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Names and loanwords

Pikotika writes names in its own fifteen letters, so every name gets said the same way by everyone who reads it. Yours is probably already close — and where it isn't, the changes are small and regular.

Your name in Pikotika

We have a database of common first names, but for anything not in that set, this tool works by spelling. A real adaptation follows the sound — so if you know how your name or word is pronounced and the two disagree, your ears win.

Doing it in your head

Two passes. First swap out the sounds Pikotika doesn't have; then fix any syllable that still isn't legal.

First, the sounds

Ten consonants means the missing ones move to their nearest neighbor — and that neighbor is always already inside the letter's range, so the result still sounds like your name.

Then, the syllables

A syllable starts with at most one consonant and ends with at most n m s r — so anything else needs a vowel to break it up. Use u, except after t, where o sounds more natural.

Pikotika has no diphthongs, so a vowel pair is simply two syllables: Sutorauto is Su-to-RA-u-to.

Some that are already settled

Names that come up often are worth agreeing on, and those are recorded — the converter above reaches for the record before it reaches for the rules.

Saying whose name it is

A name usually stands on its own. When it would help to say what kind of thing it names — the first time it comes up, or when it sounds like an ordinary word — put the category word in front of it, as a separate word.

It earns its keep when the name spells an ordinary word. Hal is Ar, and ar is also the word for 'other' — which capitalization sorts out mid-sentence, but not at the start of one, where every word is capitalized anyway; and not in speech. So to be clear, you might add omo to make it clear this is a person's name; think of it as "the person Hal":

This is the name identifying what the category word names, and the order is what carries that. Turn the two around and the name is an ordinary modifier instead: Kanata omo is a Canadian person, where omo Kanata would be a person called Canada. See Modifiers.

So a country name does duty as its adjective, and needs no separate word. A language does need one, because languages and countries do not line up — Canada speaks Inkuris and Vuranse, neither of them named for it.

Places take the same treatment, and a city is worth naming as one the first time it comes up:

The useful category words are omo (person), roko (place), sitas (city), nasyon (country), komparroko (shop), and komparmen (company).

It's fine to omit these words whenever the meaning is clear; leaving it off is never curt or rude.

Loanwords

Words borrowed outright are written the same way, and used sparingly — only where the word is likely to be known everywhere. In practice that means technical terms, product names, and metric units. They are ordinary lowercase words, unlike person and place names, which are capitalized.

In use

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