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Minza is largely an a posteriori language; much of its vocabulary is derived from words in other languages, although Minza does have a number of unique Minza words. The initial source of Minza vocabulary was Lindiga, which was later revised to be a language of the elf-like Yitha people of Draconia and other Azirian worlds. Later borrowings have come from other Azirian languages, such as Tirelat, Jarda, and Yasaro, from the randomly generated vocabulary of Tilya, or from human languages of this world. In particular, Minza has a number of words borrowed indirectly from Chinese and Japanese, through a system called luakí, which is described below.
In the same way that English uses roots derived from Latin and Greek to form new words, Minza uses a system of roots called luakí (pl. luakíri) which can be combined to form larger words. For example, "myn" is a luakí meaning "bird" (the regular Minza word for "bird" is nil), and "žo" means "black" (malgi, as an independent word). These components are generally unique to Minza rather than being derived from some other language, but they are often used to form calques ("loan translations") from other languages. For instance, the English word "blackbird" is borrowed into Minza as "žomyn" (as opposed to "black bird", which is nil malgi). In particular, Chinese and Japanese are used as sources of new vocabulary items. For this purpose, each luakí syllable has a corresponding Chinese character (or two, in the case where Japanese and Chinese use different characters, such as 数 and 數 for the luakí sa meaning "number"). Japanese and Chinese words are borrowed by replacing each Chinese character with the equivalent luakí syllable. As with any borrowing, the meaning of the Minza word may not be quite the same as the meaning of the borrowed word in the source language. For example:
igá "what the...?" is derived from Japanese 一体 ittai, which can mean "one body" among other things, but is borrowed only with the particular meaning "what on earth?" or "really?". The Japanese 一体全体 ittai zentai, with a similar meaning, is borrowed as a single word igabaga, meaning "what (the -) is wrong?"
niłkai is a compound luakí meaning "animal" in the sense used by biologists. It is derived from the Japanese dōbutsu or the Chinese dòngwù, both written 動物, and is only used in compounds; žaivi is an independent word with the same meaning.
Although most luakí are specific to Minza, some are derived from other languages. The luakí for "feather" or "wing", for instance, is pen, from Latin penna. Other luakí are derived using back-formation from an existing Minza word (which may be borrowed from some other language). The Tirelat word "fulgha" meaning "soup", for instance, was interpreted as a luakí compound with components "ful" meaning "hot water" and "ġa" meaning "food". In rare cases, a single-syllable Minza word can be used as a luakí, such as šan "grass" (or more generally, "green plant").
Sounds not existing in Minza are altered to Minza sounds, not always in a systematic way. Each language of origin can have slightly different rules. For example, here are some rules for borrowing words from Lindiga:
There are some unusual rules for borrowing words from Tilya. The final vowel (which is always "a") is usually dropped; in nouns, the resulting consonant cluster is then either broken up by inserting a vowel (maran "mustache" < Tilya marna), or the final consonant is changed to a vowel (nadu "violin, fiddle" < Tilya nadwa). In verb and adjective roots, which are always followed by a vowel, the cluster is left alone (lavdi "to digest" < Tilya lavda. However, in a few words the final -a is retained, particularly in cases where the word would otherwise conflict with an existing word, e.g.: rivia "clarinet" < Tilya rivya, vs. rivi "possum" (Trichosurus) < Lindiga ṛifi, but also in other cases, such as words ending in -mba (xomba "heel" < Tilya homba).
In general, consonant clusters that don't fit the pattern of Minza phonology are broken up by inserting a copy of the preceding or following vowel. The metric units meter and liter, for instance, are borrowed from French mètre and litre; the closest Minza equivalent to the French pronunciation would be "metx" and "litx". Since these clusters are considered to be foreign, these words are assimilated by repeating the vowel: metex, litix. The pronunciation of the Polish word mgła (fog, mist) would be represented as "mgua"; since the "u" is a vowel in Minza even though it represents a Polish consonant, the final borrowed form of the word is muguá.
There are also a few conventions for representing foreign sounds in names and words that have not been fully assimilated into Minza. The use of the "wedge" (or "caron") diacritic is common for representing foreign sounds, such as "ř" for a uvular trill [ʀ], or "v̌" for a labiodental approximant [ʋ]. In cases where an accented letter is unavailable, "-h" is added: "rh", "vh".
