Xextan

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Xextan (loglang)
ban Xextan
created in: 2022
by: Rachel Gardener (a.k.a. la janbe)
kind:Ceqlian, minimalist
influenced by:Ceqli, Toaq, Toki Pona
script:Latin, Xeqgul
specification:Xextan: The simple logical language
(in English)
community:tun Xextan on Discord

Xextan [ˈʃɛʃ.tan] is a minimalistic loglang which seeks to balance simplicity with conciseness. The name "Xextan" is derived from "tcekitau", a term in Lojban theory which refers to the idea that to maximize conciseness, the most common words in a language ought to be the shortest in terms of syllable length or "cost".

The language draws particular inspiration from Rex May's Ceqli, an early loglang-adjacent project which introduced many distinctive features later adapted for Xextan. Among others, these include unisyllabic roots, productive verbal suffixes, and a unified system for handling both names and borrowed words. Many Xextan words are imported from Ceqli, either directly as roots or particles or borrowed and modified as needed to fit Xextan phonology.

The orthography and phonology are influenced by Brazilian Portuguese and Basque, while individual root words are taken from Ceqli, Lojban, Loglan, and a wide variety of other natural and constructed languages, including Portuguese, Czech, Mandarin, Albanian, Zulu, and many others, with the only limit on importation being how well a source word can be adapted to the constraints of Xextan phonology and morphology.

The first draft of the language was published by Rachel Gardener in January 2022, and a partial reference grammar and lexicon were published in July 2023. Updates to the language and its lexicon, and discussion of the underlying theory of the language, can be found on the Xextan Discord server. The language is still in active development, with community members contributing words and ideas for grammatical features.

Sample text in Xextan

vopsku o len a sonkap lũ "nel vo net e ka feddqe?"
(A person asked a bell, "What is your favorite holiday?")

i vatsku o sonkap lu "Návída."
(The bell replied, "Christmas.")

i xue len, "kou ka?"
(The person asked, "Why?")

i xue sonkap gu, "din don."
(The bell answered, "The spirit of giving.")