Kēlen () is a constructed language created by Sylvia Sotomayor in 1998. The language is designed to be a truly alien language by violating a key linguistic universal — namely that all human languages have verbs. In Kēlen, relationships between noun phrases making up the sentence are expressed by one of four relationals. According to Sotomayor, these relationals perform the functions of verbs but lack any of the semantic content. However, the semantic content found in common verbs, such as those that are semantic primes, can also be found in Kēlen's relationals, which calls into question whether Kēlen is technically verbless. Despite its distinctive grammar, Kēlen is an expressive and intelligible language. Texts written in Kēlen have been translated into other languages by several people other than the creator of the language.as may be seen here In an interview, Sotomayor stated that she aimed for Kēlen to be naturalistic apart from its verblessness, and that to achieve this she employs the principle "change one thing and keep everything else the same".
Background and history In its concultural setting, Kēlen is spoken by an alien species called the Kēleñi, for whom the language was created.
Kēlen has gained recognition and acclaim within the conlanging community. It is mentioned prominently by Sarah L. Higley in her book Hildegard of Bingen's Unknown Language: An edition, translation and discussion (Palgrave Macmillan 2007), The New Middle Ages , ) where she discusses Lingua Ignota in the context of constructed languages up to the present day. Higley describes Kēlen as an example of the desire for originality in contemporary conlanging, by virtue of its verbless grammar, and notes that it is a prominent example of a conlang created by a woman. She also says that "fellow conlangers consider Kēlen to be efficient, elegant, strange and innovative, and its writing system is greatly admired." Logan Kearsley discusses Kēlen in his essay "How to Not Verb",Logan Kearsley, How to Not Verb. Fiat Lingua, April 2020 describing it as "almost the prototypical example of a conlang without verbs" and the most well fleshed-out of the languages he reviewed for the essay. However, he does mention that by some definitions, relationals could be considered a small closed class of verbs. Peter Bleackley cites Kēlen as a key influence on his conlang iljena.Lorna Wallace 6 Strange "Alien" Languages Created by Linguists. Mental Floss, January 9th 2024 Kēlen is also discussed at length in a book by M. Yu. Sidorova and O.N. Shuvalova, including several glossed examples.М.Ю. Сидорова & О.Н. Шувалова (2016). Интернет-лингвистика: вымышленные языки. Москва: Издательство «1989.ру», pp. 49–60.
At the third Language Creation Conference David J. Peterson awarded the Smiley Award to Kēlen, describing it as "an engineered language with the soul of an artistic language". Peterson explains that while its experimental structure is in many ways similar to an engineered language, the amount of linguistic and concultural detail given by Sotomayor (including inflection of the relationals, three different scripts, and information on Kēleñi culture and society such as a calendar and a method of divination) make it a fully-fledged artistic project rather than a simple experiment.David J. Peterson, The 2009 Smiley Award Winner: Kēlen
Phonology
Consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Post-Alveolar Palatal Velar Nasal Plosive Fricative Lateral Trill
Sylvia Sotomayor analyses the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ as a stop, because "it used to be [pronounced] like German <z> or /ts/. This pronunciation is still found in some dialects." In addition, all sonorants, except /ʎ/, can be geminated, as follows: mm /mː/, nn /nː/, ññ /ɲː/, ŋŋ /ŋː/, ll /lː/, rr /rː/.
Vowels Kēlen has the same five monophthongs as in Spanish, with the addition of vowel length and diphthongs making it similar to the system found in Hawaiian. Some dialects also use a central short monophthong.
Monophthongs ShortLongFrontCentralBackFrontBackClose Mid Open
Diphthongs Sotomayor specifies that when any two vowels appear next to one another that are not specified as being read as diphthongs, they are instead spoken as two separate vowels. +Short Diphthongs -e -o i- ie a- ae ao +Long Diphthongs -e -o i- iē a- āe āo
Syllable structure Kēlen uses a (C)V(C) syllable structure.
Writing systems The romanization of Kēlen is given in the phonology section next to the phonemes that each Latin character represents. However, Kēlen also features three original writing systems by Sylvia Sotomayor.
Kēlen Writing System While not given its own name by Sotomayor, the primary writing system of Kēlen is ostensibly an alphabet, and bears a superficial resemblance to Devanagari. Box Script A variation upon the standard writing system which encloses text within a box. Ceremonial Interlace Alphabet An alphabet used for ceremonial purposes where each character is represented by a pattern which crosses over itself, "interlacing." as Sotomayor says, "Letters start in the bottom right hand corner, and continue over - under - over - under (or under - over, etc.) until they end at the top right hand corner."
Grammar
Syntax The word order of Kēlen depends upon the relational used in a given sentence. However, adjectives always come after nouns.
