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: | The Xextbook (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.
Lord's Prayer in Xextan
voi nia Nandze ki zal de dintun
jo dinxke vua selvla
jo fingot vua gopxo, jo gesná vua volxo
za dallun kai za dintun
jo don vo a ni nadie nia pan pe sua qiktep
je jo kle vo ni peu nia zlozukxo
kai u kle ni e zlozuk de ni
je jo no kok vo got ni fai zlovol
qe ju jo sekkok vo ni a zloxo
je vuafu o gopxo qe o kenxo qe o zanxo
na qe zei
jizát ámen