yevyrm spyeglens

A Documentation for the

Vyrmag Language

/u/tigfa
March 3, 2016
1.0
1. Introduction
1.1 Oligosynthesis and Examples
2. Phonology
2.1 Orthography (spelling rules)
2.1.1 Apostrophes
2.1.2 Other punctuation rules
3. Grammar
3.1 Syntax
3.1.1 Word Order
3.1.2 Additional Information
3.1.3 Modifiers
3.1.4 Clauses
3.2 Tenses
3.3 Affixes
3.4 Comparisons
3.5 Interrogatives
4. Vocabulary
4.1 Pronouns
4.2 To be/to exist
4.3 Conjunctions
4.4 Prepositions Usage
4.5 Word merging
4.6 Numerals
4.6.1 Ordinal Numbers
4.7 Directions
4.8 Full Lexicon
5. Sample Text

Foreword
This documentation contains core information about the language. While it does
not delve into the small nuances of Vyrmag, it does cover all of the important points of
the language.
This documentation may also be used for learning, however, it is not arranged in
a lesson-like manner. In order to learn from this documentation, it is recommended to
start with basic vocabulary while going back and forth with grammar. The most
important part of Vyrmag is to have a full vocabulary and some knowledge on how to
merge words, sentence order, and affixes. These are the most important things to know
in speaking Vyrmag.
1. Introduction

Vyrmag is an Oligosynthetic language that was developed by reddit user /u/tigfa in late
2014. The language has very few words, fewer than 100, but it can still function with
little issues. This is due to the way the language functions. Because of its small
vocabulary and very simple grammar, Vyrmag can easily be learned to a proficient level
in under a few days.

1.1 Oligosynthesis and Examples

The word “oligosynthesis” is derived from the Greek word “oligo-”, meaning “few”, and
the word synthesis. Essentially, oligosynthetic Languages use very few root words, and
when needed, new words can be created by merging root words together. For example:

ae byelon kaplensbelg
ae byel-on kap-lens-belg
I feel-light money-storage-building
“I see (a) bank”

In the above example, there is no word for “see” or “bank”, however, by merging
relevant root words together, these words can be created. Another example is the word
below:

anpyrnollens
neg-hot-food-container
“Refrigerator, cooler, etc.”

Even with less than 100 words, a vyrmag speaker could easily construct various words
using the minimal root words that they possess. These root words were carefully
chosen so that many new words could easily be made using them.
2. Phonology

Phonology is the sounds that the language consists of. These sounds are indicated in
the IPA chart below. Note that this IPA chart is simplified. Spoken vyrmag can vary
depending on the speaker. Sounds that usually vary will be marked with an asterisk.

Consonants

Labial Labiodental Alveolar Palato-Alveol Dorsal Glottal

ar

Nasal m n ɲ ŋ*

Stop p b t d k g ʔ*

Sibilant tʃ*​dʒ
affricate

fricatives f v s z ʃ

Tap ɾ*

approximants l

Vowels

i u~ʊ
ɪ

ɛ ɔ

Notes:
- Pronunciation of the alveolar tap /ɾ/ may vary. It may be pronounced as /r/ (rolled r) or
/ɹ/ (like the English r) depending on the speaker.
- The nasal velar /ŋ/ (ng) exists mostly in words like foreign names, however, the sound
is never used in native vyrmag.
- The glottal stop /ʔ/ (an abrupt break in speech) is used sporadically by speakers
- the /tʃ​/ sound (ch sound) is used sometimes
- /u/ and /ʊ/ are generally used interchangeably
- the pronunciation of /a/ may vary

2.1 Orthography

The Vyrmag alphabet is as follows:

a b cd efgi j klmnoprstuvyz
Respective IPA: /a b ʃ d ɛ f g i ​dʒ k l m n ​ɔ p ɾ s t u v ɪ z/

Help for those unfamiliar with IPA.

Unfamiliar Vyrmag letter English Equivalent

character

ʃ c sh, like in shoe

ɛ e e, from exit

dʒ j j, like in jack

ɔ o the o from thought

ɾ r tapped r

ɪ y the i from bit or

infinite

There are no capital letters in Vyrmag at all.

2.1.1​ ​Apostrophes

Vyrmag relies on sticking words together. As a result, some words may end up
long, and it may be difficult to distinguish meaning. For example:

The word ​yatkyoyut​ is broken down to ​water-movement-tool

This is ambiguous and can be interpreted as either a boat (water movement tool, a tool
for moving things through water) or as a pump (water movement tool, a tool for moving
water).
In order to break this ambiguity, apostrophes can be placed between merged words to
clear up confusion.

