ ønʃøçɑræʝ flɑ oʃtɑrfrɪ] - 'The book is between the tables, that are ordered in a circle and from those tables, only one touches the book' (On [øn] indeed means 'between' in the case of a plural object, because O [ø] is the unit meaning 'beside' and n [n] shows that the plurality of objects does not have importance; hence, all objects are not beside each other; This means that only subject is beside all objects, consequently it is between them.)
If you recall the prefixes used to derive adjective degrees, you can easily link them to prepositions and their meanings: the prefix Un [yn] if it had been a preposition would have meant 'outside' and as an adjective degree prefix, it builds a negative degree: something outside the meaning of the root adjective. The prefix on [on] as a preposition would mean 'under' and, therefore, makes adjectives diminutive: less than the original meaning. Respectively the comparative degree is equivalent to 'on top of' and superlative to 'above, on the bottom surface of another object' (maximally above).
When we use these static prepositions right before verbs (as an independent word or as a prefix as well) they serve as preverbs and for example, inter [ɪntær] becomes 'to enter' (where in [ɪn] is 'in' and ter [tær] is 'to walk').
The relative prepositions, compared to static ones are much fewer - 21. They are ordered by meaning according to static preposition root units (which were 7, therefore, these are gathered in three groups), and they are built on these roots morphologically as well:
| Root | I group | II group | III group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a [ɑ] | on | af [ɑf] | after | aS [ɑʃ] | because of | aZ [ɑʒ] | using, over |
| o [o] | under | of [of] | before | oS [oʃ] | for | oZ [oʒ] | opposite to |
| e [æ] | in front of | ef [æf] | to, towards | eS [æʃ] | about | eZ [æʒ] | despite |
| u [ʊ] | behind | uf [ʊf] | from | uS [ʊʃ] | by | uZ [ʊʒ] | according to |
| i [ɪ] | in | if [ɪf] | during, through | iS [ɪʃ] | like, as | iZ [ɪʒ] | including |
| U [y] | outside of | Uf [yf] | without | US [yʃ] | unlike | UZ [yʒ] | except |
| O [ø] | beside | Of [øf] | with | OS [øʃ] | compared to, than | OZ [øʒ] | also |
Some of these prepositions may be familiar to you because they are used for noun and adjective derivation. However, unlike verbs, it is important whether you combine the preposition and noun (or adjective) or not. Let's look at the nouns that we described in the noun derivation chapter: aZdrOrPr [ɑʒdrørpʰr] - 'cowherd', but aZ drOrPr [ɑʒ drørpʰr] - 'using cow' or 'over cow'; oSCrertr [oʃcʰrærtr] - 'glasses', but oS Crertr [oʃ cʰrærtr] - 'for eye'; ufyUfnaiSne [ʊfʝyfnɑɪʃnæ] - 'mountaineer', but uf yUfnaiSne [ʊf ʝyfnɑɪʃnæ] - 'form mountain'; uZyUfnaiS [ʊʒʝyfnɑɪʃ] - 'height', but uZ yUfnaiS [ʊʒ ʝyfnɑɪʃ] - 'according to tall'.
The relative prepositions also can be put as prefixes to verbs. For example, iSSo [ɪʃʃo] is 'to mimic' or 'to do as' literally.
Adverbs are formed just like adjectives with suffix iS [ɪʃ] . We know that it is adverb if it precedes verb and not noun. Let's look at some adverbs that are derived from prepositions or particles other than verb roots: iSTUh [ɪʃtʰyç] - 'still' (iS [ɪʃ] - 'like', 'as', TUh [tʰyç] - suffix used for time-related terms; the noun time is TUhne [tʰyçnæ] ), SOiS [ʃøɪʃ] - 'just', 'only' (SO [ʃø] - The prepositional unit used to denote that only one satisfies the condition'), USTUh [yʃtʰyç] - 'no more' (US [yʃ] - 'unlike'), hari [çɑrɪ] - here (har [çɑr] - prepositional unit meaning 'at the object', i [ɪ] - suffix for deriving place-related terms; the noun place is ine [ɪnæ] ), heri [çærɪ] - there (where you are), hiri [çɪrɪ] - there (where they are), hirTUh [çɪrtʰyç] - 'then', afTUh [ɑftʰyç] - 'after', flafrai [flɑfrɑɪ] - 'everywhere', flafraTUh [flɑfrɑtʰyç] - 'ever', ai [ɑɪ] - 'up', hiriiS [çɪrɪɪʃ] - 'far', hariiS [çɑrɪɪʃ] - 'near', etc.
