6. Pantluci
6.1 Overview
Pantluci (English [pæn"t(S)ôu:.ki]; Pantluci ["p˘an.tì
<
U.ci]) is an ex-
perimental constructed language designed to explore the bound-
aries of what a human-usable language can be. It uses a breadth-
rst-search-inspired heavily esoteric grammar unlike most if not all
pre-existing languages. To oset this unfamiliarity, Pantluci uses
a streamline grammar that aims to minimize the cognitive load for
both speakers and listeners.
The language rst began in late June 2021 after various sketches
of potential breadth-rst languages inspired by xkcd 2407. Origi-
nally, it used a modied consonant inventory from unrelated lan-
guage sketches from December 2020, a vowel inventory copied from
Lojban, a tone system copied from Láadan, and a grammar system
heavily inspired by toki pona. However, by early 2022, most of these
inuences were largely obscured by revisions to the language in an
attempt to minimize the chances of sound changes, and attempts
were made to reduce the wide variety of grammatical particles.
The language was developed beginning in late June 2021 after
various sketches of potential breadth-rst languages inspired by
xkcd 2407. Originally, it used a modied consonant inventory from
unrelated language sketches from December 2020, a vowel inventory
copied from Lojban, a tone system copied from Láadan, and a
grammar system heavily inspired by toki pona. However, by early
2022, most of these inuences were largely obscured by revisions
to the language in an attempt to minimize the chances of sound
changes. The wide variety of grammatical particles were reduced as
much as possible.
By mid-June 2022, the sole particle used in the language became
extremely repetitive, which became a larger and larger problem,
forcing a redo of the morphology and phonology to allow for redu-
plication and a greater focus on aesthetics. By July 2022, the
language had expanded into a research project exploring esoteric
languages in general, with the language being used as an example.
The phonology was once again scrapped and rebuilt with a focus on
lling the same purpose as the grammar.
By January 2023, its minimal inventory had made reduplication
obnoxiously repetitive, so it was changed to a rst vowel umlaut sys-
tem that mirrored the recently implemented compounding system.
By May 2023, the scientic nature of the exploration was abandoned
in favor of a more artistic approach in order to better appeal to
the author’s strengths and target audience. Over the course of
its development it went through the names Hýyban ([ç´@.`@.b
`
¨an]),
25
26 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
Hoóban ([çˇoi
“
.b
`
¨an]), Hoóba ([çˇoi
“
.b
`
¨a]), Tsohci ([ts
<
o:.c
h
i), and now
Pantluci (["p˘an.tì
<
U.ci]).
Pantluci is intended to explore and challenge many linguistic
theories and assumptions that claim the existence of some form of
fundamental or underlying genetic language or grammar beyond
pragmatic optimization. Ascribing what I believe to be the result
of historical context to biological traits. It act as a language outside
of the typical linguistic standards, and violates most restrictive pro-
posed systems, so if it can be learned to uency then those theories
are likely inaccurate. While Pantluci is a project with countless
hours of work behind it, it is an art piece designed to ask ques-
tions, not an experiment with continued independent reproduction
designed to answer them. It exists to be test the practicality of its
weirdness, so there will never be an ocially supported prescribed
standard for Pantluci. Speakers will be encouraged to speak how
they feel best suits the language.
This description of the language will not fully explain or docu-
ment every aspect of the language. However, it should serve as a
sucient baseline to demonstrate the viability of the language and
potentially generate interest.
Finally, this document serves not only to describe the language
itself, but also the process and reasoning used to create it. No art
piece can stand truly devoid of context, so this required context may
may as well be an opportunity used to inform and inspire others.
6.2 Phonology
6.2.1 Inventory
The smallest documented consonant inventory in any natural lan-
guage is found in the Proto-Lakes Plain Language, which has a
mere ve consonants.
1
If reconstructed languages are ignored, the
smallest inventories are in Iau, Kirikiri, Obokuitai, and Rotokas, all
1
Clouse, Duane A. “Towards a Reconstruction and Reclassication of
the Lakes Plain Languages of Irian Jaya.” Papers in Papuan Linguistics,
no. 2 (1996): 133-236.
6.2. PHONOLOGY 27
with six consonants.
