Names and titles
Reminder:
Intermediate sections assume you have read the beginner sections of every page.
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Proper name (-n)
Beginner used -n for a person’s or place’s name. You can also mark a title, brand, or other conventional name on any role letter: a named race as the verb, a named style as the adjective, a named standard as the adverb. The first letter still says the word’s role in the clause; -n says you mean the thing that bears that name, not the kind the root describes.
A brand, a product line, a work, or a yearly event counts as one named thing, even though it has many units, copies, or runnings. To mean one of those, use -ln.
zahelan vozuyen.z-Ahelan | v-Ozuyen
"Ahelan sings Ozuyen." (that titled song)
The rest of the role map (same -n):
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
/z/ /d/ /b/ + -n | this named entity | person, place, titled work, brand or product line (Azozon, Paris, the Odyssey; book by [Rowling]) |
/v/ + -n | this named event, rite, or titled action | perform [Hamlet], run [the Boston Marathon], observe [Ramadan] |
/ɡ/ + -n | this named style, brand, family, or category | [Art Deco] furniture, [iOS] app, Alon [Olowon] |
/w/ + -n | named scale, grade, or criterion on the following adjective | spicy [Scoville], large [King-size] |
/h/ + -n | named standard, channel, or official frame | according to [GAAP], in [Q3] as the named quarter |
/y/ vocative + -n | address this named person, place, or title; on /y/, -n always calls | yalazun; a kind as a title (yagayun); titled group (Team Alpha) |
One of a name (-ln)
English an iPhone, a copy of the Odyssey, and someone named Azozon each mean one thing the name applies to, not the named thing itself. End the word in -ln instead of -n, on /z/, /d/, or /b/. Like -l, it brings a new thing into the talk, and the n says which name it falls under. So you can mention one bed of a bed brand without a separate word for bed. (cue: l first mention, then n name)
zalazun dazozoln vayebel.z-Alazun | d-Azozon.instance | v-see
"Alazun sees an Azozon." (one bed of that brand)
What counts as one depends on what the name names:
| Name (-n) | One of it (-ln) |
|---|---|
| a brand or product line | one unit (an Azozon) |
| a work | one copy or one performance |
| a yearly event | one running of it |
| a person | someone with that name (another Azozon) |
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
dazozon | the named thing itself | Azozon (the brand) |
dazozoln | one thing the name applies to | an Azozon |
dazozolnx | some things the name applies to (plurality) | some Azozons |
zaloln golowon | the same on a full name | someone named Alon Olowon |
An -ln word is a new mention, so a lone zazozoln. is there is an Azozon, and a later -r resume (dazozor) is that same bed, not the brand. A foreign name in a span uses the fence mark ^@ for the same job (spans).
Compare with: gazozon after a noun puts it in the brand (zoyahel gazozon the bed is an Azozon). -l on the root is the root’s own sense: dazozol is a swan.
Countries and traditions
A country root and a tradition root use all four endings, with one job each:
| Ending | Country (azabana) | Tradition (uguge) |
|---|---|---|
| -n | the country as a named place: Japan | the tradition as a named whole: Christianity |
| -m | belonging to its people: Japanese | belonging to its people: Christian |
| -l | its flag: a Japanese flag | its symbol: a crucifix |
| -ln | one thing that bears the name (a ship named Japan) | one thing that bears the name |
-n names the whole and -m says someone or something belongs to it, so a nationality is not a special case. A person, a quality, or a thing from that people (Japanese food) takes -m; -n on /ɡ/ is a named label instead: a style, a brand, or a family name (Art Deco, iOS, Alon [Olowon]).
zazozon gazabanam.z-Azozon | g-japanese
"Azozon is Japanese."
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
azabanan | the named country | Japan |
dazabanal | its flag | a Japanese flag |
gazabanam | belonging to its people | Japanese |
Country names are spelled from the English sound (azabanan from Japan). The lexicon shows that spelling for a name you type. A person whose English name you want to keep as written uses a span instead.