For example:

yat’kyoyut yatkyo’yut
water- movement tool water movement - tool
“boat” “pump”

There are no specific rules for when to place apostrophes. A writer can place
them where they feel it would be necessary in order to clear up ambiguity.

2.1.2 Other Punctuation

Other forms of punctuation have had very little use in Vyrmag. Generally, the
community uses them whenever they are needed, or whenever one wishes to use them.
Most forms of punctuation have no standard use in the language.

Quotation marks (“”) are used to mark foreign words. For example: “suiden” - Sweden.
They can also be used to quote people.

Periods (.) are used to end sentences.

Exclamation marks (!) are generally used to indicate that a sentence is said louder.

Any form of brackets ()[]{} are generally used interchangeably.

Question marks (?) can be omitted, as questions already contain interrogative words
which indicate that the sentence is a question. They are sporadically used.

hyphens and commas (-,) are generally used interchangeably and have no standardized
use. While they are used a lot, many speakers simply place them “where they want to”.

​3. Grammar

In the past, Vyrmag was known to have a very “loose” form of grammar. To summarize,
one could construct sentences, words, etc. in any order that they would wish to as long
as the listener or reader could understand it. The primary setback of this method was
that nobody would speak in the same way, and, as a result, two people speaking the
same language with each other would have a very difficult time to understand each
other. Because of these setbacks, a new set of standardized rules were decided upon.

3.1 Syntax

Vyrmag Syntax is very loose and has very few rules governing how sentences should
be structured.

3.1.1 Word Order

Vyrmag uses SBO word order. SBO stands for “Subject Before Object”. Simply put, in
any given sentence, the subject must be before the object. For example:
Subject-Verb-Object ae art nol “I make food”

Verb-Subject-Object art ae nol “make I food”

Subject-Object-Verb ae nol art “I food make”

The subject of the sentence must never come after the object. For example, the
sentence “nol ae art” (food I make) would literally mean that the food physically
prepares and makes me.

3.1.2 Additional Information

Additional information (tense markers, locations, etc.) can be located anywhere in the
sentence. For example:
Subject Location Manner Verb Object Time

ae en krasbelg yut akpyr art nol tyeganyak

I in school using a heater make food earlier

This sentence is grammatically correct, as the subject comes before the object.

3.1.3 Modifiers

Modifiers (adjectives, adverbs, etc) always come before the noun or

adjective/verb/adverb that they are modifying. Note that Vyrmag does not distinguish
between adjectives and adverbs and classifies them all as modifiers.

3.1.4 Clauses

Clauses in vyrmag can be introduced by a variety of words. Note that these words can
be omitted if wished to be.

Introduction with “vyum”

In Vyrmag, vyum means “to be”, but when introducing a clause, it could also mean
“that”.
eg.

daigcu kras ​vyum​ ye daigu kyop

daig-cu kras vyum ye daig-u kyop
person-pl know is have person-male it
People know that he has it.
Other words can introduce a clause as well. For example:
Chart of common words that
introduce clauses

vyum that

zyut because

enfas if

entyeg when

enlyends where

ae kyop ye zyut ae gur kyop

“I have it because I like it”

kyo dai usk enfas annya andag

“Come here if something bad happens”

3.2 Tenses

Tense in Vyrmag is generally marked by tense markers. Tense markers are

generally omitted if the tense can easily be guessed through context or has been stated
before. The first kind of marker indicates past, present, or future tense.
Past Present Future

tyeganyak tyegusk tyegyak

time-un-forwards time-here time-forwards

Example usage:
ae ye kyop tyeganyak
I possess it past-tense
I had it

The second tense marker type in Vyrmag indicates an exact time. For example:
ae yutnol usk tyeg’nyaon
ae yut-nol usk tyeg’-nya-on
I use-food this time-no-sun
I will eat/am eating/ate this evening

Another example is:

daicu en 9:00 ye kyoyut

dai en 9:00 ye kyo-yut
you in 9:00 have movement-tool
You will have/have/had the vehicle at 9:00

Both tense markers can be used in the same sentence to lessen ambiguity. Duration of
actions can also be marked very simply. For example:

ae aiszagtas eg tyegon
ae ais-zag-tas e tyeg-on
I idle-for-power one time-sun
I sleep for one day

