A Treatise on the Lucidian Language

by Lakshmana

A Treatise on the Lucidian Language

1. Introduction
Lucidians have always been considered to be a logical race of creatures.
Perhaps one of the best places in which this is reflected is the Lucidian
language. Lucidian is seldom studied due to its complexity â€" due both to the
unique characteristics of the Lucidian vocal tract as well as its rigorous and
complex grammatical system. Indeed, even though the fabled city of Hallifax was
built by both Lucidians and Trills in close collaboration, the Trills never
mastered the Lucidian language. The only non-Lucidians who can understand the
language are a small pool of scholars who study bookbinding. One could argue
that deciphering written Lucidian is much simpler due to the fact that one does
not have to worry about the sound system of Lucidian. This paper will attempt to
give the reader an overview of how Modern Lucidian is used today. Note well that
Ancient Lucidian was a flawless language with no ambiguities and no local
dialects, due to the widely established belief system to keep language as
logical as possible. Only in recent times has the Lucidian language developed
certain ambiguities and dialectal differences, due in part to the close
proximity to the Trills when building Hallifax. As such, the outline of
Lucidian presented in this paper may vary from what one may hear Lucidians
actually speaking. However, for certain the reader should be able to make him
or herself understood - if the grammar and sound structure is mastered, which
is a daunting task in and of itself. 

2. Phonetics of Lucidian
Upon examining histories of the Land, it is possible to come across some
Lucidian names. An avid reader may wonder how these names are pronounced. For
example, I will list here a few typical Lucidian names used by former members
of the Hallifax Board of Governors, as well as my colleagues in the Mesa
compound:

Cr’rik Adom
En’oonki Lars
Ieck’co Shevat 
Ke’kix Oolin
J'hal'ck Taroch
Indiau Eepex
Croobuk zi'Prouep

The problem on how to represent Lucidian sounds using the common script is an
ongoing issue. As most races can only begin to approximate Lucidian sounds, the
symbols used to represent Lucidian words are just that â€" approximations. There
are several different ways to represent a Lucidian word in common script, each
with their advantages and disadvantages. As for the names listed above, this
method of transcription has the advantage of being (more or less) easily
pronounceable by members of other races. The downside is that the words are no
longer true to their original sounds.

Due to the unique crystalline biostructure of Lucidians, the Lucidian language
has a range of sounds other races simply cannot reproduce. Little research has
been done into Lucidian biostructure, and even less on the structure of
Lucidian vocal tracts. From what I gather, Lucidian vocal tracts consist of a
vibrating crystal â€" instead of vibrating vocal cords in flesh-based races. As
well as a non-standard vocal tract, one must keep in mind that the whole inside
of a Lucidan's mouth is made of smooth crystal and is more dry than a
flesh-based race. In non technical terms, Lucidian speech has been described
both as “harsh� and “fluid� depending on the sounds used. The internal
structure of Lucidian mouths lends itself to a variety of unique consonant and
vowel sounds, which can be broken down into the following categories:

ukt'am: Neither a vowel or a consonant, but is encountered so frequently that I
will list it first. It is transcribed in common by the symbol ' - as in the name
J'hal'ck, which contains two instances of the ukt'am sound. Most times, people
will tend to gloss over these symbols, not knowing quite how to pronounce them.
Indeed, it is hard for a non-Lucidian to pronounce them, but one can practice by
saying a word and then abruptly stopping speech in the middle of a word. This
“cut off� sound is close to the ukt'am sound in Lucidian. The ukt'am is
what causes Lucdian speech to often sound “harsh� to outsiders, as the word
flow is often interrupted by several of these sounds.

chaul: Consonant sounds which are produced by restricting the airflow within
the mouth, but not entirely stopping it, ending up in a fluid sound:

l - sounds similar to Common “l� but is more “elegant� - meaning that
it is never pronounced in the back of the throat, and air is allowed to flow
freely around the tongue, which is not bunched up, like Common “l�. 

s - sounds very similar to Common “s� but has more of a “whistling�
quality.

z - sounds very similar to Common “z� but has more of a “whistling�
quality. (different from s in that vocal chords are buzzing)

sh - distinguished from “s� by a slightly lower frequency “whistle�.
Sounds similar to Common “sh�.