23 45
This should be sucient evidence to show
that, although unusual, Pantluci’s consonant inventory is not unrea-
sonably small.A three-vowel system is common enough and should
require no justication. While the combination of a small consonant
and vowel inventory may seem unusual, Pirahã also shares this
characteristic with eight consonants and three vowels.
6
This phonology is reasonable but unlikely to evolve naturally, as
any mergers that would reduce a phoneme inventory to this extent
would likely would destroy the lexicon beyond a reasonable state. In
other words, this phonology is functional but exceedingly unlikely
to ever evolve naturally, exactly the purpose of the language.
2
Bateman, Janet. 1990. Iau segmental and tone phonology. NUSA:
Linguistic Studies of Indonesian and Other Languages in Indonesia 32.
29–42.
3
Foley, William A. (2018). “The languages of Northwest New Guinea”.
In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea
Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin:
De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 433–568.
4
Jenison, Scott; Jenison, Priscilla (1991). “Obokuitai phonology”.
Workpapers in Indonesian languages and cultures. 9: 69–90
5
Firchow, Irwin, and Jacqueline Firchow. “An Abbreviated Phoneme
Inventory.” Anthropological Linguistics 11, no. 9 (1969): 271–276
6
Everett, Daniel L. “Pirahã.” Handbook of Amazonian Languages 1,
(1986): 200-325.
28 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
Table 6.1: Consonants
Labial Alveolar Dorsal
Voiceless p t
k xcy
Voiced m xny d xly
xhy is used to root boundaries, but is optional where unambiguous.
Table 6.2: Vowels
Front Back
Close i u
Open a
6.2.2 Consonantal Allophony
/p/
When in front of another stop, ejectivize it.
/p/ Ñ [p]
/t/
When in front of another stop and syllable initial, weaken to [s].
This takes priority over the next rule.
/tta/ Ñ [sta]
When after another stop, weaken to [T]. May be pronounced syllab-
ically.
/pta/ Ñ [pTa]
When in front of a [l] they combine to to [tì
<
].
When in front of a [j] palatalize it to [tS
<
].
When [s] is in front of a palatalized /t/, palatalize it too.
When [s] is in front of /d/, voice it.
6.2. PHONOLOGY 29
/k/
Does not contrast for voice.
When in front of another stop, ejectivize it.
When in front of /i/, palatalize it.
/m/
When an onset, strengthen to [b], unless it follows [p’], [s], or [T],
in which case it becomes [n].
When a coda, assimilate place of articulation of the following onset.
(If possible)
/d/
When following an open syllable, and preceding a syllabic vowel,
weaken to [R].
When following a stop, weaken to [l], unless it precedes a syllabic
/d/.
When a nucleus, weaken to [@~/IJô] unless it follows /p/, /d/, or [@~/IJô].
In which case it weakens to [
IJ
l].
6.2.3 Vocalic Allophony
/v.v/
Combinations of /a.i/ combine into [aj]
Combinations of /a.u/ combine into [aw]
Combinations of /u.i/ combine into [oj]
These three diphthongs take priority over vowels weakening into
glides, and do not weakening in unstressed syllables.
Other vowel sequences not resolved by vowels weakening into glides
are broken up by inserting an epenthetic consonant between each
vowel pair. If the second vowel in the pair is /a/ insert [h]. If it is
/i/ or /u/ insert [ç].
Treat the start of a word as though it were a vowel for the sake of
the previous rule.
/a/
When unstressed in an open syllable, weaken to [@], unless it is part
of a diphthong.
30 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
/i/
When unstressed, weaken to [I], unless it follows /k/, [j], [û
Ţ
].
When followed by a vowel and preceded by a vowel, /b/, [t], or [tS
<
]
weaken to [j].
/u/
When unstressed, weaken to [U], unless it follows [w].
When followed by a vowel and preceded by a vowel, or voiced
consonant, weaken to [w].
When followed by a vowel and preceded by an unvoiced consonant
weaken to [û
Ţ
].
6.2.4 Morphology
Syllables in Pantluci’s roots may be analyzed as CVm, (an optional
consonant + a vowel + an optional nasal coda). However, any
number of /p/, /t/, and /k/ may precede a syllable. The sequences
/pp/, and /kk/ do not occur. No words end with /p/, /t/, or /k/.
Null may not follow a coda. Ambiguous null onsets are marked with
�h�. Stress rests on the rst syllable containing a vowel. Words must
contain at least one vowel.
