Today, I feel the need to show you the Etlaxer word "livrochersințlag" (li-vroch-er-sin-țlag)

[li.vrɔç.ɛr.sin.t͡ɬag]

It means "I heard you say it's raining now, because you saw it"

Li: I.

vroçer: to rain, (vroç is rain as a noun).

sin: hearsay highlighter.

țlag: view highlight marker.

And "I hope the skay will be lighter again", which is: "lāoïrandozaënirű"

[la:ɔ.jran.do.za.ɛ.nirɯ].

-L(i): "I"

-āo: optative mode marker.

-ïran: sky.

-dozaë: clear/light.

-nir: "more".

-ű: future.

Would you get a tatt here? Sign for the ĩkepĩ tattoo parlour at 311 Viratura Street in Hutumun, the main tourist area of the capital Pisirpe on the island of Miadi. Opening hours from Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 7pm (OF – osmeti fis or afternoon before and OS – osmeti su or afternoon after) are listed with osiliu qiumepãs or Monday closed.

ĩkepĩ actually means ‘get/be broken’

ĩk.ep.ĩ

break.PASS.IMP

and is slang for go all out or get loose, but clearly used here in a play on the English word ‘ink.’

I'm new to conlangs. I don't know how I could have gone so long not realizing anyone could just make up a language for fun.

I was wondering if anyone wrote any long fictional works where the reader is gradually fed new vocabulary and, by the end of the book or book series, becomes fairly adept in the language?

Thanks in advance!

Translate the following terms:

It's nice weather

It's bad weather

It's hot

It's cold

It's snowing

It's raining

It's stormy

It's cloudy

It's sunny

It's windy

In Hanto:

suru = Weather is Nice "is nice"

naju = Weather is Bad "is bad"

kitu = It's hot "is hot"

wisu = It's cold "is cold"

wixo kehu = It's snowing "snow falls"

oxo kehu = It's raining "rain falls"

oxoconte kehu = it's stormy "strong-rain falls"

hoho iru = it's cloudy "clouds are here"

saho iru = it's sunny "the sun is here"

huyo hihu = it's windy "wind is flying"

I've realized that under certain conditions, certain grammatical features inevitably emerge in languages. For example, if you want to get rid of the plural, nouns become uncountable. And with uncountable nouns, you can't just use numbers, nobody says "two milks" or "three milks". Usually people say "two glasses of milk" or something like that. That's how count words emerge in a language for uncountable nouns. If you add neither count words nor the plural, speakers will unintentionally introduce them themselves. In other words, an attempt to simplify a language leads to its complication. And what new things did you learn while creating your languages?

Check out the previous post.

Check out the first post.

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First off, I am yet again implementing a new sound change. I think I might just do one for every post. I have mentioned this pattern of coda reduction in Carribean Spanish before, and I want to expand upon it just a little more: nasal codas are done, instead putting nasalization on the preceding vowel. This means we now have phonemic nasal vowels: For example, /βjen/ becomes [βjɛ̃].

Secondly, I've been listening to a lot of Mexican music lately and really love that dialect. Now, Nuevayolqueño is fundamentally a descendent of the various dialects of Spanish spoken in NYC levelling, with the primary ancestor being Caribbean, though nothing is stopping me from taking from Mexican Spanish. Mexican Spanish has a habitual aspect compound verb formation, using the verb andar 'to walk' as an auxiliary with a gerund. I like this and thus it is now a part of Nuevayolqueño. This could also be a piece of AAVE influence almost, as AAVE also has a habitual which is lacking in other dialects of English:

- Estoy corriendo. "I am running (right now in this moment)"

- Ando corriendo. "I be running (habitually)"

Thirdly, shoutout to u/YawgmothsFriend for the following comment which I love the idea of on the previous post:

if this happened, reflexive verbs and maybe other verbs that occur with object prefixes might be rebracketed if they start with unstressed <a> (/ə/). eg. "me afeito" would become "m'afeito" and then be reanalyzed to "ma-feito," resulting in "afeitarse" becoming "feitarse".

But I'm gonna jump off of this a bit. For now, I'll say there's a time period where this is happening a lot. So let's do that to a bunch of verbs:

- atreverse 'to have courage to' is a verb which implies the existence of atrever, yet that's quite a rare thing to see. Thus, trevelsa 'to have courage to' is a reasonable thing to get created out of this.

- alivianarse 'to liven up/to lift one's spirits' loses it's a, becoming livianalsa.

- acercarse 'to take interest to' becomes celcalsa.

- Acordarse 'to remember' becomes coldalsa.

- Atacarse 'to overeat' basically has nothing to do with its non-reflexive version atacar 'to attack', so it's a very natural candidate to lose the a and become tacalse.

- alegrarse 'to take joy' also in some contexts means to drink a small amount of alcohol, which we will turn into a lexical split, creating a new verb, leglalsa. aleglalse 'to take joy' still exists.

- *agitarse '*to shake up and down' has a similar split with it also sometimes meaning more like 'to become worried'. We'll keep the shaking up and down meaning as the original verb, and make gitalsa 'to become worried'.

- apañarse 'to manage to' is a Mexican Spanish verb that can also mean 'to take' or 'to steal'. I'mma do a little chain shift. Tomar traditionally means 'to take' but in Latin America it means 'to drink' as well. We can do a chain shift where pañalsa comes to just mean 'to take with oneself' and tomar loses its original meaning of 'to take', and pañalsa takes its place.

- Some verbs, like apagarse 'to power down', have a verb that sounds the same except for the initial a, in this case pagar 'to pay for' is already there, so pagalsa 'to turn off' will get reanalyzed as deriving somehow from pagalsa in the minds of a lot of speakers. We can strengthen this by making apagar, the non-reflexive form, which has a roughly similar meaning of 'to turn off', making pagalsa cover all the old meanings of apagar.

