(slang) a big, mobile machine of unknown use or origin
bes'uliik literally means "iron beast", so applying it to things like tanks, vehicles, or even ships whose origin/ make/ model is unknown to the speaker makes sense to me.
Bonus: Polysemy example found in the dictionary
aka
Mission
Purpose
Logical conclusion from "aka'liit" meaning "clan of purpose" (as opposed to family). Also logical to me - a mission/ goal in life gives you purpose.
Following that, my first idea would've been to suggest
3. use (as in, this thing's use is...)
But that felt like cheating, since that's just another way to say "purpose".
Choose a Mando’a dictionary, find an existing word and give it another, new meaning.
Detailed instructions below! 👇
What is polysemy?
Polysemy means the capacity for a word to have multiple related meanings. For example, school (building), school (institution), and school (to educate). Virtually all content words (like nouns, verbs and adjectives) are polysemous, that is, have several meanings.
In contrast to polysemy, where the senses are related, homonyms are words that that have several unrelated meanings. For example, English match (game) and match (device to light a fire). We can ignore homonyms for now, but they’re good to keep in mind when you look at polysemies in other languages—sometimes two words that look or sound the same may not be related at all!
A concept related to polysemy is colexification, the co-occurrence of different meanings together in one lexeme (a word). Colexifications or groupings of meanings are different between different languages, and therefore two words in different languages don’t have exactly the same meaning ls and aren’t used in exactly the same ways and contexts. For example, English ’straight’ has at least the following meanings:
〈rectilinear〉 (a straight line)
〈frank〉 (straight talking)
〈honest〉 (a straight guy)
〈directly〉 (straight to the point)
〈heterosexual〉 (gay or straight)
〈undiluted〉 (straight whisky)
〈classical〉 (a straight play)
〈immediately〉 (straight away)
While its closest translation in French, ‘droit,’ has slightly different meanings:
〈rectilinear〉 (un trait droit)
〈directly〉 (aller droit au but)
〈honest〉 (un type droit)
〈right-hand〉 (le côté droit)
Some of the senses overlap, but not all of them! Both English and French have meanings that the other language doesn’t.
(Examples from Francois 2008)
Different types of polysemy
Polysemy develops when a word comes to be applied to new contexts.
In linear polysemy, one meaning is a subset of the other:
From a whole to a part: door (entire structure) → door (panel)
From a part to a whole: leg (thigh and calf) → leg (thigh, calf and foot)
From a basic sense to a specialised sense: man (human being) → man (as opposed to a woman)
From a basic sense to a wider sense: (female) cow → cow (either sex)
In non-linear polysemy, the original sense is used figuratively:
Metonymy: a figure of speech, in which a concept is referred to by something associated with that concept. For example, boots (soldiers) or crown (ruler, or the government). Metonymy can be part to whole or whole to part relation.
Metaphor: a figure of speech where one thing is referred to by mentioning another, usually to imply a likeness or analogy between the things. For example, to boot (to kick out, or to fire), mouth (of a river), mouse (computer device).
Conversion or zero derivation (word class change) is a slightly different cxx, but for the purposes of this event, we can include it here. Zero derivation means forming a new word from an existing word of a different word class, without any change in form. For example, a breakfast (noun) > to breakfast (verb).
Polysemy in Mando’a
Polysemy is an often overlooked tool in conlanging, but it is the easiest way of getting new words—just use the ones you already have! Conlang dictionaries with a word for word definitions also often suffer from the problem of not being terribly natural. Giving your constructed words single-word English definitions may invite people to think they can use these words exactly like their English counterparts. But no two languages have exactly the same meanings for all of their words—polysemies are language specific!
Mando’a unfortunately suffers from this problem as well: most of the words have single-word English equivalents. But not all of them do. Here are some examples of polysemy in Mando’a, where you can see how the culture has shaped the different senses:
aliit: clan name, identity — clan is an important part of their identity for Mandalorians; perhaps you’d go as far as to say clan is identity?
echoy'la: searching, mourning, lost
haastal: dried blood, scab (also a term for a lasting emotional scar)
jetiise: Jedi (plural), Republic — from a Mandalorian perspective, the Jedi are representatives of the Republic
mando: mandalorian (adjective), a mandalorian person (noun)
Here are a couple of examples of fan-created polysemies for canon words:
cin
alii’gai
Etymologies in natural languages are all about metaphor, not logic. Think about new senses as poetry, not as a logic puzzle.
