Category: Conlang Descriptions

Descriptions of conlangs or parts of conlangs.

Categories
Conlang Descriptions English Language

A Grammar of Eastern Classical Dryadic

Jesse is 21 years old, and enjoys creating languages as well as his own fantasy worlds and cultures that go with them. As far as natural languages are concerned, he speaks English, Korean, Japanese, Polish, French, and Russian. He has also studied a myriad of other languages to varying degrees including Lithuanian, Kazakh, Turkish, Mandarin, etc.

Abstract

This grammar was presented as Jesse Holmes’ undergraduate thesis at the University of Wrocław, in Poland. It includes a description of the grammar, as well as a description of the orthography and fictional romanization systems, and includes example texts.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Categories
Conlang Descriptions English Language

mklang

Isoraķatheð /isɔɹɑˈqɑtʰɛð zɔrɛtʰan/ is now the proud owner of at least 20 languages, having created languages since the age of 12. He hails from Hong Kong and has a strong bond to the place, but is currently studying in Nottingham for a physics degree. As such, he has grown up in a trilingual environment, but his command of any of the three languages are somewhat unusual, as is his relationship to and ideas on society and relationships. He has a preference to networks of ideas and nodes that are easily separable, a preference that shows up in the languages he creates.

Abstract

mklang describes a “model” of language that depends on features, a one-liner that may potentially include blanks that could be filled in to create a variety of results that ranges from naturalistic to highly unusual. It is motivated by a lack of a structured alternative to naturalistic conlangs, though creating a language using mklang doesn’t necessarily mean that the language isn’t naturalistic, as it depends on choice of features. Additionally, the author’s creative tools are also explained in brief.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Categories
Conlang Descriptions English Language

An Overview of Magwābon

Madeline Barnicle graduated from the University of Chicago in 2013 with a degree in mathematics. She is pursuing a PhD in mathematical logic at UCLA and will have the opportunity to TA linguistics this coming spring. Madeline is a member of the Southern California Conlang Society.

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of some phonological, grammatical, and cultural, inspirations for the constructed language Magwābon. As an example of its narrative usage, a summary is presented of “Star Wars: A New Hope,” together with some usage notes.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Categories
Conlang Descriptions English Language

The Language of the People of the Plains

Dashiel N. Stevens received a BA in linguistics from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. With a language-curious background, he stumbled into the world of linguistics through language creation. He has created several languages, favoring a posteriori languages, including Geulish (Geulge), Stranden (Westerlondisc), Briggan (Austerlandisk), Byzerine (Byzedueto), Selenese (Elyird Zeleneziyo), and others. Most of his languages occupy the world of “The Westlands” which is the setting for a tabletop role-playing game and novel that he has been working on for the last few years.

Abstract

The Jogos Nhai are a warlike people who live east of the Bone Mountains on Essos, in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire universe. Their language and culture have been critically underrepresented in associated media, and both are explored (with an obvious focus on the language) in this non-exhaustive reference grammar on Jogos Nhaiang Chahar, the language of the people of the plains, the Jogos Nhai.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Categories
Analysis Conlang Descriptions German Language

Konstruierte Sprachen – Aufbau, Entwicklung und Vergleich am Beispiel von Hymmnos

Mathias Dietrich started studying Japanese studies and sociology at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg in 2012. From 2015 to 2016 he studied abroad at the Senshū University in Tokyo. He will shortly finish he studies and receive his BA in 2018. He works as a freelance journalist for the German video game magazine Gamestar and first became interested in constructed languages after playing the playstation game Ar Tonelico which features Hymmnos, a language invented by Akira Tsuchiya.

