Kēlen
Constructed language created in 1998 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Kēlen?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Kēlen (pronounced [ˈke:.len]) 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.[1] However, the semantic content found in common verbs, such as those that are semantic primes, can also be found in Kēlen's relationals,[2] which calls into question whether Kēlen is technically verbless. Despite its distinctive grammar, Kēlen is an expressive and intelligible language.[3] Texts written in Kēlen have been translated into other languages by several people other than the creator of the language.[4] 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".[5]
Kēlen | |
---|---|
Created by | Sylvia Sotomayor |
Date | 1998 |
Setting and usage | alien species (the Kēleñi) |
Purpose | |
Sources | a priori language, consciously rejecting linguistic universals to create an alien language |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | None (mis ) |
Glottolog | None |
IETF | art-x-kelen |