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❄️Do you wanna build a language~?
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Newspeak sounds more like a deliberate corruption of a language. Natural evolution and corruption of languages occur but there was enforcement behind the new words in 1984.
Here is a fun thing that gives me headaches when I'm working on my own fantasy book languages. Once you figure out the words, you need to consider how they are used. I know just enough Spanish to understand that meanings don't translate exactly. English speakers say "I like it" Spanish say "It pleases me".
More fantastical races could complicate things farther with sounds a human tongue cant reproduce and other oddities. What I'm working on now is the language of a race with slightly bestial senses and characteristics. A person of that race does not describe how they feel, if they let it show others will pick up on it. When describing how another feels they say how they look "dull" instead of "sick" "bristling" instead of "angry".
I don't plan to go full Tolkien and create a complete language though. That takes patience I lack. I intend to figure out all the rules and enough words and phrases to make it sound believable.
Here is a fun thing that gives me headaches when I'm working on my own fantasy book languages. Once you figure out the words, you need to consider how they are used. I know just enough Spanish to understand that meanings don't translate exactly. English speakers say "I like it" Spanish say "It pleases me".
More fantastical races could complicate things farther with sounds a human tongue cant reproduce and other oddities. What I'm working on now is the language of a race with slightly bestial senses and characteristics. A person of that race does not describe how they feel, if they let it show others will pick up on it. When describing how another feels they say how they look "dull" instead of "sick" "bristling" instead of "angry".
I don't plan to go full Tolkien and create a complete language though. That takes patience I lack. I intend to figure out all the rules and enough words and phrases to make it sound believable.
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Update on my language, I've so far made only about 10% of my target of 200 beginning words and I can already see how hideous it's going to be. Thanks to @Tamerlane's curse gracious teachings of homophones as well as my decision to compound words together, I've figured out how to cut down 51 words to only 23 base words and it will be gross.
The pro is that it will be easy to learn the beginning language since there are only so many words to have to memorize. The con is that literally everything depends on context.
I've also put in stupid things like how "solid" is (solid) but "liquid" is (opposite)(solid) because the god is too lazy to even teach his humans the concept of air. He thought that "Eh these idiots can't see air anyway so why teach them abstract things?" And that's how there are only two states so what must not be solid should be the opposite of it.
The beginning words also have (interrogative) to represent all interrogative words like who, what, where, why, how, etc. Yeah, those all only take up one word and use compounding and context to figure out which of those they are saying, also, "when" doesn't exist yet since they haven't grasped the concept of time. It isn't any better for the conjunction verbs either (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) since they're all represented by (conjunction) and depends on context of the two clauses to figure out which is which.
Can't wait to move on to the first development of this language so that I can stop cringing.
Btw is there any language trick that allows for the number of words to be cut down even more? I'm planning to cut out all abstract concepts like time, air, space, death, etc so those don't need to be included yet. Although, if you do have useful tips for these plz do tell me cause I'll be sure to use them in the future.
Like, I saw in a wiki article how other languages don't have words for "yes" and "no" but instead they repeat the verb and repeat the verb with the word for "no" added behind it, respectively. So I decided to put that in and now I have two less base words. Anyone aware of any others like these?
The pro is that it will be easy to learn the beginning language since there are only so many words to have to memorize. The con is that literally everything depends on context.
I've also put in stupid things like how "solid" is (solid) but "liquid" is (opposite)(solid) because the god is too lazy to even teach his humans the concept of air. He thought that "Eh these idiots can't see air anyway so why teach them abstract things?" And that's how there are only two states so what must not be solid should be the opposite of it.
The beginning words also have (interrogative) to represent all interrogative words like who, what, where, why, how, etc. Yeah, those all only take up one word and use compounding and context to figure out which of those they are saying, also, "when" doesn't exist yet since they haven't grasped the concept of time. It isn't any better for the conjunction verbs either (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) since they're all represented by (conjunction) and depends on context of the two clauses to figure out which is which.
Can't wait to move on to the first development of this language so that I can stop cringing.
Btw is there any language trick that allows for the number of words to be cut down even more? I'm planning to cut out all abstract concepts like time, air, space, death, etc so those don't need to be included yet. Although, if you do have useful tips for these plz do tell me cause I'll be sure to use them in the future.
