Kēm (Illumination)

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I shall become the light of the heavens, but when we meet again, I’ll still be a slave.

This content is a part of Illumination.

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Index / Lexica / Timeline

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General InformationPhonologyOrthographyGrammarLexicon

Kēm is a language most commonly spoken in Voi and by the upper class of Wēvyzh, however its also seen in many places as the language of academia, and as such many Lumies learn it regardless of their regional or cultural background.

Phonetic Inventory

The phonetic inventory of Kēm is as follows

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p/pʰ/ b/b/		t/tʰ/ d/d/		k/kʰ/ g/g/
Fricative	f/f/ v/v/	(th/θ/)	s/s/ z/z/	sh/ʃ/ zh/ʒ/
Approximate	w/w/		l/l/	j/j/
Nasal	m/m/		n/n/		nh/ŋ/

th/θ/ is an allophone of s/s/, replacing it when s/s/ is at the end of a word.

Vowels

	Front	Mid	Back
High	i/i/ ī/iː/		u/u/ ū/uː/
Mid	e/e/ ē/eː/		o/o/ ō/oː/
Low		a/a/ ā/aː/	y/ʌ/ ȳ/ʌː/

Phonotactics

Kēm has a basic syllable structure of CVC, however, though consonant clusters aren’t disallowed, they’re somewhat uncommon.

WIP

SyntaxMorphology

The basic word order of Kēm is subject object verb (SOV), or object verb subject (OSV) if the subject of the sentence is a personal pronoun. This means when translating a sentence from english like “an animal eats food” it would be “to koth kī fe vam” literally “An animal some food eats”, but when saying “he eats food” it would be “kī fe eth vam” literally “some food he eats”

Noun Modifiers

Articles

Articles, words like a, an, and the in english, mark if a word is definite, as in something specific assumed to be known by the people in the conversation; for example “the cat”, or indefinite, something more nonspecific; for example “a cat”. In Kēm, articles go before the noun they modify if they’re indefinite; “to koth”, and after the noun they modify if they’re definite; such as “koth su”.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Kēm come after the noun they modify, for example, to say “a cute animal” you’d say “to koth kob” literally “an animal cute” if translated word for word.

Numerals

Though the amount of something normally acts mostly like an adjective in Kēm, unlike typical adjectives, numbers come before the noun they modify, for example, to say “seven animals” you would say “van kosi”, which is the same word for word with english.

Postpositions

Kēm is a postpositional language, meaning adpositions go after the noun they refer to, for example, to say “at the store” you’d say “ogoth gin su” which literally translates word for word as “store at the”. Additionally, when marking a physical or temporal location in a sentence, the position is placed at the beginning of the sentence, so to say “I go to the store” you’d say “ogoth sev su ly sī”, word for word translating to “store to the I go”

Genitive Particle

Kēm uses the particle “fyn” to mark genitive or possessive relationships between nouns, in terms of English, this can generally be translated to the word “of”, for example, to say “my weapon” you would say “mund su fyn lyk” word for word “weapon the of me”.

WIP

NounsVerbsAdjectives

fe

1. Nourishment typically eaten in solid form, food.

fuz

1. A silvery white magnetic or magnetizable metal often used in the manufacturing of many tools, iron.

gāvoi

1. A place for people to worship gods and hold religious ceremonies.

gū

1. The topmost layer of dry land in which plants can grow, consisting of rocks, minerals, and decayed organic matter.

2. A region, nation, or country.

is

1. The sensation of warmth or hotness.

2. A form of energy associated with the motion of atoms or molecules, capable of being transmitted through conduction, heat.

