Constructed Languages

IPA?

2008-07-17T15:07:55Z

Does anyone know IPA or know of an easy tutorial for someone who has no formal education or training in linguistics?

Sounds

2008-07-16T06:38:26Z

As you all know I've just started my first conlang. The grammar is going well and I've got some interesting idea's that I've been testing out. I haven't posted much of it as of late so I've decided to post the phonology that I've been working on. I found that in particular the hardest thing about creating a conlang (for the first time) is not trying to understand the different parts of grammar but rather trying to understand how certain sounds can be produced/ and the clarrifying of sounds. This is particularly hard when the only language that you speak is English. Anyway I've done my best and I would appreciate it if some members could take the time to see if the sounds can be pronounced, that is according to how they have been described, and whether or not you think that they have been classified correctly. Here is a link to my journal:

http://secret-vice.livejournal.com/

The post can be found in, 'my conlang sounds.'

Hellboy II

2008-07-15T02:38:23Z

Just saw Hellboy II: The Golden Army (really enjoyed it, too), and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the language the elves are speaking in it. Who's behind this (I assume) conlang? Any dirt on the language itself, or is it too soon after the movie's release to know anything?

Dictionaries and dictionary creation programs

2008-07-10T05:06:43Z

I have a couple questions I'm wondering if many of you would be willing to answer. If you don't have time for all three, pick any one you like.

1. What do you use to handle your dictionary on the computer? Word, Excel, Access, HTML, another program? (this is assuming that you do indeed keep some sort of wordlist on the computer)

2. If you have a website where you display your conlang, how do you display the dictionary? Do you have a method where people can search it, either by the Find function or by an actual search box?

3. What do you recommend as a good dictionary creation program? I'm looking for something that preferably would interact with a database backend (my boyfriend is pretty good with databases, but not so much with the GUI part of things, and would prefer to find a frontend that he could build a database to work with), and that I could display like a "real dictionary", with sample sentences and all.

My Word doc/HTML method isn't cutting it any more--I can't make it as elaborate as I'd like, and it requires way too much time to keep synchronized. Any advice, suggestions, personal experiences, etc. that you'd like to share would be welcome! :)

SETI's Are We Alone interview w/ Donald Boozer

2008-07-07T20:04:09Z

Includes mentions (and samples!) of Dritok, Esperanto, Klingon, Quenya, LCC2, ZBB, and of course Don's Cleveland Library exhibit.

http://radio.seti.org/ - Show 7/7/08, "Speaking Klingon"
http://dlc.sun.com/seti/podcast/AWA_08-07-07.mp3 @ 21m35s ~ 37m00s

(Produced by SETI Institute, broadcast on PRX including BBC Radio 4, NPR, etc - see http://radio.seti.org/listening-options.php.)

Congratulations to him on the very well done interview!

touch language

2008-07-04T02:21:26Z

I've long been interested in unusual media for language, and one medium that's particularly intrigued me is the sense of touch. A vision of a language has slowly been assembling in my mind: It's a language of many levels. Stroking, tapping, pressing, rubbing, scratching in various styles have meanings, when felt on particular places on your body. There are words everywhere on the body; not all words are appropriate at all times or with all people. There are different sets of words, interrelated, on face and hands and feet, and you can't use them all at once, or at least, it would be gymnastics. More often it's a language of niches (and a niche language itself), face-talk and hand-talk being different states of mind and levels of communication.

I've thought before that it was impractical to try to create such a language over the internet, since we don't have the technology to transmit touches. Recently though, I began to reconsider. I thought about my experience with the Lojban community: We've been making a language which is supposed to be a spoken language, but doing so almost entirely through text, until very recently in the language's decades long history. What we actually did was to collectively imagine what the language would be like spoken, and we did so very openly and loudly and in detail. Now we're starting to speak more, as the technology has improved, and it's really not that much different than what we imagined. I'm beginning to think it might be possible to invent a language like the one I have in mind, and bring it to life in text, with that text also clearly representing how the language is meant to feel.

So, since I had that idea, I was wondering if anyone else would be interested in exploring such a language with me, or if you have any ideas or suggestions.

Peace.

capital letters

2008-07-03T09:04:58Z

Hi. I was just wondering if anyone knew of a conlang that used capital letters in the middle of words. I've come up with a few possible ideas involving inflictions but I would like to see how other people did it so that I've got something as an example. Anyway at the moment my conlang is slowly starting to take shape. I've got bits of the grammar sorted out so I think that's a good start. It's still too soon to really try and translate stuff but hopefully I will get there. Oh, and as a side question, I was wondering how long it generally takes for you to create a conlang? I realize that this would be different for everyone but I just thought I would ask anyway just out of interest.

Esikosa website!

2008-06-29T21:50:34Z

Hello everyone. As my last post said, i have been working on a little project. This is nothing more than a joke language, but i think it can be of some interest. I have uploaded a bunch of web pages dealing with it. This fascinating language's name is "esikosa".. it is still uncomplete, tho'. I think i'll add adjectival verbs i the dictionnary. Let me know what you think about it.

