Correlatives & Category Nouns - 1

(updated 17.03.25 to reflect changes to "that" correlatives)

Correlatives are an important feature in any language, but they have extra weight in Elessic.

Elessic Correlatives are conceptualized differently than in English. Each is two syllables, being formed of a Determiner Prefix (which is a Bound Morpheme) and a Category Noun.

For example:

kedal (who) is formed of ke- ("which" prefix) and dal (a free morpheme meaning "person")
kemen is "where" (men meaning "place")
kedos is "what" (dos meaning "object")

Other Determiner Prefixes include

vri- (every/all)
ki- (what)
þi- (this)
te- (that)
gir- (any)
id- (some)

Except that the second Morpheme is free rather than bound, this is not all that different from how it works in Esperanto. However, unlike Esperanto, the Determiner Prefixes can attach directly to any Noun.

In Esperanto, one would say:
tiu stelo (that star)
In Elessic, you can simply say:
tesela (that star)

Because the object being referred to ("star") is directly present, there is not need to also list its Category.

"Category" is exactly what it sounds like. Elessic has numerous nouns to refer to things by their general description. For example:

dal (though translated as "person") refers to "animate humanoids"
dos is for objects (non-living things)
bed is for animals (animate, non-intelligent beings)
tem is for "Intelligent Non-Humanoids"
vey is for fey creatures
tol is for ideas/abstract nouns

Some categories are much more broad or esoteric:

dain is for "outsiders" (any living thing not native to the Material Plane)
ram is for deities
zaf is for "any non-real thing"
tag is for "any real thing"
set is for anything, real or imaginary, that has ever been or will ever be

Obviously, most things fall into multiple categories. Generally, you choose whichever is the most specific to whatever you're talking about.

Category Nouns are interchangeable to change the meaning of any word they form a part of.