Conlangs

[Bagliun Edar]

Laimnil (hello all),
Conlanging, the "secret vice" as Tolkien once referred it to, is something that has bit me recently. I've been making up my own language for the past few months. Here is a sample of it.

Zobardibi, lēnglibeigaol. Ulgro mālanalgriror vobululamaimunuzu mabezu "Enterprise". Thuirgiriadimorduldo eliogayālzuonzu ala. Bemgli andergrurbloglibomde. Bōldui zrimthabilgrobomdetha glidromungrobomdetha. Thalzēmar lonlin othalzu gayamalebaunbal mor.
"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission. To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before."

I suppose that trekkies interested on any kind of conlang would prefer Klingon or Vulcan. Yet I'm curious. It's there anyone in this forum who has constructed a language of his own? Could we see a sample?

 

[SmoothieX]

Wow, just wow. I think I'll just stick with English.

 

[Melakon]

Ateverwhay ouyay aysay.

 

[sojourner]

Kara tu dekat!*



*for a translation please dig up issue 35 of the Will Payton Starman comicbook written by Keith Giffen. One of the funniest ever written.

 

[Kemaiku]

Wut.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I did construct a language when I was a child. I must have started when I was about 10 and continued until I was about 14 years old. At various times I was aided by schoolfriends until they got sick of it. I had several exercise books filled with vocabulary. They only thing I really remember about my language was that its number words were based on prime numbers i.e. there were words for prime numbers and all other number were made by combining those prime words.

I am not sure what became of all my exercise books. I don't remember getting rid of them.

A good book that is about conlangs is In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent. I read it a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

also on my bookshelves but as yet unread are

From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages by Michael Adams

and The Language Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder (He has also written Advance dLanguage Construction and The Planet Construction Kit).

 

[Timby]

Laimnil (hello all),
Conlanging, the "secret vice" as Tolkien once referred it to, is something that has bit me recently. I've been making up my own language for the past few months. Here is a sample of it.

Zobardibi, lēnglibeigaol. Ulgro mālanalgriror vobululamaimunuzu mabezu "Enterprise". Thuirgiriadimorduldo eliogayālzuonzu ala. Bemgli andergrurbloglibomde. Bōldui zrimthabilgrobomdetha glidromungrobomdetha. Thalzēmar lonlin othalzu gayamalebaunbal mor.
"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission. To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before."

I suppose that trekkies interested on any kind of conlang would prefer Klingon or Vulcan. Yet I'm curious. It's there anyone in this forum who has constructed a language of his own? Could we see a sample?

 

[Pondwater]

Reminds me of the time I dropped a bowl of alphabet soup on the floor.

 

[SmoothieX]

Zobardibi, lēnglibeigaol. Ulgro mālanalgriror vobululamaimunuzu mabezu "Enterprise". Thuirgiriadimorduldo eliogayālzuonzu ala. Bemgli andergrurbloglibomde. Bōldui zrimthabilgrobomdetha glidromungrobomdetha. Thalzēmar lonlin othalzu gayamalebaunbal mor.

Let's bust out the old decoder ring here...

I am a 31 year old mouthbreather that lives in my mother's basement. My face looks like a pepperoni pizza and I live on Hot Pockets. I lost my job at the comic book store after my manager caught me fapping to Spiderman. I like long walks on the beach, Rainbow Brite, and paint by number. My ideal woman is a Martian.

 

[sojourner]

^Dude, coming from someone on a forum for trek fans, that's pretty hypocritical.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I started a thread on this subject more than three years ago and no-one made any derogative comments in that thread.

That old thread is here, I provide the link hoping that no-one will bring it back from the dead.

 

[Triskelion]

^ Cool thread! Great stuff so far! This is a favorite topic of mine.

I created a language called Sevencube or Sevenquad or just Quad. It's an international language that you can use instantly or speak with people anywhere - without technology.

It's based on assigning an intuitive numerical value for the commonest lexicons using a Maslowian "human motivation" hierarchical structure. Seven levels of human motivation are each broken down into seven topics, each with seven descriptors. The foundation language contains 343 words or 7 x 7 x 7. (Actually it's 337 total because the 7th level so far just has one word, "success"). For advanced speakers, you add another exponent, bringing the total to 2401 words - enough to grok a newspaper in a second language. It can be extended from there, if desired.

You speak the language using the numbers 1-7. You can speak or sign them, or push buttons if you want to digitize it.

The idea is that you have a flash card with any foreign language on it you can hand to someone, and speak using numbers. You can speak with any language using the same numbers.