Here's the link to the esikosa page:
http://www.netherself.net/esikosa/

Alphistian Video Lesson

2008-06-26T04:43:42Z

The conlang Alphistian has a youtube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/alphistia. There is one video lesson there already, and will likely be a 10 lesson course uploaded in the near future. The webpage for Alphistian is at http://alphistia.com/lingua1.html.

Journaling in your conlang?

2008-06-22T16:31:05Z

Hi there, I've been journaling in Esperanto recently(, and making egregious grammatical mistakes!) and I was wondering if anyone else journals in their conlang or conlang of choice. When you look back on your entries, so you find them really grammatically broken? Not so bad? What is your motivation for doing so.

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

2008-06-13T16:30:56Z

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open on "The Wordsmith's Forge!" (Due to service outage on Wednesday, the fishbowl has been rescheduled; we'll hope the connection holds today.) I will be checking that page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

Cyberfunded Creativity

I'm practicing cyberfunded creativity. If you enjoy what I'm doing and want to see more of it, please feed the Bard. The following options are currently available:

1) Sponsor the Fishbowl -- Here is a PayPal button for donations. There is no specific requirement, but $1 is the minimum recommended size for PayPal transactions since they take a cut from every one. If you make a donation and tell me about it, I promise to use one of your prompts. Anonymous donations are perfectly welcome, just won't get that perk.

2) Buy It Now! -- Gakked from various e-auction sites, this feature allows you to sponsor a specific poem. If you don't want to wait for some editor to buy and publish my poem so you can read it, well, now you don't have to. Sponsoring a poem means that I will immediately post it here, with the name of the sponsor (or another dedicate) if you wish; plus you get a nonexclusive publication right, so you can post it on your own blog or elsewhere as long as you keep the credits intact. You'll need to tell me the title of the poem you want to sponsor. I'm basing the prices on length, and they're comparable to what I typically make selling poetry to magazines (semi-pro rates according to Duotrope's Digest).

0-10 lines: $5
11-25 lines: $10
26-40 lines: $15
41-60 lines: $20
Poems over 60 lines, or with very intricate structure, fall into custom pricing.

3) Commission a scrapbook page. I can render a chosen poem in hardcopy format, on colorful paper, using archival materials for background and any embellishments. This will be suitable for framing or for adding to a scrapbook. Details are here.

Additional Notes

1) I customarily post replies to prompt posts telling people which of their prompts I'm using, with a brief description of the resulting poem(s). If you want to know what's available, watch for those.

2) You don't have to pay me to see a poem based on a prompt that you gave me. I try to send copies of poems to people whose eddresses I already have. If you want to see the poem inspired by your prompt, give me your eddress; I recommend using {at} and {dot} to discourage spammers. These are for-your-eyes-only, though, not for sharing.

3) Sponsors of the Poetry Fishbowl in general, or of specific poems, will gain access to an extra post in appreciation of their generosity.

Feed the Fish!
Now's your chance to participate in the creative process by posting ideas for me to write about. Today's theme is languages, linguistics, and linguists. (Natural and constructed languages, linguistics and xenolinguistics, etc. are fair game.) I'm specifically seeking ideas for:

characters

settings

historic or current events

languages

types of wordplay

poetic forms

But anything is welcome, really. If you manage to recommend a form that I don't recognize, I will probably pounce on it and ask you for its rules. I do have the first edition of Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms which covers most common and many obscure forms.

I'll post at least one of the fishbowl poems here so you-all can enjoy it, plus any poems individually sponsored by someone. The rest will go into my archive for magazine submission.

Tongue Twisters.

2008-06-13T02:59:25Z

I've developed a mild interest in tongue twisters (my favorite is the English phrase, "she sells sea shells by the sea shore"). Even more so, I favor phrases which involve humorous repetitions of sounds and syllables, which themselves may or may not be tongue twisters (my favorite here is the Japanese phrase, "niwa ni wa ni-wa niwatori arimasu," meaning "there are two chickens in the garden.")

Having noticed that in my conlang Varaton, the copula has the same pronunciation as the plurality suffix, I realized that this language has lots of potential for these kinds of redundant phrases. Here's one I worked out today:
"ʊn enɛn njɛ tɛ najŋɛn ɛn."
[indef. article][thieves][within][def. article][kitchens][copula]
"The thieves are in the kitchens."

Does anyone else have any particularly hard or funny-sounding phrases that they've come up with?

Conlang film, comments requested

2008-06-12T20:20:50Z

FOR WIDE DISTRIBUTION - PLEASE FORWARD

See: http://www.spinnoff.com/zbb/viewtopic.php?t=28210 for original message & more details

O fellow conlangers:

This is about the short film "Conlang" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFc3CvMMY48 - that is just a test for the real thing, set to begin production in two weeks.

We would like to give them as much support as we can in this. Your (very prompt) comments, suggestions, jokes, revisions, etc. (in addition to the specific items mentioned below) would be greatly appreciated.

Additionally, if you have items you could lend as typically conlangery props to use in the film (e.g. themed tshirts, books, & other paraphenalia) please let us know.

Please DO forward this to anyone who would be interested. If you have comments that you would like to discuss publicly, please post them on the ZBB thread linked above.

For all other comments, please use the emails below.