ch - note well that “ch� is one sound in Lucidian, even though it is
spelled in Common as two. It is produced in the same part of the mouth where
the kn'it consonant “k� is produced. Also has a “whistling� quality.
Does NOT sound like the “ch� in the Common word “chair� - this is
written “c� (see sh'iex consonants)

v - a “buzzing� sound produced by such high frequency vibration in the
vocal cords that the Lucdian's crystal based lips begin to vibrate and
“buzz�. 


kn'it: Consonant sounds which are produced by stopping the air flow in the
mouth and releasing it sharply:
k - a hard, “cracking� gutteral noise, produced far back in the throat.
Best common approximation is the sound “k�.

d - similar to common “d�. Articulated in same area as “s� but airflow
is stopped instead of constricted. Accomanied by buzzing vocal cords.
t â€" similar to common “tâ€�. Like “dâ€� but without buzzing vocal chords.
p â€" similar to common “pâ€� but with a larger “puffâ€� of air afterwards,
and perhaps more sharp sounding, due to the hardness of Lucidian lips.
b â€" similar to common “bâ€�. Same slight differences as “pâ€�. Vocal
chords are buzzing.

sh'iex: Consonant sounds which are produced by first stopping the air flow in
the mouth, and then moving to tongue to end up in a chaul consonant. 

j - produced by creating a “d� sound and then moving the tongue up to
create a “sh� sound, the vocal chords vibrating all the time. Never
pronounced like a “g� but always similar to a “j� as in “judge�.

c - produced by creating a “t� sound and then moving the tongue to create
an “sh�, with no vibrating of the vocal cords. Similar to Common “ch�
as in “chair�.

x - produced by making a “k� sound and then moving up to create a “s�
sound. Can also be transcribed as “ks�



noox'l: Consonant sounds which release air through the nasal cavity:

n - nasalized version of kni't consnant d

m - nasalized version of chaul consonant “v� 

ic'ee: Long, “ringing� vowels, which are always articulated (listed
approximately by length of articulation)*:
e - similar to the “e� in “get�
a - similar to the “a� in “father�
o - similar to the “o� in “more�
ie - a very short sound as in the “ey� in “key� followed by e *(can
cause effects similar to the k'ic “vowel� - see below)
oe - one of the only sounds that is not present in Common â€" it is articulated
as “o� but with lips very rounded
oo - similar to common “oo� in “food�
au - similar to the “ow� in “cow�

All sound more or less like their Common equivalent, but with a steady tone
that sounds like some to a bell reverberating or the sound of a vial being
“played� by wetting one's finger and running it around the rim. The most
successful non-native speakers of Lucidian reproduce this by speaking in a
“sighing� or “breathy� voice when articulating ic'ee.

*Note that before any of these vowels, one can place an “h� - what we call
a “hiev'l�. A hiev'l is not considered by most to be a full consonant or
vowel. The hiev'l takes on the sound of the following vowel, but the vocal
cords do not vibrate. It is very similar to the “h� in the Common Tongue.


k'ic: The short “clipped vowel�:
i - This “vowel� is often omitted in natural speech (indeed, one of the few
times it is encountered up is when pronouncing words slowly and deliberately for
non-native speakers) This is one of the greatest sorces of confusion when people
encounter a Lucidian word with several k'ic vowels in it. For example, the name
Cr’rik is pronounced like “cr'rk� - with no audible vowel sounds
whatsoever. For most other races, the idea of vowelless word is quite shocking,
but to Lucidians it is quite normal. It is of importance to note that there is a
*slight* difference between say, “kri� and “kr�, which is almost
impossible for members of other races to hear. The best way to explain the
difference is that the consonants are articulated slightly more forward in the
mouth with the k'ic “vowel� than without it. Do not concern yourself with
this too much, but take note of it nonetheless.

roj'ha: A “creaking� sound which can only properly be produced by
Lucidians, as it requires a crystal based vocal cord (some have likened it to a
blade being drawn over glass, or even glass shattering):
r

Note that consonants may be repeated, such as in the word “jk'oocck� (a
form of the word “book�). In this case, the consonant is just held longer
than normal.

