Resolve unknown terms
Keep a term quoted, or map it deliberately to an existing English concept.
Word by word
Senel words are built from their meaning: the first consonant is the semantic domain, the vowel the subdomain, the last consonant the item.
Two things English leaves out and Senel requires
How you know it
Every statement ends with one syllable saying where the claim comes from. Translating from English, the translator has to guess — and it tells you when it does.
lo | I saw it |
to | I was told |
mo | I infer it |
yo | established knowledge |
so | my own state or intent |
Whether “we” includes you
English we is ambiguous and the ambiguity causes real trouble. Senel has two words and you must pick one.
mun | we, including you |
mon | we, not including you |
The same applies to or: bu is “one or
both”, pu is “exactly one”.
Learn to read Senel
Every root is one syllable: the first consonant is the semantic domain, the vowel the subdomain, the last consonant the item. Learn the 16 domains and the rest of the vocabulary decodes itself.
The 16 domains
Tap a domain to open its map.
Decode a word
Read the word's first sound, then pick its domain.
The cost, shown honestly
Because the item sits in the sound the ear hears least well and the domain sits first, whole families of common words differ only in that first consonant. Hear it wrong and the topic changes. This is the measured price of building words from meaning — not hidden, but part of the lesson.
The full analysis, and why the forms are left this way, is in ROBUSTNESS.md.