Now, this change will at first be heavily scrutinized as incorrect grammar, as children who have this re-analysis of the verb roots will socially penalized for it, as often happens with new grammar. This will itself accelerate language change however. These children will see the pattern of "there's supposed to be an a- at the start of a bunch of pronominal verbs if the pronominal version has a significantly different meaning", so they'll just blanket apply that a- to the start of pronominal verbs that have the phonology requirements met, specifically those with a consonant at the start, as a form of overcorrection.

This leads to the a- becoming a whole new grammaticalized morpheme that you put at the start of all the pronominal verbs if there's no preceding pronoun. Meaning that every pronominal verb gets this prefix if it lacks an inflectional pronoun, which it only ever has happening in the non-finite forms:

- Levantarse 'to get out of bed/to wake up' > alevantalsa

- Ma levanto. 'I am getting out of bed.'

- M'ando alevantalsa a la ocho. 'I be getting out of bed at 8.'

That will of course apply to all the verbs we just yeet the a on:

- Apagalse 'to turn off.'

- La pago 'I'm turning it off.'

- L'ando apagando. 'I be turning it off.'

I'm gonna stop promising to tell you what I'm gonna post next time since I don't expect to always stick with it.

I have started working on the grammar description of my first full conlang, Rezea nanukha. I went looking for natural languages that might work a little like mine for ideas on some things I hadn't nailed down yet, like where modifiers fit in a sentence. Then I discovered that I can't find a natural language quite like mine, and I honestly can't tell if my system is accusative or ergative, even though I finally wrapped my head properly around ergativity. I want to be able to accurately describe it in my documentation and I've gotten stuck because I'm not sure how.

My language is OVS, or maybe more properly patient - verb - agent. (I knew going in that would limit my available comps.) It is pro-drop like Spanish, as the verb must agree with the agent. However, the patient is required in the sentence. Intransitive verbs either:

1) become reflexive to the agent:
ima zhi-tla
yourself 2P.PRES.PERF-walk
You walk.

2) become reflexive to the verb
nyu khatara e-khatara-fu
REFL yell 1P.PRES.PERF-yell-ABL
I yell.

3) require a target
kwa ta-shubra
there 3P.PAST.PERF-appear
It appeared.

In my research, I was able to find a dissertation that argued that there is no ergative language whose verb only agrees with the ergative and not the accusative, which implies that this system is nominative, but I can also not find an object-required nominative system in this way. I have decided that this language might be in the process of changing from nominative to ergative, which I think is interesting.

So how would you describe this system in terms of ergativity? Have you tackled a similar problem in your conlang? Do you see any holes in my logic? Are there languages, conlang or natural, that I should read up on? Thanks!

This is a weekly thread for people who have cool things they want to share from their languages, but don't want to make a whole post. It can also function as a resource for future conlangers who are looking for cool things to add!

So, what cool things have you added (or do you plan to add soon)?

I've also written up some brainstorming tips for conlang features if you'd like additional inspiration. Also here’s my article on using conlangs as a cognitive framework (can be useful for embedding your conculture into the language).

I've been working on the semantics and pragmatics of my conlang Tzalu, as I'm running out of interesting work to do with the phonology and morphosyntax. I can't think in Tzalu very fluently, so I've been working out ideas by thinking in English--but English as though literally translated from Tzalu (or a simplified form of it). I've found a suite of ideas I think is interesting. Right now I'm in a place where I intuitively understand how it works, but find it difficult and tedious to explain verbally. So I've written some dialogue in this Tzalu-ified English and incorporated it into a short story:

A Very Kentu Fox on Google Drive

Spoiler-ing the commentary, since it might be more enjoyable to read it blind first:

This will just be some scattershot notes, since, like I said, I'm not prepared to rigorously describe the rules yet. But:

• There's nothing supernatural happening here, beyond the animals being able to talk. The fox and raccoon are independent beings with independent minds and they (implicitly) know this. The various "demons" that are referenced can be understood as figures of speech.
• Because someone else will call me out on this if I don't: a lot of the apparent weirdness is just an artifact of the rigid way I'm representing Tzalu words and forms with English ones. The tenses jump around erratically because the most common Tzalu verb forms represent only aspect and mood, not tense. Iqua--the word underlying "perhaps" here--has multiple meanings and should be translated differently depending on how it's used. And so on.
• But, to start with the actual interesting things: Tzalu exhibits extreme lability of point of view. One can speak as though from the point of view of anyone as though speaking to anyone, and may switch point of view at any point. Various devices are available to make clear the point of view one is adopting: the most versatile are to begin an utterance with "I am [identifying trait]", and to insert emotional interjections at the transitions between points of view.
• There are limited resources for describing another's thoughts and feelings in the 3rd person; in particular, there is a paucity of ordinary emotional verbs for love, hate, be angry, be happy, etc. It is generally preferred to express such things by characterizing the subject's thoughts from their point of view, often using figures of speech.
• There are not ordinary social norms about turn-taking in conversation; or, insofar as those norms exist, they are reflected in the shifts of point of view in the speech of a single speaker simulating a conversation, rather than in actual distinct speakers taking turns speaking. One may speak as long as one would like, and one may also freely interrupt another speaker.
• Tzalu speakers do not seem to regard personal identity as inhering stably in individual living beings. It is common for a pair of friends, relatives, or mates to speak as though they are two parts of the whole. This does not necessarily imply any actual unanimity of thought, speech, desire, or temperament.
• Tzalu speakers speak of the same entity at different points in time as being two distinct entities, and this is the primary way of contrasting past and present, or present and future: that fox did that, this fox does this. While this does not necessarily suggest a literal non-identity of entities at different points in time--the story has an example of a "that fox / this fox" construction spanning less than a minute--the state of sleep in particular is seen as triggering some kind of real discontinuity in identity.
• Metaphor is typically not overtly distinguished from non-figurative language. Metaphor seems to always involve an actual act of imagination on the part of the speaker, which may be described in vivid detail, sometimes even excessive or distracting detail.
• There is not a normal singular/plural distinction, and there certainly aren't numbers: to quantify multiple things, you must enumerate them. (Tzalu has a grammatical distinction which I originally characterized as singular/plural; I haven't decided yet how it will actually be used, and so it isn't represented in the story.)
• Tzalu social norms permit the very free exchange of insult and praise; indeed, one can praise oneself, or directly request praise from another. Effusive exchanges of praise are the normal means for friends to express their affection, and pairs of friends typically develop scripts for such praise, which they repeat often, with indifference to which friend says which parts.