Adverb does not change form except for degrees in adjective-like ones.
There are fourteen types of numerals in Celabric: cardinal, ordinal, fractional, multiplicative (adverbial), ordinal-multiplicative, collective, multiplier, distributive, distinctive, ordinal-distinctive, collective system, multiplicative adjectival, ordinal-multiplicative adjectival and fractional distributive. The cardinal numbers serve as the root for other types of numerals.
Some cardinal numbers are:
| Number | Translation | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SO [ʃø] | one |
| 2 | ZO [ʒø] | two |
| 3 | sO [sø] | three |
| 4 | zO [zø] | four |
| 5 | fO [fø] | five |
| 6 | vO [vø] | six |
| 7 | xO [xø] | seven |
| 8 | wO [ɣø] | eight |
| 9 | hO [çø] | nine |
| 10 | yO [ʝø] | ten |
| 11 | yOS [ʝøʃ] | eleven |
| 12 | yOZ [ʝøʒ] | twelve |
| 20 | ZOyO [ʒøʝø] | twenty |
| 21 | ZOyOS [ʒøʝøʃ] | twenty-one |
| 30 | sOyO [søʝø] | thirty |
| 40 | zOyO [zøʝø] | forty |
| 100 | qO [tsø] | one hundred |
| 123 | qOZOyOs [tsøʒøʝøs] | one hundred twenty-three |
| 576 | fOqOxOyOv [føtsøxøʝøv] | five hundred seventy-six |
| 1000 | QO [tʃø] | one thousand |
| 23000 | ZOyOsQO [ʒøʝøstʃø] | twenty-three thousand |
| 900008 | hOqOQOw [çøtsøtʃøɣ] | nine hundred thousand eight |
Ordinal numerals are constructed by adding ay [ɑʝ] suffix (prepositional unit denoting linearity) to the cardinal number. For example, SOay [ʃøɑʝ] is 'first', ZOay [ʒøɑʝ] - 'second', yOay [ʝøɑʝ] - 'tenth', etc.
Fractional numerals are formed by adding suffix fli [flɪ] (verb theme suffix indicating partitioned action). For example, SOfli [ʃøflɪ] - 'whole', ZOfli [ʒøflɪ] - 'half', sOfli [søflɪ] - 'one third', yOfli [ʝøflɪ] - 'one tenth'.
The multiplicative (adverbial) numerals are formed by adding suffix TUh [tʰyç] (time-related suffix) to the numbers. For example: SOTUh [ʃøtʰyç] - 'once', ZOTUh [ʒøtʰyç] - 'twice', sOTUh [søtʰyç] - 'thrice', yOTUh [ʝøtʰyç] - 'ten times'.
The ordinal-multiplicative numerals are composed by adding first ordinal and then multiplicative numeral suffixes, together creating suffix ayTUh [ɑʝtʰyç] . Examples: SOayTUh [ʃøɑʝtʰyç] - 'firstly', ZOayTUh [ʒøɑʝtʰyç] - 'secondly', sOayTUh [søɑʝtʰyç] - 'thirdly'.
The multiplicative adjectival numerals are formed by adding the compound suffix TUhuZ [tʰyçʊʒ] (TUh [tʰyç] - time-related suffix or suffix for multiplicative numerals plus uZ [ʊʒ] - 'according to' or a prefix used to denote general concepts in nouns). Examples: SOTUhuZ [ʃøtʰyçʊʒ] - 'single-use', ZOTUhuZ [ʒøtʰyçʊʒ] - 'double-use', sOTUhuZ [søtʰyçʊʒ] - 'triple-use'.
