As many of you know, simply asking an AI model like ChatGPT to translate Ithkuil isn't even close to correct unless it just looks up the official translation. I'm pleased to announce that I have made significant progress in programming an AI-powered translator.

How it works: 1. You give it an Ithkuil (v4) gloss in my standardized format (not all examples in the official Ithkuil docs use the same format so you might have to change the punctuation). The app also lets you go through the official examples. 2. It looks up all the roots/affixes of that gloss for what it means (building that machine-readable lookup table was by far the hardest part) 3. It builds an AI prompt containing all those definitions 4. You copy that prompt and paste it into a chatbot of your choice

You can try it here: https://main.d13zlexucvvtwj.amplifyapp.com/

Example (#208): * Gloss: 'clown'-OBJ-G-NEG1-3-TMP-OBS PRC-'study'-DYN-PRX-BMP2-5-LOC * Official translation: "The school is free of clowns for the time being." * AI Translation: "On the contrary, there are no clowns in this section of the school for the time being."

I've provided the full output for this example in the comments. I've also provided 19 additional translations (for a total of 20 per the rules) in the comments.

Further research: - less verbose translations. I've found most models are overly-precise in their translations. Some prompt tuning could probably help. - improve morpheme descriptions to better guide translations - automatically convert from romanized Ithkuil to the gloss. As I understand it the rules are deterministic and context-independent so it is definitely possible but tedious. Someone else will need to do that as I have little interest in the morphophonology. - have it actually execute the prompt instead of making you do it. I would first want people to try different models and refine the prompts to see what works best. - proper benchmarking to see which models/prompts work the best - separate prompts for each formative and a final one to put them together. This will likely help for more complicated translations. - English to Ithkuil translator. I believe it's possible but much harder than Ithkuil to English. An MCP server might allow an AI agent to piece together a translation. Failing that, it would have to be a multi-stage pipeline where an AI systematically goes through each grammatical category and decides which ones to apply to each root.

How you can help: - try it out and report your results and any issues. If a translation is incorrect, prompt a follow-up "What in the previous prompt would have helped you arrive at the correct answer, which is [correct translation]" - run the same prompt against different models and note the differences - tweak the prompts to see if you can get better output - flag incorrect official examples or descriptions (I used parsers to try to locate all examples, but it wasn't 100% accurate. In hindsight I should've just done it manually). - if you consider yourself reasonably fluent in Ithkuil v4 and want to provide manual translations for benchmarking purposes, let me know. - if you have coding skills and you're motivated to work on romanized-ithkuil-to-gloss, let me know. - I would like to release this project as open source but need to ask John Quijada for permission as the codebase contains a lot of text derived from the official Ithkuil docs. If anyone knows how to contact him, please let me know or do so on my behalf. This project will never be commercial.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

I’m looking for someone who knows Ithkuil grammar well and can help me. If you’re fluent in Ithkuil or have a strong understanding of its grammar please let me know. Thanks!

Hi everybody, please remove this post if its inappropriate.

I want to get a tattoo in ithkuil script, because i really like the angular and jagged look, and id like to avoid the classic problem of getting a chinese tattoo thinking it says "hope" while it actually translates to general tso's chicken or smth.

The phrase would be something along the lines of, "even though i finished last, i still beat those who didnt show up", or that general sentiment.

if anybody of you would be so kind as to give me a translation and an image of the phrase in ithkuilic script, or point me in the direction of where to get something like that, i'd truly appreciate it, thank you.

the best way to learn a language is to speak to ppl in it repeatedly yk n read stuff in it n since ithkuil has no fluent speakers n very very little literature learnin it wud take ages prolly
but since all languages are spoken at 39 bits of information per second, ithkuil cud prolly also be, but it wud jus be sound super slow since every syllable contains a buncha information
i do wonder if in a community of ithkuil speakers it wud be more susceptible to bein misunderstood cuz of speech impediments or distance/whatever or not since the phonetics r super precise

Hello, how can I learn this lanuguage? My native language is spanish but I also speak english and catalan, if anyone wants to help me or be my tutor.

Tanks.

So, in a recent post of mine (https://www.reddit.com/r/Ithkuil/comments/1u1fo7m/help_with_ressources_for_a_french_person/), I was looking for ressources for non-english speakers. There's Yuorb's tool (https://yuorb.github.io/en/docs/) that has english, japanese, simplified chinese and french translation.