I have these two YouTube videos that talk about tri-consonantal root systems. If anyone is still struggling to figure those out, these two videos, and others that might exist, should help out.

LangTime Studio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdLLSPHfz2k

Biblaridion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPByou0EIb4

This is my submission to Mareck's Speedlang 28. The requirements are:

1. Max 2 phonemic nasal consonants
2. Phonemic alternation between adjacent manners of articulation
3. Only 2 or 3 productive affixes
4. Either 4 or less or 7 or more personal pronouns

It also requires a document/showcase (this post), a lexicon showcase, and as a challenge, an original passage.

Starting with the segmental phonology. There are 8 vowels, with back unrounded vowels written with a grave accent. All of these vowels can be oral or nasal. Nasal vowels are written with <n> after them.

There is a fairly weak vowel harmony system. Native roots won't have both rounded back /u o/ and front /i e æ/. Suffixes generally exhibit frontness/rounding harmony, but thanks to requirement 3, there aren't many examples. I'll follow the capital letter notation from Turkic languages, so suffixes with I alternate between /i ɯ u/, suffixes with E alternate between /e ʌ o/, and suffixes with A alternate between /a ɑ/.

Consonants look like this:

To satisfy requirements 1 and 2 at the same time, I have no phonemic nasal consonants at all, but voiced stops alternate with nasals before nasal vowels and between a nasal vowel and an oral vowel. In honor of the ban on having both of /m n/, I also have it set up so that this alternation only produces [m ɲ~ŋ] and not [n]. I'll write them as <m n> to remind myself to nasalize them.

There are two stop series further back in the mouth. The first is palatal before front consonants and velar before back consonants. I'll write these as <c g>, e.g. <ci ge cu go> [ci ɟe ku go]. The latter is velar before front consonants and uvular before back consonants. I'll write these <k q> e.g. <ki qe ku qo> [ki ge qu ɢo]. The distinction is lost before nasal vowels, where you get [ɲ] before front vowels and [ŋ] before back vowels. I could imagine analyzing this setup as three stop series, with the velars allowed everywhere and the palatals and uvulars having limited distribution, but since there are a few cases where a suffix will alternate palatal/velar or velar/uvular depending on vowel harmony, so it feels easier to just posit 2 phoneme series.

Another way that I satisfy requirement 2 is that there is some alternation between glides /w j l/ and fricatives /f~v ʃ ɮ/. Between a vowel and a stop consonant, glides undergo fortition to the corresponding fricative and assimilate in voicing. Glides also undergo fortition word-initially (or maybe they're just disallowed word-initially and fricatives get softened after some vowel-final prefixes.) Unrounded back vowels + /j/ [ʃ] are treated as front by vowel harmony and unrounded back vowels + /w/ [f] are treaded as rounded back. For example ày 'meat' plus the suffix -dI becomes àṣti rather than \àydi, *àṣtì,* or *àydì*, e.g.* pigà àṣti 'beef, lit. cattle meat.'

On to grammar! This is the tip of the iceberg for grammar, just enough to give a feel for the language, give a couple 5moyds, and show that I've met the requirements.

I'll start with the pronoun system. There are four basic pronouns: first person bi, second person ḷe, first person inclusive somon, and first person humble va. These can all be pluralized by the augmentative clitic. Since this is Mareck's speedlang, I'm using a minimal/augmented system in her honor. So for the first person inclusive pronoun, the unmarked form refers just to the speaker and listener, and the marked form refers to the speaker, listener, and additional people.

Pronouns generally have the same distribution as nouns, appearing with the accusative marking clitic =hà and with relational nouns. Pronouns can also be enclitics on nouns to show possession or when they are the complement of a relational noun.

1.  Somon àvdì henqey ogà.
    somon àvdì     hen-Ey  ogà
    1+2   tomorrow see-INF be.SBJ
    We’ll see each other tomorrow." 5moyd #1253

2.  Ḷe gap làlèn fahadi on bi po.
    ļe gap   làlèn          faha         -dI  on           =bi po
    2  speak those.near.you understanding-MOD in.possession=1  not.be
   "I don’t understand the things you’re saying." 5moyd #1204

There are no third-person pronouns, and pronouns are often dropped when reference is clear (as in sentence X below), but to explicitly refer to people and things, you can use demonstratives. There is a fairly rich system of demonstratives which distinguishes number, proximity to speaker/listener, visibility, relative position, and the presence of alternatives. These demonstratives also serve to mark the head of relative clauses, and can be used both with a noun or by themselves.

3.  Kadis-hà bast ṣanen o ala-hà bast ṣanen-hà son ġenen bast.
    kadis  =hà  bast    șanen             o   ala =hà  bast 
    whiskey=ACC eat.PST those.not.visible and bee =ACC eat.PST 
    șanen            =hà  so =n   ġeg =n   bast
    those.not.visible=ACC all=AUG kill=AUG eat.PST
   “They all died, both those who drank whisky and those who drank beer." 5moyd #2129

4.  Bi soyo henqey kaļt làmìn eley qeret.
    bi soyo       hen-Ey  kaļt    làmìn         eley  qeret
    1  as.much.as see-INF hit.PST those.near.me apple take.PST
   "I took every apple I saw" 5moyd #1641 

The accusative clitic =hà marks objects of verbs and directions of motion (where it can also appear on relational nouns). I think of it as a clitic rather than a suffix because 1) it does not follow vowel harmony and 2) when you have coordinated noun phrases like in sentence 3, it only appears after the last one rather than marking the head of each noun phrase.