Content words in Pantluci undergo a morphological process in
order to denote the grammatical structure of the sentence. This
process consists of replacing the rst vowel sequence with /a/ if
there are 0 preceding nodes, /i/ if there is one, then as the number
increases /u/, /ai/, /au/, /aia/, /aua/, etc.
pantluci → pintluci → puntluci → paintluci → ...
Interjections have any other intial vowel sequence: /ia/, /iu/, /ua/,
/ui/, etc.
6.3 Grammar
= = ALL EXAMPLES ARE OUT
OF DATE VOCAB WISE BUT
NOT GRAMMAR WISE = =
6.3. GRAMMAR 31
6.3.1 syntax
Pantlucian grammar is syntactically very simple, relying on only a
handful of rules: A “node” is an imaginary word that is inserted
before words depending on vowel alteration. Nodes always require
exactly two arguments and other words never accept any arguments.
Words always ll the oldest unlled argument slot. Only meaning-
ful combinations of word types may legally ll the slots of a node.
What this means is that in an English sentence like:
(formatted to more cleanly mirror Panltuian grammar)
S
NP
someone small
VP
VP
repeatedly VP
weakly sees
PP
using NP
glowing plants
The words are read top to bottom left to right, or in other words generally
the path of the sentence goes as deep as possible into a branch before
moving to the right to the next branch. whereas the same sentence in
panltuci which has a similar tree:
S
NP
lailu lali
VP
VP
VP
licin lata
taicla
PP
pla NP
cati catni
32 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
todo: redo with better example
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
This is instead read left to right top to bottom: lailu lali taicla pla licin
lata cati catni. Reading it this way shows that the branching nodes in
this tree are the same as the the grammatical nodes in the sentence.
There are none before lali, pla, lata, cati or catni, one before licin, and
three before lailu and taicla. Notice that each of these groups have the
same initial vowel sequence, as the number of preceding nodes is what
determines that vowel.
6.3.2 Roots
The very rst word (including nodes) of every sentence regardless of its
other types is a root. Roots dene the actual claim of the sentence. If
it is a nominal, it asserted to either exist, be contextually relevant, or
answer a question.
(1) Apa
"ha.p@
1
‘I am.’
citi
licin
cini ala
(2) citi
"ci.ti
NOM.plant
licin
"di.c˘ım
VERB.see
cini
"ci.bI
ADV.can
ala.
"ha.R@
NEG
‘Plants cannot see.’
If it is a verb are asserted to either happen, be contextually relevant, or
answer a question.
(3) caca.
"ka.k@
many
‘There is a lot.’
alin lana
puca
(4) puca
"pu.k@
VERB.ADV.2
alin
"ha.R˘Im
love
lana.
"da.b@
real
‘You are truely loved.’
If it is another type, it is asserted to clarify, correct a previous sentence,
or answer a question.
6.3. GRAMMAR 33
(5) lata.
"da.t@
barely
‘sorta...’
lita ala
lana
(6) lita
"di.t@
ADV.barely
ala.
"ha.R@
NEG
lana.
"da.b@
real
‘Not sorta. Totally!’
6.3.3 Noun Phrases
Noun phrase refer to nameable, identiable concepts. In English nouns
are described as person, places, or things, but that fails to adequately
capture the scope of nouns (both in English and Pantluci). Take for
example the word “challenge” (or Pantlici’s “linu lanla”). It certainly
is not a person, or a place, and its not really a “thing”, yet it is still
a noun. However, challenges can be named and identied such as “The
Great British Bake O” or “Jessica’s chess tournament”. These names
themselves behave the same grammatically as the more vague “challenge,”
so these names are also included within the same category.
7
Noun phrases may consist of a single word if it is a noun, pronoun,
or name:
(7) lalu.
"da.dU
person
‘someone’ / ‘There is some-
one.’
(8) apaca.
"ha.p@.k@
12
‘us (including you)’ / ‘We
(including you) exist.’
Noun phrases may consist of a smaller noun phrase with a predicate
phrase attached to it to describe or modify the smaller noun phrase in
some way. The noun is a typically an experiencer, theme, or patient of
the verb attached to it, but some verbs may ignore this pattern. This
noun is referred to as the subject:
7
This is an oversimplication, in reality no language has this level of
clear cut boundaries, nor do all languages share the same categories, but
it is sucient for the sake of this document.