The ordinal-multiplicative adjectival numerals are formed by adding compound suffix ayTUhuZ [ɑʝtʰyçʊʒ] (ordinal suffix + multiplicative suffix + general concept suffix). Examples: SOayTUhuZ [ʃøɑʝtʰyçʊʒ] - 'primary', ZOayTUhuZ [ʒøɑʝtʰyçʊʒ] - 'secondary', sOayTUhuZ [søɑʝtʰyçʊʒ] - 'tertiary'.
The distinctive numerals are formed by adding suffix US [yʃ] (meaning 'unlike' as preposition). Examples: SOUS [ʃøyʃ] - 'same', ZOUS [ʒøyʃ] - 'two types', sOUS [søyʃ] - 'three types'.
The ordinal-distinctive numerals are formed by adding suffix ayUS [ɑʝyʃ] (ordinal suffix + distinctive suffix). Examples: SOayUS [ʃøɑʝyʃ] - 'first type', ZOayUS [ʒøɑʝyʃ] - 'second type'.
The collective numerals are formed by adding suffix fla [flɑ] (verb theme marker indicating collectivity). Examples: SOfla [ʃøflɑ] - 'monad', 'sole', ZOfla [ʒøflɑ] - 'pair', sOfla [søflɑ] - 'triad'.
The collective system numerals are formed by adding compound suffix flauZ [flɑʊʒ] (collectivity suffix + general concept suffix). Examples: SOflauZ [ʃøflɑʊʒ] - 'unary', ZOflauZ [ʒøflɑʊʒ] - 'binary', sOflauZ [søflɑʊʒ] - 'ternary', yOflauZ [ʝøflɑʊʒ] - 'decimal' (numeral system).
The multiplier numeral is formed by adding compound suffix flifla [flɪflɑ] (partition suffix + collectivity suffix). Examples: SOflifla [ʃøflɪflɑ] - 'single' ZOflifla [ʒøflɪflɑ] - 'double'.
The distributive numerals are formed by adding the compound suffix flafli [flɑflɪ] (collectivity suffix + partition suffix; inverse of multiplier suffix). Examples: SOflafli [ʃøflɑflɪ] - 'singly' or 'one each', ZOflafli [ʒøflɑflɪ] - 'doubly' or 'two each'.
The fractional distributive numerals are formed by adding compound suffix fliflafli [flɪflɑflɪ] (partition suffix + collectivity suffix + partition suffix). Examples: SOfliflafli [ʃøflɪflɑflɪ] - 'whole each', ZOfliflafli [ʒøflɪflɑflɪ] - 'half each', sOfliflafli [søflɪflɑflɪ] - 'one third each'.
The numbers as nouns are formed by adding the noun-deriving suffix ne [næ] . For example, SOne [ʃønæ] is 'one' as a noun (a symbol one).
In addition two the numbers, some other words are formed just like numerals. For example: flaiS [flɑɪʃ] - 'many', friiS [frɪɪʃ] - 'few', ZOiS [ʒøɪʃ] - 'some', aZiS [ɑʒɪʃ] - 'enough', flafraiS [flɑfrɑɪʃ] - 'all' etc. Hence flaiSay [flɑɪʃɑʝ] will be 'manyth' (not first, not second, not third but the rank number is some large number), flaiSTUh [flɑɪʃtʰyç] - 'multiple times', flaiSflifla [flɑɪʃflɪflɑ] - 'multiple' etc.
flaiS [flɑɪʃ] in addition to meaning 'many' can be used as a suffix and will mean the amount of the word that is being used to add this suffix. An example would be, hirflaiS [çɪrflɑɪʃ] is 'that many'.
In Celabric other than question words, there are only three pronouns, which we have already encountered, but not with this meaning, because then they were not independent words. These are: har [çɑr] - 'I', her [çær] - 'you' (singular) and hir [çɪr] - 'it'/'he'/'she' (gender-agnostic). These were static prepositional units indicating distance. If we put fla [flɑ] in front of these pronouns they become plural counterparts - 'we', 'you', and 'they'.