Unsure of if it's an "official" translation, I try but it's locked behind a password for a reason I don't have. Do someone know what to do ?

In the worst case, I can still make my way with the english translation.

UPDATE: on the same website, there's no indication of a french translation but we're allowed to suggest the hosts a translation in our native language. If I'm not the only one having the french option, has someone tried to translate it in french ?

SECOND UPDATE: I wasn't mad, there's a translation in french of the repository (it's just locked for some reasons). I can still access to it by installing the repository itself, but the password isn't refused. Bye.

THIRD UPDATE (it's starting to be a lot): I think that if the french translation is locked, it's just because it's not complete (only 00, 01, 11, terms and images are in the "fr" folder. Guess I'll try to complete it while studying Ithkuil (and I'll put a warning telling there might be some errors from double meanings, misinterpretations or just by mistake)

Hello, I'm interested in learning more about ithkuil. English isn't my native language, so I struggle with finding comprehensive ressources for non-english speakers. My english level is about B1, maybe a higher level can be (deeply) helpful. Thanks in advance.

ps: I've been already looking for ressources, but can't find helpful ressources beside the official website and an obscure series uncovering it (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLihL5JngWuJ0UEWGOMPuadvytjPmMaPE0).

I've made some flashcards people to use!

16/04/2026 EDIT: issues have been noticed with some of the flashcards and I will upload corrections to the github repo when fixed.

so ! to better give an example of how a language like ithkuil could be even more conceptually ( and not morphophonemically or expressively ) complex , i decided to expose a new category that would work in conjunction with original ithkuil derivational system . first of all , it composes of a primary conflation ( a primitive version of functions in ithkuil III and IV ) and of a so called format , which can be also found in ithkuil III ; these , in conjunction, can produce new meanings while applied to a single verb . This said , here is the description of that new category that would also work in conjunction with them .

Incidence

Incidence primarily serves to determine the ontological plane upon which an action yields tangible effects, establishing a highly precise lexical distinction according to where the transformation induced by the action is deposited. There are nine types:

Corporeal Incidence
The action induces a specific change directly upon the material or physical state of the object.
e.g., to break a window

Sensory Incidence
The action affects perception without altering the substance and/or material constitution of the object.
e.g., to cover a table

Cognitive Incidence
The action affects structures of a purely psychological nature, whether grounded in beliefs or information.
e.g., to ignore a speech

Relational Incidence
The action affects identifiable relationships between two objects, concepts, manifestations thereof, and/or entities.
e.g., a nation allies itself with its rival

Symbolic Incidence
The action affects meanings, social conventions, shared values, societal and ethical structures, etc.
e.g., a nation declares war

Inertial Incidence
The action produces no real incidence, instead yielding effects of simulation or superficiality relative to the state of the object.
e.g., to feign interest

Perlustrative Incidence
The action does not affect a pre-existing level, but rather generates an entirely new one, simultaneously bringing into existence the object upon which the incidence is based.
e.g., to create a law

Retroactive Incidence
The action affects a level not presently existent but previously manifested, restructuring it semantically and/or functionally.
e.g., to reinterpret a book

Latent Incidence
The action does not immediately affect the object, but deposits within the current domain a potential for subsequent activation.
e.g., to instill a doubt

Morphological Expression

Incidence is expressed through a mutation involving the addition of secondary conflation, accompanying derivation and yielding a new semantic value. Each incidence, depending on the form assumed by the initial consonant of the affix, is associated with a specialized vocalic suffix positioned between the syllabic component of the affix and the corresponding verb.

to explain how this all works , here you are a comprehensive example directly from the grammar of ithkuil I (a and b ) . applying all these incidences over the derivation of xh , it would result in something like this :

first of all , xh is evolved ( for example ) to express Symbolic Incidence , taking the phonemical evolution up to đr ; at this point , in the sentence

" Tia lumwiut xhüŗŕ äikšûl "

a vocalic suffix is inserted to indicate which grade of the consonant xh ( c1 c2 or c3 ) evolved , in this case it would be

đrüŗŕo'â äikšûl

and , taking a table explaining how incidences may change the meaning of a certain derivation , we'd learn that the descriptive conflation + the symbolic incidence in this exact case means to ideally mimic how a clown is supposed to act . so , going back to the standardized phrase

tia lumwiut đrüŗŕo'a äikšûl

first i , then my brother , where going around imitating the behavior of a clown*

