James E. Hopkins received a BA in French from Hofstra University in 1974 and an MS in Metaphysics from the American Institute of Holistic Theology in 1998. He is a published poet, Eden’s Day (2008), and has a novel which features five of his conlangs, Circle of the Lantern, with the publisher as of this writing. He has been involved in language construction since 1995 with the birth of his first conlang, Itlani (then known as Druni). Although Itlani is his first and foremost love, since that time he has been developing Semerian (Pomolito), Djiran (Ijira), Djanari (Nordsh) and Lastulani (Lastig Klendum), the other languages spoken on the planet Itlán. One further language project, Kreshem (Losi e Kreshem), is also under development. His primary interest in language construction is from an aesthetic and artistic perspective.
Abstract
Itlani wedding poems are composed according to traditional Itlani poetic forms. They consist of four stanzas and are personalized in the last stanza using the names and outstanding characteristics of the newly-wed couple. Like all Itlani poetry, wedding poems are loosely accentual in nature and rely more on alliteration and rhythm than on rhyme although rhyme may be present. Traditionally, a close family member will compose the poem and read it at the kenatún ta zarenifa or “great feast of the coupling”. Itlani wedding poems are considered among the class of burakhenú or “blessings” and are customarily called Burakhenunú or “Great Blessings” reserved for the central passages of life.
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