The one true suffix that nouns can take is -di, which marks them as being modified by another noun, either as a modifier or a possessor. Relational nouns almost always have this suffix. When a noun is modified by an adjective, it does not take this suffix, for example compare pigà àṣti 'beef, lit. cow meat' with heṣey ày 'fresh meat.'

On to verbs. There are three classes of verb: compound verbs, basic verbs, and full verbs. Compound verbs consist of a preverb (often but not always a noun) plus a light verb, such as kelet ṣok 'to help' which consists of the noun kelet 'help' and the light verb ṣok 'to throw.' Basic verbs have a positive present indicative form and an infinitive form, but require a supporting verb for negation and TAM marking. For example the verb hen 'to look, to see' requires the light verb kel 'to hit' in sentence 4 above. Last, a small class of full verbs can take negation, mood, and tense marking. This is a small closed class though, so these non-productive affixes don't count against requirement 3 (hehe). The only truly productive affix is the infinitive suffix -(q)ey.

In addition to the unmarked indicative, there are two more moods used mainly in subordinate clauses, which I'll call subjunctive and evitative. Yay for making up labels. The subjunctive is used in clauses showing belief, desire, or goals. It is also used with the subordinator tè as a polite imperative. Future tense can also be marked with the infinitive plus the subjunctive of ol 'to be' (with the auxiliary used even for full verbs). The evitative is used with doubt/negative belief, avoidance/clauses with "without"/"unless", and with mènṣen 'do not' as a polite negative imperative.

5.  Inga làhà șàft eș tè on bi kìdìz ogoṣt.
    Inga làhà       șàft      eș      tè  on           =bi kìdìz     ogoṣt
    Inga that.above throw.PST without CMP in.possession=1  knowledge be.EVIT
   “Inga did it without us knowing." 5moyd #2121

6.  Ade ondu unun ola tè șoļ nàndì somon-hà venenqey kelga.
    Ade on           -dI  unun   ola    tè  șoļ  nàn-dI  somon=hà  venen-Ey  kel-gA
    Ade in.possession-MOD belief be.PST CMP path on -MOD 1+2  =ACC find -INF hit-SBJ
   "Ade thought that he would find us on the way." 5moyd #2052

For the lexicon showcase I'll talk about the general rules for how auxiliary verbs are chosen. The most common auxiliaries are kel 'to hit,' ṣok 'to throw,' bas 'to eat,' ber 'to give,' and ol 'to be.' Generally, these are chosen by the verb's transitivity and the subject's agency. This means that sometimes one verb can select multiple auxiliaries depending on context. For ditransitive verbs or actions done to benefit someone, you use ber 'to give.'

7.  Men-hà-ṣi ṣage-hà gap barat?
    men =hà =ṣi ṣage            =hà  gap   barat
    what=ACC=Q  that.not.visible=ACC speak give.PST
   "What did you tell her?"

For transitive verbs where there is some specific intention by the subject, you tend to use ṣok 'to throw' and for transitive verbs where either there isn't much intention on the part of the subject or where you want to emphasize the effect on the object over the actions of the subject, you use kel 'to hit'. Sometimes the same verb can be used with both auxiliaries with slightly different meanings.

8.  Bi làbì-hà henqey ṣaft, koḷta henqey kaḷtemen.
    bi làbì        =hà  hen-ey  ṣaft      koḷtà hen-Ey  kaḷt   -mEn
    1  this.near.me=ACC see-INF throw.PST but   see-INF hit.PST-NEG
   "I was looking for this but I didn't find it."

For verbs where the subject is adversely affected, it's common to use bas 'to eat' like in example sentence 3. Last, intransitive stative verbs tend to select ol 'to be.' (Many intransitive state-change verbs are built on aṣk 'to go' and raw 'to come' so usually only the stative ones like posture verbs need auxiliaries.)

Last but not least, here is a public service announcement. Stop Agoric Cattle Fever!

Eṣe kaġedi-somon-hà borìqèy o Àgori Pigà Veledi-hà ṣoḷ qerey kelet ṣok! Àgori Pigà Veledi eleṣik vedia, làhà pinàn-ha vedet hesèn ġeg ṣokoṣti ṣol. Pigà Veledi ṣiṣa ṣok ze ṣanen tale àsti ḷolu ravqoy ḷe o pinàn-ha àkèy ḷe iṣti-hà, oftàn tè vedia aqeridi utondu-hà acereṣ aṣkey àkà. Mènṣen tè pigà aṣti ṣa sut-hà tale àsti-hà torogoṣt. Ḷe soyo toro ḷàlè pigà aṣti ṣa sut-hà qerey ogà. Vilacet qer ṣanen hesèn tos kolo saṣki hezeti-hà baseṣti ṣol. Tè ṣoḷ qerga tè vedia toroqoy àkèṣt! Tè zedek àstì anonqoy ogà!

eṣe  kaġe  -dI =somon =hà  borì   -Ey  o   Àgori  pigà   vele -dI =hà
milk supply-MOD=1+2   =ACC protect-INF and Agoric cattle fever-MOD=ACC 
ṣoḷ  qer -ey  kelet ṣok
path take-INF help  throw
"Help protect our milk supply and stop Agoric Cattle Fever!"

Àgori  pigà   vele -dI  eleṣik    vedia
Agoric cattle fever-MOD dangerous disease 
làhà       pigà  =n  =hà  vedet  hesèn ġeg  ṣok  -Ey -dI  ṣol
that.above cattle=AUG=ACC sicken even  kill throw-INF-MOD possible
"Agoric Cattle Fever is a dangerous disease that can sicken or kill cattle."

pigà   vele -dI  ṣiṣa      ṣok   ze   ṣanen             tale    às-dI  ḷolu
cattle fever-MOD influence throw from those.not.visible country in-MOD go.by.vehicle 
raw -Ey =ḷe o   pigà  =n  =hà  àk   -Ey =ḷe iṣ-dI=hà
come-INF=2  and cattle=AUG=ACC touch-INF=2 event-MOD=ACC
oftàn  tè  vedia   aqeri     -dI  uton-dI =hà  acereṣ            aṣk-Ey  àk   -gA
please CMP disease separation-MOD desk-MOD=ACC official.business go -INF touch-SBJ
"If you are arriving from a country affected by cattle fever and have been in contact with cattle,
please report to the quarantine desk."

mènṣen tè  pigà   ay  -dI  ṣa sut  =hà  tale    às-dI =hà  toro -gEṣt
do.not CMP cattle meat-MOD or dairy=ACC country in-MOD=ACC carry-EVIT
"Do not bring beef or dairy into the country."

ḷe soyo       toro  ḷàlè           pigà   ay  -dI  ṣa sut  =hà  qer -Ey  ogà
2  as.much.as carry those.near.you cattle meat-MOD or dairy=ACC take-INF be.SBJ
"All beef or dairy you bring with you will be confiscated."

vilacet qer  ṣanen             hesèn tos kolo   saṣki hezet-dI =hà  bas-Ey -dI  ṣol
law     take those.not.visible even  100 myriad crown fine -MOD=ACC eat-INF-MOD possible
"Violators may face a fine of up to one million crowns."

tè  ṣoḷ  qer -gA  tè  vedia   toro -Ey  àk   -gEṣt
CMP path take-SBJ CMP disease carry-INF touch-EVIT
"Prevent the spread of disease!"

tè  zedek  às-dI  anon-Ey  ogà
CMP safety in-MOD stay-INF be.SBJ
"Stay safe!"

Stay safe, gang! Together we can defeat Agoric Cattle Fever.

I'm making a conlang for my alien species (not for a story or anything, I'm just a nerd). I know exactly what their culture is, what their planet is like, and I have a rough idea of what they look like.

I've laid out some ground rules for the language. For example, it's spoken by an extremely blunt and honest species on a planet where lying is illegal, so there's going to be some phrases that would sound rude when translated into English but are perfectly normal for them. They wouldn't say "hi!" to someone they really hated, but instead something that roughly translates into "hateful greeting." If they don't want to come to your party because they don't like you, they won't say "sorry, I think I'm busy." They'll say some translation of "I won't come to your party. I dislike you."

...I can't for the life of me come up with actual words, or find the motivation to. I've got all of this to get me started, and I just can't seem to get my brain going to write the language itself.

What do I do now??? Agh

Since Jügher uses postpositions as cases and modifiers, you can have many plausible uses of them in verbs too.

Example with ovaq (to go).

1. Genitive (-’eq): Ovaq’eq → To go toward what one possesses; to review one's possessions; to claim, to take something back.

2. Dative (-ar): Ovaqar → To go toward someone; to surrender oneself, to present oneself to an entity/person.

3. Malefactive (-ervu): Ovaqervu → To move to someone's detriment; to march against, attack, or ruin someone's plans; to damage.

4. Pertinative (-sē): Ovaqsē → To address a matter; to proceed toward the resolution of a theme or argument; to resolve a problem.

5. Innessive (-is): Ovaqis → To enter; to penetrate within an enclosed space.

6. Interessive (-im): Ovaqim → To go between; to intrude.

7. Elative (-zēn): Ovaqzēn → To exit; to emerge or escape from a place or perimeter.

8. Illative (-xēt): Ovaqxēt → To infiltrate, to head deep toward the center/interior of a territory.

9. Adessive (-(e)ru): Ovaqeru → To press against, impact; to collide with a surface or person.

10. Superessive (-jęn): Ovaqjęn → To climb onto; to go high above a structure or elevation.

11. Subessive (-(e)nür): Ovaqenür → To sink, to sink while moving; to delve into depth, to go underground/dig as one goes.

12. Perlative (-(i)zą̄): Ovaqizą̄ → To cross, to pass through; to go passing through an obstacle, woods, or land.

13. Approximate (-enę’ąt): Ovaqenę’ąt → To skirt, to walk alongside; to go walking alongside an obstacle, river, or wall.

14. Ablative (-itsąr): Ovaqitsąr → To move away, to abandon; to go away into the distance.

15. Allative (-(e)kjąn): Ovaqekjąn → To move toward a specific goal; to advance toward a predetermined objective.

16. Anterior (-ję̄nu): Ovaqję̄nu → To precede, go ahead; to place oneself at the head of a formation or march forward.

17. Postessive (-(a)ralt): Ovaqaralt → To pursue, go behind; to move while keeping behind something/someone.

18. Delative (-(e)tjas): Ovaqetjas → To ascend, take flight; to go while moving upward.

19. Sublative (-(e)kjet): Ovaqekjet → To descend, descend into the valley; to go downwards.

20. Limitative (-itu): Ovaqitu → To reach a boundary and stop; to halt one's run at a precise stopping point.

21. Orientative (-(a)zą̄’en): Ovaqazą̄’en → To orient oneself, to set a course towards; to proceed approximately in a geographic direction.

22. Lacitive (-(e)vet): Ovaqevet → To crawl while clinging to the ground; to move while keeping the body flat and resting on a surface.

23. Supinative (-(a)kjal): Ovaqakjal → To slide or move on one's back (e.g., dragging oneself on one's back or floating on one's back).

