Category: Analysis

Journal-style investigations of conlangs or conlanging.

Categories
Analysis English Language

To What Extent do Constructed Languages Serve an Important Purpose in Media?

Eva Caston Bell is a student of English Literature, Spanish, and History, with these studies having shaped her interests in both the linguistic and contextual elements of constructed languages. She is also interested in fandom and pop culture and how it can be used for intellectual and academic purposes, especially on platforms of predominantly young users such as TikTok and Twitter. In her spare time, Eva enjoys playing the guitar, listening to Oh Wonder, and singing with her school choir.

Abstract

This research project explored the extent to which Constructed Languages serve an important purpose in media. The study focused largely around the combination of prior research conducted by language constructors and the experiences of those who consume constructed languages within the types of media they exist in, such as film, television, and literature. These experiences were collected through primary research in the form of a survey which compiled the sentiments of over 200 conlang enthusiasts, and covered the questions their own perspectives on learning a constructed language, their varying effectiveness dependent on the medium they existed in, and the constructed languages with which they were most familiar, in order to gauge the way in which constructed languages have the most extensive effects on those the reader or audience. Through the combination of these differing perspectives, the project was able to investigate the prevailing function that constructed languages serve within pop culture and media, and how this role has differed since the establishment of online communities in the field. The most popular trend offered by both conlangers and their fans was that constructed languages offer a sense of community and collaboration between those who would not otherwise associate, while also providing academic value to fiction and pop culture, a sentiment established more by those that construct languages, rather than those that receive them. This therefore demonstrated the role of the constructed language as a unifying presence of media, both commercial and social, and a mode of expression for everyone involved in or affected by their presence.

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Categories
Analysis English Language

Trigedasleng: A Study of the Verb System of a Possible Future Creole English

Tvrtko Samardžija is a Croatian tabletop game designer, worldbuilder, but first and foremost, he is a husband and father. He received a BA in English and Philosophy in 2018, an MA in English Linguistics and Philosophy in 2020, both at the Faculty for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb. As a professional, his passions lie in the publishing business, but also storytelling, worldbuilding, and designing tabletop roleplaying games, and anything to do with the genre of science-fantasy. His favorite books belong to the old sword-and-planet period of the early 20th century, but he also loves a good dark fantasy novel. He is always interested in new ways of applying linguistics and in linguistic research, as well as any form of artistic cooperation where he might contribute with his knowledge and skills. His biggest flaw is he likes really, really dark humor.

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to explore the possibility that Trigedasleng, a conlang, could be a future development of Present-Day English (PDE). The main argument of this thesis is that Trigedasleng developed from PDE as a creole. Three aspects of Trigedasleng will be analyzed and discussed: the pronunciation and possible changes; the system of verb auxiliaries that English-based creoles use, which determine the tense, mood and aspects of verbs (TMA auxiliaries), and its comparison to the verb system found in Trigedasleng; the phrasal aspect of Trigedasleng’s verb system, referred to as “phrasality” in this work, and an exploration of the possible developmental connections to PDE, as well as connections to the development of this feature through the history of English since the Old English period. The firm conclusions that can be drawn from this work are that Trigedasleng does seem to fit the profile of an English-based creole as far as the analyzed features are concerned, but also that phrasality “runs in the veins” of the English language, and ties Trigedasleng firmly to the English family in this aspect; lastly, it can be firmly concluded that Trigedasleng subscribes to compounding and phrasal construction seemingly as much as PDE does. Loose conclusions include the possibility of a creole developing within the “confines” of a single language, that there exists a shared cognitive reality that governs the grammar of a language as well as its possible developments, as well as that studying such constructed languages that are proposed future developed forms of present-day languages might help linguists predict the direction in which a language’s development might proceed. What remains inconclusive is whether the changes observed in Trigedasleng’s development are distinctly English.