Yes, this is a basis for Universal Translation. Numbers can be extended to concepts, idioms or other stimuli.

Weakness: grammatical structure. So a Japanese person might essentially say to you "Restaurant to let's eat." Other than that, a group of ten people each with a different first language could speak with complete understanding in a language built entirely of seven numbers.

So that's the intro. Here's the foundation lexicon of Sevencube. I have other lists in various other languages too.

The number is what you say. The word is your language.

The main levels/headwords are:

1 Survival
2 Places
3 People
4 Actions
5 Ideas
6 Descriptions
7 Achievement

The Structure:

1-7 Headwords - IE: 1
.....1-7 Subheads each - IE: 1-1
...........1-7 Descriptors each - IE: 1-1-1

The --"definition" is only in this working copy to help clarify the intended meaning for building translation lists. It's not part of the actual language.

1 Survival --Not dying


11 Physical --Of the body and the World

111 Air --what you breathe
112 Drink --can be water or some liquid nourishment
113 Food --what you eat
114 Toilet --commode (rest room, wc, loo)
115 Rest --sleep (nonactive rejuvenation, nap or sitting in a chair for a moment)
116 Tool --Very general word meaning any device used to do something
117 Money --General word meaning currency

12 Sense --Physcial senses (understanding)

121 See --with your eyes
122 Hear --with your ears
123 Touch --with your skin
124 Taste --with your tongue
125 Smell --with your nose, (or aroma)
126 Wisdom --experience, (body sense, cosmic context)
127 Spirit --what is not physical or mental; (soul)

13 Body --what is sitting in your chair


131 Head --most important body part
132 Neck --supports the head
133 Torso --the body without arms or legs or neck
134 Arms --body appendages
135 Hands --arm appendages
136 Legs --body appendages
137 Feet --leg appendages

14 Function --Working duties and abilities

141 Eyes --the orbs in your head
142 Ears --what you hear with
143 Nose --what you smell with
144 Mouth --what you eat with
145 Digits --fingers and toes
146 Genitals --your naughty bits
147 Hair --can be the hairs on your head or the fur everywhere else

15 Medicine --When you feel bad, take this

151 Breathing --respiration
152 Heart --blood pump (or center of operations)
153 Digestion --food processing
154 Muscles --what moves your body
155 Bones --skeletal structure
156 Nerves --nervous system
157 Glands --body chemical production

16 Trouble --Risk or disruption to a peaceful life

161 Human --the species Homo sapien
162 Animal --all other living creatures besides plants
163 Machine --general technology
164 Traffic --cars and busses, (or business streams)
165 Environment --the world in which we live
166 Weather --rain snow or shine
167 Biochemical --involving chemical processes in living organisms (as in threats to safety, toxic spills, or germ warfare. Hey, wouldn’t you want to know the word for this?)

17 Help --Assistance, aid

171 Ambulance --hospital truck
172 Fire --flames, (or fire department), (but not to lose one's job)
173 Police --Those guys with badges and guns
174 Pain --general negative body stimulus
175 Accident --car crash or spilling milk
176 Disability --handicap, deficiency
177 Lost --I don't know where I am

2 Places --things you point to when giving directions to a lost person

21 Building --general domocile or structure, tower, etc

211 Room --The thing with the door in a building
212 Floor --the thing you stand on, or building level
213 Door --close it, it's drafty outside
214 Furniture --chairs and tables and furnishings
215 Hotel --Pay per day to stay
216 Apartment --city dwelling
217 Home --house or apartment or hometown

22 Travel --Going elsewhere

221 Stairs --up and down
222 Cycle --2 wheeled conveyance (bicycle, motorcycle)
223 Car --4 wheels and a steering wheel
224 Bus --long city public conveyance that is not the train
225 Boat --floats on water
226 Train --long city public conveyance that is not the bus
227 Plane --flying machine

23 Way --road, path, street, highway, (or possibly method)

231 Sidewalk --concrete for walkers, not cars
232 Corner --1/4 of an intersection
233 Sign --Writing on a post for public viewing
234 Block --city area between gridlines
235 Bridge --spans a river
236 Fuel --gas, petrol
237 Map --Road guide

24 Direction --which way are you going

241 Straight --not curved
242 Left --port
243 Right --starboard
244 In --inside
245 Out --outside
246 Turn --move left or right
247 Stop --don't go

25 Location --where is the place

251 Near --in proximity
252 Far --not in proximity
253 Before --in front of
254 Beside --next to
255 Behind --in back of
256 Across --on the other side of the street
257 Through --like a train in a tunnel