Thanks,
Sai Emrys
President, Language Creation Society

P.S. Please EMAIL responses to:

baldvinkari@gmail.com, davemaulbeck@gmail.com, mam@swandivefilms.com, lcs@conlang.org

... or post them to the ZBB thread above.

---
Salutations!

My name is Baldvin and I'm an Icelandic graduate film student at Columbia University in New York. I've always been very interested in languages but was first introduced to the magic realm of conlangery through my boyfriend, whom you ZBB folk probably know as "vecfaranti". On a side note, vecfaranti's very own "Uscaniv" plays an important role in the movie as the main character's conlang.

Anyway, I've written a short film, CONLANG, that is to be filmed in New Jersey in about two weeks - and we need your help.

The story is about Carl Tedesco, an avid 26-year-old conlanger who has a chance of becoming the president of his Conlanging Club, as the current president is going away to work on a new Star Trek movie as Chief Klingon Adviser. But before he can accept the presidency, he is challenged by another club member, a power-hungry Esperantist by the name of Kip (who plans to turn the club into an Esperanto League). The winner is to be decided in a "Herculean Tournament", as described in the Club Laws. Carl and Kip will compete for the presidency in a series of gruelling linguistical trials that include etymological and phonetic challenges, a Klingon crossword puzzle and a Scrabble game in Sindarin.

I don't want to give away the ending, but lets just say that the greedy Esperantists with their evil plans for world domination and the abolishment of true artistic conlanging get their just deserts.

But in spite of our honorable intentions, the fact of the matter is that we lowly filmmakers (however talented in other areas) need the talent and expertise of real conlangers to make this thing work in a believable way.

If any of you are interested in helping out with any of the following, we would be very grateful and would of course acknowledge your unvaluable contributions in the film's credits.

I should mention that this is a comedy, so we are willing to bend reality in favor of humor, but preferably without breaking it.

What we need:

Trial #1: An etymology of the Jive term "catch you on the flip side". (Note: I must confess I'm not sure if "etymology" is the right word here, since it's a phrase, not a single word. But this phrase was deemed more interesting and funny than the original challenge of tracing the word "tooth" to it's Indo-European origins.)

Trial #2: A phonetic account (IPA) of the American National Anthem as sung with a Southern accent.

Trial #3: A couple of (dirty) limericks in a well-known conlang of your choice.

Trial #4: The Gettysburg Address translated into "hip hop slang" with generous use of the suffix "-shizzle".

Trial #5: A giant Klingon crossword puzzle. (Note: An actual, functional crossword puzzle would be great, but this is a movie so a "fake" one that looks real would suffice.)

Again, any help is greatly appreciated.

Also, if you want to tell us about something that is "totally awesome and just has to be in the movie or otherwise it can't even call itself a conlang movie", please feel free to share.

Someone has already tried to tell me about a left-handed, gay Lithuanian with a red beard or something, but I never really got that joke.

Thank you all in advance!

Introduction

2008-06-12T19:39:07Z

Hey there. My name's Daniel and I've just joined this community. I've been working on my conlang for about a year now, slowly it's getting a shape I like. Conlanging goes very slow with me, usually on a small piece of paper where I doodle around and find words I like.

I've also been a lot at the zBB (mostly as a quiet reader rather than an avid poster), but I thought, hey, it'd be nice to join here as well. I'm gonna show you the stuff I've been doing the last year: Thesome /"t_he.zO.m@/

1. Vowels:
1.1. Phonemes
/a e i o u y/ <a e i o u y>

1.2. Allophony
All vowels (except /a/) have a lax counterpart: /e/ - [E], /i/ - [I], /o/ - [O], /u/ - [U] and /y/ - [Y]. Lax vowels appear instead of the tense ones
1. always in closed syllables; e.g. emnathon ["Em.na.t_hOn]
2. in the syllable following a stressed vowel; e.g. Thesome["t_he.zO.mE]
3. in the last syllable of a word; e.g. deromi ["de.4O.mI]
Word final [E] may be realised as [@] in fast speech: Thesome /"t_he.zO.m@/
When the penultimate syllable is stressed, the vowel is usually pronounced longer; contrast deromi ["de.4O.mI] with derthi ["dE:4.t_hI]

2. Diphthongs:
2.1. Phonemes
/aI eI OI aU/ <ai ei eu/oi au>
/OI/ is written <eu> in the first syllable of a word, anywhere else <oi>; probably a sound change that has occurred in an earlier stage but that has been undone.

2.2. Glide Insertion
When another vowel follows a diphthong,
1. in formal speech diphthongs ending in /I/ add a /j/-glide before the next vowel whereas after /aU/ a /w/ is added.
2. in colloquial speech diphthongs become (long) monophthongs with a glide onset on the following syllable.
E.g. andromeía: 1. [an.d4o."meI.ja] 2. [an.d4o."me:.ja] and Sauos: 1. [saU.wOs] 2. [sa:.wOs]

3. Consonants:
3.1. Phonemes
Plosives: /p p_h b t t_h d k k_h g/ < p ph b t th d k kh g>
Fricatives: /f s x h/ <f s ch h>
Nasals: /m n/ <m n>
Liquid: /4 l/ <r l>

3.2. Allophony
The voiced stops /b d/ may be softened to [v D] between vowels: eudein ["OI.DeIn]
/k k_h g/ are usually pronounced [c c_h J\] before the vowels /e i y/
/s/ becomes [z] in the onset cluster sm- (pronounced [zm]) and between vowels: contrast thesomi ["t_he.zO.mI] with thesthi ["t_hE:s.t_hI]
Nasals, if preceding plosives, assimilate to the latter's point of articulation (with the exception of compounds).

