Conlang Random Thread

[jal]

Looks good to me! I guess in the long run, such a system might be eroded or interpreted in a different manner, if the Nom-Acc distinction isn't supported by other parts of the grammar.

We're still waiting for this to happen in German but no such luck so far


JAL

[hwhatting]

Looks good to me! I guess in the long run, such a system might be eroded or interpreted in a different manner, if the Nom-Acc distinction isn't supported by other parts of the grammar.

We're still waiting for this to happen in German but no such luck so far
JAL

The distinction is supported by personal pronouns, animate interrogative pronouns, and throughout pronoun and adjective declension for the masculine gender... but OTOH, many dialects have merged dative and accusative into one oblique case.

[WeepingElf]

Looks good to me! I guess in the long run, such a system might be eroded or interpreted in a different manner, if the Nom-Acc distinction isn't supported by other parts of the grammar.

We're still waiting for this to happen in German but no such luck so far
JAL

The distinction is supported by personal pronouns, animate interrogative pronouns, and throughout pronoun and adjective declension for the masculine gender... but OTOH, many dialects have merged dative and accusative into one oblique case.

Yes, dative and accusative are merging ("mir und mich verwechsle nicht", the teachers say), and the accusative distinguished from the nominative only in the masculine singular. And the genitive is on its way out, the possessive genitive being replaced by von + dative, and the few prepositions that govern the genitive (such as wegen) more and more taking other cases. Hence, I think the German case system will be gone within a few centuries.

[jal]

Anyone already read this book, and if so, is it any good?


JAL

[jal]

And here's a short article about the Yautja language of Predator: Badlands. It doesn't seem a very impressive conlang, but it's difficult to tell from the concise description.


JAL

[WeepingElf]

At least, they have realized that, the Predators not having lips, the language shouldn't have labials, and the script - which reminds me of this - isn't a cipher of the Basic Latin alphabet.

[rotting bones]

Again I'm asking if anyone has advice making the languages in my Hyperborea conworld more exciting. Thanks.

[Man in Space]

Staving this from the Modern Gothic thread because it is less germane there:

it's sad that a conlang in a fictional script is more legible than my actual handwriting

I have this problem too, and I'm sure other ZBBers do as well.

I think this is because we tend to trace our conscripts carefully, while everyday handwriting, e.g. in telephone call notes or shopping lists, is fast and casual.

One problem I have with my conscripts is I tend to simplify them in the same ways I tend to do with my handwriting. I want to make divergent conscripts, but when it comes to actually doing so in practice, I kind of get hamstrung by my own vulgar¹ tendencies.

1. In the sense of “commonplace” or “colloquial”.

[jal]

One problem I have with my conscripts is I tend to simplify them in the same ways I tend to do with my handwriting. I want to make divergent conscripts, but when it comes to actually doing so in practice, I kind of get hamstrung by my own vulgar¹ tendencies.

If the conscript is written by human(oid)s, they'll always converge to a maximum simplified form, simply because of how our hands and brains work. Written devanagari, Arabic or Latin script doesn't look all that different if squinting through ones lashes.


JAL

[jal]

Again I'm asking if anyone has advice making the languages in my Hyperborea conworld more exciting. Thanks.

That kinda depends on what you'd call "exciting", and what they lack now.


JAL

[rotting bones]

Again I'm asking if anyone has advice making the languages in my Hyperborea conworld more exciting. Thanks.

That kinda depends on what you'd call "exciting", and what they lack now.


JAL

Good question. I'd like to add more expressive power to the languages that make their structures diverge subtly from all earth languages while retaining a natural look as much as possible.

Needless to say, I would also like to fix the diachronic relationships within the family. I posted a comparative vocabulary near the end of the thread that suggests possible relationships. I've been thinking about how to make the whole system hang together for a while now.

[jal]

I'd like to add more expressive power to the languages that make their structures diverge subtly from all earth languages while retaining a natural look as much as possible.

Earth languages do so many crazy things, that it's hard to come up with anything that goes against a linguistic universal and doesn't look contrived, imho. Aliens will also have neural networked brains, and the way to divvy up concepts and string them together is pretty universal.

Needless to say, I would also like to fix the diachronic relationships within the family.

Ah yes, aprioriizing aposteriori languages, always a challenge :D.

I posted a comparative vocabulary near the end of the thread that suggests possible relationships. I've been thinking about how to make the whole system hang together for a while now.

Do you have a fleshed-out proto language, or is it more of a reconstruction based on your current languages?


JAL

[xxx]

Written devanagari, Arabic or Latin script doesn't look all that different if squinting through ones lashes.

The concept of squinting is one of my favorites...
however, like all evolutions, it's cyclical...
and there's always developments,
of calligraphic styles and ornate typography,
that complicates simplified writing...
By following this path,
one can develop more complex forms of writing
of the usual scripts...

[Richard W]

Written devanagari, Arabic or Latin script doesn't look all that different if squinting through ones lashes.

... and there's always developments,
of calligraphic styles and ornate typography,...

I was going to say that aspect ratios differ, but that can depend on cursiveness. My childhood view of joined up Latin script is rather like my present-day view of Arabic script, or at least, (Arab-style) typewritten Arabic.

[Emily]

"alternate pronunciation" and "dialectal variation": the best cures for "i can't decide"

[rotting bones]

Do you have a fleshed-out proto language, or is it more of a reconstruction based on your current languages?

Thanks. I would say the grammar of the proto-language is relatively stable: viewtopic.php?p=100839#p100839 I have been replacing the vocabulary as I go.

[AwfullyAmateur]

Long time, no see. School has been difficult this year. I've started work on a language inspired by Avestan, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Old English :D. Wish me luck!

[Raphael]

Long time, no see. School has been difficult this year. I've started work on a language inspired by Avestan, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Old English . Wish me luck!

Good luck!

[abahot]

Maybe someone here can point me to the right place. I seem to remember reading on this board an experiment along the lines of people taking a conlang and evolving it forward in time to produce multiple descendant languages, and then other people trying to use these descendant languages to reconstruct the original conlang, after which the results were compared. Where on this board would I find this, or am I entirely misremembering its existence?

[bradrn]

Maybe someone here can point me to the right place. I seem to remember reading on this board an experiment along the lines of people taking a conlang and evolving it forward in time to produce multiple descendant languages, and then other people trying to use these descendant languages to reconstruct the original conlang, after which the results were compared. Where on this board would I find this, or am I entirely misremembering its existence?

These were the Reconstruction Relays in the Akana forum, though the most recent one I participated in never got close to actually reconstructing anything.