And that being said, the poetry and metaphors should be of the culture. When you look at a thing and ask “what would my blorbos call this?” you need to look at it through their eyes. Are they sedentary or nomadic? What level of technology do they have, is electricity to them about electrons or sparks or thunder? I think this is where Traviss did well, and that’s a large part of why fans find Mando’a compelling enough to learn (although it’s also been pointed out there were many Western cultural assumptions she also failed to check).
Sometimes it can be hard to say whether polysemy was intended: does kando mean the importance and weight given on a matter, or also literal weight?
It can be useful to distinguish between different senses and several synonymous words used to define one sense. For example, ba’slanar is given the definition of ‘leave, depart, exit’ where ‘leave’ and ‘depart’ aren’t different meanings, but synonyms for the same sense of the word.
Sometimes it can be difficult though. ‘Daughter’ and ‘son’ are different meanings in English, but they aren’t in Mando’a! Here the same word applies to a wider set of referents than the corresponding English word would. But it’s not really about polysemy (a word having several distinct senses), but about Mando’a not making the same distinctions between concepts as English does.
For now, don’t worry overly much about whether a sense is distinct enough or not. Improved definitions—which semantic ground does the word cover or not—are also valuable.
Prompt:
Think of some polysemies in a language you know. It could be English or another language you know, or it could be Mando’a. Can you identify which types they are? How might they have developed? Dictionaries typically list the oldest recorded sense first, and newer senses after—this way, you may be able to see how the different senses have arisen.
Next, take a Mando’a dictionary of your choice, find a word and give it an additional, new sense. Your sense may be any of the types listed above, or you may even make several. Try to think about how Mandalorians would think about that concept and about the additional contexts they might apply it to.
Polysemy is a great conlanging tool that you can put in your toolbox—and apply later in the month to other prompts as well.
Remember to share and tag #mandoxember—and like, share and comment on others’ posts! 🧡💜
How to find ideas?
Other related words in Mando’a: For hints, you can look at other words that seem related to your word and what meanings they have.
Wiktionary: Wiktionary is an unusual dictionary in that it includes translations into several different languages rather than only translating from one language to another. You can use this feature to your advantage by searching for a word and then looking through its translations in different languages and noting all the different senses they have.
CLiCS: CLiCS is a database of colexifications in different languages, which includes information about colexifications in different languages and how common certain colexifications are.
Calque: Your additional sense may be a polysemy that exists in another language you know—yes, you may give Mando’a a polysemy from your native language! But before you do, think about whether it makes sense for Mandalorian culture, or whether it relies on an experience that is specific to your culture and not applicable to Mandalorians or the Galaxy Far Far Away with its different technology and society. Language has cultural baggage! Before you carry it over, make sure you’re doing so intentionally and not accidentally.
Take your favourite Mando’a dictionary, find a word, and create a verb from it.
Detailed instructions below. 👇
Some useful terminology
Now unto the world of deriving words with new forms, not only new meanings! Before we embark, let’s establish some useful terminology.
Morpheme: morphemes are parts of words. They’re the smallest units of words that carry meaning. You can recognise a morpheme because it has the same form and the same meaning. For example, to run, runner, runaway, speedrun, all have in common the morpheme run, and in all words, it has the same (or similar) meaning.
Inflectional morphology: creates different grammatical forms with the same meaning. For example, calls and called are inflected forms of to call.
Derivational morphology: creates new words with new meanings. For example, caller, callcentre, on-call.
In this event, we’re dealing with derivational morphology.
Affix: an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or form. Affixes can be inflectional (like -es, -ed, -ing) or derivational (like un-, -er, -ation, pre-).
Prefix: a prefix is an affix that goes before a stem, like un- in unmake and uncool.
Suffix: a suffix is an affix that goes after a stem, like -er in baker and runner.
There are also circumfixes (affixes that go on both sides if the base) and infixes (affixes that go inside the base), but Mando’a doesn’t seem to make use of those, so we can ignore them.
Stem: is the part of a word that an affix attaches to. Stems are responsible for carrying the word’s meaning. Sometimes the stem may have several morphemes. For example, in unstabilise, stabilise (itself stabil-ise) acts as the stem for the prefix un-.