The question words are built by adding suffix Q [tʃ] . For example: yUKQ [ʝykʰtʃ] - 'who', hUKQ [çykʰtʃ] - 'what', iSQ [ɪʃtʃ] - 'what kind' or 'how', TUhQ [tʰyçtʃ] - 'when', iQ [ɪtʃ] - 'where', flaiSQ [flɑɪʃtʃ] - 'how many', aSQ [ɑʃtʃ] - 'why' (because of what), oSQ [oʃtʃ] - 'why' (what for), neQ [nætʃ] - 'what is (someone/something) doing' etc.
The pronouns change just like the parts of speech that they are replacing: yUKQ [ʝykʰtʃ] and hUKQ [çykʰtʃ] - like nouns, iSQ [ɪʃtʃ] - like adjectives or adverbs, neQ [nætʃ] - like verbs and so on. But, in any of these cases Q [tʃ] remains last.
There are 9 basic conjunctions in Celabric, and they are built from prepositions by adding O [ø] suffix (which means 'beside'). All other (indicating) conjunctions can be produced by adding O [ø] to the question words. For example, iQO [ɪtʃø] - 'where' (e.g. I found it where I put it). As the question words, the conjunctions produced from them change form just like the words that they are referring to. Here are the basic conjunctions as a table:
| Type | Conjunction | Translation | Producing preposition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addition | OZO [øʒø] | and | also |
| Alternative | OSO [øʃø] | or | compared to |
| Condition | uZO [ʊʒø] | if ..., then | according to |
| Opposition | oZO [oʒø] | while, but | opposite to |
| Cause | aSO [ɑʃø] | because | because of |
| Result | oSO [oʃø] | in order to | for |
| Paradoxical cause | UfaSO [yfɑʃø] | even though | without + because of |
| Paradoxical result | UfoSO [yfoʃø] | even if | without + for |
| Distinction | UfO [yfø] | but, however | without |
In order to preserve preciseness, Celabric syntax is somewhat constrained, but not to the degree that it had no ability to express emphasis.
Before diving into the missing categories of verbs such as person, number, and voice, which are indeed expressed with syntax, let's construct a simple sentence. The main word of the sentence is a verb, and depending on the valency of the verb, a corresponding number of subject and objects are added which are expressed by nouns or the pronouns that are replacing nouns; if the verb is avalent, there will be no subject and no objects; if it is monovalent, there will be only subject; if it is divalent, a direct object will be added; and if it is trivalent, an indirect object will be added as well. Before the subject is put an article hUl [çyl] which is precisely an indicator that this noun (or pronoun) is a subject. The direct object is preceded by an article ya [ʝɑ] and the indirect object - by yUn [ʝyn] .
As an example let's take a sentence 'A human is feeding a horse food' - hUl yUKme trOr ya trerfratr yUn trOrPmi [çyl ʝykʰmæ trør ʝɑ trærfrɑtr ʝyn trørpʰmɪ] (hUl yUKme [çyl ʝykʰmæ] - 'a human', trOr [trør] - 'to feed', ya trerfratr [ʝɑ trærfrɑtr] - 'a horse', yUn trOrPmi [ʝyn trørpʰmɪ] - 'food'). In this sentence, all the words are independent of their position (not including articles) and could be arranged in any order to emphasize one or another thing.
To the simple sentences can be added complements as a noun (pronoun) in the instrumental case or as prepositional complements (nouns or pronouns added using prepositions). For example: 'A human is feeding a horse food with a hand' - hUl yUKme Sotrli trOr ya trerfratr yUn trOrPmi [çyl ʝykʰmæ ʃotrlɪ trør ʝɑ trærfrɑtr ʝyn trørpʰmɪ] (Sotr [ʃotr] - 'hand'); 'A human is feeding a horse food with a hand just like a cow' - hUl yUKme Sotrli trOr ya trerfratr iS drOrPr yUn trOrPmi [çyl ʝykʰmæ ʃotrlɪ trør ʝɑ trærfrɑtr ɪʃ drørpʰr ʝyn trørpʰmɪ] (iS [ɪʃ] - 'like, as', drOrPr [drørpʰr] - 'cow'). In the last example, it was important where you would put the complement ('just like cow'): because it is built by a preposition, the words that are connected by this preposition should be set adjacent to this preposition; more precisely, the subject of the preposition ('a horse') should be before and the object of the preposition ('cow') should be after. If we wrote: hUl yUKme iS drOrPr Sotrli trOr ya trerfratr yUn trOrPmi [çyl ʝykʰmæ ɪʃ drørpʰr ʃotrlɪ trør ʝɑ trærfrɑtr ʝyn trørpʰmɪ] , it would mean that the 'like cow' refers to the 'human', not to the 'horse' ( 'A human is feeding horse food with hand just like cow did (feed the horse food with hand)').