Titled phrases (hook, join, span)
A store, title, or handle can be several words. Put -n on the hook, join, or span that packages them. That ending names the whole phrase. Each inner word keeps its own ending: a kind stays -l, an abstract stays -m, a resume stays -r, and a person or place that is itself a name still takes -n.
dedudal en dogudal.NAME[d-tea | instead | d-coffee]
"Coffee-Instead-of-Tea" (a cafe name)
| Package | Where -n sits | Inner words |
|---|---|---|
| hook | the hook (en, extra-noun -n, …) | sides keep -l / -m / -r, or -n if that side is a name |
| join | the join (zen, …) | members keep their usual endings |
| span | the fence (@ / spoken -n) | interior tokens keep their usual endings |
A one-word name, a hyphenated name with mid-word x, and each part of a full name still end the content word in -n.
Multipart names
English writes a given name and a family name as two words (Alon Olowon). Ageben does too. The given name fills the slot with -n, and the family name follows it as a /ɡ/ word with -n: like a brand, a family is a named group the person falls under. Given name first is the usual order.
zalon golowon vowurol.[z-Alon | g-Olowon] | v-walk
"Alon Olowon walks."
The family name describes the given name, so the person is still one noun in one slot. A resume repeats the given name’s stem, so zalor points back to Alon Olowon, and you can drop the family name once the person is known.
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
alon golowon | citation of a full name | Alon Olowon |
zalon golowon | full name in a noun slot | Alon Olowon |
zaloln golowon | one of a name | someone named Alon Olowon |
zalor | resume | Alon (the same person) |
Put the family name first, as an adjective before the noun, only when your culture names people family first. The same family name can describe the family itself (zuvayal golowon the Olowon family), and what the family uses takes the ordinary whose hook: dohehal om buvayal golowon is the Olowon family’s house.
A full name works as a greeting too: alon golowon. is Alon Olowon saying hello. A call takes the family name the same way (yalon golowon. Alon Olowon!).
A family name is an adjective, but the person who receives is a plain /b/ word, so it may stand right after the family name: zalon golowon balazun vezuyol. is Alon Olowon tells Alazun, the same as zalon golowon vezuyol balazun. Only a bl- word would complete it.
A hyphenated name (Mary-Kate, Coffee-Tea) is one word: roots join left to right with mid-word x, and -n names the whole.
zaloxolowon vowurol.z-Alo-x-Olowon | v-walk
"Aloxolowon walks."
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
zaloxolowon | hyphenated given name | Aloxolowon |
zaloxolowon golowon | hyphenated given name and a family name | Aloxolowon Olowon |
zogudaxedudan, zogudaxedudaxowulan | shop label from lexicon roots | Coffee-Tea; Coffee-Tea-Water |
A business or product name uses the same pieces. A compact label is one x word. A product under a maker’s name takes the maker as its /ɡ/ name, as a person takes a family name (a Mustang by Ford). A name with grammar inside it, such as a verb or instead of, is a titled phrase or a span, where any role letter can appear.
A nativized loan (a foreign word adapted into an Ageben root, plus an ordinary ending) takes the same four endings as any content word. A lexical compound also fills one slot: it is one stem, written without mid-word x (zoyahehal bedroom).
Compare with: zalon golowon. alone is a sentence: Alon is an Olowon (classification). The citation alon golowon has no role letter, so it only names. Two people in one role take a join after them (zalon zolowon zal).
Continue (/x/): overview
Beginner used the ending to say how to take a content word’s meaning. On an /x/ continue word, the ending instead picks what the word does:
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
| one of six linkers + -m (firm -l on three) | glue one finished sentence to the next | but, therefore, … |
other /x/ root + -l / -m / -n | introduce a topic | now, about X; let’s now talk about X |
/x/ root + -r | return to a topic | back to X |
| clause join + -n | sequence | and then xan, … (joins) |
Discourse hooks, which have no first letter, use hook endings. Hook -n titles a proper-name phrase.
