Word formation and artificial intelligence

12.1 Build from recognizable roots

Core tendency. Prefer an inherited word where it already fits. When a new concept needs a word, use a transparent compound or clearly marked borrowing. Distinguish the root's ordinary meaning from the new compound's assigned technical definition.

The rightmost substantial noun is generally the compound's head in the lexicon. Hyphens help readers recognize new boundaries; they can disappear after a form becomes familiar. A compound must be defined well enough that its parts do not invite an unintended stronger claim.

Useful inherited derivational material includes -kayt for abstract properties, -ung for many action/result nouns, -er for some agents, and adjectival -dik or -ik. These are tendencies with lexical constraints, not unrestricted functions that turn every arbitrary root into a natural word. The vocabulary list records intended products rather than claiming every conceivable derivation is valid.

12.2 AI as boyseykhl

Established neologism: boyseykhl / בױשׂכל, also written pedagogically boy-seykhl / בױ־שׂכל.

The compound joins boy- from boyen, “build,” with seykhl, “intellect, understanding, good sense.” Its intended meaning is artificial intelligence, conceived as constructed intelligence. The unhyphenated Latin form preserves the earlier coinage. Hebrew-origin seykhl keeps its conventional spelling rather than being mechanically rendered as סײכל.

The compound is a new Yuddish term, not a claim that this is the established Yiddish word for AI. Its metaphor does not entail that every AI system is wise, conscious, a person, generally intelligent, or aligned with human purposes. Those are distinct claims that need distinct words and evidence.

Current lexical entry: dos boyseykhl, in the same genderless class as every other noun. The inherited head noun supplies no grammatical gender. Use it as a mass or field term when appropriate. To count systems unambiguously, prefer a boyseykhl-sistem, plural boyseykhl-sistemen, rather than immediately assigning a new plural to the mass noun.

12.3 A small AI word family

Tsil-pasung needs the relevant goals, stakeholders, and circumstances to be named. A high score on a benchmark does not establish alignment, and a fluent self-report does not settle consciousness. The point of the glossary is to make those propositions easier to separate grammatically.

12.4 Translation policy for new concepts

On first use, introduce a neologism with its Latin form, Hebrew spelling, plain definition, and status. Show a short heys example if the definition itself is part of the dialogue. Avoid adding an AI coinage to a source passage that never mentions AI just to demonstrate the vocabulary.

Record every newly introduced translation term or specialized sense in the vocabulary list and additions ledger. Reuse a suitable existing entry before coining another. New project entries receive the next unused V identifier, a date, root or source, I/C/P status, morphology or an explicit unverified flag, and a link to the passage that uses the intended sense. The SW identifiers belong to the fixed source-list concept slots. Preserve identifiers when revising a spelling or meaning, and record which translations are affected. An automatic spelling match is a lookup aid; it does not by itself establish that a passage uses the new sense.

Mathematical symbols such as H, E, P, and Δb are available as international notation. Their use is comparable to formulas inside ordinary Yiddish prose. A fully spoken register can replace variable letters with spoken names; it need not replace the mathematics with prose that is harder to check.

12.5 Technical compounds need argument slots

Proposed discipline from the Moloch translation. A transparent compound is a useful name, not a compressed proof. Its definition should state what information a careful user must supply. This is principally a lexicon rule, not a new case system.

Use existing prepositions and explicit model declarations to fill these slots: far Stiv “for Steve,” loyt M “according to M,” kegn A “relative to alternative A,” unter C “under conditions C.” Every noun and adjective stays invariant. Far Stiv after “better” names a beneficiary; loyt Stiv names a source or evaluation standard. Neither changes the speaking voice whose credence EF expresses.

A general technical formulation can display onrayts(A; a; a₀; K) and define it as EU_A(a | K) − EU_A(a₀ | K). This is a utility difference, not an evidential increment. It has no automatic unit in bits. A nonzero advantage in this model does not prove that the agent notices it or acts on it. The empirical claims need their own EF.

Keep onrayts apart from the epistemic shtup. Incentives change the comparative attractiveness of actions. Evidence changes credence in propositions. One event can do both, but its utility effect is not its Bayes factor.

Compound length. Use a familiar short name after its full definition. Avoid indefinitely stacking nouns: define tsuzam-shtim-mekhanizm, then say dos mekhanizm while the referent is clear. Hyphens mark new compound boundaries; they do not create cases or gender. The technical agent forms handl-er, optimir-er, and opfal-er use the productive plural -s: handl-ers. This choice does not change inherited plurals such as mentshn, kinder, or doktoyrim.

Homonyms and clippings. Fal “trap/case” and fel “failure” stay distinct. Opfal-shtof explicitly names physical waste, while game-theoretic opfal names defection. Val-fal means whalefall even though val can also mean election. Boyseykhl keeps its established form. No new clipping is adopted merely because two long roots can be shortened: pronounceability and confusability matter more than maximum compression.

12.6 The layered language

Core design policy. Yuddish has one grammar with three cooperating layers, not three dialects with different truth requirements.

Keep inherited plurals such as mentshn and kinder. Give a newly introduced technical noun a recorded plural at its introduction. The current productive -s for new technical agent nouns, such as handl-er → handl-ers, is the regular default for that class, not a reason to change every inherited noun. The agent suffix denotes a role for any person or process and carries no gender.

New transparent compounds normally place the semantic head on the right and preserve the documented root pronunciation. Use the current compound-stress rule in section 4.4. Derivational material such as -ung, -kayt, -er, and -dik/-ik remains available, but every newly adopted derivative gets a lexical entry: an operation, its result, an agent, and a disposition must not collapse into one undefined word. The grammar does not declare all suffixes productive on every root.

After a full term is introduced, a short contextual form such as dos model or dos mekhanizm can carry it while the referent remains recoverable. A permanent clipping needs a distinct pronunciation, spelling in both scripts, defined meaning, and a check against existing particles and numerals. Boyseykhl remains the established AI coinage. No new pronoun ment is needed now that singular zey has been adopted.

A full technical expansion names the information omitted in ordinary speech, rather than giving the same unmarked construction a new silent meaning. Ordinary zol-dra uses the conventional recommendation grades; zol(S; 3) explicitly selects a declared measurement scale. Both remain inside an EF assertion. Root-like appearance and Hebrew spelling alone do not establish idiomatic Yiddish: fluent-reader review and spoken dialogue tests remain necessary.