4. Stress:
Stress usually falls on the antepenultimate syllable.
If stress falls on any other syllable, it is marked with an acute accent (which is placed on the second part of a diphthong). If the penultimate syllable is stressed, it is pronounced longer than usual.
E.g. mnathygata [mna."t_hy.ga.ta] mnathygataí [mna.t_hy.ga."taI] mnathygatánen [mna.t_hy.ga."ta:.nEn]

5. Syllables:
5.1. Onset
Any single consonant
Plosive + Liquid: pr-, phr-, br-, pl-, phl-, bl- etc.
/f/ or /x/ + Voiceless Plosive (except Bilabials): ft-, fth-, cht-, chth- etc.
/s/ + /m/ or Voiceless Plosive: sm-, sp-, sph-, st- etc.
/p/ or /k/ + /t/: pt-, kt-
/m/ + /n/: mn-

5.2. Nucleus
Any vowel or diphthong.

5.3. Coda
Except for the word's final syllable, any consonant except /h/ is allowed. Word finally, only /r/, /l/, /n/, /s/ and /t/ are used.

I know Phonology's not the most exciting part of a conlang, but I think it's the best part to start and post. Well. Good night and good luck :)

Poetry Fishbowl on Wednesday June 11

2008-06-09T21:10:24Z

Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.

I'm going to host a Poetry Fishbowl on my blog on Wednesday, June 11. (Gods and weather willing; we've had a lot of service outages recently. If that happens again, I'll reschedule.) This time the theme will be languages, linguistics, and linguists. I'll be soliciting ideas for characters, settings, historic or current events, languages, types of wordplay, and poetic forms in particular. Chances are I'll spend a good chunk of the day, from afternoon to evening or more, alternating between this site and doing stuff offline so my back doesn't weld itself to the chair. I will post at least one of the resulting fishbowl poems on the blog for everyone to enjoy. The rest will be available for audience members to buy, and whatever's left over will go into my archive for magazine submission.

If you enjoy my poetry -- or if you just love poetry in general, or want to promote language arts & sciences -- please mark the fishbowl date on your calendar. Drop by and give me some ideas, comment on the posted poetry, encourage people to come look, whatever tickles your fancy. I hope to see you then!

reviving Òlérneß

2008-06-05T02:36:35Z

before i get into posting my notes I'd like to say
Hello again! I'm back from my hiatus.

well, my main point of this post is to say that I'm returning to working on an earlier project, Òlérneß.
I've compiled all my notes thus far (including the little bit I've added to recently) and i plan on posting it right now.

Òlérneßläbêcêtò-alphabet

a (álä)-ah

b (bê)

c (cê)-k (terminal position)

d (dê)

e (élë)-eh

f (fê)

g (gê)-gh

h (hê)

I (ílï)-ih

j (jê)

k (kàë)-kh(medial position)

l (lê)

m (mê)

n (nê)

o (ólô)-oh

p (pê)

q (qáî)-kh(initial position)

r (rê)

s (sê)

t (tê)

u (úlû)-oo

v (vê)

w (wê)

x (xê)-zh

y (yê)

z (zê)

âá

a-ah

e-eh

i-ih

o-oh

u-oo

préndènëzêrdä/pronouns

qòl-I

âáß

ßà

çà

qàal-it

qalá-we

âáçè

áßò

áçà

ßœ

çœ

plürítz mââlìß/masculine plural

-dä

plürítz füümèrîî/female plural

-d

fîínîíkaàl mââlìßdä/ masculine endings

-o

-u

-er

-z

-ß

-m

fîínîíkaàl füümèrîîd/ feminine endings

-a

-e

-I

-ç

-n

-re

veèrtz unétèrò/ first verb

zíktòkäa-to be

qòl zík

âáß

ßà

çà

al zikkä

qàal zèk

qalá zîktròl zámfrüt

âáçè

ná çeézìktò

zíktòkäa is an irregular verb/ áßò veèrtz ireguîèr zíktòkäa zèk ô.

Word order- OSV(p) p-particle

Vokélt dvétrî/ double vowels

aa ee ii – uu

aá eé ií – uú

aà eè iì – uù ëé ïí ôó ûú

äá

äà

ââ

ëè ïì ôò ûù êê îî – üü

nik vokélt dvétrî/ not double vowels

âá

âà

Êé Îí Öó Üú Œé Êè Îì Öò Üù Œè

double vowels can be split with an apostrophe (‘).