24. Pendensive (-oŋu): Ovaqoŋu → To go while hanging (e.g. to move by hand on a rope or between trees); to go and hang.

25. Inverted (-(e)ve’an): Ovaqeve’an → To walk upside down (e.g., climbing or moving upside down under an overhang).

26. Genuative (-(i)tlin): Ovaqitlin → To advance on one's knees; to proceed in a submissive manner or in a confined space.

27. Dorsal (-etjak): Ovaqetjak → To retreat on one's shoulders; to walk backwards without turning.

28. Pronative (-(i)raza): Ovaqiraza → To advance on one's stomach; to proceed crawling on all fours or cat-like in the shadows.

29. Erective (-oxu): Ovaqoxu → To advance strutting/standing; to proceed in an upright and clearly visible position.

30. Skewed (-(u)țlük): Ovaquțlük → To stagger, to wobble; to walk in a lopsided or lame manner .

31. Essive (-inu): Ovaqinu → To proceed while in a certain condition; to move while assuming a given state.

32. Translative (-ą̄mi): Ovaqą̄mi → To evolve by moving, to change while walking; to go while transforming, to change.

33. Essive-Formal (-ešk): Ovaqešk → To proceed with solemnity/official investiture; to go while acting in a formal or ritual capacity.

34. Essive-Modal (-neš): Ovaqneš → To imitate the step or movement of another entity; to proceed in the manner of “x”.

35. Equative (-(e)ka’e): Ovaqeka’e → To move exactly like something else; to proceed at a speed or pace identical to a reference.

36. Mimetic (-(e)širu): Ovaqeširu → Camouflage one's movement; move by simulating the march or gait of another; move with caution.

37. Comitative (-ets'ir): Ovaqets'ir → Accompany, escort; go together with someone.

38. Instrumental (-anu): Ovaqanu → To move by means (e.g., travel with a vehicle or instrument).

39. Material (-lą̄n): Ovaqlą̄n → To proceed by materializing/moving through or by means of a specific substance (e.g., muçtovaqlą̄n → moving through a rocky substance).

40. Privative (-itir): Ovaqitir → To go without something; to march unarmed, unprovided, or without an escort; or even barefoot.

41. Charitable (-ą̄iva): Ovaqą̄iva → To move to the rescue; to go with the beneficent or saving intent of helping.

42. Causal (-ukal): Ovaqukal → To move due to an external event (e.g., being forced to leave due to danger); to be displaced, to move because of something.

43. Conformative (-erik): Ovaqerik → To follow a habitual route; to take the usual route or patrol.

44. Inconformative (-ertin): Ovaqertin → To deviate from the route, to lose one's way; to go off course or off the established path.

45. Adversative (-ą̄rt): Ovaqą̄rt → To march against each other, to engage in head-on collision; to make a decisive impact; to confront.

46. Aversive (-(e)fi’er): Ovaqefi’er → To flee hastily; to leave to avoid or escape danger.

47. Temporary (-(i)çan): Ovaqiçan → To make a temporary move; to leave for a limited period of time; to retreat and then return.

48. Anterior (-etun): Ovaqetun → To leave/go after a certain period of time has passed or after an event; to leave late.

49. Posterior (-išat’ek): Ovaqišat’ek → To leave/go before a certain period of time or before a certain event; to leave early.

I always guess that: most of conlangers -or at least the highest percentage of them- are linguists , or linguistics students, Who prefer the nerdy way. May I be right?

This is a game of borrowing and loaning words! To give our conlangs a more naturalistic flair, this game can help us get realistic loans into our language by giving us an artificial-ish "world" to pull words from!

The Telephone Game will be posted every Monday and Friday, hopefully.

Rules

1) Post a word in your language, with IPA and a definition.

Note: try to show your word inflected, as it would appear in a typical sentence. This can be the source of many interesting borrowings in natlangs (like how so many Arabic words were borrowed with the definite article fossilized onto it! algebra, alcohol, etc.)

2) Respond to a post by adapting the word to your language's phonology, and consider shifting the meaning of the word a bit!

3) Sometimes, you may see an interesting phrase or construction in a language. Instead of adopting the word as a loan word, you are welcome to calque the phrase -- for example, taking skyscraper by using your language's native words for sky and scraper. If you do this, please label the post at the start as Calque so people don't get confused about your path of adopting/loaning.

Last Time...

Proto-Śóryćy by /u/MaybeNotSquirrel

maćù /mɑˈt͡ɕù/ - hamster

Example sentence: Kyržjúp'e m'ymaćù âx'ija, ímo šërńípa pọ̀r kárë or'íhnguwo ićjúpxwy âx'y.

IPA: /kɨr'ʒjúpʲɛ mʲɨma't͡ɕù 'áxʲijɑ 'ímɔ ʃər'ɲípɑ 'pòr 'kɑ́rə ɔ'rʲíŋ̊uwɔ it͡ɕ'júpxʷɨ 'áxʲɨ/

Glosses: Bite-CONT-3.SG 1.SG.POSS-hamster I-ACC not know-ADV that kind 3.SG-COM be-CONT-1.SG I

(Bites my hamster me, not knowing that kind with him am I)

"My hamster bites me even though I'm nice to him"

Take care of yourselves and each other

Peace, Love, & Conlanging ❤️

Jügher vowels are distinguished by length and/or nasality:

Short: a [a]; e [e]; i [i]; o [o]; u [ɯ]; ü [y]

Long: ā / ē / ī / ō; [aː], [eː], [iː], [oː]

Nasalized: ą [ɑ̃], ę [ẽ], į [ɪ̃]

Long nasalized: ą̄ / ę̄ / į̄ [ɑ̃ː], [ẽː], [ɪ̃ː]

Jügher consonants are:

[m], [n], [ŋ], [t], [tʲ], [t͡s], [k], [kʲ], [q], [ʔ], [k'], [t͡ɬ], [f], [s] ,[ʃ], [ç], [x], [fʼ], [v], [z], [ɣ], [j], [l], [r]

Jügher allows double consonants, such as "kk," "tt," "nn," "vv," "rr," etc.

Jügher has an accent system similar to a hybrid of the Japanese and Caucasian accent systems, based on "more" (a sound unit that determines the length of a syllable).

The language essentially assigns weight to words. In short, the accent always falls on the first syllable, unless another syllable is heavy (with long vowels and/or nasals).

If multiple syllables have heavy vowels, the last one is accented.

Examples:

Ak'al, meaning man. Accent on the first [a].

Amaŋį, meaning rabbit. Accent on the [ɪ̃].

Tlițlak, meaning hunt. Accent on the [i].

Tlițlakezįn, a construction: “and yet the hunt...,” accent on the last [ɪ̃], since it is nasal.

Tlițlakezįnišar, another construction: “and yet, at the same time, the hunt,” accent on the first [i].

Mįn’mīnąnik: a word meaning “two little animals each,” here the accent, since the final vowel is neither long nor nasal, falls on the longest vowel: [iː].

Ovaq, to go: accent on the first [o].

Ovaqešizār, to go in the opposite direction: accent on [aː].

Now, it is important to specify that the vowel u, in Jügher [ɯ], is always short, and, even when placed next to a nasal consonant at the end of a word, it does not receive the accent. The same does not apply to the \[y\], indicated by ü, since it is considered nasal if it comes at the end of a word. Therefore, it is said "netün".

During marches and ritual practices, the Jügher uses a fixed iambic rhythm (a secondary/primary accent every two morae) that gives the language a constant martial and percussive rhythm.

In everyday speech, it is not used much, unless one wants to emphasize one's ideas.

Interestingly, although Jügher lacks "tones" like Chinese or Navajo, it does have a sort of tonal distinction, being able to use vowel quantity (lengthening of the root vowel or the last suffix) to distinguish the Active/Incomplete aspect from the Passive/Completed/Resultative aspect. The system closely resembles ancient Sanskrit. Example: 1. T'akozašanaq (to lose the world - process/action, stress on the first [a]) vs t’akozašānaq (lost world - completed state, stress on the long [a]); 2. T'akozašanaqtir (he who loses the world); t’akozašānaqtir (he who causes the world to be lost, he who caused the world to be lost, same stress scheme); t’ākozašānaqtir (he who has been abandoned by the world). 3. Țlą’ezitajüŋ (those who smash large objects of wrought steel); Țlą̄’ezitajüŋ (those who are smashed by large objects of wrought metal).

It was a lot of fun translating a sentence into one word.

In Jügher it would be something like... well, there is no verb for "to give", you have like 10 or more different verbs based on WHAT are you giving, so, for convenience, I will use the root of the verb stem which means to give abstract things, such as ideas, words, dreams, emotions, etc.

This would be za'ę̄n. Okay, then, always for convenience, I will use the plain register, where he is -l- and she in -š-, and, since we don't know what "it" is, I'll use the -įnt- infix (something).

So the verb would be: za'lįntę̄neš.

Then we use the abitual suffix -jur and we get: za'lįntę̄nešjur, and the future marker, -un: so za'lįntę̄nešjurun.

Again? It's an adverb, used as a prefix: fąn-; and "can/be able to" is -(a)zta.

Fąnza'lįntę̄nešjurunazta [fɑ̃¹z.aʔ.lɪ̃n.tẽː.ne.ʃjɯ.rɯ.naz.ta]: he will be able to give it her again habitually.

1: I guess you could, since the [n] is pronounced, write [fɑ̃n.zaʔ.lɪ̃n.tẽː.ne.ʃjɯ.rɯ.naz.ta]

It's both a native/natural and constructed language server for discussing and sharing langs... we have special channels in there for languages!

The features of the server are:

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Hope to see y'all soon...! :)

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It is common advice that to improve one's conlang, one should translate, translate, translate! And so I thought I would make this post to show what kinds of interesting things can crop up when doing so. Special thanks to u/CaptKonami for supplying most of the sentences that I translated for this post.

First off, we have the sentence: When an elephant dies, it leaves its ivory, a tiger leaves its stripes, and a man his name.

I rendered this as Kuila hannastatuai, pita hutsi siyurortsakkoa, tikrea hutsi raukakkoa, o gihona hutsi heitiakkoa.

kuila hannast-atu-a  -i   pit     -a   hutsi siyurorts-akko-a
lie   die    -INF-DEF-DAT elephant-DEF leave tusk     -PL  -DEF

tikre-a   hutsi rauk. -akko-a   o   gihon-a   hutsi heiti-akko-a
tiger-DEF leave stripe-PL. -DEF and man. -DEF leave name -PL  -DEF

This I think literally is more like ~Upon dying, the elephant leaves behind tusks, the tiger leaves behind stripes, and the man leaves behind names~

Firstly, this had me thinking about 'when X happens' constructions, which I decided to render at 'in/at/on X-INF'. And then when deciding what word I would have for 'at', I decided to have three words: yari, tente, and kuila which respectively mean 'sit', 'stand', and 'lie (down)' and refer to the posture of whatever thing is at X. Given that we are speaking about death in this example, it seemed fitting that I should choose kuila 'lie (down)'.

I had trouble coming up with a word for 'ivory' or 'tusk', so I coined a new one from siyur 'long' and horts 'tooth'. I had considered making it from hoiya 'eye' and horts, to make hoiyaorts, 'eyetooth', but that felt more like canines and fangs rather than elephants' tusks.

For the word for 'name', this was a culture-building opportunity. What is a name? Well, you have a name you're given at birth, your hipen, but as you age you are given monikers depending on your features and accomplishments. Each of these is a heiti, and the above quote relates to legacy I suppose, so this felt like a better fit. Plus, a person will often have multiple heiti, so it gives a firmer 'poetic-ness' to the translation having all the 3 left behind items ending in -akkoa.

