RÓTMÁL 
the Root-Speech · an oligosynthetic tongue in the Old Norse manner
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Phonology

The 100 Roots

Grammar

Writing System

North Wind Fable
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Welcome to Rótmál!

Rótmál (“root-speech”) is a constructed oligosynthetic language with the following principles in mind:

DESIGN GOALS
1. Oligosynthesis Approximately 200 roots that combine in predictable ways to form new meanings.
2. Old Norse aesthetics The phoneme inventory (þ ð æ ö, clusters like hv-, hl-, hr-), heavy consonant codas, fixed initial stress, the -r nominative, and Verb-Second word order.
3. Concealed but recoverable repetition Boundary sound-changes (sandhi) smooth the seams between repeated roots, but every rule is reversible. In theory, compounds can be invented and interpreted on-the-fly.

How a word is built

Compounds are head-final: the last root is the thing being modified by all the roots that come before.

RootsCompoundMeaning
eld (fire) + fjall (mountain)eldefjallvolcano
bók (book) + hús (house)bókhúslibrary
auga (eye) + finn (meet)augafinnanto agree (“eye-meet”)
ís (ice) + vind (wind)ísvindurthe North Wind

Wander the halls: Phonology · The 100 Roots · Grammar · The North Wind & the Sun.
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