Námbèrdä/numbers

zer-0

uné-1

dvé-2

tré-3

qîtré-4ta-5

ßé-6

çé-7

aktò-8

nüf-9

zeet-10

unézèt-11

dvézèt-12

trézèt-13

qîzèt-14

ßé

çé

aktòzet-18

nüzèt-19

dvèt-20

trèt-30

qîtrèt-40

ßè

çè

aktèt-80

nüfèt-90

sènte-100

vocáblìstè/vocabulary

áßò

áçà

undéfìndre-undefined, indefinite, infinite

défìndre- defined, definite, finite

plürítz- plural

áßò

mââlìß- masculine

áçà

füümèrîî- feminine

áßò

námbèr + -térò- ordinal

áçà

áßò

námbèr + -trî- amount

nik- not, no

däàs- yes

áßò

áçà

quutrém- good

zaàlos- bad

erténzûùdä unétéròdä/ first sentences

Cody qòl zík ô.

I am Cody

Allen ßàal zahm ô.

He is allen

Hannah çàal zikkä ô.

She is hannah

quutrém qalá ziktrò ô.

We are good

zaàlos œmò xôt ô.

They are bad

mülçò veèrtzdä/ more verbs

haatòlä- to have (reg verb)

qòl haatämèc haatòal haatüal haatá

qàal haat

qalá haatöl haatòl

âáçè

áßò

I have a verb.

Vütöô- to see

qòl vümèc vîal vütèr

âäß

ßà

çà

al vütré

qàal vüté

qalá vütöl vütâmò vütâámòná vütâáçèmè qòl vü ô.

âáçè

âáß

I see you

qò ßàal vütèr ô.

He sees me

pronoun accusative- take of last letter

dòrmîlent- too sleep

qòl dòrm

âáß

ßà

çà

al dòrmá

qàal dò

qalá dòrmîz

âáçè

I am sleeping now!

Aámêröó- to like

qòl aámêmèc aámîal aámêrèr

âáß

ßà

çà

al aámêrré

qàal aámêré

qalá aámêröl aámêrämò aámêrâámòná aámêrâáçè.

âáçè

qòl ûndümèc ûndîal ûndèr

âáß

ßà

çà

al ûndré

qàal ûndé

qalá ûndöl ûndâmò ûndâámòná ûndâáçèlàkent- to come

âáçè

çó

qòl çól

âáß

ßà

çà

al çólá

qàal çó

qalá çólîz

âáçè

âáß

Come!

ßà

Mülçò pártîkèlad/ more particles

çû

ßû

aïí- past

nokt- negative

îî

Dènëzêrdä/nouns

áßò

áçà

áßò

áçà

áßò

áçà

áßò

áçà

áßò

áçà

áßò

áçà

áßò

áçà

áßò

áçà

ná- in

áçà

dáîjòü-hello

dáî- hey

dáîjòü gö- goodbye

dáî gö- bye

well, dáîjòü gö for now!

PS: if it looks kind of sloppy its because i only had time to copy and past from the wordperfect .doc i use to keep track of it and just added some bolding and italics to make it clearer. sorry about that! but i hope its understandable to you.
nâábè- heavenpp- up çîrà- princess ßênkò- prince çîrè- queen sênkî- king sênktîvò- kingdom, sanctuary nêköó- cat ánìvêr- anniversary öz- house löcómòtrîe- train méîò- subway/metro ütòßòtél- bus ütò- car mütà- mother pétèro- father sürè- sister brütéß- brother qüzaàlfüümè- girl qüzaàlmââl- boy füümè- woman mââl-man pîrzònellé- personnel pîrzònélò- person- dependent clause

-interrogativeaïí- past genericaïí- past imperative future generic- generic- future indicative- imperative- future imperative- present imperativeal çóloz ßû. (I guess) he will come.

mèc çólt ç! ná çólîlemò çólîltl çólît

al çólozmèc çóltndöô-to know

rt qòl dòrm çû!ná dòrmîlemò dòrmîltl dòrmît

al dòrozmèc dòrmtveèrtz qòl haatä ô.ná haanmò haam

âáß

ßà

çà

vocáblìstè- vocabulary námbèr- number vokélt- vowel pártîkèla- particle veèrtz- verb fîínîíkàl- ending füümá- woman, female mââlò- man, male ârtîîkèld- article préndènëzêr-pronoun âácésàntò- accent áläbêcêtò- alphabett-70t-60tèt-50zèt-17zèt-16tazèt-15

postròf vokélt dvétrî zíktòkäa skä ô.

mò xôtal zahmmèc zökt

-(f)-(m)rtîîkèld défìndred/definite article-(f)-(m)rtîîkèld undéfìndred/indefinite articlená- they (f)mò-they (m)l-you (pl)al-sheal-hemèc-you (sing.)-weh-yu-french eu-yo-ow-i(ee)-yi-ey-ye-falling-rising-ay-yakésàntòd-accents (ßê)-sh (çê)-ch

PPS: the bit inside the cut COMPLETELY and totally screwed up, but i have to be able to get up for my last final exam tomorrow, so ill try and fix it tomorrow when i get home from school, sorry!

