Greetings.

[Demian]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to at least greet everyone and express my true amazement with this incredible work of art, otherwise known as Ithkuil.

That briefly said, I'm just wondering if anyone else out there has any advice/comments on the best way to approach a study of the language itself, or if that's even realistic, or even the point of Ithkuil. It seems so overwhelming in its complexity, I don't quite even know where to begin. I'm not a trained linguist, just a curious person (in either sense)!

Thanks!

[Paul Donnelly]

Greetings! If you want to study Ithkuil you'll have to read the grammar through, that's the first thing, since there aren't any other materials to study from at present. It can be confusing, but hopefully we can help you with any questions you might have. Pay special attention to the chapters on stem formation and "Basic Morphology", since they're critical to even the most basic sentences. You'll also want to understand how cases work, but don't worry about being familiar with every single one, and you'll want to know what the stative and dynamic functions are. I think of roots, suffixes, and cases as three different kinds of vocabulary, which can be learned as you go. The trickiest part of making sense of Ithkuil is remembering all 22 categories words inflect for, and what they do. Word formation seems tricky at first, but isn't so bad once you actually understand the descriptions. A person who is familiar with the categories should be able to decode Ithkuil sentences with the aid of a reference. Actually knowing enough to hold a conversation is a feat I don't think anyonr has accomplished yet, but I think it's possible.

[Demian]

Thanks, Paul! This is just the kind of advice I was hoping for. It helps to know where to focus my efforts in the beginning. I have been reading the grammar already, but, as I mentioned, there is an overwhelming amount of stuff to process! It is sometimes confusing, but also always interesting. Glad to know there are other people willing to help.

[selpa'i]

la'o me. Demian .me cusku di'e

Yes, it is quite overwhelming, especially during the first few reads
through the grammar. It took me many rereads to not be confused anymore.

There are some things without which you cannot understand or produce
even the simplest Ithkuil sentence. It is those things that I would
recommend learning first.

The minimal Ithkuil formative looks like this:

Stem + Root + Case + Configuration et al + Version + Designation

This means there are six categories of the morphology that you need to
be proficient in.

The Stem (which is actually Stem + Pattern + Function) has these values:
http://selpahi.weebly.com/uploads/8/6/0/8/860862/5794661_orig.jpg

There are a little over 200 roots, I suggest learning the ones that have
boxes around them first, because every other root is patterned after one
of the boxed roots. I have made a vocab deck for the boxed roots, which
you can find here: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/3804365318

Case I actually consider one of the easiest parts of Ithkuil. Instead of
having to learn when to use prepositions or gerunds or what-have-you,
it's all done in the same Case slot. This is *easier* than in any
natural language. There are 96 cases, 72 of which are main cases.

"Configuration et al" is the infamous table 5. It combines several
different concepts into a single affix, so there are over 1700 forms for
this slot. Fortunately, there is a way to simplify it, thus reducing the
number of forms a beginner needs to learn to a mere 288. You can read
about this at: http://selpahi.weebly.com/15/category/table%205/1.html

Version is realized via one of 6 tones.

Designation is marked via stress. Not a big hurdle I think.

This means that of these six categories, 4 are written with letters, one
is a tone and one is stress.

So these are the six categories I would advise to learn first.

-- selpa'i

[Demian]

Yes, it is quite overwhelming, especially during the first few reads
through the grammar. It took me many rereads to not be confused anymore.

Cool. Thanks for the breakdown. I notice you say "the first few reads"... Anyway, it's encouraging to get responses so fast.

.i ji'a me'e lo'u DEMien le'u irci la lojban la freenode
 

[Keresth D'Araciel]

Huh, I'm some months late. Oh well.

Demian, as you have probably read by now, when Quijada made the original Ithkuil, it was never his intention that it be used as we are doing so now but he has since included feasibility, if not ease, as a project goal when developing Ilaksh and then the updated Ithkuil. We disagree on just how feasible fluency in Ithkuil is but I think at least, Quijada and those I have spoken to think it is possible to utilize Ithkuil with a reference on hand and we are hopeful that true fluency is within human capability, though perhaps only as a first language. We will see in time.

In short, stick with it and you will find yourself proficient in time. However, as la selpa'i has mentioned, it does take several read throughs to really have an understanding of how everything connects together and to get over the initial brain-warping. It still gets me often enough. Naturally, feel free to ask any questions you might have; the others have been very helpful in pointing out all the things I have overlooked or misunderstood.

Probably the more difficult parts are keeping together how all the categories interact to form the concept that is being expressed and the inverse; determining what is actually trying to be expressed and determining which derivation to use to express that.

Paul and la selpa'i have already covered the sections that are really integral and I haven't much to add to that. Once how the pieces fit together is understood, actually fitting them together is a logical, if complicated, process