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Re: Introducing Mashish and conlang survey correction

From:H. S. Teoh <hsteoh@...>
Date:Wednesday, December 4, 2002, 3:17
On Tue, Dec 03, 2002 at 06:38:47PM -0800, Heather Rice wrote:
> Corrections: > Sorry I spelled your name wrong (blushing).
Not a problem. My name is odd enough (to a non-Chinese) that I wouldn't expect people to get it right all the time. [snip]
> BTW, does anybody live near or in Las Vegas? I'm > going to be there the next couple of weeks. I've > never actually seen another conlanger's work (other > than on the internet) and I'm really curious to > actually hold somebody else's conlang in my own hands.
Interestingly, all the material I have on Ebisedian is in electronic form. Well, all except the rough letterforms of the writing system, which I've unfortunately left languishing in hope of further inspiration. But then, I'm a computer person, so that shouldn't be that surprising. Oh yes, and I occasionally have printouts of the Ebisedian grammar/lexicon as well, but since those almost immediately go out of date, I've given up on killing more trees.
> Mashish: > > I don't know how to explain how the phonetics are > pronounced. While the phonetics have specific ways of > pronunciation, I don't know SAMPA or anything like > that.
It might be worth your while to learn basic IPA (of which SAMPA is an email-friendly transcription). Any introductory phonetics text should give you a good intro to IPA, or you could try searching online for a tutorial. I have a URL to a nice tutorial site I found a year or two ago, but unfortunately it seems to have been taken down since. Nevertheless, if you already know a little about the theory behind the IPA, the following should be very helpful in hearing what each IPA symbol actually sounds like: http://www.ling.hf.ntnu.no/ipa/full/ipachart_vowels_fbmp3.html [snip]
> n`an`a = jewel > When compounded, the n is assimilated and presto! > chan`aa = flower > (And oops, just discovered another of my broken vowel > harmony rules. Slippery things, . . .)
Yep... Ebisedian is full of those... and I just can't seem to iron them out either. [snip]
> > Very interesting idea. Is this purely emphatic (as > > in, emphasizing a > > sentence) or is it part of a noun (the "stronger" > > word actually means > > "professional chef" as opposed to "I know how to > > cook")? > > Well, I've actually found it to be a really useful > tool, so I'm using it all sorts of ways. In general, > tone means the opposite of "figurative language." In > nouns, its really nothing but a definite article.
I see. Very interesting way of representing a definite article. :-)
> In verbs, it implies "obvious action" So, you don't want > to "tone" the verb "spy" when speaking of an agent > watching a suspect, unless you are emphasizing that > that agent is a clown who parked his camara in obvious > (!) view in the street.
Hmm. I like this. A verb marking to show whether it is just any old action, or whether it's a specific action that stands out. [snip]
> I made Mashish because I was frustrated at the library > system. I couldn't find any books to teach me Sumerian > grammar, so I decided to create a "Sumerian" of my > own. (Now I found a grammar, and I'm blushing as I > read it.)
[snip] Heh. That's an interesting way for a conlang to be inspired. :-)
> I created a syllabary from Mashish, looking > just like cuneiform. I even found the best way to > write those litte wedge things - glue sticks! Tree > stick, reed sticks don't work, but just wittle those > craft hot glue sticks and wedge away! Wish I knew > something about computers, I'd post an example.
[snip] That'd be interesting, I'm sure. T -- Error: Keyboard not attached. Press F1 to continue. -- Yoon Ha Lee, CONLANG