Keep in mind that it is possible to meet Lucidians who have names consisting of
sounds which are not discussed in this paper. This could be due to a number of
factors: dialectal differences, a different system of transcription, or most
likely the person in question was raised in a non-Lucidian society and was
given a non-traditional name. For the most part, Lucidians with traditional
names will more or less follow the sound scheme given above. As a side note,
there is some debate about the sound transcribed with a “y� in the Common
script. Used in the Elder God's name Xyl, it is almost nonexistent. Lucidians
are quite capable of making this sound, called ilvaz'ip â€" meaning literally
“holy sound�. Why, then, is it not found in Lucidian names? This is a
question of debate, but it is generally accepted that this sound is unique to
the Elder God's name and thus requires a special, “holy� status when
compared to other sounds. 



3. An Overview of Lucidian Grammar
The highly logical mindset of the Lucidian race is highly evident when
examining the Lucidian language. Things which may seem logical or highly
obvious to a reader of a different race actually seem ambiguous and illogical
to speakers of Lucidian. To speak the Lucidian language properly, one must
imagine having a Lucidian mindset and be well versed in Lucidian culture. Keep
in mind the following points:

* Lucidians strive to be as unambiguous as possible.
* Lucidians do not have the same concept as emotion as other races do.
* Lucidians have higher than average intelligence â€" a gift from the Elder God
Xyl. This makes it easier for us to process complex systems, like our language.

Do not feel discouraged if this material is hard to understand â€" Lucidians
have a racial and cultural advantage when it comes to speaking the language,
and almost all students of Lucidian have run into difficulties understanding
the material.

4. The Nominal System in Lucidian

a. Marked Nouns in Lucidian

One of the most daunting features of Lucidian is its rigorous and complex noun
marking system. This system helps insure that sentences are uttered with the
least bit of ambiguity possible. Technically, Lucidian is said to have over 40
different noun markings â€" but this number has dwindled due to the influence
of the simpler Common language. In Ancient or even Scholarly Lucidian, it is
quite common to run across noun endings that are unfamiliar. Most Lucidians,
being a scholarly people, know every noun marking, even if he or she does not
use them. In addition to these noun markings, there are three forms for each
marking, depending on whether the noun in question is singular, plural, or
null. The null noun marking gives the idea of “no (noun)� For example, to
say “I have no gold�, “gold� would be marked as null. Thankfully, these
endings follow a predictable pattern: composed of two sounds for singular, an
“m� added in the plural, and the last sound chopped off for null.

As a side note to those who are interested - in Ancient Lucidian the current
“plural� case was reserved for numbers over ten. Anything under that had
its own case marking and had to be remembered as such. One can still hear
Lucidians using the dual marking, but this is becoming more and more rare. I
have omitted the dual markings as it is perfectly acceptable to use plural for
these cases.

Subject of a Sentence (whose verb takes one argument): sing: vi, pl: vim, null:
v
Aux'avi trime (*Aux'a* walks)

Subject of a Sentence (whose verb takes two arguments): sing: rt, pl: rtm,
null:r
Aux'art s'lac Unab'ick. (*Aux'a* is seeing Unab'i)

Object of a Sentence: sing: ck, pl: ckm, null: c
Aux'art s'lac Unab'ick. (Aux'a is seeing *Unab'i*)

“Second object� marking: sing: ta, pl: tam, null: t
Aux'art lit'ka jk'oocta Unab'inv. (Aux'a is giving *a book* to Unab'i)

“Given� marking: sing: nv, pl:nvm, null:n
Aux'art lit'ka jk'oocta Unab'inv. (Aux'a is giving a book *to Unab'i*)

“Tool� marking: sing: st, pl: stm, null: s
Aux'art ckl'osha jk'oocck kn'rilst (Aux'a is writing a book *with a quill*)

“Source� marking: sing: lx, pl:lxm, null: l
Aux'art t'devi jk'oocck ash'utlx (Aux'a is taking the book *from the shelf*)

