The Sayboh (sebo) Language

A Language Based on Trees

by

Mark Sherman

[Send email to arctangent@hotmail.com Put 'conlang' in the subject line]

All italic characters are in SAMPA.

Phonetic Inventory

Writing System

Sayboh has three writing systems. The first writing system is in full tree form. The second writing system is a linearized version of the tree. The third is a the same linearized form, but written with the latin alphabet, and is refered to as Sayboh-latin, and is the preferred form of the text used in these examples. Sayboh-latin exactly follows the pronunciation of how Sayboh should be read aloud, no matter what form it is written in; The rules for translating Sayboh trees, or linearized Sayboh, into Sayboh-Latin are the same rules for pronunciation.

Both linearized Sayboh and Sayboh-Latin are written left to right, top to bottom, as in English.

Main Syllables

The main word stems in Sayboh are based on 100 syllables, each represented by their own character. Each character is made of 3 parts: The stem, the tick marks, and the vowel. The stem is either a verical bar, an L, an upside down L, C, or a backwards C. Each character can have from zero to three tick marks, which intersect the main stem. Vowels are represented with an infinity symbol (ay), triangle (ee), caret (oo), circle (ah) or a tilde (oh), placed either above or inside the consonant character. The consonant is always pronounced before the vowel. A valid word stem consists of one or more syllable characters in a row, such as Saytay (sete) or Deesohvah (disovA).

Also, no multisyllabic verb word can begin with the syllaboh “noh.” This is explained later.

On a computer, some special symbols used in linearized Sayboh trees can be written in plain ASCII:

Basic Syntax

(This document will mostly work in linearized Sayboh, since trees are awkward on a computer, at least until I write a Sayboh tree visualization program.)

A basic Sayboh sentence has the following form: (For now ignore the optional “extra” part of the sentence. )

Subject – Verb [extra] = Object OR Object-Verb=Subject

It is important to notice that the Subject Verb and Object are separated by the ‘-’ and ‘=’ symbols, which are referred to as connectors. The – connector is used to connect the Subject to the Verb, and the = connector is used to connect the Object to the verb. Therefore I-kill=you and you=kill-I are equivalent ways to write the same tree. Also, each Subject, Verb, or Object can be another Sayboh subtree, grouped by parenthesis, such as “I-kill=(You-and=Bob)” That same sentence written is written as “Nay-Paynoo=(paynay-koo=Bob).” If you are paying attention, you may have noticed that the word ‘and’ is not a verb; That is correct, it is a conjunction, but it Sayboh conjunctions are written as if they were verbs, in between the Subject and the Object. In the case of a conjunction, it does not matter which is the subject and which is the object: Whether you use (A-or=B) and (B-or=A) is up to the writer.

Morphology

Plurality

To make a word plural, follow it with the “..” symbol. (Two ascii periods.)

Examples:

Nay-paynoo=sah.. (I kill people.)

Nay..-Paynoo=sah. (We kill people.)

Tense

In Sayboh there are 4 tenses: present, past, future, and present continuous. The present tense requires no modification of the verb. To change a verb to another tense, directly precede the verb with a tense symbol: “8” for present continuous, -> for future, and <- for past.

Examples:

Nay- <-paynoo=sah.. (I killed people.)

Nay- ->paynoo=sah.. (I will kill people.)

Nay- 8paynoo=sah.. (I am killing people.)

Sentence Negation

To negate a sentence, add the syllable noh to the front of the verb. A space can also be added before the verb, but it is not required.

Example:

Nay- <-nohpaynoo=sah.. (I did not kill people.)

Nay..- ->noh paynoo=sah.. (We will not kill people.)

The Extra Field

The “extra” part of a Sayboh subtree is optional, but can be very important. It is used when Subject and Object are not sufficient, such as the English sentences “I took Alice to the Library.” The extra field contains a preposition symbol followed by another word or subtree. The preposition symbol can be -->(to), <--(from), -}-> (toward), or <-{- (away), and multiple ones can be used at once.

