# Current design decisions

**Exposition.** The three structural particles are replaced without rule changes; see [predicate patterns](/grammar#1-words-and-predicate-patterns).

**Word inventory.** 1,000 single-character words. No compound dictionary entries or special whole-phrase meanings/readings.

**Semantic words.** Ordinary words denote concepts, not fixed parts of speech. Any semantic word can be used nominally, verbally, adjectivally, or adverbially in context. Grammar determines relationships through particles and position. No per-word object requirements or transitivity permissions apply. Objects can be left unstated, understood from context, or made explicit with 乃.

**的.** A separator with two uses: grouping a preceding noun modifier, and introducing manner after a verb stack. Both determine how the surrounding words are interpreted.

**Going and direction.** 去 (qù) means go. 往 (wǎng) means toward and retains infinitive introduction in 往 兮 / 往 呈 / 往 乃. Infinitives do not use 去.

**Phrase examples.** The former Compounds tab is now a migration guide to ordinary expressions. A broad description is not an exact substitute for its former English gloss.

**Nonfinite constructions.** 往 + 兮/呈/乃 forms infinitives. 在 + 兮/呈/乃 forms active participles, both activity nouns and descriptions of a preceding participant. 从 + 兮 forms passive participles of the first direct object. None marks tense or adds dictionary words. Bare verb stacks remain sufficient.

**Participants and grouping.** Noun-modifying active participles and infinitives take the head as subject. Predicate-modifying infinitives share that predicate's subject, including through an event-purpose 为. 的 separates an explicit participant from a named activity or infinitive, for pronouns and other noun expressions alike: 我 的 在 兮 names my activity. Without 的, the infinitive or participle describes the preceding head: 我 在 兮 describes me as its participant. A different actor in a predicate complement uses a full 什 clause.

**Writing and names.** Each word has one character. Spacing is a presentation choice. Proper names such as 小语 retain their spelling.

**Semantic changes.** 兮 xī replaces 咿 yī; 乃 nǎi replaces 啊 ā; 呈 chéng replaces 诶 ēi. Identity and existence continue to use the same marker as noun objects. No separate 是 or 个 is introduced.

**Added words.** 兮 乃 呈 (replacements)

**Retired words.** 咿 啊 诶

**Source coverage.** 998 original Mini source keys preserved in 1,056 mapping records. Original glosses remain verbatim; selected senses and contextual descriptions are identified.

**Units.** Use explicitly labeled technical notation such as m, L, min, s, J. 米 means rice; 分 division; 升 rise. Unit identifiers are not Sino-Mini words.

**Readings.** Each word has one listed reading. 过 is guò, pass/cross, without a neutral experiential reading. 乐 is lè (joy); 弹 is dàn (ammunition).

**Core predicates.** 兮 introduces verbs; 呈 quality predicates; 乃 objects and category complements. These are the three structural particles.

**Third-person reference.** 他 is the personal pronoun for any gender; 他 们 makes personal plurality explicit. 其 refers to inanimate objects, ideas, and situations, with number supplied by context or made explicit by 其 们. Both keep their form as subjects, objects, and possessors. 们 follows 我, 你, 他, or 其.

**Aspect and interjections.** 在 remains the progressive operator. Perfective 了 and experiential 过 are removed. Ordinary action predicates, time expressions, and completion stacks express occurrences and their timing; 完 means finish and 已 means already. 嗯 is an affirmative interjection.

**Word order.** SVO. Any opening topic, including a prepositional phrase, time expression, or adverb, ends with a comma before the subject. Inside the clause, introduced modifiers precede direct objects; verb stacks follow the same ordering.

**Modifier scope.** Ordinary modifiers precede the word or phrase they modify. 不 follows this same rule: 不 后 一 钟 means not after one hour. Modifier phrases may continue or contrast with a preceding statement without forming a new finite clause, as in 其 早 叶 乃 花。但 不 后 一 钟。 This is ordinary grammar, not a poetic exception.

**Clauses.** 什 introduces post-head clauses without a closing particle. The return-boundary rule resolves continuation of an outer clause.

**Prepositional relatives.** noun + 什 + relation + explicit subject + predicate. The head supplies the selected relation's complement; other expressed participants follow ordinary order, and other objects can remain unstated without becoming additional head references. No stranded preposition or multiple recovered roles.

