Indokát

Indokát is a term used in linguistic theory and world-building to refer to a hypothetical grammatical category that marks the speaker’s justification for a proposition. It functions like a mood or evidential marker, signaling that a stated reason or basis accompanies the claim. The concept is not established in the study of natural languages; it appears mainly in discussions of constructed languages (conlangs) and speculative linguistics as a tool for describing how a language might encode justification.

The origin of the term is artificial, chosen as a label to denote a justification-related function rather than as a claim about an existing language. In typology, indokát could be realized in several ways: as an affix attached to the clause, as a particle that precedes or follows the proposition, or as a subordinate clause indicating justification. The exact form is typically left open in most discussions, allowing flexibility for different language designs.

In proposed examples within conlangs or theoretical discussions, an indokát-marked sentence would foreground the justification for the claim, often pairing the main proposition with a separate justification segment. For instance, one might see a sentence where the core statement is followed by an indokát phrase specifying the ground for the claim, such as a causal or evidential basis. The marker would interact with other morphosyntactic systems, including evidentiality or mood markers, in a given language design.

Indokát is primarily of interest to conlang creators and linguists exploring theoretical possibilities; it is not a widely used term in mainstream descriptions of natural languages. See also: evidentiality, illocutionary mood, constructed language, world-building.