Mathias Dietrich studiert seit 2012 Japanologie und Deutsche Sprache und Literatur an der Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg. Von 2015 bis 2016 absolvierte er ein Auslandsstudium an der Senshū Universitat in Tokio. Seinen Bachelor-Abschluss wird er im Jahr 2018 erreichen. In seiner Freizeit arbeitet er als freier Autor fur das deutsche Videospielmagazin Gamestar. Sein Interesse fur konstruierte Sprachen entwickelte er, nachdem er das Playstation-Spiel Ar Tonelico spielte und mit der Sprache Hymmnos von Akira Tsuchiya in Kontakt kam.

Abstract

The expression of emotions plays a big role in Akira Tsuchiyas Hymmnos. After a short basic introduction to conlangs itself, this essay takes a short look on Tsuchiyas conlang and compares the aspect of expressing emotions with German using a theory by Norbert Fries who researched emotions from the perspective of linguistic semiotics. (German Text)

Der Ausdruck von Emotionen ist ein wichtiger Aspekt in Akira Tsuchiyas konstruierter Sprache Hymmnos. Nach einem kurzen Überblick über konstruierte Sprachen im Allgemeinen, gibt diese Arbeit einen Einblick in Tsuchiyas konstruierte Sprache und vergleicht den Ausdruck von Emotionen mit dem Deutschen anhand einer Theorie von Norbert Fries, welcher Emotionsausdrücke vom Standpunkt der linguistischen Semiotik aus untersuchte.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Categories
Conlang Descriptions English Language

A Useful Grammar of Colyáni and Text with Commentary

We are aware of and repudiate MAR Barker’s anti-semitic views. However, given that this article is purely linguistic in nature, we do not consider it an endorsement of those views. Please see the Tekumel Foundation’s statement on the issue for more details.

Language Creation Society

Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker (1929-2012) was a professor of Urdu and South Asian Studies at McGill University and later at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Amongst conlangers, he is best known for creating the Tsolyáni language, one of several conlangs he created for his conworld Tékumel, in which he set his expansive paper and pen role playing game The Empire of the Petal Throne.

William “Bill” Shipley (1921-2011) was a linguist who trained at UC Berkeley and taught for many years at UC Santa Cruz. For most of his professional life, William studied and worked on the Northern Californian Maidu language, producing a grammar, and a book of translated Maidu stories.

John Moore is a Professor of Linguistics at UC San Diego and Provost of John Muir College. He received a BA in Linguistics from UC Santa Cruz in 1979 and a PhD, also from UC Santa Cruz Linguistics, in 1991. His work has been on Spanish, syntax, and lexical semantics, including a 2001 book, co-authored with Farrell Ackerman, on the syntax/lexical semantics interface (Proto-Properties and Grammatical Encoding: A Correspondence Theory of Argument Selection, CSLI). A long-time flamenco guitarist, Moore has also published on aspects of flamenco, including a 2012 annotated translation of oral histories from an early 20th century flamenco singer (A Thousand and One Stories of Pericón de Cádiz, Inverted-A Press).

Abstract

In the early 1980s, linguist Bill Shipley offered an undergraduate class called “Languages of the World”. One of the assignment of that course was to create a language. As a guide, this document written by M. A. R. Barker was given to students. It comprises a text in Tsolyáni plus an interlinear, along with a grammar sketch to help the reader understand and appreciate the text.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Categories
Conlang Descriptions English Language

An Invented Language Project for the Introductory Linguistics Classroom

Skye Anderson is a graduate student in Linguistics at the University of Arizona; her research are the phonology and morphology of Semitic languages, speech perception and corpus linguistics. She started studying Linguistics when she realized all of her invented languages had words for aardvark, but no grammar.

Shannon Bischoff is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Linguistics at Purdue University Fort Wayne. His Ph.D. is in Formal and Anthropological Linguistics with a minor in Computational Linguistics. His research interests include English and Spanish in Puerto Rico; English as a language barrier to minority and endangered language communities; language documentation, revitalization; formal and computational approaches to language; and Indigenous languages of the Americas. He has been teaching using language invention since 2006.

