# Speak Eldraeic Like a Semi-Literate Barbarian (4a): Arguments **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [January 24, 2026, 5:57am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/speak-eldraeic-like-a-semi-literate-barbarian-4a-arguments/3509 "2026-01-24T05:57:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![avatar](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/avatar/32/2_2.png) [@avatar](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/avatar)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2026, 5:57am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/speak-eldraeic-like-a-semi-literate-barbarian-4a-arguments/3509/1 "2026-01-24T05:57:33Z")
_Man, this is awkward._ _I haven't posted for quite some time, for which I apologize appropriately prodigiously. My muse has been feeling quite burned out recently, for a variety of reasons probably unrelated to writing. Hopefully the involuntary extended break helped._ _And now, when I've prepared the next article in the language series for y'all, I've had to slice it up because I'm not entirely sure of the ontological correctness of the bulk descriptions the way I arranged them._ _Alas. And sorry._ Time to get back to the language series. (Since it has been some considerable time since the earlier part of the series, it may be worth a quick review of [the previous part on predications](https://eldraeverse.com/2023/01/23/speak-eldraeic-like-a-semi-literate-barbarian-2-predication/) to recall what we're about to talk about.) This time we're discussing _rélar_, the arguments of _esprel_ (predications). There are five types of arguments in Eldraeic: 1. Mini-arguments in the form of _mirílar,_ known as _érélar_, and which perform similar functions to English pronouns. We've covered some of these (the personals, demonstratives, and variables) [here](https://eldraeverse.com/2024/10/14/speak-eldraeic-like-a-semi-literate-barbarian-3-5-some-erelar/), and will cover more anon. 2. Mathematical objects (including, at their simplest, pure numbers). 3. Quotations. 4. Descriptions (i.e., identifications of a thing _via_ its qualities, which is to say, predications about it which would be true in themselves). 5. Names (verbal pointers to a thing). We shall, for this post's purposes, content ourselves with the most common types of _rélar_, descriptions¹ and names, and return to talk about mathematics and quotations later. **Individual Descriptions** So let us discuss descriptions. In particular let us first examine the multiple different descriptions that can be produced from the same _anesprel_. Of the individual descriptions, the most obvious and the most commonly used is the particular description, prefixed with the particular descriptive operator _el_: _el athán **that-specific-thing-which-I-describe-by-the-particulars-of-a machine** _ The machine. This locates the thing about which you are talking about by ascribing certain particulars to it. Note that _el athán_ is not _necessarily_ a machine; it just _seems to be_ one. This leads us on to the second type: the essential descriptions, which speak to the objective reality of a thing. The _rélar_ prefix for this is _eles_. _eles athán **that-specific-thing-which-is-in-essence-a machine** _ The machine. What's the practical difference? Well, the latter is an assertion that something _definitely is_, while the former merely asserts that something _seems to be_. (And if you are translating wordwise from Eldraeic, you will use the word _seem_ a lot, because epistemic humility implies that you shouldn't make definite claims unless you are, in fact, definite.) To give a worked example: should you see someone out and about who is dressed in a somewhat gender-neutral manner and you aren't certain of their sex, you may refer to them as, say: _el nérí_ The [seeming] man. But you should probably not refer to them as: _eles nérí_ The [definite] man. And if your friend knows better and corrects you, he may say: _el nérí nissívár_ The [seeming] man is a woman. But saying: _eles nérí nissívár_ The man is a woman. Is self-contradictory nonsense. **_Singular and Plural_** Meanwhile, both particular and essential descriptions also invite specificity as to number², which is done by inserting a syllabic numeral or quantifier between the _rélar_ prefix and the _anesprel,_ thus: _el ne nissí_ The (one) woman. or _el me tradisil argylíör³ **that-which-seems-to-be nine difficult-type-of merit-seeings** _ The Nine Rigorous Examinations. or _el kané alaer **that-which-seems-to-be a-small-quantity-of ocean** _ A little bit of the sea. **Digression** There are other qualifiers which can be added in between _rélar_ prefix and _anesprel_, including such things as tense modifiers to let one describe something in the past, or in a particular location, and so forth. However, these are best described in the sections relating to tenses, et. al. **Individual Names** Names are formed in the same way as descriptions, save that they use the naming operator _ádar_, followed by anything that can be used as a vocative (meaning, in this case, actual names, or _anesprel_ with a vocative prefix, similar to the English "O", as many grammar books would put it. Thus we have such constructs as: _ádar Alistair hyúmanár **the-thing-called Alistair humans** _ Alistair is a human. There is no distinction between particular and essential description in naming, obviously. One thing to look out for, however, is that the name operator designates _the thing named_, not _the name itself_. If you want to refer to the latter, you must instead use one of the types of _rélar_ we haven't yet got to: the quotation operators. For example: _líü Alistair válarasár an-val **the-word Alistair is-the-name-of me** _ I am called Alistair. You can pluralize, etc., individual names in the same way as you can individual descriptions. **Next Time** Bulk descriptions and names, in which we talk about masses, sets, and multiples and the annoyingly subtle distinctions between masses, sets, and multiples. 1. Also by far the most complex. 2. By default, although singularity is often assumed, such a description is ambiguous as to number unless one is deliberately specified. 3. As illustrated here, any _anesprel_ can be used as the basis of a description, although some may require modification for clarity. * * * This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://eldraeverse.com/2026/01/24/speak-eldraeic-like-a-semi-literate-barbarian-4a-arguments](https://eldraeverse.com/2026/01/24/speak-eldraeic-like-a-semi-literate-barbarian-4a-arguments) ---
**Author:** ![avatar](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/avatar/32/2_2.png) [@avatar](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/avatar)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2026, 6:05am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/speak-eldraeic-like-a-semi-literate-barbarian-4a-arguments/3509/2 "2026-01-24T06:05:14Z")
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**Author:** ![JAPH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JAPH](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/JAPH)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/speak-eldraeic-like-a-semi-literate-barbarian-4a-arguments/3509/3 "2026-01-30T18:26:52Z")
Klingon Kaeth functions predications don’t have parameters objects, they have arguments, and they always win them! ---
**Author:** ![doctorcatfish](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/doctorcatfish/32/141_2.png) [@doctorcatfish](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/doctorcatfish)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2026, 10:11pm UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/speak-eldraeic-like-a-semi-literate-barbarian-4a-arguments/3509/4 "2026-02-02T22:11:20Z")
Presumably, in the types of descriptive metaphors discussed in tranche 3.0, use of the indefinite _el_ rather than the definite _eles_ would be mandatory. Also presumably, one could add a modifier or reify an implied argument to specify _how_ the object seems to be a machine.