LotM - Sep 14: Shikathi: view article

Welcome to the September 2014 edition of the LotM! This month's user-chosen language is Vulcanman's a priori language, Shikathi (or, in Shikathi, shykāðī)! Shikathi is a heavily agglutinating language, and while it is described as being verb-less, it functions heavily with a small class of words known as verbalizers. Let's dive in.

[top]Verbs and Verbalizers

One of the most interesting aspects of Shikathi, at least as I saw it, is how verbs are handled. Vulcanman himself describes the language as not having "verbs per se" (via Shikathi's verbs article). Instead of a distinct class of verbs, Shikathi employs three verbalizers that can be used with virtually any other word to create the intended meaning. This particles are:

intransitive: akām

transitive: lator

passive or becoming: ekrō

The following examples are right from the verb article, showing how these little verbalizers can be used:

ora = fire

ora akam = to be on fire

orā lator = to set on fire

ora ekrō = to be set on fire

The resulting verbs are conjugated according to the verbalizer used to construct it. The indepth conjugation tables can be seen [here] in the main verb article, as it's quite extensive and laden with examples of usage and translations to English.

[top]Phonology

While Shikathi's verbal (or verbalizer-al) system can seem daunting, the phonology is rather inviting. Although on the surface, the orthography seems to be radically different from English (or possibly anything else you've seen, except for maybe Ithkuil), the actual phonemes at work are easy to get through and not difficult to work with (at least for English speakers).

Perhaps the most 'difficult' (and I use that term loosely) aspect is the plethora of diphthongs found in Shikathi, but again, they're really not all that different from anything found in English. It's a definite breath of fresh air to not be pummeled by vowels that I can't pronounce as monophthongs, nevermind diphthongs. Maybe I need to work on that.

It's nice to see a language that is well-planned and not an English clone, but doesn't need to have an insane phonology to distinguish itself. Check out the table o' phonemes [here].

[top]Pro-Verbs

As mentioned before, Shikathi is described as being verb-less... but it does include another class of words that are definitely verby - pro-verbs. These are analogous to how pronouns and nouns are related - pro-verbs can replace verbs.

The actual mechanics behind it are breathtaking. Verbs can be replaced and further extrapolated on with a pro-verb, which can include conjunctions that further clarify the meaning of the verb being replaced. I hardly feel that I can do the system justice (partially because I am still wrapping my head around it), but please stop by Vulcanman's article on Shikathi Pro-Verbs and give it a good read. It will definitely blow your mind - it's a concept I had never even imagined.

[top]A Note on LOTM

Got suggestions for how the next LOTM should be written? See something in Shikathi that wasn't covered and you wish it had been? Hate my guts and want to tell me? Feel free to shoot me (argylegasm) or Brandon a PM with your thoughts, suggestions, and hate mail. Also feel free to drop by the LOTM clan if you have other feedback, want to join in the voting process, or nominate a language!

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