Like, I saw in a wiki article how other languages don't have words for "yes" and "no" but instead they repeat the verb and repeat the verb with the word for "no" added behind it, respectively. So I decided to put that in and now I have two less base words. Anyone aware of any others like these?
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@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN any updates on your language?
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@LonelyPerson Writer's block
@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN
I'm making a Conlang myself, though it is an English clone based from removing the letters (U,J,M,I,K,L,O,P) basically the right hand side of QWERTY keyboard (got the idea when I accidentally turned on numlock and I couldn't use those letters). I added some features from Indonesian (my native language) and Japanese (I'm learning it right now, not fluent yet though), it helps to make a Conlang if you have intuitive resource from natural languages. Just curious how many natural language are you fluent in?
By the way have you heard of Toki Pona? It's a Conlang with only 120 root words, and simple grammar, it's similar to the kind of Conlang you're making. Take a look at this video for more info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4y7tf3VJAM
I'm making a Conlang myself, though it is an English clone based from removing the letters (U,J,M,I,K,L,O,P) basically the right hand side of QWERTY keyboard (got the idea when I accidentally turned on numlock and I couldn't use those letters). I added some features from Indonesian (my native language) and Japanese (I'm learning it right now, not fluent yet though), it helps to make a Conlang if you have intuitive resource from natural languages. Just curious how many natural language are you fluent in?
By the way have you heard of Toki Pona? It's a Conlang with only 120 root words, and simple grammar, it's similar to the kind of Conlang you're making. Take a look at this video for more info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4y7tf3VJAM
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@AK140 I'm Indonesian too. I'm only fluent in English and Indonesian and probably ≤50 Japanese words from anime. Currently trying to come up with a number system based on this concept. Turns out, language is semi-integral to my language. Also, in the future, maths will be super important anyway. I want the number system to make calculations easier thus why I want it to be alike the numbers in the video. It would only make sense that their technological speedrun would also need a cheat mathematics to help. I'll look at the video later, thanks for the link!
Edit: alrighty I'm no where near skilled enough to design my number system right now so that idea's shelved for the foreseeable future.
Edit: alrighty I'm no where near skilled enough to design my number system right now so that idea's shelved for the foreseeable future.
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I just discovered this interesting thread. @DANDAN_THE_DANDAN: I hope you have nothing against me joining this discussion so late in time.
I agree, trying to develop a language of your own is most fascinating but utterly senseless if you don't continue the project. Immersing yourself in the cultures of the world you are looking at can be very rewarding, though.
Here two examples of artificial languages I once develloped, though I neither went through with any of those literary projects.
The first is an example of a Neanderthal language I constructed for a (now abandoned) novel about contact between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens sapiens in late Palaeolithic Europe.
Example sentence: Áfnù-té'ílà-núgò-pà khjú'ì. Níhè'á'árù-íf tshàvné-knéwà-knéwà té'ílà-tàgù-pà'qá.
Translation: I am a difficult storyteller. Children never listen to my talk.
Literally: Story-talking-maker-I difficult. Child-plural listen-never talk-my.
The second example is from a Fantasy novel I barely ever began. In this novel, the Sylphian language family consisting of the three languages Light Elfish, Wood Elfish, and Field Elfish (the latter two being more closely related) is baced on Ancient Egyptian language. Here a little example of an elvish prayer.
Example sentences:
Yohit mawit naforit, sho-atsh wopit. Mo'ot-atsh dshasarit. (Light Elfish)
Yehiy ma'iy naferiy, she-adsh ebiy. Me'ey-adsh tshasariy. (Wood Elfish)
Yehiy ma'iy naheriy, ze-adz ewiy. Me'ey-adz tzasariy. (Field Elfish)
Tanslation: Beautiful mother mooness (the second, smaller moon thought female), your light is pure. Your truth is holy.
Literally: Moon (f.) mother beautiful (f.), light-your (f.) pure (f.). Truth-your (f.) holy (f.). I have placed (f.) whenever a word was written with a specific female grammar form.