Posessive marking: sing: xl, pl:xlm, null:x
Aux'art s'lac Unab'ixl jk'oocck. (Aux'a is seeing *Unab'i's* book)

Location marking: sing:shau, pl:shaum, null:sh
Aux'avi cneet aujishau (Aux'a is looking *in the chest*)
Also used in sentences such as “I am AT home�

Beneficiary Marking: sing: ev, pl:evm, null:e
Aux'art br'atm lavick Unab'iev. (Aux'a is making a cake *for Unab'i*)

Note that to express going TO a location, the location is merely treated as an
object, as in the following example:
Aux'art trime Magnagorack. (Aux'a is walking to Magnagora)

Often, these markings can be used idomatically, when the verb chosen could in
no way be interpreted as literal:
Aux'art dl'ajo lavishau. (Aux'a is thinking about (literally in, at, on...) a
cake)

There is another noun marking, called the “existential� marking, but this
will be discussed in a later section.

Note that in the translations I give, I often will say “the chest� or
“the book� when there is no real word “the� in the Lucidian language.
The word “the� in Common implies a sense of “definiteness� as apposed
to the word “a/an� which implies “indefiniteness�.  If we had a similar
word that was acting as a definite article, it would imply that everything not
marked with that word would be indefinite, which is something Lucidians want to
avoid. We solve this problem by leaving out articles and words such as
“this� and “that� entirely (although ambiguous words will be discussed
in a later section).

b. “Pronouns� and Ambiguous Words

Upon reading this section, one must keep in mind that Lucidians strive to be as
unambiguous as possible. Even though most people do not realize this - pronouns,
and words like “this� or “tomorrow� - are at their very heart ambiguous
statements. If you were to read a sentence such as, say: “She said she loved
him yesterday�, consider how much information this actually imparts. To
Lucidians, sentences like this are illogical and should be avoided at all
costs. A simple answer would be to replace pronouns with names, and this what
Lucidian does, to an extent. However, then we would be faced with the problem
that sentences such as “Aux'art s'lac Unab'ick� could mean both “Aux'a is
seeing Unab'i� and “I am seeing you�, or even “I am seeing Unab'i� and
so on. In Lucidian, this is solved by placing a particle prefixed to the names
in the question, which indicate what role the person is acting as in spoken
discourse. However, Lucidians do not consider these particles as being a
different person, as we have the conception of first, second, and third person
in Common, which also can change verb endings. In Lucidian, regardless of what
person a noun is acting as in the sentence, it is regarded as third person â€"
one could also argue that there is no distinction of person in Lucidian
whatsoever. If this is confusing, hopefully the following examples will clear
things up:

“First Person� = I: ni-
ni-Aux'art s'lac tv-Unab'ick (I, Aux'a, am seeing you, Unab'i)
ni-Aux'artm s'lac tv-Unab'ick (We, Aux'a and others, are seeing you, Unab'i)

“Second Person� = you: tv-
tv-Unab'irt s'lac ni-Aux'ack (You, Unab'i are seeing me, Aux'a)
tv-Unab'irtm s'lac ni-Aux'ack (You, Unab'i and others, are seeing me, Aux'a)

“Third Person� = he/she/it: (null)
Aux'art s'lac tv-Unab'ick (Aux'a (he), is seeing you, Unab'i)
Aux'artm s'lac ni-Unab'ick (Auxa and others (them) are seeing me, Unab'i)

Note that ambiguities could theoretically arise if two people had the same name
â€" but thankfully in the world of Lusternia, everyone is given a unique name on
birth, so this does not pose a problem.

*Side note â€" ambiguous words such as “todayâ€� and “yesterdayâ€� are
discussed in the section on adjectives and adverbs. A similar system to the
“pronouns� is in place, however.