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Categories
Analysis English Language

You’re the Only One Who Knows My True Identity: How Fandoms Create New Identities for Constructed Language Learners

Brianna is currently a PhD student at the Queen’s University in Cultural Studies. She completed her Master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus). Brianna also completed her Bachelor of Arts at UBC Okanagan, with a major in Anthropology. Her Master’s thesis focused on constructed languages, identity, and belonging, and she worked with an online community of Trigedasleng learners (the language constructed for the television show The 100). In 2020, she received the LCS Presidents’ Scholarship for her research. Brianna is also a fan of Star Wars, which has influenced both her future research and her identity.

Abstract

This thesis explores the intersections between fan studies, feminism, language, identity, and belonging. To do this, Brianna employed community-based research with the online language fan community, Slakgedakru, who spend time learning the language Trigedasleng. Trigedasleng was made for the television show The 100, which airs on The CW Network. The members of Slakgedakru consist of both fans of the language and fans of the show. Many assumptions about fans have cast them in a negative light and this research also aims to dispel misconceptions about fans. Fans are more often intelligent, mature, and reasoning than they are portrayed. This is especially true of language fans, who spend their time learning grammar and vocabulary, and, in the case of Slakgedakru, expanding the language. Slakgedakru’s international member base emphasizes the importance of online research. This research consisted of two phases: the first included a general survey for anyone learning Trigedasleng and an interview with the language’s creator, David J. Peterson; the second phase involved two text-based focus groups, one on the software platform Slack and one on the software platform Discord, both of which Slakgedakru belong to. Throughout these phases, she also conducted participant observation within the general, public chat channels on both platforms. Once these phases were complete, she analyzed the data and found that Slakgedakru comprises intelligent, mature fans who are inclusive and diverse in gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. The community itself provides a space where the language, the show, and real-life intermingle and this produces discussion on real-world, complex topics. In addition, members are able to explore their diverse genders and sexualities with a community of like-minded individuals. By accessing these alternative worlds, members are able to re-imagine possibilities for the real world.

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Categories
Analysis English Language

How to Not Verb

Logan Kearsley lived in multilingual Belgium for three years as a child, but didn’t realise other languages were cool before moving back to the anglophone United States, where he started conlanging at a still-young age and eventually studied Russian in high school. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Masters in Linguistics, and has had the opportunity to study a wide variety of languages while working to develop software for teaching and learning foreign languages at the university level and researching language pedagogy.

Abstract

“Can a language exist without verbs? What would such a language look like?” These are perennial questions in many conlanging communities. They do not, however, have a single unique answer. Whether a language can exist without verbs, or what that question even means, fundamentally depends on how one chooses to define “a verb”–something which is not universal between language or between linguistic theories. Under any given definition of “a verb”, however, a number of different strategies have been investigated by different conlangers over the years for eliminating the category from their languages. In this article, Logan Kearsley surveys some of the strategies that have been tried, with an analysis of which definitions of verblessness they do or do not meet, and provides reference materials and recommendations for other conlangers who may wish to tackle this kind of project themselves.

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Categories
Analysis English Language

Dothraki Relative Clause Structure

Caroline Elizabeth Melton has a BS in biology from the University of Memphis and an MA in linguistics from Stony Brook University. Currently a PhD student in biology and bioinformatics at the University of Memphis, she looks for any excuse to compare language change to biological evolution, to the exhaust of her professors.

Abstract

In this analysis, I aim to objectively assess the claim that Dothraki is a naturalistic language by comparing its case system and relative clause structures to known morphological and syntactic universals common to natural language.

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Categories
Analysis English Language

Me Nem Nesa: A Phonological Analysis of Dothraki

Sanjeev Vinodh is an undergraduate at UC Berkeley studying Linguistics and Cognitive Science. His interests include phonology, pragmatics, persuasive speaking, and p-alliteration. Sanjeev also teaches two classes at Berkeley: Magic: Theory and Deception, and Charisma: The Art of Genuine Connection.

