Word Types

This chapter details the types of Eberban words. Here’s all of them at a glance:

This chapter uses Eberban words and their meanings as examples. The notation will be explained when we teach Eberban Predicates.

Particles

Particles are grouped into families that share the same pattern. Each family is written in all caps using the alphabetically-first particle in its family. For instance, MI represents mi, mie, mio, me, ma, etc… as the vowel order is “ieaou”.

Particles are structured by a single non-sonorant consonant followed only by vhowels.

As seen, particles function in one of two ways. Some particles, like the MI family, are also content words: they express meaning. Other particles, like the PA family, serve a grammatical purpose.

Content Words

Roots

Root Structure 1 - Non-sonorant:

1. Begin the root with a non-sonorant consonant.
2. Follow it with at least one vhowel.
3. Either:
   • End with a sonorant.
   • Keep going.
     1. Three choices:
        • Follow with a sonorant.
        • Follow with a medial pair.
        • Follow with a consonant triplet.
     2. Follow with at least one vhowel.
     3. Optionally go back to step a.
     4. Optionally end with a sonorant.

Root Structure 2 - Initial pair:

1. Begin the root with an initial pair.
2. Follow it with at least one vhowel.
3. This step is optional, follow it any number of times.
   1. Three choices:
      • Follow with a sonorant.
      • Follow with a medial pair.
      • Follow with a consonant triplet.
   2. Follow with at least one vhowel.
4. Optionally end with a sonorant.

Borrowings

The structures of a borrowing are much looser than those of a root, even allowing you to use an initial pair in the middle of a word.

Borrowing Structure 1 - Vowel:

1. Prefix the word:
   1. With a boundary: either a space or '
   2. Then u
2. Begin with a vowel. If the vowel is the letter u, place a boundary before it.
3. Follow with any number of vhowels.
4. Six choices:
   • The letter h.
   • A single consonant.
   • An initial pair.
   • A medial pair.
   • A consonant triplet.
   • A glue.
5. Follow with at least one vhowel.
6. Optionally go back to step 4.
7. Optionally end with a single consonant.
8. Suffix the word with a boundary.

Borrowing Structure 2 - Consonant:

1. Prefix the word:
   1. With a boundary: either a space or '
   2. Then u
2. Six choices:
   • The letter h.
   • A single consonant.
   • An initial pair.
   • A medial pair.
   • A consonant triplet.
   • A glue.
3. Follow with at least one vhowel.
4. Six choices:
   • The letter h.
   • A single consonant.
   • An initial pair.
   • A medial pair.
   • A consonant triplet.
   • A glue.
5. Optionally go back to step 3.
6. Follow with at least one vhowel.
7. Optionally end with a single consonant.
8. Suffix the word with a boundary.

Multiple borrowings

Borrowings are terminated with the particle be, but this is only required when talking about two separate borrowings consecutively:

Test out your own borrowings using the visual parser!

Freeform Variables

Freeform variables follow the same structure as borrowings except that their prefix is “i”. Because of this, we’ll skip the instructions and just show the symbolic representations.

Unlike our Henry Ford borrowings example, freeform variables don’t need to be terminated with be.

Compounds

Compounds can be written with/without spaces and are classified by their starting letters.

Because we don’t know how long a four-or-more compound could be, they must be ended with a boundary and then the letter o.