Ilaksh

Ilaksh

A phrase in the original version of Ithkuil, rendered in native script.

Romanization: Oumpeá äx’ääļuktëx.

Translation: "On the contrary, I think it may turn out that this rugged mountain range trails off at some point."

Ithkuil is a constructed language created by John Quijada, designed to express deeper levels of human cognition briefly yet overtly and clearly, particularly with regard to human categorization. The language is notable for its grammatical complexity and extensive phoneme inventory.

The language is presented as a cross between an a priori philosophical and a logical language. It also strives to minimize the ambiguities and semantic vagueness found in natural human languages.

The many examples from the original grammar book show that a message, like a meaningful phrase or a sentence, can usually be expressed in Ithkuil with fewer sounds, or lexically distinct speech-elements, than in natural human languages. J. Quijada deems his creation too complex and strictly regular a language to have developed “naturally”, but nonetheless a language suited to human conversation. No person, including Quijada, is hitherto known to be able to speak Ithkuil fluently.

In 2004 — and again in 2009 with its offshoot, Ilaksh — Ithkuil was featured in the Russian-language popular science and IT-technology magazine Computerra. In 2008, it won the Smiley Award.

The second "definitive (or 'official')" revision of Ithkuil, also named Iţkuîl, was released in July 15, 2011; this is a major revision of the previous version. Most of this article deals with the older version of Ithkuil released in 2004, but it is indicated which sections deal with which version of the language.