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of three phonological processes found in David J. Peterson’s conlang Dothraki (created for the HBO series Game of Thrones)—”r” alternations, vowel laxing, and stress assignment—including a discussion on the language’s typological tractability. This was Sanjeev’s final project for Linguistics 111, Phonology, taught at UC Berkeley.

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Categories
Analysis Italian Language

Le Lingue Artificiali de Il Trono di Spade: Analisi linguistica dell’Alto Valyriano e del Dothraki

Alida Castronovo was born on the 4th of April in 1992, in the city of Palermo, in Sicily. She attended the University of Palermo and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Languages and Modern Literature and Linguistic Mediation. She continued her studies at the same university and obtained a Master’s Degree in Western and Eastern Languages and Modern Literature.

Besides her passion for music and TV-series, her interests are to be found in linguistics’ field and in foreign languages. Her passion for languages has always accompanied her throughout her academic history, in which she studied several languages, such as English, German, Chinese and French.

Alida Castronovo è nata il 4 aprile 1992 a Palermo, in Sicilia. Ha frequentato l’Università degli Studi di Palermo, conseguendo una Laurea Triennale in Lingue e Letterature Moderne e Mediazione Linguistica. Ha continuato i suoi studi universitari presso l’Università di Palermo, conseguendo una Laurea Magistrale in Lingue e Letterature Moderne dell’Occidente e dell’Oriente.

Oltre ad essere una grande appassionata di musica e serie tv, i suoi interessi spaziano anche nel campo della linguistica e delle lingue straniere. La sua passione per le lingue l’ha accompagnata durante tutto il suo percorso accademico all’interno del quale ha studiato diverse lingue, quali l’inglese, il tedesco, il cinese e il francese.

Abstract

Nowadays, constructed languages are catching linguistic research’s attention more and more. But, such a complex field does not enjoy the prestige it deserves yet. The purpose of this thesis is that of demolishing, through knowledge, scepticism’s barriers that have always accompanied this form of art, by highlighting the way the TV-show Game of Thrones’ constructed languages (Dothraki and High Valyrian) are destroying the prejudice, little by little.

In Chapter I, basic concept concerning conlangs will be presented by investigating their origins, their propulsive thrusts and by providing noteworthy examples, such as Volapük or Esperanto.

Chapter II provides the analysis of the most famous examples of constructed languages created for literature and cinematography, such as Tolkien’s elvish language (Quenya), Paul Frommer’s Na’vi and Mark Okrand’s Klingon.

Chapter III offers an in-depth analysis on Game of Thrones’ constructed languages, Dothraki and High Valyrian, created by David J. Peterson. In this chapter, every linguistic aspect of these languages will be analysed, with detailed tables and explanatory examples.

Finally, in Chapter IV, we provide an analysis of Game of Thrones’ languages, whose aim is that of evaluating their linguistic adequacy from a typological point of view. In doing so, we refer to Greenberg’s typological classification of languages. Therefore, Dothraki and High Valyrian will be analysed and filtered through Greenberg’s Implicational Universals of Languages. (Italian Text)

Le lingue artificiali stanno acquisendo sempre più valore, attirando sempre più le attenzioni della ricerca linguistica. Un settore così complesso e articolato non gode ancora però del prestigio con cui lo si dovrebbe guardare. Obiettivo di questa trattazione è quello di abbattere, attraverso la conoscenza, le barriere dello scetticismo che da sempre accompagna questa vera e propria arte, mettendo in luce il processo di annientamento del pregiudizio che scompare anche grazie al successo delle lingue artificiali create per la serie tvGame of Thrones.

Nel Capitolo I verranno affrontati i concetti di base riguardanti il mondo delle lingue artificiali, indagandone origini, motivazioni e presentando alcuni tra gli esempi più noti, come il volapük o l’esperanto.

Nel Capitolo II verranno presentati i grandi esempi di lingue artificiali create per la letteratura o per la cinematografia, come la lingua elfica di Tolkien, il na’vi di Paul Frommer e il klingon di Mark Okrand.