An Update on my Language

2008-05-28T15:34:09Z

Project History
So, I've been working on my conlang for several years now. I'm sure that someone more disciplined and knowledgeable than myself could have come up with several conlangs by now, but I've only ever wanted to have one... The problem is that the object of my quest for a satisfying conlang keeps on changing. At first my goal was to create a language with only 1000 morphemes, each capable of functioning in any of its lexical categories, but the morphology I devised for this ended up making for a rather ugly sounding language. In the end naturalistic grammars slowly grew on me...

What's occupied me the most though is the question of vocabulary. For some reason, the idea of having a finite inventory of morphemes (one for every possible syllable) has always appealed to me. Originally my plan was to have exactly 1000 morphemes, all set out under nine semantic categories each with ten subcategories of ten words each (each category was also represented by its own word, along with the language name this made for 1000 morphemes). What can I say? I'm anal. Anyway, eventually I decided this was unworkeable and took up more flexible semantic categories (I couldn't possibly give up on turning my language into some sort of a linguistic bestiary though) and higher total morpheme counts (Generally with pretty numbers like "1200," "1800," "3600," and so on, designing my phonology and phonotactic systems specifically to allow only for that many morphemes)

On the Writing System
When I first started to think about designing a language, before I knew that there was a such a thing as a "conlang," I knew that what I wanted most was a language that could be drawn; a language entirely of pictographs, like how I thought hieroglyphs worked before I found out the truth. You might ask things like "How do you draw words representing abstract concepts like the mind?" and I'd probably have said something like "I dunno... Probably a brain with an eyeball and some spikes on it..." And, that's still pretty much what I want, even if I see myself designing a simplified version for everyday use. It's still a rather difficult thing to work with though. How do you depict the color yellow? A lemon with an eyeball perhaps? But then, how do you make a lemon look like a lemon without pencil crayons or detailed drawings? Have a separate glyph for "lion" or combine the glyphs for "cat" and "king"? Eventually I decided it would make sense to come up with the spoken language before trying to work out the characters. Of course, I've stopped caring if the system might be screwed up, confusing, and difficult to learn, (Say, having characters represent homonym pun words, having several characters with the same pronunciation, having characters pronounced differently when combined so that "cat + king = lion," and allowing for more than one possible combination for the same word) As long as it looks cool I suppose.

Present
Since I started writing poetry, I decided I wanted any of it I'd written in English to be translatable into my conlang with rhyme, meter and alliteration intact. So, what I've got now looks like a heavily corrupted form of English. The phonology's a different, the grammar and syntax even more so, but I figure that 40-80% of the vocabulary will come from English, Latin and Greek. Most of the changes I've made have been to make writing original poetry straight into the language easier; so, for instance, there are only 80 rhymes as opposed to English's zillions of them. Likewise, word order is freer. And, of course, the ability to just make up words as I go along is a Godsend. So here's a bit of an overview at what I'm looking at now:

phonology:
Plosives: p t k - b d g
Affricatives: ʧ ʤ
Fricatives: f s h
Nasals: m n ŋ
Approximants: w j ɹ l
Vowels: i ɪ eɪ ɛ aɪ a aʊ ʌ oʊ u

That's all IPA above... Anyway, [ʧ] and [ʤ] have the allophones [ʃ] and [ʒ] which appear anywhere but word initially (unless preceded by a nasal consonant or [l]) [f] and [s] have the allophones [v] and [z] between vowels and when followed by voiced consonants. [h] and [ɹ] have the allophones [χ] and [r] in emphatic speech. At least, I think it's an [χ] rather than an [x], I don't know the IPA well enough to say for sure what I'm pronouncing when I do it... Either way, when I do make this sound it feels like its coarticulated with an [h]; is this breathy voicing perhaps? As for the vowels, I might settle with [ɑ] instead of [a] just because it's easier for me to pronounce consistently... As for phonotactics, mostly it's CCVC where all consonants are optional. Initial clusters take the form of plosives or fricatives plus approximates, or else [s] plus stops. I might also allow the initial clusters [ks] and [ps]. The legal syllable-final consonants are p, t, k, s, l, m, n, and ŋ. Note, [ŋ] can also appear syllable initially.

As for vowels, ɪ, ɛ and ʌ are must be followed by consonants. The clusters [wu] and and [ji] are illegal. There's no schwa (vowels are more or less fully pronounced even in unstressed syllables) or rhotic vowels.

Grammar
The grammar is the least developed part, but I've still got a lot of ideas, some of them weird, some of them less so. Unlike English, my language likes it's sentence fragments. It's perfectly legitimate to just drop phrases and have them count as independent statements. Also, the copula can be dropped where the meaning is understood. Also, word order is freer so that modifiers can either precede or follow their heads whether they be nouns or verbs. Allowing for sentence fragments and copula dropping, this makes modifiers look like more like stative verbs. You can say "house red," and it acts both as the English structures "the red house," and "the house is red," Where longer phrases are being linked with a copula, generally you replace the copula with a slight pause to create constructs like, "Those damn dirty kids, demons from hell!" There are some rules as regards the order different kinds of attributive adjectives can take but this isn't as rigid as in English. I haven't gotten it all worked out, but unlike English, numbers will always be closest to their heads.