jū

1. Any space above a surface of the planet while still within the atmosphere.

kā

1. An upper limb of a humanoid body, including both an arm and a hand.

kevan

1. A female lumi, especially an adult one.

kezh

1. A silvery metal which melts at a low temperature, tin.

Kēm

1. The language detailed in this page

kodeu

1. A large amount of respect, typically for a person, honor.

2. A moral code, especially a strict or passionate one.

kon

1. Mana, especially stabilized mana.

koth

1. An animal organism other than a lumi.

2. An organism of the kingdom animalia.

kū

1. An sensation perceived by a creature's sense of hearing, sound, noise.

kūdvol

1. An large body of water which surrounds one or more islands, sea.

kym

1. The core of a humanoid body, torso.

2. A lumi’s body, excluding the head, limbs, and tail.

luk

1. A lower limb of a humanoid body, including both a leg and a foot.

meg

1. An interconnect system or mechanism containing several part.

2. A repeating sequence, whether accidental or intentional, pattern.

megvoi

1. The aethernet.

mund

1. A tool designed to harm another living creature, weapon.

nu

1. The cutting part of a sharpened tool, blade.

2. The sharpened blade used as the tip of an spear or arrow, spearhead, arrowhead.

ogis

1. A heated plane used to cook food on, grill, stovetop.

ogon

1. A mana conduit.

ogoth

1. A place, typically a building or stand, to purchase goods or services.

ogzuth

1. An extremely large and splendid place of residence.

2. The home of one or more people of royal lineage.

siv

1. A common metal, reddish in color, malleable, and known for being an excellent conductor, copper.

sudgū

1. A structure, typically a panel which moves with a hinge or slides on a rail, used to close off an entrance and/or exit.

suvō

1. A wide flow of water naturally emptying into lake, sea, or some other large body of water.

ūzvoilok

1. The process of illuminating an object, illumination.

voleu

1. A mixture of gasses prevalent in the atmosphere, air.

vō

1. A clear, colorless, scentless, tasteless liquid consisting of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, water.

vunō

1. An aircraft, especially an airship

vygezh

1. An alloy of copper and tin, sometimes with trace amounts of other metals, bronze.

wedgū

1. A person who mines or otherwise collects mana.

wegū

1. A person of the working class

2. Anyone not of aristocratic or noble lineage.

wejū

1. A person of the upper class

2. An aristocrat, or person of aristocratic descent.

wekodeu

1. Someone who enforces the law, especially one from the country of Wēvyzh

wekodvō

1. A person who pilots an aircraft.

2. The owner of an airship.

wekon

1. A person trained in use of a spellcasting implement.

wekū

1. A lumi born in a region where the current season is summer

2. A lumi with shorter fur in darker or warmer toned colors.

wekūth

1. Someone who rebels, especially one who rebels against one or more established societal institutions or norms.

wesuth

1. A person who is a member of a governing council or cabinet.

weth

1. A person, especially an adult male.

wevō

1. A person who pilots a sea vessel.

wēs

1. A person who is employed or enslaved to perform domestic labor.

Wēvyzh

1. The country of Wēvyzh.

ȳm

1. A rare, yellowish, extremely ductile and malleable metal, which makes for a good thermal and electrical conductor, and is prized in jewelry making, gold.

yz

1. A building made and/or used for residence, house.

shēth

1. To take hold of, to grab.

2. To get into one's control or possession, to take.

sī

1. To move from one location to or towards another, to go.

ūz

1. To emit light, to glow, to shine.

ūzvoi

1. To direct or emit light upon a person, location, or object, to illuminate.

vam

1. To take in by the mouth for digestion, to eat.

wēs

1. To prepare food for heating, typically by applying heat, to cook.

2. To process or treat with heat.

kob

1. Attractive in a charming or enduring way.

2. Pleasing to look at, particularly in a small, innocent, or dainty way.

3. Lacking physical or emotional capability, pathetic, childish

kodeun

1. Deserving of respect, honorable, cool.

2. Holding an aura of authority, respected.

kodvōn

1. Moving or capable of moving at high speeds, quick, fast, swift.

2. Quick to act or react.

kotōn

1. Of an impressive size or magnitude, large, grand.

taok

1. In a spatial position below another person, place, or object, lower.

2. Lower in social ranking than another person or generally low in social ranking.

3. Less capable or competent than someone or something else, inferior.

tū

1. Fixed in a position, place, or object, stuck, steady.

2. Emotionally in control of one's self, calm, stable.

voi

1. In a position physically above somewhere, something, or someone else, higher.

2. Higher in social ranking than another person or generally highly respected.

3. More capable or competent than someone or something else, superior.