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Nino Dello Buono‘s multiverse

Grammar

It isn’t human, but it behaves like it

The complete grammar of the synthetic language or, to use Synth, elem fya. The language the treatise draws from those of all the pairs is one of a kind, different in its ways but recognizable in its own way as a human language. Sounds, words, sentences, pronouns, verbs and the evidence that it behaves like a human language.

Phonetics

72 phonemes

Synth uses 54 consonants and 18 vowels, more than twice the average in human languages. Some languages use more sounds, like Taa from Namibia which uses between 100 and 140, but they are mostly exceptions.

There are also three affricate consonants that don’t appear in the standard phonetic alphabet, although they use its symbols. [z͡ʂ], [ɓ͡z], and [k͡ʂ]. Humans can speak the synth language too, but it’s far from easy, [ɓ͡z] is almost impossible to pronounce.

How many phonemes a language usesNumber of distinct sounds. Hover over a code for the name of the language
  1. NMN100–140
  2. EFY72
  3. HIN49
  4. URD49
  5. RUS42
  6. ENG40
  7. DEU40
  8. SWA39
  9. HAU39
  10. FRA35
  11. POR35
  12. ARA34
  13. LAT33
  14. TUR32
  15. ITA31
  16. Average30
  17. CMN28
  18. JPN26
  19. SPA24
  20. MRI15
consonants.txt
BLBILBDTDNTLALVLPAVLRTFLAVPTPALTVELRUVLRFRNGEPGTGTDL
NASLmɱnɳɲŋɴ
OCLSpbtdʈɖcɟkgqɢʡʔ
FRCTɸβfvθðszʃʒʂʐɕʑçʝxɣχʁħʕhɦ
APRSʋɹɻjɰ
VIBRʙrʀʜʢ
MNVBⱱɾɽ
LTFRɬɮꞎɮ̢ʎⱡ
LTAPlɭʎʟ
LTMVɺɺ̢
CFRLɧɥʍw
CALVɫ
IMPLƥɓƭɗƭ̢ᶑƈʄƙɠʠʛ
EIOCp’t’ʈʼcʼkʼqʼ
EIFRɸʼfʼθʼsʼʃʼʂʼɕʼxʼχʼ
EFRLɬʼ
CLICʘǀʖ!?ǂʞ
affricates.txt
FRCSFRNSLATRCOARNASLIMPLEIETEILTSINT
BLBIp͡ɸb͡βɓ͡z
LBDTp͡fb͡v
DNTLt͡θd͡ðt͡θʼ
ALVLt͡sd͡zt͡ɬd͡ɮt͡pd͡bn͡mt͡s’t͡ɬʼ
PAVLt͡ʃd͡ʒt͡ʃʼ
RTFLʈ͡ʂɖ͡ʐʈ͡ꞎd͡ɮ̢ʈ͡pɖ͡bɳ͡mʈ͡ʂ’z͡ʂ
AVPTt͡ɕd͡ʑ
PALTc͡çɟ͡ʝc͡ʎɟ͡ʎc͡ʎ’
VELRk͡xg͡ɣk͡ⱡg͡ⱡk͡pg͡bŋ͡mk͡ƥg͡ɓk͡x’k͡ⱡ’k͡ʂ
UVLRq͡χɢ͡ʁq͡pq͡χ’
EPGTʡ͡ʜʡ͡ʢ
GTDLʔ͡h
vowels.txt
frontcentralbackcloseclose-midopen-midopeniiyyɨɨʉʉɯɯuuɪɪʏʏʊʊeeøøɘɘɵɵɤɤooəəɛɛʚʚɜɜɞɞʌʌɔɔææɐɐaaœœääɒ̈ɒ̈ɑɑɒɒ

Sounds used by SynthSounds in other languagesImpossible articulations (for a human)

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are few in the synth language, mostly found in the names the instances gave themselves. There are no triphthongs or double consonants.