3.3 Affixes

Vyrmag has 4 prefixes and 2 suffixes, making a total of 6 affixes in total. The
prefixes in Vyrmag have various roles. The four prefixes are:

Prefix use example

ye- Genitive, marks possession. yeae kyop

ye-ae kyop
my thing

il- Intensifier. Note that it can be ildag! ilildag!

repeated for more intensity. il-dag il-il-dag
very good! very very good!

an- Negator andag!

 an-dag
bad!

ak- Agentive akjag akart

ak-jag ak-art
agent-fight agent-create
fighter, soldier creator, maker

On many occasions, words can have more than one prefix. If this is the case, the orders
of the prefixes are: ye il an ak

The suffixes in Vyrmag mark gender. Note that these are usually omitted. These are:

-i marks female. Eg. daigi would be woman

-u marks male. Eg. daigu would be man.

3.4 Comparisons

Modifiers are repeated in order to indicate comparisons. For example:

comparative form superlative form

su susu sususu

big bigger biggest

anpyr anpyrpyr anpyrpyrpyr

cold colder coldest

The word “de” is used practically the same as the word “than”.
For example:
kyop susu de yeae kyoyut vyum
It is bigger than my vehicle
Affixes do not have to be repeated with the modifier.
3.5 Interrogatives

The interrogative mood is used when asking questions. This mood is indicated
with the word “rys”. For example:

kyop vyum dag rys

It is good Interrogative.
Is it good?

The word rys can also be merged with other words to ask more specific questions.

kyop vyum rysdag ryszyut dai angur nol

kyop vyum rys-dag rys-zyut dai an-gur nol
it is interrogative-good. interrogative-reason you un-like food
How good is it? How come you don’t like food?

gur dai ryskyop

gur daig rys-kyop
like you interrogative-item.
Which do you want?

4. Vocabulary
It is to be noted that in Vyrmag, nouns, verbs, and modifiers may have their roles
changed. For example, the adjective “nov” (new) can also be used as a verb (to
change) depending on context.

4.1 Pronouns
Singular Plural

1​st​ person ae aecu

(I) (we)
2​nd​ person dai daicu
(you) (y’all, you all)

3​rd​ person daig, kyop (for non-humans) daigcu, kyopcu (for non-humans)
(he/she, lit. person) (they, lit. people)

Demonstratives

usk anusk kyop

(here, This) (there) While meaning (it), it is very common to
use this word in place of usk and anusk

Interrogatives

who rysdaig

what rys

when rystyeg

where ryslyends

why ryszyut

how much/many ryscu

4.2 To be/to exist

In English, to be” and “to exist” use the same word. For example:

There is a house (is here marks existence, meaning a house exists)

That is a house (is here marks the state of being, meaning that the object being referred
to is a house)

English does not use different words for this, but other languages, such as Vyrmag, do.
“vyum” is used for a state of being. This means that “that is a house” would be
translated as:
kyop vyum belg

To say “there is a house”, one would say:

belg annya (annya literally means un-nonexistent)

Under no circumstances should “vyum” be used to denote existence.

4.3 Conjunctions

“and” = “ag”. Note that “ag” must be placed between every word in a list.
eg.

usk ag usk ag usk kyop vyum su ag dag

“this, this, and this” “it is large and good”

“or” = “og”. Note that “og” must also be placed between every word in a list.
eg.

rys dagdag? usk og anusk?

Which is better? this or that?

4.4 Prepositions Usage

Preposition Meaning:

en in, at, on

enzot inside

anenzot outside

yak (also means direction) towards, at, until

anen not in, out, not at

 taryak (lit. sky-direction) above, over

bastyak (lit. ground-direction) below, under

nainya etyotrun de… (no difference above, over

than above)

annainya etyotrun de… (no difference below, under

than above)

4.5 Word merging

Word merging is the act of merging two or more root words together to create
compounds, or mergers.

For example:
torg = safe, defense, etc., belg = building, structure
torgbelg = bunker, fort, etc.

yat = water, lyends = land, area, biome

yatlyends = sea, ocean, lake, etc.