As you can see, constructing langages is terribly difficult and ultimately a waste of time but can also be very rewarding.
I agree, trying to develop a language of your own is most fascinating but utterly senseless if you don't continue the project. Immersing yourself in the cultures of the world you are looking at can be very rewarding, though.
Here two examples of artificial languages I once develloped, though I neither went through with any of those literary projects.
The first is an example of a Neanderthal language I constructed for a (now abandoned) novel about contact between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens sapiens in late Palaeolithic Europe.
Example sentence: Áfnù-té'ílà-núgò-pà khjú'ì. Níhè'á'árù-íf tshàvné-knéwà-knéwà té'ílà-tàgù-pà'qá.
Translation: I am a difficult storyteller. Children never listen to my talk.
Literally: Story-talking-maker-I difficult. Child-plural listen-never talk-my.
The second example is from a Fantasy novel I barely ever began. In this novel, the Sylphian language family consisting of the three languages Light Elfish, Wood Elfish, and Field Elfish (the latter two being more closely related) is baced on Ancient Egyptian language. Here a little example of an elvish prayer.
Example sentences:
Yohit mawit naforit, sho-atsh wopit. Mo'ot-atsh dshasarit. (Light Elfish)
Yehiy ma'iy naferiy, she-adsh ebiy. Me'ey-adsh tshasariy. (Wood Elfish)
Yehiy ma'iy naheriy, ze-adz ewiy. Me'ey-adz tzasariy. (Field Elfish)
Tanslation: Beautiful mother mooness (the second, smaller moon thought female), your light is pure. Your truth is holy.
Literally: Moon (f.) mother beautiful (f.), light-your (f.) pure (f.). Truth-your (f.) holy (f.). I have placed (f.) whenever a word was written with a specific female grammar form.
As you can see, constructing langages is terribly difficult and ultimately a waste of time but can also be very rewarding.
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@Albwin Oh wow that's awesome. It's also cool how your elven languages take gender into account for everything, what's the history that makes gender so important in the language?
Also I decided to name the project Crystal Language. And it's also on indefinite hiatus for now until I feel like adding a few more words.
Also I decided to name the project Crystal Language. And it's also on indefinite hiatus for now until I feel like adding a few more words.
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@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN:
Although I did plan for the wood elves to be ruled by a female elder, the typical features of the langages are thoroughly based on Ancient Egyptian for which this is typical. You could rather say those Sylphian langages are corrupted Egyptian more than anything else. The same sentence in Ancient Egyptian would be:
Iahet mut nefret, shu-etj wabet. Ma'at-etj djesret.
But since the Ancient Egyptians had only one moon, a male one, this prayer, if real, would rather come out like this (the word mother replaced with father, of course):
Iah it nefer, shu-ek wab. Ma'at-ek djeser.
Depending on gender, the personal pronouns (here "your" = "-etj" (f.) or "-ek" (m.)) change, as do nouns and adjectives to which the the female ending "-t" can be added. Example: "neb wer" = "great Lord", "nebet weret" = "great Lady"; with noun first, then adjective.
It is easier to base constructed languages on already existing ones, though I admit it is thus not completely new. My proficiency in Ancient Egyptian is rather rudimental, by the way.
Although I did plan for the wood elves to be ruled by a female elder, the typical features of the langages are thoroughly based on Ancient Egyptian for which this is typical. You could rather say those Sylphian langages are corrupted Egyptian more than anything else. The same sentence in Ancient Egyptian would be:
Iahet mut nefret, shu-etj wabet. Ma'at-etj djesret.
But since the Ancient Egyptians had only one moon, a male one, this prayer, if real, would rather come out like this (the word mother replaced with father, of course):
Iah it nefer, shu-ek wab. Ma'at-ek djeser.
Depending on gender, the personal pronouns (here "your" = "-etj" (f.) or "-ek" (m.)) change, as do nouns and adjectives to which the the female ending "-t" can be added. Example: "neb wer" = "great Lord", "nebet weret" = "great Lady"; with noun first, then adjective.
It is easier to base constructed languages on already existing ones, though I admit it is thus not completely new. My proficiency in Ancient Egyptian is rather rudimental, by the way.
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