Examples:

(Alice- <- move --->table =book..) means Alice moved the books to the table.

(Bob- 8move <---box =book..) means Bob is moving the books from the box.

(Alice -> move <---box.. ---> table =book..) means Alice will move books from the boxes to the table.

Now a Sayboh tree’s syntax can be written as: (Those enclosed in brackets are optional)

Subject[plural] [CM]– [tense][noh]Verb [preposition1 Object1 [preposition2 Object2]] =[CM] Object[plural]

Subject, Verb, Objects can either be Sayboh words, or Sayboh subtrees enclosed in parenthesis.

What is CM? That’s next.

Connection Modifiers

A connection modifier clarifies the meaning of a connection between two words. There are three modifiers: L, R and V.

The V modifier emphasizes the verb meaning of the connected Object or Subject; The sentence represents an action.

The L and R modifiers emphasizes the left or right, respectively, child of the connecting subtree. Here are some examples:

X-think=(A-possess=B)  is a bit ambiguous.
X-think=V (A-possess=B)  means “X thinks that A possesses B.”
X-think=L (A-possess=B) means “X thinks of A, which possesses B.”
X-think=R (A-possess=B) means “X  thinks of B, which is possessed by A.”

Also, there are many times when the V connection modifier is left off even when the connected subtree is to be taken as the verb meaning,
if that subtree cannot be interpreted as a noun, or if no other meaning makes sense.

Incomplete Trees

Sometimes it is not necessary, or does not make sense, for there to be both a subject and an object in a sentence or subtree. The Subject or Object can be left out, but these rules must be followed:

1. If the subtree does not have an object, then the subject must follow the verb. (Nay- ->paynoo) is “I will kill.”

2. If the subtree does not have a subject, then the object must follow the verb. (<-kill=paynoo) is “You were killed.”

The above two rules can be summed up as: In Sayboh generally either SVO or OVS sentence structures can be used, but when either the subject or object is missing, SVO must be used.

Conversion to Sayboh-Latin

Sayboh-Latin precisely writes down how a Sayboh tree is to be pronounced, so the following rules describe how to pronounce a tree.

1. Sayboh-Latin is written the same way linearized Sayboh trees are written: From left to right.

2. Word stems are not modified. The word paynay will be pronounced as it is spelled, according to the Sayboh-Latin to SAMPA rules given above in the Phonetic inventory: pene.

3. The addition of opening and closing parenthesis, connectors, connection modifiers, plural and tense markers add sounds to the beginning or end of a word stem.

4. The conversion to Sayboh-Latin proceeds from left to right, word by word. The beginning of the sentence is capitalized, and the end is followed by a period.

Connector Rules (SUFFIX)

If a word is followed by a ”-” connector, a t is added to the end of the word. If a word is followed by a ‘=’ connector, an s is added to the end of the word.

Examples:

Nay-thee=paynay. (I-love=you) Nayt thees paynay.

Paynay=thee-nay. (you=love-I) Paynays theet nay.

Notice that both of the previous sentences are equivalent. Sayboh can be written either SVO or OVS, as long as the connectors are placed in the correct order.

Note, that even if a word is followed by a connector AFTER a closing parenthesis, the suffix is still added:

(nay-koo=paynay)-paynoo=Alice. (i-and=you)-kill=Alice. Breenayt koos paynayeet paynoos Alice. (see parenthesis rules below)

Plural Rules (SUFFIX)

The following rules apply if a word is marked as plural:

1. If the word has a ‘-’ connector, the t suffix changes to th.

2. If the word has a ‘=’ connector, the s suffix changes to sh.

3. If the word is not followed by any connector, an ‘n’ suffix is added.

Examples:

Nay..– shee= paynay. (I..-hate=you) Nayth shees paynay. (We hate you)

Paynay-shee=nay.. (you-hate=I..) paynayt shees nayn. (You hate us)

Opening Parenthesis Rules (PREFIX)

If a word is directly preceeded by opening parenthesis, then it is followed by a parenthesis syllable:

Closing Parenthesis Rules (SUFFIX)

If a word is followed by closing parenthesis, then a parenthesis vowel is added before the connector suffix. If there is no connector suffix, the parenthesis vowel is added to the end of the word.

