Re: New to the List and New Languages

On Wednesday 27 November 2002 03:54 am, you wrote:
> Thanks to Cristophe and Jan for the ideas so far, and to any others who
> might post some suggestions as well.
>
> So, first things first.  I'm not a linguist, nor anything close, I'm a
> student studying computer graphics but considering theology
Aaaargh!  Theology! ;)  I tried that once and ...  Aaaargh!

 or education
> instead.  But I do have a moderate understanding of various parts of
> linguistics, and some exposure to a wide variety of languages.  Most of the
> language projects I've got going are for a world I'm making.  It's said to
> be for a story, but I've done so little work on the book, and far more on
> the world it's set in, particularly the languages.  Some of the languages
> I'm working on are intended to evoke the feel of some real-world ones, but
> as they evolve in my fictional world, they grow less and less like their
> ancestors.
>
> So here are some of the languages.  If any of them look interesting, just
> give me a shout, and I'll post more on them.  Most of them have a basic set
> of grammatical rules in place, all have their phonologies largely
> determined.  Most have at least one text translated into them, whether
> Schleicher's Tale, the Lord's Prayer, or for one, the opening 11 lines of
> Beowulf (in a similar meter!).
Hey, let's see them!  The more the merrier!

>
> Silwen Nunáth - A mostly inflectional language, with three grammatical
> "genders" (though based on divisions of the world, not masc/fem/neut), a
> case division rather like ergative/absolutive, and a total of 12 cases.  It
> is the main descendant of the old language Tunugruc Emeth (which, rather
> unimaginatively, means "ancient one" or "ancient truth"), and is spoken in
> a period rather like our early Bronze Age.  Vowels and consonants can be
> either long or short, and there is some amount of lenition of initial
> consonants.
>
> Torum Morgénón - A highly agglutinative lanugage, where 7-9 endings may be
> placed on a single noun.  There are 14 different vowels, divided into 7
> tense and 7 lax, including 2 front-rounded vowels of each.  A set of 4 noun
> inflections can make known some of the speaker's views concerning the noun.
> Verbs are inflected for subject, object, and a number of mood and voice
> categories.
>
> Thanyar - Most words in Thanyar consist of two or three consonants, and in
> the case of nouns and adjectives, a root vowel.  Vowel alteration and
> reduplication make up the bulk of the grammatical changes.  There are 4
> basic vowels, 3 of which can hold a raising or falling tone, or be unvoiced
> at the beginning of a word.
>
> Altsag Venchet - A language meant to sound something like Mongolian,
> agglutinative.  It has vowel harmony dividing front-rounded vowels from
> their unrounded equivalents.  Nouns are divided up into animate and
> inanimate genders, with many naturally inanimate objects considered animate
> for cultural reasons.
>
> Teuthurev - One of my newest language projects, Teuthurev is a non-human
> language, and is intentionally made to look that way.  The phonology is all
> suited to humans (me, to be specific), but the grammar is rather different
> than any human languages I know of.  There are no clear verbs beyond an
> implied "to be".  Nouns may be used as adjectives for compounding purposes
> (not unlike English, cf. bathroom, horsecart), giving a wide derived
> vocabulary.  A large number of number-type inflections exist.  This is the
> one I've translated a little piece of Beowulf into.
>
> Pahalor - Not the name of it, but a word from it, as I haven't yet made up
> a name.  This is another non-human language, not quite as odd as Teuthurev,
> but still different.  The intent of the one doing the action and who knows
> about it is reflected by various verb and noun endings.
>
> Stûmbrin - An isolating language with high, mid, and low tones.  I started
> making it partly to provide a consistent language from whence most falconry
> terms come in my world, as its speakers invented the art, but partly to
> experiment with syntax, as it is an area of linguistics I am rather weak
> in. The language allows a large range of consonant clusters, and
> distinguishes velar consonants from uvular.  Some of my friends (those who
> can bear to hear yet another one of my languages) think it sounds
> absolutely horrible, and that it ought to be an orkish language, but I pay
> them no heed.  :-)
Velar and uvular sounds are some of the hardest to do convincingly.  Good on
you for having a go at it!

Wesley Parish

>
>
> That's about it for the moment.  I've got a number of other languages in my
> world, some related to these, others unrelated, but these are some of the
> more interesting ones.  So tell me if any of these sound interesting to
> you, and I'll gladly post some more about them.
>
> Joe Fatula
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Christophe Grandsire" <christophe.grandsire@...>
> To: <CONLANG@...>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 5:28 AM
> Subject: Re: New to the List and New Languages
>
> > En réponse à Joseph Fatula <fatula3@...>:
> > > Hello everyone!
> > >
> > > I've posted a few times in the last week or so, and noticed that many
> > > others
> > > signing on are introducing themselves.  So, about a week late... I'm
> > > new
> > > here!
> >
> > So, about a week late, Welcome here!
> >
> > Well, I see Jan already answered before me :((( . That will teach me:
>
> working
>
> > during worktime is a Bad Idea(TM) ;))) .
> >
> > > What I'm interested in is how one usually goes about presenting a new
> > > language project to the group.  I've got a few that I'd like some input
> > > on,
> > > as I don't know how feasible they are, or how realistic their behaviors
> > > are.
> > > Any input is greatly welcomed.
> >
> > Well, it all depends on the questions you have yourself. If you give too
>
> broad
>
> > a presentation, we'll give too broad replies (Jan already explained
> > that).
>
> If
>
> > you have questions, just introduce particular points of your conlangs you
>
> want
>
> > our input on, and make bigger introductions later. Personally, I love big
> > introductions of a conlang, but not everybody does ;)) . At least, always
>
> add
>
> > specific questions. The usual "comments/questions anyone?" is often too
>
> broad
>
> > to provoke useful input.
> >
> >   (As long as it proceeds beyond the
> >
> > > "you're
> > > an idiot" point,
> >
> > Nah, you'll never hear that here. This is the most flame-free mailing
> > list
>
> of
>
> > the web (despite what the folks at World-building are saying ;))) ). We
>
> reserve
>
> > our "you are an idiot"s to auxlang politics flames ;)))) (a rare beast on
>
> this
>
> > list, they are explicitely forbidden). Of course, if you happen to be a
>
> gay
>
> > bearded left-handed Lithuanian, then that's another matter ;))))) .
> >
> >  and especially if it consists of "I love your work,
> >
> > > here's
> > > a thousand dollars, send me your book.")
> >
> > Still waiting for this one, although you can keep your stinkin' dollars.
>
> Gimme
>
> > Euros or gold bars ;))))) (a thousand gold bars? Wow!).
> >
> > Christophe.
> >
> > http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
> >
> > Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.
--
Mau e ki, "He aha te mea nui?"
You ask, "What is the most important thing?"
Maku e ki, "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
I reply, "It is people, it is people, it is people."

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