Each of the words discussed above can have one or more modifiers that should be put directly before the word (and after an article, if present) that is modified. These modifiers can be adjectives, adverbs, numerals, nouns in genitive cases, or the pronouns that are replacing these parts of speech. For example, we can add modifiers to all the words of the last sentence: 'One human is beautifully feeding big horse much food with burnt and frozen hand just like he did with a white cow' - hUl SO yUKme karKiS kUrKiS Sotrli kerfnatiS trOr ya yUfnafraiS trerfratr iS tUrflineiS drOrPr yUn flaiS trOrPmi [çyl ʃø ʝykʰmæ kɑrkʰɪʃ kyrkʰɪʃ ʃotrlɪ kærfnɑtɪʃ trør ʝɑ ʝyfnɑfrɑɪʃ trærfrɑtr ɪʃ tyrflɪnæɪʃ drørpʰr ʝyn flɑɪʃ trørpʰmɪ] (SO [ʃø] - 'one', karKiS [kɑrkʰɪʃ] - 'burnt', kUrKiS [kyrkʰɪʃ] - 'frozen', kerfnatiS [kærfnɑtɪʃ] - 'beautiful', yUfnafraiS [ʝyfnɑfrɑɪʃ] - 'big', tUrflineiS [tyrflɪnæɪʃ] - 'white', flaiS [flɑɪʃ] - 'many').
Besides having the exact number of arguments (subject and objects) that the verb needs (valency number), a Celabric sentence may be missing the subject or one of the objects. In these cases, we will get varieties of passive voice and not only. If the verb is divalent (needs 2 arguments), however, the sentence is missing an object, for example: 'The human is eating' - hUl yUKme tOr [çyl ʝykʰmæ tør] , surely this doesn't mean that both the subject and the object is 'human' (for this we would use one of the reflexive forms of the verb: tiOr [tɪør] - 'to eat themself' or triOr [trɪør] - 'to feed themself'), but it means that we just don't know what the object is. If the verb is trivalent (needs 3 arguments) and is missing one or both objects, the logic is the same: we just don't know the objects. While in the case of a missing subject, the sentence is in passive voice. For example: ya tOrPmi tOr [ʝɑ tørpʰmɪ tør] is 'Food is being eaten', ya trerfratr yUn tOrPmi trOr [ʝɑ trærfrɑtr ʝyn tørpʰmɪ trør] - 'the horse is fed food', ya trerfratr trOr [ʝɑ trærfrɑtr trør] - 'the horse is fed', yUn tOrPmi trOr [ʝyn tørpʰmɪ trør] - 'food is fed'.
There are no different forms of verbs by person or number in Celabric, these categories are just delegated to the subjects and objects.
The complex or compound sentences are not so complex. They are built just by using conjunctions in between. For example: 'There isn't any complexity in the complex sentences, even though there is in some other languages' - ene hUl flafliiS cerfUPme in cerfUPmeiS saflaKme, UfaSO ne il ZOiS UiS zaflatme [ænæ çyl flɑflɪɪʃ cærfypʰmæ ɪn cærfypʰmɑɪʃ sɑflɑkʰmæ yfɑʃø næ ɪl ʒøɪʃ yɪʃ zɑflɑtmæ] (ene [ænæ] - 'not to be', flafliiS [flɑflɪɪʃ] - 'any', cerfUPme [cærfypʰmæ] - 'complexity', in [ɪn] - 'in', cerfUPmeiS [cærfypʰmæɪʃ] - 'complex', saflaKme [sɑflɑkʰmæ] - 'sentence', UfaSO [yfɑʃø] - 'even though', ne [næ] - 'to be', ZOiS [ʒøɪʃ] - 'some', UiS [yɪʃ] - 'other', zaflatme [zɑflɑtmæ] - 'language').