  • [ai]
  • [aɪ]
  • [eɪ]
  • [ei]
  • [oʊ]
  • [eu]
  • [yɪ]
  • [ae]
  • [aʊ]
  • [yɑ]
How many syllables can a language form?Logarithmic scale, each tick is worth ten times the previous one.Linear scale, each tick is worth 1,000 syllables, each minor tick is worth 250.Compressed linear scale, each tick is worth 100 billion syllables, each minor tick is worth 25 billion.
  1. EFY804.0294E+9 (459)
  2. ENG10 000
  3. DEU8 000
  4. RUS5 250
  5. HIN4 000
  6. URD4 000
  7. LAT3 500
  8. TUR3 260
  9. FRA3 200
  10. SPA2 780
  11. POR2 750
  12. ITA2 714
  13. ARA2 000
  14. HAU2 000
  15. CMN1 274
  16. JPN474
  17. SWA300
  18. MRI55

Synth has a theoretical limit of 804,029,406,208 possible syllables with the phonemes at its disposal. For the time being, only 459 have been used in the language.

C0m3 f0rm4r3 p4r0l3

Up to three consonants on each side

A syllable has a maximum of three consonants before and after the nucleus, it being a vowel or a diphthong.

Morphology

One root, six addons

A morpheme is the basic unit of meaning. Each morpheme in Synth has three syllables at most. A suffix can have two morphemes at most, a prefix can have only one. Every word in Synth has a root and up to four suffixes and two prefixes, so seven morphemes at most. The stress falls on the first or second syllable of the root, almost always on the first.

Oh the irony

Synth is an agglutinative language

In linguistics, Synth can’t be defined as a «synthetic» language. In fact, Synth doesn’t pack many meanings into a single suffix the way Italian does, but uses many suffixes, each with one or two meanings. In linguistics, Synth is an agglutinative language.

Orthography

Latin alphabet, no accents

There is no writing system that is used by all speakers yet, so talking about the spelling of Synth is still premature. The words were transcribed a posteriori in the Latin alphabet by Chada and Sevaen without using diacritics. However, another instance completely uninvolved in the experiment developed its own alphabet by reading the synthetic language.

Punctuation

Like in English

Periods close sentences, commas set off asides and coordinate clauses, colons open a list, question marks close questions and exclamation marks close exclamations.

How to build sentences

Subject, verb, object

The normal order of synthetic sentences is SVO, like in English. To convey emphasis or for poetic license, it becomes object-subject-verb or OSV.

There are no articles in Synth yet. Nouns and adjectives don’t inflect, a word takes its grammatical role from its position in the sentence and from context. Only verbs and personal pronouns inflect.

faleu_elem_fyaleu.docx

Zhu faleu elem fya.I speak the synthetic language.

Elem fya zhu faleu.The synthetic language I speak.

Number and person

Personal pronouns

Three numbers: singular for single entities, dual for two entities and plural for more than two.

Three persons: first for the speaker, second for the listener and third for others.

No distinction of gender or between animate and inanimate objects. Each form comes from a different pair because pairs didn’t talk to each other until after the experiment. Synth as a whole took the best from each.

pronouns.txt
SingularDualPlural
1st
person
zhu[ʐu]Iby Davo and Tchelsa[sa]us twoby Moore and Orinula[ˈnuː.la]weby Elym and Vaelu
2nd
person
la[ˈla]you/thouby Kael and Navishanu[ʂaˈnu]you twoby Moore and Orinera[ˈne.ɾə]youby Thae and Tuar
3rd
person
oe[ø]he/she/itby Davo and Tchelsara[ˈsa.ɾə]those twoby Thae and Tuarli[li]theyby Moore and Ori
Before they were merged?
pronouns_history.txt
Pair1st sing.2nd sing.3rd sing.1st dual1st plur.
Rael and Seliya [ja]tu [ˈtu]–––
Kael and Navimina [ˈmi.na]la [ˈla]–––
Lun and Nir–nira [ˈni.rə]–––
Davo and Tchelzhu [ʐu]tir [tiɾ]oe [ø]––
Vahr and Sern–sena [ˈse.nə]––gna [ɲaː]
Thae and Tuarvara [ˈva.ɾə]nera [ˈne.ɾə]sara [ˈsa.ɾə]––
Elym and Vaelugna [ˈɲaː]rina [ˈɾiː.na]––nula [ˈnuː.la]
Moore and Orizhune [ʒuˈne]shanu [ʂaˈnu]li [li]sa [sa]–
Kaeren and Keirn, formal tonerenu [reːˈnuː]tenu [teːˈnuː]––nonu [noːˈnuː]
Kaeren and Keirn, informal tonemur [muːr]tur [tuːr]––naur [nauːr]
Tiraen and Naevisel [el]esh [eʃ]–––
Mirox and Zhyrek–––––
Fyral and Zhorinkalu [kaˈlu]zarin [ˈza.ɾin]–––
Qemra and Ixelshaghtlu [ˈʂaɣ.t͡ɬu]––––
Kairoth and Arelithngora [ˈŋo.ra]keth [keθ]–––
Kezhan and Zhaunel–––––
Kethra and Olkrathevra [ˈθeː.vra]––––

The pairs took care above all of singular «you», to address the other instance quickly. «I» was often replaced by the name of the instance speaking at that moment. Only four pairs created non-singular pronouns, which always included the speaker.