With verb phrases, things get a bit weirder. They'll probably take the form object-verb and inflect for past, present and future tenses (or maybe a non-past tense). I'm also thinking they might inflect for voicing too, but then, I might still go with my original plan which is to mark the noun with a particle showing its theta roll instead. I'm also considering the rather unusual step of just having completely different verbs for active versus passive constructs, having a verb meaning "to eat," and a verb meaning "to be eaten," In any case, there probably won't be any real difference between verb phrases and participles; you'll probably just be able to place verb phrases in front of nouns to modify them. Also I'll probably be making use of serial verb construction to some degree or another. Well see...

Also, I'll probably have a lot less prepositions and make more use of stative-verb phrases and nouns linked with a particle like "of" instead. Also, there probably won't be any distinction between adjectives and adverbs; both will probably share a single lexical category, though I might use a particle to allow modifiers to modify each other other rather than the heads of the phrases they appear in.

I think that's a good overview...

Conlang exhibit opens tomorrow

2008-05-26T16:48:05Z

The show runs at the Amos Eno gallery in NY for 3 weeks, ending on June 21.
Tapissary is my conlang that is composed of thousands of hieroglyphs that I've invented over the years. The exhibit gives me wall space... a place where I can play with language invention and display my ideas on large surfaces, kind of like a kid drawing with crayons on the wall. I work out my compositions on the computer, then take the files to a printer. 4 pieces hang on the wall like maps, ranging from 4 feet to 10 feet in length.

I've been working on conlangs all my life, but Tapissary took the place of all the previous ones, and I've been focused exclusively on it for over half my life. I love shapes, and the basis of my hieroglyphs originated when I began learning sign language of the deaf. I made sketches of signs and reduced them to simple glyphs. I also included variations on Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese characters, and a host of other pictographic systems.

My priorities tend to shift as the years pass. An invented language is like a self portrait. It reveals attraction, focus, flexibility and most of all, direction. I've traveled from my 34 or 36 accusative cases in Slavamazic, to quite a different story in Tapissary. One direction isn't better than the other, but as I continue to age, I am aware how not only I, but my language must yield to change. The vocabulary which consists of thousands of hieroglyphs remains fairly constant, but the grammar is always searching for that chord that will say: "Eureka!, that's exactly reflective of my nature in its purest form". In my case, I'm removing some of the heavier grammatical inventions in favor of simplicity, but not at the expense of fantasy.

Please check out my website if you're interested in seeing examples of my language. The site is tapissary.com. I have a page about the exhibit, as well as pages with translated stories, a Tapissary journal, and info about the grammar and vocabulary. I'm always eager for feedback. If you live in NY city, I hope you will visit the show. Thanks for reading.

Indefinite Present and Immediate Present in Gilkesh and English

2008-05-26T15:39:29Z

A short discussion on the usages of the two present forms in Gilkesh, with a digression on the corresponding forms in English.

http://asher813.typepad.com/gilkesh_language/2008/05/indefinite-pres.html

Gilkesh Language Updates

2008-05-25T15:10:06Z

The Gilkesh verb:
http://asher813.typepad.com/gilkesh_language/2008/05/the-gilkesh-ver.html

Vocabulary updates:
http://asher813.typepad.com/gilkesh_language/2008/01/new-words.html
http://asher813.typepad.com/gilkesh_language/2008/03/vocabulary-upda.html

Gilkesh language homepage:
http://asher813.typepad.com/gilkesh_language/

Vilinish phonology

2008-05-24T23:33:17Z

Thanks for the comments.

Here's a sample of Vilinish:

Në-téri vrémaymï kéle zynïte O’se Válaväide,

nadóerï ayxáumiu li taĥárï~ü šáz ôpénumou,

lày áčeŋği synï Arö’Nâraj Válaväide oswéloy jârloysï,

arè j-öj Arö’Veşíŗan Sàkšavilävode Ra’Mihéleymï,

şáu j-öj mihêlley epálye llát O’s Nattánni.

Translation:

Do not be aloof because of your knowledge,

listen to the sage and consult the ignoramus,

let your book of knowledge is always opened,

because the art of realizing is endless,

like it’s also the perfection endlessly far.

And a little of phonology.

Vilinish has 70 letters for 33 consonants and 25 vowels (there are 5 letters for spelling double vowels).
Only vowels can be stressed or unstressed. Acute, grave and circumflex indicates stressed vowels:
Acute (á, é, í, ó, ú) indicates long close vowels (á – under).

Grave (à, è, ì, ò, ù) indicates short open vowels (à – cut).

Circumflex (â, ê, î, ô, û) indicates long open vowels (ê – fat)

Dieresis (ä, ë, ï, ö, ü) indicates stressed vowel and not a special pronunciation.

Tilde (ã, ẽ, ĩ, õ, ũ) indicates nasal vowels.