Il Capitolo III scenderà più a fondo nell’analisi delle lingue artificiali create da David J. Peterson per la serie tv Game of Thrones, l’alto valyriano e il dothraki. In questo capitolo verranno analizzati tutti gli aspetti linguistici noti, correlati di tabelle esplicative ed esempi chiarificatori.

Infine, nel Capitolo IV viene proposta un’analisi delle lingue di Game of Thrones volta a valutarne l’adeguatezza linguistica da un punto di vista tipologico, facendo riferimento alla classificazione tipologica delle lingue che vede come suo principale teorico Joseph Greenberg. Le lingue in questione verranno, dunque, analizzate attraverso il filtro delle implicazioni postulate negli universali linguistici greenberghiani.

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Categories
Analysis English Language

Alternations: An Introduction (and Some Further Explorations) for Conlangers

Doug Ball began conlanging in 1994, primarily working on a language he calls Skerre. His conlanging interest led him to discover the field of linguistics and ultimately to a career as an academic linguist. Holding degrees from the University of Rochester (BA) and Stanford University (PhD), he is currently a member of the Department of English and Linguistics faculty at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. There, he teaches classes on general linguistics, theoretical phonology, theoretical morphology, and theoretical syntax as well as Native American and Polynesian languages.

Abstract

This essay explores the nature of alternations: variations in form across different contexts. In addition to providing a basic introduction of the phenomena in both English and in other languages, it considers several frameworks for understanding the behavior of alternations in natural languages. This essay also offers some recommendations for the creation of alternations in constructed languages and gives some examples to illustrate these recommendations. It is a revised and expanded version of a talk given at the 7th Language Creation Conference (July, 2017) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

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Categories
Analysis English Language

Intro to Lexical Typology

Aidan Aannestad is one more name on the long list of people who discovered linguistics through Tolkien, and he’s been conlanging ever since that seventh grade discovery. He’s learned a lot about linguistics since then, though, and now holds a BA in it from the University of Texas and is partway through a graduate degree. He holds himself (and sometimes others) to a very high standard of realism in his work, and he’s always striving to get a more complete perspective on the enormous variety found in the world’s natlangs. His creative output is so far mostly limited to the minimally-documented, though fairly well fleshed-out Emihtazuu language and its ancestors, but he hopes to someday increase his productivity and make a full linguistic area with multiple interacting families. He also speaks Japanese, and will happily discuss its history and mechanics for hours with anyone interested. He’s been on-and-off a member of a number of conlanging communities, and these days is most likely to be found on one of the relevant Facebook groups or lurking in the conlang mailing list.

Abstract

This article is a reprocessing and rewriting of an article by Leonard Talmy on the field of lexical typology, with a focus on its relevance for conlanging. Lexical typology is the study of how languages pattern their lexemes, and how those patterns can vary across languages. This article specifically focuses on verbs, especially motion verbs, and presents a variety of ways that languages can handle motion and other kinds of state changes, with some notes on wider applications of the principles involved.

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Categories
Analysis English Language Italian Language

Lingue pianificate tra fantasia e realtà

Sara Salis was born in Italy in 1995 and she speaks fluent Italian, English, and French, and will soon improve Spanish and Russian as well. She got her Bachelor’s degree in Linguistic Mediation in 2017, with a thesis about constructed languages, which she came to know thanks to the TV series Game of Thrones. Currently she is writing her first fantasy book and she plans on writing others in the future, if she is successful, perhaps inserting a naming language.

Abstract

In this thesis, Sara Salis compares High Valyrian with Latin, considering not only the language, but also the history and culture of the Roman Empire and the Valyrian Freehold. At the beginning, though, she analyses the features of a natlang, to verify whether they are shared by a conlang as well; furthermore, she explains the process of the birth of natural languages and the process of creating a conlang, pointing out the differences between the method to create different types of conlangs, such as Esperanto and High Valyrian. (Italian and English Text)

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