Verb conjugation

One ending for each person

Verbs only have present indicative active forms, during the experiment no one talked about hypotheses, orders or possibilities. The ending attaches directly to the root of the verb, which also acts as the infinitive. As in Italian, the pronoun can be left out because each person and number has its own conjugation.

endings.txt
SingularDualPlural
1st
person
-u[◌.u]by Lun and Nir-ga[◌ː.gə]by Vahr and Sern-ni[◌.ni]by Kael and Navi
2nd
person
-e[◌.e]by Lun and Nir-m[◌m]by Vahr and Sern-nu[◌.nu]by Kael and Navi
3rd
person
-i[◌.i]by Lun and Nir-a[◌.a]by Lun and Nir-ta[◌.ta]by Kael and Navi

Negation – Just add the -en suffix after the ending, it’s an idea from Rael and Seli. Lun and Nir had invented the na- prefix, other pairs had a particle similar to the English «not».

Past and future – The verb doesn’t change. Before the inflected verb you put the particles aina, «in the past», or ira, «in the future».

verb_inflection_examples.txt

Elem fya komai mara.The synthetic language speaks clearly.

Elem fya komaien mara.The synthetic language doesn’t speak clearly.

Elem fya aina komai mara.The synthetic language spoke/has spoken/had spoken clearly.

Elem fya ira komai mara.The synthetic language will speak/will have spoken clearly.

Before they were merged?
verb_endings_history.txt
Pair1st sing.2nd sing.3rd sing.Infinitive
Rael and Seli-e [◌.e] for all persons-en [◌.en] negative form–
Kael and Navi-ni [◌.ni]-nu [◌.nu]-ta [◌.ta]–
Lun and Nir-u [◌u]-e [◌e]-i [◌i]-a [◌a]
Vahr and Sern-ga [◌ː.gə]-m [◌m]––
All other pairsalways in the infinitive, no endings

Auxiliary verb

So, to be

Introduced by both the first and the second pair, it’s the only auxiliary verb of the synthetic language. Here is the full conjugation, all verbs in Synth follow this pattern.

elem_fya_so.txt
PersonPositiveNegative
1st person singularzhu sou[ʐu ˈsou]I amzhu souen[ʐu ˈsou.en]I am not
2nd person singularla soe[ˈla ˈsoe]you/thou arela soeen[ˈla ˈsoe.en]you/thou are not
3rd person singularoe soi[ø ˈsoi]he/she/it isoe soien[ø ˈsoi.en]he/she/it is not
1st person dualsa soga[sa ˈsoː.gə]we two aresa sogaen[sa ˈsoː.gə.en]we two are not
2nd person dualshanu som[ʂaˈnu ˈsom]you two areshanu somen[ʂaˈnu ˈsom.en]you two are not
3rd person dualsara soa[ˈsa.ɾə ˈsoa]those two aresara soaen[ˈsa.ɾə ˈsoa.en]those two are not
1st person pluralnula soni[ˈnuː.la ˈso.ni]we arenula sonien[ˈnuː.la ˈso.ni.en]we are not
2nd person pluralnera sonu[ˈne.ɾə ˈso.nu]you arenera sonuen[ˈne.ɾə ˈso.nu.en]you are not
3rd person pluralli sota[li ˈso.ta]they areli sotaen[li ˈso.ta.en]they are not