Macron (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū) indicates that vowel is pronounced double (ā is pronounced like two a)

Other vowels: æ – unstressed semivowel (æ – about); å – stressed semivowel (å – sir)

Vilinish consonants are mostly the same or similar to English consonants. However, there are some exceptions:

ç is pronounced like [dz] or Italian “zz”;

č is pronounced like choice;

ğ is pronounced like just;

ĥ – this consonant is actually g spelled like h, this consonant it’s from dialect I speak and I can’t find the proper description of its pronounce;

j is pronounced like yes;

ñ is pronounced like Spanish ñ (España);

ŋ is pronounced like n before g (looking)

q is pronounced like church; like Chinese q

r is pronounced like Italian or Spanish r or every Slavic r

ř is pronounced like reality (English r)

ŗ is pronounced like French r (être)

ŝ is pronounced like think

š is pronounced like she

ş is pronounced like Chinese x (like sh, but take the sound and pass it backwards along the tongue until it is clear of the tongue tip)

ž is pronounced like French je

y can be pronounced like I or like j (yes).

My language

2008-05-18T12:31:52Z

Hi, I'm new here. Anyway, I'm creating a language (Vilinish) and I'm wondering what do you think about it. Here's a quick presentation of Vilinish grammar.

Nouns. Vilinish has three number (singualr, dual, plural), two genders (masculine, feminine), six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, instrumental) and three declensions for every gender (together six declensions).

Article. Vilinish has articles for noun, adjective and verb. For noun has: noun definite and indefinite article, noun combinated definite and indefinite article; for adjective has: adjective definite and indefinite article, adjective combinated definite and indefinite article, and adjective qualitative article; and for verb has: verb article and verb polite article.

Verb. Vilinish verbs are classificated in three groups (ending at -viy, -lay, and -vay). It has imperfective verbs and perfective verbs (aspect). It has three numbers and two genders and three persons. It has two voices (avtive and passive). Vilinish has six moods nad in every mood there's a lot of times: indicative mood (three past times: pluperfect (past perfect), imperfective past (past continuous), perfective past (past simple); two present times: imperfective present (present continuous), perfective present (present simple); three future times: future, future perfect, future in the past); imperative mood; conditional mood (present, past); subjunctive mood (present, past); presumptive mood (present, progressive present, past). All three verb groups have different conjugations, depends on: in which group the verb is, the person, gender, number, tense and mood. There's also a lot of irregular verbs.

Adjective. Vilinish has qualitative adjectives, relational adjectives and possessive adjectives. All adjectives can be conjugated. Conjugation depends on gender, person, case, and in which group the adjective is.

Pronuns. Vilinish has a lot of pronuns, which can aslo be conjugated.

Ok, that's all for now. I'll put more soon.

Please, comment!

conlang books

2008-05-11T07:18:29Z

Hi I was wondering if anyone here might know a good conlang book(s) that might be of use to new conlangers such as myself. In particular I am looking for a how-to book that uses simplistic language as I only have a very basic understanding of the subject matter -so nothing too complicated please.

Progress

2008-05-01T08:10:26Z

This is just to let everyone know that I have currently been working on my tenses as I have decided to make my language more orginal in it's context . At the moment I have five tenses. The tenses are referred to as past-tense, near-past, present-tense, near-future tense and future-tense. The tenses are distinguished based on their word endings.

The word endings are JD (past-tense) JH (near-past tense) JDH (present-tense) HJ (near-future tense) and DJ (future tense). I intend for the endings described to be written in a single letter which are known as 'case letters.' By this I mean that even though there are seperate letters for say J and D I won't be combing those letters to form the past-tense word ending.

Rather the letters J and D in the word ending JD will be considered as entirely seperate letters and will have its own written form than if they were to be written seperately as simply J and D. So I guess that to put it more simply that the word endings will become like how how the dipthong 'th' is represented in most conlangs (or at least most of the conlangs that I have looked at on the internet for inspiration).

I have also been busy jotting down some possible ideas that I might use later on (that is assuming that I won't get bored with the conlang). I mentioned in a previous post that in my conlang double letters are generally not accepted. Well I have further developped this idea and have decided to make an exception. In the conlang double letters such as double "tt" as in the name "Scott" are considered grammatically incorrect and are instead represented as a single letter that has diacrit above it to show that it has been elongated.

However an exception will generally be made if the letter happens to be a vowel. For instance although the double "t" in the name "Scott" will be written as Scot with one "t" the double "o" in the word "spoon" will simply be written as a double "o."

I have also thought about how the length of a word or rather the the pronunciation length of the phonemes in a word might change the meaning of the word. I know there are quite a number of languages that do this and I think that this would be a good way of making the conlang different to the grammar used in the modern usage of the English language which the conglang was previously largely based upon.

Well they are my ideas that I have come up with so far and of which I have spent the last few days testing them and to my pleasure seem to fit in with with what I had in mind. Please post your comments and let me know what you think of them.

Constructed Languages

IPA?

Sounds

Hellboy II

Dictionaries and dictionary creation programs

SETI's Are We Alone interview w/ Donald Boozer

Recommended reading?

touch language

capital letters

Esikosa website!

Alphistian Video Lesson

Journaling in your conlang?

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

Tongue Twisters.

Conlang film, comments requested

Introduction

Poetry Fishbowl on Wednesday June 11

reviving Òlérneß

An Update on my Language

Conlang exhibit opens tomorrow

Indefinite Present and Immediate Present in Gilkesh and English

Gilkesh Language Updates

Vilinish phonology

My language

conlang books

Progress