34 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
tinu caca
(9) tinu
"ti.bU
NP.room
caca.
"ka.k@
many
‘many rooms’ /
‘There’s a lot of
rooms.’
cincli
picli cati
(10) cincli
"ciN.kli
NP.concrete
picli
"pi.kli
VP.break
cati
"ka.ti
plant
‘concrete broken by plants’ /
‘Plants break concrete.’
Noun phrases may consist of a smaller noun phrase with a pronouns
attached acting as a determiner, when the pronoun has an NP attached
to it, it acts as a verb with meaning dened per word:
lini apa
(11) lini
"di.mI
NP.name
apa.
"ha.p@
1
‘my name’ / ‘I have a name.’
citi
ipa ta
(12) citi
"ci.ti
NP.plant
ipa
"çi.p@
VP.1
ta
"ta
3
‘the plant it made mine’ /
‘It gave me a plant.’
ti apa
(13) ti
"ti
NP.3
apa.
"ha.p@
1
‘my one of those’ / ‘It’s
mine.’
ti
ipa ta
(14) ti
"ti
NP.3
ipa
"çi.p@
VP.1
ta.
"ta
3
‘the one of those it gave me’
/ ‘It makes it mine.’
pincu acu
(15) pincu
"piN.kU
NP.part
acu.
"ha.kU
what
‘which part’ / ‘Which part?’
pincu
icu ta
(16) pincu
"piN.kU
NP.part
icu
"hi.kU
VP.what
ta.
"ta
3
‘the part it chose’ / ‘It
chooses which part’
Finally, noun phrases may consist of a smaller noun phrase with an
adverbial phrase attached to it to alter the literal meaning of the noun
6.3. GRAMMAR 35
phrase:
paincu lana
cani caca
(17) paincu
"pajN.kU
NP.NP.part
lana
"da.b@
real
cini
"ka.bI
AP.can
caca.
"ka.k@
very
‘very likely genuine part’ / ‘It is
almost certainly a real part.’
cinuin ala
(18) cinuin
"ki.bw˘Im
NP.rock
ala.
"ha.R@
NEG
‘false-rock’ / ‘It’s not
stone.’
6.3.4 Verb and Predicate Phrases
Verb and predicate phrases both refer to conceptual relationships between
nouns. These relationships may be actions, states of being, events, or any-
thing else that exists dened by what it aects and how. The dierence
between the two is that verb phrases can be modied by ad-phrases, and
may turn into a predicate phrase by having an object attached, but a
predicate cannot. This means that verbs can only take one subject and
one object and that conjunctions must be used for multiple.
Verb phrases may consist of a single word if it is a verb or adverb or
a smaller verb phrase with an ad-phrase attached:
lali ui
(19) lali
"da.RI
small
ui.
"wi
lol
‘to be small
(lol)’ / ‘lmao
It’s tiny!’
tici
i
niclu apa
(20) tici
"ti.ci
VP.speak
i
"çi
AP.from
niclu
"bi.klU
NP.mouth
apa.
"ha.p@
1
‘said from my mouth’ / ‘It’s spoken by
my mouth.’
Predicate phrases may consist of a verb phrase on its own, or a verb
phrase with a noun phrase attached to it to specify one of the roles of
noun in the event in some way. The noun is a typically an agent, stimulus,
or force of the verb phrase its attached to, but some verb’s denitions
may ignore this pattern. This noun is referred to as the object:
36 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
picla pacancala
(21) picla
"pi.kl@
damage
pacancala.
"pa.k˘aN.k@.R@
1.IMP
‘that you must break’ / ‘Break it!’
cila
caitican apa
pa apa
(22) cila
"ci.R@
VP.want
caitican
"kaj.ti.k˘am
NP.NP.ConP.cat
apa
"ha.p@
1
pa
"pa
and
apa.
"ha.p@
1
‘wanted by my cat and me’ / ‘Me and my cat want it.’
6.3.5 Ad-phrases
Prepositions, Adverbs, and ad-phrases modify the fundamental meanings
of other phrases. Rather than specifying or clarifying which one of the
possibilities you meant, they instead alter the meaning of the words
themselves. Consider the word “fake” in English, “fake house” does not
refer to a house, the word “fake” alters the meaning itself rather than
specifying details about the house as “red house” does. This does not
mean that it always fundamentally changes the meaning as “fake” does;
some prepositions nearly add small semantic changes like “to,” “at,” or
“from” do in English.