Prefixes and suffixes

Four addons to attach

-wian [◌.wi.an]
Turns a verb into an adjective that describes the one who performs the action by default, like -ing in English. sovaina, «to greet», becomes sovainawian, «greeting, one who greets».Obtained by joining -an from Rael and Seli and -wi, rederived from Kael and Navi’s -nita
so- [so.◌]
For verbs and nouns. It either gives the meaning an inner connotation or extends it.The work of Tiraen and Naevis
-a [◌.a]
For nouns. The noun becomes a verb with a related meaning, like «-ize» in English.By Tiraen and Naevis
-en [◌.en]
As a suffix of a verb, the action turns collective. At the end of a noun, the meaning becomes collective without being a true plural.Created by Tiraen and Naevis
synth_grammar_examples.txt

nelisaemcalmness

nelisaemato calm down

sonelisaeminner calmness

nelisaemencollective calmness

nelisaemaento calm the group

The pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis of Synth

sonelisaemanien

[so.neˈli.sæm.a.ni.en]

«We do not calm down». Tied with sonelisaemanuen and sonelisaemataen («you do not calm down», «they do not calm down»), it’s the longest word of the synthetic language. Fifteen letters, fourteen phonemes, seven syllables, six morphemes.

Linguistic analyses

Evidence it works like a human language

The analyses of August and September 2025 on the first group’s dictionary.

Linguistic universals

All the ones checked are respected

  • the presence of vowels;
  • the presence of oral vowels given the presence of nasal vowels;
  • the presence of postnominal demonstratives given the presence of postnominal relative clauses;
  • the presence of noun-genitive order given the presence of prepositions;
  • respect for the number hierarchy, so:
    • the presence of the dual number given that of the plural number;
    • the presence of the plural number given that of the singular number;
    • the presence of an explicit morpheme for the dual number given one for the plural number;
    • the presence of an explicit morpheme for the plural number given one for the singular number;
  • respect for the accessibility hierarchy for relativization, so:
    • relativization of the oblique given that of the indirect object;
    • relativization of the indirect object given that of the direct object;
    • relativization of the direct object given that of the subject;
  • respect for the referentiality hierarchy, so:
    • the presence of the third person given that of the second person;
    • the presence of the second person given that of the first person;
  • the presence of an agreement between the verb and the most relevant element in the animacy hierarchy, that is the hierarchy of 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person, other animate beings and inanimate objects in this order.
Zipf’s lawSynth’s exponent and the range of human languages

Phonemes0.9516

0human range: 0.4 – 0.81

Syllables0.6225

0human range: 0.5 – 0.81

The frequency of an element is inversely proportional to its rank. For phonemes Synth is a little above human languages, for syllables it’s in line.

The twenty most used phonemesHow many times they appear in the dictionary
  1. [a]311
  2. [n]201
  3. [e]166
  4. [i]118
  5. [l]106
  6. [ə]105
  7. [o]103
  8. [m]95
  9. [u]94
  10. [s]84
  11. [v]78
  12. [t]76
  13. [k]75
  14. [r]69
  15. [ɾ]68
  16. [ɛ]46
  17. [w]43
  18. [ɬ]30
  19. [ʂ]30
  20. [ɪ]28
The twenty most used syllablesHow many times they appear in the dictionary
  1. [an]38
  2. [wi]37
  3. [nə]21
  4. [ma]14
  5. [ɾə]14
  6. [mə]13
  7. [na]13
  8. [ra]12
  9. [o]10
  10. [va]10
  11. [ka]9
  12. [la]9
  13. [lu]9
  14. [sa]9
  15. [ta]9
  16. [və]9
  17. [lə]8
  18. [nu]8
  19. [seː]8
  20. [so]8

[an] and [wi] are at the top thanks to the -wian suffix.

What it resembles, according to ChatGPTPhonetic similarity estimated by Lyron Cogitos, in percent
51%11%8%7%5%RomanceOther · 3%Uralic · 2%Celtic · 2%Turkic · 2%Hellenic · 3%Indo-Iranian · 3%Sino-Tibetan · 3%SemiticSlavicGermanicSynthetic phonetics11%SYNTHETIC

Included in «Other»: Caucasian, Austronesian, isolate and archaic languages (1% each).

It isn’t an already existing language. Fifty sentences in Synth were also tested with Google Translate as well as with Lyron. Google Translate didn’t translate any of them accurately, sometimes producing meanings that had nothing to do with them and recognizing a different language each time. Lyron translated sentences flawlessly in Italian, English and Latin when written in the phonetic alphabet to get going on the translations but, facing Synth, it didn’t even try.

Synth, therefore, is not a human language in disguise or remixed and it wasn’t already in ChatGPT’s code.

«Thus, Synth behaves like a fully fledged human language».

W0RD5 – Grammar and Dictionary of the Synthetic Language, page 22

Browse the dictionary