26 City --that big bunch of buildings and smog

261 Hospital --where they take car crash victims
262 Airport --where planes go
263 Station --train or bus buildings
264 Store --shop, market or boutique
265 Bank --building with money vaults
266 Pharmacy --chemist, drugstore
267 Restaurant --business with food, tables and waitresses

27 Nature --that thing outside the big bunch of buildings and smog

271 Sky --the big blue thing over your head
272 Land --earth and dirt
273 Rock --really hard dirt
274 Plant --little or big nonmoving organism, including trees
275 Grass --greensward
276 Sand --really soft rock (not Kenny G)
277 Water --H2O

3 People --human beings

31 Person --human being

311 I --me
312 You --one or more people you are talking to
313 She --girl
314 He --boy
315 It --thing
316 We --us
317 They --them

32 Family --closer than friends or business partners (blood relation)

321 Mother --who you came out of
322 Father --who punished you
323 Sister --female sibling
324 Brother --brother sibling
325 Daughter --female offspring
326 Son --male offspring
327 In-law --that guy on your sofa

33 Relationship --how 2 people interact on a regular basis

331 Acquaintance --just met someone
332 Friend --someone you make a personal choice to be around
333 Girlfriend --girl who is a (romantic) friend
334 Boyfriend --boy who is a (romantic) friend
335 Fiance(e) --woman or man you will marry
336 Wife --woman who is married
337 Husband --man who is married

34 Feeling --touch and/or emotion

341 Happy --smiling
342 Sad --frowning
343 Surprise --unexpected excitement
344 Anger --mad
345 Fear --afraid
346 Disgust --nausea-inducing
347 Stable --calm or unwavering

35 Sex --male/female body (or intercourse)

351 Role --gender (social identity expectations)
352 Orientation --do you like males or females?
353 Female --girl
354 Male --boy
355 Universal --androgenous, or equal, or asexual
356 Abstain --intention not to have sex
357 Virgin --never had sex

36 Work --job

361 Organization --company, school, other
362 Leader --boss, manager, president
363 Colleague --coworker
364 Customer --buyer/client
365 Buy --to purchase
366 Sell --to exchange something for money
367 Education --learning

37 Clothes --things you wear

371 Top --shirt, (blouse, jacket)
372 Bottom --pants, (skirt, kilt)
373 Underwear --under your pants and shirt
374 Shoes --hard things on your feet
375 Suit --matching set of clothes
376 Coat --big jacket for the cold weather
377 Accessories --anything else--earrings, belts, purse, socks

4 Actions --verbs

41 Change --becoming different from one state to another

411 Information --data that turns into knowledge
412 Past --it happened already
413 Future --it is not happening yet
414 All --every
415 Can --ability
416 Should --ought/obligation
417 Happen --occur/occurence

42 Live --to grow, eat, reproduce and die

421 Hunger --Feeling of time to eat
422 Thirst --Feeling of time to drink
423 Consume --to eat (or use)
424 Laugh --noises of happiness and joy
425 Cry --tears in your eyes
426 Dream --imagination when sleeping
427 Try --to attempt

43 Know --to understand something

431 Learn --to acquire knowledge
432 Think --to cognize, use your head
433 Confuse --to muddle meanings
434 Choose --to decide
435 Find --to locate something
436 Practice --to exercise something
437 Remember --to recall

44 Desire --to want deeply

441 Give --to hand something over
442 Take --to receive
443 Have --to own or possess
444 Love --to adore
445 Need to require
446 Be --to exist
447 Free --to release from obligations

45 Move --to have motion

451 Come --to arrive
452 Go --to depart
453 Walk --to stroll
454 Ride --to sit in a moving conveyance like a car
455 Stay --to remain
456 Wash --to clean with water
457 Do --to act

46 Communicate --to send and receive messages

461 Ask --to inquire
462 Say --to speak
463 Repeat --to say again
464 Watch --to observe
465 Show --to reveal
466 Phone --to call
467 Mail --to send a letter

47 Socialize --to gather with other people

471 Meet --to come together
472 Name --to give an appellation to
473 Play --to work for fun
474 Cheat --to lie in practice
475 Like --to love only lesser so
476 Hold --to grasp
477 Kiss --to press lips

5 Ideas --things you think about

51 Time --the measurement of space expansion

511 Second --one tick
512 Minute --60 ticks
513 Hour --60 minutes
514 Day --24 hours
515 Week --7 days
516 Month --Gregorian calendar-based month (Jan-Dec)
517 Year --365 days

