The project exists and is developed since 2011. The author: Rosto
Main idea
Seytil is a worldlang, i.e. an artificial language having the languages of the entire world as a source. The number of source languages is not limited, but words used by more speakers have more chance to be used in Seytil.
Seytil (also it was: Sekay Til) tries to use as far as possible the phenomenon of false cognates, true friends. This phenomenon is worldwide per se, and exists objectively.
The most advantage of the wordlang — it is minimally arbitrary. Any arbitrarily invented rules are avoided, as possible.
The name
"Sey" is a short form of "sekay" = world or "seyara" = planet.
"Til" = language. In some Turkic languages it is "til" (cf Turkish "dil"). In some Germanic languages it is "tal", which is independent.
Writing and phonetics
A text in Seytil may be written using writing systems of the source languages for each word. But it is not practically useful. Seytil has its own alphabet, Silineal, but usually it is transliterated using Latin alphabet.
Phonetics is close to that of Esperanto.
| ST | Eo | IPA |
|---|
| ch | ĉ | ʧ |
| dj | ĝ | ʤ |
| dz | dz (ẑ) | ʣ |
| h | h, ĥ | h, x |
| j | ĵ | ʒ |
| r | r | r, R |
| sh | ŝ | ʃ |
| ts | c | ʦ |
| w | ŭ | w |
| y | j | j |
Remaining letters (a, b, d, e, f, g, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, s, t, u, v, z) are pronounced as in Esperanto/IPA with the same value.
Accentuation
A stress depends on a source word. In most cases it is before the last consonant (in a root). It is not a rule, but only statistics. So, when it is not so, the stress may be marked. Suffixes may be stressed if they are stressed in the source language(s). Otherwise suffixes do not affect a stress.
Lexicon
The lexicon consists of native words and loanwords.
Native words
Native words are derived by the method of false cognates. For example, "a man" (adult male human): in many languages of the Near East it is "adam"; in Vietnamese it is "danom" (from đàn ông). Both contain the common pattern "da..m", and "adam" has more speakers, so the native word for male human is adam.
Synonyms and homonyms are possible and are not avoided intentionally.
Loan words
Loanwords are loans from any languages by any reason. Examples (loanwords marked by asterisks):
me sapi *gonfú. — I know kung fu.
papa inom nomi yoy *cha. — Father drinks only good tea.
neutron habe sun elektro *chona. — Neutron has zero electric charge.
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns may have multiple variants. The most simple scheme:
| Singular | | Plural | |
|---|
| I | me | we | mera |
| you | anta | you (pl.) | antar |
| he, she, it | u | they | ura |
Possessive: de me, de anta, de u, de mera, de antar, de ura
Numerals
| # | Word |
|---|
| 1 | ek |
| 2 | du |
| 3 | sam |
| 4 | ne |
| 5 | pach |
| 6 | sita |
| 7 | septe |
| 8 | ósam |
| 9 | dokuz |
| 10 | ten |
| 100 | hándrid |
| 1000 | mil |
2014 → du mil ten ne
Ordinals: 1st: pervi; 2nd: diar; 3rd: tisam; 4th: tine; 5th: tipach; 6th: tisita; 7th: tisepte ...
Days of the week
harelar de tíden
pondeliMonday
selasaTuesday
larbaWednesday
puruvThursday
gumoyFriday
tubaySaturday
nichiyoSunday
Grammatical features
Markers of grammatical categories also are found from false cognates. The number of grammatical words and affixes is not limited — a grammatical element can be added and used if discovered from false cognates, and possibly also some better variants of already-added items can be found.
Noun
Plural: -lar (according to the last researches). The older variant was -ra; -ra may still be applicable for persons.
pullar in meshá tula kash de ra — Flowers in a forest are hidden from the sun.
Abstract nouns: -esa (-ésa, stressed).
mekesa — softness · viskuesa — viscosity · chanesa — strength
Verb
Infinitive: -re (-are, -ire, -ere; also: -ru, -iru, -eru)
letare nahi tek chori sumet — Not only birds can fly.
Past: -la
mi mirela onu — I saw him.
Future: sa
ure náyak sa resku hun — Our hero will rescue them.
Passive voice: -ti
ta kanitila ke sinha tarih — She was invited to a birthday.
Zero verb (no copula needed):
yasha ida djuang — Life is struggle.
mi prasana — I am happy.
sab sa yoy — All will be well.
it min hoche la — It was my desire. (compare: go mi hochela / mi hochela go — I desired it.)
Adjective
Superlative: -eyshi (-éyshi, stressed)
kim chaneyshi aki? — Who's the strongest here?
Comparative: pyo (more)
mi gana pyo ucha káren sení — I sing louder than you.
Questions
General question: Soru
Soru duken hiraku? — Is the store open?
Soru anta hoche cha ataw kahwa? — Do you want tea or coffee?
General question with logic emphasis: ma
Anta aday ma go utre? Anta aday go utre ma? — Will you give it back tomorrow?
Other question words:
Kem samay? — What time is it?
Onde anta datla go? — Where have you put it?
Samples
Sekay Til in sab tillar de alem, tek nid trikswotare go. Sekay Til [is] in all languages of [the] world, only [we] need to extract it.
mi elska seni I love you
nen odyah ney mey Her clothes are nice for her
gala habe meni tsevetlar [The] holiday has many colors
mi hoche maymirere to I want to unsee that
gelak pat mesa Laugh under the table
kudá anta pay? Where are you going?
way nomun máyut gara go? Why we must do it?
mi nahi anda, mólim takalam pyo lens I do not understand, please speak slower.
Links
Official site: seytil.info
Dictionary of native words (very old, out of date): False cognates, true friends