Laik

Trigedasleng

Trigedasleng Phrasebook

This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonality.

IPA^(key): /laik/

Rhymes: -aik

laik

laik

laik

(equative copula) to be
Oso laik won kru. En dison laik oso hou.
We are one clan. And this is our home.
-Octavia Blake (The 100, Episode 411)

I'd been planning to use this as a copula from the beginning, but I, of course, intended it to be pronounced lak. That was the first thing that had to go when the writers insisted that Trigedasleng be more recognizable. The usage stems from the use of "like" in sentences like, "Dirk's, like, a scientist". That version of "like" is a hedge (in the previous sentence, the speaker doesn't know, perhaps, what kind of a scientist Dirk is, but knows that his profession lies somewhere in that area), and I reasoned that with continued use, its role might first be misunderstood, and then, as a result, expand and become a bit more generic—especially in a scenario were word-final consonant clusters were being simplified, resulting in many instances of the English copula being lost. A number of critics of the language take it as less serious because it uses words like "like" in expanded roles. I'm not sure what they would have thought had I gotten to move forward with my [ai]-less version of the language, but I am sure I don't actually care what they think now. It's hard to care about the opinions of those whom I don't respect. The interjection definition comes from the real world usage of the Facebook "like" in speech. I believe it was a Slakkru recommendation, and I thought it was a good one! -David J. Peterson 15:25, 29 March 2020 (PDT)