52 Now --this moment

521 Yesterday --before today
522 Today --this day
523 Tomorrow --the next day
524 Last --the final one (before now)
525 Next --the proceeding
526 Season --winter spring summer or fall
527 Always --forever

53 Pattern --regular arrangement

531 Traditional --customary
532 Modern --up to date
533 Opinion --personal belief
534 Reason --excuse (or why something is)
535 Normal --common experience
536 Judge --to discern
537 Theory --set of hypotheses

54 Power --use of force

541 Oppose --to counter
542 Agree --to meet an understanding
543 Avoid --to evade
544 Accommodate --to host
545 Dominate --to overpower
546 Compromise --each party gives something up to make an agreement
547 Together --two or more things with each other

55 Respect --esteem

551 Yes --affirmative
552 No --negative
553 Maybe --between yes and no
554 Goodbye --departing acknowledgement
555 Hello --salutation
556 Thanks --expression of gratitude
557 Welcome --receiving with gratitude

56 Schedule --itinerary

561 Computer --pc
562 TV --audio/visual electronic box
563 Game --amusement
564 Club --drinking place (pub or bar or disco)
565 Music --aural composition
566 Write --to script
567 Shopping --browsing for goods to purchase

57 Question --inquiry

571 Who --what person
572 What --which thing
573 Where --which place
574 When --which time
575 How --in what way
576 Why --which reason
577 Because --reason why

6 Descriptions --representations

61 Good --not bad

611 Correct --appropriate
612 This --the object here
613 That --the object there
614 Here --this place
615 There --that place
616 Very --emphasis
617 Much --a lot

62 Number --counting unit

621 Size --dimension
622 Shape --form
623 Length --long dimension
624 Distance --how far
625 Meter --unit of length, the distance traveled by light in a vacuum1/299,792,458 per second
626 Big --great
627 Little --diminutive

63 Value --worth

631 High --a lot of value
632 Middle --medium value
633 Low --little value
634 End --final
635 Cost --price
636 Card --small plastic rectangle
637 Cash --paper and coin money

64 And --also

641 To --direction
642 With --accompanying
643 Or --alternative
644 But --exception
645 Too --also
646 Of --from
647 For --indication

65 Thing --object

651 Hot --more than warm
652 Cold --less than cool
653 Ice --frozen water
654 Some --a small indefinite amount
655 Different --not same
656 New --not old
657 Age --time units something exists

66 Art --aesthetics

661 Truth --fundamental reality
662 Beauty --pleasing to behold
663 Light --photons from the sun
664 Image --picture (symbol)
665 Balance --weight distributed evenly
666 Invalidation --denial of worth
667 Inspiration --impetus of motivation

67 Color --hue and saturation

671 Red --Color of tomatoes (not green!)
672 Yellow --sun color
673 Blue --sky and ocean color
674 Brown --earth color
675 Black --night color
676 White --color of snow
677 Clear --transparent like a window

7 Achievement --accomplishment, understanding, agreement

 

[Miss Chicken]

Your language would probably be easy for me to pick up as it seems to work in a similar fashion to most forms of library classification and I am very good at cataloging anything (not just books).

 

[Triskelion]

That's an interesting insight, Miss Chicken. Numbers can intimidate some; but I think memorizing seven words at a time makes it easier.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I used to be surprised when some other students told me that they had trouble cataloging because 'they were no good with numbers".

Cataloging has very little to do with numbers even though numbers are used. Dewey Classification uses numbers, Library of Congress Classification uses letters and numbers. I didn't used LCC much though I have used Moys Classification which fits into the LCC K Class (class for Law).

Because I was good at classification I sometimes tutored other students in my class. I found I had to break the barrier that made people think that the numbers meant some form of mathematics. Once you get passed that it is easier to teach.

Once people understand there are 10 main classes (similar to your seven level/headwords) and that those 10 classes could be divided 10 times again and so on it was easier to understand (technically words could have been used instead of numbers, number made it easier to put the classification on the spine of a book).

Class 500 is Science

of which for example
520 Astronomy
560 Paleontology
590 Zoological sciences/animals

the 590s, for example, can be further divided
---
594 Mollusca
----
----
598 Birds
599 Mammals

after the first three numbers a decimal point is used and topics can be further divided ( (using tables for standard subdivisions, geographic areas etc, - which I am a bit rusty at using).

If words were used instead of Mammals being 599 it would have to written as Science-/Zoological science/Animals-Mammals so the numbers are only 'shorthand'.