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
nefrafitna afharTUh;
oS hariS saKme neden TUhne af.
afTUhne, af afTUhne, af afTUhne,
terfri TUhflifriiS uf kerm ef kerm
ef anhiriS safliKme ozaKmeiS TUhneU,
flafraiS ofTUhme oS jOrfUKme kerxt
tertm ef tirfliiS enen. Kerfi, friiS kerfriKr!
nefran ne teriS UZkerm, eferiS iSner,
yUKQ yUter kermfli ayO iSneri
OZ aTUh USTUh PUl: hir ne zaCme,
hUKQ zaxt COrfUKme, iZiS bUln OZ yOTUrn,
eSsarmiS ener.
[næfrɑfɪtnɑ ɑfçɑrtʰyç
oʃ çɑrɪʃ sɑkʰmæ nædæn tʰyçnæ ɑf
ɑftʰyçnæ ɑf ɑftʰyçnæ ɑf ɑftʰyçnæ
tærfrɪ tʰyçflɪfrɪɪʃ ʊf kærm æf kærm
æf ɑnçɪrɪʃ sɑflɪkʰmæ ozɑkʰmæɪʃ tʰyçnæy
flɑfrɑɪʃ oftʰyçmæ oʃ ɟørfykʰmæ kærxt
tærtm æf tɪrflɪɪʃ ænæn kʰærfɪ frɪɪʃ kærfrɪkʰr
næfrɑn næ tærɪʃ yʒkærm æfærɪʃ ɪʃnær
ʝykʰtʃ ʝytær kærmflɪ ɑʝø ɪʃnærɪ
øʒ ɑtʰyç yʃtʰyç pʰyl çɪr næ zɑcʰmæ
çykʰtʃ zɑxt cʰorfykʰmæ ɪʒɪʃ byln øʒ ʝøtʰyrn
æʃsɑrmɪʃ ænær]
She should have died hereafter;
nefrafitna afharTUh; [næfrɑfɪtnɑ ɑfçɑrtʰyç]:
There would have been a time for such a word.
oS hariS saKme neden TUhne af. [oʃ çɑrɪʃ sɑkʰmæ nædæn tʰyçnæ ɑf]:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
afTUhne, af afTUhne, af afTUhne, [ɑftʰyçnæ ɑf ɑftʰyçnæ ɑf ɑftʰyçnæ]:
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
terfri TUhflifriiS uf kerm ef kerm [tærfrɪ tʰyçflɪfrɪɪʃ ʊf kærm æf kærm]:
To the last syllable of recorded time,
ef anhiriS safliKme ozaKmeiS TUhneU, [æf ɑnçɪrɪʃ sɑflɪkʰmæ ozɑkʰmæɪʃ tʰyçnæy]:
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
flafraiS ofTUhme oS jOrfUKme kerxt [flɑfrɑɪʃ oftʰyçmæ oʃ ɟørfykʰmæ kærxt]:
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
tertm ef tirfliiS enen. Kerfi, friiS kerfriKr! [tærtm æf tɪrflɪɪʃ ænæn kʰærfɪ frɪɪʃ kærfrɪkʰr]:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
nefran ne teriS UZkerm, eferiS iSner, [næfrɑn næ tærɪʃ yʒkærm æfærɪʃ ɪʃnær]:
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
yUKQ yUter kermfli ayO iSneri [ʝykʰtʃ ʝytær kærmflɪ ɑʝø ɪʃnærɪ]:
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
OZ aTUh USTUh PUl: hir ne zaCme, [øʒ ɑtʰyç yʃtʰyç pʰyl çɪr næ zɑcʰmæ]:
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
hUKQ zaxt COrfUKme, iZiS bUln OZ yOTUrn,[çykʰtʃ zɑxt cʰorfykʰmæ ɪʒɪʃ byln øʒ ʝøtʰyrn]:
Signifying nothing.
eSsarmiS ener. [æʃsɑrmɪʃ ænær]: