[wika] Boreanesian

I found another conlanger in another mailing-list called
WIKA. WIKA is a listed devoted to the discussion of Filipino
languages. The discussion I'm forwarding below was originally
posted at WIKA. But it has become more appropriate here at
CONLANG. I have asked Andre Militante to join the group.
Everyone, please welcome our newest Filipino member!

Andre Militante wrote:
>Hi Kristian,
>
>> My conlang is called Boreanesian. Actually, the
>> group of languages
>> is called Boreanesian. I'm working on what I like to
>> call standard
>> Boreanesian. It is spoken on a group of islands just
>> northwest of
>> Australia, and inhabited by tawny haired negritoes.
>> The land itself
>> broke off from Gondwanaland before flowering plants
>> appeared. Thus,
>> the endemic mammalian life are all monotremes
>> (egg-laying mammals),
>> while most of plant life are gymnospermous (e.g.,
>> ferns, cycads, and
>> coniferous araucarias).
>
>Like how many miles is the closest island of
>Boreanesia from the northwest Australian coast?  So,
>Boreansia is south of East Timor?  Yatland is 225
>miles east of the Chinese coast, and it's kinda
>juxtaposed on the Okinawan islands.  The Yats look
>very similar to Chinese people, although some Yats
>look a little Austronesian, so hindi masyadong singkit
>ang mga Yat.
Boreanesian is about 300 kilometers (200 miles) from
northern Western Australia. Southwest of Timor. Your
location of Yatland is very close to the former location
of Boreanesia until geological considerations forced me
to pack up and move. Kenji and Brad, I think we have
another member in the Pacific Conlang League! ;)

-----<snip>-----
>> I also have the Klingon dictionary, but I found it
>> useless.
>
>Me, too. I find it relatively useless.  I only use it
>as a potential source of vocab, but I only got like a
>handful of Klingon words which I can remotely use for
>Yat.
That was why I bought it too. Anyways, what do you expect
from a language spoken by aliens. ;-)

>> Its just a hobby. But I have goals. My aim to to
>> create an imaginary
>> culture that could percievably exist in our world. I
>> strive to keep
>> things realistic. So I have to do a lot of research
>> to find out what
>> linguists and anthropologists know (or think they
>> know) about how
>> real languages and cultures work. But at the same
>> time I strive to
>> keep things unique. The land itself where the
>> Boreanesians live on
>> is unique in itself.
>
>If I substitute the word Boreanesians for Yats, this
>could might as well be what I am gonna say!!!  You
>saved me a few minutes of thinking about what I wanted
>to say. Thanks a bunch! I have to add though that I'm
>striving to make Yatland as close as possible to who I
>really am.  Am I making sense here?  I mean Yatland
>should be a reflection of who I am.  Like if ever I
>get a chance to travel to another dimension where
>Yatland exist, I can fit neatly in Yat society.  I
>hope I made myself understandable.  Medyo kasi akong
>nahihirapan i-explain ang mga ganitong bagay.
Well, Boreanesia isn't exactly a reflection of myself in
that sense. I strive to make things realistic. But I
suppose that a bit of me has unavoidably entered Boreanesia.

>I read a lot of anthropology, history, and other
>social science books to be able to make Yatland as
>realistic as conceivably possible.  More on this
>though.  I might start to get carried away about what
>I'm gonna say, especially I have a lot to say about
>anthropology.  In fact I'm also part of the
>anthropology egroups list!
There's also the conculture list. But I miss the more
scientific discussion prevalent in conlang. When it was
first created, I was hoping for discussions in
anthropology. But now it seems to have been reduced to
As-For-My-Conculture type discussions. How are the
discussions at the anthropology egroups list?

>>>Yat has 7 vowels.  I'm just gonna describe it here
>>>since I'm not familiar with a lot of linguistic
>>>jargon.  1)  "a" like the Tagalog "a" ; 2) "ae" like
>>>the sound in "cat" in english; 3) "e" like the Tagalog
>>>"e" ; 4) "i" like the Tagalog "i" ; 5) "o" like the
>>>Tagalog "o" but with lips spread widely ( I was about
>>>to say that it sounds like the vowel sound in
>>>"caught", but I just remembered that its pronounced
>>>differently from English dialect to English dialect);
>>>6) "u" like the Tagalog "u" ; and 7) "" much like "u"
>>>but with lips spread widely.
>
>> That's not a lot of rounded vowels -- only vowel #6.
>> Most natural
>> languages have roughly as many rounded back vowels
>> as unrounded
>> front vowels. Otherwise, I love your liberal use of
>> unrounded back
>> vowels! I just can't get enough of them - which is
>> probably why I
>> like the sound of Mainland SEAsian languages and the
>> Northern
>> Philippine languages so much.
>
>Thanks for saying that you love my liberal use of
>unrounded back vowels.  In real life, I liberally use
>unrounded vowels. I barely move my mouth when I speak
>(this is true with whatever language I speak), so
>since I said that Yatland should be a reflection of
>me, the Yat language shouldn't have a lot of rounded
>vowel sounds.  When I say the word "opo", many people
>say that I sound much like "apa" because of the way I
>spread my lips. Or when I say "ayun" I don't round my
>lips.  It's definitely not a conscious act on my part
>to speak this way, it's just me, my idiolect, my way
>of speaking. Ever since I can remember, this is the
>way I speak.  Funny thing, though, I'm the only one
>who speaks this way in my family.
That must be an American thing. Not many back vowels in
American English dialects seem to have any rounding,
especially the phonemically laxed ones in 'put' and
'caught'.

-kristian- 8)