I think this is very similar to what you are doing with your language.

The main problem with the Dewey Decimal System is that it is Anglo-American centric and I wonder if your system might suffer a little from that to a lesser degree. Could a different time system/calendar fit in? What about different kin systems? What about people who do their travelling on foot, on horse, or camel etc? Different colour phonemes?

 

[Triskelion]

Miss Chicken, I appreciate these insights a lot, being ignorant in the area of library science. Tremendous potential resource.

I agree with you that people may get hung up on math, when it's really about intuitive-yet-systematic classification. In principle, a number could be assigned to any word on Earth - which may take more descriptions in other languages. For example, in Japanese one number for "Wa" may suffice, but to translate that into English you may have to describe "Accommodation for Group Benefit," or something. So - with the help of translation software, you could assign a number to every human concept, and rely on native speakers to put it in more local terms.

Computers could in theory interface to locate common referents in almost any medium - text, image, sound, light - to create a true exolinguistic database for Universal Translation Star Trek style. Back on Earth, I would consider this universal language a useful alternative to technology. A lot of it stems from my moving to China cold turkey without knowing a single word of Chinese. Funnily enough, I got by (sort of) on sign language but this is useful for conversations with little wallet cards in target languages.

Yes, it does stem from my L1 English concepts. I think your questions merit more international input than what one person could answer. (This is why I tend toward open source development for this). My thinking is, English has already done a lot of global legwork ahead of Sevencube, so it's sensible to start from that reference point anyway. Besides, if people of one language understood each other perfectly there'd be no literature.

I also have a program someone wrote in Python that translates Sevencube text back-and-forth automatically. It could work in any language.

The really intriguing thing about this language is that it could benefit from not only speech-to-text software (and T2S), but also instant translation between humans and machines (and AI?) in any part of the world - regardless of a person's native tongue. IE, you don't have to memorize Sevencube to use it. I'm sure something similar is already the basis for translation programs out there. My idea is to classify it intuitively - as you say - and speak without need for technology, if that matters any more.

I'm just uncertain about what people would want - to memorize, to use a phone translator, or to have a little artificial babel fish in their ear. I like the fish one.

 

[Bagliun Edar]

My conlang is called "Obulamga", I translate this as "Godspeech". "Obu" is the name of God within my conworld, "lamga" may mean speech, language, or the action of creating as a noun; or speak, spawn, or create as a verb.

I began it when I needed a naming language to name the souls of my conworld. I had been developing a complex cosmology for it, and it involves reincarnation, so I needed a way to keep track of each character across the generations. I read the Language Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder and started on it. I feel in love with it and continued beyond a mere naming language. Godspeech is more a practice language than anything else, intended to be a divine language. Almost nothing of it would end up within a novel, if I ever write one.

Since someone mentioned numbers, these are the numbers from 1 to 10 in Godspeech:
al: one
am: two
obul: three
ja: four
ala: five
vin: six
en: seven
enal: eight
enam: nine
enobul: ten

It's a base seven system.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Zobardibi, lēnglibeigaol. Ulgro mālanalgriror vobululamaimunuzu mabezu "Enterprise". Thuirgiriadimorduldo eliogayālzuonzu ala. Bemgli andergrurbloglibomde. Bōldui zrimthabilgrobomdetha glidromungrobomdetha. Thalzēmar lonlin othalzu gayamalebaunbal mor.

Let's bust out the old decoder ring here...

I am a 31 year old mouthbreather that lives in my mother's basement. My face looks like a pepperoni pizza and I live on Hot Pockets. I lost my job at the comic book store after my manager caught me fapping to Spiderman. I like long walks on the beach, Rainbow Brite, and paint by number. My ideal woman is a Martian.

Infraction for flaming. Comments to PM.

 

[shivkala]

Kara tu dekat!*



*for a translation please dig up issue 35 of the Will Payton Starman comicbook written by Keith Giffen. One of the funniest ever written.

Letztawk idofer.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I did a little conlang-ing for an abandoned fantasy project decades ago, but nothing since. I threw away all my notes, because I was not satisfied with the direction that project was taking.

The gist of my conlang was that the letters of the alphabet derived from pictograms, and the spelling of each word derived from a story that illustrated its meaning as its essential point or moral. When the pictograms got simplified over time into letters, those prototype stories accordingly become spelled out words. I guess you could say it was kind of Darmok-like to an extent, but not nearly that cool.

I routinely pick Darmok as one of my favorite TNG episodes.

I find this thread quite fascinating, but I really have nothing to add beyond what I've already said.