5. Verbs in Lucidian

a. Basic Word Order

The basic word order is simple enough â€" it is subject, verb, object.
Traditionally, speakers never deviate from this order (although, due to noun
marking, meaning would not be obscured) but with the influence of other races,
Lucidians are beginning to lose some of the more rigid rules and play with word
order. For example, saying “*Unab'ick* Aux'art s'lac� to emphasize that
Unab'i is who Aux'a saw would not surprise me from a younger Lucidian who was
brought up in a community of non-Lucidians. Emphasis is usually not needed, as
things are usually fairly unambiguous, but if the person spoken to did not hear
correctly or was particularly daft, emphasis is acceptable. 

b. Verb Tense

At one time, in Ancient Lucidian, the verb tense system was as complicated (if
not more) as the noun marking system. The ancient Lucidian calendar system was
actually built into verbs, giving a precise date for each statement which was
actually encapsulated within the verb. For example, the sentence “Aux'art
s'lac Unab'ick�, while unambiguous in its participants, could be ambiguous
out of context. What if this statement was said several years ago? Does the
statement still hold? Unless Aux'art and Unab'ick are two particularly
persistent immortals engaged in an infinite staring contest, I would guess not.

Thankfully, due to the simplification of Modern Lucidian, we only have a
slightly more rich tense system than Common. The tenses which corresponded to
the winter months gradually turned into far past tense, and the spring months
turned into the far future tense. However, the reader need not concern him or
herself of these previous forms â€" I include them merely as an interesting
side note. Also, thankfully, we do not need to concern ourselves with having
the verb agree with the noun in number. Now on to the examples:

Aux'avi voo-trime “Aux'a walked (more than 3 months ago)� - far past
Aux'avi va-trime “Aux'a walked (from 3 months ago up to just a moment before
present time)� - recent past
Aux'avi trime “Aux'a is walking� - present tense (no marking)
Aux'avi ve-trime “Aux'a will walk (from a moment after present time up to 3
months from now)� - near future
Aux'avi vi-trime “Aux'a will walk (more than 3 months from now)� - far
future

To make any of these statements negative, simply prefix “sma� in front of
the tense marker. Example:

Aux'avi sma-va-trime “Aux'a did not walk�

Verbs can also be stacked to express a complex statement. 

Aux'art k'la-sma-va-ee'pta-sx'od-sl xr'ijick
aux'a-sub should-not-recentpast-stop-drink potion-obj
“Aux'a should not have stopped drinking the potion�

c. Forming Questions

i. Yes/No questions

Questions in Common are formed by movement of the verb (or insertion of a
“helping� verb, such as “do�). This effectively changes the word order,
which most Lucidians would probably say is not necessary. Creating questions in
Lucidian is refreshingly simple. For yes/no questions, before the verb and any
tense markings, the particle “an� is inserted, turning a statement into a
question. Examples:

tv-Aux'art an-zkau'p rv'lisckm? (Are you (Aux'a) killing vermin?)

The response may surprise speakers of the Common tongue. There is no word for
“yes� or “no� in Lucidian, as this does not impart enough information.
Instead, the verb is repeated along with a “placeholder� word, which has no
meaning but to represent something was left out answering a question. If this is
confusing, see these example replies:

ni-Aux'a zkau'p kv. (I am killing (them, vermin). = yes)
ni-Aux'a sma-zkau'p kv. (I am not killing (them, vermin). = no)

The word “kvâ€� must not be thought of as a pronoun â€" in fact it is hardly
considered a word by Lucidians. It may seem contridictory that Lucidians seek
to escape ambiguity, yet here there is this very ambiguous word “kv� which
can take the place of seemingly any word, regardless of number or noun marking.
In Ancient Lucidian, the correct response would be“ni-Aux'a zkau'p
rv'lisckm�. However, due to the simplification of the modern language, the
object has been simplified into one pseudo word, signifying that it can only be
the answer to a yes/no question. Lucidians have accepted that sometimes,
compromises must be made between clarity and sentence length. If I were to ask
you, “Did you see that black and white pretty little baby puppy named
Oo'kata?� answering with the full phrase would be quite tedious. Replacing
the full phrase with “kv� is a compromise that most Lucidians these days
tend to accept. There is no equivalent in subject position â€" for example,
“Did that black and white puppy(...) pass this way?� cannot be replaced by
“kv�. It is acceptable, however, to just say “The puppy passed this
way� as an answer.

ii. Non-Yes/no questions

Non-yes/no questions work in a slightly different manner, and words
corresponding to things like “what�/ “who� etc. in Common must be
marked, as all nouns are. A list of these question words is found below:

j'tna - what
j'tcal - who
j'tcalxl - whose (literally: of who?) * (acts to modify the noun as an
adjective, but retains the possesive marking)
j'tna-aum - how (literally: what way/manner?)
j'tshiv â€" which * (acts to modify the noun as an adjective. Must have the
same marking as the noun â€" see section on adjectives)
j'ta-pr'tie - where (literally: what place?)