Amy Fountain is an Associate Professor, NTE, in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Her Ph.D. is in Anthropology and Linguistics. Her research interests are in language endangerment, documentation, and revitalization, and the indigenous languages of the Americas. She has been teaching freshmen about linguistics using language invention since 2006, and is always learning new things about language, and students, because of it.

Jeffrey Punske is an Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He earned his PhD in Linguistics in 2012 from the University of Arizona. His research focuses on morphosyntax. He teaches courses on invented languages, syntax, semantics, historical linguistics, phonology, among other topics. He previously taught at the University of Oklahoma and Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. He is frequently bow-tied.

Abstract

This paper presents a brief description of a constructed language project developed for the introductory to linguistics/language classroom. The paper describes the project, its history of development and use, and provides links to sample syllabuses, the project outline, and student project examples. The project described has been used with thousands of students at three different universities. Developed for a large lecture-style setting with up to 500 students at a major research university enrolling over 30,000 students, the project has been taken to a smaller research university (12,000 students) and a metropolitan university (13,000 students), where it has been implemented in a variety of undergraduate courses. The project has been used as a means to introduce basic linguistic concepts to the non-major in a general education setting. In addition, it is currently being piloted in a course on typology. These applications demonstrate the versatility of the project as tool for a variety of linguistic classrooms.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Categories
Conlang Descriptions English Language

The Dai Language: An Embarrassment

David J. Peterson received a BA in English and Linguistics from UC Berkeley in 2003 and an MA in Linguistics from UC San Diego in 2005. He created the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for HBO’s Game of Thrones, the Castithan, Irathient and Indojisnen languages for Syfy’s Defiance, the Sondiv language for the CW’s Star-Crossed, the Lishepus language for Syfy’s Dominion, the Trigedasleng language for the CW’s The 100, and the Shiväisith language for Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World. He’s been creating languages since 2000.

Abstract

David J. Peterson’s first paid conlanging project occurred eight years before Game of Thrones. It was a language called Dai, and it was done in early 2001 for a high school student’s Dungeons & Dragons campaign. This paper provides a brief introduction to the nature of the work, and the full language, as it stood at that point.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Categories
Conlang Descriptions English Language

Old High Veriden

Ola Lisowska is a hobbyist language creator from Germany with a Master’s degree in Slavic Linguistics. While English and German are her native languages, her additional known languages include Polish, Russian, older varieties of Slavic languages, and some tidbits of French and Latin. She is most intrigued by “immersive” conlangs that go along with entire fictional universes, and very much enjoys creating these herself. She is especially passionate about creating conlangs for use in music and chant.

Abstract

Veriden, a constant work in progress, is a synthetic language that is strongly influenced by slavic languages, while not being overtly based on them. Its creation is largely driven by the author’s subjective aesthetic ideals, which are demonstrated when Veriden is used as a language for song and poetry. Veriden is part of a larger fictional universe, which comes with its own peoples, mythologies and stories, but the focus of this essay remains primarily on the grammar of the language itself. In this article, the creator presents the groundwork of the creation process along with a detailed description of Veriden’s grammatical structure.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Categories
Conlang Descriptions English Language

Nuvutani: Introducing a new language

Sylvia Sotomayor has been conlanging since she read Tolkien at an impressionable age. She is best known for the Kēlen language, which won a Smiley Award in 2009. She previously served as the Treasurer of the Language Creation Society.

Abstract

Sylvia is most famous for Kēlen, a verbless language, and so for her second language, sodna-leni or sodemadu, she created a language with a closed class of verbs. However, in fleshing out Sodemadu, she became frustrated with its limitations, so one weekend she decided to forego the limitations of Sodemadu and created a new language, her third, that had an open class of verbs. Like Sodemadu, most of the vocabulary has cognates in Kēlen. At the end of the weekend she had a draft of a story in this new language. The story comes from a book of Australian Aboriginal myths and legends, shortened and adapted to suit her and this new language.

Version History

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.