Klyros Language
  
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| The word Klyros written in Klyros ideograms | ||
The Klyros language is very simple and logical in its structure and grammar, yet powerfully flexible and adaptive like the Klyros race itsself when a need for new expressions arises.
It is based on an ideographic writing system, that originates in the artistic traits of its creators, and deals mostly with concrete concepts. Most of the few abstracts that are present in the language are also used with a special grammatical function. For example to express gender or tense.
There's only one sound in Klyros pronunciation that is not available in the Common alphabet. This sound - the shwa - like a short form of the vowel in the common word "her", is transcribed by an apostroph when writing Klyros in the Common writing. This sound vanishes completely when it lies adjacent to another one that is not identical to the preceding. K' combined with lyr becomes thus klyr
Word classes
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| ksinos | ||
Ksinos (process words)
The base of the Klyros language are Ksinos, the process words that roughly correspond to the verbs in Common. Each ideogram refers to a process word. All other words are derived from Ksinos using pre-, suf-, or circumfixes.
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| konos | ||
Konos (substantial words)
Substantial words named Konos refer to physical things, or seldomly abstract concepts. They are almost identical to the nouns of Common. The formation of nouns happens through the prefix "K'", which standing alone means to form, that is added to a Ksin.
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| kzanos | ||
Kzanos (descriptive words)
Kzanos literally translates to the Common word colours. It describes a word class of attributes and descriptive expressions that can be seen as a mixture between Common adjectives and adverbs. They are the inversion of konos and thusly are formed by the suffix "K'".
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| kefaos | ||
Kefaos (logic words)
The logic words or Kefaos (lit. thoughts) are used to make logical connections between Klyros phrases. They can be compared to linking words, conjunctions of the Common. Most of them are formed using the ksin jo (to join) as a suffix.
Accordingly, jojo for example is the Klyros counterpart of Common and.
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| ktenos | ||
Ktenos (replacement words)
Ktenos are the equivalent of Common pronouns though their usage is more difficult and subject to cultural peculiarities.
Please refer to the section on the correct formation and usage for details.
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| knetos | ||
Knetos (relation words)
What Common refers to as a preposition is called Knetos in Klyros. These words are formed using the prefix net and used to describe mainly but not exclusively temporal and spatial relations.
Descriptor precedence
Since Klyros is a highly agglutinative language, it is important to know what the correct precedence of the descriptors after a ksin is.
- word class descriptor
- person descriptor
- gender descriptor
- numeral descriptor
- temporal descriptor
- voice descriptor
- mood descriptor
In compound words there can be of course descriptors to each of the composed ksinos.
Usage of Ktenos
It is highly advisable to pay attention to the correct use of ktenos when communicating in Klyros. Wrongly used they can easily be a cause for offence.
Personal
 
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| ze (I) and zeos (we) | ||
First person
The most unproblematic of the ktenos is the one refering to oneself alone. The first person singular is ze (archaic also 'kze').
The first person singular is zeos.
 
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| zelim, and zemil | ||
Note that the use of the honorific wo together with the first person is considered uppish, except for a ruler. (It would be appropriate where Common makes use of the "pluralis maiestatis", "we, the octarch")
It is polite for a Klyros to give the own gender when addressing a non-Klyros. (It is not alway easy for foreigners to discern the Klyros sexes from their appearance). In these cases 'I' translates to zelim for a male and zemil for a female.
Second person
Third person
Numbers
The concept of the Klyros numbering system might strike foreigners somewhat odd as the cardinal numbers are regarded a process and accordingly are expressed through Ksin. The digits are pronounced as vowels of different pitch and length.
Cardinal numerals
The base of the Klyros numbering is a decimal system almost identical to the Common one. The difference is that the symbol for zero is not used to form number values higher than nine. Instead there is a special symbol meaning "ten" that is not used separately. It is appears where you would expect a zero in a number of Common. The digits are formed by the following ideograms:
| Common | Klyros | Reading | Common | Klyros | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
a | 6 |  |
aa | |
| 2 |  |
i | 7 |  |
ii | |
| 3 |  |
u | 8 |  |
uu | |
| 4 |  |
e | 9 |  |
ee | |
| 5 |  |
o | (10) |  |
oo |
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| uiioaae, 37564 | ||
Thus the word uiioaae is the pronunciation of the number 37564. If the numbers pronounced as the same vowels are adjacent there is a short shwa or pause inserted to discern them from one another. So uiioaa'a means 37561.
The number zero is written as nu which means to negate (or as substantial form knu i.e. nothing)
| Common | Klyros | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 0 |  |
nu |
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| aik, twelfth | ||
Ordinal numerals
Ordinal numbers belong into the word class of Kzanos.
For example while ai means twelve aik refers to the twelfth of a row.
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| ayaik, the twelfth part | ||
Fractions
Fractions are written using ya a ksin meaning to divide, that is often shortened to y' when used for this purpose. Depending on their usage the fraction can be a ksin or a kzan.
Fractions with a low denominator are commonly used to form other word classes aswell. The half for example is kayi in Klyros while ayik would mean half in the sense of a Common adjective.
Typography
There is no punctuation in Klyros. Sentences are simply separated by a full space, meaning a blank that is equal the size of a ideogram. Words within a sentence are mostly separated by a half-space, half the width of an ideogram. Sometimes, especially often found in ancient poetry, there is no word spacing, to the effect of making the poem more aesthetic to the onlooker but also a lot harder to read and interprete.