Here’s a larger one:

anpyrnollens
neg-hot-food-container
“Refrigerator, cooler, etc.”

note the apostrophe placed to separate anpyr (cold) and nollens (food storage).
Apostrophe changes can drastically change the meaning of mergers, as is explained in
section 2.2.1.
4.6 Numerals

Vyrmag is a base 10 language. There are no words in vyrmag for “hundreds” or

“thousands”. Instead, numerals are simply “stacked” on each other.
0-9 okt 8

nya 0 nai 9

eg 1 Larger numbers

bi 2 10 egnya

tryg 3 50 kinnya

kua 4 100 egnyanya

kin 5 112 egegbi

ek 6 5323 kintrygbitryg

non 7 404 kuanyakua

With this system, very large numbers can be a problem. In order to overcome this, one
can do the following:

Number: 2,000,000,000
In Vyrmag: binyanyanyanyanyanyanyanyanya
Shortening: bi ye nai nyacu
Lit. “2 possessing nine zeros”

By saying “possessing … #”, one can easily shorten large numbers

More examples of this: Rough translation:

1,000,000 eg ye ek nyacu one with six zeros

5,000,000,000 kin ye nai nyacu five with nine zeros

9,333,333 nai ye ek trygcu nine with six threes

The following can also be done:

3,000,000,001 tryg ye okt nyacu ag eg three with eight zeros
and one

5,000,003,000,010 kin ye kin nyacu ag tryg five with five zeros and
ye kua nyacu ag egnya three with four zeroes
and ten

Decimals can be done by stating them in fractions. For example:

0.1, 1/10 eg en egnya

0.2, 2/10 or 1/5 bi en egnya / eg en kin

1.333… or 4/3 eg ag eg en tryg / kua en tryg

3.1 tryg ag eg en egnya

25.44 bikin ag kuakua en egnyanya

Negatives can be created using the prefix an-

-4 ankua

-5,000,000 ankin ag ek nyacu

-16.4 anegek ag bi en kin

-2/3 anbi en tryg

4.6.1 Ordinal Numbers

In Vyrmag, ordinal numbers are achieved by adding an “s” on the end of digits.
For example, eg is “one”, while egs is “first”.
egs first nais ninth

bis second enyas tenth

trygs third binyas twentieth

kuas fourth trygnyas thirtieth

kins fifth kinnyas fortieth

eks sixth enyanyas hundredth

nons seventh enyanyanyas thousandth

okts eighth es ag kua nyacu ten thousandth

​4.7 Directions

When using directions, a degree system is used. For example:

nainya yotrun (90 degrees) – right

egoktnya yotrun (180 degrees) – backwards. (this is cumbersome as anyak can be

used to say backwards)

binonnya yotrun (270 degrees) – left (note that annainya yotrun (negative 90 degrees)
can also be used for this)

etyotrun

When talking about directions, etyot would mean that instead of measuring degrees in
the horizontal plane, it would be measured in the vertical plane. eg.
nainya etyotrun would mean up (90 degrees in the vertical plane).
4.8 Full

ae – I
ag – and
ais – idle, remain
aiszagtas – to idle for power, sleep, rest
akt - hello
art – to create/make, created
as - sorry
bast – dirty, earthy
belg – building, house, structure
krasbelg – school
nolbelg – food house, canteen, restaurant
torgbelg – fort, castle, bunker
artbelg – factory
bi - two
bok – normal, mundane
byel – feel, experience
dagbyel – happy
andagbyel – sad
pyrbyel – angry
pyrtebyel – hot (to feel hot)
anpyrtebyel – cold (to feel cold)
cu – many, amount
da – around, approximately
dag - good
dai - you
daig – person, he, she
de - than
dok - powder
eg - one
ileg - alone (idiomatic), to unite
ek - six
en – in, on, at
et – other, different
fas – event, occurrence
 enfas - if
ga – a group/collection of people/things/etc.
gel – traits, features, characteristics
grat – thank you, thanks
gur – like, want, things that are liked
gyat – self
gyo – order, sequence, pattern
jag – fight, conflict, battle
juk – vibrations, waves
byeltarjuk – sound, hear
yatjuk - wave
kap - money, currency
kin - five
kol – equal, similar, same, even
kras – to know, to think, to understand, to learn
kua - four
kyo – move, movement, go
kyop – thing, stuff, it
kyub – broken, destroyed
kyug - split, half
kyun – able to, can
lens – to contain, hold, store
lyends – land, area, biome, terrain, etc.
bastlyends – ground
tarlyends – sky
vudlyends - forest
yatlyends – sea
mir – alive, animate, living
tar’mirkyop – bird
yat’mirkyop – sea creature (fish)
myorn – luck, farewell
nai - nine
nol – food, fuel
nov – new, to change
nya – zero, not existent, to remove
ods – nation, state, clan, faction
og - or
okt - eight
on – light, color
 nyaon – black, dark
pyron – red, yellow, orange
vudon – brown, green
yatlyendson – dark blue, dark green
yaton – clear
ord – rule, law
pan – sex, intercourse, also a common swear
pyr – fire, heat, hot
run – section, component, piece of
belgrun – room, part of building
rys – interrogative, what, how
siks – simple
spyeg – to speak, language, saying
spyegon - writing
steg – stone, rock, hard
anbaststeg - metal
su - large
tar – air, gas
tas - power
te – physical, tangible
torg – protected, safe, to defend/protect
trag – road, path, way
yattrag – river
tyeg - time
tyg – dimension (full def. below)
usk – here, this
ut – but, however
vi – long, far, length
vud – wood, plant material
vyel – all, whole, completely, complete
vyuk – true, yes
vyum – to be
yak – towards, until, forward
yask – cover, seal, layer
daigyask - clothing
yat – water, liquid
pyrstegyat - lava
ye – to have/possess
yom – regarding, about
yor – objective, mission
yot – circle, circular, round
onyot – sun, star
pyryot – fireball, sun, star
yug – name
yuk – random, any
yul – to kill, to die, death, end
yut – to use, tool, machine (full def. below)
zag – in exchange for
zog – center, important, central
zot – boundary, edge, side
zyut – because.