Root: is a stem that cannot be further broken down into different morphemes.
Verbs in Mando’a
The infinitive ends in -ir, -ar, -ur, -or or -er.
—Karen Traviss, Mando’a - QUICK GRAMMAR GUIDE
In Mando’a, verbs are formed by adding the verbal suffix (-ir, -ar, -ur, -or or -er) to a stem.
akaan, ‘war’ → akaanir, ‘to fight’
Sometimes the suffix can have a long vowel instead of a short one:
atin, ‘tenacious’ → atiniir, ‘to endure’
What if your stem ends in a vowel? You can either remove the vowel and replace it with the verbal suffix:
dinui, ‘gift’ → dinuir, ‘to give’
Or sometimes Mando’a adds an extra consonant between the vowel and the verbal suffix, usually r, t or n (s also appears in some nouns).
bora, ‘job’ → borarir, ‘to work’
If your base word has a suffix (either a noun suffix or an adjectival suffix), you can either replace it with the verbal suffix or incorporate the suffix into the verb, sometimes in a reduced form:
But if you don’t feel like you recognise the different suffixes yet, don’t worry! It’s okay to leave them on.
Prompt:
Take your favourite Mando’a dictionary, find a word, and create a verb from it.
You can use either the canon dictionary or one of the fanon dictionaries.
Which of the suffixes should you use?
For now, try the following exercise: say aloud your word, and try to say it with all of the different suffixes. Which one feels easiest and most natural? Which one need the least extra movements of your mouth? Which one can be said the fastest?
Remember the last day’s prompt!
The meaning—or meanings—don’t have to be exact correspondences to your base word. You can give your word several meanings, or meanings that are figurative or metaphorical.
Remember to share and tag #mandoxember—and like, share and comment on others’ posts! 🧡💜
Lexember is a social media event where for the month of December, participants coin new words (lexemes) in their constructed languages.
Lexember is a little like NaNoWriMo: the point is to have fun and get the creative juices flowing. You’ll have the rest of the year to tinker with and polish the finished product, so don’t worry overly much about perfection.
What is Mando’a?
Mando’a is the language of the fictional Mandalorian people in the Star Wars universe. It is a constructed language, originally created by the composer Jesse Harlin for the soundtrack of Star Wars: Republic Commando video game and developed into a functional language by the novelist Karen Traviss in the Republic Commando novels and supplementary materials. Mando’a has also made appearances in other Star Wars media, including The Clone Wars, Rebels and The Mandalorian.
Traviss stopped working on Mando’a in 2009 when she stopped writing for Star Wars, leaving the language incomplete. Many fans have since continued to expand the lexicon and develop the language.
What is Mando’a Lexember?
Mando’a Lexember is a fandom event where, for the month of December, participants coin a new word in Mando’a every day.
Mando’a Lexember is in part aimed to rectify the problem of incomplete lexicon—and in part aimed to bring the fans together to have fun!
Mando’a Lexember will run for the first time in 2025. If it’s a success, hopefully we can do it again next year. 🤞
Who can participate?
Anyone! The more the merrier.
How do I participate?
Follow along the daily prompts (or not—you can also do something else if inspiration strikes), make a post on your blog, and remember to tag #mandoxember to share it with others! We’d love it if you wrote a little explanation of how you came up with your word.
Follow the #mandoxember tag to see what others are doing. Remember to share, like and comment on other’s posts! If you don’t want to participate in creating words, you are welcome to participate in just this way too.
Please do remember to tag your posts with #mandoxember so other participants can find them! Several of the prompts ask you to find another participant’s word to use as your starting point. You can also tag #lexember, if you want to share your posts with the wider conlanging community on Tumblr, or follow the #lexember tag for ideas!
Do I have to know Mando’a?
It helps! But you can also learn as you go—the first few prompts will all have you digging through existing dictionaries to get started. There’s no need to know grammar for the purposes of this event.
It is helpful to have some familiarity with who the Mandalorians are as a people and culture. However, you don’t have to have consumed all (or any) of the Star Wars media—a quick romp through Wookieepedia will get you up to speed on most things. But if you want to give Mandalore a skip and, for example, create your own clone trooper specific dialect of Mando’a, that’s fine too!
