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Re: Hi again, new lang, and a lang tool

From:Eruanno the Linguist <eruanno@...>
Date:Tuesday, March 13, 2001, 1:15
I am quite interested in the program...

And what did you program it in, btw?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Aidan Grey" <frterminus@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 2:04 AM
Subject: Hi again, new lang, and a lang tool


> Hi all, > > I'm returning from a hiatus from conlang (mostly > due to a dead computer). It's been a while, and a good > thing. While I missed the conversations and the neat > ideas, I found that it was difficult to keep Aelya > sitting still. I kept trying to incorporate every neat > thing that was mentioned. The resulting mess of 76799 > phonemes, 98679 cases, 23897 tense and 83 moods was > difficult to deal with, to say the least. Aelya still > hasn't stopped squirming, but it's getting there. > > In the meantime, I started a new language, looslely > inspired by the Shanthic language from the RPG > "Skyrealms of Jorune". Here's a short description of > it: > > Tatra 'the tounge' > > Phonology: unvoiced consonants predominate > vowels: a,e,i,o,u > diphthongs: ai, au, ei, eu > consonants: t, p, k, kh, h, ' (glottal stop) > l, lh, r, s, sh, n, m > > Morphology: rich in particles, less so in affixes. > Number is never marked. > nouns: are not marked for case or number. > adjectives: only marked for degree of > comparison. > verbs: these are marked for person (but not > number) and tense/mood. There are 4 persons, with the > 4th being "the other guy". The three tense/mood > distinctions are present, perfective, and irrealis, > which covers future, subjunctive, conditional, and > imperative. > > Syntax: OSV, modifier-head relationship in almost > every case. > > A sample: > Apseka tla' tras ulu hi akatu'u lhi kho til. > I gave those dogs you saw to the young boy. > > A-pse-ka tla' tras ulu hi a-katu-'u lhi > kho til. > PERF-see-2 REL many dog DEIC:Far PERF-give-1 DAT > young boy > > Eventually, I want to derive a newer language with > a more complex phonology and morphology, I'm having > problems with a couple things, and would like your > input on them. > > Pronunciation: does anyone have any hints on how to > pronounce glottal stops before consonants? I can do it > between vowels, including the semivowels and liquids, > but I have no idea how to pronounce it in other > places. > > Stress: how to do? I'm familiar with a lot of systems > that depend on long vowels to indicate the stressed > syllable, but I haven't a clue how to decide which > vowels are long and which vowels aren't. Also, I'm not > familiar with the ffects, if any, that a glottal stop > would have on vowel length. > > Fricativization: I know that stops are usually voiced > intervocalically (in general, in world languages, I > mean), but when do fricatives occur? > > Vowel dropping (I forget the linguistic term): are > there any semi-universals for how and when this > happens? > > Thanks in advance for any advice you might have. > > I also want to mention something that I brought up > ages ago. When I was a kid, I had this elaborate > system of coding to transform English into another > language. Here's how it worked: > > Start with the word to transform, I'll use 'sun'. > Each 'letter' has a code of 2 digits. The codes are > assigned from the letters on a diagonal basis. Say > that the code for 's' is 32, for 'u', 51, and for 'n', > 37. First we place the code digits for 's': > > s u n > . 3 . > . . 2 > > then 'u': > > s u n > . 3 5 > 1 . 2 > > And finally 'n': > > s u n > 3 3 5 > 1 7 2 > > Then you simply look up in your grid what s, position > 3,1 equals. And again for u at 2,7 and n at 5,2. > When building the grid, you assign codes and letters > as you go. Say that I'm building grid still, and that > the positions don't equate to anything. Then I can > simply assign what letters I want, based on whatever > root I want as and end result. So I say that s(3,1)=s, > u(2,7)=o, and n(5,2)=l. I found that when you start > with this process and a living language, you end up > with a system that provides words with a continued > 'flavor' of whatever language you're using. I used > this method to come up with my simple roots for Tatra. > Then I can develop from this simplistic method into > some real language creation. > > One of the reasons I started using this method again > was that I had problems coming up with unique roots - > they all started to sound the same. Using Langmaker > helped sometimes, but when you have a list of 63 > 'words', it gets more and more difficult to decide > which one means rabbit and which one means zinc. This > helps with the problem, and if I don't like my result, > I simply plug in a new word, a synonym, and there's my > root, ready for development. > > Finally, I bring all this up because I've created the > program I talked about before my hiatus to do this. > The process of building a grid goes amazingly quick > when you have a good sized list of target words to > start with, and it's nice to have this sort of > "instant translator" to hand when you can't think of > what 'star' should sound like. Someone recently > mentioned the benefits of relexification, and this can > be a handy tool for that. But it can also be used to > generate true roots and then to procede from there. > Anyway, the upshot is that if anyone would like a > copy, or a better explanation, feel free to say so! > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. > http://auctions.yahoo.com/ >

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Aidan Grey <frterminus@...>