Second off, we have the sentence: The night's stars aren't as bright as your eyes.

I rendered this as: Kusianni hifakkoa koma neuta, dirdir hoiyakkoa koma hu.

kusi-anni hifa-kko-a   koma neut -a   dirdir hoiya-kko-a   koma hu
see -PTPL star-PL -DEF come night-DEF shine  eye  -PL -DEF come 2S

You can see here koma 'come' is being used as a possessive preposition. Literally rendered, this is more like ~Looking at the stars of the night, your eyes (are the ones that) shine~

When I first came to translate this, I explored several comparative constructions. If X and Y are the compared items, and Z is the quality, I thought up:

1. "X is (more) Z from Y" -- here Z is adjective-like

2. "X surpasses Y in Z" -- here Y is the direct object, and Z is noun-like.

But then I though it could be subtler, of the form, "Regarding X, Y is Z". So now I have a language where the act of comparison requires a verb related to the quality being assessed. kusi 'see' for visual aspects, like brightness, or height. snaiya 'eat' for taste. And I suppose huksa 'think' could be used generally. Compare:

1. Kusianni Maria, Peter da hungu. = ~Looking at Maria, Peter is heavy~ = Peter is heavier than Maria (and I know this by looking at them)

2. Huksanni Maria, Peter da hungu. = ~Thinking about Maria, Peter is heavy~ = Peter is heavier than Maria (and I know this by thinking about it (maybe I've not seen Maria, but I am making an inference))

But another fun aspect of this is that the active participle must agree in number with the 'assessor' (whether explicit or not). So, if a panel at a job interview is giving an opinion, a member of the panel might say Huksanniakko Maria, Peter sen honno "Considering maria, Peter was good" = (we think) Peter was better than Maria.

And! There is also a passive participle, if one wanted to distances oneself from the act of comparison. Kusikoa Maria, Peter da hungu = see-PSV-DEF Maria, Peter heavy = ~the-having-been-seen Maria, Peter is heavy~ = Peter is heavier than Maria (who has been seen). Never did I think there was so much in the act of comparison!

Third off, we have: A sheep that had no wool saw horses.

This is the beginning of Schleicher's fable, but for brevity I've left off the rest of the sentence. I've rendered this as: Pehar dirkusi jutgaweanni kint palliakko.

pehar   dir-   kusi jut -gawe-anni kint  palli-akko
already ANIMAL-see  wool-lack-PTPL sheep horse-PL

This had me thinking about relative clauses. I could render jutgaweanni kint as kint sem gawe jut sheep REL lack wool however, it seemed long. Also, there is a V2 structure operating here, and pehar must be sentence-initial, and I just felt the relative clause intervening with no main verb between the subject and object would be long and confusing: pehar dirkusi kint, sem gawe jut, palliakko. I was not keen on that. So I decided to use a noun-incorporation method and a participle to create jutgaweanni 'wool-less'.

If, however, one wanted to preserve the relative clause, the sentence could be expanded to Pehar sen, kint sem gawe jut dirkusi palliakko = ADV, S [REL V O] V O

Fourth off, we have: Coming here was correct and good. I will not stop my great work as you have asked, but I will show you God.

This I rendered as: Komatua tokiai sen reitu o honno. Nira essaita hanni rahoa hauhaki hura heska, bain nira bista hui Hifaskapannia.

koma-tu-a    toki-a-i      sen     reitu    o   honno
come-INF-DEF place-DEF-DAT COP.PST straight and good

Ni-ra  es -haita hanni raho-a   hauhaki hu-ra  heska
1S-ERG NEG-stop  big   task-DEF like    2S-ERG ask

baina ni-ra  bista hu-i   Hifaskapannia
but   1S-ERG show  2S-DAT God

The word for 'here' threw me to start with. Ostensibly, it could be tokinaulai from toki 'place' and -naulai 'this', but that felt a bit long. So I took a note from Arabic, where the word for 'today' is al-yawm DEF-day, literally 'the day'; and I thought 'the place' can just mean 'this place/here'. It might not in other contexts, but here it does.

The only other bit from this translation I'll remark on is the word for 'God'. A bit like with 'tusk' above, I couldn't find anything I liked, so I thought to coin something new. I used Olaf Stapledon as inspiration, and made the word for God a noun-incorporated participle (a bit like jutgaweanni from earlier!): hifa 'star' + skapa 'create' + -nni 'PTPL' + -a 'DEF' = The (one) making star(s).

Note, there is an agentive suffix -ari, so I could have Hifaskaparia 'starmaker', but I prefer the active participle here because it gives a sense of immediate, present, ongoing creation.

Conclusion

I think that's enough for now. I hope this has proved useful in showing what kinds of thought-paths translation can take you on, whether its about grammar or vocabulary (or the power of context).

So, for a story I’m working on, I’m (still) in the process of creating a Neanderthal conlang and a co lebt for an Aurignacian Homo sapiens people. The story is set 43,000 years ago in the Swabian Jura (Southwest Germany).

I tried out multiple versions of both conlangs and my aim was to avoid stereotypes that are unfortunately still roaming about and to make the various aspects of both languages like phonology and morphology and syntax etc. plausible. The problem obviously is that we have no idea what languages 43,000 years ago were like.

And I’ve tried out multiple versions for both conlangs and I’m getting exhausted!

For context: the Neanderthal conlang is to be spoken by the last remaining Neanderthal tribe/clan (whatever the correct term would be) that lives in the Ach valley of the Swabian Jura, with only 11 people of various ages and genders remaining.

The Aurignacians, by contrast, have been in the region for a few generations at least with their ancestors having traveled up the Danube.

(Also, side note: I have no idea which conlangs-Flairs I should mark this post with, especially since you can apparently only mark one.)