( id est imitating how we thought a clown would act in our conditions )

as you can see this category is probably ( * it is certainly ) useless and an adjunct to the mandatory complexity that ithkuilic language have had with them for a lot of time , but i think making a language like ithkuil even more complex is a good psychlogical and philological exercise.

as we all know , through a vast amount of time ithkuil evolved to be more internally sophisticated , complex and less harsh in terms of emergent and/or morphophonemic complexity ; but what if this was not the case ? after comparing for ~2 years the grammar of all the versions , i somehow started elaborating an even more complex , articulated , philosophically dense range of categories in morphophonology ( dynamic , genus , and others are examples ) basic morphology ( such as nuclearity , cardinality , computability , organicity , capillarity and saturation ) as well as +50 cases . this rather useless and probably imprecise project of " extension " of a proto-ithkuilic language also saw me obligated to add 60 letters to the overall phonemic inventory , and a bunch of rules to be as algorithmical as possible . i do not touched the verbs tbh , but i think i will as soon as i reach something like 200 cases...

hi there ! i recently finished studying somewhat efficiently the entire grammar of Ithkuil I ( 2004 version ) which i found very intresting and , in its " byzantine " complexity , rather beautiful . i then started translating some texts , e.g. the Divine Comedy , to better grasp the grammatical structure . i hope you enjoy my - primitive - translation , considering i may continue it or modify it .

-Genesis 1
loû'yatëikş uipáņķiq' daimm* öudaige'ai ïawguíĵ .

mma'ïgicq'ui yuţpathiss eakü'weĵĵišk calĺ aïtlałdóx , gri'wołdiuq- ïlou'yetíç

note that the syntax in the second sentence may be slightly " cursed " in comparison to the more regular version . "*" in the first sentence represents the syllabic nature of the geminated m in " daimm " .

žewiss all taŗŗ́ ļ’aùhliř. žawiss yall yiqʰumäp pʰë’yïnķuož.

a’mnarbđúlerđ uxrilûkt, kü i’mnaduskiemmëēiffu…

…ô’thámzei’tta ki n-nrüquisét’uqʰomm t’öt’ökawa.

la’iwi amzoňzëittļofsá amažarfiečřëi ataloi, ařalarfiečřëi, lu ambyoláu. la’iwi umzatļurbofsá aelaiçčelláolyëi eřdmëulšoilla.

Good morning, I've just finished creating the entire network of possible Ithkuil connections, consonants of 1, 2, and up to 5 letters in length. These combinations can be roots, affixes, and special (only H combinations) in Ithkuil. Of the 1-letter combinations, there are only 25+1 hablines, but of the 2-letter combinations, there are combinations that begin with ç, and there's no root nucleus for those. I've marked the letters that aren't allowed combinations with an asterisk "*".

I got 33,094 nodes, but there are 33,196 in total; I've left some out, but it doesn't matter, I'm satisfied.

All based on this document https://ithkuil.net/new_ithkuil_phonotaxis.pdf

Download links

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wOtf-jAs7vDw7ENFICEK9Ko4s09c5uLC/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bIM9rwg_6ohtIMhne_QmN374i_7II_6L/view?usp=sharing

I'm leaving you the Python file so you can make whatever combinations you all want.: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kfEUJlByyG_Qe9nNud_WPshFejkW2McG/view?usp=sharing

Pablo A. Merchan. B.

Ecuadorian in Ecuador

Ithkuil is an incredibly complicated language with a lot of shit going on with the morphology, it seems pretty inevitable that there's going to be a homophone issue, but I wonder if there actually is a homophone issue? Does Ithkuil have a solution to prevent homophones from becoming a problem? Does it have homophones but not that many so it really isn't much of a problem? Does it just not bother with homophones whatsoever? I know they have the carrier root thing for proper nouns, but is that it?

The ithkuil website is unorganized for someone who wants to just put words together already knowing most of the process, mainly focusing on just teaching how it works, which isn’t a bad thing in its own right. I’m looking for a guide that has really easily accessible definitions and lists for stuff such as cases or extensions, so that if I forget something I can easily look it up without coming through the article. Does this exist?

There’s all this stuff with Illocution and validation but what about tenses? How do I show an action that happens habitually? Or in the past?

If I wanted a sentence that said “I want to be a different person” how would you integrate that? I can’t find a verb for “to be” anywhere

How do I LEARN this language? It sounds interesting.

It has to do almost completely with sets so how does that work with an action?