Description:

The modifier 'illa' means 'other' in a neutral sense as opposed to the oppositional 'other' of 'kepe'. It is also an important word pertaining to foreignness and alienation, and social and physical isolation.

Modifier:

'Illa' tends to have some more drammatic meanings in its term forms but it is generally more prosaic as a modifier.

The base form 'illa' means 'other' with used with a noun, and is actually treated as a demonstrative in Common, appearing in the Location position in the sequence of modifiers of nouns.

When used with a verb, it means 'otherwise' combined with the irrealis mood, and is used in rhetoric to introduce a counterfactual in contrast to the condition that explains why it does not occur. When used with the realis mood, it means 'besides' and rhetorically introduces a clause that is beside the point.

The derived form 'illankas' means 'alienated' or 'ostracised', and carries the more dramatic senses from the term forms. In this form it is usually a modifier of Opinion or Manner.

Verb:

As a verb, 'illan' means to 'other', to alienate or to ostracise. These are three quite distinct shades of meaning in English - the first is to encourage people to see something or someone as 'other', the second is to make someone feel detached or estranged, and the third is to cut someone off from contact and participation in social interaction, or to banish. In Common, with this word at least, those shades of meaning are combined and require context to distinguish.

Illan is a transitive skurun verb taking an ergative agent who is alienating something and an absolutive patient which is the entity alienated. It can be used in a pali antipassive form meaning to be alienated where the absolutive subject is the thing alienated. This is a typical Common idiomatically reflexive antipassive, and so really has the sense of setting oneself apart or alientating oneself.

The derived form roíllan has the specific meaning of banish or exile.

 Noun:

As a noun, the most common use of illan is as the reciprocal construction, like 'each other' in English, where the number matches the number of things acting reciprocally, usually the paucal, and the case is the expected patient care for the verb. Generally you should also include 'spet' as a modifier in the set expression, but it can be omitted of the reciprocity is understood.

'Another meaning of illan' can be a stranger or alien (and in science fiction is one of the words that can mean an extraterrestrial), or a foreigner. It can also simply mean, 'other one', especially when referring to an object (one could carefully articulate 'illa yn' if one were worried about the neutral sense not being clear in context). It can also refer to the condition of exile or banishment. The roíllan form is specific about the sense of exile or banishment.