Number-word exception
Beginner used -l / -m / -n to say how to take a citation’s meaning. On number words, those same letters (and -r) have number-specific meanings. After a role letter, the number marker r may start a cluster that only number words use (phonology.md).
Practice
Short drills for Intermediate. Try each item before opening Show answer.
Setting: a hospital ward
New words:
| English | Ageben | Cue |
|---|---|---|
| hospital-bed (ward name) | uhahaxoyahen | 🏥 hospital x 🛏️ bed: one ward's name |
| Temperature (named standard) | hoveron | 🌡️ from thermometer |
| Intrusion (titled procedure) | vezebun | 💉 from syringe |
| Emergency (titled drill) | vemavan | 🚑 from ambulance |
Review:
| English | Ageben |
|---|---|
| Azozon | azozon |
| Alazun | alazun |
| Ahelan | ahelan |
| sit | vehohel |
| see | vayebel |
| write | varuyol |
| run | veruvol |
| sleep | vezuvel |
| big | gelazem |
| Japanese | azabanam |
English → Ageben
1. Azozon sits according to Hospital. (the named frame)
Show answer
zazozon vehohel huhahan.
z-Azozon | v-sit | h-Uhahan
2. The bed is an Azozon. (the brand)
Show answer
zoyahel gazozon.
z-bed | g-Azozon
3. Ahelan observes Sleep. (the ward's titled rest hour)
Show answer
zahelan vezuven.
z-Ahelan | v-Ezuven
4. Azozon sees Hospital-Bed. (the ward's name)
Show answer
zazozon duhahaxoyahen vayebel.
z-Azozon | d-Uhaha-x-Oyahen | v-see
Also correct: zazozon vayebel duhahaxoyahen.
5. There is a big Ahelan. (one bed of that brand)
Show answer
zahelaln gelazem.
z-Ahelan.instance | g-big
6. Alazun sees a Japanese flag.
Show answer
zalazun dazabanal vayebel.
z-Alazun | d-japan-flag | v-see
Ageben → English
1. zalazun varuyol hoveron.
Show answer
z-Alazun | v-write | h-Overon
Alazun writes according to Temperature. (the named standard)
2. zahelan vezebun.
Show answer
z-Ahelan | v-Ezebun
Ahelan performs Intrusion. (that titled procedure)
3. zalazun veruvol hemavan.
Show answer
z-Alazun | v-run | h-Emavan
Alazun runs in Emergency. (the named frame)
4. zazozon dahelaln vayebel. zahelar gelazem.
Show answer
z-Azozon | d-Ahelan.instance | v-see . z-←Ahelan.instance | g-big
Azozon sees an Ahelan. It is big. (one bed of that brand)
5. zuhahaxoyahen varuyol.
Show answer
z-Uhaha-x-Oyahen | v-write
Hospital-Bed writes. (the ward, as an office)
6. zoyahel gazabanam.
Show answer
z-bed | g-japanese
The bed is Japanese.
Pick one
1. Alazun sees an Azozon. (one bed of that brand) zalazun dazozoln vayebel. or zalazun dazozon vayebel.
Show answer
zalazun dazozoln vayebel.
z-Alazun | d-Azozon.instance | v-see
-ln is one thing the name applies to; -n is the brand itself.
2. Ahelan performs Emergency. (the titled drill) zahelan vemavan. or zahelan vemaval.
Show answer
zahelan vemavan.
z-Ahelan | v-Emavan
-n on the verb names that titled event; -l is the root's everyday sense.
Fix it
1. Hospital-Bed sits. (one ward's name) zuhahan zoyahen vehohel.
Show answer
zuhahaxoyahen vehohel.
z-Uhaha-x-Oyahen | v-sit
A hyphenated name is one word joined with x; two -n words in the same role are two named things.