Re: New Survey: Celtic Conlangs (and other lunatic pursuits)

PART I: CELTICONLANGING
I've had one language somewhat based on Celtic languages, on the little I
know of Welsh. Tallefkul was started, oh, ten months ago? And I abandoned
it. It was well thought out, but that prevented the little delights I
usually get from making languages*. I borrowed the voiceless lateral
fricative (/K/, I believe) and some orthography, such as w and y as
vowels. I also borrowed word order and the verb conjugation system (using
the copula) from Welsh.
*We should decide on a short verb for this. Something monosyllabic would
be nice.

As for innovations, I tried to make it as devilish as possible. It was my
own attempt to match Christophe Grandsire's Maggel, though I
unfortunately could not make anything that looked so horrible when
following all the rules.

I like the mutations and verb conjugations of Welsh, especially the
thirty-odd forms of bod "to be". I like how it conjugates normal verbs,
using bod + "yn" + the verb.

Tolkien was not a draw for me, though studying his languages revealed
Welsh to me. I like Welsh largely because its quirks are so unlike those
of English.

PART II: TOLKIENIAN INFLUENCE
I started making languages as an asset to fiction. I didn't expect to get
hooked! I'm not hooked. I can quit whenever I want. *pouts* But I've
never borrowed anything from Tolkien's world.

As for the conculture, the only one I have to date isn't mine. It was
made by my boss, and I control the dwarven culture. I'm not a member of a
High Fantasy group.

PART III: GENERAL
I'll have to go with my main language, Sturnan. I always return
to...Goodness! I've personified a language. At least I haven't bought a
wedding ring. Yet.

Unappealing about IE? Nothing. It's perhaps overdone, but a good
conlanger can make beauty from any source, or even none. (This is a bit
of bluster; I doubt I could live up to this definition of a "good
conlanger".) Tolklangs are fine, but it's possible and not necessarily
difficult to surpass them.

Sturnan is an Indo-European language, and it's very similar to Greek. I
tried for a while to put a light Russian sound to it, but, not knowing
what a Russian sound would be like, I failed. :) I didn't have a
particular inspiration; the language basically shaped itself.
Indo-European was simply a starting point, and it was familiar.

I don't know about mellifluousness; I just choose what sounds right to
me. Sturnan requires time, but little effort, to progress. Tolkien's
languages were a bit too vocalic, I think, like pure sugar; I prefer some
strong sounds in a sentence.

Beauty is important to me, so I avoid awkward combinations and try to
make the sounds flow together. Efficiency is a goal of mine in creating
Sturnan, since one thing I always disliked in Latin and certain Romance
languages was the uberlong words. I don't want an exotic language,
because an exotic language can be fun for a while, but it has no staying
power with me.

I often start languages from scratch, but they rarely get anywhere. As
for basing it on a particular type, I try a bit of everything, but
Sturnan is mostly what I know, with an odd feature or two for efficiency
and flexibility.

I haven't made many irregularities in Sturnan, but I think I'd like to.
It's just so much easier to learn when rules can govern everything. My
irregularities usually have patterns, and I'm not sure whether that is
natural or not. I haven't corrected anything, though, as far as I know,
and I don't want a logical or international auxiliary language.

I always use some sort of system to start, though I usually end up
pulling some words from my ear. And I always begin with the phonology,
then the grammar.

PART IV: LUNATIC   (DRYDFRORFP1LLZ)
Why do I conlang? Well, I accidentally stumbled into it, and it's just so
fun...Don't look at me like that. I -can- quit. Honest. *glowers* The
beauty is in control. A whole language, and it's mine. I have its life
and death and vocabulary and grammar and everything in my hands like
putty. Watching it form into something that pleases the ear is magical.
*mad soapbox preacher voice* They that conlang not shall feel the fires
of the Pit that is Bottomless!

Conlangs can be miniatures or models. Mine is a half-sized language at
present, at the place where lexicon building slows because you just can't
think of the words that you don't yet have, even though you know
thousands of them. And it will be a communicable language; other people
will contract it. As yet, I can only speak it to myself, and I already
know what I'm going to say half the time.

I like a familiar language, a sound almost remembered. But a rhythm that
is just a bit too long or too short to be English also pleases me. I like
normal sounds without being afraid to stray beyond what I am used to,
though I won't try to use that which I can't pronounce.

Don't ask me how words can sound right! I'll not be able to sleep for
weeks now.

I am a maker of MUDs, which requires work with graph paper and a pencil
making little boxes that indicate one room each and little lines to link
them. They are fleshed out into a full world. As for calligraphy, I like
it, but I don't know how to do it.

Sturnan has a script. The transliteration for it is quite
straight-forward.

I have written poetry and faux religious texts in Sturnan. I'd like to
make a song in Sturnan, but I haven't yet. I have to become fluent in the
language first, and there's almost no indication that I will.

I started conlanging a little while ago, at least three years*, and my
third language has never left me. Or rather, I have left it, but never
for long.
*At my age, that's a long time, but I'm used to discussing the time spans
required for languages to change.

I have translated about seven chapters of the Bible into Sturnan,
including several of the Psalms, but I would not call the language a
"spiritual instrument". And it isn't a secret language, or it would be
much simpler, a mere cipher of English *contemptuous snort*.

I can speak Sturnan enough that when I try to think in Spanish, I get an
odd mixture involving English, Spanish, and Sturnan: "Assen estoy I?"

Sturnan's website is gareis.free.fr/sturnan.html. It has no sound bites.

I don't bring up my language making often, only when there's a reason,
but a lot of people know, it seems. Gossip is first priority in high
school, it seems; I've even caught myself listening to it, and I am the
worse for it. The worst flak I've gotten is a bewildered and
condescending "You make languages? Why?" in a voice fit for asking, "You
stick pig tails upright in the dirt? Why?" And that is rare; more often,
people simply reserve their speech or take it as another art form, for
which I am grateful. I don't have to listen to as much drivel that way :)

Several people have wondered why I did not learn "real" languages
instead. I just tell them that I'll do that as soon as I find a natural
language that perfectly suits me, and that languages are no less real for
being made in a short time by one person rather than over the course of
millenia by millions.

PART V: DEMOGRAPHICS
I'm sixteen years old, and I'll be graduating from high school about a
week after I turn 17. I'll be going to college for a Ph.D in linguistics,
and I'll be a professor of linguistics.

I'm male. I'm from the US (don't hold it against me :)) and speak English
as my first language. I'm studying Spanish, and I've learned a little bit
of French, Welsh, and Japanese.

The reasons I'll be a linguist are: 1) I can turn a hobby into a
profession, or as near as possible, and 2) I'll learn how better to
pursue my hobby.

Conlanging has taught me...what? No, I've learned things for the purpose
of conlanging, but conlanging itself taught me nothing. But I enjoy it,
and I'll never stop. I just don't want to, see? I can. I just don't want
to. Not yet.

I've consulted several conlanging guides, first the one made by
Verdurian's creator (I'm bad with names), and also the one by Draseleq's
maker, and the stuff on Jeffery Henning's site. Other than that, I've
listened to other people, and what they say seems to make sense.

Im esem      Gareis, ak  Gareis nai murtag aheru.
I  1s-copula Gareis, and Gareis no  die-3s today.

Mention me all you want.