Re: Introducing the Wakat language

Rik Roots wrote:
I've been busy over the past few weeks getting the Wakat website into
>a state fit for viewing and critiquing. The basic work is done, but there's
>still tons to add, like example translations, perhaps some lessons, plenty of
>little details, etc.
[snip]
>Finally, comments and crits on how to improve the website (and language) are
>always - always - welcome!
=========================================================

Rik:

Wow!  Your Wakat site is very impressive, both in the elegance of its layout
and in the marvelous originality of its content.  The language is one of the
most unique conlangs I've seen yet.  I really love the way the language
design is based in philosophical/metaphorical principles, and the way those
principles are adhered to in the actual presentation/explanation of the
language, e.g., "guests at the feast" as the metaphor for describing
agent/patient participants to a verb.  A few comments:

Your scripts are really nice, especially the examples of the logograms.  I
like your romanization scheme except for the frequently appearing barred-u,
which to my sensibilities disrupts the aesthetic look of the romanization.
I would strongly recommend using the already available alternate letter <y>
exclusively instead of the barred-u, as it would go much better with the
rest of the romanization scheme.

I really like the phonaesthetic approach you took in marking your "boulders
on the beach"/object classes.

The "gems in the necklace" page showing the various derivational schemes is
impressive but would be much more effective if there were translations of
the derived words so that your reader could see how the semantic results of
the derivational process. [EDIT:  Oh, I see, it's in the lexicon when you
click on the root word.  Nicely done!]

Your "shaping the hearthstone" page on verbs really made my jaw drop, not
just because it is so nicely presented, but the fact that your
"formula"-based approach of showing the position-based morphological
elements is virtually identical to how the forthcoming Ilaksh site is going
to be presenting its morphology.

Have you presented Wakat on ZBB yet?  I don't recall seeing a thread there
about it, although I don't visit the site every day and am currently in
semi-lurker mode.

Anyway, great job.  I've always been a fan of Gevey but you've really
outdone yourself in terms of originality with Wakat.  Congratulations!

--John Quijada

Reply