Here are more Mando’a resources you can explore!
Do I have to have previous conlanging or linguistics experience?
No. There will be a prompt with instructions for every day. This event will also function as a sort of a Mando’a specific mini course in word creation.
If you have questions about the prompt of the day, you can ask them in the notes or replies. I’ll try to answer as I have time, but participants are also welcome to help each other out & discuss the prompts together!
Here are more conlanging resources you can explore!
Do I have to know and/or use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)?
No. Nice if you do, but no, this is not a phonology course. You do have to think about how the words will sound, but it’s fine to just do your best attempt to put it in writing. You can leave phonetics out altogether, but if you want to make an attempt, it is also fine to ask help, or even make a recording instead of IPA representation.
Phonology & romanisation resources & sounds of Mando’a
Do I have to do all 31 days?
No. Do as many or as few as you want and have time for. It’s supposed to be fun, not a chore. The more, the merrier though!
Some of the prompts build on the previous prompts. If you haven’t done the previous prompt, you can always do the previous prompt instead or pick another one.
Do I have to use the prompts?
No! You can also do something different if the inspiration strikes you. Or you can use another day’s prompt. You can answer a prompt several times, they won’t wear out anytime soon.
Why are all the prompts so technical?
Because the rules for word formation in Mando’a are not clearly laid out & this event does not presume previous conlanging experience, so we kind of have to give some basics along the way… so this year lays out how to. If this event runs the next year, we’ll probably do more thematic prompts, because we’ll have already built up a good “library” of tools.
I disagree with the prompt’s explanation?
Great!
Mando’a is a pluricentric language. The canon Mando’a itself has two versions—Harlin’s and Traviss’s. Fans have created several more. There’s no one true way of doing Mando’a, so you’re welcome to do it your way instead & we’d love it if you shared your interpretation with others too!
This event is run and the prompts written by @ranahan, so the prompts naturally privilege their dialect. But you are free to use any dialect at all or do your own interpretation.
Can I use other people’s words?
Short answer: Yes. This event has several prompts that will have you deriving words from other participants’ words.
Long answer: It’s good form to link back to the creators from whom one gets their ideas to share the love. This is another reason why we hope you will tag your posts—it will make them easier to find and link back to in the future!
However, we can’t enforce crediting the original creator. Words aren’t quite like other creative works—they aren’t covered by copyright. You don’t need to cite your English teacher or a dictionary every time you use English, do you?
Language is at its core a cooperative creation. It’s all about communication, after all! So let’s share our words and ideas with each other—hopefully they will be adopted by other Mando’a enthusiasts and live on.
I don’t want my words to be copied by others?
Frankly the point of this event is to share words with others—if you aren’t okay with that, this event probably isn’t for you.
Who are you?
Mandoxember is run by @ranahan.
Who made your icon and header?
Icon is the hammer and tongs by @starwarsbookclub to represent creation, with the nonbinary colours adjusted to represent the conlang flag. Header is this photograph by Vincentiu Solomon, also chosen for its resemblance to the conlang flag.
I have another question?
Leave it in the notes or comments of this post, or throw it in the askbox!
(slang) to gather one's wits/ courage/ prepare mentally (mirsh'kotar?)
(slang, ironically) to put on a pedestal
From kot (strength). May be too similar to kotir (overpower).
Short how did I get there:
Strength is important to Mandalorian society, and I think they'd have a word for strenghten/ empower/ fortify. The sarcastic fifth meaning I derived along the same lines as ori'jagyc (bully) translating to "big man" literally. Also because kote (glory) reads as a plural of strength to me.
I forgot to do this the first time around: Prompts by @mandoxember . Check them out, they got great resources/ explanations for each day so far. I feel like I'm learning the basics of linguistics as I do this.
SORRY I dipped from #mandoxember, I’ve had a terrible month. First my heater broke, then I went on a trip where my phone died and I missed the return flight, then my car failed the inspection and the repairs will likely be worth more than the car. So now I need to figure out new heater/new lodging and a new car asap. So much for not being too busy… I might’ve cursed it by saying it aloud. 😂
Have a new Mando’a post as a consolation prize.
Edit: Here’s another one. Guess I did find the time to brush up a couple of drafts. In between trips. Hope the next one goes better.