Examples of the following:

Aux'art z'la-kp'sha j'tnack. “What are you (Aux'a) doing?� Literally: You
(Aux'a) question-doing what.
Aux'art z'la-trime jt'a-pr'tieck. “Where are you (Aux'a) walking?�
Literally: You (Aux'a) question-walking where.

Notice that the word order is not “flipped� as it is in Common questions.
This may be for a non native speaker to become accustomed to, but it must be
learned as such. Remember that in sentences such as this, the question words
are the *object* of the verb, even though in Common these words come first.
This leads non-native speakers to say things like “J'tnart z'la-kp'sha
Aux'ack.� which literally means “Where is going Aux'a� and makes no sense
in Lucidian whatsoever.


d. The Existential Verb

One verb which requires special note is the existential verb “to be� - or
the several forms thereof. This verb is not irregular as in Common and other
tongues of the Basin* but it should be noted as different verbs are used when
in Common one might use the same verb for each. Consider the following
sentences in Common:
(*Indeed, hardly anything is irregular in Lucidian, and if it is, it is
probably due to Modern corruption of the Ancient language)

There is a book.
Aux'a is a man.
Aux'a is a scholar.

What is the difference between all of these sentences? The difference between
number one and the following two should be clear â€" it is a matter of almost
locative existence. One could say “A book exists� (which is exactly how one
would say it in Lucidian) but not “Aux'a exists a man�.

The difference between the second and third sentences is a slightly finer
distinction, and a speaker of Common may gloss over it. The difference here is
permanence. Excepting cases of extreme divine intervention, gender is something
that cannot be physically changed in the world of Lusternia. However, even
though I am writing this essay now, I may not be a scholar all my life, but I
will (excepting divine intervention) be a man. In Lucidian, we use two
different verbs to express these concepts. In fact, we also use a special
“existential� noun marking for the nouns involved, as one can make the
argument that “existing� or “being something� does not affect the nouns
in the same way that another verb may. You can see examples of all three verbs
and the new marking below:

Jk'ooczt alv'au. “There is a book�
Aux'azt topau'k preeluzt. “Aux'a is a man (permanently)�
Aux'azt xim trc'ojzt. “Aux'a is a scholar�

The new marking follows the usual pattern of singular: zt, plural: ztm, null:
z. 

There is room to play with these verbs a little bit. If I were very adamant
about my status as a scholar, I might say “ni-Lakshmanazt topau'k trc'ojzt�
to emphasize that in fact, I will be a scholar until the day I die, and nothing
short of divine intervention is going to change that. Stylistically this may be
acceptable but technically some would reject it, so take care about which verb
forms you choose to use. A learner is forgiven for making mistakes as the
different verbs can be confusing at first.


5. Adjectives and Adverbs 

a. Adjectives

Adjectives in Lucidian precede the noun they are modifying, and take the same
case ending as the noun as well. Some examples:

ush'vimshau aujishau - “in the red chest�
troex dr'oshaux - “of no good woman�
cc'asnvm audaunvm “to the brown cows�

Notice how that to express the same idea in Common, we would have to use
several words, where Lucidian just uses two. Such is the beauty of the Lucidian
language!