Similar to verb and predicate phrases, adverbial-phrases may consist
of a single word if it is an adverb, or a smaller adverbial phrase with an
ad-phrase attached; prepositional phrases may consist of a single word if
it is a preposition, or a smaller prepositional phrase with an ad-phrase
attached, and ad-phrases may consist of either a prepositional phrase
with an object attached (the noun’s role is specied by the denition of
the preposition), or a adverbial phrase without one:
6.3. GRAMMAR 37
ni ta
(23) ni
"bi
AP.at
ta.
"ta
3
‘at it’ /
‘It goes
towards
them.’
cila
caitican apa
pa apa
(24) cila
"ci.R@
VP.want
caitican
"kaj.ti.k˘am
NP.NP.ConP.cat
apa
"ha.p@
1
pa
"pa
and
apa.
"ha.p@
1
‘wanted by my cat and me’ / ‘Me and my cat
want it.’ REPLACE THIS
6.3.6 interjections
interjections provide meta-lingustic information about the the situtation.
That may be what is happening to the speaker, listener, what is being
talked about, or the way things are being said. Typically interjections are
paired with their opposites by the presence or absence of “na” as the nal
syllable. so even if you do not know the meanings of “nia” and “niana”,
it is safe to assume they are antonyms.
(25) ui.
"wi
amusment
‘lol.’
(26) iana.
"ja.b@
NEG.understanding
‘I don’t understand.’
6.3.7 Special Structures
Experimentation and research is ongoing for other special structures for
Pantluci to handle the current holes in the language such as indirect
questions
Conjunctions
Conjunctions connect multiple nodes into single conceputal groups
like English’s “and” or “or.” Conjunctions in Pantluci must be used in a
very specic structure, where a conjunction joins two phrases of the same
type, and the result is a phrase of that type, or part of it may be used as
the root in order to act as a correction or clarication:
X
conjunction X
conjunction X
38 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
pila
pi natta
(27) pila
"pi.R@
VP.cute
pi
"pi
ConP.and
natta.
"ba.st@
fun
‘cute and fun’ / ‘It is sweet an
amusing.’
tlitalui paca
(28) tlitalui
"tì
<
i.t@.Roj
ConP.only-if
paca.
"pa.k@
2
‘only if you’ / ‘Sure,
but only if you are.’
Abstractions
Abstractions convert a node from a functional grammatical structure
into a noun. The semantics of this transformation depends on the abstrac-
tion used. The common factor however is that the semantics of the node
pre-transformation is treated like a root. For example “lani,” meaning
“word” on its own, turns nodes into quotes, while “lanu,” meaning “event”
on its own, turns nodes into events where the embedded clause happens.
abstraction X
lunu
ti
linla apa
picla
(puaia)
lini
lacin pacancala
(29) lunu
"du.bU
NP.Abst.VP.event
picla
"pi.kl@
NP.break
puaia
"pû
Ţ
aj.@
metaphor
ti
"ti
NP.3
lini
"di.bI
VP.word
linla
"din.d@
VP.battle
apa
"ha.p@
1
lacin
"da.c˘ım
look
pacancala.
"pa.k˘aN.k@.R@
2.IMP
‘My ght with it was (metaphorically) broken by the phrase
“look!”’
6.4 Compounding
6.4.1 Loaning
(including self loaning) loans can have letters added or removed based on
commonness apaplca => apaca
6.4. COMPOUNDING 39
try to remove syllabic consonants
6.4.2 Joining
The general form of compounding is to take two or more roots, then for
each of the roots other than the rst one, if the rst vowel has a nasal
coda remove the vowel, otherwise replace the vowel with an “l”. This
turns them into syllabic consonants due their position. Then attach all
of the roots together in order. If any of the syllabic “n”s or “l”s would
cause phonemes from the other roots to attach to them then place an “h”
between those two roots in order to specify where the syllable boundary
is. The following sections describe the most common types of compounds
Nouns The typical subject of a verb can be derived from “a” followed
by the verb, like English’s “paint” becoming “painter”.
EXAMPLE
Similarly the typical object of a verb can be derived from the verb followed
by “a”, like English’s “train” becoming “trainee”.
