Luno Lei

Gradiency

Gradiency is a way to change the meaning of a word. Words in the dictionary are written in neutral form. The neutral form often has no English translation and is somewhere in-between the less form and the more form.

The more form could for example imply a larger size, more activity, more effort, more notable, more beneficial to the subject, and so on, depending on context.

Examples

Intensifiers & Diminutives

Intensifiers and diminutives are used to express either more or less intensity for a word. Unlike gradiency, this does not change the core meaning of the word. However, it is worth noting that, for example the more form and the intensifier form, may in some cases be quite similar.

Often, intensifiers and diminutives are stacked on top of gradiency suffixes as a way to be more specific. For example, applying both the more form and the diminutive form to varma (lukewarm) results in slightly warm. In this example, gradiency is used to express warmth, while the diminutive form tones it down.

This can be applied to any part of speech.

Examples

Objectification

-lo

When a word have both descriptor and noun meanings, the descriptor meaning is the default one. In order to turn it into a noun, the objectification suffix has to be added. Objectification is implied when the noun form of a gradiency suffix is used.

Examples

Abstractification

go(t)-

A noun can be made more abstract or generalised by applying the abstractification prefix. This is only necessary when it is relevant to be specific about abstractness. A lack of the abstractification form does not necessarily imply concreteness.

Examples

Colours

Colours are expressed using three words:

• dio - red
• via - green
• blu - blue

These can be combined to express different colours. For example, combining blue and green results in yellow, meaning yellow is expressed as bluvia.

Additionally, the words for "dark" and "light" can be used to specify brightness.

Examples

Counting

Numbers are expressed in a form of scientific notation, such as 1.23*10^3. The dek particle is used to express the *10^ part and the dot is implied.

Negative numbers are expressed by adding the less gradiency form to a number.

Digits

Examples

Dates

Week days are expressed by combining a number between one and seven with vikove, where Monday is day one. Similarly, month names are expressed by combining a number between one and twelve with vikosa.

Examples

Countries & Languages

Countries are expressed by combining an ISO 3166 country code with (e)leisa. Language names are expressed by combining an ISO 639-1 language code with (e)gomuni.

When a code can not be pronounced easily (eg. cz), the letters are written and pronounced with an e sound in-between them. Letters that do not exist in Luno Lei are replaced according to the following table:

Examples

Elements

The name of elements in the periodic table are constructed by combining the element symbol with (e)stofi. When a symbol can not be pronounced easily, the letters are written and pronounced with an e in-between them. Letters that do not exist in Luno Lei are replaced according to the table in Countries & Languages.