**Possessive relatives.** A complete noun-relative clause contains exactly one third-person possessive modifier at its own clause level. 他 / 其 (optionally with 们) refers to the relative head in that possessive position. No other role is recovered from the head; ordinary contextual omission of other objects remains possible. Other possessors are named explicitly. This does not change 自 or add a word for “whose.”

**Moloch translation review.** The proposed additions 铝, 氢, 癌, and 氧 were declined. Use contextual descriptions from existing words; precision losses remain explicit. Exact arithmetic and scientific identification conventions remain separate working proposals. Verb-specific object requirements are removed.

**Predicate coordination.** A stated subject can govern predicates joined with 和, 或, or 但. Every predicate keeps its marker 兮, 呈, or 乃 and its own objects, negation, and aspect. An explicit new subject starts a coordinated clause. A full stop ends subject sharing.

**Question and reference expressions.** 什 / 这 / 那 / 每 / 任 combine with 人 / 物 / 处 / 时 / 式 / 因 by ordinary modification. A reference table illustrates these phrases; it does not add words.

**Retained limits.** No role-disambiguating reduplication, optional predicate-marker dropping, tense auxiliaries, or lexicalized compound entries are adopted.

**Existence and negation.** Subjectless 乃 noun asserts existence; 不 乃 noun denies it. 不 remains the single negator.

**Comparisons.** 更/减/同 + quality, followed by 比 + standard when stated. 最 更 and 最 减 mark extremes. 同 means exact equality, not resemblance.

**Purpose and results.** 为 introduces purpose; 做 supplies explicit causation/result constructions. A post-object 呈 quality describes a quality directly produced in the affected object. A subject quality can belong to the predicate itself, as in feeling or becoming. These interpretations depend on meaning and context, not a verb whitelist. A separate outcome uses coordinated predicates or clauses, or a comma-separated trailing relation + 什 clause with its own subject and predicate. Neither purpose nor result constructions inherit hidden compound-specific verb frames.

**Uncertainty.** Technical identity, botanical species, political institutions, and other precise meanings may require explanation. No opaque loan is silently adopted as a phrase.

**Chinese reference.** CC-CEDICT / MDBG, https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=cc-cedict . Dictionary meanings are documentary, not normative Sino-Mini definitions.

**Mini source.** S. C. Gruget, https://minilanguage.com/name-seri.txt ; retained snapshot 7 September 2026.

**License.** Language materials and dictionary adaptations: CC BY-SA 4.0. Reading sources are credited separately.

**Readings.** The complete Meditations on Moloch translation uses the current grammar and vocabulary. It is presented in Sino-Mini alone, with occasional English glosses for technical referents. Proper names and technical notation retain their spelling. Earlier translation versions remain historical.

[Full reference](reference.md) · [Vocabulary adoption](../outputs/01a083d1-v10/changes.md)

思 (sī) is the word for think/thought, replacing 想. 欲 (yù) remains want/desire; 要 remains important/importance, and 重 remains physical weight/heavy.

**Mandarin review.** 什 replaces 可 in both grammatical roles; 臀 replaces 屁; 议 replaces 建. 植 names plants generally; 菜 names vegetables. 库 names storage places, 粒 particles or granules, 琴 stringed musical instruments, and 弦 their strings. 杏 闻 狱 灌 单 叔 琵 报 are retired. Descriptions remain ordinary phrases.

**Conversational vocabulary.** 找 怕 脚 脖 肚 扔 走 看 饿 replace their earlier literary counterparts. 读 (dú) means read; its former boundary meaning is eliminated. 吃 means eat, 食 means food, and 什 时 asks when. Written commas and corresponding pauses keep their grammatical functions.

**Descriptive expressions.** 轻 金, 轻 气, 呼 气, and 承 部 identify aluminum, hydrogen, oxygen, and genes in the Moloch translation through context. They remain ordinary phrases, not extra vocabulary words or fixed definitions. 咎 (jiù) already means blame, fault, and guilt; 自 咎 expresses self-blame.

**Relatives retained.** Subject/object gaps, fronted prepositional roles, and the existing possessive-relative construction are retained. The proposed uniform resumptive-pronoun replacement was rejected.