Quettali has a number of runtime start-up options, which determine some of its behavior. These optional choices are in force for the duration of the program run; to change them, stop quettali and re-run with different option values.
Below, for each option, we explain what the option is called, what it does, and why it exists.
The options in this section have an impact on the Quenya words produced and accepted by the program.
Option: -u / --dual-adj
Effect: Show dual adjective forms in adjective comparison pages.
Currently: OFF
Just like English, Quenya has a concept of number for nouns and verbs: they can be singular or plural, and expresses that through suffixes (one cat, two cats). Unlike English, but like many other languages, Quenya extends this distinction to adjectives. Unusually (but not uniquely), Quenya also has a separate dual for “a (natural) pair of”. This feature grew weaker over time, so while it is generally still commonly used for nouns and verbs, it is mostly not used for adjectives in later Quenya, and the use and even existence of dual adjective forms in earlier Quenya is a topic of debate; instead, we use plural adjectives to describe dual nouns.
The forms generated for dual adjectives are largely speculative, so keep that in mind. Using dual adjectives may give a text an archaic or scholarly flavor.
Option: -B / --auto-adv
Effect: Generate corresponding adverbs automatically for adjectives.
Currently: ON
In English, for each adjective (happy) we normally have a corresponding adverb (happily) derived using the “-ly” suffix. In Quenya, there is a similar way of deriving adverbs using the “-ve” suffix, but it may not be as universal, and is only really attested for “-a” adjectives. With this option in force, every adjective comparison page will automatically include a generated adverb, with a translation based on the adjective.
If the dictionary entry for the adjective contains a noadvb
flag, no adverb will be shown, even with the option switched on; if the
enty has a adverb=text flag, that text will be shown
instead of generating an adverb, regardless of the option setting (the
translation is generated). To include an adverb that has a different
translation, use noadvb on the adjective and add a separate
adverb lemma in the dictionary; there is currently no way to link that
adverb to the corresponding adjective comparison page.
The forms generated for dual adjectives are largely speculative, especially for adjectives that do not end in “-a”. Text using these may not appeal to Quenya purists.
Option: -A / --am-intense
Effect: Switch adjective intensive prefix from -an to -am(a).
Currently: “am”
Quenya has a prefix for adjectives to express very or more, used by quettali to translate English comparatives and superlatives in the adjective comparison pages. Due to debates over the right form of this prefix, we support using either “an-” (the default) or “am(a)-” (with this option). It has no impact on the intended meaning.
Option: -t / --cotense
Effect: Allow the extra compound-suffix verb tenses.
Currently: OFF
Aside from the basic single-suffix tenses, such as aorist, present and future, Quenya also has set of extra so-called compound tenses that provide more fine-grained time distinctions like future-perfect (“will have had”), similar to those found in IE-based languages. Due to their poor attestation, the forms for these extra tenses are rather speculative, but provide useful forms that you may want.
Option: -N / --neo-quenya
Effect: Include the Neo-Quenya dictionaries.
Currently: ON
Option: -M / --mid-quenya
Effect: Include the Middle-Quenya dictionaries.
Currently: OFF
Option: -E / --pre-quenya
Effect: Include the Early-Quenya dictionaries.
Currently: OFF
Option: -U / --use-quenya
Effect: Include the user-specific extension Quenya dictionaries.
Currently: OFF
On start-up, quettali reads its list of known words from a set of dictionary files. By default, this covers the commonly accepted set of Quenya words, mostly based on the vocabulary marked Q (Quenya) on the Eldamo website; it also includes the nouns and verbs used as declension and conjugation models.
The options listed above load more dictionary files, with words marked on Eldamo as NQ (Neo-Quenya, post-Tolkien vocabulary accepted by community for new material), EQ (early Quenya: sometimes used as a source for NQ), MQ (middle Quenya: better source than EQ for NQ), and UQ (local dictionary files maintained by a user running quettali as a local tool). On many quettali pages, the origin of a Quenya word is shown by a symbol representing NQ, MQ, EQ or UQ (Q is implicit).
For new material, the advice is to preferably use Q, use NQ where necessary, and only resort to MQ/EQ words if you are an expert.
Option: -S / --short-prons
Effect: Show short pronouns.
Currently: OFF
On the pronominals page, quettali normally shows the short, long and emphatic forms. With this option, it will add a “separate” forms column using short pronouns. These are not well-attested in the subject position, and mostly discouraged for use there in NQ text.
The options in this section have no impact on the Quenya language processing, but affect how text is displayed in the pages.
Option: -d / --dots
Effect: Show a trema, a.k.a. diaeresis, on combinations like “ië”.
Currently: ON
In romanized transcriptions of Quenya, we can write a trema on one of two consecutive vowels to show that they are pronounced separately (not as a diphthong). This is a Tolkien convention, but it has no effect on meaning or pronunciation, and some people see it as unnecessary clutter. In writing a text, the advice is to use them consistenly or not at all.
Option: -k / --calma style
Effect: Determine the romanization of ‘calma’ tengwar.
Currently: canon
The tengwa letter calma is unambiguous in tengwar writing, but preferences vary between human authors as to whether to transcribe this as ‘c’ or ‘k’. Your choices are: canon (c), konly (k), ckmix (c/k, depending on following letter).
Option: -j / --noldo style
Effect: Determine the romanization of ‘calma’ tengwar.
Currently: canon
The tengwa letter noldo was historically an ‘ng’ sound, but later merged with ‘n’, though the distinction is still preserved in writing. In transcription, we can either ignore the distinction, or use a different representation, selected through this option. Your choices are: acute (ń), canon (j), hooks (ŋ), merge (n), notes (ñ), undot (ṇ).
Option: -z / --suule style
Effect: Determine the romanization of ‘súle’ tengwar.
Currently: notes
The tengwa letter súle was historically a ‘th’ sound, but later merged with ‘s’, though the distinction is still preserved in writing. In transcription, we can either ignore the distinction, or use a different representation, selected through this option. Your choices are: canon (z), cedil (ş), comma (ș), merge (s), notes (þ), undot (ṣ).
Option: -b / --split-bound
Effect: Show compound and prefix boundaries.
Currently: OFF
Quettali uses boundary markers between morphemes inside words, for things like determining the declension of a noun or where to insert the augment for a verb. These boundaries are normally no visible in displayed text, but this option will show them as a middle-dot. They may help in understanding the logic behind some quettali output.
Option: -s / --split-prons
Effect: Display a dot before the pronominal suffix.
Currently: ON
A more specialized version of the “show boundaries” option, this one only applies to showing a middle-dot before pronominal suffixes.
The options below are either purely cosmetic, or deal with the server configuration.
Option: -f / --font name
Effect: Sets the tengwar font for web-pages.
Currently: “alcarin4”
This defines the tengwar font used to display all non-romanized Quenya text. You can view the available set in the fonts page. Only a single font can be specified here.
You can experiment with the different tengwar fonts by adding an extra
“&tfont=name” parameter to the URL of most
pages directly in the browser address bar.
Option: -H / --header-font name
Effect: Sets the H1/H2/H3 font for web-pages.
Currently: “balgruff”
If not specified, pages will use the browser default for header titles. If specified, the font must be in quettali's download file set.
Option: -p / --port number
Effect: Sets the HTTP webserver request port.
Currently: 8079
Quettali serves its web-pages via HTTP on this port. Usually it will be fronted by nginx or similar on regular HTTP port 80 or HTTPS port 443, but for local use you can communicate with it directly.
—generated by quettali version 0.26.1