EXAMPLE
The typical thing that would ll a certain preposition for a verb can be
derived via the preposition followed by the verb, for example Pantluci’s
“aaaaa” (I cannot think of a similar process in English).
EXAMPLE
endocentric compounds aka noun + verb
Verbalization “la” + noun
Passivization “la” + verb
incorporation verb + noun
6.4.3 Numbers
tcan = bijective base ve where digits are CV syllables, tcan gets inserted
every 3 digits from the right except initally and always nally 1 = tcan,
0= what would be 1
atcn=3+
patcn=0 (1)
tcn=1 () tatcn=2 catcn=3 natcn=4 lantcn=5
papltcn=6 (11) patltcn=7 (12) pacltcn=8 (13) panltcn=9 (14) palltcn=10
(15)
tapltcn=11 (21) tatltcn=12 (22) tacltcn=13 (23) tanltcn=14 (24)
talltcn=15 (25)
40 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
6.5 Sample
6.6. DICTIONARY 41
6.6 Dictionary
Dictionary forms are shown with 0 preceding nodes.
Vowel Initial
a (["ha]) Pro. ‚ I, me, we, us
(exclusive)
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ my, our (exclusive), we own
because of object
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ used to nominalize
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “I”/“-er”
tok: “mi”
jbo: “mi”
aca (["ha.k@]) Adv. ‚ west,
westward, western
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “west”
tok: “poka”
jbo: “vu’a”
acna (["ha.k’b@]) adverb ‚ future,
will, to-be
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “gonna”
tok: “kama”
jbo: “ba”
ala (["ha.R@]) Pro. ‚ everything
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ all, every, each
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “all”
tok: “ale”
jbo: “ro”
alanu (["ha.Ra.bU]) Verb ‚ sub-
ject is blue
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “blue”
tok: “laso”
jbo: “blanu”
alain (["ha.Rajm]) Verb ‚ subject
is loved by, wished the best by
object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “adore”
tok: “olin”
jbo: “prami”
alau (["ha.Raw]) Verb ‚ subject
is yellow
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “yellow”
tok: “jelo”
jbo: “pelxu”
alin (["ha.R˘Im]) Verb ‚ subject is
white, pale-colored, light
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “white”
tok: “walo”
jbo: “blabi”
alu (["ha.RU]) Conj. ‚ one or the
other, or both
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “or”
tok: “anu”
jbo: “ja”
42 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
an (["h˘am]) Conj. ‚ and, both
things
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “and”
tok: “en”
jbo: “e”
ana (["ha.b@]) Adv. ‚ subject is
false, not true
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “na’e”
tok: “ala”
jbo: “nah”
anta (["h˘an.t@]) Verb ‚ subject is
wanted, desired by object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “want”
tok: “wile”
jbo: “pacna”
antina (["han.tI.b@]) Adv. ‚ why,
because of what
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “why”
tok: “tan seme”
jbo: “mu’i ma”
ata (["ha.t@]) Adv. ‚ east,
eastward, eastern
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “east”
tok: “poka”
jbo: “du’a”
atia
(
["ha.tS
<
j@]
)
Prep.
