Re: Is there any derivatives of heinleins "gulf" language speedtalk?

Hi,
Speedtalk is one of the ideas that got me into conlanging. One of my first
efforts at conlanging, was an attempt at trying to do Speedtalk. That was "Ok"
You can look at an old somewhat disfunctional website about "Ok" at
http://web.syr.edu./~makeenan/ocpage.html

The language itself is a phonoaesthetic nightmare. The description about its
development might be of more interest.

I have been working on the problems I perceive in "Ok" since I started it.
This resulted in several versions of the lang. My most recent version seems to
have succeeded in solving those problems. The newest version is probably more
streamlined than classical "Ok" but, is no closer to being as efficient as
Heinleins Speedtalk.

Classical Ok had words that could be VC or CV. This led to unfortunate and
ugly vowel and consonant combinations since words were crammed together in a
pseudo-agglutianting way. Throw in the fact that all of the grammar was
indicated by infixed consonants. Speaking Classical Ok could give you face
cramps. :)

Hikka, the working name of the latest version, has only CV words but, there is
a full set of labialized and palatized consonants. Words can also end in a
nasal or liquid. This eliminates the ugly combinations of letters that could
happen in Ok.

The infixed consonants are gone too. Hikka is an isolating language with a
full set of words describing time frames.

Where possible, Hikka uses English words which, I suppose would it give it a
strange familiarity to English speakers.

Sorry. Hikka isn't on the web yet.

Duke Keenan

The Keenans
makeenan@syr.edu