Root tails
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Root tails
A root ends in a tail, its last two letters, that hints at what it names. The last consonant says what kind of thing the root's concrete sense is, and the last vowel says what job it does. On a five-letter root the first three letters keep it apart from others of the same kind; on a three-letter root the first vowel does.
The tail is a memory aid. No grammar reads it, and you never build a root from the tail. It just means that if you know what a thing is, you already know two letters of its root, and an unknown word in a text still tells you roughly what it names. A country or territory name has no tail: it is spelled from the English sound (place-name roots).
Each letter echoes a job it already has somewhere in the grammar: the letter points at that job as a memory aid, and grammar does not read it.
| Second consonant | Kind | Example | Echo |
|---|---|---|---|
z | creatures: animals, microbes | ogoze cat | /z/ is the one who acts |
y | people: persons, kin, roles, and what only a person does | eboyo baby | /y/ + name calls someone |
m | mind and feeling: faces, emotions, mental states | evemu fear | -m is the abstract ending |
b | the body and what goes on it: parts, clothes, what you carry, medicine | aheba hand | /b/ is the bolted-on piece |
v | doing, playing and moving: actions, toys, vehicles | eruvo run | /v/ is the action |
h | places and fixtures: buildings, landscapes, rooms, headings | oheha house | /h/ is where |
l | nature and raw stuff: plants, weather, sky, materials, colors | edalo tree | -l is the concrete ending |
d | food and drink, with dishes and kitchen gear | alede apple | /d/ is what is done to (eaten) |
w | tools and things you use | anewu knife | /w/ is with |
g | signs and marks: symbols, letters, religion marks | ewugu warning | /ɡ/ is a grade, a mark on something |
r | counting, time, money and rhythm | ugoro clock | r after a role letter starts a number |
n | titles: mail, paper, labels, and named sports | unona newspaper, ezuna soccer | -n is the name ending |
The last vowel is the job. It hangs on joins: what the root does to stuff (gathers, travels the line, one piece, takes away). a holds (the list grows), o path or sequence (rank: the line stays), e one compact thing (choice: one piece), u takes away.
| Last vowel | Job | Examples |
|---|---|---|
a | holds or gathers: containers, groups, masses, what you go inside; or hollow, like a bowl | abowa basket, aruda rice, eneza ant (it lives in a colony) |
o | order: ranked, in sequence, a stage or cycle, a path you travel or are led along; or long, like a road | oraho road, ugoro clock, eruvo run, urulo rainbow |
e | one whole thing: round or compact, like a ball | ogoze cat, alede apple |
u | takes away or works against: cuts, removes, harms, stings, forbids; or sharp, like a blade | anewu knife, ezozu snake, evemu fear |
When more than one job fits, try u first, then a, then o. A knife is one tool, but it cuts, so its root ends in u. When no job fits, the thing's outline decides: hollow a, long o, round or compact e, sharp u. A banana ends in o and an apple in e. For a feeling, it's which way the feeling points (toward others a, along a standing o, inward e); for an action, how it unfolds (with others a, along a course o, once on the spot e).
In every kind but feelings, the middle vowel usually says how big the thing is:
| Middle vowel | Size | Examples |
|---|---|---|
a | about your size or bigger | whale, ship, bed, bicycle |
o | between your hand and you | dog, chair, guitar |
e | no bigger than your hand | ant, key, apple, phone |
u | nothing you could measure: a stuff, an act, a symbol, a time | rice, red, run, arrow, night |
This is a hint, not a rule: a few roots take another vowel to stay apart from a neighbor. Feelings have no size, so a feeling's middle vowel carries no meaning.
A dictionary word made of two roots ends in its head root, so it keeps the head's tail. A few dictionary words end in a bare tail instead of a second root.
Tail suffixes
A few dictionary words end in a bare tail instead of a second root. Friend is hug plus ye: y for a person, e for one thing marked by the left piece, so a person known by hugs. The two letters already say what kind of thing the word names, so it needs no second root such as person.
zahuyayel.z-friend
"a friend"
| Ageben | Pieces | English |
|---|---|---|
zahuyayel | hug + ye | friend |
zoyahehal | bed + ha | bedroom |
zebezezal | bird + za | flock |
zavogeyel | flag + ye | citizen |
zahahayel | hut + ye | neighbor |
zugeweyel | camera + ye | celebrity |
The left piece is always a five-letter root, and there is no join letter: five letters, then the tail, then the ending. The tail vowel does the same jobs as on a root: a the thing holds or gathers the left, o it follows the left in order or along a path, e it is one thing marked by the left, u it takes the left away or works against it. The tail consonant is any kind but nature l, mind m and counting r; those words take a full second root.
When the thing is a more specific kind than its tail, the dictionary word keeps two full roots: doorbell ends in bell, not in a bare tool tail.
Like every dictionary word, you look these up. You never add a tail to a root on the spot; to join two meanings yourself, use x.