To express several adjectives modifying one noun, link them with the word tau
(meaning “andâ€�, as we will see with numbers later â€" refer to that section
if you are confused about how “tau� works). Remember that each adjective
must take a noun marking. An example of how this works:

troevi pivikvi cc'asvi tau audauvi - “the good little brown cow� -
literally “good-subj little-subj brown-subj and cow-subj�

Note that words of emotion such as “happy�, “angry� and so on are
sparse in Lucidian. This is one of the few areas in which Lucidian does not
exactly have a standard method of expression. In fact, all of my Lucidian
colleagues who I spoke with gave me different answers. This is a topic of
debate and is so vast that an entire paper could be devoted to it, so I will
gloss over it here. The beginning student of Lucidan need not concern him or
herself with expression of emotions in Lucidian as it can often sound quite
stilted and unnatural. It is best to stick to the Common tongue - which is what
most Lucidians do when they need to express emotions, even among other
Lucidians. I will add rough translations of some of the responses I received
here as a side note (although I will not include the original Lucidian as it is
too complicated for the intended audience of this book)
“I feel as if her absence does not hold well with me� - roughly means “I
miss her�
“The Common curse has lifted� - roughly means “I am not angry any more�

There is more work to be done on this subject â€" but it may be a tedious task,
examining the literary tradition of the Lucidians, which requires its own paper
to discuss throughly.

b. Adverbs
I will do a quick review of what I mean when I say “adverbs�, and how they
are used in common. There are two types of adverbs that I will focus on here:
ones created by adding -ly to an adjective, and phrases that modify a verb's
meaning like “from the city� and “in the chest�. Adverbs formed from
adjectives like in Common “great� / “greatly� are formed by suffixing
the particle “cr'vit� to the end of adjectives. Adverbs always go directly
after the verb they are modifying with no exceptions. The other type of adverb
in Lucidian is just using a nominal phrase which has a noun marking on it,
denoting a meaning similar to a preposition in Common. The following are
examples of both types:

Aux'avi uvac'a troe-cr'vit. “Aux'a fights well�
Aux'avi izsho Glomdoringshau. “Aux'a is eating in Glomdoring�

c. Expressing time and numbers
As for ambiguous words like “today� or “yesterday�, Lucidians much
prefer using the date, as it is assumed that Lucidians pay attention and have
the mental capacity to remember the correct date. Note that to state a full
date, such as “1st of Urlachmar, 168 years after the Coming of Estarra.� is
quite cumbersome to say when one just wants to represent a simple concept such
as “tomorrow�. In this case, it is acceptable to say “1st of Urlachmar�
or even just “the 1st� in informal speech. However, it is possible to run
into the same problems as “pronouns� when taken out of context, so often a
particle is added to denote that the date stated was intended to mean
“today�. Examples will be given at the end of this section. Below are
listed the numbers, which will allow the reader to create any calendar date -
thus allowing them to speak of “today� and “tomorrow� properly. These
numbers can also be placed before a noun to denote a number (but make sure that
the number matches the number that is associated with the noun)

zero - voet'l
one â€" tr'it
two â€" ijod
three â€" zl'eev
four â€" cs'ooj
five â€" a'shee
six - kl'auda
seven - dc'it
eight - ml'kap
nine - zt'ra
ten -tr'ivl
twenty - ijovl
thirty â€" zl'evl

To create numbers such as 11, or 32, follow this pattern â€" note that tau
means “and� - as a side note, Lucidian represents such relations as “X Y
and� instead of “X and Y�:

tr'vil tr'it tau â€" ten one and = eleven
tr'vil ijod tau â€" ten two and = twelve
..
ijovl tri't tau â€" twenty one and = twenty one
ijovl ijod tau â€" twenty two and = twenty two
...
zl'evl tr'it tau â€" thirty one and = thirty one
zl'evl ijod tau â€" thirty two and = thirty two
...

Given this information, we can place the number in front of the noun, acting as
an adjective: 

ijodrtm audaurtm - “two cows� (subject of two-argument verb)
tr'itck jk'oocck - “one book� (object as two argument verb) - although this
is redundant, as the noun marking is singular, it can be said


This allows us to express numbers of nouns, butwe are not quite done when it
comes to expressing dates. Each of these numbers has an alternate form which
corresponds to the Common words “first�, “second�, and so on. To do
this, attach “vr'm� to the end of the number. Examples:

a'shee-vr'm - “fifth�
ijovl dc'it-vr'm - “twenty seventh�

This form, once marked with the location form “shau� (to indicate “*on*
the third� or so on) can be used to represent dates, but not concepts such as
“today� or “tomorrow� without special prefixes. Examples:
ni-Aux'art va-izsho tr'itshau lavick. “I (Aux'a) ate a cake on the first�
ni-Aux'art ve-izsho tr'itshau lavick. “I (Aux'a) will eat a cake on the
first�

These two examples can not ever mean “I ate a cake yesterday� or “I will
eat a cake tomorrow�. To do this, see the following examples:

ni-Aux'art va-izsho u'tli-tr'itshau lavick. “I (Aux'a) ate a cake on the
first (yesterday)�
ni-Aux'art ve-izsho jc'tau-tr'itshau lavick. “I (Aux'a) will eat a cake on
the first (tomorrow)�
ni-Aux'art izsho pali-tr'itshau lavick. “I (Aux'a) am eating a cake on the
first (today/now)�



*As a historical side note on time and dates â€" the Lucidians are an ancient
race, and once had their own Calendar system passed down to them by the Elder
God Xyl, which was more compact and allowed Lucidians to use the full date
without significantly lengthening the sentence. Modern Lucidians have had to
adapt to the Common calendar system which has been a bit of a challenge, as it
is more cumbersome. Young Lucidians who are fully integrated into non-Lucidian
societies, however, will probably not view the current calendar system in this
manner. 

6. Epilogue

a. Conclusion
The Lucidian language is very complex â€" but I hope that this paper has shown
that through this complexity, there lies a true beauty. The Lucidian race has a
whole different way of thinking than most other races, and this is highly
evident upon the examination of the Lucidian language. Unfortunately, this can
be one of the biggest hurdles to overcome â€" learning to actually think like a
Lucidian when speaking Lucidian, which is a hard task for most other races as it
feels very “alien�. This paper has only just scratched the surface of the
Lucidian language and is meant as an introduction to the basic structures â€"
there is still more work to be done in this area, and I urge other scholars to
research this farther. Particularly in the areas of: verb tenses and
“helping� verbs (such as “could�, “must� and so on in Common),
expression of emotions, and the historical trends through the ages as Ancient
Lucidian gradually turned into what it is today.

I also hope that this paper opens the door for new research done on other
languages of the basin. As my own skill in Bookbinding rises, and there are no
new works on the topic of the languages of the Basin, I intend to research them
myself. Learning new languages offers us a unique insight into races and
cultures that may otherwise be alien to us, and is quite fulfilling and
fascinating work to undertake.

b. Words of Thanks
I would like to thank my colleagues at the Mesa compound for their invaluable
assistance on some difficulties I ran into while writing this paper. Living in
the city away from Lucidians who speak my native tongue has made me second
guess myself on many aspects of the language, and I find myself thinking in
Common thought patterns more and more every day. Advice from my guild's
resident Astrologist, Croobuk zi'Prouep, was also much appreciated. Being a
scholar herself, she helped me with trivia about Ancient Lucidian, which I
think has greatly enhanced this paper. My brother Okteb was also helpful on the
aspects of this paper that dealt with Modern Lucidian as spoken by the younger
generation. I would also like to thank Lord Aiakon, the Head Librarian of my
city Magnagora. Without his help and guidance on this paper, I would not have
had the strength to submit this piece.

Glossary of words used in this paper:
(note, however that different regional words may exist for the same thing)

uvac'a - (v) fight
kp'sha - (v) do
izsho - (v) eat
zkau'p -  (v) kill
dl'ajo - (v) think
br'atm - (v) make
cneet - (v) look 
t'devi - (v) take
ckl'osha - (v) write
lit'ka - (v) give
s'lac - (v) see
trime -  (v) walk
sx'od - (v) drink
ee'pta - (v) stop
sk'l'ij - (n) enemy
xr'iji - (n) potion
jk'ooc -  (n) book
kn'ril - (n) quill
auji - (n) chest
lavi - (n) “cake� - a (traditional Lucidian dessert similar to a cake)
rv'lis - (n) vermin (a rat or weevil)
dr'oshau - (n) woman
preelu - (n) man
trc'oj - (n) scholar
audau - (n) cow
troe - (adj) good
ush'vim - (adj) red
cc'as - (adj) brown
pivik - (adj) little