tyg (full def.)

Dimension word. This is one of the hardest concepts in Vyrmag to learn. It is often used
to describe shapes.
Usage
tygeg would mean “dimension-1”. This would be a line, which, in reality, would have no
width. The word is, however, used in a more relative way. Examples of this can be in
the merger “ansteg’tygeg” – “un-rigid-dimension one”. This is interpreted as “rope” or
and none-rigid line.
tygbi would be used to define any plane of any sort. Again, it is generally used in a
relative manner, where words like “ansteg’tygbi” would mean cloth or fabric, or paper,
depending on context
Note that tyg is used in a very abstract or relative sense most of the time. In reality,
“ansteg’tygeg” would denote an item with no width, but it usually refers to a stick or pole
(which has width)
List of commonly used dimensions
tygnya – a dot
tygeg – a line
tygbi – a plane, or flat thing
tygtryg – a 3d thing

yut (full def.)

/jut/
As a verb, yut means to use or make use of. The word yut is very versatile, and can be
used in multiple situations. For example, there are no words for “eat” or “drive” in
vyrmag, but instead, phrases like “yut nol” (use food) and “yut kyoyut” (use vehicle)can
be used for this.
as a noun, yut means machine or tool. For example, kyoyut would mean movement
tool, or vehicle. words are commonly merged with yut to define any tool. For example,
dyagyut means weapon, or fighting tool.
Common merger in
dyagyut - fight-tool. a weapon of any kind
krasyut - knowledge-tool - commonly interpreted as computer
kyoyut - movement-tool. vehicle
pyryut - fire-tool. heater, burner, stove, lighter, etc.

​5. Sample Text

vyrm vyum rys? What is vyrmag?

vyrm vyum ye’tigfa artspyeg. Vyrmag is the constructed language

daig en 2014 art vyrm, zyut nya of Tigfa. He created vyrmag in 2014
ye daig artfascu ag gur dai yul because he had nothing to do, and he
tyeg. wanted to kill some time.

en ansu tyeg tyeganyak, usk Shortly, this “time killing” changed. It

“tyegyul” nov. kyop nov, ag vyum changed into something larger. Tigfa
cucu. Tigfa art su tas yak kyop, put a lot of effort into it, and improved
ag dagdag vyrm. daig art vyrmag. He made chat rooms and did
spyeglyends ag cucu. more.

en zog/tyegyak 2015, vyrm in mid/late 2015, vyrmag dwindled.

ansusu. ilancu daig spyeg kyop Very little people spoke it actively,
cu tyeg, ag ilansu tyeg and shortly afterwards, vyrmag was
tyeganyak, vyrm dayul. ye mostly dead. It had speakers, they
akspyeg, ut daigvyel ais. were all inactive.

yut “yultyeg”, tigfa nov ag using this inactivity, tigfa changed and
dagdag vyrm. usk, tigfa anyul improved vyrmag. Now, tigfa is
vyrm spyeg. art daig nov reviving the language. He is making
spyeglens, ag cucu. new documentation, and more.