Parenthesis Examples: (parenthesis syllables/vowels in bold):

nay..-paynoo=(Alice-koo=bob) I..-kill=(Kaylee-and=Johlay) nayth paynoos brooKayleet koos Johlayee. (I killed Kaylee and Johlay.) (Kaylee and Johlay are names.)

If a word has no opening parenthesis, “bray” is not usually necessary, but is added when a tense needs to be added to a verb. (see below)

Tense Rules

If a verb needs to be places in the past, future, or present continuous tense, then the “br” of the parenthesis prefix is substituted with one of the following:

If the word has no parenthesis prefix, then the 0-parenthesis prefix of “bray” is used, giving the prefixes kray, pray, and fray, respecively.

Example: Nay.. - -> paynoo = Kaylee. (I plural - future kill = Kaylee) Nayth frayoaynoos Kaylee.

Connection Modifiers

If a connector directly following a word (or following the parenthesis that follow a word) has a connection modifier, then a connection modifier syllable is added directly after the main word stem, before the closing parenthesis vowel, plural, or connector suffix.

Example: (Taken from line 5a of the Babel Text)

(Jahhohvah-      ->saybah  =R          (gee..-          8hoh=           (pahqoh -       koo=      sahsaygah))
Jahhohvaht      praysaybahyees          breegeeth       crayhohs        breepahqoht     koos      sahsaygahoo.

For more examples, see the Babel text below.

Click For Babel Text Interlinear Translation in Sayboh

The above link contains an interlinear translation of the Babel text in English, Sayboh-Latin, and in some cases, linearized Sayboh, and full tree form.

Sayboh Word List

Number System

Sayboh has a place-value decimal number system. Ten Sayboh characters are reserved for representing the numerals 0 to 9:

Short numbers can be formed just by concatenating digits: zahtoh is 84, and tootay is 20. Numbers can be as long as you wish, but may become very awkward for long numbers, such as 10000. For this reason, other syllables can be added to numbers:

The general form a number can be written as: (Optional elements are in brackets.)

[[noh] exponent DIGITS dee ][noh] fraction DIGITS [ kee whole DIGITS ]

Where DIGITS is one or more numerals, or a mix of numerals and “poh zeros.” It can be expressed as (numeral) or (poh numeral) [ DIGITS ]

Additional Phrases

"I can eat glass. It does not hurt me."

Breenayt reedoos beeshahbooeet jees kaydoo.

Nays noh saypaynoot gee.

"Hello."

Hay

"Good-bye."

Payhay.

"Thank you."

Thaydoos paynay.

"Fuck you."

Sheedohs paynay. (lit. hate to you)

"We hold these truths to be self-evident."

Nayth paydeeyoos broo pahseeth jays jahsayboheet nohjays saykee.

(lit. We think these are truths, which are not difficult. )

Other sayings:

1. Please do [something]: Nays thoodooyoot [something]

2. Emphatic hello: Haythay.

3. The sky sees everything: Loht saybahs paypee. OR Paypees saybaht loh.

4. To hell: Flay pahshahboh.

5. Where is the tower? Deesayvay pahquot?

6. What time is it? Deesayfay foo.

7. Where am I? Deesayvay nay?

8. Where is he/she/it? Deesayvay voo/payvoo/gee.

9. I hate you. Nayt shees paynay. OR Paynays sheet nay.

10. I love you: Nayt thees paynay. OR Paynays thert nay.

11. Temperature is rough: (means "it is uncomfortable"): Rayt jays roh. OR Rohs jay ray.

12. Yes equals No. (means the speaker is confused): Kayt jays noh. OR Nohs jayt kay.