‚
subject
is like, similar, akin to object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “akin”
tok: “sama”
jbo: “si’a”
atu (["ha.tU]) Prep. ‚ subject
is because of object, object
therefore subject
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “so”
tok: “tan”
jbo: “ki’u”
C
ca (["ka]) Adv. ‚ subject is
genuie, real, actual, bona-de,
happening
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “yeah”
tok: “lon”
jbo: “go’i”
can (["k˘am]) Verb ‚ subject is
able, capable of, can object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “can”
tok: “ken”
jbo: “ka’e”
cala (["ka.R@]) Verb ‚ subject is
red, crimson
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “gules”
tok: “loje”
jbo: “xunre”
calai (["ka.Raj]) Verb ‚ subject is
grey, desaturated
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “grey”
tok: “walo”
jbo: “grusi”
6.6. DICTIONARY 43
cana (["ka.b@]) Verb ‚ subject
goes, is moved by object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “went”
tok: “tawa”
jbo: “ka’a”
canaia (["ka.b@.j@]) Verb ‚ sub-
ject is gotten, taken, had by
object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “get”
tok: “kama jo”
jbo: “lebna”
canau (["ka.baw]) Pro. ‚ you,
y’all (command)
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ your, you own because of
object (command)
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “can you”
tok: “sina o”
jbo: “ko”
cancli (["k˘aN.kli]) Noun. ‚
concrete, something utilitarian,
functional, synthetic
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “concrete”
canla (["k˘an.d@]) Verb ‚ subject
is good, healthy, great
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “well”
tok: “pona”
jbo: “kanro”
canli (["k˘an.dI]) Adv ‚ hypothet-
ical, would be
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “would”
tok: “ken la”
jbo: “da’i”
caplai (["ka.plaj]) Verb ‚ subject
is queer, lgbtq+, polyamorous
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “queer”
tok: “kule”
jbo: “sorpa’i”
cnani (["k’ba.bI]) Verb ‚ subject
is the meaning, essence of, meant
by object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “mean”
tok: “kon”
jbo: “smuni”
L
la (["da]) Verb ‚ subject is equal,
equivalent to, one of, the same as
object
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ used to passivize
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ used to verbalize
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “be”
tok: “li”
jbo: “du”
44 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
lacni (["da.k’bI) Noun ‚ stone,
rock
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “rock”
tok: “kiwen”
jbo: “rokci”
lacta (["da.kT@) Verb ‚ subject is
seen, looked at, observed
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “look at”
tok: “lukin”
jbo: “viska”
lali (["da.RI]) Noun ‚ an act of
labor, work, a job
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “labor”
tok: “pali”
jbo: “jibri”
lan (["d˘am]) Prep. ‚ subject is
there, true in, on, at, if, while,
when object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “on”
tok: “lon”
jbo: “ca”
lana (["da.b@]) Verb ‚ subject is
known, understood by object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “know”
tok: “sona”
jbo: “du’o”
N
na (["ba]) Pro. ‚ we, us
(inclusive)
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ our (inclusive), we own
because of object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “we”
tok: “mi”
jbo: “mi’o”
nacli (["ba.clI) Noun ‚ girl,
woman, lady, ma’am
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “girl”
tok: “meli”
jbo: “nixli”
nala (["ba.R@]) Adv. ‚ north,
northward, northern
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “north”
tok: “lete”
jbo: “be’a”
nalinta (["ba.R˘un.t@]) Verb ‚
subject is magenta, metaphori-
cally non-spectral
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “magenta”
tok: “loje laso”
jbo: “nukni”
naluna (["ba.RU.b@]) Verb ‚ sub-
ject is brown, earthy-colored
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “brown”
tok: “jelo ma”
jbo: “bunre”
6.6. DICTIONARY 45
nan (["b˘am]) Adv. ‚ current,
now, present
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “now”
tok: “ni”
jbo: “ca”
nania (["ba.bj@) Noun ‚ boy,
man, guy, sir
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “boy”
tok: “mije”
jbo: “nanla”
nanitu (["ba.bI.tU) Noun ‚ bone,
shell
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “bone”
tok: “palisa”
jbo: “bongu”
nanti (["b˘an.ti]) Noun ‚ enby,
genderqueer, nonbinary person
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “enby”
tok: “tonsi”
jbo: “vepre”
naplu (["ba.plU]) Verb ‚ subject
is orange, copper-color
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “copper”
tok: “jelo”
jbo: “narju”
natlu (["ba.tì
<
U]) Verb ‚ subject
is needed, required by object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “need”
tok: “wile”
jbo: “nitcu”
natu (["ba.tU]) Adv. ‚ more,
extra, very
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “most”
tok: “mute”
jbo: “bancu”
P
pancu (["paN.kU]) Verb ‚ subject
is pink
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “pink”
tok: “loje”
jbo: “penku”
pani (["pa.bI]) Adv. ‚ past, was,
back-then
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “then”
tok: “pini”
jbo: “pu”
panila (["pa.bI.R@]) Verb ‚ sub-
ject is black, dark
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “sable”
tok: “pimeja”
jbo: “xekri”
panti (["p˘an.tI]) Verb ‚ subject is
owned, had, posessed by object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “have”
tok: “jo”
jbo: “ponse”
46 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
pantluci (["p˘an.