Pronouns Personal pronouns in Kēlen have singular, dual, paucal, and plural forms, as well as distinctions of clusivity in the first-person. +Personal PronounsSingularDualPaucalPlural1st PersonExclusiveliēnliēnnelēimliēþInclusiveliērñēimñiēþ2nd Personriēnriēnnerēimriēþ3rd Personsāensāennesāimsāeþ Kēlen features reflexive pronouns, most of which can also be used as so-called "reduced" forms of the ordinary personal pronouns with the exception of the 3rd person inanimate, "ja". When used as reduced pronouns, some are considered more or less polite than others. +Reduced and Relative PronounsPronoun1st Personle2nd Personri3rd PersonAnimatemaInanimateja Le, ri, and ma can all be used as reduced forms of the singular, dual, and paucal of their corresponding full-length personal pronouns. Ma can be freely used in place of any 3rd person pronoun. Using le as a reduced pronoun is considered polite, ri is considered impolite, and ma is "neutral as far as politeness is concerned".
There are three demonstrative pronouns in Kēlen, distinguishing between the proximal, medial, and distal. They can be used as adjectives, and "generally follow the noun they modify, but can immediately precede it. They can also be used to reference a previously mentioned noun. However, in certain contexts, the noun they are assumed to modify is 'place'". The table below outlines potential uses of the demonstrative pronouns. +Demonstrative PronounsKēlen PronounUsageAs ModifierAs StandaloneProximalxōthishereMedialþōthatthereDistalākethat otheryonder Indefinite pronouns in Kēlen function similarly to the demonstratives, where they can be used either as modifiers or standalone. Unlike the demonstratives, however, which indefinite is used depends upon number and animacy. +Indefinite PronounsExistentialUniversalNegativeDistributiveNon-DistributiveSingularAnimatemanahanInanimatejanahanCollectiveAnimatemanarenmawaeInanimatejanarenjawaePluralAnimatehonahanmannarienhonnarienhowaeInanimatejannarien
Nouns
Animacy Kēlen makes extensive use of a system of animacy, with a set of mandatory prefixes on all noun stems, the usage of which depends upon the speaker's view of what they are talking about. Sotomayor provides an animacy hierarchy as follows, with 1 being the most likely to be considered animate by any given speaker, and 7 the least:
Kēleñi Kin Kēleñi Non-Kin Īrāñi & Humans Natural Forces, Pets Animals, Natural Objects Tools Everything Else
Prefixes are given for animate, inanimate, and possessed nouns. Sotomayor describes the latter as "[referring] to those inanimates that are considered to be part of a person, such as body parts." PrefixAnimatem(a)-Inanimatej(a)-an1st Person Possessedl(e)-2nd Person Possessedr(i)-3rd Person Possesseds(a)-
Number Kēlen's nouns are suffixed for grammatical number, distinguishing between the singular and the plural. The suffixes used for the singular are dependent upon the ending of the noun stem, and the suffixes for the plural depend upon the animacy. +Singular SuffixesStem EndingSuffix Any vowel A single nasal A lateral or trill "rj" - Any Pair of Consonants (except "rj") Stem with "-īk" or "-īw" suffix -eEverywhere else -a +Plural SuffixesAnimacySuffixAnimate -ienInanimate -iPossessed
Relationals According to Sotomayor, in lieu of verbs Kēlen uses four so-called "Relationals". She describes these on her site with examples of the potential uses of each within the context of larger sentences, with the abbreviation "NP" for "Noun Phrase".
La La is the relational of existence: "La is used to express a static state, a location, or equivalence." It inflects for tense, aspect, and modality. PatternEnglish equivalentLA NPNP exists, there is NPLA NP LOC (NP)NP is at a locationLA NP (ñe) NPNP is (the same as) NPLA NP pa NPNP is/has/contains NP
Ñi Ñi is the relational of change: "Ñi is used to express a coming into existence, a change in state (when the noun phrase that is the object of ñi has more than one noun in it), or a change in location." Ñi inflects for agent. PatternEnglish EquivalentÑI NPNP (now) exists, N1 is (now) N2ÑI NP ā|tō NPNP (now) exists, because of volitional|non-volitional NPÑI NP LOC (NP)NP is to/from a location
Se Se is the transactional relational, "Se is used to express giving and receiving, with the object given or received as the object of se and the giver as the source and the receiver as the beneficiary. This pattern is extended to encompass speech and information. Se is also used to express sensing and experiencing of mental states." Se inflects for source, beneficiary and tense. PatternEnglish EquivalentSE(.SRC;BEN) NPSRC gives NP to BEN or BEN receives NP from SRCSE(.SRC;BEN) NP ke|to NP mo NPSRC gives NP to BEN or BEN receives NP from SRCSE(.SRC;BEN) NP ien XSRC says or expresses NP or BEN hears NP and NP=XSE.BEN NPBEN experiences/senses NPSE NN is introduced.
Pa Pa is the most recent relational in-fiction, "In many ways it expresses the same thing as LA NP pa NP", but indicates a passive meaning. Pa is never inflected. PatternEnglish EquivalentPA NP1 NP2NP1 is/has NP2
References
External links
An Introduction to Kēlen "Verblessness in Kēlen", presented at the 2nd Language Creation Conference