t*tìU.ci]) Noun ‚ the language
described by this book and
related oshoots
§ aaaaaaaa
a priori
panu (["pa.bU]) Noun ‚ person,
someone, sapient
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “people”
tok: “jan”
jbo: “prenu”
patni (["pa.snI]) Verb ‚ subject
is thoughtful, thinks of, about
object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “think”
tok: “pilin”
jbo: “pensi”
pla (["pla]) Prep. ‚ subject uses,
is done using, is helped by object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “for”
tok: “ilo”
jbo: “pi’o”
plalia (["pla.RI.h@]) Verb ‚ sub-
ject is lime, light green
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “lime”
tok: “laso”
jbo: “pelri’o”
T
ta (["ta]) Pro. ‚ they, it, he, she
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ their, its, his, her, they own
because of object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “she”
tok: “ni”
jbo: “ti”
taci (["ta.ci]) Verb ‚ subject is
said, claimed by object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “say”
tok: “toki”
jbo: “cusku”
tacti (["ta.kTI]) Verb ‚ subject is
talked, spoken about by object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “talk”
tok: “toki”
jbo: “ciksi”
tala (["ta.R@]) Pro. ‚ you, y’all
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ your, you own because of
object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “y’all”
tok: “sina”
jbo: “do”
talani (["ta.R@.bI) Noun ‚ cat,
feline, kitten
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “feline”
tok: “soweli”
jbo: “tirxu”
6.6. DICTIONARY 47
talapu (["ta.R@.pU]) Verb ‚ sub-
ject is purple
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “purple”
tok: “laso”
jbo: “zirpu”
talici (["ta.RI.ci) Noun ‚ dog,
puppy, hound, canine, wolf, fox
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “bark”
tok: “soweli”
jbo: “lorxu”
talua (["ta.dwa]) Prep. ‚ subject
is directed, going to, at object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “towards”
tok: “tawa”
jbo: “farna”
tan (["t˘am]) Prep. ‚ subject is
from, of object
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “of”
tok: “tan”
jbo: “zei”
tana (["ta.b@]) Pro ‚ what thing,
nominal question
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ questions ”which thing”
about the subject
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “what”
tok: “seme”
jbo: “ma”
tanla (["tıan.d@]) Verb ‚ subject
is wet, lled, covered with water
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “water”
tok: “telo”
jbo: “cilmo”
tani (["ta.bi]) Noun ‚ language
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “lang”
tok: “toki”
jbo: “bau”
tanpi (["t˘am.pI]) Noun ‚ time
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “time”
tok: “tenpo”
jbo: “temci”
tata (["ta.t@]) Adv. ‚ some, an
amount
§ aaaaaaaa
‚ there are some, a few of the
subject
§
aaaaaaaa
eng: “some”
tok: “mute”
jbo: “su’o”
tatan (["ta.t˘am]) Verb ‚ subject
is cyan
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “cyan”
tok: “laso”
jbo: “cicna”
48 CHAPTER 6. PANTLUCI
tatu (["ta.tU]) Adv. ‚ south,
southward, southern
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “south”
tok: “seli”
jbo: “ne’u”
tlana (["tì
<
a.b@]) Verb ‚ subject
is green
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “green”
tok: “laso”
jbo: “crino”
tlapa (["tì
<
a.p@]) Verb ‚ subject
is asleep, resting, dormant
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “sleep”
tok: “lape”
jbo: “sipna”
tlalu (["tì
<
a.RU]) Noun ‚ blood,
vital uid
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “blood”
tok: “loje”
jbo: “ciblu”
tna (["sna]) Noun ‚ something,
stu
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “thing”
tok: “ijo”
jbo: “co’e”
tnani (["sna.bi]) Noun ‚ word,
term, name
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “name”
tok: “nimi”
jbo: “cmene”
ttani (["sta.bi]) Noun ‚ wood,
lumber, structural plant-matter
§ aaaaaaaa
eng: “trunk”
tok: “kasi”
jbo: “stani”
6.7. ALTERNATE ORTHOGRAPHY 49
6.7 Alternate Orthography
TODO ADD EXPLAINATION
“puca alin lana
cila caitican apa pa apa
ti ci pantluci”
.
,
hp
a
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a
ha
nli
hla
ba
.hc
a
la
.
,
,
hc
a
t
i
nc
na
ha
p
a
hp
a
ha
p
a
.ht
a
.hc
a
hnp
na
lt
lu
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i
